So often we are discouraged and give up because we do not recognize who we are in Christ
Or how God looks at us. He sees the beginning and the end. He knows what we will do, when and how. He sees the victory when we are in the valleys or down times of our lives.
Who are we? 1. The person we think we are.
2. The person others think we are.
3. The person we think others think we are.
4. The person we really are.
How does God See us?
There are a lot of references in the Bible
Ps. 139 says: “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” How did David know that? The Holy Spirit quickens our spirit and teaches us all things.
We are heirs, sons and daughters, His children as we will see. A Christian is seen as being IN CHRIST.
How did God see us before we were saved?
We will only touch on this to see what Jesus has done for us and to see how completely different He sees a person after salvation is received.
*Alienated from Himself (Eph. 4:18)
*His Enemies (Rom. 5:10, Col. 1:21)
*Children of wrath ( Eph. 2:3)
*Lost (Matt. 18:11, 2 Cor. 4:3)
*Guilty (Rom. 3:19)
*Spiritually dead (Eph. 3:19)
*Condemned (John 3:18)
He saw us alienated, His enemies and Children of wrath because we kept choosing disobedience and rebellion instead of loving Him and goodness. He saw us lost as we wondered aimlessly down our sinful path. He saw as we kept disobeying him and breaking His laws. He saw as Spiritually dead because we were separated from Him the source of Life due to sin.
God saw that we needed to be forgiven and given a new birth. He saw the need for reconciliation and to make it possible for us to have a relationship with Him. He sent Jesus to make a way and His Holy Spirit to show us the way.
Rom. 8-29-30 states: “ Those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified: those He justified, He also glorified.”
2 Cor. 3:18 states: “We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
Let’s look at what Paul says in Ephesians about who we are in Christ
I will give you the verses and applicable portions to this study:
1. Blessed with every spiritual blessing (1:3)
2. Chosen before the beginning of time (1:4)
3. Loved (1:4)
4. Predestined (1:5,11)
5. Adopted (1:5)
6. Accepted (1:6)
7. Redeemed (1:7)
8. Forgiven (1:7)
9. Given wisdom and understanding (1:8)
10. Shown the mystery of His will (:9,10)
11. Given a guaranteed inheritance (1:11-14)
12. Made “the praise of His glory” (1:12)
13. Recipients of God’s power (1:19)
14. Secured by His Holy Spirit (1:13)
15. Made alive together with Christ (2:5)
16. Raised up and seated in the heavenlies (2:6)
17. Recipients of God’s Grace and Kindness (2:7)
18. God’s masterful workmanship (2:10)
19. Created for good works (2:10)
20. Brought near to God (2:13)
21. United into one body (2:15, 16: & 3:6)
22. Fellow citizens with other Christians (2:19).
23. Members of God’s household (2:19)
24. Built for the Spirit’s habitation (2:21, 22)
25. Partakers of God’s promise (3:6)
26 Given bold and confident access to God (3:12)
Let’s look at other scriptures in the New Testament that will give us a even bigger picture of who we are in Christ. We will include other servants of God and writer’s as well for credibility.
27. Children of God (John 1:12/ 1 John 3:1,2)
28. Justified (Rom. 3:24; 5:1; 8:30)
29 Dead to sin and alive to God (Rom. 8:1)
30. Recipients of eternal life (Rom. 8:1)
31. No longer condemned (Rom. 8:1)
32. Foreknown (Rom. 8:29)
33. Called (Rom. 8:30)
34. Glorified (Rom. 8:30)
35. Sanctified (1 Cor. 1:30)
36. New creations (2 Cor. 5:17)
37. Reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:19)
38. Righteous (3 Cor. 5:21)
39. Citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20)
40. Rescued from Satan’s power (Col. 1:13)
41. Placed into God’s kingdom (Col 1:13)
42. Complete (Col. 2:10)
43. Perfect (Heb. 10-14)
44. Holy & royal priests (1 Pet. 2:9)
45. A Holy nation (1Pet. 2:9)
46. God’s own special people (1 Pet. 2:9)
God’s own special people. That’s who we are, created in His own image. We are so privileged to be His and all we had to do was repent and submit to Him as Lord of our life. Not that we deserved it or were worthy. We paid no penalty. Jesus paid the price.
We don’t have time to study each of the items but what a tremendous difference in the way God sees us before and after salvation and what a difference in our lives.
Paul makes reference to being IN CHRIST 35 times in the book of Ephesians. Lets zero in on who we are IN CHRIST.
The 1st chapter we see:
1. Chosen in Christ (v. 4) “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:3,4)
Since God as chosen us and we have chosen God should give us comfort and assurance as we work out our
Salvation for He says many are called but few are chosen.
Knowing that God has created us to fellowship with Him and that He has chosen us in Christ should reassure us of His love for us, it should make us grateful and give us a desire to serve Him however He chooses. Knowing He called us to be Holy should cause us to want to live with Holiness as our goal.
2. Rescued in Christ (v. 7) “In Him (Christ) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
We know that the ransom for our life was the death of Jesus and the shedding of His Blood. Or we hear the expression “through His Blood” Satan has great power over man as we have seen but he does not own us or have authority over us. God has given believers authority over Satan and there is no temptation that we can not resist through the help of God. Scripture says submit to God, resist Satan and he will flee. We have been forgiven and redeemed because we chose to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. We have power over sin and we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling and we should not want to ever sin once we know the price paid for our salvation. To think we should cause more pain to our Savior should cause us to hate sin and want to live Holy as we are called since Jesus has Justified and Sanctified us.
3. Adopted in Christ (v. 5) Paul says that in Christ we were chosen and have “predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself:
So if we are adopted that means that God sees all who have receive His Son, Jesus, as full heirs of all His riches. (Romans 8:17) states: “We are joint heirs with Christ.”
Romans 8:14:16) states: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, These are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry our, Abba, Father, The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”
And in (1John 3:1-3) we read: “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God: Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet be revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
Knowing that we are all children of God should motivate us to treat others as brothers and sisters in Christ,
Loving and being kind to each other and should give us confidence that our Father will take care of us. So we should rejoice, have peace and rest in our Lord knowing that whatever we ask according to His will He will give us.
4. Honored in Christ (v.7-14) “Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to Hiss good pleasure which He hath purposed in himself… In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory.”
What a honor to have the Holy Spirit and the promises of God. God gives us His Holy Spirit which is the earnest of our inheritance. The importance of the Holy Spirit can not be over emphasized as He is the power of God working in us and through us. He reveals the desires and plans of our Father.
This should make us thankful, and make us want to study His Word, to know His will, to want to thank God for this Honor, to praise and worship Him and to live a life that reflects His living within us. Since we are in Christ and Christ is in us we should be living for God and we should be growing in our likeness of Him.
God sees us as children of His and nothing is impossible for Him. He sees us as powerful, successful able to do whatever He asks us to do. He sees us as children whom He loves and is merciful towards. He wants to give us all good things and to prosper us. He sees us as being able to have whatever we ask of Him when we ask according to His will. He sees limitless potential. We are not limited to the law of nature as children of God but we have available to us the Supernatural power of God.
Praise, glory, honor and thanksgiving be to our God who loves us unconditionally.