Not only does Scripture teach us that we have a new status, it also teaches us that we have a new identity. Now, before we were born again, we could do nothing about our identity. It was given to us by our father Adam: we were sinners (Romans 5:12). Most evangelicals do not have a problem with this statement.
Yet, the day Christ brought us into the kingdom of God, something happened, something changed within us. No longer were we sinners, we became saints. Now, I know that might be hard to believe. Who has ever called you a saint? If anything, we have probably been called sinners our whole lives. It’s a title most evangelicals give themselves: sinner. But let’s take a few minutes to look at what God overwhelmingly says about us in His love letter.
When Paul began each of his letters to the churches of which he had apostolic oversight, he said things like this:
To all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:7)
To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. (1 Corinthians 1:2)
I know that some groups have abused the term saint teaching that one only becomes a saint by completing a long list of high spiritual achievements. But we must come back to the simple truth that our identity in Christ is never about what we have done, it is about who we are. We are saints because that is who God says we are, not because we fulfilled a list of requirements. We are saints because of what God has done inwardly, not because of what we have done outwardly. God’s righteousness has been imparted into His people. We are in Christ, and thus, we are saints.
We all know what Paul told the Corinthians church:
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
That is such good news to know that we are new creations, but I believe verse 16 and 21 gives us even more insight:
Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh…He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Paul says we are not to recognize ourselves anymore according to the flesh, but rather, we are to see each other as the new creations that we are in Christ, those who have become the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ.
God is telling us in so many ways that we are His beloved, His saints, new creations who are now in Christ. But so many times, we go around speaking about ourselves as if we are evil and wicked sinners. Let me give you an illustration of why it is important to know who we are in Christ. Any psychologist will tell you that if you tell a child a hundred times that they are stupid, you know what, they will believe it. Unfortunately, someone reading this article could give a testimony about such. And not only will that child begin to believe they are stupid, but it will be that much easier to act like it.
The same is true for us as Christians. We’ve been told so many times that we are just sinners and that is all we will ever be. Thus, it becomes so much easier to believe we are just sinners when that is all we are ever told. And you know what, it is so much easier to walk like a sinner when people tell us and we then believe it about ourselves.
There was a ministry in America called Exodus. This ministry was led by two men who had been saved out of a homosexual lifestyle. They felt the call to set up a ministry to help men who struggled with homosexuality. One day, though, these two men came out and declared they could not deny it any longer. They were homosexual and that was the life they were going to choose to live. You see these two men had identified themselves as homosexuals. They believed that is who they were, and in the end, they only gave in to what they believed about themselves.
So many people are stuck in what I call Jeremiah 17:9 theology:
The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?
But what we must remember is that God was speaking to an obstinate, hard-hearted people, who did not believe God and were not interested in following God. But, we are new creations. We have been given new hearts, we have been born anew, we have been changed by the Holy Spirit. Ezekiel actually prophesied about a day that would could when God’s people would be changed:
Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statues, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
God reached into us, took out the hard-heart of stone and put a new heart of flesh in us. No longer is our heart wicked by nature, but it is new and righteous by nature. That is amazing grace, that is amazing love. And if we have new hearts, do you know what that means. We have good hearts. Let the goodness and grace of God begin to flow over you.
Here is a principle to remember: What you do does not determine who you are, who you are determines what you do. We must always remember that it is who we are first, which leads to how we walk. Identity precedes behavior. I am light, therefore I can walk as light. I am righteous, therefore I can walk in righteousness. Again, it is not what we do as Christians that determines who we are. It is who we are that determines what we do.
‘Sadly, a great number of Christians are trapped in the same pit. We fail, so we see ourselves as failures, which only causes us to fail more. We sin, so we see ourselves as sinners, which only causes us to sin more. We’ve been tricked into believing that what we do makes us what we are. And that false belief sends us into a tailspin of hopelessness and defeat.’ (Neil Anderson, Victory Over the Darkness)
It’s like the child whose parent’s keep telling him or her that they are stupid, and they begin to believe it. It’s like God’s sons and daughters who are constantly told that they are just sinners, and they believe it, and they walk like it. But we must never forget what God says about us and what He has done in us.
Now, in no way am I trying to teach that we are perfect and never sin. That is not what I am saying. But if we ever hope to walk with God and walk out the life of holiness He has called us to, we have to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We are righteous, we are saints, we are new creations, our hearts are now good. It is not what you do that determines who you are; it is who you are that determines what you do. And we are moving forward in our walk with God, and who we are will begin to be displayed in our lives more and more as we keep ourselves committed and submitted to God and each other as the body of Christ.
Listen to what Jesus prayed in John 17:23:
I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved me.
In the midst of this powerful prayer, Jesus reveals that the Father loves us exactly the same that He loves His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. I don’t know if I am supposed to jump around for joy for an hour or weep for an hour. That is amazing grace, that is amazing love. That is truth that sets us free. And you know what, it is 100% okay to remind ourselves of how much God loves us and who we are in Christ.
Listen to what David said:
How precious are your thoughts about me,O God! They are innumerable! (Psalm 139:17 NLT)
Our Father thinks good thoughts about us. Good thoughts, good thoughts, good thoughts. He delights in us. And listen to this: God is a good God and He only has good sons and daughters. That is amazing revelation! Thank you, Father!
We truly do have a new status in Christ: we are justified, declared righteous and not guilty. Yes, we have been given a new identity: we are now saints, holy ones, in whom God takes full delight in.
I know that what I have put forth today is just the beginning of something that needs to take place in our hearts. We need to begin to realize what God says about us, what He thinks about us, and what He has done inside us. This is a journey, a process that is just beginning. It is something that we will continually need to come back to and hear from our Father. Just this week, with all the pressures around, all the busyness, all the anxiety, God spoke to me and said, ‘I delight in you.’ Everything else seemed to not matter. The pressures and the pain was removed when I heard the Father whisper such beautiful words into my heart. I was set free once again. Take time to listen. Listen to our Father whisper into your heart, ‘You are my beloved, I delight in you.’ | 