Be Built Like Christ || Who Am I? || Week 2

Welcome back to another week of self-discovery! This week’s message focuses on four titles that I believe share a similar theme around crafting and building. If you missed last week’s message, then you missed what this series is all about. “Who am I?” is about learning what God calls us. It’s about learning our place in the world through the eyes of what God calls us to be. As previously mentioned, today’s titles share the theme of my message title: “Being Built Like Christ.” Let’s dive into it.

Title #1: I am holy and without blame before him in love. 

Ephesians 1:4 – In Christ, he chose us before the world was made. He chose us in love to be his holy people – people who could stand before him without any fault.

1 Peter 1:16 – In the Scriptures God says, “Be holy, because I am holy.”

Since this title requires two scripture, I will explain it in two paragraphs. Hang with me on this. We will talk about the 1 Peter scripture first and explain what it means to be holy. 

Holiness basically defines our personality and actions in contrast to what they were before we became believers in Christ. We should be holy because we, as believers, are associated with the holy God and must treat him and the Bible with respect and genuineness. We, in return, praise him by being like him. We are God’s holy creature. He created each one of us specifically to the very tiniest detail. He considered his chosen people no matter what we do in our lives. Because he still loves and forgives us above everything, we need to still honor and respect God with everything we say and do. It’s why we, as Christians, can be very diligent about trying to correct people’s words and behavior because we don’t believe it honors and respects God. The truth of the matter is that even though those people think they’re doing good, they are actually doing harm because they are offering judgment that doesn’t come from godly thinking but their own. All that matters is your relationship with Christ. It doesn’t matter how others view your relationship with Christ or criticize that you’re “doing your relationship wrong,” but if you have one. New or old, fresh and refreshed, distant, or close, it doesn’t matter. I am so happy that you chose to have a relationship with God because he can, does, and will be there for you all the days of your life. That’s what it means to be holy to me. Now, let’s talk about what it means without blame in the Ephesians 1 scripture. 

Being blameless describes both a purpose and a result of God choosing to save us. Unrighteous people are declared righteous, unworthy sinners are declared worthy of salvation, and all because they are chosen in Christ. It refers to Christ’s attributed righteousness granted to us, which Paul references a couple times through his other letters. It’s that perfect righteousness that places us in a holy and blameless position before God, even though our daily lives may fall far short of God’s holy standard. It’s a crazy concept because it shows that through Christ, we can do no wrong. Obviously, some sins are severe enough to have worldly consequences. Still, because of the righteousness of Jesus and the holiness of God, we can receive this position to be saved and chosen as God’s people. Because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, taking our place with our sin, we can go directly to God, both bold and blameless, in all areas of our lives, both good and bad. He will love us no matter what.

Title #2: I am God’s child, born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God, who lives and abides forever. 

1 Peter 1:23 – You have been born again. This new life did not come from something that dies. It came from something that cannot die. 

The new spiritual life that the Holy Spirit gifts us with to produce our new focus on life is unfailing and permanent. It’s pretty much as simple as: “Once you welcome God in, he’ll never leave.” The Spirit uses the Bible to produce life because it’s the truth of the Gospel that saves lives. Notice that this title includes “the incorruptible seed” that the Bible plants in our hearts and minds. The Bible will never change as God’s love story for his people. He wants the best for us, and he wants us to develop a relationship with him and others by keeping him at the center of it all. Nor can we change it as humans to fit our own needs because we corrupt it when we do that. And it wouldn’t be God’s word because his word is incorruptible. That’s why I believe that we, as believers and humans, can think we use scripture for good. We frequently misconstrue what it tells us to tell others. The Bible is referred to as our instruction manual for life, and as you read it, it reads you. This means that the scripture can tell you a different story or principle than it tells me. Still, we can attempt to uniformly agree on an overarching principle that both can get along with as Christians. It boils down to as simply: We are God’s children. 

Title #3: I am God’s workmanship, created in Christ to do good works.

Ephesians 2:10 – God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do. 

The good things can’t produce this life-saving relationship with Christ. Still, the following and resulting fruits that God empowers within us prove our relationship with Christ. Like our salvation, our sanctification (or holiness) and good works were credited before time began. It’s often said that the Trinity initially takes place in Genesis 1, so go read it for some extra credit. I love the first part of this scripture that says that God made us what we are. We are who we are. All of our flaws, issues, self-hatred, anxieties, and other negative self-talk that we come up goes out the door because God loves us as we are and create who we are. God created this new reality of our lives so that we can do the things he’s called us to do. He knows our life story when we are knitted together in our mother’s womb and plants in us fruit that develops over time. We are constantly developing our relationship with Christ throughout the years. For me, it keeps me both humble and feeling like a fraud. I’ve been working in the Youth and Children’s Ministry for 8 years now. The amount of change, uncertainty, fear, and growth that my Christian journey has taken shows that the Christian walk is constantly adapting over life. Still, it keeps the focus on doing what God has called me to do. 

Title #4: I am a new creation in Christ. 

2 Corinthians 5:17 – When anyone is in Christ, it is a whole new world. The old things are gone; suddenly, everything is new!

To be “in Christ” includes the following: our security in Christ, who sacrificed himself as a human in place of us and God’s judgment against sin; our acceptance in him with whom God himself is well pleased; our future assurance in Jesus who grants us eternal life and it the sole guarantee that we go to heaven; our participation in Christ’s divine nature, the everlasting world. To also be a new creation encompasses our forgiveness of sins we paid for in Christ’s death, which was in our stead. After we’re gifted this new life, our old value system, priorities, beliefs, loves, and plans are gone. Evil and sin are still present in our lives, but we see them in a whole new light and understand that we are not controlled by them. The newness referred to here in Greek indicates that it’s a continuing condition of fact. Meaning that our new spiritual perception of everything is a constant reality for us because our eternity is in our sights. James talks about this transformation as the faith that produces works. What more do I need to say. 

What did we learn today? We learned that I am holy and without blame before him in life. I am God’s child, born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God, who lives and abides forever. I am God’s workmanship, created to do good works. I am a new creation in Christ. Come back next week to see what else God calls us. Until then, stay blessed!