Who We Are in Jesus Part 3

In John 8:31-32, Jesus says that if we abide in His Word, then we are really His disciples and that we then know the truth and the truth will make us free.

A huge part of knowing God’s Word is knowing who we are in Jesus.

Galatians 3:26

For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

Galatians 3:28

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 4:6

And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

We are children of God and God is our Dad and we are one with Jesus.

We are sons and daughters of God. That will never change. I have a son and there is absolutely nothing that he could do that would make me reject him as my son. The fact that we are God’s children means that I am part of God’s family forever.

God is not just our father; He is our Abba. He is our dad. There is not just a formal connection between us and God. There is an intimate love connection between us and God.

We are one with Jesus. In Colossians 1:27 we are told that as children of God, Jesus literally lives in us. Jesus doesn’t work from the outside in but by the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit He works from the inside out.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing that we have an all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present Dad who loves us and has made us one with Jesus.

Galatians 4:7

So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

We are children of God, and because we are children of God we are heirs of God.

As heirs, we are recipients of God’s:

Promises

Blessings

Presence

We don’t just have God and the things of God here in this earthly life but for eternity.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the eternal promises, blessings, and presence of God.

2 Corinthians 5:21

For our sake He made Him sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

One of the things that took place on the cross was that Jesus became guilty of my sins and your sins and the sins of everybody who had lived, who was living, and who would ever live.

Sin had to be punished, so God the Father, in His great love, made Jesus guilty of all our sins and punished Him for them on the cross.

That made it possible for God to completely forgive us and then to declare us righteous. Our righteousness is not our own doing; it is by God’s grace through Jesus. I am righteous, not because I earned it, but because Jesus earned it and gave it to me.

This was a great exchange. Jesus exchanged His sinless perfection for my sin. He exchanged His righteousness for my unrighteousness.

I don’t have the potential to be righteous.

I am not going to someday be righteous.

I am right now completely righteous.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living in the righteousness that I am.

In Ephesians 1:1 Paul calls the believers in Ephesus saints.

In 1 Corinthians 1:2 Paul calls the believers in Corinth saints.

In Philippians 1:1 Paul calls the believers in Philippi saints.

In Colossians 1:1 Paul calls the believers in Colossi saints.

We are saints.

I know you don’t see yourself as a saint. Part of the reason you don’t is because we have screwed up what being a saint really is.

We have made a saint a super Christian. Someone who is perfect and does all sorts of miracles and unexplainable things. The reality is that every person who has surrendered his life to the authority of Jesus and become a child of God is a saint.

The word saint is the noun version of the word holy. A saint is a person who, by giving his life to Jesus, has been made holy.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing that you are a holy follower of God and living like it.

Ephesians 2:10

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepare before-hand, that we should walk in them.

We are God’s workmanship.

The word translated workmanship literally means masterpiece. We are God’s masterpiece.

Again I know you don’t see yourself as God’s masterpiece. We see ourselves most of the time through the eyes of the world and world values and a worldly perspective. We need to see ourselves through God’s eyes and His perspective. God sees you and me as masterpieces created through Jesus to do good works.

When we really believe that truth, we will stop beating ourselves up, stop having pity parties, and stop condemning ourselves. We will see that God can and will use us to bring honor to Him and to change the world.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is seeing ourselves as God’s masterpieces and letting Him use us for His honor.

Ephesians 2:4-6

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loves us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

We are seated in the heavenly realm with Christ.

We are not powerless people. We are seated with Jesus and under His authority have power to resist sin and obey Him.

We will be tempted, but because of our position with Jesus, we have the power to say no to sin and yes to holiness. That means when temptation comes, I have victory over it in Jesus.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing that, because of my position with Jesus, I have His victory.

Because of Who I am in Jesus, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                  Joe