Who We Are in Jesus Part 6

I want to continue to share about who we are in Jesus because of God’s great grace.

The truth is that all the things that the Bible tells us we are as followers of Jesus is what we ARE. Not what we could be or should be; it is who we ARE.

1 Thessalonians 1:4

For we know, brothers loved by God, that He has chosen you.

We are chosen of God.

We are chosen to be God’s children.

We are holy.

We are dearly loved.

We are jealously protected.

I can remember that as a child I was pretty good at anything athletic so I was chosen early to be on different kinds of sports teams. I never thought about how kids that we picked last or didn’t pick felt. I experienced that feeling of not being chosen when our teacher one year decided we would have weekly math competitions. I was not good at math and I was the last one chosen every week.

God chose us because He wants to have a relationship with us, to love us and to have us love Him in return.  

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living knowing that we have been chosen by God to be His children.

1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Peter reminds us that we are a chosen race.

We are a royal priesthood.

A priest is one who represents the people to God and God to the people. We are a people that God has chosen to bring the love and person of Jesus to others.

We know the truth of God and we need to share it.

We have experienced the grace of Jesus and we need to dispense it.

We have the love of Jesus and we need to show it.

We are a holy nation.

In Leviticus 11:44 we are told that because God is holy, we are to be holy.

In 1 Peter 1:15 we are told that because God is holy, we are to be holy.

Holiness means to be set apart.

God being holy means that He is set apart from us as His creation. He is uniquely different than anything in all creation.

Our being holy means that we are set apart for His use and His purposes.

The fact that we as God’s children are holy means we live for Jesus, not ourselves.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is letting Jesus set us apart and use us for His purposes and honor.

We are a people for God’s own possession.

In 1 Corinthians 6:20 and 7:23 Paul tells us that we have been bought with a price. We are to glorify God and serve Him.

The price with which we are bought was Jesus. The Father loved us so much that He chose to give Jesus’ life to pay for our sins.

We are God’s possession because He paid for us. We belong to God exclusively.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living knowing that we belong to God.

Jesus has called us out of darkness into His light. Because Jesus has done all this for us, we are to proclaim His excellencies. The result of knowing who Jesus is and what He has done and who He has made us in Him is to thank Him, praise Him, and worship Him.

1 Peter 2:11

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.

We are aliens and strangers in this world and to the prince of this world.

Jesus said that the world hated Him, and that if we followed Him, the world would hate us as well.

We cannot love the values of this world and love Jesus because the values of this world are in opposition to the truth of Jesus. We have to choose.

God’s Word tells us to choose to be aliens and strangers to this world and be citizens of His kingdom.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living as strangers and aliens to the values of this world.

1 Peter 5:8

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

We are enemies of the devil.

The devil hates us because Jesus loves us.

There is no peaceful coexisting with the devil. Jesus says that the devil wants to kill, steal, and destroy, and he will not stop doing it.

Jesus has defeated the devil and, through Jesus, we have victory over him.

Being followers of Jesus means we are enemies of the devil.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is loving Jesus and being enemies of the devil.

We need to remember who we are in Jesus and live based on those truths.

As Followers of Jesus, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                              Joe