The gospel calls us to find our identity in Jesus and not our race….

This week we are looking at a section of a letter that is recorded in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Colossians. The book of Colossians was written by the Apostle Paul around 61 A.D. to early followers of Jesus who lived in the city of Colossae to address false and heretical teaching that was occurring in the church. You see, some early followers of Jesus were teaching a combination of Jewish legalism, a Greek philosophy which was known as Gnosticism, the worship of angels, and asceticism, which views the material as evil and the spiritual as good.  Paul responded to this false teaching that was occurring by writing a letter to these early followers of Jesus to prove the supremacy of Jesus as the co-Creator of the universe and the head of the church.

Yesterday, we saw the Apostle Paul command followers of Jesus throughout history to have a serious desire to possess an eternal perspective. In addition, Paul commanded followers of Jesus throughout history to set their minds on things above. Paul’s point is that, as followers of Jesus, we have security in our relationship with Jesus that should result in us having a serious desire to possess an eternal perspective that gives careful consideration to the things that are eternal and that are of ultimate importance.

Paul then gave the members of the church at Colossae, and followers of Jesus throughout history, a third command to put to death, or separate themselves, from living their day to day lives in the power of their old nature that once dominated their lives prior to following Jesus. Paul explained that the reason why we are to put to death, or separate themselves, from living our day to day lives in the power of our old nature that once dominated our lives prior to following Jesus was due to the fact that for it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience. In other words, At the end of God’s story here on earth, God’s right and just response to the selfishness and rebellion of humanity will be unleashed upon those are following the footsteps of the “fatherly influences” of the world and the devil to align themselves and live out their day to day lives in a way that rejected and rebelled against the message and teachings of Jesus.

Paul then commanded followers of Jesus throughout history to strip ourselves of our old nature and separate ourselves from the attitudes and actions that flow from our old nature apart from God. But not only are we as followers of Jesus to put to death and separate ourselves so as to strip ourselves of our old nature and its attitudes and actions. In addition, as followers of Jesus, as a result of our relationship with Jesus, we have replaced what we have rid ourselves with something that is altogether new. Paul reveals what we have replaced that which we have rid ourselves with in Colossians 3:10:

 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him--  a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.

Now to fully understand what the Apostle Paul is communicating here, we first need to define some terms. When Paul uses the phrase “put on the new self”, he is referring to the new identity we have as a follower of Jesus who has been rescued by Jesus. As followers of Jesus we are to rid ourselves of the attitudes, actions, emotions, and language of our old nature apart from Jesus because that is no longer who we are as followers of Jesus. As followers of Jesus, we are to strip off our old nature because we have a new nature in Christ as a follower of Jesus.

As we talked about earlier, as a follower of Jesus, God now sees us in Christ. We now have a new identity and we are now to live out our lives in light of our new identity. Paul then explains that this new self, this new identity is “being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him”. Now the idea of being renewed is passive. In other words, this is not something that you do to you; instead this is something that happens to you, this is something that is done to you. With this phrase, Paul is revealing for us the reality that it is by God’s activity through Jesus that we are becoming in our behavior what we have already become in the eyes of God as He sees us in Christ. While we are already seen by God as having been rescued and identified as a follower of Jesus, God is actively at work in our lives through Jesus to make us more like Jesus in our character and our conduct.

Then in verse 11, Paul explains that this renewal, this activity of God in our lives through Jesus that results in us living out our new identity in a way that is becoming more like Jesus in character and conduct is without distinction. Whether you were a Greek that worshipped a multitude of gods or were a Jew who worshipped only one God; whether you were a Jew ethnically or were non-Jewish ethnically; whether you were upper class or lower class socioeconomically; whether you were a slave or you were free; God was equally at work in every follower of Jesus through Jesus in such a way that they would be empowered to live out their day to day lives in light of their identity as a follower of Jesus.

This was the case because, as Paul points out at the end of verse 11 “but Christ is all, and in all.” When Paul uses this little phrase “but Christ is all”, he is basically saying that Christ is everything. However, when Paul uses the phrase “Christ is in all” he is revealing for us the reality that when we become a follower of Jesus, the Holy Spirit moves in to help us to see our desperate need for Jesus and the forgiveness that Jesus offers us as being of ultimate value as He takes up permanent residence in our lives.

What Paul is talking about here in this phrase is referred to in church mumbo jumbo talk as irresistible, or as wholly desirable, grace. When we talk about irresistible or wholly desirable grace, we are talking about the reality that as a result of God’s transformational activity in our lives, our eyes are opened to how desirable Jesus is and how detestable our selfishness and rebellion is. Our eyes are opened to hate the selfishness, sin and rebellion that separates us from God, and to love Jesus who came to rescue us from that selfishness and rebellion.

God overcomes our selfishness and rebellion by overwhelming us with His gracious, or transformational activity in our lives in a way that results in us responding to what He has done for us through Jesus by giving our lives to Jesus in a way that results in us experiencing forgiveness and the relationship with God that we were created for. And this irresistible, or as wholly desirable, grace of God is lavished out by God regardless of race, regardless of ethnicity, regardless of socioeconomic status.

 And it is here that we discover a reason why the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel provide the solution to the universal problem of racism. And that timeless reason is this: The gospel best addresses the issue of racism because the gospel calls us to find our identity in Jesus and not our race. You see, God’s transformational intervention and activity in our lives through Jesus that overcomes our selfishness and rebellion and overwhelms us with the love of God is irrespective of race. No race is excluded; instead every race is included.

That is why racism is ridiculous when it is placed in the lens and prism of the gospel. Racism is ridiculous because God is actively and graciously at work through His Son Jesus in every race to give followers of Jesus a new identity and to empower followers of Jesus to live their day to day lives in light of their identity as a follower of Jesus. Regardless of race, the Holy Spirit is actively at work to help people from every race see their desperate need for Jesus and the forgiveness that Jesus offers us as being of ultimate value as He takes up permanent residence in the lives of people from every race.

And that is why the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel alone provide the solution to racism. The claims of Christ and the message of the gospel provide the solution to racism because there is only one identity that all of humanity, regardless of race, receives upon being rescued from their selfishness and rebellion as a result of being overwhelmed by God’s gracious activity. And that identity is that of being in Christ. That identity is the identity that comes a as result God the Father seeing followers of Jesus, regardless of race, in a mystical and spiritual way in Christ, in Heaven. It is Jesus Christ that unites us in a new nature apart from and regardless of race.

Just as no race is above the need for rescue from selfishness and rebellion that enslaves us and separates us from God, no race is excluded from experiencing God’s gracious choice to be rescued from that selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God through faith in Jesus. And just as no race is excluded from being rescued by God’s grace, as followers of Jesus who have been overwhelmed by God’s grace, we should live our lives in light of our identity as a follower of Jesus and not our race. That is why racism is ridiculous when it is placed in the lens and prism of the gospel. Racism is ridiculous because the gospel calls us to find our identity in Jesus and not our race.

So here is a question to consider: Where are you finding your identity? Are you focused on finding your identity based on your race? Because as we discovered in the opening sermon of this series, that is the road that leads to racism, isn’t it? To find your value, your worth, your identity based one ones race inevitably leads to comparison. And comparison will lead us to the place where we selfishly believe that our race is better than every other race.

Or are you focused on finding your identity in your relationship with Jesus as one who has been chosen and adopted by God the Father, rescued from your rebellion by Jesus Christ, and having the very Spirit of God residing within you as a result of God’s overwhelming activity in your life? Because it is when we find our identity in Jesus that we will destroy the problem of racism.

Finding our identity in Jesus destroys racism because God does not look at His followers based on their race. Instead, God looks at His followers in His Son Jesus as a result of being overwhelmed by His grace. That is why the gospel provides the best solution to the problem of racism.

The gospel best addresses the issue of racism because the gospel calls us to find our identity in Jesus and not our race….