Who am I? (Ephesians 2)

This is day 2 of my Ephesians series. I will continue this series through Friday.


If I asked you "Who you are?" what would you say?

Some turn to their profession: I am a gym teacher.

Some turn to their relationships: I am a son, I am a husband, I am a father, etc

Am I defined by the good things I have done?
or
Am I defined by the bad things I have done?



All of these things above shape who I am but they do not define me.

I am much more than these things.

Who do we belong?

Saint Paul begins the second chapter of Ephesians with an illustration.

Sin- makes us dead.

This is not literally true (most of the time) right?

If I lie about something, will God punish me? No. We receive punishment for our sins by our own guilt.


But it does. When we sin we run from the best God has for us. We lie to ourselves about our idenity as children of God.

Did the Father in the parable of the prodigal son love his son left when he left home?
No.

But when He returned great joy was had and He threw him a great party (See Luke 15 for the full story).

We look at sin as bad so the solution is morality (be good). But Sin doesn't just make us good it makes us dead.

The Gospel (good news) is God loved us and took our death for us. So the solution to death is Jesus overcoming death by allowing himself to die. Pretty wild, right!

So am I just a sinner?

No. Well, at least I am not.

When I joined the family of God (adoption- in chapter one) I don't believe I am outside the family. We don't kick our dog out of the house because he poops on the carpet. We clean it up. We tell him "no" and move on.

So Who Am I?

Saint Paul said,

"For he (God) raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus."- Ephesians 2:6


Who am I?

I am united to Christ. I am raised to live with him. I am alive in God.

What ramifications does this have for my life?

This changes how I live my life.

Because I am truly alive I can share God's goodness with others. When I am work I can show grace and love to kids that might not have love. When I am at church, I can treat others in love. When I am at home, I demonstrate the love of God to both my wife and son.

I am a child of God. Since my Father is God, I can know I am loved completely. And I have nothing to prove.