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Who am I?

Who Am I?
April 30, 2017

Scripture: Galatians 3:26-29

I. You are a child of God.

A. In verse 26 Paul clearly writes about your identity as a Christian. “In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” There is a very important three-letter word in this verse. It’s the word all. Paul was writing to a Galatian church of Jews and Gentiles. Paul says, “You are ALL – both Jews and Gentiles – children of God.” There is no racism in God’s family. If you love Jesus and have faith in Him, then you are just as much a member in God’s family as anyone else. We are now sons of God and a brother or sister to Jesus – the unique son of God.

B. When baptized as a symbol of your faith in Jesus, you have put on Jesus like you would put on some new clothes (vs. 27). Just like Jesus is pure and righteous as the unique son of God, you now stand before God as a pure and righteous child of God. You have the same righteousness as Jesus by faith because you are a child of God just like Jesus. That is your identity.

II. You are brothers and sisters with other Christians.

A. This part of your identity is written about by Paul in vs. 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.” Everyone who belongs to God belongs to everyone else who belongs to God. All of God’s sons and daughters are brothers and sisters in Christ. And the walls that divide us as people – walls of race and class and sex – should no longer divide us as Christians. We are all one in Christ as part of the same family of God even if we are of different races, classes and sexes.

B. Revelation 7:9-10 tells us who will be in heaven: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” And Paul’s teaching on women in Galatians 3 liberated women within the church here on earth and elevated their status within God’s family. Men and women are equal recipients of the gift of the Holy Spirit. No one in God’s family gets only part of the Holy Spirit.

III. You are already an heir of God’s family.

A. A final part of your identity is found in vs. 29. There Paul writes, “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” Who am I? I am an heir of God’s family. You are already an heir enjoying your inheritance in God’s family today. You will not just enjoy your inheritance in heaven in the future. God promised to Abraham a Promised Land, and in Christ you have already begun to enter into that Promised Land. God promised to Abraham so many descendants that they would be as many as the stars of the sky. We already are part of a large family in the church. And God promised Abraham and his descendants, “I will be your God, and you shall be my people.” Because Christ died on the cross to forgive us of our sins we enjoy the status of being God’s people.

Application:
If you are in Christ, you know exactly who you are.

Sources:
The letter to the Galatians
Commentaries on Galatians by Philip Ryken and Douglas Moo