To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
I am a man. I am a husband. I am a father. I am an American. I am a Christian. There are so many different identities we carry along with us every day of our lives. Most identities do not cause us trouble. But lately we have been hearing from the world about identity crises. People are being told they must change their definition of certain identities. This confusion about identities are causing crises in people’s lives. But for us today in this place, the identity crisis we are dealing with is our Christian identity.
Think about how you identify as a Christian. A Christian is one who follows Christ. This is what Jesus tells us, “Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” But this lies at the heart of our crisis.
But you are not alone in this crisis. Every Christian has this crisis. And it stems from our pathetic attempts of following Jesus. “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.” How well have you held onto the teaching of Jesus? I suppose it depends on the day! But in general, our track record of sin cause us look like everyone else. The evil things we think, say, and do make our identity look like the unbelieving world. And that is what makes us have an identity crisis. We know Christ’s word and we still do not follow it to perfection. We miss his mark.
And we even have the gall to use his grace at times to excuse our sinful behavior. Paul used a question to point out this abuse, “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” The Romans were under the impression that since God was so loving…so forgiving…that his grace will increase no matter how often they sinned.
We may not say it outright like that but how often do you say to yourselves, “I will go to the party and get smashed…I will have sex with whomever I want….I will steal…I don’t have to worship… all this I will do because God will forgive me!”? Then the devil sweeps in and says, “How dare you call yourself a disciple of Jesus…you are no Christian!” Who could argue with the devil’s accusations since it is true? When things like this happen, and unfortunately it happens often in our lives, we suffer an identity crisis. Perhaps we feel like a better identity would be hypocrite.
But like said, this identity crisis is not unique to you or me. All believers including Paul had to deal with this reality. Even when we want to do good, evil is right there with us. Even when we know something is wrong, we still do it. We may look like we are the holiest Christians on earth on Sundays at church, but the rest of the week we struggle with addictions to sin, whether it is drugs, alcohol, gossip, stealing, lying, or sex outside the bonds of marriage.
The reason why we are stuck in this crisis is because we focus on ourselves. When our focus is on us, we will see how often we have picked up our cross and followed Jesus. We will see our failure to be worthy of Christ. We will see how we are no different from the unbelieving world. And by focusing on ourselves, we will only see an identity crisis which will cause us pain, misery, and despair…an identity with only one outcome eternal death!
We look for ways to beak ourselves out of this crisis but they will only end in failure too. We cannot look to ourselves to fix our identity crisis. We have no power in us to avert this identity crisis. Paul knew this for himself. So he pointed the Romans and every Christian back to the only source of comfort, strength, and confidence we have…Jesus Christ our Lord.
What do we do when sin entices us and we have an identity crisis? Paul reminds us that sin no longer has power over us. “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” You might have the impression that you must sin because that is what you do! But you do not have to sin. You can say no to sin because your old sinful nature died with Christ on the cross. Jesus was not alone in his death. He took each one of us with him to crucify our sinful lust.
He and he alone set you free. “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” Sin is no longer your master, Jesus is! Our identity of Christian does not depend on you. And this is as good thing. Our identity as Christians depends solely on Christ. We have failed as Christians, but Jesus did not! Every day he lived perfectly under God’s law to build up our Christian identity. At the cross he removed the shackles of our sinful nature and replaced it with his perfection. We are not free from sin and children of God. This is what Jesus came to do for all of us. No one is excluded. When you become weary because of the identity crisis, Jesus is there to calm your hearts and to give you the identity that will remain, Christian.
And we can be confident in the identity Jesus gives us because he died for us once for all. There is not a single sin left to be paid. “The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.” Jesus leave no room to question our identity as Christians. Jesus has done all the work and if you fall into that crisis, turn back to him and he will calm your fears.
You have died with Christ. Your sinful hearts no longer hold its power over you. But better yet, you are alive to God in Christ. You have a new life that you now live to his glory.
“5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.” Jesus is not just concerned about our sinful natures. He also is concerned about giving us new life as we follow him. Baptism give us both the death of our sinful hearts and a new life. “3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Martin Luther really hit the nail on the head with this, “We daily drown our old sinful nature in the waters of baptism so that a new man may arise daily to live in righteousness, holiness, and blessedness.” This is exactly what Paul pointed to in his letter to the Romans. The baptismal font in not a pretty church decoration. It is a reminded that you died with Christ in baptism so that a new person will rise and live to the glory of God.
Our identity as Christians automatically comes with a new life. And we live this new live all to the glory of God. We do nothing for ourselves…everything we do is for the one who died to end our identity crisis. “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Every day we live we live to God. There is really no identity crisis from God’s point of view. Those who are in Christ are dead to sin, but alive to God. This is who you truly are.
Your identity depends on Christ. The life that comes with this identity depends on Christ. You do not have an identity crisis. You are alive and you live every day with the identity that Christ has given you. Sin is not your master, Christ is! And if you ever doubt or question your identity, or the devil tries to blind you to your true identity, then look at Christ and drown your sinful hearts in your baptism and you will rise up alive in Christ. Our Identity Crisis Is Averted! Amen!
23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. Amen.