Identity --> Activity

For one thing, Mark Driscoll is much smarter than I am and I listen, look up to, and learn from him. Having said that and now that you have hopefully watched the video, the only preface to this post is that cultural thought and Biblical wisdom are not the same nor are they similar. To put it a different way, culture and Christ continually clash.

For instance, one of the more memorable quotes in Batman Begins (an awesome movie, just to be clear) is, “It’s not who you are underneath. It’s what you do that defines you.” For those of us who have seen the movie, we know and remember that quote because it proves a powerful, pivotal role in the rest of the film, but is it accurate?

Essentially, if we are defined by what we do, then we have the power and authority create our own identity. That kind of answer leads us to doubt daily. To be honest, that answer is the exact opposite of the Gospel. No amount of activity on our part can earn us salvation. In short, the Gospel is that we find our identity in Christ which leads us to activity.

What’s especially awesome about this is that God loved us despite us and the Cross is the picture we have of God the Father’s wrath poured out on Christ, His Son, and Christ’s love for the Father and for us. The Cross is when and where Christ bore our sins and God’s wrath, conquering sin. In other words, the Cross conquered sin because of Christ's sacrifice.

3 days later, we see God’s power to raise Christ from the dead, meaning Christ conquered sin on the Cross by bearing our sin and God’s wrath, but His power to conquer doesn’t cease there. In addition, Christ was raised showing God’s power over death, hell, and the grave. The Crucifixion leads to death but the Resurrection leads to life.

Baptism is a prime example of the Triune God (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit) at work and our identity being found in Christ. Growing up in Baptist Church, I’d hear the preachers say the phrase, "Buried with Christ in the likeness of His death and raised to walk in newness of life," but that ultimately goes back to Scripture itself.

We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

-Romans 6:4

Based on that, we find our identity which compels our activity. Despite various views on baptism, this verse illustrates that our identity is in Christ’s death and resurrection; we die so that Christ can live in and through us. Our old identity is lost and our new identity is our Lord Himself. This is what it means to be "Buried with Him in the likeness of His death."

But we cannot leave out the second part of that phrase lest we be left buried. God didn't leave Christ there and He doesn't leave us there, either. We are "Raised to walk in newness of life." This means that we have an appreciation that leads us to action. Before Christ, we naturally lived for ourselves, but because of Christ, we live for Christ and God’s glory.

The bottom line is: based on the death of ourselves and the life we have in Christ, we should act.

Identity --> Activity

For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

-Galatians 2:19-21

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2e5H-LSzkU

Making pens and making a difference!
Daniel Patrick