Has there ever been a time that you felt like an outsider and that you didn’t belong? When I was in first grade, my family moved from northern Ohio all the way to South Carolina.
When I arrived at class (two weeks after the school year started), I remember feeling like I was an outcast because I did not know anyone; I talked differently, I dressed differently, and I looked different.
Thankfully, the area was pretty diverse, so I became friends with some of the other kids that were not really from there, or that looked and sounded different. But there were still many other kids in my school that felt like an outcast.
Then, during my freshman year of high school, I discovered something that would change my life… football! Anyone who plays a team sport, hopefully, knows what I mean because football gave me a people, a community, and an identity. I felt like someone now — and I had a jersey to prove it!
But there were two problems with finding my identity and community with football: I still didn’t really fit in with the cool kids that had been playing together for years, and that community that I developed with the team only lasted until November of my senior year when I played my last game.
Thank God during those years of my childhood, I became a Christian and began to discover who I really was in Christ.
And here is what I have discovered: everyone knows what it feels like to not belong at some point in their life (or all the time). And the reason is that it is part of our fallen human nature.
The Apostle Paul deals with this topic of identity in Ephesians 2 in a way that not only recognizes the problem in humanity but presents the solution to it. Because, as we will see, knowing who we are changes not only how we live and how we view ourselves, but also how we treat others.
In Ephesians 2:11-22, Paul follows up his teaching on some personal truths with at least three corporate or sociological truths that affect all of us as a group and especially all Christians within the church. First, he writes in verse 11:
“Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands.
Paul recognizes that non-Jewish Christians were not God’s “chosen people” from the Old Testament. And to reinforce the problem with their identity, he reminds them of their lack of the physical or fleshly mark of God’s covenant: circumcision. But he goes even further in the next verse:
Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, [and because of that] having no hope and without God in the world (v. 12).
That’s some bad news, isn’t it? He says that Gentiles (and really all of us) were by nature separated from a relationship with Christ, alienated from God’s kingdom on earth, disconnected from God’s promises, without hope, and without God. Talk about not fitting in!
To understand this fully, you have to go back to the beginning of the story (as in the actual beginning in the Book of Genesis). Although God created humanity with no division, separation, or alienation, the current state is anything but God and peaceful.
That is because something happened to mess up humanity’s relationship with God and each other: sin. Because of Adam's (and Eve’s) sin, humanity is born sinful, broken, and outcast (Romans 5:12).
That leads us to our first point from this text:
1. Our Soul’s Problem Isn’t What We Do, It Is Who We Are
This is tough because our world tells us something different. The world says that not only are we fine the way we are, but that what we do and even how we define our identity.
But if you make it to middle age with that mentality, you will realize how wrong that is. And either that crisis will lead you to finding the truth or further down the hole of believing a lie about who you are.
So, if our soul’s problem is who we are, then nothing we do can fix it. Now, Paul gives us some good news in verse 13:
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
The effect of the crucifixion of Jesus on us who are saved is that we have moved from being separated from God to being near to God in relationship. That is what God has done for us.
It is an identity change. Because of that change on the inside of us, the disconnect and discontent that we feel within us, as well as between other people, can be fixed through our relationship with God because, as Paul continues to write,
For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.
Take a minute to think about what features or attributes separate and divide people. There are too many to list, aren’t there? Superficial attributes like style, color, wealth, ability, language, dialect, origin, religion, and so much more make us feel different from others.
But we see in our text that the cross of Jesus has knocked down all those man-made walls that divide us! Jesus has even gotten rid of all of the cultural Mosaic laws that separate us. Look what else he says next in verses 15-18:
By abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
Jesus’ work on the cross didn’t just make a way for us to be forgiven for our sins and find peace between us and God (which is amazing by itself). It also made a way for us to find real, lasting peace between each other, too.
Jesus' message on earth to “repent” was not his effort to keep us from having fun or living life; he was telling us how to live the best life possible of peace, joy, and fulfillment in our hearts and peace between each other.
Only in Christ can we, who used to be cut off from God as well as the Israelites, have access to God our Father through the Holy Spirit that lives in us.
That takes us to our second main point:
2. The Answer to Our Soul’s Problem Is Found in Jesus at the Cross
Think about it like this: the shape of the cross was no accident. It connects us vertically to God and horizontally to each other. Because of what Jesus did, I can find unity with people that seem so different from me. I can even find peace with my enemies.
Now let’s continue the passage and see in verse 19 what we get with our new identity:
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God
When we embrace our true identity, we no longer have to feel like outcasts because we, along with all other Christians across the world, are citizens of the same Kingdom and members of the same family.
But here lies a problem: so many Christians hide their true identity because of fear and shame and end up hiding behind their old identity without Christ.
Then we go to war against each other as if we were still enemies of God and God’s people instead of linking arms as children of the same Heavenly Father, citizens of the same kingdom, and soldiers in the same army.
Meanwhile, all we have to do is embrace and live out who we really are in Christ to find peace in our souls and between each other.
Let’s finish the passage in verses 20-22 to see one more truth about how our new identity affects us as a whole:
Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
That leads us to our last point:
3. Living in Our True Identity Together Preaches the Gospel to Our World
When we are living in our true identity in Christ together, we are like a bunch of blocks being built up to become a beautiful, beaming temple of God. Or, as Jesus said, we become a city set on a hill that provides light and hope to all around.
I love reading about Christians around the world who are living out their true identity. The NFL quarterback Kirk Cousins is one of those people.
Not only is Cousins one of the most intense and best quarterbacks to play the sport (according to the numbers and the records he has set), but he is also a solid, outspoken Christian.
He told a reporter recently that the reason why he plays his very best on the football field is that it is “…a great witness.” In the interview, he quoted Colossians 3:23 and said, “I’d like to think when I [play football], I'm giving all of my heart."
Our life can be a shining witness, too, when we embrace our identity in Christ. It will bring us an answer to our soul’s problems and bring us peace with others.
So, in what or who are you finding your identity? Have you surrendered yourself to Christ and allowed him to redefine who you are back to who he created you to be? If so, are you living in that new identity?
Think about what would happen in our world if Christians stopped believing the lies that the world is telling them about who they are, stopped allowing their feelings or actions to define them, and truly embraced who God has said they are — together!
For further reading:
10 Biblical Truths about Your Identity in Christ
Why Does Our Identity in Christ Matter More Than Our Marital Status?
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/kevron 2001
