Your behavior tends to follow your identity. Discipleship is learning to live like the new person you have become in Christ.
Colossians 3:1-10 (NLT) 1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. 5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. 7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. 8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. 10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.
God loved the old you, but the old you needed to DIE.
The old self was formed by sin, appetites, experiences, wounds, environment, and choices. God is not trying to reform that self; in Christ, the old self was crucified.
Romans 5:8 — “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 6:6 — “Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ…”
PERSONAL RESPONSE: What part of the old you are you still allowing to define you?
Your identity in Christ is RECEIVED, not achieved.
2 Corinthians 5:17 — “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
Not a better, religious, or cleaned-up you—a new you. In Christ: alive, adopted, righteous, forgiven, free, loved, and sent.
Behavior does not create righteousness; righteousness produces behavior. Identity needs to be received, not invented.
PERSONAL RESPONSE: What does God say is true about you that is hardest for you to believe?
The first step of discipleship after salvation is water baptism.
Your identity has changed; now you learn how people live in God’s Kingdom. Jesus called Simon “Peter” before Simon knew how to live like Peter (John 1:42). Discipleship is learning to live from what Jesus says is true.
Baptism pictures the death and burial of your old life and the emergence of a new creation.
A CLEAN SLATE — Romans 6:3–4 (NLT) “Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.”
A CLEAN CONSCIENCE — 1 Peter 3:21 (NLT) “And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
A NEW MISSION — Matthew 3:13–15 (NLT) “Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. But John tried to talk him out of it. “I am the one who needs to be baptized by you,” he said, “so why are you coming to me?” But Jesus said, “It should be done, for we must carry out all that God requires.” So John agreed to baptize him.”
Jesus’ baptism was not about sin; it was his yes to the Father’s mission. Baptism is a response to God’s work and a step into the new life he has given.
PERSONAL RESPONSE: Where are you still living with old instincts even though Jesus has given you a new identity?
Don’t confuse an old PATTERN with your new identity.
New people can still fall into old patterns. Colossians calls us to put to death what belongs to the old life and put on the new nature. Failure does not get to rename you.
Romans 12:2 — “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”
For the rest of your life, you are discovering—not inventing—the new you in Christ. Identity precedes transformation.
If you have never been baptized, sign up for water baptism this Sunday.
Question 1 — What part of your old identity have you continued to carry even though you are now in Christ?
Question 2 — What truth about your new identity in Christ is hardest for you to believe?
Question 3 — If you really believed what Jesus says about you, what would begin to change in the way you live?