If you ask a person to tell you who they are, you can get a variety of answers. It could be “an American” or some other nationality. It could be a teacher or lawyer or homemaker or some other employment. It could be a mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle, son, daughter, friend or some other relation. It can even be the name of a church group like Catholic, Baptist, Protestant, Buddhist, Muslim, or other religious denomination. But what is our real identity? Jesus told his disciples that he would call them by name because he is a good shepherd.
Christ is at the Father’s right hand. We have more than “his works” as the foundation of our lives. We have his very existence as God’s ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON who is now raised and seated in the heavens FOR US. He is the ACTUAL HEAD of the spiritual body that we are members of. We belong to him as much as we do to each other. Paul warned people of not falling prey to Bible teachers who would minimize who and what Christ is for us today.
This morning it was 25 below zero with the wind in our little part of Northwest Idaho. Overnight, our hot water pipe froze. When the repairman came, he was doubtful if he could help.
Some religious people try to isolate New Testament selections to prove that Jesus was a God-man who came to earth. One of these is Philippians 2:1-11. Yet, when viewed in the beauty with which God had the Apostle Paul write this truth, we see that Jesus Christ is our lord and savior, and NOT equal with God our Father, the Creator.
Jesus Christ died for us while we were still sinners. He loved the unlovable. We weren’t even “good.” We were unlovable—at least from a human point of view. But Jesus Christ was able to take on his mission, his calling, to die for us because he lived with his Father’s love.