Identity in Christ Part 1: My Speech Manuscript From Church Women's Conference

Photo by Tara Winstead from Pexels

I was asked to speak about identity in Christ at the First Baptist Church of Brookline's Women's Conference in October of 2021. I have divided the manuscript for my speech into three parts so that I can share one part at a time (the speech took 45 minutes). In this first part, I provided my definition of identity in Christ based on the book of Colossians. While I specifically made this speech for Christian Women, identity in Christ applies to all children of God. I pray that reading this encourages your soul.

Hello, my name is Emma Grace Behnke. I am so very excited that I get to talk about what it means to have our identity in Christ because this has been the specific question I have been trying to answer for the past 3 years, and God has been so gracious as to provide me with answers through many lessons, trials, and responses to my prayers, though I know there is still so much more that could be uncovered. It is necessary to grasp what it means to be children of God, to be saved by God, and to live for Christ as these are all parts of our identity in Christ. While my identity as an adopted daughter of God happened as soon as I was saved and my heart was transformed by the Holy Spirit, it took me many years of trials before God made me realize that my actions had to conform to my new heart and my new life, but it is certainly a continued learning process that will no doubt take the rest of my life. First and foremost I will talk about what it means to have our identity in Christ as children of God, how our identity shapes our hearts and lives, and then lastly I would like to share with you what I have been learning about our identity in Christ as daughters of God from experiences in my testimony. I will be discussing several relevant texts from the scriptures, thoughts from brothers and sisters in Christ that have helped me in this topic, and I will share ways that God has so graciously revealed these truths to me more and more so far in my 20 years of life.

I was born and raised in a small town called Bolivar, Missouri. I was also born and raised in a Christian home in a very small town with a church around practically every corner, and our own church that we attended regularly. Despite all of this exposure in my environment to Christianity, the message of the gospel, the finished work of Christ on the cross for my sin, was not told to me until I was 11 years old. When my dad, after asking me questions, realized that I did not understand anything about sin or Christ or even the beginning in the garden of Eden, he took the time to explain to me the great weight and price of my sin and that only Christ could save me. The effect this had on me was indeed as if my eyes had been opened for the first time because I had been blind to the truth all my life until then. The world was different, I was different, and how I saw God had completely changed. I had become a new creation.

So what does it mean to have your identity in Christ? It has been described by many in a variety of ways. It was a few months ago that I spent some time studying the third chapter of Colossians, and I believe that it provides a core understanding of what identity is. Listen to these words from the third chapter of Colossians, verses 1 through 4 (Colossians 3:1-4).

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

So Christ is the One who we must seek day and night in all circumstances, more than anything on earth because He is also our life. Our identity is in Christ because He is our greatest treasure and because we desire Him above all things, for nothing is greater than Him. What we desire determines who we are because it determines what we do, what we think and feel, literally everything about us. Consider the story of Peter as told to us in the book of Luke. Peter, after seeing he was a sinful man in the presence of the Christ who could supply him with more than earthly needs, had literally abandoned his boat and previous life at the shore so that he could sail a totally different course by following Jesus, as told to us in Luke chapter 5. On the night that Jesus was taken and had His last supper with the disciples, Peter told him “I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death” (Luke 22:34). Yet what happens when Christ is arrested by the high priests, and a servant girl sees Peter, who was following Jesus closely? She calls him out, saying that he was one of the followers of Christ. Peter not only denies what she said, but he denies it when 2 other people say the same thing! Then three more things happened: the rooster crows, Jesus turned and looked at Peter, and Peter wept. We could describe these three events as the mark of Peter’s failure, Christ knowing what Peter did, and Peter realizing what he did.

Peter’s greatest desire in that moment was not Christ, that people would see Christ and worship Him, or that he would be seen as a servant of Christ so that all glory would be to God. Peter’s greatest desire before that rooster crowed was that he, Peter, would be accepted and approved by the world, despite Christ being dragged away to die for him. Peter was fearing man, he feared persecution, prison, and death, more than he loved Christ in that moment. If Peter had loved Christ more than these things, more than anything, the rooster never would have crowed. Something that I believe is very important to note, is that Jesus was with Peter. It was not as though Peter was in a totally different building or location, but he had followed Jesus closely as he was being taken away as it tells us in the text. Peter might as well have been wearing a t-shirt that said “follower of Christ,” but he was not seeking Christ because he was not treasuring him above the praise of man. Even when we are with Christ, even when we are associated with Christ, even when we are thinking about Him, it does not mean that we are treasuring Him. Peter in that moment wanted worldly and vain comfort more than anything.

Yet for us, even in a country that so far does not have persecution of death for Christians, still often fear the world more than treasuring Christ. How easy it is for me to put a bible verse on social media, to mention to people that I go to church, doing things that allow me to be associated with Christ from a safe distance with having awkward conversations with unbelievers. Please, none of these are bad things, in fact, we should certainly encourage people to share bible verses on media if they have it, to tell others about our life in the church, and to go to church every Sunday morning that we are physically able. But if this is all it is, if we are checking the box to make sure others know we are Christian but dismiss, avoid, or ignore opportunities to explain what that means to people face to face, what is that association really worth? Peter was wanting the best of both worlds. He wanted the eternal life that Christ offered, and he wanted the praise of the world, but we know that Matthew 6:24 tells us “no one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money”. If God is not your only king and your treasure above all things, then he is not your king or treasure at all. When our eyes are fixed on Christ, it becomes undeniably clear that He is everything and much more precious than praise, wealth, safety, education, flattery - any pleasure of the world. And we remember who we are; we remember that we have died to the world because our life is hidden with Christ in God, as Paul told us in Colossians. If I feel that I cannot remember who I am in Christ, I have gazed away from Christ and must once again redirect my gaze to Him, by the grace and work of the holy spirit within me. There is an old and familiar hymn that tells us the same thing:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Look full, in his wonderful face

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim

In the light of his glory and grace.

So who are we? We are His. We do not belong to the world, but to the things above. And if we are to know anything about who we are, we must look to Him, and only Him, to give purpose and meaning to our lives. It is a battle with our flesh that so wants to be savored and treasured, but only Christ is worthy, and only Christ remains. My own definition of identity in Christ is this: “to have your identity in Christ, means that through salvation, God has given you a deep desire to treasure Christ above all things and has opened your eyes so that out of desire for Him you will seek Him, seeing Him for who He is so that you can live for him.” There are certainly many other better ways to define our identity in Christ, but this is what I will be using for the remainder of this speech.