Your Identity Is Glorious!

Colossians 3:1-4

It’s breathtaking if we just stop and think about it. Since you have been raised with Christ. What is the passage saying? The passage is saying that you are so tightly connected to Jesus that God sees it as if you died with Christ. Just a few verses before our text, that statement is made. Since you died with Christ, it says, so God considers you to have gone to the cross with Jesus. God considers you to have been put into the grave with Jesus. And most importantly, God considers you to have been raised to life along with Jesus. How did it happen? Your baptism. My brothers and sisters, what you just saw a moment ago was a crucifixion, a death, a burial, and a resurrection. That God connected these two young ladies intimately and eternally to Jesus, to his death, and to his resurrection. And my brothers and sisters, in your baptism, God did exactly that for you and me too. You are connected to Jesus’ death. You were put into that grave with Jesus, and you got out of that grave with Jesus. That’s the truth. Oh, but did you notice what it also says about our life? It says that our life is also now hidden with Christ above. True or false, every day of your life you feel grand and glorious. No. True or false, a whole lot of days in your life you feel run-of-the-mill, ordinary, not special whatsoever. That’s because right now your life is hidden. Your real identity is hidden with Christ above. And you know what? That’s totally okay. How did Jesus live most of his life? Most of his life was very humble. Oh yeah, every once in a while he pulled the God thing out and healed the sick or raised the dad or fed the thousands. But most of the time he was trudging along the roads. Most of the time he was teaching people like a normal person. His death was incredibly humiliating. His burial, slipshod, and even his resurrection were really pretty quiet. Jesus didn’t go out and appear to the masses in Jerusalem. He appeared to his disciples. Oh, one time it was a group of 500, but it was never groups of thousands. Jesus’ ascension, that seems to have been done just in front of the 12 disciples. Because the real glory is yet to come. But make no mistake, brothers and sisters, you are glorious because you have been connected to Jesus. You really did die with Jesus. You really did get buried with Jesus. And you really were raised to life with Jesus because you were baptized. That happened. And so, yes, your real identity right now is hidden in that it can’t be seen super, super clearly most of the times in our lives. But make no mistake, your real identity is glorious because you’ve been raised to life with Jesus. Jesus. Amen.