To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
—NELSON MANDELA
Slavery in the United States was abolished by the 13th Amendment on December 18th, 1865. How many slaves were there on December 19th? In reality, none, but many still lived like slaves. Many did because they never learned the truth; others knew and even believed that they were free, but chose to live as they had been taught.
Several plantation owners were devastated by this proclamation of emancipation. “We’re ruined! Slavery has been abolished. We’ve lost the battle to keep our slaves.”
But their chief spokesman slyly responded, “Not necessarily, as long as these people think they’re still slaves, the proclamation of emancipation will have no practical effect. We don’t have a legal right over them anymore, but many of them don’t know it. Keep your slaves from learning the truth, and your control over them will not even be challenged.”
“But, what if the news spreads?”
“Don’t panic. We have another barrel in our gun. We may not be able to keep them from hearing the news, but we can still keep them from understanding it. They don’t call me the father of lies for nothing. We still have the potential to deceive the whole world. Just tell them that they misunderstood the 13th Amendment. Tell them that they are going to be free, not that they are free already. The truth they heard is just positional truth, not actual truth. Someday they may receive the benefits, but not now.”
“But, they’ll expect me to say that. They won’t believe me.”
“Then pick out a few persuasive ones who are convinced that they’re still slaves and let them do the talking for you. Remember, most of these free people were born as slaves and lived like slaves. All we have to do is to deceive them so that they still think like slaves. As long as they continue to do what slaves do, it will not be hard to convince them that they must still be slaves. They will maintain their slave identity because of the things they do.
The moment they try to profess that they are no longer slaves, just whisper in their ear, ‘How can you even think you are no longer a slave when you are still doing things that slaves do?’ After all, we have the capacity to accuse the brethren day and night.”
Years later, many have still not heard the wonderful news that they have been freed, so naturally they continue to live the way they have always lived. Some have heard the good news, but evaluated it by what they are presently doing and feeling. They reason, “I’m still living in bondage, doing the same things I have always done. My experience tells me that I must not be free. I’m feeling the same way I was before the proclamation, so it must not be true. After all, your feelings always tell the truth.” So they continue to live according to how they feel, not wanting to be hypocrites!
One former slave hears the good news, and receives it with great joy. He checks out the validity of the proclamation, and finds out that the highest of all authorities has originated the decree. Not only that, but it personally cost the authority a tremendous price which He willingly paid, so that he could be free. His life is transformed. He correctly reasons that it would be hypocritical to believe his feelings and not believe the truth. Determined to live by what he knows to be true, his experiences began to change rather dramatically. He realizes that his old master has no authority over him and does not need to be obeyed. He gladly serves the one who set him free.1
Jesus acquired complete freedom for us at the cross, yet the devil has used many lies to keep us from receiving this freedom in full. The main area that the devil lies to us about is our identity. If we do not understand the truth of what was accomplished for us, then we cannot receive it in full. The battle for sexual purity is a battle rooted in our identity.
The Bible tells us that “as [a man] thinks in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7 NKJV). This obviously has limitations. Just because you think you can fly doesn’t mean that you can! But within these limitations, we find that Jesus has given us power over sin and the devil. If a man “thinks in his heart” that he is free from sexual bondage, then so is he! The war for sexual purity will be won because we are set free by believing the truth (see John 8:32).
The clinical approach to sexual sin has labeled lust as a disease, and those who have it are called sexual addicts. Those who follow this approach say, “Once an addict, always an addict.” Biblically, I cannot agree with this statement. You may have been a sexual addict, but you are now the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (see 1 Cor. 1:30). You may even still be acting like a sexual addict, but that is merely because you have not realized that your identity has changed. You have a new identity, and you must receive a revelation of who you are now. Many Christians continue to walk in sin after salvation because they don’t realize who they are now. If they truly realized who they have become in Christ, then they would be set free.
We must come to understand that, regarding the battle of sexual sin, we are not the problem. Rather, what we believe about ourselves is the problem. We will only find freedom when we believe what God believes about us.
As I stated earlier, most people form their identity from their actions. Many people have said, “I am a sinner saved by grace.” This is a massive theological error. Once you accept Christ, you are no longer a sinner. God considers you now to be a saint. Yet because people continue to choose sin at times, they consider themselves to still be sinners. In essence, such people are sinning by faith. They believe themselves to be sinners; therefore, they sin. If they believed God’s Word, which says that they are righteous, then they would walk as righteous people.
Our identity is not the sum of our actions; identity is the foundation from which our actions flow. Thus, identity always precedes actions.
In Christ we have been made into the righteousness of God (see 1 Cor. 1:30; Rom. 5:17); that is our true identity. Once we understand this, our actions will flow forth from this truth. “I am the righteousness of God in Christ; therefore, I live and act righteously, because that is who I am!” Otherwise we will continue to view our actions and make statements like, “I keep sinning; therefore, I must still be a sinner.” God changed our identities and put us into Christ so that our actions would flow out of our new identity in Him.
In Genesis 1, we find that humankind was created in the image and likeness of God.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in Our image, in Our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:26-27).
Here we see that humankind didn’t have to do anything to be like God; our identity already was “like God.” However, the serpent introduced a lie stating that humankind must do something in order to be like God.
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God…” (Genesis 3:4-5).
Many have misread this temptation and thought that Eve was tempted by the opportunity of being like God. That interpretation makes no sense, however, because Eve was already like God. She didn’t have to do anything more to be like Him; she had been created in His image. The serpent lied to her by saying that her identity, her “God-likeness,” would come about through her actions. The serpent actually deceived Eve into thinking that her actions were able to determine her identity. Eve should have stood firm in her identity, but instead she forgot who she was.
And Jehovah God saith to the woman, “What [is] this thou hast done?” and the woman saith, “The serpent hath caused me to forget--and I do eat” (Genesis 3:13 YLT).
With God, identity always precedes actions. That is why God created us in His likeness and His image, so that out of our identity would flow actions that reflect Him. Eve was the first one to believe the lie that she wasn’t like God and that she had to do something to try to be like God. Humankind was not meant to strive and perform to act like God. Eve was created like God, and if she hadn’t forgotten who she was, she would have naturally continued to be like God without even trying!
We must return to seeing ourselves the way God sees us. Remember: We will only find freedom when we believe what God believes about us. Renewing the mind transforms us because we begin to see ourselves the way that God sees us, and that corrected identity changes our lives. We must grasp what God declares our identity to be; then our actions will flow from that place of understanding.
Let’s examine four points of view regarding identity. There is:
When we agree with the devil’s opinion of us, we end up living as defeated, bitter, and condemned people. When we try to live according to the way that others see us, we live insecure lives filled with the fear of people. When we live according to how we see ourselves, we constantly tally up the sum of our actions to determine what kind of people we are.
None of these perspectives give us a proper understanding of our identity. Rather, I suggest that the only healthy identity is seeing ourselves the way that God sees us. Our minds are renewed when we come into agreement with God’s point of view.
Although you might observe your ongoing sin and try to equate this to your identity (“I sin; therefore, I am a sinner”), God sees your identity first (“You are a saint; therefore, you should sin no longer”). According to God, actions do not add up to your identity; your identity determines your actions. That is why He paid such a high price to give you a new identity, to put you into Christ, and to make you righteous. Even when you mess up, God sees you according to your identity.
It was when humankind was at its absolute worst and most depraved, when God hadn’t even spoken to Israel for 400 years, that He chose to send Jesus to Earth. God didn’t wait until people were acting in a manner worthy of His sacrifice. No. He sent Jesus because people were not living up to their identity; because of sin they had fallen out of step with who they really were. So Jesus came to re-establish that identity. God always sees the inherent worth and value of people, despite all the sin and trash.
Our actions do not equate our identity or our value to God. Because we were created in His image and because He calls us His own, He is the one who knows who we truly are! We are His children, and our identity does not change because of our failures. As John wrote: “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!…” (1 John 3:1).
We see in the examples of Gideon, Sarah, and Moses, that God doesn’t equate our actions with our identity. Instead, God always focuses on our true identity and value, which are found in Him and the destinies He created us to fulfill.
When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he was simply a coward hiding from Israel’s enemies and threshing wheat in a wine-press. Yet the angel declared that Gideon was a “mighty man of valor” (Judg. 6:12 NKJV).
This is exactly how God interacts with us. God says things like, “You are a mighty man, a pure man, a holy man, and a righteous man!” Even though our actions might state otherwise, God declares those things to be true of us because that is who He made us to be. Gideon, like many of us, began to argue with God because he was convinced that, based on his cowardly actions, he must be a coward. Many of us have told God that He is wrong because we tend to focus on our actions and not our identity (see Judg. 6).
When the Lord told Abraham and Sarah that they would have a child in their old age, Sarah laughed mockingly at God! Yet the Lord records the story in Hebrews 11:11 saying that “by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered Him faithful who had made the promise.”
Here we can see that God looks beyond our sin and foolish actions, and He sees us very differently. From a natural standpoint, no one would read the story of Sarah laughing at God and come to the conclusion that she had great faith. Yet that is what God wrote in Hebrews 11:11. God’s point of view is not determined by our actions. He is our loving Creator, and no wrong actions are going to change our identity in His eyes.
Moses, at 40 years of age, had to flee his cushy life in the palace and live in the wilderness because he had murdered an Egyptian. Moses was a fugitive murderer! Yet again, God’s point of view was quite different:
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin (Hebrews 11:24-25).
Moses’ actions defined him as a murderer, yet God declared him to be a deliverer; and because he chose to believe God’s version of his identity, Moses was able to become a mighty deliverer.
The conflict between how Moses, Gideon, and Sarah acted and how God viewed them is the same conflict that we are dealing with. We must stop focusing on our actions in our struggle to figure out our identity. We must find out from our Father and Creator what our true identity is, and then we must walk out our actions in accordance with that identity.
When God speaks, His goal is to align us with our true identity. When He comes to speak to a coward, He says, “I created you as a mighty man, I know who you are better than you do. Don’t look at your feelings or actions; your self-assessment is wrong. I am God, and I established your identity. I know who you really are. You are a mighty man.”
God tells us who we really are so that we can live from His point of view. Believing what He declares about our identity will cause new actions to flow out of us. As we begin to really know who we are in Him, we will act according to that belief.
When God spoke to Abram and Sarai (later to become Abraham and Sarah), who were barren, He told Abram, “…I have made you a father of many nations” (Gen. 17:5). The apostle Paul said that God “… calleth those things which be not as though they were” (Rom. 4:17 KJV). God is not looking at our present sinful actions to figure out who we are. God comes to tell us who we are so that new actions will flow out of our newly-recognized identity.
It is very easy to focus on the wrong things. Much of the time we focus on actions and the outward flesh. That is exactly what Paul told us not to do; rather we are to be compelled by love, and we are to refuse to view people according to their flesh.
For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:14-17 NKJV).
This passage shows that we are not to view people through the lens of their actions and lifestyles, but according to the way that Christ views them. Christ always keeps His eye on a person’s inherent value. He sees each one of us as someone who was worth His death.
When people have sin in their lives, it must be confronted, but the sin is not their identity. As the confronter, it is important to keep the “confrontee’s” true identity as the focus. If confrontees become focused on their sin and their failure, then they will not be empowered to move in a new direction. Notice how the apostle Paul confronted sin in the Corinthian believers:
Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5:7).
Get rid of the old yeast so that you may be dough of a new kind; for in fact you are free from corruption. For our Passover Lamb has already been offered in sacrifice—even Christ (1 Corinthians 5:7 WNT).
This is the principle of confronting with honor. We must confront sin through the lens of people’s true identity. I would paraphrase what Paul said this way: “Hey Corinthian, get these sinful actions out of your life because that isn’t who you are. Jesus has cleansed you, so it is time to stop living like a sinner. That isn’t you!”
As we read in Chapter 2, the film character Rocky Balboa confronted his son Robert, saying, “Cowards do that, and that ain’t you! You are better than that!”2 This is how God confronts us in our sin, and this is how we should confront each other. Sin is not the focus; reminding people of their identity in Christ is the true focus. Our actions are not our identity; our actions flow from our identity. Thus, we must understand our identity in Christ so that we will live like Christ.
One last thought on this topic comes from the author of Culture of Honor, Pastor Danny Silk:
Putting on the cloak of shame and guilt is not only unbecoming for us as His [God’s] sons and daughters; it is a trap of powerlessness. Reaching in and grabbing our people by their true identities is an act of love that will live on far longer than the sting of failure and consequences. People can see and think when their identity is clear of fear and shame.3
When people sin, we must not make sin our focus, we must point them back to their true identity. We must not regard anyone according to the flesh, including ourselves. Through the lens of our true identity in Christ, we will each be empowered to deal with the sinful actions in our lives. We will know how to choose righteousness because we will be living from the reality of what God says about us.
Tool
Picture in your mind your worst memory, specifically of a mistake that you made. Consider what others would label you because of that mistake (i.e., drunk, adulterer, thief, etc.)
Now separate your action from your identity, for example:
When you sin, your identity does not change. Regardless of what you have done, you are still the righteousness of God in Christ—even though you chose to get drunk, commit adultery, or steal.
Use this exercise to separate your actions from your identity. Maintain your true identity in the face of your mistakes. Your actions do not change who you are in Him.