Your Identity Through Christ day 7 of 30

The Saint In Black

Though many in the church of Ephesus would have been drunks, gossips, or just downright mean people, Paul didn't choose to identify them that way.

Johnny Cash is a monument of the music industry. He is considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Though he was a successful musician, Cash wrecked his first marriage and struggled at points in his life with drugs and alcohol. In spite of his sins, Johnny Cash was a saint. Why? Because he was in Christ.

When reading the different letters of the New Testament, we tend to either read the greetings at the beginning quickly or just skip over them altogether, as if they're not important. If we treated Paul's greeting in Ephesians this way, we would miss something really important. Paul referred to everyone in the church as 'saints . . . in Christ Jesus' (Eph. 1:1).

Though many in the church of Ephesus would have been drunks, gossips, or just downright mean people, Paul didn't choose to identify them that way. He knew that if we're "in Christ Jesus", then we're saints. This is why he chose to greet the church in this way.

Read Romans 7:13-25 NLT

Why did Paul not understand his own actions? (He found that he did the very things he hated, and he didn't always have the power to do what was right.)

To whom did Paul look for help in not sinning? (He looked to Jesus Christ to set him free from his prison of sin.)

In Christ, Paul was a saint. Yet in Christ, Paul struggled with sin and doing what was right. In Christ, Johnny Cash was a saint. And yet, in Christ, Johnny Cash also struggled with sin and doing what was right. What can you learn from their experience? (In Christ we can still struggle with sin, but Jesus Christ - not being good -will deliver us from its punishment and power.)

Prayer

Thank Jesus Christ that he redeemed you from the penalty and power of sin.

Romans 7:13-25
13But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God’s good commands for its own evil purposes.
14So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin.
15I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.
16But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good.
17So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
18And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t.
19I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.
20But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
21I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.
22I love God’s law with all my heart.
23But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.
24Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?
25Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

Ephesians 1:1-2 NLT

1This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.I am writing to God’s holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus.
2May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.