Through Christ we have been given a new
nature (2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:22-24) and everything we need to live a godly life
(1 Pet. 1:3-4). However, we must choose to partner with the Holy Spirit in renewing our minds so that in every situation we know, agree with,
and carry out God’s will. Throughout the New Testament
Paul writes of the battle within people’s minds and contrasts it with the mind set on
the Spirit. In 1
Corinthians 2 he writes of how the Spirit makes the mind of Christ available to
believers “so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.” Only
through the ministry of the Spirit can we understand truth about the new
identity God has given us in Christ.
One foundational truth of our identity is that God has “made us to be a kingdom” (Rev. 1:6a). According to this verse, we are not just apart of the kingdom, we have not just inherited the kingdom, but together we are the kingdom. The realization of our individual identity in Christ is not an end in itself but rather leads us to an understanding of our identity as a community, as Scharen writes, “the aim is not to self-maximize or self-realize but to respond to God’s call to community in which a genuinely ethical and spiritual life can be lived.”[1]
Through knowing who we are and who we are to be together, we can know what we are to do as a kingdom community. God has given us the same mandate in Revelation; “…you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God, and they will reign on the earth” (5:10) as in Genesis “…fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on earth… I have given you every plant... [and] everything that has the breath of life…” (1:28-30).
The believer’s identity is as a new creation and our purpose as the kingdom community is to reign in life. As our minds are renewed to align with this truth we will find ourselves living in a way that reenacts the ministry of Christ in every area of our lives. We cannot simply focus on what we are to do as believers but on who we are in Christ for this is our primary identity. When we as believers and churches understand who God has designed us to be, we will consistently experience Kingdom mission in every area of our lives.
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