To the saints and faithful brethren who are in Colosse, in Christ.”
Colossians 1:2
Someone has said that most of our problems as followers of Christ stem from the fact that we sometimes forget who we are in Christ Jesus. We're studying the book of Colossians in our Wednesday night Bible study and in v. 2 Paul addresses his letter “To the saints and faithful brethren who are in Colosse, in Christ” (v.2)
That word "saint" is such a profound word and we so often overlook the meaning and power of it. We don’t typically refer to people using that title to identify them. "Saint" isn’t something we typically put on our business cards - “George Miller, Saint of God”. We don’t even use it when referring to people in the church, fellow believers. We use the term “Christian” which is not a common term in the Bible, in fact it is only used 3 times in the New Testament. Saint, on the other hand, is used over 60 times in the NT to refer to the people of God. The root word is used more than 200 times and it means “to be holy, to be set apart, to be sanctified.”
This word has has to do with identity in Christ. Saints are those people who have been saved by God, have been set apart by God, who have been made holy by God. This is not usually how we identify people, even people in the church, is it? There is another word the Bible uses and it is the one we most often gravitate toward when describing people including ourselves... "sinners." We most often describe ourselves as sinners, because that’s how we see ourselves, even those of us who are saved. We often say it this way, “I’m just a sinner saved by grace…” And while technically that’s true, the Bible doesn’t generally identify followers of Christ that way - the Bible identifies us as saints of God.
This is so important because your identity or how you see yourself determines how you will act. If you see yourself as a sinner, even a sinner saved by grace, you will have a propensity to continue to sin and excuse yourself and say, “that’s just who I am. I don’t have a choice but to be this way because... I'm just a sinner.” But when you are saved by Christ, you are set free from the power of sin - you are set apart, sanctified, made holy by Christ; you are a new creature in Christ, old things have passed away behold all things become new. You are a saved sinner, and that makes you a saint in Christ Jesus. And when you see yourself as a saint in Christ, you will begin to live out who you really are.
The key is, “in Christ” - you are a saint in Christ. That is who you are, not because of what you have done or are doing, but because of what Christ has done and is doing in you. You have to know who you are in order to be rightly aligned to the truth of Christ. Sinner describes who you were, but saint describes who you are, and who you are becoming. In Christ, you are becoming less of who you were (sinner) and more of who you are (saint in Christ.)
There is a saying circulating on the internet: "The devil knows your name, but calls you by your sin. God knows your sin, but calls you by your name." Satan, the "accuser" condemns you because of what you have done, but Jesus forgives you because of what HE has done, and He calls you not just by your name, but by His name... and that makes you a "saint in Christ." Never let the enemy tell you that you are just a sinner, when the word of God calls you a saint.
Join us each Wednesday night at 7:00pm at Grace Point Baptist Church as we study through the book of Colossians.
