Intimacy with Christ – Our Real Identity

“that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us;

and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.” – 1 John 1:3-4

We were made for relationship with God; designed, by the Creator, for holy fellowship. Woven within the fabric of every human heart is the thread of Divine intimacy. To be human is to be created in the image of our amazing God, to possess the knowledge of His existence and the longing for His Presence in the deepest places of our being. He lovingly crafts us within the womb and bestows on every life an eternal soul. He has given us the revelation of His glory and goodness everywhere we look. This is His Divine invitation: to know and believe Him, experience Him, be loved by Him. Fellowship with our Creator defines our identity.

He has designed us for a relationship with Himself and we will only understand who we are when we are rightly connected to Him. There is endless, soul-fulfilling joy in walking intimately with our Maker! This joy flows from the very nature of God; He is perfectly and joyfully complete within Himself-lacking nothing. He loves from the heart of His own perfection. He invites us into a relationship with Him out of the overflow of His life, because He IS Life. He expressed His delight in creation by joyfully declaring everything He had made, good. 

“And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” – Genesis 1:31.

Then entered sin, killing the perfection of creation and destroying the relational intimacy that God had intended with Adam and Eve. Their sinful rebellion against the Life-Giver resulted in death: 

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” – Romans 5:12

“For the wages of sin is death.” – Romans 6:23. 

Sin destroyed the fellowship that man and God enjoyed and spread its poison throughout all other interpersonal relationships. Ever since the Fall, instead of enjoying life-giving, abundant relationships through rightly relating with God, one another, and even self, we taste the sorrow and pain of sin and death at work, both in us and around us, on a daily basis. Broken marriages, strained parent/child relationships, sibling rivalry, abuse, loneliness, fear, pride, rebellion, anger, isolation, racism, greed, envy, gossip, discontentment, the list is endless. At the core, even our most basic sense of personal identity is falsely formed because we are not in right relationship with the One Who created and defines us. 

Relationship with our Creator forms the foundation for our sense of identity. When Adam and Eve sinned in Genesis 3, they immediately hid from the presence (relational nearness) of God.

“And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ And he said, ‘I heard the sound of You in the garden and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.’ – Genesis 3:8-10

Do you notice Adam’s response after sin enters the relationship? They knew the Presence of the Holy God was surrounding them and this led to an overwhelming awareness of their sin. This awareness of their sin left them vulnerable, causing them to fear, and fear caused them to hide. Their fear and shame convinced them to hide from the only One Who could restore them. In that moment of disobedience to God, their identity became corrupted; defined by what they had done, not Who they belonged to. This false identity, wrapped up in the packaging of sinful nature, has been passed on through Adam’s seed, to every human being and the same cycle is constantly repeated: sin leads to fear, fear produces shame and causes us to hide from the One Who loves us most. Yet, notice God’s first question to Adam isn’t “What did you do?”, but rather, God asks, “Where are you?” He didn’t ask the question because He didn’t know, for He knows all things, but, I believe, He asked the question because they needed to acknowledge the relational condition they were in. No longer were they in life-giving, identity-defining, joyful fellowship with their Maker. They were separated from Him – covered in shame and fig leaves.

Did they really believe that fig leaves would heal the wretched, soul-sick vulnerability that they were feeling in that moment? Would the external, verdant cloth be sufficient to wash away an internal, crimson stain? Would the temporary wrapping of a leaf, plucked from a branch, give eternal covering for their shame? Of course, we know the answer to that question. True healing must begin from the inside out. Yet, we fall prey to the very same lie. We attempt to cover the pain of our sin with insufficient means of atonement. We turn to substitutes that, not only fail at healing what is broken within us, but that also leave us separated from the Lord. Overeating, alcohol, drugs, sex, shopping, relationships, hobbies, workouts, entertainment, work, even religious activities; while many of these are not inherently wrong, when we use them to try to cover the real, spiritual need, they will fail every time – leaving us more desperate than before.

What about you? Where are you relationally with the LORD? Are you hiding behind a substitute remedy in order to heal your deeper need? Are you clinging to something that will end up crumbling and leaving you bound in shame and still separated from the One Who loves you most?

God could have left Adam and Eve alone in their guilt and shame, but He didn’t. He sought them out in relational pursuit. There, in the Garden, He called their names. Sin had broken their fellowship with Him. Yes, they had disobeyed, and their sin would be dealt with, but God’s merciful desire to restore them to Himself was evident. He provided a substitutionary atonement for them by killing an animal, shedding its blood, instead of theirs, and using its skin to make coverings for them (Genesis 3:21). When He pronounced the curse of sin and the consequences of it, (Genesis 3:14-19) God also made a promise – revealing His love and mercy even in the devastation of sin’s penalty. He made a promise to save, redeem, heal, and restore the relationship between man and Himself that sin had destroyed. He promised to send a Savior!

John’s words in 1 John 1:3-4 declare the hope of relational restoration in Christ!

“That which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.”

Adam and Eve had experienced God in this beautifully personal way as they walked and talked with Him in the Garden before their sin separated them from His Presence. God’s promised Messiah would restore what sin had broken.

When the angel announced the Savior’s birth to the shepherds, he said, 

“‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news (euangelizō = Gospel) of great joy that will be for all the people…” – Luke 2:10

Let’s consider the words God commanded the angel to speak in that moment: 

“Good News” (euangelizo) = the Gospel! God was declaring to the world, through these heavenly messengers, the Gospel of His love, mercy, grace and forgiveness in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ. 

Not only was this news exciting, it was “great” (megas)! This news was, and still is, the fulfillment of God’s Genesis 3 promise; it is exceedingly abundant, joy-producing news! The kind of joy that is greater in weight and measure than anything we have ever heard or experienced!

The Gospel is God’s Good news from Heaven; Christ came in the flesh! God reached from the glory of Heaven’s throne, into the dank and dark sewers of man’s sin in order to perform a rescue mission that would result in life for all who would believe Him and put their trust in Him. 

Light stepped into darkness. Life entered into death and overcame it! God walked among us in order to bring us back to Himself. The Savior of the World left the glory of heaven’s throne, put on flesh, lived a sinless life, was crucified, taking the weight of our sin and shame, was buried, and raised again – leaving death defeated and the power of sin and hell conquered! The infinite chasm that divided sinful man from holy God was bridged with the cross of Christ.

Fellowship with God is, once again, made possible through the blood of Christ. Identity can be redeemed. Relationships can be restored. Lives can be re-written with the pen and ink of mercy and grace. 

When Christ shed His precious, perfect, blood for you and for me on the cross of Calvary, He declared, “It is finished!” He completed everything necessary in order to restore our fellowship with God. He completely bought back the rights to our lives and now extends His offer of forgiveness, mercy, and personal relationship to all who come to Him in faith. Faith is choosing to believe God, more than what our eyes can see; Not a simple, mental agreement, but a belief that results in conviction and commitment. Our justification  before a Holy and Righteous God is finished! When we accept Jesus Christ in faith, God assigns to us Christ’s own righteousness, acceptance, and approval, so that you and I can be transformed into His likeness! There is nothing more that anyone can do to make God more pleased with Christ’s sacrifice or with those His blood has covered: 

“For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the Gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all of creation under heaven…” – Colossians 1:19-23 (ESV)

John goes on to write in 1 John 1:4,

  “We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.” 

The Gospel message produces joy, because the Gospel is LIFE! When we share the Good News of Jesus Christ, we are sharing Life. We are sharing in the joyful heart of God as we  proclaim to a lost and dying world that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life! (John 14:10) 

Jesus, for the joy of redemption and the delight of bringing glory to the Father, finished the work the Father had given Him to do. (Hebrews 12:2) It is His joy to forgive and reconcile sinners to the heart of God. When we proclaim the Gospel, we enter into His joy! He came to seek and save the lost. (Luke 19:10) He, like a merchant in search of fine pearls, left all of heaven’s glory behind, to bring us into relationship with Him.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” – Matthew 13:45-46.

You and I are of infinite value to the King. When we accept Christ by God’s gift of faith, we receive the full acceptance of God through Him. To be in Christ, is to be fully known, fully loved, fully accepted, fully approved, and fully restored to relationship with our Creator!

“that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.” – 1 John 1:3-4

So, friend, whatever insufficient means you are hiding behind today, God is inviting you to respond to His call, “Where are you?” Come out of the shadows of your sin and brokenness into the healing, restoring, Light of God’s Presence. Walk in faith and fellowship with Him and in the identity He has declared for you. There is no sin too great that His blood is not enough to cover. He is not calling you to a life of pleasure in this temporary world; He is calling you to a life of eternal purpose defined by the weight and worth of His infinite love! Will you respond?