Lesson 8 - Who We Are in Christ
Read Ephesians 2:13-22 - https://www.bible.com/bible/59/eph.2.esv

In our last lesson we read about what it meant for us to be separated from worshiping God. In our first verse today we find another “But God” when He says, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Look at the next two verses to see why the division existed. It was the Law God had given to Israel that created this division. Was the Law bad? Of course not – it was there so everyone could see that no person can ever keep the Law of God perfectly, that another solution to our sin problem had to be found. It was found and solved in Jesus Christ. God gave the Law to show what man would have to do to be able to come to God on his own. Even Israel, the nation to whom God gave that Law, couldn’t keep it. And those of us who were not of Israel were even further from that goal.

Did Jesus abolish the law of commandments by saying they were bad? No, He fulfilled every requirement of that Law for each one of us – Matthew 5:17. He paid the price for our sin with His own death. He was the sacrifice for us, the substitute to die in our place. And through that substitute death was able to bring us into a relationship with God where we could be at peace with Him.

He did this not only for the nation Israel whom God had chosen to be His people – He did it for all of us, even though we had been separated from His Law of commandments before. Galatians 3:28 tells us that all distinctions have been erased – there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither free nor slave, neither male nor female before God. That verse doesn’t mean we are no longer physically male or female. God still has a plan for us while we are in our human bodies that might mean a difference between man or woman, rich or poor, Jew or Gentile. He still places us where He wants us to serve Him, and that includes one of those distinctions. But that distinction has no power to separate us from being all that God wants us to be.

Look at the list of who we are in Christ:
*Brought near by His blood
*At peace with God
*United with other believers
*No longer subject to following that rigid Law
*Created as a new person
*Reconciled to God
*Have access to the Father
*Given citizenship in Heaven
*Members of God’s household
*Being built into God’s dwelling place

Be all that God has made you to be where you are, in the life God has made for you, knowing you are in the place where He wants you to be a beacon of light for Him. We walk together, all of us who have chosen to belong to Him.
*What brought about the division?
*The solution to our “sin problem” is _____
*How did Jesus pay the price for our sin. _____