Our true identity

222 is our true identityNowadays it is often the case that you have to make a name for yourself in order to be meaningful and important to others and yourself. It seems as if humans are in an insatiable search for identity and meaning. But Jesus already said: “Whoever finds his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39). As a church, we have learned from this truth. Since 2009 we have called ourselves Grace Communion International and this name refers to our true identity, which is based in Jesus and not in us. Let's take a closer look at this name and find out what it hides.

Grace

Grace is the first word in our name because it best describes our individual and collective journey to God in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. "Rather, we believe that by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they also" (Acts 15:11). We are "justified without merit by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24). By grace alone God (through Christ) allows us to share in his own righteousness. The Bible consistently teaches us that the message of faith is a message of God's grace (see Acts 14:3; 20:24; 20:32).

The basis of God's relationship with man has always been grace and truth. While the law was an expression of these values, God's grace itself found full expression through Jesus Christ. By the grace of God we are saved only by Jesus Christ and not by keeping the law. The law by which every man is damned is not God's last word for us. His last word for us is Jesus. He is the perfect and personal revelation of God's grace and truth that he freely gave to humanity.
Our condemnation under the law is justified and just. We do not achieve legitimate behavior out of ourselves, for God is not a prisoner of his own laws and legalities. God in us acts in divine freedom according to his will.

His will is defined by grace and redemption. The apostle Paul writes: “I do not throw away the grace of God; for if righteousness is by the law, Christ died in vain” (Galatians 2:21). Paul describes the grace of God as the only alternative that he does not want to throw away. Grace is not a thing to be weighed and measured and bargained for. Grace is the living goodness of God, through which He goes after and transforms the human heart and mind.

In his letter to the church in Rome, Paul writes that the only thing we are trying to achieve through our own effort is the wages of sin, which is death itself. That's the bad news. But there is also a particularly good one, because “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:24). Jesus is the grace of God. He is God's salvation freely given for all people.

Communion

Fellowship is the second word in our name because we have a true relationship with the Father through the Son in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. In Christ we have real fellowship with God and with each other. James Torrance put it this way: "The Triune God creates fellowship in such a way that we are only real people if we have found our identity in fellowship with him and other people." 

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in perfect fellowship and Jesus prayed that his disciples would share this relationship and that they would reflect it in the world (John 14:20; 17:23). The apostle John describes this community as deeply rooted in love. John describes this deep love as eternal communion with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. True relationship means living in communion with Christ in the love of the Father through the Holy Spirit (1. John 4: 8).

It is often said that being a Christian is a personal relationship with Jesus. The Bible uses several analogies to describe this relationship. One speaks of the relationship of the master to his slave. Deriving from this, it follows that we should honor and follow our Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus further said to his followers: “I no longer say that you are servants; for a servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have told you that you are friends; for all that I heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). Another image speaks of the relationship between a father and his children (John 1:12-13). Even the image of the bridegroom and his bride, found as early as the Old Testament, is used by Jesus (Matthew 9:15) and Paul writes about the relationship between husband and wife (Ephesians 5). The letter to the Hebrews even says that we as Christians are brothers and sisters of Jesus (Hebrews 2:11). All of these images (slave, friend, child, spouse, sister, brother) contain the idea of ​​a deep, positive, personal community with one another. But all of these are just pictures. Our Triune God is the source and truth of this relationship and community. It is a communion that he generously shares with us in his kindness.

Jesus prayed that we would be with him forever and rejoice in that goodness (John 17:24). In this prayer he invited us to live as part of the community with one another and with the Father. When Jesus ascended to heaven, he took us, his friends, into fellowship with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Paul says that through the Holy Spirit there is a way by which we sit next to Christ and are in the presence of the Father (Ephesians 2: 6). We can already experience this fellowship with God now, even if the fullness of this relationship will only become visible when Christ comes again and establishes his rulership. That is why community is an essential part of our faith community. Our identity, now and forever, is established in Christ and in the communion God shares with us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

International (International)

International is the third word in our name because our church is a very international community. We reach people across different cultural, linguistic and national boundaries - we reach people worldwide. Even though we are statistically a small community, there are communities in every American state, as well as Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands. We have more than 50.000 members in more than 70 countries that have found homes in more than 900 communities.

God has brought us together in this international community. It is a blessing that we are big enough to work together and yet small enough to be personally personal. In our community, friendships are constantly being built across national and cultural boundaries that today often divide, built and nurtured our world. That is certainly a sign of God's grace!

As a church, it is important to us to live and pass on the gospel that God has placed in our hearts. Even to experience the richness of God's grace and love motivates us to pass the good news on to other people. We want other people to enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ and share in that joy. We can not keep the gospel secret because we want everyone in the world to experience God's grace and become part of the triune community. That's the message God has given us to share with the world.

by Joseph Tkach