Know Yourself And Be Yourself: Identity In Christ
David and Asaph
As we think about our identity in Christ, I invite you to consider two men, David and Asaph. As you read the Psalms of these two men, you can immediately see things in common: praise, worship, and wisdom in discerning times and seasons. However, even though they share commonalities, their emphasis has striking differences. David writes many more laments than Asaph, and his psalms bear the mark of deep intimacy flowing out of his priestly heart.
Asaph does not lament as much as David but seems to have a greater emphasis on the wisdom of how the world works and the acts and judgements of God on a national level because he was a seer/prophet (2 Chronicles 29:30). Even though both were Psalmist, each one had an emphasis that was unique to them.
King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness and bowed down and worshiped. (2 Chronicles 29:30)
God`s providential dealings with David, including exposing him to Saul`s threats, extended times of facing enemies, and multiple near-death experiences, birthed unique perspectives and laments in David that Asaph would not have had. Needless to say, the Lord would have processed Asaph differently to make him a seer.
Why Does That Matter To You?
Even though we are all brothers and sisters and share a common identity in Christ as sons and daughters, the Lord will cause each of you to have a different emphasis and expression than others. That unique expression also makes up a part of your identity in Jesus. These variances in expression are primarily due to the experiences He sovereignly orchestrates in your life (both pleasant and painful) that shape you in a particular way, as well as the gifts He specifically chose to give you. (1 Corinthians 12: 10-12). They constitute a unique dimension of your identity in Christ and before God.
To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues.[b] 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. (1 Corinthians 12: 8 – 12)
It is your responsibility to come to grips with the emphasis and expression the Lord has given and is giving you. This is not so you can “find yourself” like in a Pixar movie because it’s not ultimately about you. It’s about Jesus Christ and the revelation of this Jesus to the Body and, by extension, the world at large to the glory of God the Father.
As you commit to knowing the unique expression of your identity in Christ and faithfully living into that identity, and sharing that unique emphasis of Jesus with the rest of the Body in the community, everyone gets edified. This has to happen in community because it is when everyone brings their uniqueness together that Jesus is revealed.
The Psalms needed the unique contribution of David, Asaph and even the sons of Korah to express the heart of God fully. In like manner, the church is a multi-member, diverse organism, so we need each other to see the whole Christ and grow up into the entire Christ together.
