Our identity should never be discovered, thought about, and lived out through an individualist lens.

“Modern secular culture tells its school children that they individually choose their identity—they define who they are. This is a late modern western view, begun with the individualism of the Enlightenment, intensified by Freud and producing what C. Taylor calls the autonomous or ‘buffered’ self. In most of Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, identity is conceived in far more communal and relational ways, and the secular western approach is seen as profoundly anti-social” –Tim Keller

Psalm 68:6 – God places the lonely in families

Matthew 12:48-50 – Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!”

Acts 13:2-3 – One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.” So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way.

Luke 10:1 – The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit.

Galatians 1:18 – Then three years later I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter, and I stayed with him for fifteen days. 

Galatians 2:2 – While I was there I met privately with those considered to be leaders of the church and shared with them the message I had been preaching to the Gentiles. I wanted to make sure that we were in agreement, for fear that all my efforts had been wasted and I was running the race for nothing.

1 Corinthians 12:18 – But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. 

Colossians 1:18 – Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body.

1 Corinthians 12:27 – All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.

Ephesians 4:16 – He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

1 Peter 2:4-5 – You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple…and you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple.

1 Corinthians 3:16 – Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?

Ephesians 2:19-21 –  You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 

1 Peter 2:5 – Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.

1 Peter 2:9-10 – For you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people.

Revelations 21:2 – And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

Revelation 19:7 – Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready.

Ephesians 5:31-32 – As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.