Midweek Lenten Service- I'm being true to myself

Midweek Lenten Service 2
Feb. 24, 2010
1 Peter 1:22-25
I'm being true to myself

In the name of Jesus, amen. Identity is something that is both easy and hard to understand. And it is also something that rapidly changes. While we may think our elementary, junior high, and high school years move so slowly, we realize how quickly those years pass. And our identity during those times changes at a lightning pace. When you go to pre-school, you’re still pretty much a toddler, but by the time you reach first grade, you seem so different. In junior high you exhibit traits of childhood but also some characteristics of a teenager, maybe even a young adult. In high school we still may act childish yet are able to demonstrate the mature thinking of someone much older, often showing those qualities in the span of an hour.

We wrestle with identity, even when we think we know who we are. It used to be, in the time of our grandparents, that the vast majority of people had one employer for their career. Now people shift jobs quite frequently, sometimes by necessity, sometimes by choice. And that impacts our identity. When I worked for company A, I was this. Now I work for company D and I am this.

And if you are blessed with marriage, and if God opens the womb and wills for you to have children, what’s your identity then?

It is no longer guaranteed that we are born into our identities. The king had a son, that son would someday be king himself, but that way has really changed. Bill Gates was a college drop out. Warren Buffet wasn’t born rich. Dave Thomas was a short order cook living paycheck to paycheck in Tennessee who gambled on a KFC franchise and then turned that into the Wendy’s chain. Phil Knight took his love of running and turned that love into the Nikeworld.

Yet as things rapidly change, we often don’t know who we are. Our sermon title this evening is something frequently said by people, “I’m being true to myself.” The sad reality is that the people who are being true to themselves do not know what their true identity is. Tonight we heard Jesus say, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” The ones crucifying Jesus were being true to themselves. Judas was being true to himself. The disciples who fled when Jesus needed them most were being true to themselves. But it was the Son of God they crucified. It was the Son of God Judas betrayed. It was the Son of God they deserted. It’s a soul-searching question: who are you?

Perhaps you know who you are: you’re a Christian! We are in a Christian house of worship doing Christian things, so that answer might seem obvious. You may be bold enough to tell others that you attend Bible class and worship on a regular basis, but let’s push things a bit. How many of you are still searching for your true place in life? In our search for a sure identity, this time we live in does not help. We are constantly bombarded by all the media messages, the commercials, the self-help programs, the life-style magazines. I have a facebook page, but that’s not my true identity. I don’t post everything there. All of my facebook friends see what I want them to see. We can create our own identity, projecting what we want people to perceive of us.

And the situation gets only more terrifying with the knowledge that there are identity thieves lurking around every cyber-corner. Rebuilding a life wrecked by identity theft can be a long and costly process.

When it comes to our identity, we’re really a patchwork quilt, aren’t we? Various patches are stitched together. Through relationships, occupations, and former experiences we fabricate our identities like a patchwork quilt. A little from my parents, something from my first marriage, a little from the Bible, a little from here and a little from there. How can we say we are being true to ourselves, when we don’t know who we are? Father, forgive us, for we do not know what we do.

Peter’s teaches about identity in our lesson this evening, and the lesson is that our true identity is found in only one place, in only one man, Jesus. “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding Word of God. Hearing that we have been born again should lead us to the baptismal font. Because you are baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus your identity is changed and you are given a new identity. Your identity as condemned sinner is changed to an identity of forgiveness from Jesus Christ. Your identity of trusting no one but yourself is changed into an identity of trusting our heavenly Father who has given us an eternal salvation.

Your identity as a patchwork of all the influences upon your life is changed to one core fact: your life is bound to Jesus Christ! Our ‘Life Together’ is about our identity as children of God. We don’t have to pay for this identity. It is not earned by our hard work. God sees you and me through His Son Jesus. And when He sees you, God sees you perfectly.

Of ourselves, we’re unsure of who we are. God gives us our identity in Jesus.

Our identity in Christ is threatened. Our weekday lives are bombarded with messages of what the world wants us to be. And so much around us is here today and gone tomorrow. It does appear to be true that the only constant is change. Do you let the changes of life change who you are? Do you let the world’s purposes take you away from your true purpose? The grass withers, the flower fails, but the word of the Lord endures forever.

When Peter quotes Isaiah, Peter informs us of two constant things. Change is constant, but something else that is constant for all eternity is God’s Word. God’s Word engages our ever-changing lives so that we can live and grow into the identity to which we’ve been given in baptism. Our lives are marked with constant change, but God’s reality is marked by His Word which stands forever. Week by week the preached Word grows and strengthens your identity. Week by week the preached Word engages our lives to keep us true to who we are in Christ. Your identity, the way that God the Father views you as His child, does not change, just as God’s Word does not change.

The Father heard the Son’s words- Forgive them, for they know not what they do. And the Father has forgiven you and through His Word continues to forgive you. God does not consider you to be a jumbled up patchwork quilt made of bits and pieces. Instead, God has crafted you into a beautiful portrait- a portrait of the cross and the resurrection of Christ. That’s our identity, proclaimed by God’s Word that will stand forever.

In revealing Jesus to us, God also reveals who we are. We are called to be God’s children. We are to be true to Him through the identity He has given us. We can be sure of who we are in Christ because although all things around us wither and fade, God’s Word stands forever. We are not a patchwork quilt crafted by you or any other person. We are God’s church, a community that comes together around the Word, in the Word, to be the body of Christ. Born again of the imperishable Word, this is our “Life Together”. This is our identity. God is being true to His Word and to you. Amen.