One of the advantages of working in a Christian school is the freedom we have to explore issues and questions from a Christian perspective. I spent much of last week preparing lessons for PSHE (Personal, Social & Health Education) on the theme of identity, only to find that Dave’s sermon on Sunday evening was on exactly the same theme! God has definitely been speaking to me this week!!
Looking at the passage from 1 Peter2:9-10, Dave tackled the ‘big questions’ of life:
1) Who am I?
2) How did I get that identity?
3) What am I here for?
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9-10)
In answer to 1), Dave reminded us:
a) that we are chosen by God – not because of our colour, culture or creed, but simply because God chooses us (John 15:16) It’s always an amazing thought to think that the Creator of Heaven and earth chose us!
b) that we have received mercy from God – we have been pitied; we have been the recipients of God’s kindness
c) that we are the people of God; we belong to Him. We are not only chosen and pitied, but possessed by God (2 Cor 6:16)
d) that we are a holy nation, set apart for God’s purposes.
e) that we are a royal priesthood, having immediate access to God.
In answer to 2), our identity fundamentally is given to us by God. Who we are is rooted in who God is. God gave us our identity.
In answer to 3), Dave showed that our identity leads to our destiny and our destiny is that we may declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into this wonderful light. Our identity is to make known God’s identity. Our identity is not an end in itself, but a means to making God’s fame known wherever we go.
Perhaps because I have been meditating on this theme all week, perhaps because of Dave’s gifting as a preacher, I found this sermon truly inspiring. I have been wrestling with the pressures of work for weeks now (you probably guessed that from the ‘Thought for the Day’ post!), and the conclusion I reached after much prayer was simple: ‘our identity must always be rooted in who we are, not in what we do’. That’s not to say that our actions are not important, because they are. But, as so often, first things first. We must know who we are before we work, otherwise all our effort tends to be in vain.
And, again as is typical for me, as Dave was preaching, the words of a song were running through my head: ‘I am chosen, I am free, I am living for eternity’. Tim Hughes’s song ‘Holding Nothing Back’ captures what was preached so effectively that I am reproducing the words here:
I am chosen, I am free,
I am living for eternity
Free now forever
You picked me up, turned me around
You set my feet on solid ground
Yours now forever
And nothing’s gonna hold me back
Nothing’s gonna hold me back
Nothing’s gonna hold me back
My chains fell off
My heart was free
I’m alive to live for you
I’m alive to live for you
Amazing Love, how can it be?
You give everything for me
You give everything for me
Everything
You washed my sin and shame away
The slate is clean: a brand new day,
Free now forever
Now boldly I approach your throne
To claim this crown through Christ my own
Yours now forever