7-28-13 Sermon "Why Baptize Infants"

You can listen to today's sermon by clicking here.

 

WHY BAPTIZE INFANTS?  Deuteronomy 10:12-22                        07-28-13 Sermon

¹² And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

¹⁴ To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. ¹⁵ Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today. ¹⁶ Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. ¹⁷ For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. ¹⁸ He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. ¹⁹ And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. ²⁰ Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. ²¹ He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. ²² Your ancestors who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Today we are going to be doing baptisms in a creek for some adults and children so I thought I would speak today on the subject of baptism. And I would like to begin by speaking about infant baptism, which is probably the most common kind of baptism that we do as United Methodists. 

When we ask ourselves the question, Why Baptize Infants?, the real underlying question is:  How does a person become a member of the family of God?  It is not enough to start from the proof texts in Scripture on baptism and attempt to derive a doctrine from them.  You cannot simply turn to a concordance and look at all the verses on baptism and expect to find the full biblical teaching on baptism.

What we need to do is to investigate the more basic matter of how a person becomes part of the people of God.  Or, under the Old Covenant, in Old Testament times, how did people come into the family of God’s people?  And for this we go back into the Old Testament to the book of Genesis.  In Genesis 17, we read that the Lord appeared to Abram and told him again of His covenant and that there would be two signs of the covenant.  One would be that Abram’s name would be changed from Abram to Abraham, for he would become the father of many nations.  The purpose of the covenant was that God was taking out of the world a people to be his very own.  God made a holy people unto himself.  He would be their God and they would be his people.  This covenant is repeated throughout the Old Testament and actually continues right to the present.

It is God that initiated the covenant.  Abraham merely responds to the call of God.  But although God initiated the covenant, it was something to be kept by Abraham.  We need to know what is meant by keeping the covenant.  We read in Genesis 17 this is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you, every male among you shall be circumcised.  This shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.  In verse 10 circumcision is stated to be the covenant.  In verse 11 it is spoken of as being the sign of the covenant.  The connection between circumcision and God taking these people to be his own is a very intimate one.  And so important is this sign that without it a man was not to be numbered among the people of God. 

The covenant sign of circumcision was a sign that God had chosen these children.  Circumcision did not mean anything about the children themselves.  That is, it didn’t tell you anything about them other than the fact that they had been chosen by God and that they had received the sign of the covenant.  In verse 14, we read that any uncircumcised male shall be cut off from his people, he has broken the covenant.  So intimate is the connection between circumcision as the sign of the covenant, and the covenant itself that to refuse the sign was to cut off oneself from the people of God and to break the covenant.

So, how was a person admitted to the people of God in the Old Covenant, during Old Testament times?  They were admitted by receiving the sign of the covenant.  From the moment a child was circumcised, throughout the entire course of the child’s life, he was marked as an inheritor of all of the blessings of the covenant. 

Now, I think it should be obvious to us that the mere fact that a child was circumcised at the age of 8 days is no guarantee at all that this child would grow up to know or love or sere the Lord.  But the point is that the child was considered a child of God from the very moment that he received the sign of circumcision. 

Though there was this external sign there was also an internal aspect to belonging to God and in Deuteronomy chapter 10 we read about that.  We might ask ourselves, What is it that God wants of his people here?  And in verse 12 we read, fear him, love him, serve him and obey him.  Now again, a child receiving circumcision at 8 days had no guarantee whatever that he would grow up to do any of these things.  In verse 16 we read, circumcise your hearts and be no longer stubborn.  The word circumcise there is obviously used in a spiritual sense. We have both physical circumcision and spiritual circumcision.  There is a circumcision of the body and there is a circumcision of the heart.  And, in fact, John Wesley preached a sermon titled: Circumcision of the Heart.

Now Paul puts this all together in a very beautiful way in Romans 2:28.  He writes:  for he is not a real Jew which is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something that is external and physical.  He is a Jew who is one inwardly and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal.  Being a real Jew in the sight of God is a matter of an inward spiritual condition.  It is not a matter of just having received the external sign.

You may be wondering, Well, what about the women?  That’s a good question.  Under the Old Covenant, the wives and daughters were included in the covenant through their husbands and fathers.  Like it or not, God dealt with them through the men back then.  One of the differences between the old and new covenants is right at this point.  Jesus broke down the distinctions between men and women so that we all now stand before God as individuals.  So Paul wrote there is now no Greek or Jew, male or female, slave or free, we are all one in Christ Jesus. 

Who, then, is a real Jew?  Not one who’s circumcision is merely external and physical, but one whose circumcision is spiritual and of the heart.

Now, here is where church history comes into play.  You will remember that the first Christians were almost all Jews.  They already understood the principle of belonging to God.  They already had an idea of being called out to be God’s people in a special way.  They already knew about the covenant. 

How, then, were they to conceive of becoming Christians?  If you change the word Jew to Christian in the Romans 2 passage, and if you change the word circumcision to baptism you have the exact understanding of the early church in reference to the matter of baptism.  That Romans passage would then read: 

For he is not a real Christian who is one outwardly, nor is true baptism something external and physical.  He is a Christian who is one inwardly and real baptism is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal. 

So, becoming a child of God under the old covenant had an outward aspect and an inward aspect, and it is still the same today.  Baptism for Christians is like circumcision to the Jews under the old covenant.  It is an outward sign of our belonging to God, and from the moment that the child is baptized he is considered a member of the People of God, just as from the moment that the child was circumcised he was considered a member of the people of God in the Old Covenant.

To be baptized and to be circumcised is to become an inheritor of the covenant promises.  But here is a very important point--whether or not you actually enter into that inheritance depends not on circumcision or baptism but upon personal faith.  It was ever so even among the Hebrews.  It was not merely that they were circumcised that guaranteed the whole thing.  That was merely a sign that God had chosen them.  But they had to respond to God in faith, trust and obedience, choosing him. 

So the New Testament says that Abraham was saved through faith.  He was not saved through circumcision.  The same thing must be said of Christians.  Baptism is not a saving sacrament, if by that you mean that after the child has been baptized, that is all there is to it.  It does not guarantee that the child will go to heaven when he grows up.  There is no place in the New Testament where that is taught.  All the way through the New Testament people become children of God in fact through faith and trusting in Jesus Christ.  They are not saved by having water put upon them. 

What does it mean then to baptize a child?  It means the same thing that circumcision did.  God has chosen this child as his own.  And the child becomes heir to all the promises of God.  But whether or not he will ever receive those promises depends upon his coming to faith and being restored or inwardly cleansed and washed by the Holy Spirit. 

Under the old covenant it was the responsibility of both the community of faith and the parents to bring that child to the place where he understood what his circumcision meant so that at some point in his life he could stand up and say, I accept these responsibilities and privileges for myself.  In the Old Covenant that was at the Bar Mitzvah.

Under the new covenant it is precisely the same thing.  God has selected us as his own.  And it is the responsibility of the believing community, the church, and the parents, to bring that child up under the ministry and guidance of the church, whereby the child will accept for himself the gift of salvation, where the child will accept Jesus Christ into his life, and begin to live his life under the Lordship of Jesus.

Now you need to know that this view of baptism that I have given you was universally held in the Christian church for its first 1600 years, everywhere.  The question of the baptism of infants was not even an issue in the church because children had always been a part of the covenant.  The idea that children were not part of the covenant was unthinkable to the Jew and the vast majority of the first believers in the Christian church were Jews. 

However, in the 16^th century, there were a group of people in Europe who began to look around themselves and say--This entire continent has been baptized and where do we see true saving faith?  These people correctly understood that to be a child of God in fact rather than in name only was to come to believing faith in Jesus Christ.  They clearly understood that.  It is not enough to be baptized as an infant.  There have probably been countless thousands and maybe millions of people who have been baptized as infants and who have been led to believe that that’s all there is to it.  And they have never come to personal faith in Jesus Christ. 

So these people in Europe said, Wouldn’t it be better if we didn’t baptize them as infants?  Why don’t we wait until they grow up?  Bring them to personal faith in Christ and then baptize them.  Now, please understand very clearly that the suggestion they were making was not based on scripture or on the 1600 years of the history of the church up to that point.  If you go back and read what they wrote at the time they did not say Well, that’s the way it was done in the early church because it clearly was not what was done in the early church.  They also did not argue that this is what the Bible says.  They did not.  It was purely an argument from expediency.  Their thinking was Wouldn’t you have more true believers in the church if you brought them to faith first and then baptized them? So, this view came to be called believer’s baptism. 

Now more modern proponents of the believer’s baptism view will say, Show me a single case where there is an infant baptism in the New Testament.   Well, there are two responses to that.  First of all, we need to remember that the New Testament is recording a missionary situation, where the gospel is first preached in a place.  And, of course, when the gospel is first preached in a place it is preached largely to adults, and adults come to faith first and then they are baptized.  And that same thing is done today.  When adults who have never been baptized come to faith, they are baptized.  That is still the practice of all the Christian churches, including ours. 

The question of baptizing infants doesn’t even arise until you get to the second generation after the New Testament where the church is faced with children raised in Christian homes and under the influence and guidance of the church.  And that is just where that question arose in church history.  Christian believers who had children began to ask, Now that we are Christians, how do we regard our children?  Are they pagans, and outside the family of God until they grow up and come to faith?  And the church said, Absolutely not!  Children have always been a part of the covenant right from the very beginning.  Jesus himself said, Let the children come to me, do not hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of God.  If the kingdom of God belongs to such children then why should they be refused the sign of membership in that kingdom?

We need also to recognize that there are a few instances of baptism in the New Testament that very well may have involved the baptism of infants or young children.  When Lydia believed, Acts 16:15 tells us that she and the members of her household were baptized.  When the Philippian jailer believed, in Act 16:33 we read that he and all his family were baptized.  And we are told by Paul in 1 Corinthains 1:16 that he baptized the household of Stephanus.  Why should we assume that there were no children in these whole households?  It is certainly possible that these family baptisms included infants or young children. 

As we witnessed the baptism of infants we need to be reminded of our role in that baptism as a church.  Parents promise before God and the congregation to live a life of faith before their children so they are introduced to Jesus Christ naturally.  And we as a congregation promise to raise our children under the ministry and guidance of the church, which means regular worship, Sunday school and bible study attendance.  We as a congregation promise to provide an atmosphere of faith and dedication to Christ so these little ones entrusted to our care will grow up wanting to know our Savior.

When I was a pastor in Philadelphia I would regularly get calls from people in the community, not connected with our church, who would say, I need to have my baby done!  That always made me rather uncomfortable because it sounded so much like taking your cat or dog to the Vet to have them “done.”

Some people, especially if they have Roman Catholic influences in their family history, wonder if an unbaptized baby dies will it go to hell or limbo or some other place like that.  So they would want to have their baby “done”, spiritually “fixed”, you might say, so if the baby died, the baby would go to heaven. 

And we say, No, we believe that if an unbaptized infant dies they go to be with Jesus in heaven.  We do not believe that God would send anyone to hell who could not understand the nature of sin.  We do not believe that there is any rush to get a baby baptized in order to guarantee them a place in heaven. 

We do NOT believe that baptism makes the infant a Christian.  Baptism is a sign that they are part of the FAMILY of God, but the infant who is baptized must come to a time in his/her life when he/she accepts for himself/herself the gift of salvation and CHOOSES to follow Jesus as their own Lord and Savior.  This is clearly stated in the baptism service where parents promise to nurture this child in Christ’s Holy Church that by their teaching and example they may be guided to accept God’s grace for themselves, to profess their faith openly, and to lead a Christian life.  The infant baptism is done on the basis of the parents’ faith and promise, and on the promises of a congregation, but it is only fulfilled when the child comes to faith themselves.  Infant baptism is a decision that parents make for a child.  Becoming a Christian is not a decision that anyone can make for someone else.  You can only decide on that yourself.  That is why in the United Methodist church we have two membership rolls—we have baptized members and we have professing members.

Baptism is not just a one day service, but the beginning of a life long commitment.  It is a statement about how parents intend to raise a child.  And it is a statement by the members of a church about what they will do for those parents and that child.

I return to the question that is the title of this morning’s message—why baptize infants?  Indeed, as parents, why baptize infants if you are not going to raise them in Christ’s holy church and live before them a Christian life?  Indeed, as a church, why baptize infants, if we will not live according to the example of Christ, if we will not surround them with a community of love and forgiveness, and if we will not pour our hearts out in prayer for each other?  Why baptize infants?

On the other hand, we baptize infants because we recognize that, like Horton says in Horton Hears a Who, “a person’s a person no matter how small.”  And an infant may be small right now, but he/she is of infinite value in God’s sight.  Jesus died for that infant.  God has great plans for that infant’s life that were formed while that infant was still in his mother’s womb.  And we baptize infants because we want to say, God we want to see you fulfill ALL those great plans for this child, and we want to help this child along the path, and we want to be a part of those great plans you have for this child. 

Now today after the service we will be doing a creek baptism for some adults and older children who have never been baptized.  And on such occasions the request often comes up—I was baptized as an infant and of course I have no recollection of that.  I would like to be re-baptized in a creek as an adult. 

Well, in the United Methodist church we don’t do that.  And, in fact, United Methodist pastors are specifically forbidden to do that.  And here’s why.  If you were baptized as a child, some parents and sometimes some godparents or sponsors, as well as a whole church congregation all made promises before God about how you would be raised and about the Christian environment that would be provided for you to grow to the point where you would commit your life to following Jesus Christ.   God heard those promises that were made and the fact that you are where you are today, spiritually, is testimony to the fact that, over the years since your baptism, God has moved in your life to bring you to faith in Christ and to enable you to grow as his disciple.  As United Methodists we believe that when we ask God to bless and move in a person’s life at their baptism he hears and responds to that prayer.  To re-baptize you would be to say that those promises made long ago didn’t matter, that they had no effect on your life, and that God did not honor those promises or move in your life since then. 

In the Old Testament as an adult came to a time of renewed faith in God, they did not ask to be re-circumcised, even if that were physically possible.  But they did something else.  In our scripture of the morning it talked about people circumcising their hearts.  And in Jeremiah 9:26 the prophet complains that that the whole nation of Israel is not circumcised in their hearts.  So, even back then, it was appropriate at a time of renewed faith to remember their circumcision and reaffirm their covenant with God, to say, Yes, I am glad I am part of the family of God.  I thank God for what he has done in my life.  I thank God for his faithfulness to me.  I recommit my life to following him more faithfully here on out—or like our scripture this morning says:  to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees.

So, as United Methodists, we don’t re-baptize people, but we do offer a time for reaffirming our faith, and renewing the covenant declared at our baptism.  We give opportunity to acknowledge what God is doing for us and to reaffirm our commitment to his holy church.  So as part of our baptism service this morning, we will also offer those of you who have been baptized, to come forward and have us make the sign of the cross on your forehead with water, as a time of re-commitment and thankfulness to God for what he has done in your life. 

7-21-13 Sermon

I'm sorry there's no audio of this week's sermon. The operator forgot to hit "record" (that would be me, Peggi).

LEARNING MY TRUE IDENTITY IN CHRIST

Creating a Positive ID – Part 5

07-21-13 Sermon

1 Peter 2:9-10

“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.”                 

GOD’S VIEW OF ME: In Christ...

1.             I AM_____________________________________________________

            “You have been CHOSEN by God himself!”  1 Pet. 2:9 (LB)

·      BECAUSE________________________________________________

“He chose us in him before the creation of the world, to be holy and blameless in his sight by his love.” Eph. 1:4

·      BECAUSE________________________________________________

       “Jesus treated us much better than we deserve. He made us acceptable to God and gave us the hope of eternal life.”  Titus 3:7 (CEV)

             

2.  I AM            ______________________________________________________

            “You are a HOLY nation, a people BELONGING to God!” 1 Peter 2:9

“You are a people holy to the Lord your God... his treasured possession.”  Deut. 7:6 (NIV)

“God says, ‘You are precious to me.’”  Isa. 43:4 (TEV)

·      BECAUSE________________________________________________

            “Look at the birds... God feeds them and you are far more valuable to Him than any birds!”              Luke 12:24 (NLT)

·      BECAUSE________________________________________________

            "You have been bought and paid for by Christ, so you belong to him..."    1 Cor. 7:23 (LB)

3.  I AM             ______________________________________________________

            “Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.”              1 Peter 2:10                                   

      "I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.”  Jeremiah 31:3 (NLT)

·      BECAUSE________________________________________________

            “God’s love is eternal and his faithfulness lasts forever.”            Psalm 100:5 (TEV)

4. I AM            ______________________________________________________

            “At one time you did not know God's mercy, but now you have received his mercy.”                                    1 Peter 2:10 (TEV)

            “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”            Rom. 8:1

·      BECAUSE________________________________________________

“I am the God who forgives your sins, and I do this because of who I am. I will not hold your sins against you.” Isa. 43:25 (TEV)

·      BECAUSE________________________________________________

       “For by the blood of Christ we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God!”   Eph. 1:7 (TEV)

5. I AM             ______________________________________________________

       “You are royal priests ... chosen to tell about the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”  1 Peter 2:9 (NCV)

“The capacity we have comes from God; it is he who made us capable of serving the new covenant…”       2 Cor. 3:5-6 (TEV)

·      BECAUSE________________________________________________

“I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.”  Phil. 4:13

How should my identity affect how I act?

Rom. 15:7, 1 Pet. 2:17, Col. 3:12, Eph. 4:32, Heb. 13:6

LEARNING MY TRUE IDENTITY IN CHRIST

Creating a Positive ID – Part 5

07-21-13 Sermon

We’re continuing in this series we’ve been doing this summer on Creating a Positive ID. 

Satan is trying to keep you from knowing your true identity?  How does Satan do this?  He uses a lot of different tools.  One of the tools he uses is the opinions of other people.  Satan uses hurt and he uses pain in your life to deceive you and to disguise your true identity.  Satan uses the media.  He uses culture.  Satan puts thoughts in your mind. 

If all these tools are being used against me to conceal who God really made me to be –– how do I know the real me?  How do I know the true me, who God made me to be? 

We can go back to the famous seventeenth century philosopher, Blasé Pascal.  Pascal said this: “Not only do we know God through Jesus Christ, but we only know ourselves through Jesus Christ.  We only know life and death through Jesus Christ.  Apart from Jesus we cannot know the meaning of our life, the meaning of our death, the meaning of God, or the meaning of ourselves.  It is only in Christ.”

This phrase “in Christ” is used about a hundred forty times in the Bible.  We are said to be in Christ.  It’s the most used term to describe a disciple, a believer, somebody in the family of God.  The word “Christian” is only used a couple times in the Bible.  Instead of the word Christian the Bible says you are in Christ. 

And about thirty-five of those times in the Bible God says, Because you’re in Christ, here is your true identity, here’s who you were made to be.  Here’s the real you.  Today what we’re going to do is we’re going to look at the five finger prints of your true identity. 

1 Peter 2:9-10 says this “You are [he’s talking about your identity] 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, [in other words you had no identity] but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”                          

I want you to circle five of the identity marks of your life when you are in Christ.  First, you’re chosen.  Circle that.  You’re a chosen people.  Two, You’re a royal priesthood.  Circle that.  Three, You’re holy.  You’re a holy nation.  Circle the word “holy”.  You are a people belonging to God.  Circle that.  Later on in the verse he says it again.  You are the people of God.  Then finally, the fifth thing he says is, You have received mercy.

I want us to consider the deep meaning of each of these because they’re packed with significance on who God created you to be.

Here’s the first thing that’s true about you in Christ.

1.    I am completely accepted.

I am completely accepted.  This is vital to know in my life and your life because we all have wounds; we all have struggles in our life.  Some of the deepest wounds in our lives often come from rejection.  We’ve all been rejected – some of us more, some of us less – in our families, in our office situation, in a school situation, sometimes in the church.  You’ve been rejected by a friend; you’ve been rejected by somebody that you loved. 

That rejection causes a deep wound.  Out of that we try to solve that wound by finding acceptance in our lives.  We try to find acceptance from parents, we try to find it from friends, we try to find it from work.  But many times we base it on how well we’re doing rather than starting with what God has said about us. 

Being chosen, the flip side to that, is a good thing.  It makes you feel good when you’re chosen by somebody to love you, when you’re chosen for promotion at work.  When you’re chosen for some kind of a reward.  Or just chosen and somebody says, Atta boy!  Atta girl.  You can run a week or a month sometimes on that feeling of acceptance.

I’ve got some good news for you.  You don’t have to chase after this feeling of acceptance the rest of your life from other people and other things.  Because God gives it to you.  The Bible says in 1 Peter 2:9 “You have been chosen by God himself!”  That’s where you start.  That is the truth about you.  That is your identity.  In Christ this is the truth about you.  That’s your fingerprint.  You can count on the fact, I am chosen by God himself.

How do I know this?  If I don’t feel it, how am I going to be convinced on what I don’t feel?  Two things that will begin to let you know how deeply God has chosen you. 

·      One, because God chose me before everything. 

        

That’s why I’m completely acceptable.  Before everything God chose me.  Ephesians 1:4 says “He chose us in him before the creation of the world, to be holy and blameless in his sight by his love.”  

Just think about this with me for a minute. Just let this blow your mind for a just a minute. Before everything God chose you in Christ.  Before God chose to make the oceans, he chose you.  Before God chose to make this planet, he chose you.  Before God chose to make the solar system, he chose you.  Before God chose to allow the sun to burst into existence, he chose you.  Before God spread the galaxies of stars across this universe, he chose you.  Before all of it he decided, I’m going to choose to love you.  That’s how deep God’s acceptance is of you. 

There’s another way I can know. 

·      I can know also because Jesus has made me acceptable. 

Jesus made me acceptable.  Titus 3:7 “Jesus treated us much better than we deserve.  [He certainly treated me better than I deserve.]  He made us acceptable to God and he gave us the hope of eternal life.” 

You might circle in that verse the words “made us” and “gave us.”  That’s where acceptance comes from.  If you’re trying to get acceptance from God like you try to get it from everybody else by chasing after it, by trying to earn it, you’re never going to get there because it’s a gift and can only be received as a gift.  Jesus made us acceptable.  So stop trying to perform your way into acceptance by God because it’s not based on performance.  The acceptance that God gives, he gives it as a gift. 

And that’s where you start, that’s where your identity starts.  Realizing I am acceptable to God.  I’m completely accepted.  That’s the first fingerprint.  The second is…

2.    I’m extremely valuable. 

This is better even than even acceptance.  We all want to be accepted.  But we want more than acceptance.  We want to be valued.  So God says I don’t just accept you; I value you.  You’re not just completely accepted; you’re extremely valuable.  In fact, you are priceless.

Peter’s second description of your true identity is this.  He says “You are a holy nation and a people belonging to God!”  Circle “holy” and “belonging” because both of those words imply extreme value. 

You are holy.  What does “holy” mean?  It means you’re valuable.  When we talk about the Holy Bible, it’s extremely valuable.  When we talk about the Holy Land, the Holy City, the holy sepulcher, the Holy of Holies.  Anything that is holy is considered more than normal.  It’s unusual.  It’s extremely valuable.  And God says you… your true identity is you’re holy.  To God you are extremely valuable to God.  You’re not just acceptable; you are valuable.  And your value is to the extreme in that you are priceless. 

What is it that makes something valuable?  There are a couple of things.

The first thing that makes something valuable is who owns it.  Because things that are owned by famous people are more valuable than things that are not owned by famous people. 

So here’s the question: Who do you belong to?  Who’s your owner?  If God’s your owner you are extremely valuable.  I’m owned by the King of Kings.  I belong to the King of Kings.  I’m holy and I belong in the people of God.

Deuteronomy 7:6 says this, “You are a people holy to the Lord your God… [in other words very valuable, set apart to the Lord your God] his treasured possession.”

Did you know that when God looks at you he doesn’t go, “Oh no!  I created that person?  You’ve got to be kidding me!  What was I thinking when I made that one?”  No, when God looks at you he sees you as his treasured possession.  Nobody values you more than God.  Nobody.  The Bible says this in Isaiah 43:4. “God says, ‘You are precious to me.’”  Your parents may have never called you precious, but God does.  God says you are precious to him.  You are holy.  You are extremely valuable. 

Why am I extremely valuable?  There are two reasons.

·      The first reason is because God is my Father. 

And if God is my Father and I’m in his family then I own part of the family inheritance.  One day in heaven, he’s going to share all of his glory and all of the universe with me.  I didn’t say that; the Bible says it.  God is going to share everything he has with his children.  God wanted children.  And because I’m a child of God I’m extremely valuable.

Everybody’s created by God but not everybody’s a child of God.  Everybody’s created by God, everybody’s loved by God, but you’ve got to choose to be in God’s family.  And a lot of people choose not to be in God’s family, not to trust in his Son, the Savior Jesus, and not to believe in him.

And so, what he’s saying, when God is my Father, God says I’m going to take care of all your needs.  When my kids are little I take care of all of their needs.  They don’t have to worry about where the money is going to come from. 

The Bible says this in Luke 12:24.  Jesus says “Look at the birds…God feeds them and you are far more valuable to him than any birds!”  If anybody’s on God’s welfare role, its birds.  They don’t do a whole lot except chirp and poop.  God says I take care of the birds and you’re far more valuable. Underline “far more valuable” to me than any birds.  God is my Father.

·      The second reason why I’m extremely valuable is because Jesus gave his life for me. 

That shows my value.  Jesus gave his life for me.  A lot of people say, “I’m nothing, I’m worthless, I’m no good. ”  Jesus did not die for junk.  You’re not junk.  1 Corinthians 7:23, “You have been bought and paid for by Christ, so you belong to him…”  He paid for you with his life’s blood.

What is it that determines something’s value?  First, who owns it.  The second thing that determines its value is, what is somebody willing to pay for it? 

How much is your home worth?  It’s worth whatever anybody’s willing to pay for it and not a penny more.  You might think your home is worth more.  But, your home is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. 

If I hold up an old rookie Honus Wagner baseball card, one of the rarest baseball cards around, and say how much is this worth?  It’s worth whatever anybody’s willing to pay for it.  If I hold up a piece of art – how much is this worth?  It’s worth whatever somebody’s willing to pay for it.

How much are you worth?  Look at the cross.  This is how much you’re worth, how much God paid to save you.  Jesus, when he raises his hands out on the cross and he says, This is how much you’re worth.  This much.  I’d rather die than live without you.  I am willing to die and shed my blood for you.  That’s how much you’re worth.  

If you want to know how valuable you are, you look at the cross.  Those people who told you when you were growing up, “You’re not worth anything.  You’re not important.”  They were wrong.  They were wrong because you’re not only completely acceptable to God through Christ, but you are extremely valuable to God because of what Christ did for you.  The greatest ransom ever paid in the history of humanity was paid to ransom you by God when he gave his own Son, Jesus Christ, to die in your place for your sins so you don’t have to die in your place for your own sins.  Christ gave his life for you.

So I’m completely accepted but I’m also extremely valuable.

3.    The third fingerprint in your true identity is this: I’m eternally loved.

I’m completely accepted, I’m extremely valued, and I am eternally loved.

The third thing Peter says about your true identity is this, 1 Peter 2:10, “Once you were not a people but now you are the people of God.”  Once you didn’t have an identity, but now you’re the people of God.  This has profound implications.  Because God says now you’re in my family and I’m not ashamed of my family. 

In our human way we’re often ashamed of people in our families.  You know, those weird uncles or aunts or brothers or sisters or parents or kids.  Everyone seems to have some weird relatives.  

God is not ashamed of his family and he will never, never, never be ashamed of you.  Other people might be ashamed of you; God will never be ashamed of you.  Because he says, you are in my family.  And God wanted you in his family.  And he chose you to be in his family.

In fact the Bible says this, Hebrews 2:11, “Jesus and the ones he makes holy [that’s you, that’s me] have the same Father.  And that is why Jesus is not ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters.” 

Do you realize when you get to heaven Jesus is going to go, “Hey bro!  Hey sister!  How’s it going?”  That’s what the Bible says.  He is not ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters.  Did you realize that?  That’s the kind of love God has for you.  That’s the kind of love Jesus has for you.  He’s not ashamed to call you his brother and sister, to identify with you.

Jeremiah 31:3 says “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love.  With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.”

There are two characteristics of God’s love that I want you to memorize.  Because if you forget these you’re going to let other people steal your identity.  If you don’t realize these, you’re going to be sucked off into performance mentality.  Two things about God’s love for you.  One, it’s unconditional.  And two, it is unending – it’s constant.  Unconditional and unending. The scripture says, “I have loved you… everlasting… and unfailing.” 

First, it’s unconditional.  That means not, I love you if you pray.  I love you if you do good.  Not, I love you if you please me.  Not I love you because you’re a nice person.  Not because you go to church.  Because you tithe. Because you help the poor.  Not because.  But I love you … period.  In fact, unconditional love is I love you in spite of you.

You know why we have a hard time with that?  Because you have rarely experienced unconditional love.  You may have experienced a few moments in your life of unconditional love.  But no human being loves unconditionally all the time.  Because we’re all broken.  So your parents didn’t always love you unconditionally.  There were conditions at times.  And you don’t love unconditionally all the time. 

Jesus says I love you, period.  I love you in spite of yourself.  I love you regardless of what you do for me.  I love you.  That’s real love.  That’s the kind of love God has for you.  It’s unconditional.

It’s not only unconditional, it’s unending.  It’s consistent.  God isn’t fickle.  God isn’t unpredictable. God doesn’t have bad hair days.  God isn’t moody. God doesn’t get up on the wrong side of the bed.

God says no, my love for you is consistent.  It is unending.  It is everlasting.  It is unfailing.  You never need to ask “Is God going to love me today?  Did I do enough?  Did I pray enough yesterday?  Did I tell somebody about Jesus?  Did I give a big enough gift?  Did I help somebody?  Did I hold my temper?  Did I stop cussing?”  You never have to say, “Is God going to love me today?”

You can’t make God stop loving you.  God’s never going to love you one ounce more than he does right now, no matter what you do.  God’s never going to love you one ounce less than he does right now, no matter what you do.  Because God’s love is not based on you; it’s based on him – who he is. 

Why am I eternally loved? 

·      Because God is love. 

The reason I’m eternally loved is because God is love.  It doesn’t say he has love – he is love.  It is his character.  The only reason love is in the universe is because the Creator of the universe is love.  You take God out of the picture, there is no love.  Because love is of God.  God is love.  So his character isn’t going to change.  So his love for you isn’t going to change.

Psalm 100:5 says this: “God’s love is eternal and his faithfulness lasts forever.”  You may be unfaithful to him.  He’s not going to be unfaithful to you.  Because God’s love is eternal and his faithfulness lasts forever. 

So I’m completely accepted.  And I am extremely valuable.  And I am eternally loved.  That’s my true identity.

There’s a fourth fingerprint.

4.    The fourth part of our identity in Christ is I am totally forgiven. 

1 Peter 2:10 says it this way, “At one time you did not know God’s mercy, but now you have received his mercy.”  God’s mercy has given us God’s forgiveness.  And God’s forgiveness is total.  Because God knows everything, it has to be total.  He can’t partially forgive.  He totally forgives. 

Think about what that means.  That means that God knows the worst thing you’ve ever done or ever will do.  And he’s decided in Christ to forgive you of that already.  You and I might be surprised at our sins sometimes.  God is never surprised. 

If God had a Twitter account, here’s one thing God would never tweet: “Oh my God!  That one shocked me.”  He would never tweet that.  Because he’s never surprised.  He knows in advance every bad thing I’m going to do and he’s still chosen to totally forgive me.  That means the good news is, in Christ when God forgives, he doesn’t partially forgive; he totally forgives.  Your sins are totally wiped out. 

We have a hard time getting this because we don’t do this.  Even though those of us who are sort of good at forgiving, we don’t really forgive, we just sort of reserve judgment to a later date.  When we say we forgive, we actually take that wrong thing that they did, and we put it in a little box, put a top on the box and write, “To be pulled out in case of further sin.”  We put it in the closet.  And if they do something else, we pull the box out and take the top off it and say, “What about this?”  We still remember it.

That’s not how God forgives.  When God forgives he erases it.  He wipes it out.  He destroys it.  All the penalty, all the punishment is totally gone – forever gone.  He totally forgives us.

Romans 8:1, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  The Bible says there is no condemnation when you are in Christ Jesus.  God doesn’t carry grudges.  God doesn’t rehearse your sins over and over in his mind.  God releases it.  He forgives it.  That’s what a loving God he is. 

How do I know I’m totally forgiven?  Two reasons.

·      One, because He is a forgiving God. 

It is in his nature to forgive. Isaiah 43:25 says “I am the God who forgives your sins, and I do this because of who I am.  I will not hold your sins against you.” It’s just in God’s nature.  It’s who he is.  He is a forgiver.

·      Then the second reason I can know I’m totally forgiven is because Jesus paid for my sins. 

Jesus paid for my sins.  It keeps going back to what Jesus did on the cross.  Because when you look at the cross and what Jesus did on the cross, you see your identity.  You see that you’re loved.  You see that you’re accepted.  You see that you’re forgiven. 

The Bible says in Ephesians 1:7, “For by the blood of Christ we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God!”  I’m forgiven not based on my performance or what I’ve done.  I’m forgiven based on the great grace of God.

So this is your true identity:  You are acceptable, you are lovable, you are valuable, you are forgivable.  There’s one other.

5.    I am fully capable. 

This is the fifth id marker in Christ 1 Peter 2:9, “You are royal priests… chosen to tell about the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 

You are a priest.  You say.  Me?  Yeah, you.  You are a priest.  If you’re a Christian, if you’re a child of God, if you’re born again, if you’re in the family of God, you’re also a priest.  I bet you didn’t know that.  You are a priest. 

What’s a priest do?  A priest does two things. He represents man to God and he represents God to man.  And God says you are capable, you’re fully capable of doing that.  Which is why you don’t have to go to a priest to confess, because you are one.  You don’t have to go to a priest to get forgiveness because you are one.  You are a priest.  The way we say it here is, every member is a minister.  Every member is a servant.  Every member is called by God.  Every member is a priest.  Every member has a ministry. 

What are you supposed to do as a priest?  Acts 26:18 “You are to open their eyes [he’s talking about your friends, your neighbors, your relatives, the people you work with] and turn them from darkness to the light, from the power of Satan to God, so that through their faith in me [Jesus] they will have their sins forgiven and also, like you, receive their place among God’s chosen people.” 

That’s the role of a priest.  And God says that’s your job.  You’re to tell other people about how much God loves them.  You’re to tell other people that they are accepted.  They are forgiven.  They are loved.  They are valuable.  They are capable.  In Christ these things happen to you.  Your identity is this.  That’s part of your job as a priest.

You are a priest where you work.  You are the local priest at that school.  You are the local priest at that job.  You are the local priest at that restaurant.  You are it.  You represent God to everybody around you.  If you’re a child of God, you’re a priest.  And God says you are fully qualified.  You are fully capable.  You are competent.  God says I’ve made you competent to handle anything they throw at you.

A lot of times we don’t feel that way.  We don’t feel very competent.  We don’t often feel very capable.  We often feel overwhelmed by life.  “I can’t get it all done.  I can’t handle the pressure.  I’m under a load.  I’m not competent.  I can’t hold up.”

Who are you going to believe?  Yourself or what God says about you.  Feelings lie.  God says you are fully capable to handle anything that comes at you in life.  And you are fully capable to share the good news with other people.  You say “I can’t do that!”  No you can’t.  Not on your own.  But you’re not supposed to do it on your own.   You’re supposed to do it in the power of God.  And when you’re in Christ he gives you power to do things you never could do on your own. 

2 Corinthians 3:5-6.  “The capacity we have comes from God; it is he who made us capable of serving the new covenant.”    He’s made you capable of serving.   You have something to offer.  God has a mission, a purpose, a life plan for your life that he wants you to fulfill.   He’s made us capable of serving. 

Why are we not feeling capable, confident, able to take on life?  Why do we not feel confident?  Because we play the old tapes.  And we listen to what our parents said.  And we listen to what our peers said.  And we listen to what society says and we listen to what media says.  And we listen to what Satan says.  And we listen to what we tell ourselves. 

The only person we don’t believe is God.  And God says you’re acceptable, forgivable, lovable, capable.  You are competent.  You are fully capable to do what I want you to do with your life.  Why?

·      Because Christ lives in me.

Because of the promise of Philippians 4:13.  I can do most things through Christ who gives me strength.  It doesn’t say that.  I can do the easy things…  No.  It says “I can do everything… [circle “everything”]  I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.”  I can… I can do...  I can do everything...  I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.

So think of the thing you’re most afraid to do.  God says you can do that.  You’re fully capable of doing it in Christ.  You think, I could never do that!  Are you going to believe your fears or believe what God says?  I could never do that!  Are you going to believe what you think you know or are you going to believe what God says?  Think of your greatest fear.  You could do that.  Think of the most difficult thing you think you’d ever have to do in life.  I’d have to forgive that person.  I’d have to offer forgiveness.  I’d have to ask for forgiveness.  I could never do that.  Then you’re calling God a liar.  Because God says I can do all things through Christ.  Whatever God allows in my life, whatever the world throws at me, I am fully competent.  Fully capable.  I have full capacity to handle whatever life throws at me because I’m in Christ. “ I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”

Here’s your homework this week:  Start telling yourselves these truths over and over and over.  I’m acceptable, valuable, lovable, forgivable, capable.  This is your true identity.

Friend, you are not what your parents said you were.  You are not what other people, friends or enemies, said you were.  You are not what the media and culture says you are.  You are not what Satan says you are.  You’re not even what you tell yourself you are.  That’s a false identity.

You need to get back to your true identity.  Your true identity has been stolen.  And you need to get it back.

Prayer:

      Pray in your own heart,  Dear God, help me to see myself the way you see me.  Thank you for loving me completely, forgiving me totally, for valuing me, accepting me, and making me capable.  Thank you for sending Jesus Christ to die for me so I could be forgiven, and I could know how much I matter to you.  Jesus, today I accept your love and forgiveness.  I want to learn to trust you and follow you.  Help me to care more about what you think of me than what other people think of me.  May the truth set me free and restore my true identity. 

      Because of you, Jesus, I am completely accepted.  I am extremely valuable.  I am eternally loved.  I am completely forgiven.  I am fully capable for whatever life throws at me.  I have this because of you Jesus.  In your name I pray.  Amen.