Identity Check – Part 2
1 Peter 1:13-21
We're going to continue this morning in part two of Identity Check. If you have your Bible, I want you to open with me first to the book of Galatians, chapter 3. In Galatians 3:13, it reads like this. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.'" Christ became a curse for you. He became a curse for me. The cross was the pivotal point in history, and because he did that, when we are found in him, we are free. We are free to become everything God said we can become. We truly have found a new identity in Christ.
There is a statistic that boggles my mind that I wanted to share with you this morning. It kind of haunts me. It weighs me down real heavy. Children who are 17 and younger, just in the United States, over 800,000 reports of missing children come in in the United States in one year. That's staggering. That doesn't mean they're all lost. Some of them show back up, but 800,000 reports come in a year. That's a daily average of about 2,185 reports of missing children that come in.
I came across that statistic this week, and it blew me away, because as parents, if you're a parent in here, you know we live in a day and age when we're always watching our kids, right? We have to be careful. My children are a little older now. I have a 17-year-old and a 14-year-old, but you better believe I keep my eye on them as best I can everywhere they go, because I can't imagine, I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to lose one of my children, if someone to come by and kidnap my child, my daughter, my son, and the horror and everything I would experience and go through. Even the very thought of it is disturbing to me on a lot of different levels.
It's no doubt that when we turn on the news, almost every day, there's a mom or a dad or a set of parents and family who say, "My daughter and my son were kidnapped. They were taken." We are immediately sucked into the story, and we can relate to the horror and how bad that really is. If you're a parent, you know that. You know what that feels like. You know what would happen if your child was taken away.
When Amy and I were in California, when were were pastoring out there in California, there was a young girl by the name of Jaycee Dugard. I think that was her name. She was 11 years old. In fact, she was kidnapped in 1991, and I didn't move to California until 1993, but by the time we got out there, her story would still surface from time to time. You would see her on the milk cartons. You would see a news report or a special on 48 Hours. She was even on America's Most Wanted. They had the story on there.
It was just this constant story they kept before you of Jaycee Dugard and how she was 11 years old. If I remember right, I think she lived (don't hold me to this) in South Lake Tahoe. She was on her way to school. She was 11. She gets up, and she wore all pink that day. She goes out, and she walks the two blocks up the hill to where the bus was supposed to pick her up. Her stepfather would always watch her walk up the hill, and he could kind of see her a long ways away, but he could keep his eyes on her. He always had a bicycle out there.
All of a sudden, the report goes that a car pulled up really, really quickly, and she was grabbed, and she was pulled in, and the stepfather saw it, and he jumped on his bike, and he began to try to pedal up the hill, and of course that was futile. He couldn't get to her. As the car sped away, he could hear her screaming. That's horrific.
Can you imagine that moment not only for the stepdad but for the little girl? The horror of being there one minute, and strangers have you the next minute? He turns and screams at a neighbor, and he says, "Call 911." They called 911, and they came out. Of course, she was long gone by then. This couple, this deranged, evil (hear me now) couple had taken her. She was help captive for 18 years. She became their sex slave.
As a matter of fact, the guy who took her fathered two children by her. When she got there, there were two other little girls, and she ended up being like the mother to them over this long process. For 18 years, she was held captive by total strangers. She could not even say her name. They would not allow her to say her name. They took her identity and used fear and manipulation to keep her from escaping.
This guy already had a record. They would come by. The parole officers came by like 63 times and never knew she was in the back in a series of tents and little sheds they had set up. He would go there, and he would abuse her mentally and physically and sexually. The wife was in on it. Evil. Just pure evil. We all know what that feels like, even if you have children or don't have children, you can kind of relate to the horror and everything that went on right there.
Here's the good news. She was found and released 18 years later. She wrote a book. I think it's called A Stolen Life. It's a great read. You need to get it. At the end of the message, I'll read you just a little thing about what she said at the end, because I think it's a parting thought we all need to go home on when it comes to our identity. But what a horrific story!
We relate to it on all kinds of different levels, because its human flesh, and we can see the story, and we can feel the story, and we can be part of the story, and we can follow it, and we know the horror of that, of how evil really does exist in the world, and that evil can come in. Again, we don't understand it, but evil can grab. Just as much as there is evil, there is a God who is sovereign, and there is a God who is good. Do you hear me?
We can all relate to the story, but do you know someone else who can relate to it? God. God can relate to this story, not only her story, but your story and my story, how that sin held you and I captive outside of Christ, how that sin stole us away, how that sin abducted us, how we were controlled all of those years by sin, how we were abused, how our identities had been stolen, how it worked on us, how it made it something we were never intended to be.
Just like Jaycee Dugard was redeemed and released and has a new lot in life and can now go on and get her identity back, because of the cross of Christ, when you and I bow our hearts and our minds and our spirits at this cross, we are redeemed. We are freed. We are released, and God takes us from the captivity of sin and everything it can do and try to do, and he sets us completely and utterly free. Real evil is in the world.
You see, when I look at the cross, I see all three of those things existing. I see evil at the cross because I see humanity as they turned over an innocent man, an innocent God, and said, "Crucify him." Yet, God in his sovereignty… The Bible talks about how before the foundation of the world, Jesus was slain. The sovereignty. Somehow, we don't understand evil, but we see it, and we see it trying to pull identity away.
Yet, in the middle of the cross stands the sovereignty of God that goes, "This did not catch me by surprise." Then the ultimate goodness of God, who cries out from the cross, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." Right? I don't understand that kind of goodness, but I want it. Right? I want that to be my identity. I not only want that to be my identity and have an identity check, but I want that to be the kind of love I pass on even in the face of pure evil.
I can tell you, man. You can look her up online, Jaycee Dugard, and you can watch videos, and there is just this silent power that is in her life somehow. How yeah, man, that was some evil stuff, but she has turned and truly embraced the redemption that was gifted into her life. It's amazing.
If you have your Bible, I want you to turn with me to the book of 1 Peter as we continue in this series in Identity Check. I want you to go there with me. I want you to go down to verse 13. The first word you and I see there is the word therefore. Now, it has been said (and I like saying it, because it's a catchy little saying), "When you see the word therefore, you need to find out what it was there for."
Therefore means there was a foundation. Something has taken place in the previous wording that means you need to recall. You need to understand it so you can truly apply what is to come. Last week, by the way of review… It's not on your screen. You don't have to flip through your Bible. I'll do this kind of rapidly like a water hose turned loose on you, but I want you to understand your identity and your foundation.
When we started last week, and I began, I mentioned Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, if you remember. I played off of that word. I looked at you and told you when Peter came to Christ, his name was Simon. Andrew had brought him there. Jesus had changed his name to reflect a new identity, a rock. We went over to Matthew 16, and over there we discovered when they were going through Caesarea Philippi, the disciples had ended up… Jesus asked them a question.
He said, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" Of course, the response was what? The response was, "Some say you're Elijah. Some say you're maybe Jeremiah or one of the prophets or John the Baptist or one of the other prophets." He turns and says, "But who do you say I am?" Peter said to him, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus said, "Flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you, but my Father which is in heaven has revealed that to you, and upon this confession of faith, I will build my church, and the gates of…" What? "…hell, evil, will not prevail against it. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." I love that! You have a new identity.
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, it says, "You are a new creation. Behold, all things that were old have passed away. Everything has become new." Then we move down, and I pulled the word elect up, and I said you have been chosen; God chose you. You have a new identity. You have a new name. God has chosen you and then dispersed you. Do you remember that word?
I pulled out dispersed, and I said God has taken the salt shaker, and he has shaken his kingdom out upon this world. You are placed in life where you are for a reason. You have a new name. You're a new creation. You have been chosen, and you've been placed in a particular place in your life to be an influence of who God is.
We moved on and looked at the word sanctification, which meant God has set you apart for his use. You have been sanctified to, what? Sanctified to obedience, to the obedience of Jesus Christ. I reminded you of your true identity check in your life. It's that God has set you apart for obedience to Christ. Of course, that famous thing I always say. Demons obey God. Nature obeys God, but we struggle with obeying God, and we shouldn't. Our identity should be quick to obedience.
We moved on and talked about the living hope. We don't have a hope the world has, just kind of hoping something will happen. The word hope in the Scriptures means it is a sure fact. It's coming to us, right? It's not just a hope; it is a living hope, and a living hope that is founded in…what? In the resurrection of Jesus.
I don't know about you, but I want to have my heart cry just like the apostle Paul who said, "I want to know him and the power of his resurrection." That resurrection power walks over evil, puts evil under its feet, and does like a dog after it has put its waste in the yard. It just starts kicking on it. Do you hear me? That's who you are. That's your identity. That's my identity. That's our identity check. Therefore.
Then it moved on, and we talked about how we have an inheritance coming, an inheritance that's undefiled, unfading. It cannot be touched. It is reserved in heaven for you and for me, and it is guarded…oh, my goodness…by the power of God, and it's ready to be revealed in the last time. You know, a lot of people think salvation is just a once-and-all work right here. Salvation is bigger than that.
Salvation is a process that is started in our lives. We've been rescued out of darkness, and we've been placed into the kingdom of light. Do you hear me? That is your identity. We have been placed into the kingdom of light, and one day, when his kingdom comes, his full grace will invade our lives, and we will no longer be able to sin anymore.
I can't wait, because I sin all the time by accident and by choice, and I don't like it. It isn't a God thing. Sin isn't a God thing. That's a human thing. That's an evil thing. Through the power of the Spirit living on the inside, we can move through that and past that. The good news is, thank the Lord, when we do sin, whether it's by omission or commission, we can go to God and say, "Father, I confess to you," and the blood of Jesus will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If you're wondering when I say the word therefore what it's there for, that's what it's there for. That's your identity. Next time you're facing some trouble with an identity crisis in your life… "Can I make it in life? Can I do well in school? Can I make the good grades? Can I do well at my job? Am I going to make it? Is my family going to get taken care of? I don't know…"
You have to go back to the foundation and go, "Well, my identity says I am in Christ, and I'm a new creation. My identity says I have an inheritance I have now but is yet to come, and it's undefiled and untouchable, and it is guarded by God. The cross tells me there is pure evil, but God is sovereign, and he is in control. Yeah, I think I can make it." "Therefore, prepare your minds for action."
This word in the Greek, "Prepare your minds," the sentence structure means to gird up your loins. It is the picture of the prophet of God running before the enemy, who takes his long, rolling garment, and he pulls it up, and he tucks it away so his legs are free to move. It's done on purpose. How many of you know if you have a long, flowing robe on, and you take off running, it's just not going to fly up and keep itself up here, right?
You're going to have to reach down. You're going to have to wind it up. You're going to have to pull it off. You're going to have to tie it. It is an action. The Bible says, "Since you have this identity in Christ, prepare your mind. Take action. Do something about it." A lot of times, we sit around going, "I'm waiting on God to move." God is going, "I've already moved. I've moved heaven and earth by my love. It's time for you to pick up the reins and move on. It's time for you to make a decision."
I had a mentor in my life one time. He used to look at me and he would always say this to me, "Stop complaining about what you have the power to change." I hated it! But it was the truth. That was his way of going, "Man, pull up the garment. Gird it off. Prepare your mind. Therefore, prepare your mind for action and be sober-minded."
I'm going to tell you what. When you're under the influence of alcohol, if anybody has ever been there, and I have. I mean, drunk. Outside of Christ, didn't know him, flat out drunk, acting like a fool. I've been there, so I know what it's like to be non-sober. You get dull. You can't think. Your actions are out of control. There is no direction. It influences you. You don't influence that. Right?
That's what he's saying. He's saying, "Be sober-minded." He's using a term, but what does Peter really mean about our identity check? "Be sober-minded." What is he saying to us? This is what he's saying. "Don't get dull in your senses while you're around God stuff." We can come to church so much and do religion so much that it's just what we do.
If you came to church today and go, "This is just what we do," you're dull. Is that okay? If you came to church this morning and go, "Well, I need to go, because if I don't go, such-and-such will kind of be mad, and…" If you've done that, you're dull to God. I've done it. I've done it many times. I've stood up here and preached like I'm not dull. Is this real enough for you? I mean, I'm telling you guys no, I'm not a saint above you. I'm a saint with you. I'm a servant alongside of you, with you.
If you think I stand up here, and I have the whole Jesus thing figured out, and I'm like, "I'm just so glad to be here." There are days I don't want to be here, but I come, and I keep coming, and I keep coming, and I keep coming. Then all of a sudden, I kind of start feeling like it. You know why? Because he never gave up on me, ever. Be sober-minded. Don't get dull with the things of God.
I mean, think about it. How many times in your life and my life have we heard, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son," and the moment we hear that, we can just kind of quote it instead of truly…? "For God so loved the world…" Oh, my God. Because we understand the world, that he gave… "Really? Because I hate the world. I hate everything it is doing to me."
Not God. It's easy to have what I call yawn verses or yawn experiences in church. An identity check (and that's what this series is about) is check your identity. Check my identity. You know? The Bible always tells me (and I don't like it), "Don't grow weary in well-doing." Do you ever grow weary in well-doing? I do. I thank the Lord I have enough friends I can complain to. I can go to Josh Bush sometimes and go, "Hey, man. I have to whine a little bit."
At the end of it, I'm like, "You baby." Right? Or go to Eric. I had a good moment with you this week, didn't I, Eric? Then I get home. He sent me a text message. It lifted me up. That's when I realized, "My gosh. I wasn't sober-minded." I want you to know when I preach to you, I'm preaching to me too. I do not stand above you. We have enough (God help me) preachers who stand above you. I'm not that guy, okay? I'm not. I'm going to move on.
"Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." Do you hear those words? "…that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." Set your hope fully, right? Again, this word hope is not the same as our English word hope. The word hope in the English means, "I kind of hope it happens." Nuh-uh. This hope in the Greek means it has already happened. It is done. It is already done. Let it leak in.
One day, set your hope over here, because one day, it's going to leak in, and it's going to be full, and all the evil of the world is washed away. We are the prototype of that, as my dear friend Jonathan Martin of Renovatus says. We are the prototype of that. We are more like Jesus than we know we are, if our identity is in check.
By the way, I'll give a commercial. Jonathan is coming out with a new book, Prototype. Go buy it. He's an incredible writer. I got an advanced copy. I was out there reading it before church. It's crazy. Jonathan, I was reading your book before church. We are more than we know we are. Verse 15. "But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'"
In other words, "Don't live back there anymore. Live the new future. Live who you truly are. Be holy because I am holy." How many of you know God is holy? How many of you know we can't be as holy as God unless we get pushed under his covering? Then his holiness becomes our holiness. We get lost in him. That's how you get holy, right? It's this attitude of worship. That's why I was telling you last week in the break, when I was taking up the offering, talking about praise and worship.
You can give praise away to anybody. I can turn to Cassandra and go, "Cassandra, I praise you for the good job you're doing. Cassandra, I praise you for your new single coming out in the album," and it would be rightful and honorable praise, but I can't worship her. The only one who can be worshipped is God. The only one who can be worshipped is God and God alone. He's the only one who should receive any of our worship.
How do we do that? The Bible says it right over here in the book of Romans, chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. We know this. He says, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual…" What? "…worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
Our spiritual act of worship is to present our minds, our hearts, to press close to him. That's your identity. Pressing close to him. Do realize you were bought back by the blood of Jesus to live free and to live hopeful? That's what it's all about. You have been bought back, just like Jaycee Dugard who was stolen away, who was controlled and manipulated.
Sin did us the same way. God knew sin did us that way, and he offered a cross, and he offered a resurrection. He offered his Son that we could be bought back and redeemed. That's what it's really all about. Verse 16. "…since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.' And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,"
God is saying, "You're in the middle of some evil. You're in the middle of your exile. You're in the middle of this bad, tossed world, so fear me." Not fear, "I'm afraid of God." This word is better translated to revere, to bring reverence to, to reverence what he has done in your life, and to reverence what he has done for you. Why do we have reverence? Here's the why. Listen to the why. Listen to these verses.
Verse 18: "…knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was…" I love this. "…foreknown before the foundation of the world…" There's God's sovereignty. "…but was made manifest…" He was made known. "…in the last times for the sake of you…" Wow. "…who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God."
Do you know your faith is a gift of God? You didn't even generate the faith you have. God gave it. He gave you faith. Your faith and hope, a lasting hope is in God. An identity check truly goes back and understands and says, and we turn and we say to ourselves, "I have a name change. I'm chosen. I'm sanctified for obedience. I've been called out. I've been sprinkled into community." Right?
"I have an inheritance that's unfading and it leaking in on me. I've been redeemed by the blood of the lamb, the spotless lamb, and I'm going to begin to live like it. God has given me a new purpose, and a new name, and a new direction, and I'm going to live like it." Jaycee Dugard. A Stolen Life is the name of her book. Go buy it. Read it. It's a good read. Let me read you this. This is her writing.
She says, "In the summer of June of 1991, I was a normal kid. I did normal things. I had friends and a mother that loved me. I was just like you. Until the day my life was stolen. For eighteen years I was a prisoner. I was an object for someone to use and abuse. For eighteen years I was not allowed to speak my own name. I became a mother and was forced to be a sister. For eighteen years I survived an impossible situation. On August 26, 2009, I took my name back. My name is Jaycee Lee Dugard."
I'm going to ask you this morning and this identity check, take your name back. Take your Christian name back. You are a new creation. Live like it.
