1 Peter 2:9-12 - Your Christian Identity - February 5, 2023

You’ve no doubt noticed that something every generation since the beginning of time has taken for granted – that there are only two genders and you are either one or the other – has become one of the main targets of the relativistic, subjective, postmodern spirit of our age. (And I use the term “spirit” intentionally, because it is clearly a manifestation of the work of hell’s evil spirits (Ephesians 6:12)). At issue is whether gender is an objective biological fact or a subjective psychological or emotional opinion. The result has been a nationwide identity crisis: there’s a crisis over which bathroom or locker room or which athletic event or even which pronouns apply to a person. And yet, as troubling as those things are (especially when they are forced into the minds of young and impressionable children), they are only symptoms of a deeper problem. They are symptomatic of a world that is alienated from God and lost in the darkness of sin and unbelief searching for personal identity and purpose. This shouldn’t surprise us. Identity is important – it’s who you are. So…who are you? How do you identify yourself? Male, female, son, daughter, father, mother, white, black, rich, poor, high school dropout or college graduate, employed, employer, jobless, retired, Republican, Democrat, Independent…the world demands that you identify yourself according to these categories. Is that really all we are? The sum total of our feelings, our body parts, our skin color and politics? Not according to God. This morning Peter helps us to define and understand our Christian identity.

At the center of this identity debate is the battle between objectivity and subjectivity. Our society, in large part, has elevated subjectivity over objectivity. For example, I am free to identify myself as a Caucasian, heterosexual, monogamous, Christian male – not because those are objective realities, but because that’s just how I choose to self-identify – and I can change it tomorrow if I want. It’s dangerously absurd. But not as dangerous as those who claim the right to self-identify before God – and demand that he accept it. There are obvious examples: the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons – cults who have hijacked the name of Christian while denying Jesus’ identity as God and Savior – which is the central doctrine of Christianity. But there are more subtle examples too. People who attend church but secretly idolize power or popularity or wealth. People who claim to be Christian and yet don’t faithfully attend worship. And, maybe most humbling of all, people who claim to be Christian and yet by word and deed join St. Augustine in his honest but unbelieving prayer: Lord, make me good…but not yet. [1] There is a theological and logical fallacy behind these claims. It is the lie that creatures can claim an identity different from that given them by their Creator. That was the lie that led to Satan’s fall from heaven, Adam and Eve’s fall in the Garden, Israel’s fall into destruction, and countless Christians’ fall from faith. We creatures don’t have the right or authority to identify ourselves before God. Only God can truly and objectively identify us. And he only has two categories.

Peter spells them out: At one time you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. At one time you were not shown mercy, but now you have been shown mercy. There was a time when we had no identity before God. We were less than nothing in his eyes. We not only didn’t deserve his favor and love, we deserved only his wrath and punishment (Ephesians 2:3). We didn’t possess citizenship in his kingdom or membership in his family. We could assert every imaginable claim, we could grumble and protest – but none of it could change the fact that by nature we were not God’s people, we were not entitled to his mercy, we could not call on him in prayer, live a life pleasing to him, or hope to live forever with him in heaven. We were lost, dead, and blind; doomed to a meaningless life on earth and imprisonment in hell forever. By nature, damned sinner is the only identity we own. That’s the real identity crisis everyone faces.

What changed? What happened? Did we somehow make a choice or change our clothes or hair or have some surgery to change our identity? No. What happened was that little word “but.” Did you notice it there 3 times in verses 9 and 10? But, but, but. What stands behind that but? God. God happened. God changed us. He didn’t just change our label, he changed our hearts and, as a result, our lives. He called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light. Peter explained this in the beginning of this letter, where he addressed the elect, temporary residents in the world…who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:1-2).

Whether you can pinpoint the precise moment this change occurred is not important. The important thing is acknowledging who is behind this change, this conversion. God chose you. The Spirit sanctified you – setting you apart from the rest of the godless, unbelieving world (1 Corinthians 12:3). Obedience to Christ, which is just another term for faith, was planted in your heart through the water and Word of baptism. Having been cleansed by the blood of Jesus, your old identity – along with all its sinful desires, words and actions – has been stripped off and thrown away. While once we were like refugees standing outside God’s kingdom carrying only our dirty, worthless, sinful rags as identification, we now stand before God clothed in the perfect robes of Christ with Baptism as proof of our identity. We are God’s people. Not because we have earned it, but only because we have received his mercy.  

Now, that might sound a little abstract. What does it mean to be God’s people? Peter explains: you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people who are God’s own possession. You are a chosen people. Our world condemns discrimination. God practices it. Out of 8 billion people, God chose you. And unlike the world’s identity groups this choice wasn’t based on your birthplace, gender, skin color, or politics. Look around at the proof. God has chosen men and women, married people and single people, those who never went to college and those who have received their doctorates, white and black, nurses, mechanics and artists, young and old. The Christian church is the most diverse organization in the world. And yet none of those things played a factor in God’s decision to choose you, Jesus’ decision to die for you, or the Spirit’s decision to bring you to faith, keep you in the faith and give you the hope of everlasting life. In a world that divides people along lines of race, gender, and social status – God unites us under one banner: undeserving sinners chosen by God, saved by Jesus and sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

You are a royal priesthood. In the OT, the only people who could properly, personally approach and serve God were the descendants of Aaron, members of the designated priestly family (Exodus 28:1). If you wanted to pray, you had to go through them. If you wanted to offer a sacrifice, they had to offer it on your behalf. But in the NT, God threw out that rule book. You don’t need a priest to pray for you, you can pray directly to God through Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). You don’t need the blood of a lamb or a black robe or an altar to serve God – your life is a living sacrifice and the world is your temple (Romans 12:1). Wherever you go and whatever you do – even eating and drinking – you do it as a royal priest (1 Corinthians 10:31).

You are a holy nation. Holy? Really? Here’s where that dispute between subjective feelings and the objective reality come into conflict in our hearts and minds. Do you feel holy? Didn’t we just self-identify ourselves as natural born sinners, disobedient in thought, word and action? Don’t the devil, the world and our own consciences condemn us? Yes. And so subjectively, we don’t feel holy. But according to Peter, you are objectively holy, in two senses. You have been set apart from the sinful world as a nation special to God. And, second, through faith in Jesus your sins have been washed away. It is finished (John 19:30) applies to your sins and your forgiveness. Don’t listen to what anyone else says – not even your own conscience. God has declared you to be holy and so holy is what you are – right here, right now.

Finally, you are the people who are God’s own possession. That brings us full-circle. Humans have an inherent need to belong. We want to belong to our families, our group of friends – and when that doesn’t satisfy – Facebook groups and political groups and groups marching in the streets. But whenever you turn on the TV or scroll through social media you see the hopelessness, helplessness and confusion that results from belonging to the groups the world creates. Kids will change their pronouns and even undergo unnecessary surgery just to fit in. So don’t. Don’t identify yourself according to the world’s categories. You belong to God. Whatever else you might be, you are first and foremost a Christian. No one can take that from you. That is your identity. Know it. Believe it. Cherish it.

And then…live it. Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and temporary residents in the world, to abstain from the desires of the sinful flesh, which war against your soul. Live an honorable life among the Gentiles so that even though they slander you as evildoers, when they observe your noble deeds, they may glorify God on the day he visits us. One of the greatest lies that Satan has sown in the church is that once you become a Christian, the struggle is over. Peter says just the opposite. Becoming a Christian isn’t the end of the struggle, it’s the beginning. God made us Christians, now we are to live as Christians. Christians who strive to abstain from the desires of the sinful flesh and instead live…honorable [lives]. This means war. And the fiercest and longest struggle is not against the unbelieving world but right here, in our own hearts – it is a war against the person we see in the mirror. The sinful nature doesn’t want to belong to God – it wants to be its own god. And the way it rebels is by leading us to live and believe everything that is contrary to God. In other words, it tempts us to sin. Now we may argue: “I can’t stop sinful desires from popping up in my heart and head – especially in this godless world.” True. No one is denying that. Martin Luther compared sinful desires to birds: “You can’t stop the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest there” (LW 42:73). You won’t be free from sinful desires until God stops that sinful heart of yours from beating. But that’s not an excuse for giving in to them. Remember who you are! Remember what Jesus died to make you and give you! You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). And, when you fail – and you will! – come back to the cross, come to his holy Supper, drop your sins at Jesus’ feet in confession and leave forgiven, refreshed and strengthened to continue to struggle.

But, be warned. When you do that, people will notice. The world, which struggles with its own identity, will recognize and mark you as an alien, a stranger in their darkness. It will hate you and persecute because you don’t join in their evil ways (1 Peter 4:4). Don’t be surprised by it. Embrace it as evidence of your true identity. And, know that this honorable life that Peter refers to is not some set of special, heroic good works. He’s not calling us to solve poverty or end violence or leave our homes and families to dig wells in third world countries. He’s talking about living as a Christian in your average, every day, normal life. If you read the rest of his letter, you’ll understand what Peter is talking about: quiet submission to governing authorities (1 Peter 2:13-17). Respect for employers and supervisors, even the bad ones (1 Peter 2:18-25). Honoring marriage – whether married or single – and living our gender in a way that glorifies God (1 Peter 3:1-7). And, in general, carrying out whatever role God has given you in life: child or parent, husband or wife, employer or employee (1 Peter 3:8-12). Even things as simple as changing the dirty diaper, taking the time to instruct and discipline your children, and patiently putting up with your spouse’s irritating habits and forgiving their sins – all are offerings God welcomes from his chosen people. But remember why you do it. It’s not so that the world may see your good deeds and glorify you. It is so that the world may observe your noble deeds and glorify God. Your quiet, moral life may lead your unbelieving neighbor to ask you why you live the way you do (and what a great opportunity to declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness!) – but it may not. Either way, in this life or on Judgment Day they will join us in giving glory to God. (They won’t have any choice (Philippians 2:10)). And for us, there is no higher calling and purpose in life.

Our world appears to be suffering from a severe identity crisis. It’s sad but it’s not all that surprising – apart from God you don’t have an identity and you can’t find one anyone else. But by God’s grace you know better; you know who you are; you are so much more than your body parts and accomplishments and politics. You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people who are God’s own possession. From your baptism to your grave you are a Christian. And wherever life leads you, you have a purpose: to proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Amen.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo