December 22

Who are you?

1 Peter 2:9-10 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. 10Once 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.

One of the most important questions in life is, “Who are you?” How did you get your identity? Today there is no clear answer to that question in our postmodern world. Actually the answer in the post modern world is, “It doesn’t matter, whatever?” Since we are just random, cosmic accidents, identity is a myth. Our lives have no more value than a mosquito that you would swat on a hot July evening at Cove Beach.
Peter has some different ideas. He is addressing Christ followers in this letter and he gives us a clear picture of who we really are.

1. We are a chosen race. This tells us about our corporate identity. This is the people who are called the church. This chosen race is not black or white or red or yellow or brown. The chosen race is a new people from all the peoples -- all the colors and cultures -- who are now aliens and strangers among in the world. What gives us our identity is not color or culture. But chosenness. Christians are not the white race; they are the chosen race. Christians are not the black race; they are the chosen race. We are the black chosen and the white chosen and the yellow chosen and the red chosen. Out from all the races we have been chosen -- one at a time, not on the basis of belonging to any group. We believe this at Grace church, in fact it is one of our core values.
2. We have received mercy. I am loved and graced by God. God did not just choose me and stand aloof. He chose me and then drew near in mercy to help me and save me. My identity is fundamentally this: I have been shown mercy. I am a "mercied" person. I get my identity not first from my actions, but from being acted upon -- with mercy.
3. We are God's possession. We are a people who “belong to God.” God has taken me to be his possession. Now God owns everything. So in one sense everyone is God's possession. So this must means something special. We are God's inheritance. We are the ones he aims to spend eternity with.
4. We are holy. We have been chosen and mercied and possessed by God; and therefore we are not merely part of the world any more. We are set apart for God. We exist for God. And since God is holy, we are holy. We share his character. If we do not act in a holy way, we act out of character. We contradict our essence as a Christian. For our identity is holiness to the Lord: we are holy.
5. And finally, we are a royal priest. The point here is first that we have immediate access to God -- we don't need another human priest as a mediator. God himself provided the one Mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ. We have direct access to God, through God. And, second, we have an exalted, active role in God's presence. We are not chosen, mercied, possessed, and holy just to squander away your time watching TV. We are called now to minister in the presence of God. All our life is priestly service. We are never out of God's presence. We are never not off duty.

This is who you are as we draw near to Christmas 2009. There is a chain reaction to this question. The question "Who are you?" -- leads directly to the question, "What are you here for?". Our identity leads to our destiny. You are chosen, mercied, possessed, and holy -- all for a purpose -- to minister as priests. This Christmas be a priest to your family.