The Reborn Identity Christians Thriving in Anti-Christian Cultures Hal Gaudet

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2 Study 2 - Reclaiming Our Spiritual Identity Welcome The Reborn Identity Christians Thriving in Anti-Christian Cultures Hal Gaudet This is study 2 of a series titled The Reborn Identity: Christians Thriving in Anti-Christian Cultures. Last time we talked about how the people in our society and many serving in government in America view Christians, Christianity, and church. And surprisingly we learned that much of our society does not view Christianity favorably. We reviewed how that more and more our country is becoming an anti-christian culture. And we defined anti-christian as meaning either "action directly opposing Christianity" or "alternative to Christianity ideas, philosophies, and thought processes". We from some survey research and we heard there is anti- Christian sentiment in the things the general public says when asked about Christians and church. You might remember these from last time or maybe you ve had people actually say some of these things to you: church people seem self-righteous and hypocritical as a non-christian, I feel like I m being judged by Christians I feel like I fit in and find more acceptance in other places than with Christians Christians seem very critical of people different from them churches want my money but I don t trust their agendas Christians don t seem concerned with real needs in their community 1

3 We also touched on how our government s activities are increasingly anti-christian: 1. Legislation is being used that prevents Christians from sharing their faith in mainstream society. 2. We have religious freedom, yet Christianity is being hindered while other religions are being embraced. 3. We also mentioned how our government has been mischaracterizing Christians as extremists who are willing to harm others in the pursuit of Christian agendas. We concluded that Christians in America are experiencing an identity crisis. Fewer and fewer Christians are able to be identified by the marks of their reborn spirit and have therefore lost their appeal or draw that attracts others to relationship with God. We determined that if we were going to thrive in an anti-christian America - if we re going to powerfully live out our faith so that others are convincingly drawn to God - we are going to have to get back to our spiritual roots, and begin to model and show in our lives the things about Jesus life that attracted people to God. The Apostle Peter, one of the original 12 disciples of Jesus, taught first century Christians about these identifying marks of a reborn identity and encouraged early believers to be like their Lord in certain ways. Here are some Jesus-like qualities we talked about last time - we only had time to talk about 6 of them - from 1 Peter chapter 1. These qualities or characteristics are attractive in and of themselves, but when they are associated with a reborn person s identity as a child of their heavenly Father, then they are a powerful draw to relationship with him. Here they are: 2

4 6 Reborn Identity Markers Optimism (1 Peter 1:1-4) Gladness (1 Peter 1:5-6) Genuineness (1 Peter 1:7) Self-Control (1 Peter 1:8-16) Self-Sacrifice (1 Peter 1:17-21) Unconditional Acceptance (1 Peter 1:22-25) If you were here last time you received some homework to help you discover or rediscover your reborn identity and to help you evaluate what adjustments you may need to make to let the real you show based on 1 Peter 1. But is that all we have to do to thrive in an anti-christian America? Just let the character qualities of a reborn person show and suddenly tons of unbelieving neighbors and coworkers are going to want to jump into God s family? Probably not. So what else can we DO - how can we LIVE - in order to earn a reputation - an identity - that accurately reflects who we are as children of our heavenly Father? We have picked up this bad reputation in our culture so now we have to reclaim our reborn identities and the reputations that early Christians were known for - and who, by their lifestyles, drew others toward relationship with God. There is today a misperception about Christians in our culture based on the way many of us have been living out our faith, or not living out our faith. So if we want to change this mistaken identity, we will have to adjust how we are living, and start living out Jesus ways in front of others and for long enough to build a new reputation - to restore credibility and reclaim the identity that the early Christians were known by and yet thriving with. 3

5 So here s the question we re going to dig into in our talk this morning: What LIFE ACTIONS must Christians in America take in order to RECLAIM their reborn identity? Peter taught that Christians can model a reborn identity by remembering their spiritual heritage and then taking action in ways that match up our behavior to our reborn identities in Christ. If you have your Bibles, turn to 1 Peter chapter 2, and let s look at how Peter coaches first century Christians in properly representing their reborn identities to the anti-christian cultures in which they lived some 2,000 years ago. Now we have to remember that the Christians Peter wrote to were enduring terrible persecution, suffering, and hardship, all because they were choosing to be Jesus followers. These first century Christians weren t just being picked on or snubbed because they had a Jesus fish on their car or a Z88.3 sticker on their bumper. They were being killed for following their Master, Jesus. Peter was very much aware of this as he wrote his letter to them. But as much as he was aware of the darkness of their circumstances, he still advised them to take action with their lives in ways that would show Jesus realness as the Son of God to the observing people of their cultures. Peter s calls to action all had to do with how early Christians lived out their faith - they were calls to action with our lives. For American Christians, these LIFE ACTIONS that Peter calls all Christians to, will actually help us rebuild a Christ-like reputation and help us reclaim our missing reborn identity. 4

6 So let s dig into 1 Peter chapter 2 for Peter s first call to LIFE ACTION. 1 Peter 2:1 1 So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Peter starts out his instructions with so or some translations read therefore, which means based on what I ve already been teaching you about your spiritual identity from chapter 1, do the following." Based on who you really are as a spiritually reborn child of your loving and sacrificing heavenly Father, get rid of all evil behavior. Which evil behavior should we get rid of? Peter says ALL of it. But then goes on to specifically name some really ugly ones. Peter says, Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and unkind speech - these are ugly evils. And Peter says be DONE with them. When you re done with something, you don t keep messing with it and going back to it - you re done with it. The first LIFE ACTION Peter calls Christians to live out is: LIFE ACTION #1 - Get Rid of Our Ugly Pre-Christ Ways (2:1) These traits that Peter specifies are a turnoff for anybody whether you re a Christian or not. The four traits Peter names are ugly characteristics that we all show from time to time because of our brokenness, but since inviting Christ into our lives these traits shouldn t be dominating how people see us. Listen to some definitions of these 4 evil traits Peter names: 5

7 deceit - The action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misrepresenting the truth. hypocrisy - The practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense; facade. jealousy - Feeling or showing envy of someone, of their achievements, or of things they have. unkind speech - Talking about others without consideration for their personal situation, circumstances, or how they may feel about the things being said about them. Now let s just pause here for a second and think about the negative perceptions our society has of Christians. More than half of everyday Americans surveyed said they had an impression of Christians as being self-righteous, hypocritical, judgmental, critical of others, and not helping their communities or being stingy with their resources. If we would just get rid of the four ugly traits that Peter mentions on his hit list it would do wonders to clean up our broken reputations in America, wouldn't it? Listen, deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, they're all ugly. But hateful, poisonous talk about people we disagree with is a major turn off. When we speak with hatred or wish something bad would happen to the people we disagree with, we instantly turn people away who don't share our opinions. Think about it, if it turns you off when you see it in somebody else, it turns them off about you, so knock it off. If people are turned off to us as Jesus followers, then we risk turning them off to Jesus because you and I are the tangible representations of Jesus in this world. Jesus did not speak with hate - even about Judas, his betrayer. 6

8 LIFE ACTION #1 to Reclaim Our Spiritual Identity - Get rid of our ugly pre-christ ways. Peter then transitions from challenging Jesus followers to clean up their acts, to instructing Christians to stir up their spiritual appetites. 1 Peter 2:2-3 2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, 3 now that you have had a taste of the Lord s kindness. Peter taught that Christians are spiritual beings - it is their essence - so stir your spiritual hunger. Pursue the things - do the things - that inspire and induce a hunger for spiritual growth in Jesus ways. Christian, it's who you are, so remember who you are - a spiritual being - even though you are in a physical world, housed in a physical body - remember your spirituality, and stir spiritual hunger in yourself. Call to life action #2, LIFE ACTION #2 - Stir Spiritual Hunger in Ourselves (2:2-3) To stir spiritual hunger and spiritual craving in ourselves, we have to do things that regularly awaken spirituality in us. Do things that satisfy the spiritual part of you. Connect with other Christians who are doing things that both create a hunger for and satisfy spiritual cravings. Pray, read God s Word, connect and serve with others, sacrifice for those outside of God s family - all of these things will stir our spiritual appetite. 7

9 Now we have to remember, when you and I sacrifice of our time and ourselves like Christ did to invest into someone else, we can get tired and discouraged with slow or no results. So we have to remember to keep the spiritual part of us healthy and well fed. You see doing spiritual work for others will help work up our spiritual appetites, but we ve got to remember to feed our spiritual selves. Just like we have to balance eating and exercise, it s the same thing in spiritual matters, we ve got to balance spiritual eating and spiritual exercise. All Bible reading and no serving is as unhealthy as continuously serving with no down time to restore your strength with prayer and communion with our heavenly Father. And remember, people are watching, and if we are attempting to live out Jesus' ways with only our own will power and determination, then where is God's presence visible in our lives as being the One who is empowering us to persevere in the ways of Jesus? People outside of God's family need to see our dependence on our heavenly Father to live through us in order to accomplish the things he wants to in this world. If simple self discipline, will power, and determination can accomplish a positive life experience, then why would anyone need spiritual rebirth and a relationship with God? Those outside of God's family need to "see" our spirituality; it gives them hope that there is definitely more to life than meets the eye. 8

10 LIFE ACTION #2 to Reclaim Our Spiritual Identity - Stir Spiritual Hunger in Ourselves. Peter then moves on in his letter from reminding Christians to take care of their spiritual selves to remembering their spiritual heritage. 1 Peter 2: You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor. 5 And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. 6 As the Scriptures say, I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen for great honor, and anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced. 7 Yes, you who trust him recognize the honor God has given him. But for those who reject him, The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. 8 And, He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall. They stumble because they do not obey God s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them. 9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God s mercy. 9

11 I love how Peter attaches his next call to life action for living out our reborn identities to the spiritual heritage that all Christians share. Peter said remember who you are now, and where you came from. We are all in this together - and we were all at one time on the outside looking in. At one time we were all nobodies, but God changed that and gave us an identity - a spiritually reborn, eternal identity, forever associated with him and connected to him through his Holy Spirit who indwells us when we believe on Christ. God showed us incredible mercy while we were still in our ruinedsin-destroyed state, therefore, show that same mercy to others that you ve been shown. This is a harsh, often merciless world. When we show mercy to someone - especially when they don t deserve it - like we didn't - it shines in this dark place and truly shows who we are, and who we belong to, as children of our heavenly Father. LIFE ACTION #3 - Show Mercy to Others Like God Has Shown Mercy to Us (2:4-10) LIFE ACTION #3 to Reclaim Our Spiritual Identity - Show Mercy to Others Like God Has Shown Mercy to Us. Peter then moved to offer instruction for Christians on how to maintain credibility among the societies they were living in. 10

12 1 Peter 2: Dear friends, I warn you as temporary residents and foreigners to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. 12 Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. This part of Peter s instruction contains an internal, self focus WARNING, something to pay attention to about ourselves, but then also an external, other people focus to BE CAREFUL about. In verse 11 Peter says keep away from worldly desires that wage war against our very souls. He says completely avoid letting yourself want something in this world so badly that you are willing to compromise your spiritual identity as a child of your heavenly Father. Convincing ourselves we HAVE to have any particular thing removes trusting in God for what we need and replaces it with trusting in our own efforts to get what we want or think we need. When we begin to pull away from God and pursue a thing by our own means there is always a ripple effect because there is no such thing as pulling away from God with respect to just one thing. Pulling away from God in one area causes distancing in our relationship with him in general. 11

13 We re only deceiving ourselves when we re thinking we can control things in one area of our lives and let God run the rest of the stuff in our life. It doesn t work that way. Just like with earthly parents, if there s a strain on the relationship because of a child s disobedience, moms and dads aren t buying all sorts of extra goodies and things for their rebellious kid who refuses to obey something they want him to do. So, GUARD your heart from severe want of things in this world because it always pulls us away from closeness with our heavenly Father and deteriorates the quality of our relationship with him. Now as if being distanced in our individual relationships with God isn t bad enough, look at verse 12, because it s connected to the idea in verse 11. Peter continues and says, Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. If Christians practice guarding their hearts from craving this world s stuff, then their life pursuits will stay in sync with God s righteous ways and their lifestyles will show how real God is to them. His realness will be seen in and through their life choices. How they spend their money, how they spend their time, how they love their families, how they talk about others, how they sacrifice for people, all of it stays in alignment with God s ways when our relationships with him are not being distanced because of material or other temporary pursuits of this world that won t even last. 12

14 If we consistently live out ways that honor our heavenly Father, then even if we are falsely accused, the way we are modeling Christ-like values will speak more loudly than the bad things that unbelievers are saying about us. And our life actions will speak so much more loudly than their words, that many of them will become convinced of the authenticity of Christ and be drawn into relationship with God because of the way we are living our lives. Wow! That s pretty strong, but we have to BE CAREFUL to consistently live properly among our neighbors and not give their false accusations a leg to stand on. If we want to reclaim our spiritual identities in the eyes of American society, then we must LIFE ACTION #4 - Live So Well Among Our Unbelieving Neighbors, That Their Accusations Can Only Be False (2:11-12) Okay, let s continue on with LIFE ACTION #5. 1 Peter 2: For the Lord s sake, respect all human authority whether the king as head of state, 14 or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right. 13

15 15 It is God s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you. 16 For you are free, yet you are God s slaves, so don t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. 17 Respect everyone, and love your Christian brothers and sisters. Fear God, and respect the king. 18 You who are slaves must accept the authority of your masters with all respect. Do what they tell you not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are cruel. 19 For God is pleased with you when you do what you know is right and patiently endure unfair treatment. 20 Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you. This advice is tough to follow, isn t it? Let s start out with the word our English version translates as respect. If you look up the word used for respect in an original New Testament Greek dictionary, the word carries the flavor of respect and yielding. The original word is defined as: honorable subjection, subordination, submissive obedience. Again, we re talking about reclaiming our original reborn identity - being known for living out the things the first Christians were known for. So Peter is challenging Christians to life actions that make a favorable impression or have an attractive quality to them. 14

16 In the previous couple of verses, Peter was advising Christians on how to behave toward our neighbors and society in general, but now his advice shifts on how to behave toward all people in authority over us - including government leaders - and to behave in a way that will give them nothing bad to say about Christians. How do we do that? Well, what s the main thing leadership of countries or bosses at work or anyone in leadership want from their people? They want their people, their employees - to do their jobs - follow the rules - obey the laws - don t cause trouble - don t start fights - do what your job or your country expects of you. Be respectfully and submissively obedient to those in charge. In America, we live in a country that offers us the ability to vote and influence the social political direction of our nation. And we can be very conscientious objectors to the direction our country is taking because the laws of our land permit debate. But along with this freedom, there is responsibility. And here it is. It s found in the original Greek word for respect that Peter used. The original word for respect carried special meaning in Peter s day. Leaders and those in authority were greeted with honorable submission and often this was physically demonstrated with a bow and a visible showing that the subject understood and submitted to their lower position under the leader s rule. 15

17 Now here s the caution for modern day American Christians. We may vehemently disagree with a political leader s philosophy and job performance. And we may protest, and rally support to gain votes in a different direction. BUT - when we speak with hatred toward the people we strongly disagree with, and we harbor malice and evil intent in our thoughts toward those we disagree with us, we have forgotten or blatantly ignored Peter s instruction to respectfully obey those in authority over us. Observers mistake our passion for a particular social political position for bigotry and hatred which have nothing to do with our reborn identity and certainly look nothing like Jesus Christ. So we can go ahead and pursue influencing the political landscape of our country - choose who to vote for by Jesus principles - but all the while, respectfully obeying those in authority - and REMEMBERING verse 15 - it is GOD S WILL that our respectful lives will silence ignorant people and give them no valid reason to accuse us of any wrongdoing. God s Word is either right and true or it isn t. Is it not true that God s Kingdom will be advanced no matter what earthly kingdoms try to do? Is it not true that even the Gates of Hell will not be able to withstand the advance of his Kingdom (Matthew 16:18)? Whether governments cooperate with the advance of the gospel or not, humans cannot stop God s agenda. Even if the person you vote for does not get into office in November, it's not the end of the world, God is still sovereign - his Kingdom is unstoppable. 16

18 So have faith in God - he s incapable of breaking his word. Just ask the millions of persecuted Christians in China and in India. Christianity is thriving there. Our heavenly Father is faithfully adding to his family in those places whose governments are aggressively opposing Christianity. Remember, three times Peter references our attention to our God in the way we respectfully obey human authorities: For the Lord s sake (verse 13), It is God s will (verse 15), and fear God (verse 17). Our God does not take this topic of respectfully obeying authority lightly - he knows everyone s watching us - we need to remember everyone s watching us. So call to LIFE ACTION #5 is: LIFE ACTION #5 - Respectfully Obey All Human Authority (2:13-20) If we want to reclaim our spiritual identities, we must Respectfully Obey All Human Authority. And now for the last call to action we ll look at today, call to LIFE ACTION #6. 1 Peter 2: For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps. 22 He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. 17

19 23 He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly. 24 He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. 25 Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls. Peter reminds the early Christians that God has called them to do good. Do all of the things that he has been instructing that will allow their reborn identities to show. Peter s advice is based on Christ s example. Jesus didn t deserve to suffer, but he did. He did so without retaliation. Read the story in the four gospels, Jesus didn t even argue his case. He lived and died consistently showing his real and holy identity as God incarnate. We may not deserve to suffer, but we may have to. We must follow Christ s example and not retaliate as well. Notice Jesus didn t try to end his suffering in pursuit of personal comfort - he was on a mission. We should not pursue comfort in our own lives and get on and stay on mission. People are watching. Whether we re paying attention or not, they are. They're drawing conclusions about Jesus Christ based on what they see in our lives. If we want them to believe that God and Jesus are real, then we have to live intentionally like Jesus did. Call to Action #6 is this: LIFE ACTION #6 - Continue to live out our reborn identities, even when we suffer unjustly like Christ did (2:21-25) 18

20 6 LIFE ACTIONS to RECLAIM Our Spiritual Identities LIFE ACTION #1 - Get Rid of Our Ugly Pre-Christ Ways. (1 Peter 2:1) LIFE ACTION #2 - Stir Spiritual Hunger in Ourselves. (1 Peter 2:2-3) LIFE ACTION #3 - Show Mercy to Others Like God Has Shown Mercy to Us. (1 Peter 2:4-10) LIFE ACTION #4 - Live So Well Among Our Unbelieving Neighbors, That Their Accusations Can Only Be False. (1 Peter 2:11-12) LIFE ACTION #5 - Respectfully Obey All Human Authority. (1 Peter 2:13-20) LIFE ACTION #6 - Continue to Live Out Our Reborn Identities, Even When We Suffer Unjustly Like Christ Did. (1 Peter 2:21-25) If we will remember who we are and consciously, intentionally live it out in front of outsiders long enough, some will recognize us as being children of our heavenly Father, and we will have given our reputations a makeover. We will have reclaimed the reborn identity that the first Christians were known for. Again, like last week, there s some homework to help each of us move forward in reclaiming our spiritual identities. Do the homework - don t put it off - just do it. Don t be afraid of where your heavenly Father may grow you. He s had your back this far, true? Let s pray. 19

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22 Key Verse Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. 1 Peter 2:12 21