Who Am I? - Pt 7

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10 ESV).

What we saw was that our identity led directly to our destiny: we are chosen, pitied, possessed, and holy all for the sake of being a royal priesthood. However, Peter is more specific when he tells us the precise reason for our existence. He says that we exist for this reason: "that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (v. 9b). This is the full-time destiny of a royal priest—to make the glories of the king known. There is a lot of discussion in our day of self-concept or self-identity. How do we view ourselves? It is an important question. And what I hope you hear today is that the biblical truth is that Christian selfhood is not defined in terms of who we are in and of ourselves. It's defined in terms of what God does to us and the relationship he creates with us and the destiny he appoints for us. In other words as a Christian you cannot talk about your identity without talking about the action of God on you, the relationship of God with you, and the purpose of God for you. The biblical understanding of human self-identity is radically God-centered. We are a God-chosen one, a God-pitied one, a God-possessed one, a God-sanctified one. The very language of our identity in this text necessitates that God be included as the one who acts. Our identity is not an end in itself, but for the sake of priestly service, which Peter defines as proclaiming the excellencies of the One who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. God made us who we are so that we might proclaim the excellency of his freedom in choosing us. The excellency of his grace in pitying us. The excellencies of his authority and power in possessing us. The excellencies of his worth and purity in making us holy. In other words he has given us our identity in order that his identity might be proclaimed through us. God made us who we are so we could make known his glory. Therefore being a Christian and making the greatness of God known are almost identical. We can do it in a thousand different ways of love that suit our situation and personality. The key is in acknowledging this truth and behaving accordingly. This is who we are!