Identity Theft

ProJect 29
07.06.08
Brandon Greene

Opener - Story about Identity Theft

You know, how we see ourselves; where we derive our sense of identity, has a
profound impact on how we live. We are going to look at these two aspects. First,
where we get our sense of identity and how that affects us and, second, how our
identity as Christians changes how we live.
I am going to read an excerpt from a letter Paul wrote to a group of Christians in
Colossae about this topic: "9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off
the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed
in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew,
circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and
in all. 12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts,
kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one
has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so
you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything
together in perfect harmony."
As Christians we are to seek ways to renew society and renew the creation not for
ourselves but for the good of the whole world. Where we see God's original intention
for human society unraveling, we are to find ways to reweave the fabric of society in a
way that benefits not just ourselves but the common good. For example: We see
division, strife, prejudice and factions of people as the norm in society rather than
God's original intention of human community, peace, social justice and love as the
norm. So we seek to reweave frayed society by doing the things we just read about.
Instead of differences of nationality, culture, social status, and church practice dividing
us, we demonstrate the joyful difference the Gospel makes by loving and serving
people in spite of our differences and by seeking peace.
Yet oftentimes we as Christians are more influenced by the current culture and its
attitudes rather than breaking out into the culture and making a positive difference in
it.
Paul wrote another letter to a group of Christians in a different city that addressed this
problem. He wrote, I Corinthians 3:3 "...for you are still of the flesh. For while there is
jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human
way? 4 For when one says, I follow Paul, and another, I follow Apollos,are you not
being merely human?"
This group of Christians let the attitudes of political division in the culture become
attitudes of political division in the church. They each wanted to justify their personal
causes. So they each picked a certain person they identified with, in this case Paul or
Apollos, and then looked down their noses at the other party. When we do that as
Christians, we are being shaped by the divisions in our society rather than shaping
society. We are deriving our identity from the wrong place. Our identity has just been
stolen and we gave away our card with our name on it. The fact is, we do that kind of
thing all the time. We take honest differences about nationality, culture, social
status, and church practice and give it a moral significance to justify
ourselves.
Have you ever been to a multicultural wedding? These differences become clear in a
wedding between someone of white european descent and someone of latino descent.
The whites Euros are all seated at two o'clock; the start time listed on the wedding
invitations. But they are wondering why the latinos aren't there yet. They think, "It's
supposed to start at 2. Why aren't they here yet?". The Latinos think the wedding
starts when everybody gets there and ends when everybody leaves. The white Euros
don't care if anyone is there at two o'clock, the wedding starts at that time. The white
euros think, 'We are the responsible ones'. 'We are relational' say the Latinos. 'Latinos
are emotional' say the whites. 'Whites are uptight' say the Latinos. And it goes on and
on. What are we doing? We automatically take a difference. We each try to justify
ourselves as better rather than seeing our differences as complementary. If our
identity is tied to our nationality then we will compare ourselves with other
nationalities to justify ourselves. We need to feel morally superior to boost our flagging
self esteem. It's hard not to do that. But where in the Bible does it say anything about
what punctual is. If you are in Nigeria it's within the hour. If you're in Peru it's 2 hours.
In a Pacific island nation it's sometime that day. It's culturally relevant. It has no moral
value of right or wrong. It's just different. Is our national culture determining how we
view others or is the Gospel of a universal God who created the diversity of cultures in
the world, determining our view? We need to elevate our identity as Christians above
national identities. If you are a Christian then you are a Christian first. Of, course we
are influenced by our nationalities, but where the negatives of our culture conflict with
Biblical values, we should choose Biblical values. Where a positive aspect of our
culture can be better shaped by Biblical values, then we need to apply them. Unless
the gospel has penetrated us deeply enough then we are going to tie our identity to
the wrong things.
What about social status? James 2:1 "My brothers,show no partiality as you hold
the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring
and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also
comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say,
You sit here in a good place,while you say to the poor man, You stand over there, or,
Sit down at my feet, 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and
become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen
those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he
has promised to those who love him?"
After reading this you may think, "Yeah, the rich are bad". But what have you just
done? You just excluded them from you. How many extremely wealthy people do you
know personally? The talk of 'the people' or 'the workers' excludes the business class
and wealthy. That's also discriminating. I've seen poor people sneer at a couple in fine
clothes driving a very expensive car. Then they said things like,"I don't need that to
prove my value. I'm fine without all that." What did they just do? They said, I am
morally superior because those people need those things and I don't. (Then they
complain about not having more money). The Gospel is different. It builds a bridge
between the two for the common good. The poor are a reminder to the rich that they
are not accepted by God on the basis of their own effort, social status or sense of self
importance. And they are not to trust in their possessions but God. In turn the rich
assist the poor by helping them come up in life. Those acts of compassion
demonstrate how God, out of love and kindness, poured out on us the riches of His
grace that we might experience new life.
In western culture this is especially challenging because our work and income level are
viewed as the measure of our personal value and the basis by which we value others.
Our identity is tied to what we do. It's part of our history. Many of our last names
identify the kind of work our ancestors did. Schmidt, Zimmerman, Greene - English
reference to 'gardener'. How do you view others based on their job position or level of
income? Who does that view separate you from? The unemployed, politicians,
businesspeople, housewives, poor, rich? If you tie your identity to your job or income
it will affect how you relate to people. I'll give you an example of how this works: If i tie
my identity to being a pastor /church planter then I will value myself based on how I
rate my performance as a pastor. If things are good - (however I define it)- and the
church is growing then I feel good about my value. I may also look down on others who
are struggling in ministry. On the other side, if the church isn't growing and I'm not
seeing many personal changes in people's lives then I will begin to use others in a way
that serves to up my sense of value. I will misuse people because I will start looking to
gain power over people to serve my needs rather than give power away. We are not
our job titles. Out of the assurance that we are loved and accepted by God, we can
joyfully serve others, regardless of our social status or job titles. Our job is what we do
not who we are.
This goes so deep in us as Christians that we even tie our identities to religious
traditions - Baptist, Lutheran, Adventist, Pentecostal - or worship styles. In churches
there are Worship wars. Contemporary music or traditional. Casual ministry style or
liturgical. The liturgical group says the other is selling out to culture. Contemporary
says liturgical traditions are outdated. In the church we can have an honest difference
of opinion about what we think is the best style for our context. But we should not add
a moral value to it to say, we are better and more righteous because we do it one way
or the other. It's a matter of preference, not a moral - right or wrong thing. See, we
take honest differences of opinion that could be complementary and turn them into
factions.
Let's go back to 1 Corinthians 3 to see how Paul answered the problem of divisions.
"21 So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or
Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23
and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's."
We could sum it up this way: If we have divisions and prejudices then we are
not happy enough in the Gospel. If you find your identity in Christ then you won't
have to justify yourself. Your judgement day is past. It happened on the cross. You
were judged in jesus. All things are now yours. Paul is your guy, Apollos is your guy.
Latinos are yours, all nationalities are for you. All people - rich or poor, Baptists,
Lutherans, Catholics, they are all yours. If you have enough security in gospel grace
then you won't need to compare yourself with others to feel good about yourself. You
are free to serve and love other people.
If our identity is rooted in Jesus, in an understanding of the Gospel, it changes how we
act.
Verse 12 "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts,
kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one
has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so
you also must forgive..."
Paul uses a picture of clothing to show us how our acceptance by God changes our
attitudes towards people. Clothes can change the way we look and feel about
ourselves. If you dress for a party then it helps put you in a party mood. If you go to a
funeral then your clothes are somber. The Bible calls our own self-righteousness, filthy
rags. They're filthy because when we wear them we look down on others and put
others down to feel better about ourselves. We magnify our differences to boost our
flagging self-esteem. Then we come to God and do the same thing. We want him to
accept us based on all our efforts and the fact we aren't as bad as the next guy.
It's automatic. Because before we come to Christ, we spend our whole lives
trying to justify ourselves so that we feel good on our own moral scale. Then
we hear the Gospel of acceptance by God based on Jesus' efforts and righteousness,
not our own. Suddenly we find out that all those ways we try to justify ourselves to feel
good about ourselves or to be accepted by others don't give us acceptance with God.
That's so different than how the world works. So different than what we have always
known. We don't have to justify ourselves anymore. You are justified in Christ. Yet we
continue to try to if the Gospel hasn't become real enough to us yet.
In our second year of marriage, Amber and I lived in a building that was, at one time, a
grand old hotel that had been converted into apartments. The washers and dryers
were in the basement. There was also a vending machine there with drinks and
snacks. The first time we used the vending machine we put money into it but nothing
came out. A neighbor came down and said, "It's not broken you just have to pound it."
And he began to beat on it. The snacks and drinks came out. The Gospel is a little like
that. We keep putting it in but little or nothing comes out. So we have to pound,
pound, pound with the Gospel till we really believe it's true and begin live it. This issue
of identity is one of those aspects.
The distinctions of nationality, social status, and church practice aren't the
basis of acceptance with one another. If our identity is bound to those things
rather than Christ, it's like wearing nasty clothes that repel other people. It hinders
practical expressions of the love of God because our hearts are closed to them. If our
identity is in Christ then we understand we are accepted on the basis of grace. Which
is: we are more sinful than we dare think yet, at the same time more loved and
accepted by God than we ever dare to dream. That's why our justification and
acceptance is based on Jesus, not us. We accept others the same way and can find
treasure in people of different nationalities, social status or church practice. They are
all ours because they are all Christ's.
Only in the Gospel is there true equality and tolerance. You may think - hold on
a minute. What about the Crusades, or colonialism or other forms of oppression in the
name of Christ? Yes, terrible abuses have been done in the name of Christ. People with
Bibles in their hands have justified extremismus and discrimination. Maybe you've
personally experienced discrimination or intolerance from Christians on some level. It
was wrong. But the solution to these injustices is not less Christianity but deeper
Christianity. Let me explain: Martin Luther King Jr. was a black civil rights activist in
America during a terrible period called 'segregation' in America - when whites
discriminated against and mistreated blacks. When King confronted the abuses of
white churches in America, he did not call on them to loosen their Christian
commitments. He used the Bible to call them to a truer, deeper Christianity
like we read about in the Bible today. Because only there is a value of people that
supersedes the prejudice, discrimination and reasons we divide ourselves from each
other.
Here is an excerpt from MLK's legendary 'I Have a Dream' speech.
"This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug
of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the
time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of
racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice
to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of
God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering
summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating
autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning.
And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content
will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be
neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights.
The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the
bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm
threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful
place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for
freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct
our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our
creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to
the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead
us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by
their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our
destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our
freedom.
We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.
We cannot turn back.
There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be
satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the
unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our
bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the
highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's
basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as
long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by a
sign stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in
Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to
vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down
like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and
tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you
have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the
storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been
the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned
suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South
Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos
of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a
dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its
creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and
the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of
brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the
heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an
oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will
not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its
governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" --
one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join
hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain
shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be
made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it
together."
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.
With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a
beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together,
to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom
together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to
sing with new meaning:
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every
village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up
that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles,
Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old
Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
In our city there is racial diversity, social and economic diversity, a diversity of
churches and Christian practice. We need to be willing listen to those who are
different, be willing to learn from them, befriend them. The more we do, the more we
come to know Jesus and understand what the Gospel is really all about.
15 "And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in
one body. And be thankful. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything
together in perfect harmony"

Let's pray.