2nd Midweek – “I’m Being True to Myself!”
1 Peter 1:22-25, Luke 21:33-22:6
St. John, Galveston 3/1/2023
Rev. Alan Taylor
+ In Nomine Jesu +
Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The overall theme of the messages on these Wednesday nights in Lent is “Living as Christian in a Postmodern World.” Each week we will be taking up a specific focus under the overall theme based on the reading for the evening from 1 Peter. Tonight’s focus is on “identity” and specifically on a commonly held philosophy of life in the Postmodern World, that philosophy being most expressed in the statement, “I’m Being True to Myself.”
Modernism blurs truth. Well, actually, it does more than blur the truth. Fully applied, Postmodernism eliminates the truth because it teaches that there is no such thing as objective truth. Truth is said to be in the eyes of the beholder. Therefore, what is true for you, may not be true for me. I would suffuse that it is only with that sort of understanding of truth, that a person can even conceive of the notion of being true to self.
As I’m sure your’e aware, there is a lot of emphasis placed on self these days. Along with the notion of someone wanting “to be true to themself,” you’ll also hear people insisting that we all be authentic. More than anything else in life, “I want to be authentic.” Knowing what I know about truth from the Scriptures, I have to admit, I’m not altogether sure what either one of those statements mean, but I suspect they have something to do with being who we are, rather than being some characature of who we think people expect or want us to be.
The problem is, if there was ever a time when we have lost sight of who we are, of what our true identity is, it would seem to be now. I suppose for a little guidance we could turn to some well known and respected sources to help us out. For instance, we could turn to Frederich Nietzsche, the 20th century German philosopher. He says, “To become what one is, one must not have the faintest idea who one is.” Hmm. Did that help you with figuring out your identity? Yeah, me either. Or, how about Nobel Prize winner, Bob Dylan. And, yes, Bob Dylan did win a Nobel Prize in 2016 for Literature. As to his identity, he says, “I’m glad I’m not me.” I’m not sure, but that one may be a remnant from the 1960’s. Come to think of it though, it sounds a little bit like Woody Allen, who said, “My one regret in life is that I’m not someone else.” We could, of course, go on to talk about specific aspects of identity, like gender identity, but I’m sure that would only serve to muddy the waters. After all, “experts” tell us that, while there are 7 main genders these days, there are actually 75 genders in all.
These are some rather confusing times to live. To be “true to ourselves” and “to be authentic,” it would seem that we first have to know who we are. To know who we are we have to turn to some sort of source. The question is, will we let the culture we live in define who we are? Will we let experts tell us who we are? Will we let our feelings and emotions tell us who we are?
As Christians, our true identity, is, of course, in God, and specifically in Christ Jesus. The Apostle John, in the Gospel that bears his name, says of Jesus, “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” God created you and so He is the One who gets to define who you are. More than that, He is the One who gets to give purpose, because your identity is intimately connected to your purpose in life.
The Epistle reading for this evening from 1 Peter clearly defines who you are. “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.” I know, this “born again” identity has sort of been co-opted by certain denominations and non-demonizations alike. But, it goes to very heart of who you are in Christ Jesus. You were, as the Apostle says elsewhere, “dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” So, you and I were dead men and women, children. That was your identity. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”
God brought you to life by water and His word. He raised you from the dead and gave you an incredible mission in Christ Jesus. You are born again in Christ Jesus. Which is to say, it is in Jesus that “you live and move and have your very being.” He is the imperishable into which you have been born again.
And now, because of who you are, because of your identity, God says, “you are created anew to love one another with a pure heart.” Or, as Jesus says elsewhere, “love your neighbor as yourself.”
The Scriptures never have us digging around inside of ourselves to try to figure out who we are. God knows it doesn’t have us trying to figure out which of 75 genders we fit into either. Rather, because we have been born again in Christ Jesus, we can look outside of ourselves to a world in desperate need of God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness, perhaps even to someone who is earnestly and despairingly confused with their true identity. The answers they so desperately seek, isn’t in the culture, nor does it come from the extraordinary learning of “experts,” rather, it comes from the God who created them and who has loved them unto death.
“You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.” God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
+ Soli Deo Gloria +