who am i?

We've been discussing the important role of understanding our identity in our current series "Identity Crisis" at church over the past weeks.  I hope it's been helpful in pointing you to consider new ways of understanding your life, your purpose, your mission and your hope in Christ as your true identity.

One passage that I haven't been able to cover yet is a vital one in understanding who we REALLY are.
1 Peter 2:9 says that "you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light."
Let's break down this passage quickly
1. Who called us?  God did.  We don't call ourselves, the maker of heaven and earth has called us...and He knows what He is doing.
2. Why did He call us?  So that we may declare His praises.  He called us for a purpose, to give Him glory...not our own glory, but His.
3. What does this mean?  It means we have a new identity.  We are no longer who we used to be, we are transformed into something else

Peter here uses a few powerful terms to explain our new identity.  He says we are a chosen people; which is a term that used to only apply to the Jewish people going all the way back to God's covenant with Abraham.  But now the people of God are not identified because of their ancestry, but by their faith in Jesus.

He calls us a royal priesthood, which used to apply to the Levites, a group of Jews who were set aside as the priests for Israel.  But now all believers in Jesus are Priests and invited into the Holy of Holies to be where God Himself dwells.

And he calls us a Holy Nation.  That word Holy is so important, it means set apart for a purpose, God's purpose.  
That is who you are.  Not because you are good or smart or useful; but because you are called by God to a Holy purpose.  Believers in Jesus are given this new identity and mission.  That is who you are.
 
In Christ,
Pastor Scott