All Saints Lutheran Church

January 12, 2003

Pastor Tim Johnson

Mark 1:9-11

A “BORN” Identity

The title of my message this morning is…”A BORN Identity”. In a recent movie by the same name, Matt Damon stars as a government secret agent. As the movie opens you see this agent floating on the water, appearing to be dead. A fishing boat happens by and picks him up, unconscious. When he finally comes to, he realizes that he has no idea who he is. He spends the rest of the movie trying to discover his “identity”.

I wonder if that doesn't in some way describe what a huge part of our life is spent pursuing--our identity. Trying to answer the foundational questions of who am I and why am I here? For, depending upon who you understand yourself to be--your identity--will result in how you live your life.

In our world today, because of sin, we struggle to know and live out of our identity. Much like what the actor in the movie did; we sometimes lose touch with who we really are. And when a person loses their identity, they lose their self-worth, their self-esteem, their purpose and their confidence for living boldly and without fear.

And when people lose these foundational characteristics of what makes them who they are, they begin to look outside of themselves to other people or things to fill that void.

When that happens to us, we are no longer confident in who we are and who God made us to be. We begin see ourselves as victims of circumstance--people who are pushed around by the forces of luck or curse that surrounds them. And when that happens, everything from depression and despair to aggression and violence can take over a person's life.

Even Christians can fall into this identity crisis. And when we have an identity crisis, we will not live as God wants us to live. We will miss the mark--that's what the Greek word for sin means. We'll fall short. We'll miss the purpose of why we have been created and redeemed. Indeed, I believe the true root of most all of our sin is found when we are confused about or don't act out of our God-given identities. When that happens, we experience a void and look to all the wrong places to get satisfied or to numb the emptiness.

In fact, the truth is that anytime we are in the midst of a full – blown “identity crisis” the temptation to sin becomes powerful.

People search for someone to fill the void or “gap” in their lives. This is often times the reason why one spouse leaves another, not so simply because there are problems in the relationship, but because they begin listening to other voices--voices that say: “You know you're not appreciated”, “you deserve better than this”. And the enemy begins to appeal to a person's ego. And with an absence of a person's self-worth and Godly-worth, their confidence is rocked because they cannot see themselves as God sees them, and they begin to believe a lie that something better is on the other side.

It's the same reason why Christians fall away or turn away from God after they have walked with Him for a while.

They forget who they are and who they belong to. And they miss God's purpose for their lives.

It's for this same reason that teenage boys and teenage girls give in to sexual pressure. It's usually not about the sex; it's about “acceptance”. “You want me; therefore I am accepted. I am accepted, therefore, I must be somebody.”

The ways we are tempted to be led astray are innumerable.

So, today I invite you to connect with the deepest part of your identity. It is a born identity. It's an identity that describes who you are at your deepest level.

And so you may wonder, what exactly is a “BORN Identity”

Pastor Raita, last week, talked about the fact that we all have those natural birth kinds of roots--cultural, gender, nationality, and the like.

But there is another, even deeper identity that is to be had. And Pastor Raita talked about that gift of being a claimed and chosen child of God, adopted into God's family.

Just as we are born into our first family and our first identity through physical birth, we are reborn into this deeper identity through our baptisms. It is nothing less than a rebirth.

Jesus told Nicodemus in John Chapter 2, “You must be born from above, or born again”.

What is the purpose of this being “BORN AGAIN”?

The point is that our first physical birth into this world isn't enough. It isn't all that makes us who we are. It makes us human beings, for sure. It made me a Swedish, male, Johnson. But those are things that are related to our being born of the flesh.

And, unfortunately, there's something that everyone who is born in the flesh falls prey to--and that is sin. All of the things that we do and are that draw us away from and separate us from God and from one another. All of the things that we say, think and do that have us fall short of how God wants us to live.

We want forgiveness, but we're stingy in extending it to others.

We know that God provides for us and is generous with us; yet we find ourselves not only hanging on to most everything we have, but we have insatiable appetites for more, while ignoring a world in need.

We know that God has given us the good gift of the Sabbath; yet we run ourselves and our families ragged, being involved with so many things that we can scarcely connect with our families, to say nothing of a daily connection with God.

We turn black and white areas of life into a sea of gray. And, we even participate in the notion that it's OK for everyone to have their own truth, denying Jesus' claim that He alone is the way and the truth and the life. And, our identities as people of Christ grows dim and confused.

Perhaps it's one of the reasons why people stay away from reading their bibles. It's not so much that people can't really understand what God says, but rather that it's too painful to see the huge gap between how we live and how God calls us to live.

Even, in our attempts to please God, when we're trying with everything we've got, we can experience utter frustration. We despair. We feel guilt and shame. And sometimes people simply give up.

All of that is living in the flesh. It's living out of that earthly identity. It's a life that is trying to live on its own. And it is the reason why we are in need of a re-birth--a born again experience and identity so that we can get on with life as God has intended, knowing that at the ground of our being, we are cherished.

It is for this reason that we are given the gift of baptism--a washing away of all of that old sin--a dying to that sin and rising with God's Holy Spirit. A birth of hope and renewal. A birth into forgiveness and grace. A birth into a relationship with the Living God. For, God so deeply loves us as we are that He takes us just as we are--sinful, self-absorbed, self-reliant, prideful, and He washes us clean so that we are free to live again.

God sees not our shortcomings as much as our possibilities as we live with Christ. God sees past our self-serving pride and our low self-esteems and our skewed ways that we see ourselves and others, and declares that we are of infinite worth and beauty. That underneath that rough, dirty, depressed, struggling, fearful exterior, that there is a work of faith and boldness and life to come forth.

Jesus, as he begins his ministry is baptized in the River Jordan. And immediately upon coming up out of the waters of his baptism, he hears the words, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

A person's baptism into Christ is a baptism into that very same favor and deep love of god. It is the beginning of a journey of creating beauty and love. And, just as Luther said that we need to return to the waters of our baptisms each and every day, we discover that it is more than just an event--it is also a process.

My sister-in-law, Jana, Jennifer's twin sister, lives in Oakland CA and has committed the past couple of years of her life working with ministries that are seeking to renew people's lives in the inner cities. During this time she has begun working for SISTER, an organization that ministers to women with addiction.

The following is a draft of a sort of talk or speech that she was gave. Though she doesn't mention baptism, it's all about seeking that identity that is born in the waters of God's divine grace.

My name is Jana, she begins. I am called a chemical dependency counselor, but that's not really what I am. I am an assistant to a Diamond Dealer.

The women who come to SISTER are diamonds in the rough. They come in pretty rough. I mean, they've lied, stolen, prostituted, neglected their children, manipulated...but that's the rough.

Inside each woman is a diamond. A brilliant, sparkly, electric diamond...beneath the rough.

It's such a privilege to witness--a woman comes to Sister, but all her rough is showing. She has attitude, defiance, irritability, distrust--but that's the rough. After a time, through some hard work and love, the rough begins to crumble off.

Sometimes it's big chunks that are shed--like when a woman shares the burden of her deepest secrets, of what she's done or of what's been done to her--or when another woman releases her pain through a wailing cry that leaves her quiet and pensive for days--another chunk falls off. We call these big chunks “breakthroughs” and they're exciting to see.

Sometimes little pieces of rough fall off, too, and these the little changes. Maybe her attitude softens just a bit, or you overhear her sincerely apologizing to a fellow SISTER for something she's done--little pieces of rough.

Whatever the size it's always amazing because as the rough is shed the diamond waiting patiently beneath gets exposed bit by bit and it is brilliant, just brilliant.

The women begin to shine.

First their uniqueness shows through, then their strength. Then you see shimmers of reconciliation between them and their families. As they learn more about themselves, their great passions and giftedness start to surface, and soon, we all begin to suspect and see small glimpses of their truly unlimited potential.

They are diamonds.

And as these diamonds in the rough grow in their healing, in their ability to truly love and be loved, they begin to feel more like the purely precious, beautiful child, God made them to be.

I love my job, she closes her letter with. I am an assistant to a Diamond Dealer, and the Diamond Dealer I'm assisting seems to love to send some of His roughest Diamonds to SISTER, and that's fine with me.

Sometime ago, I stopped seeing women with addictions come through our doors, and I started seeing Diamonds, just waiting to shine.

Because Jana knows who she is as a loved and cherished child of God, she is able to live out her calling to those diamonds in the rough in her life.

Each one of you are so deeply loved by God. Who is He calling you to love deeply?

For we are all assistants to the Diamond Dealer.

Amen.