ServantForLife

An Identity Given

When one transforms into a new identity, it is important to know the identity someone is changing from.  The human race, beginning with Adam, has been afflicted by sin.  God tells us that there is not one person on the face of this planet who is righteous.  Humanity is incapable of doing a single good deed in God’s eyes, because of our depraved and sinful nature.  Being saved, however, allows a person to be born again into a new identity.

Being a born again Christian is a phrase often heard in American Christian culture.  This can be a confusing term.  It was a confusing term in even in the New Testament.  The Pharisee Nicodemus asked: “How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born” (John 3:4)?  Nicodemus missed the point the Christ was talking about.  Jesus wasn’t talking about a physical rebirth, but the regeneration of the human heart.  “Regeneration is the act of God alone, in which He renews the human heart, making it alive when it was dead” (Sproul & Mathison, 2005, p.1514).  When that heart is renewed, a person is given a new identity in Christ.  We are Children of God (2 Corinthians 6:18), Aliens (1 Peter 2:11), Servants (Mark 9:35), and Priests (1 Peter 2:9) to name a few.

Children of God

To be called a child of God is a unique thing.  Think about a parent and child relationship.  It is common to hear someone tell a parent that their child looks exactly like them.  The reason for this is that they carry the same DNA as their parent, hence the similarities.  To be called a child of God is to be declared positionally perfect.  Believers are carrying God’s DNA.  Christians have been washed by the blood of Christ and are made perfect so that they may be called sons and daughters of God.  It is no small thing to be called a child of God.  As children of God, believers should strive to be more like their heavenly Father.  They should seek to please and honor Him in all that they do.  “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48 ESV).

Aliens

“I urge you, as aliens and strangers” (1 Peter 2:11 NIV).  No, this doesn’t mean that Christians now have little green antennas sticking out of their heads.  As Elwell states it we are: “Foreigners and exiles, whose eternal home is elsewhere” (Elwell & Yarbrough, 2005, p. 364).  Another way to look at this is through the lens of immigration.  Often society views an immigrant as a legal or illegal alien.  These are people who are in this country, but not citizens.  As children of God, Christians belong to His kingdom and therefore are simply legal aliens in this world.  Eric Geiger in his book Identity says it best: “You are not a citizen here.  You are a stranger in this world. You are a foreigner in this land because of your faith” (Geiger, 2008, p. 142).  Therefore Christian character and behavior should not be dictated by the culture of this world.  Rather they should model their morals and lifestyle through the example of Jesus Christ.  If Christians are aliens, what is their purpose while in the world?  They are here to be servants.

Servant

The apostle Paul introduced himself and Timothy to the Philippian church as servants.  They identified their new character in Christ as such because Christ Himself was a servant leader.  The term used is the Greek word duolos which means: “a slave who is willingly bound to another” (Geiger, 2008, p. 142).  It is hard to imagine two of the early church’s most influential leaders calling themselves slaves to Christ.  However their identity is stemmed directly from Christ’s example found in Philippians 2:6-7 says: “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (ESV).  God Himself became a servant to humankind.  He died on the cross and suffered for us, to serve us.  Christ modeled this in how He washed the disciples feet during the last supper.  This chore was supposed to be done by servants, not the guest of honor.  We are also told that: “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all, and servant of all” (Mark 9:35, NIV).  Christians are therefore called, in their new identity, to be servants of God.  So what then does it mean to serve God.  It means to love the world.  It means to fulfill the great commission.  Fulfilling this means to spread the gospel to every tribe, nation, and tongue.  It means that we are to be priests.

Priest

“But you are a…royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9a).  In the Old Testament, only High Priests were aloud to enter into the Holy of Holies in the Jewish Temple.  This was considered a special honor as they were given the honor of communicating directly with God, the honor of coming closely into His Presence.  Priests were also charged with communicating God’s Word to the Jewish people and to the world.  These were the sacred charges given to the priests of God.  Through the grace given to us in Christ Jesus, all believers have been ordained into the royal priesthood of God.  All of His children are invited into the Holy of Holies.  All of His servants are given the honor of entering into His presence and serving Him.  As priests, Christians are also charged with spreading the Gospel.  Believers are entrusted with the very word of God, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to spread the good news of the Gospel.