We continue this morning with part four of Identity Check. What I want you to do with me… If you have a copy of the Scriptures, I want you to go with me to the book of Revelation, chapter 4, and I want you to go with me down to verse 11. It reads like this. It says, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."
I want you to know something this morning. God did not need to create you; God chose to create you. I'll say it again, because I don't think you got it. God did not need to create you. God needs nothing. God is all-sufficient. The Bible proclaims he is all-sufficient. He needs nothing. He did not need to create you; he chose to create you.
The Bible plainly declares in the book of Psalms, chapter 139, it talks about how you and I were fearfully and wonderfully made. You are not an accident. You are by design. Do you hear me? God created you. He designed you. He made you. He knitted you in the womb of your mother. You have an identity that comes from God and from God alone. I want you to get it. I want you to understand it.
There is nothing more disjointed or disconcerting in a person's life than when they believe their life does not matter. When you literally speak to yourself, and you say, "My life doesn't matter. My life has no rhythm. My life has no rhyme. Nobody sees me," and you begin to hear the whispers and the echoes of your heart that scream, "I don't have a place. I don't matter. I don't care. I don't have a purpose. No one truly sees me where I am."
That scream that comes from your heart, even though at times you wear a smile, it's a voice that speaks, and it speaks loudly, but I don't want you to ever, ever forget that God created you by choice, and God called you to the work of his purpose. Boy, when those voices begin to speak, and they say, "You're not valuable. You don't matter. You can never contribute to anything in this world," it is disconcerting.
Again, it sets you apart, and it brings depression into your life. I can tell you this. It especially hurts when you have those feelings in your life, and someone validates those very feelings by saying something that brings them up to the surface. Can I get an, "Amen," or, "Oh, me"?
When I was in high school, it was the best of times, and it was the worst of times. It was only about three years ago… I'm just kidding; it was many years ago when I was in high school, the best of times, the worst of times. It was the best of times, because I had a lot of good friends that I hung out with. It was the best of times because I played in a band, and I enjoyed that. We got to tour on the weekends and had a lot of fun with that and a lot of great memories doing all that fun stuff.
It was the worst of times because my dad was diagnosed with a brain tumor. They gave him two years to live. Somewhere between those two worlds, my world began to crumble, caught up between just trying to have a high school career and have some good memories and play in a band, yet my dad on the side kind of dying, and trying to figure out where do I find my place. Deep inside, my voice was saying, "You're never going to have a place in this world."
Something deep inside of me, even when I was outside of Christ, I knew that God cared about me somehow, somewhere. I had a day. I had a moment. I was going into an assembly. You have to understand that because I was in this band, and because my dad's life was falling apart, and cancer was eating him up, I internalized a lot of that. I want you to understand that it began to manifest in a lot of things I'm not real proud of that I did way back then.
I did some pretty horrible things. I don't have time this morning to sit here and go down the list, but I can imagine those of you who were in high school years ago can probably look back and say, "There were times I did some bad things too." I kind of made some people really look at me and place an identity on my life that really wasn't the identity of who I was. It was just me trying to struggle to find my way.
I want you to know something. Don't ever let someone put an identity on you that God hasn't put on you. Amen? You see, because God created you by choice, and he has called you to the work of his purpose. I was walking into an assembly, and right when I was going in, my own principal stopped me, and he put his fingers on my chest, and he kind of pushed me a little bit. I looked at him like, "What was that all about?"
You know what he said to me? He said something, and I remember it to this day. He said, "Steve, you know what, man? You're a loser, and you'll always be a loser." That's what my principal said to me. Now, I blew it off like it didn't bother me, but I want you to know something. It became a strong voice in my life. It went to the core of who I was. I want you to know something. It cut against the grain of my dad whose last name was Wright who used to tell me, "We are Wrights, and we do things the Wright way."
On the other side of the coin was my father dying of cancer and my mom whispering into my spirit and into my heart and into my life what he was saying about me. What he was saying about me was, "There is good inside of Steve. There is good in there that will be drawn out one day." He would look at my mom and go, "You just be patient. I know right now there are some things not going right in his life, and I know he's making some bad choices, but there's something about this young man." He said, "Good will be drawn out of him."
I was wedged between those two voices. For the longest time, I gave in to the voice of the negative. It manifested over and over. I began to listen to the voice of my own way. I want you to know something this morning. The voice of your own way will lead you astray. Do you hear me? Only the voice of God knows exactly where he's leading you. Only the comfort of God will ever truly be true comfort. Only the joy of God will be true joy and happiness.
My life completely was turned around upside down, shaken up, and reformed August 24, 1988. I'll never forget it. I was wedged between having a career in a band and having a song on the radio. I was wedged between my father getting ready to draw some of his last breaths. I was wedged between the voices of who am I going to be in life? Am I going to be a rock star? Am I going to be a loser? Am I going to be somewhere in between?
Little did I know God was going, "Oh, buddy. Oh, my friend, I have a plan for you, because I created you by choice, and I have called you to the work of my purpose." I want you to know something. You can ignore God, you can reject him, or you can accept him, and out of those three, accepting him is the best thing you will ever, ever do. God is pursuing you, because he created you.
On August 24, 1988, I went to a church. This was the second time. The first time I went there, I went there under conviction, because I was a barber at that time, and I was cutting hair. A local friend had passed away who was a young man. He was a young man who was studying to be in the ministry. This young man was named Joey Rayfield, and he would follow our band around.
He was one of those guys (and you've heard me share a little bit of this testimony before), who would show up at that parties when we were doing stuff we weren't supposed to do, and he would make sure we would get home. He never beat us over the head with the Bible, but what he did is he loved us with the love of Christ that convicted us beyond what he could ever imagine.
He's in heaven now, but one day, I'll be able to see Joey, and I'll be able to say, "Let me tell you something, man. Thank you for all those times you thought none of us saw what you were doing, but we did." God was using that kind of conviction, and he was drawing me. I was cutting hair one day, and I had just finished. I was sitting in a barber chair, and I was looking in the mirror.
A young lady walked by and saw me. She came in and said, "Did you hear that Joey passed away last night?" It shocked me. I said, "What happened?" "He just died of natural causes. They don't know." She left. She shut the door. I was alone in the shop, and deep in my heart, I heard something go, "What about you?" It scared me to death. I looked around, because I thought the girl I worked with was in the shop and she had asked me a question. It was that tangible. It was that real.
I remember there was no one there. Deep in my spirit, I heard someone say again, "What about you?" I got up, and I looked in the mirror, and I said, "Man, I would be separated from you, God." I knew it was the voice of God. God knows how to break into a sinner's life. God knows how to just walk right into the heart of a sinner and love this person like you've never been loved before.
The beauty of God is his love is so strong and so immense and so powerful, even when you feel like you're running from him, he embraces with with everything he is, because he created you by choice, and he has called you to fulfill the work of his purpose. I called my wife; she took me to church. The first time I ever heard a preacher preach, it scared me to death. This guy was preaching loudly, and he was spitting on the front row, and he was spitting on everybody around him, much like sometimes I get when I get cranked up.
I thought to myself, "This is the craziest place I've ever been." I kind of made me upset, and I left. I told my girlfriend then who is my wife now. This February, we will have been married I think 24 years. Hallelujah. I told her. I said, "I'll never go back to that blankety-blank church again. They're full of blankety-blank blank." She got upset. Next thing I know, I'm calling her a few days later going, "Can you take me back to that church?"
He preached a message, man. He preached, and it sounded like the same message. I remember having a moment that God drew me down to the altar. I remember holding the back of the pew and my knuckles getting white because I could hardly resist it. The God of the universe (and it blows me away to this day) would care enough about me to come break into my world and begin to call me.
This God who had created the entire universe, this God who had spun the universe off the tips of his fingers would look down at me, because now I know, as a pastor years later, that I, as a human being, am the height of his creation. That God would chase me when it should have been the other way around.
The next thing I knew, there I was. I don't even know how I got there, but I ended up at an altar. People around me were praying. They had their hands on me, praying. Some of them were saying, "Hold on." Others were saying, "Let go." I didn't know whether to hold on or let go. I just knew, "I'm right here, and something is happening that's bigger than I am." I remember I didn't know a prayer to pray. I didn't know any Romans Road.
We come up with all kinds of formulas to try to find God, but God isn't a formula. You don't get to him in a formula. You get to him when he breaks in, and you surrender to the break-in. When that happens, man, when God captures you with his love, it's amazing. I was standing there, and I had my hands in the air, and my prayer was, "God, if you're real, and God, if you're up there, whatever it is, come into my life," and he set me completely and utterly free.
It was in that moment that the weight of my world was lifted. The challenge of my life had been mandated. God had called me to just simply follow him. For the first time in my life, I knew God loved me with everything he is. He loved me before I had ever done one act of ministry. He loved me before I ever left that altar. He loved me no matter what I've done right and no matter what I've done wrong. His love captured me and pursued me.
Now I know it manifested on a cross that God sent his only begotten Son, and the power of his resurrection has completely and utterly changed me and you and your world forever. God created you by choice and has called you to the work of his purpose. He didn't need to create you; he chose to create you.
We all know what that emptiness feels like, that voice that speaks to us that we have no value, that we have no self-worth. The reason it does that is because we're always trying to go our own way. Here's the deal. We really do believe we can heal ourselves. We can't. Trying to go our own way, trying to be our own doctor, trying to find our way to build the proverbial tower that touches heaven will wear you out, man, because you weren't designed to do that.
You weren't designed to try to go up high to find God; you were designed for God to come down and find you. Do you hear me? That's what we see God doing over and over and over in the Bible, coming down and dwelling with his people. As a matter of fact, that's the way the Bible ends. Heaven and earth come together. Jesus comes back. He comes down, and he makes his dwelling among his people. That's the God you serve.
Adam and Eve knew what it was like to try to go their own way. Adam and Eve knew what it was like to try to go their own way, because they went, and there they heard the serpent speaking to them, going, "Has God surely said…" We know the story. It's familiar. They gave in to the voice. What happened? Sin came into the world, and thus, sin passed upon them, and it came upon us. That's why we're born sinners.
We're set free of being a sinner when we ask Christ to come into our lives because of what he did on a cross. They went and did what? They hid. They hid themselves. How many people hide in church? We're still hiding ourselves. We've learned to hide in church. We've learned to hide behind a Scripture or two. We've learned to hide behind a sermon. We've learned to hide behind our songs. We hide behind our fellowship, because we are afraid to come out in front of God and just be naked and say, "Lord, here I am, broken and wounded."
It's not like he doesn't keep calling, because he always does. When they fell in the garden, and they ran, and they tried to heal themselves… They made clothing of fig leaves. We know they hid behind the fig leaves. God comes, and God says, "Adam, where are you?" God knew where they were, but God was asking a question of concern. God was asking something. He was going, "I created you by choice. I have called you to the work of my purpose. Where are you? Come out."
"Lord, we were afraid. We were naked, and we were ashamed. We clothed ourselves." "Who told you this?" They go into this whole dialog. Here's the deal. God created him not to be insignificant, but don't get me wrong. Life is not about you. Life is about him. Life is about his glory. You see, because if you try to find significance in this world, you'll never find it. You know how you get significance? You become significant when you show God is significant to the world.
That's what you were designed to do, because you were created by choice by him, and you were called to the work of his purpose. That's what God designed you to do. The beauty of this garden scene is God calls them out, and he basically looks at Adam and goes, "Adam, where are you?" Adam steps out, and they begin this dialog.
I can see it now. "No, Adam. I don't want to see the grown man standing before me. No, Adam. I want to see the little wounded child who is behind you, the woundedness and the brokenness. I want to speak to him, because that's the one I can heal." He calls him out, so we all know what that feels like. This series, Identity Check, we've been in, that's why 1 Peter keeps drawing us back to our true identity, because sometimes, we forget who we truly are in Christ, and we needed to be reminded.
Turn in your Bibles with me real quick, and let's see what it ways to us today. I want you to go to 1 Peter 2, verse 4. Peter says, "As you come to him…" This wording and degree when he says, "As you come to him," does not mean the initial act of salvation. In the Greek, what this really means is a habitual relationship over and over again. "As you keep coming to him…"
It was the apostle Paul who cried out, "…I die daily." It was the apostle Paul who cried out, "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection." If you're ever to truly understand your identity, you must have a time and place with him every single day. You must come to him habitually before him. He goes on to say, "As you come to him, a living stone…" Peter has already told us he is a living hope. He has already told us in verse 23 that he is a living Word. Now he comes and says he is a living stone.
He is someone who is alive and absolutely understands you and knows exactly how to grow you and everything you do. He says to him, "…a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious…" Isn't that just like the world? They reject God over and over. They push him to the side over and over, but yet God the Father has chosen Jesus, has chosen him, and has called him precious. It is God's choice.
Isn't it amazing that before the foundation of the world, God chose him, chose the Son of God to be our Savior before it ever happened, before we ever knew it? The world rejects him, but what happens to us? We understand that God has chosen the very One the world rejected. God has chosen you, created you by choice and by his own strength and his own power. A living stone.
He says, "…chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." Isn't that amazing? Look at what it calls us. It says we're living stones being built up. We are chosen, a living stone, being built up as spiritual houses to be a holy priesthood. To do what? To offer up spiritual sacrifices.
God says to me that I am a priest, that you are a priest. No longer are priests just set aside. In Christ, you are his priesthood. In Christ, you have that kind of value to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God. The Bible says, "…to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." That you may prove what is perfect, acceptable Word of God in your life, right? Amazing words.
Verse 6: "For it stands in Scripture: 'Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.'" That voice that speaks deep to you and tells you you have no value, that voice that speaks to you and tries to bring shame into your life… You know where shame was destroyed? Shame was destroyed on the cross. When we believe in him, there is no more shame.
You have a name that carries a belief in the only name whereby men must be saved. The Bible tells that in the book of Acts, chapter 4, and verse 12. "There is no other name given under heaven to men, whereby we must be…" What? "…saved." You know what saved is, right? You have been rescued. All of this language Peter is using speaks to the issue that we have been created by choice, the choice of God, and that we've been called to the work of his purpose.
It doesn't matter what the voices of the world speak to me. It doesn't matter what the inner voice of my fallen man speaks to me and tells me I have no value. What really matters is what God's Word says. You know why? Some of the opinions of man will vanish. The voice that is broken inside of you that is a broken record over and over in your life will one day in eternity be shattered forever.
The only voice that continues to speak is the written Word of God, and the Bible says plainly that everything else will pass away, but his Word will stand forever. That's God's Word. Verse 7 says, "'…and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.' So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.'" I love that. You read in Scripture where the scribes and the Pharisees and all the religious readers of the day were looking for something that was the way they wanted it.
Isn't that how we get into trouble? Trying to find our own way, trying to find our own stone. Here's the deal. They rejected Jesus, but the one they rejected… It was like the Spirit of God was walking through the desert and found the rock called Christ Jesus, which is the living rock, and said, "The one you threw out is the one I'm picking up. The one you thought was not important is actually the most important of all. Of all of them, he's the most important."
He's building a house, and it's a spiritual house. You're a living stone, and you're a part of that temple, right? You're a part of God living on the inside of you. That's why week after week I tell you you are a sacred space. Everywhere you go, you carry God with you, because God lives on the inside of you. That's your identity. That's your identity check.
Look what it says here. It says in verse 8, "'A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.' They stumble because they disobey the word." The world that doesn't know him, they stumble alone, because they don't know the Word, the way, the truth, the life. Again, I want to say this to remind you. Part of the misery that comes to the life of a Christ follower is we are constantly battling a world we were never called to battle.
We are constantly judging a world that has already been judged. We don't need to judge it. We are constantly, as a church, condemning a world that has already been condemned instead of bringing a message of hope and a message of identity through our lives, instead of truly knowing we're creations of God called for the work of his purpose and loving people with all the love God has called us to.
When they're hungry, we give them something to eat. When they're thirsty, we give them something to drink. When they're naked, we clothe them. When they're a stranger, we invite them in. When they're in prison, we go and visit them. When they're sick, we take care of them. If we would just do all of that, the love would overshadow all of the judgment of the church.
That's why you've heard me say week after week and month after month and year after year, people have a problem with the church. They don't have a problem with Jesus, but if we would start acting more like Jesus, they wouldn't have a problem with the church. We know it deep in our hearts, man. You see, it's usually the pharisaical preachers who stand up and go, "Well you have to preach hardline. You have to tell them they're going to hell."
I don't have to tell anybody they're going to hell. I don't have to tell anybody they're condemned. Why? Because John 3:17 says, "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved." Right? It goes on to say in verse 18 of John 3 that those who are outside of Christ are already condemned. Those inside of Christ are not condemned anymore.
I don't have to preach condemnation, because they're outside of Christ. They're already condemned. I can bring a message of love and grace. I can bring my scars and my brokenness to the table. I can bring a love of Christ that overshadows everything into someone else's life. While I'm trying to get my full healing that is yet to fully come, I can pass that love and grace on to someone else. That's what we're called to do. "But you are a chosen race…"
You know, the Bible talks about how in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female, but we are one in Christ. A royal priesthood. Man, why does Peter keep bringing up a royal priesthood? You know how many people come up to me and talk to me? "Hey pastor, can you pray for me?" Have you ever seen people who just have to get to the pastor to get prayed for?
Don't get me wrong. Thank you for coming to me when you need prayer. But you know what, the person beside you who has Jesus in their life is a priesthood too, and they can pray for you just as well as I can. If you're coming to me because you just want prayer, fine, but if you come to me wanting prayer because you think I have some kind of inside scoop to God more than you do, man, you've lost your ever-loving mind.
I can guarantee you I have weeks I sin more than you do. I can promise you, man. I am one among you, one with you, not one above you. If anything, a pastor is called to be the servant of all. After all, am I not called to follow Christ? Am I not called to do what Jesus did? Ultimately, we all are. That's the deal. I think what we do in church a lot of times is… It's all about hierarchy. It's not about hierarchy.
It's about the value Amy can bring to the kingdom of God. It's about the value Nelson brings to the kingdom of God, right? What Christopher brings to the kingdom of God. My new friend, Paul, sitting there, and the power and purpose he brings to the kingdom of God. What Mark brings to the kingdom of God. What Tabitha brings to the kingdom of God, right? What Nicole brings to the kingdom of God, and Diane.
I could name all of you. You bring value to the kingdom of God, because we are his sons and daughters. We are a chosen generation, a priesthood of believers, because God created us by choice, created you by choice and called you to the work of his purpose. That's your identity. "…a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."
What is your story? It's a story of sharing with the world that you have been called out of darkness into this marvelous light. We're so afraid of the light. We're so afraid of the light because it exposes our weakness. Until you get to the place you understand that when your weakness is exposed, God becomes stronger in your life, because he said, "In your weakness, I shall be strong." Life is not about you. It's about God.
He moves on, and he begins to close this. He says, "Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." He says, "You Gentiles…" Which is most of us in here. "…you were once not a people, but now you're called a people. Now it's beyond the Jews. It's the Gentiles. It's open to all." He said, "Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." That's why we are people of mercy.
A lot of people ask me, "What is your favorite verse in the Bible?" One of my favorite verses in the Bible is, "He that showeth mercy shall find mercy." There is a lot of black and white in here. I proclaim it all, because he proclaims it all. I share it in a spirit of love. I've never had to walk around with my Bible and beat people up. It was love that won me to Christ, not judgment. It's love that will keep you, because God created you by his own choice. He called you to the work of his purpose.
God thought about you long before you were thinking about him. Ultimately, life is not about you; it's about God. Pastor Rick Warren said, "You were made for God, not vice versa, and life is about letting God use you for his purposes, not you using him for your own purposes." That's pretty strong. Thank you, Pastor Rick Warren, for such a strong word, because it's truth. You were designed to bring him glory and honor.
In high school, I raged between the two voices. One that I would never amount to anything. The other, my father, saying, "There's good in him. It'll be called forth." Then ultimately meeting my Creator August 24, 1988, who called me out of the darkness into his marvelous light. Ever since then, I have been a wounded, scarred up, beautiful soldier of Christ. My identity is found in what he says I am, and so is yours.
