It seems like the world is insistent on redefining everything these days. According to some, people ought to be free to simply “identify” with whatever it is they desire at any given moment; and the rest of the world is supposed to accept, applaud and engage with them as though their choice-of-the-day has been the case all along.
Rachel Dolezai, the former head of an NAACP chapter, identified as “black” but was forced to resign her position several years ago because, well, she wasn’t really black. The issue wasn’t that someone should be disbarred from working for or even leading one of the foremost American civil rights organizations on the basis of their race. The issue was that she deliberately claimed to be something she was not. Ahh, but that was “way back” in 2015; and times have changed.
Today we’re told that anyone can “identify” as whatever they’d like. We regularly read about people who grew up as male athletes deciding to “identify” as females so they can compete against people who grew up as female athletes. This has often resulted in world records being broken, sometimes by incredible margins. And that by people who were nowhere close to the top of the competitive field when they were competing against other males. I find it interesting that you don’t find the opposite happening, don’t you?
Thankfully, there is a group that welcomes you to join, and it doesn’t care who you are or how you choose to identify yourself. And that brings us to today’s verse.
HE DIED FOR EVERYONE SO THAT THOSE WHO RECEIVE HIS NEW LIFE WILL NO LONGER LIVE FOR THEMSELVES.
INSTEAD, THEY WILL LIVE FOR CHRIST, WHO DIED AND WAS RAISED FOR THEM.
The Church is the most non-exclusive group on the planet. Or it is supposed to be, at least.
Paul the apostle lists the former characteristics of people who had been welcomed into the Church. He reminds them that they among them were folk who had been sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, men who have sex with other men, thieves, greedy, drunkards, slanderers and swindlers. And that was just the church in Corinth!! Paul himself was a murderer (or at least stood by and approved of those who were doing the deed). Matthew, another of the apostles, was a tax collector; a position held by Jews who had betrayed their people and worked for the hated Roman government, often taking for their own benefit by force much more in taxes than the law required. I could go on, but let’s just say that we’re not quite dealing with the cream of the crop. Jesus said it best when he said it is the sick who are in need of a physician. He came to call sinners to repentance.
HE DIED FOR EVERYONE and offers them new life. From the list in the previous paragraph, it is obvious that Jesus has opened the way to all who will come. He begins by creating a clean heart within us. He doesn’t only give us a new heart, He puts a new spirit within us. He removes the heart of stone that has been hardened so much that we cannot properly feel the pain our sin causes; instead He gives us a heart of flesh, one that is capable of being trained to love what we ought to love and live for what we ought to live for.
HE DIED FOR EVERYONE SO THAT THOSE WHO RECEIVE HIS NEW LIFE WILL NO LONGER LIVE FOR THEMSELVES.
INSTEAD, THEY WILL LIVE FOR CHRIST, WHO DIED AND WAS RAISED FOR THEM.
We couldn’t do it on our own, we do not have the capacity to restore that which was dead back to life; to re-create a new you and a new me. But He does! He died for everyone, and when we come to Him we are re-created in Him. It’s true! If anyone is in Christ, they are a totally new creation; the old them that was killing them is now itself dead, and the new self that will lead them to greater and greater life has been born. This is the work of grace, what I have often called the great exchange. Our death for His life. Our sin for His righteousness. Our wickedness for His holiness, as we are being transformed into His image; from one degree of glory to another as we get closer and closer to Him.
Before we came to Christ, we all used to look at the world differently. We thought things we identified with were good and righteous. We embraced things that were actually killing us, even if we didn’t see it. A crack addict may think that the cocaine is helping him and making him better, smarter and faster; but it isn’t. His perception doesn’t create reality. An alcoholic is being destroyed by their drinking, especially when he is convinced otherwise. Christ sets us free from the things we think we love, things we think are building us up. He shows us in His word the things we must embrace to fully live and walk in freedom.
His Spirit gives us the strength we need to to put off our old selves, which belong to our former lives; lives that were corrupted by deceitful desires that often even deceived us. He brings us to places where we can be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and put on a new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. THAT is a change that goes far deeper than simply outer identification, it utterly changes us from the inside out. Real change. ACTUAL change.
HE DIED FOR EVERYONE SO THAT THOSE WHO RECEIVE HIS NEW LIFE WILL NO LONGER LIVE FOR THEMSELVES.
INSTEAD, THEY WILL LIVE FOR CHRIST, WHO DIED AND WAS RAISED FOR THEM.
Now, instead of living solely for ourselves we are enabled to live for Him. In a manner of speaking, we get to “identify” as Jesus. Or at least, “little Christs” – because that is what the word “Christians” actually means. We are supposed to be imitators of God, as beloved children; we are supposed to “act like Daddy” and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us.
Rachel Dolezai deliberately adopted a lot of changes in order to identify as “black.” She changed her appearance, changed circle of friends and associates, changed how she dressed, spoke and even the way she did her hair. But Rachel couldn’t change her intrinsic nature. Rachel Dolezai will never be a black woman. You can never change the inside by changing the outside.
Ahh, but the reverse approach works! God changes the inside and transforms our very being. And, as we grow in Him and are impacted by His life, love and character, what His Spirit has done on the INSIDE is clearly seen on the OUTSIDE. We become more and more like Christ as we live for Him. We are His hands and feet. We are the manifest expression of His love. We are His voice offering the same transformation to EVERYONE.
CHRISTIANITY is the most NON-EXLUSIVE group on the planet. Christ will accept you if you are black, red, brown, white, yellow or any other mix you can imagine. He welcomes people from every tribe and tongue, every nation and people. No sin you have ever committed is too great for His blood to wash away fully and completely.
I’ve stood with former Palestinian terrorists on the Mount of Olives who were transformed by the love of Christ. He replaced hatred, violence and murder with love and peace. We stood together in a garden overlooking the Temple Mount and we prayed for the peace of Jerusalem and the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to shine over ALL of those living in the land that stretches from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. Jew and Arab, Palestinian and Israeli.
Jesus changed my prayer partners from the inside out. If He can change radical terrorists into peaceful evangelists, He can change your heart, too.
I’ve sat with a woman who had murdered her own child, and wondered if God Could ever forgive her. She was convinced He could not, and carried a burden of crushing guilt. The price for her sin had already been paid in full. We prayed that she would be touched by God’s amazing grace, and be able to perceive and receive His forgiveness. Her life was radically transformed, enabling her to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
He is able to transform anyone. St Francis said, “I have been all things unholy, if He can work through me He can work through anyone.” Mother Theresa once remarked, “Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus.” We are called to live for Christ, whatever our work or calling may be.
Grace opens the door to EVERYONE. Grace triumphs in US and changes us, so that we who receive His new life will no longer live for ourselves. Grace triumphs in OTHERS as we live for Christ.
I think I’m going to start identifying as LGBT.
Let
Grace
Be
Triumphant
How’s THAT for inclusive!
HE DIED FOR EVERYONE SO THAT THOSE WHO RECEIVE HIS NEW LIFE WILL NO LONGER LIVE FOR THEMSELVES.
INSTEAD, THEY WILL LIVE FOR CHRIST, WHO DIED AND WAS RAISED FOR THEM.
