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Read ID: God Accepts Me

Real Id:            God Accepts Me 
Jan. 12, 2020

Well friends, it is so good to be back with you. We enjoyed our family time away, and the weather in California was pretty nice, but can I be honest? I really did miss you. It’s good to be back home. I had a chance to livestream worship last week and found myself inspired and convicted by Paul’s message. I hope you heard the heart of God in Paul’s message, to see the masterpiece in every person, especially when the masterpiece is hidden behind layers of shame and disappointment and hard living. And it can be difficult to see that masterpiece, especially when the person you’re trying to see and love is yourself. That’s what lies at the heart of this next sermon series called “Real ID.” Over the next four weeks, we’re going to explore what the Bible says about us, because, let’s face it, sometimes we get ourselves wrong, and we need to hear once again what God’s Word, specifically what Psalm 139, has to say about us. Would you read with me?  


A few weeks ago I opened my email and found an advertisement from the popular website ancestry.com. Any of you have Ancestry accounts? This isn’t the first time I’ve received one of their emails, but the opening line of this particular email intrigued me: What’s the story behind the Dinger family name? You know, that almost convinced me to open up an account. I wear my family name like a badge of honor. I consider it a privilege. But there’s so much about my family history that remains a mystery to me, and I would love to know more! I love to hear the old stories of people I never had the chance to know, to see pictures from the old days and get lost in thought about ways of life and traditions that I’ll just never truly understand. But if I can be honest, my desire to know more about my family goes beyond history. It goes straight to the depths of my being, to a question we all ask from time to time: Who am I


That question is all about identity, and the search for identity has always been a fundamental human desire. We’re a people who long to know who we are. We want to know that we matter, that our day to day lives are meaningful, that are days count. We don’t want to live without purpose, without knowing that who I am is important. We want to know that we’re more than our work, or the grades we get on our exams, or the ability we show on the basketball court. And we’ll do just about anything to answer those deep, existential questions. We’ll go to a certain college that we might or might not be able to afford. We’ll move halfway across the country to land our dream job. We’ll set out to find Mr. and Mrs. Right. We’ll pick up a new toy or make a new purchase. We’ll try a new diet or the latest fad, or wear the newest trend- all for the sake of trying to answer this age-old question- who am I? Fundamentally, deep down, who am I? 


Having two young girls in the house, I watched my fair share of Disney movies during our time in California, and I was struck by how many storylines have been built upon this search for identity. Take Aladdin for example. He tries to become a prince to find a different kind of life. He’s tired of feeling like “riff raff,” tired of going unnoticed in a big world, so he wishes for a new existence. And what about Jasmine? Jasmine leaves the comforts of palace life to find significance in the marketplace. She dresses differently, acts differently, changes her typical scenery- because she’s searching for something that was stifled in her princess way of living. Then there’s the Genie, who is trapped in this tiny existence of granting everybody’s wishes but his own. This entire story is built upon the desire to be different! But in the end, guess what happens? They each discover that who they already are, before any of their desired changes, wasn’t so bad after all. In a way, their identities had already been carved out for them. And nothing they did could add or detract from who they were created to be. They just needed helpful voices to enter their stories and remind them of that truth. And that’s what Psalm 139 does for us. It speaks truth to us. 


            When I was in college, I tried to memorize Psalm 139. I had a friend who suggested I give it a try, so I did. During our family vacation to the beach, I took a walk each morning to watch the sunrise, then I’d pull out my Bible and try to recite these words, one by one. I made it about three-quarters of the way through, but then vacation ended and so did my attempt to memorize. The same cannot be said of a man named Howard Thurman. Thurman was a biblical scholar and theologian, and a key advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil rights movement. He once said that if he had only one hour to live and could pick just one passage of Scripture to be read, it would be this Psalm 139. Every day of his life, he recited Psalm because it spoke to his deepest needs and gave him wonderful access to God’s peace-filled presence when fears, uncertainties and stressors invaded his life. For Thurman, this Psalm became an anchor of truth that steadied him in world chock full of lies.[1]


      God’s truth for us- and God’s truth about us- is so important for us to hear, and it’s so important for us to internalize, because we’re far too quick to believe things about ourselves that just aren’t true. I was watching the livestream last week when Gary introduced his song with a litany of words that we’re sometimes prone to believe about ourselves. Words like: Outsider. Misfit. Loser. Shameful. Coward. Failure. And some of those words brought back some important, but painful memories. You see, a few years I go, I hit a pretty low season in my life. We were in an extremely busy stretch in our church, and making some really important decisions, and the stress of it all was taking its toll on me. And I began to believe some really ugly lies about myself. I began to live under the lie that I was a failure, that I would never amount to anything, that I was worthless and might as well just walk away from everything I had worked so hard to accomplish. My downward spiral was so obvious to my wife, Joanna, that she insisted I talk to someone. So I did. For the next three months I met with a counselor who countered my lies with truth. But not just any truth. He countered the lies I spoke about myself with the truth of what God says about me. I would tell the counselor what I thought about myself, then he would tell me what God thought about me. And as I began to internalize what God said about me, as I began to combat those lies with God’s truth, I found a renewed sense of life and freedom. In a way, you could say I rediscovered my real, authentic ID.
So here’s the first truth about us proclaimed by Psalm 139, the first truth to counter every lie we’re prone to believe about ourselves: God knows us. It’s as simple as that, but it’s more important than we might think. God knows us. God knows us inside and out, even better than we know ourselves. Listen to these words again: “You know me, Lord. You know when I sit and when I rise. You know when I go out and when I lie down. You know my thoughts from a distance. You’re familiar with all my ways.” At first glance, this is an answer to one of our deepest human needs: to be intimately known. And what this Psalm proclaims is that God fills this critical need. The God who created the universe gets personal with us. The God who knows the exact number of grains of sand and stars in the sky, the God who paints landscapes with beautiful sunsets and massive mountains is the God who knows me, and wants to know me, unlike anyone else on this planet. Nothing about my life or existence is hidden from him. No matter what I do or where I go, I can’t escape God. Everything there is to know about me, God knows. What I think, when I move, every step I take, God knows. But this knowing, this exposure to God, begs another question: What does God see when God knows all there is to know about me? 


That’s a bit of a scary question, isn’t it? Because we know ourselves too well. We take one look in the mirror and we see the things we wish no one would ever know: We see the years of tears over unfulfilled dreams. We see the wear and tear on our bodies. We might glimpse our unspoken thoughts and hidden agendas. We know the feelings we sometimes harbor toward others, or maybe ourselves. We revisit the scars of old decisions and secrets that we can’t undo. We feel the weight of insecurities that keeps us from boldly stepping out. We fret at the fear of failing if we do, and so much more. And God sees the same things. When God looks into the mirror alongside us, he sees the exact same things we do. But here’s the differenct: He just chooses to respond differently to what he sees! He responds in a uniquely God kind of way. Instead of pointing out all that’s wrong about you and me and requires fixing, God accepts you, warts and all, and invites you to become new creation. That’s the second truth embedded in this Psalm. God accepts you. Not only does God knows you, but God accepts you. Even though God knows everything you know, He still welcomes you to receive what only He can give. 


I take a lot of comfort in the up and down biographies of the men and women the Bible, most of whom didn’t make the grade by most accounts. Moses couldn’t see himself in a positive light, even when handpicked by God for one of the greatest adventures in all of history. David couldn’t avoid his short stature or lust for women. Thomas had his doubts, Paul had his terrorizing history. Mary of Magdalene couldn’t undo her past mistakes and the woman at the well had no idea what to do when Jesus gently acknowledged the fact that she had numerous husbands. And yet, when God confronted them, God still saw men and women worthy of His love. God accepted Moses even when Moses has trouble accepting himself. God stuck by David, even when David abused his power. Jesus had compassion on the women, and looked at them not with disappointment or disapproval, but with love. Maybe this is why the author of Psalm 139 concludes his prayer these surprising words: Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. Didn’t he know that God would find something? Didn’t he realize that God was about to uncover all the ugliness hidden away in his heart? Maybe. But maybe he also understood that whatever God was about to find out about his life would not be the end of his story, but an invitation to come home to his true identity. That’s what you’re offered this morning. To fully uncover your life before God, to let Him see all there is to see, and to come home to your true identity. 

One of my favorite parts of every day occurs just before I get my first cup of coffee. Every morning before I head downstairs, I peek my head into the girls’ rooms just to look at them. I don’t know them the way God knows them, but I know them pretty well, especially what they did the night before. I know the eye rolls they gave their mother when she told them to go up and take a bath. I know how they kicked and screamed when we told them it was time for bed. I know how they complained when I turned the channel to another football game. I know how many times I had to ask them to do their chores. And yet, when I look at them, that knowledge cannot hold a candle to my overwhelming love for them. When I see them, I want nothing more than to love them, to embrace them and to simply be with them, regardless of what they’ve done or what they’ll do the moment they wake up. And if they would happen to wake up and notice I’m looking at them, I would accept them into my arms right then and there. All the stuff from the night before would be dealt with, and it should be dealt with, (just like God will deal with all of our “stuff)…but in good and gentle time. The only thing I would want them to know in that moment is that I’m their dad and they’re my girls and nothing could change that. And I firmly believe that’s the way God sees every one of us. Friends, I want you to know that you have a God who knows you, who loves you and accepts you. You can be confident of this. He is for you, not against you, and nothing can change that. So when those lies begin to rise up, that you’re not good enough, worthy enough, holy enough, smart enough…remember this: God knows you, and even in light of everything God knows, God will accept you into his grace-filled, transformative presence. And you will never be the same. This is what God says about you. This is your real identity. And that is truly great news. Amen. 


[1] http://archives.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman/virtual-listening-room/detail?id=366206

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