Cultural Identity
Jordan Day · Tidal Church Moncton · February 4, 2024 · Who Am I? series
Jordan Day looks at 1 Peter 2 and John 13 to show how culture shapes who we are, while our deepest identity is as God's chosen children and disciples of Jesus. Like Jesus washing feet, we're called to live that identity visibly.
More from Jordan Day · The Who Am I? series
Topics: Identity, Mission & Outreach, Discipleship
Transcript
[1:07] Who am I? It's a vitally important question that should really dictate how we live our lives. When we get up in the morning, when you place your two feet on the floor, when you get out of bed, the answer to the question, "Who am I?" should dictate everything you do from then on moving forward. So who am I? Well, I'm glad you asked. So, I am Jordan Day. I am a follower of Jesus. I am a husband, I am a son, I'm a brother. I am a friend. I am a movie lover. I'm a sports fan. I am a food lover. I love to eat.
[1:53] You know, so we have all these different titles from all these different contexts that we are given. Some might call them labels, some might call them titles, whether it's a title from work or whether it's a title from home or in a friend group or in a leisure activity. We all have titles, and these titles are given to us from culture. Some might be very, very good, some might be very, very bad. If you've worked really hard for that promotion, the title that you're given is something that you value. It's something that we might even be able to say gives you identity. But then sometimes we can get these labels that maybe we don't want, and they can influence us in a different way. And it all comes down to the same question of who am I?
[2:42] So last week we had our first sermon in the series of Who Am I? And this week is the second week. And today, this morning, I want us to journey together and evaluate the question of who am I versus who culture says we need to be. Oftentimes we get all those labels that I just said, and I'm sure all of us this morning could do the same thing. I am (your name) and all these different things that you are, that bring you identity. But you notice that I said I'm a follower of Jesus. So what does that mean? How does that contrast against all the other titles that this culture might have given me?
[3:28] But that's the title that God has given me. So how do we compare that? Last week we heard Pastor Liz talk about the fact that the more we know God, the more we actually know who we are. And I could end the sermon right there, and we could end this morning and I could leave you with that and we would be fine. But let's dig a little bit deeper on the topic of culture and see if that still rings true. Can we do that together? Yes. Can we do that? Because the reality is, I just said all those titles, the reality is that a significant influence on our identity, on your identity, is culture. A significant influence. Most of those titles that I said about myself are given to me by culture.
[4:17] I'm a husband because I have a wife, right? I'm a brother because I have siblings, I'm a friend because hopefully I have friends, right? We get all these titles from all these various social contexts, and these are actually titles that are given to us from culture. Now, if you evaluate all those titles that I just said, I wouldn't say those are bad titles. So it's up to us to discern what's good and what's bad when culture is defining us. So when we go home after this morning, I'm gonna give you something really cool that you can tell the people that you weren't here with this morning. All right? So we're gonna do something together. So when you go home after today, you can tell people that you studied anthropology.
[5:04] Now, some of you university students or some of you super, super smart people might know what anthropology is. Well, anthropology is really the study of social groups and cultures in their development. So in order to understand how culture actually influences us, influences our identity, influences the question and the answer of who am I? We need to know what culture actually is. So in order to do that, we're gonna study culture. So we're gonna do some anthropology together. So let's define culture. Well, culture is defined as the customs, arts, social institutions and achievements of a particular nation, people or other social group. So sometimes culture is actually depicted by our geographical location.
[5:52] So we have a culture in Moncton. We have a culture in the Maritimes, that's for sure. We have a culture in Canada. We have a culture in the world. But also, there's other times where a culture is depicted by our circumstances, the people we're around, right? Like there's a culture when you go to the mall. I know that for sure. And then when you go over across the street and you go to Bass Pro Shops, it's a very, very different culture. It's a very different culture. So culture can change. Culture can influence us. I know when I think of our culture in the Maritimes, I grew up in the Maritimes. I've always lived in the Maritimes. I grew up in Moncton. I went to university in Sussex. I'm back in Moncton. I love Moncton. And the reality is that we have a culture here in the Maritimes.
[6:38] When I think of Maritimes culture, I think of food. The first thing I think of, like, donair. Yeah, I heard. Yeah. And then like poutine. Yeah, like those are some of like, those are my top five favorite foods. I said I was a food lover. I have a list. So like I know that the Maritimes has a culture. I'm sure lots of us have heard Pastor Pat say that Maritimers love to talk about the weather. And even further, we love to complain about the weather. Doesn't matter. Sun's out. It's too hot. Snow's coming down. It's beautiful. I don't like shoveling snow. That's me. I'm not a snow shoveler. Oh, it's too cold. It's too icy. Oh, it's beautiful fall.
[7:26] Oh, I hate raking leaves. Maritimers have a culture. So, you know what I did before I was preparing this sermon for us this morning, I actually asked some of my friends who didn't grow up in the Maritimes, and I asked them, what do we do differently? So I asked a Nigerian friend of mine, I said, what is different here in Moncton than it was back in Nigeria? And they said, one of the things they said was, our food is just not as spicy as theirs is. Anybody relate to that? Yeah. Yeah. I know some of you are relating to that. I don't know, whether you're from Nigeria, whether you're from a different country or a different part of the world. Like, if you relate to the fact that our food is just mild, like it's nothing compared to yours.
[8:13] Like she said, she said that you haven't had Nigerian food until your mouth is like burning. You know? So that's like, I mean, it's not a significant thing about our identity, but like that influences us, right? I asked a Filipino friend of mine and she said that we actually eat supper like very, very early compared to them. We eat supper like very, they eat supper like way later, she said, as even, even as late as like eight or eight thirty. And she actually said that instead of just eating one supper like we do, they actually have a bunch of different options that people can choose from, which I thought was interesting. See, not something that is vital to our identity, but it is still something that influences us. I asked a Brazilian friend of mine, "What do we do differently?"
[9:00] And he said, "Your barbecues, you know, like the way that you barbecue, like we barbecue just with like, just on coals and on fire, right? And you guys barbecue differently," which I like, I would be willing to bet that Brazilian barbecue is much, much better than ours. But that's, it's an identity thing, right? It's part of who we are. It's part of where we come from. There's some pride there, right? Like I'll defend that Moncton is an amazing city. I love Moncton. It's where I'm from. It's the culture that I grew up in. But no matter how much, how we feel about it, culture influences us. That's the truth. It's the truth. And we saw that on display in those various things. We got lots of laughs and reactions because it's true. It influences every single one of you.
[9:46] And it influences me too. But sometimes as much as we like those differences in culture, sometimes we dislike them. And maybe as Christians, we look at culture and we say, oh, I don't like that part, that part and that part. So I'm just gonna remove myself 'cause that doesn't align with my ideology. So I'm just gonna absolutely remove myself from the situation. And we almost can get caught up and, dare I say, act like we are just not a part of the culture because we dislike it. Well, the reality is that no matter how much we dislike the culture, we play a role in it. The world has a culture. We don't just remove ourself from the world. And even when we pass away and we have this eternal life with Christ, we better believe that there is a culture in heaven, right?
[10:37] There's a culture in heaven. And that's the culture we're seeking. So no matter how much we dislike the culture in the world today that we live in, we're gonna be a part of it. And what role do we have to play? So we come back to the question of who am I and what role do I play in the culture that is trying to define me? So let's see what Scripture says. Scripture is our source of truth, is the foundation for what we live on. So as we evaluate the question of who am I in the midst of a culture that might be trying to define us and tell us who we really are, let's look at what God has to say for us. We're gonna be reading in 1 Peter, chapter 2, starting in verse 9. In verse 9, it says, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light." Hard stop.
[11:36] If we just stopped there, God is already giving us an identity. He's already saying that you are a chosen people. If you're here today and you're maybe new, maybe don't know what this church thing is. Don't know who this Jesus guy is. Let this be the thing that you take from this morning, that you are a chosen people. That God has created you with a purpose. He wants relationship with you and you are a child of God. If you're struggling with who you are in that question, let that ring true. Because the more you know God, the more you know you are a chosen people, the more you know you are a holy nation, the more you know that you're God's special possession, the more you will actually find your identity, the more you will know that you are a child of God that God has created. And He actually said that you are very good, and that is the truth.
[12:22] So let's keep going though. So we can evaluate the context of, oh, well, culture's trying to influence that, right? Like that's our identity, but culture's trying to influence that. So what do we do with that? Continuing in verse 10, it says, "Once you were not a people, but now you are a people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." Now this is the part I really want us to focus on this morning. We're gonna keep going back to this. It says, "Living godly lives in a pagan society." What it means, a pagan society, means a foreign culture, somewhere we're not designed to be in. It says, "Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.
[13:09] Live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits them. Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human authority, whether to the emperor as the supreme authority or to the governors who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right." It goes on to say, "For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a coverup for evil. Live as God's slaves," not necessarily the slaves that we might think of, but biblical slaves in biblical times that have submitted themselves to their master in obedience and willingness, "to show proper respect to everyone.
[13:58] Love the family of believers, fear God and honor the emperor." So I want us to focus on those highlighted verses, if we can go back to it. In verses 11 and 12, there's two verses that I kind of want us to dissect a little bit this morning. 'Cause the question still remains a little bit, who am I? And it says, "Living godly lives in a pagan society. Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to abstain from sinful desires which wage war against your soul." So God is asking us that in the midst of a culture, in the midst of a pagan society, a culture that's trying to define us, that's trying to tell us what to do. That's trying to say that your truth is your truth. But God is saying the truth is the truth and I am the truth.
[14:45] I'm the way, I'm the life. And following Me means abstaining from sin, abstaining from sinful desire. So how do we do that? How do we actually tangibly do that? Well, something I love to do, and if you've just started reading the Bible, Maybe this is a practice that you should, you should take is, let's look at another part of the Bible that is giving us instruction and then let's look at how Jesus actually lived that out. So, in Luke chapter 4, there's, I'm just gonna briefly chat about this. There's a situation where at the start of Jesus's ministry, He was tempted. It says that He was actually tempted just as we are, and just as we are tempted with those sinful desires that we are called to abstain from, He was tempted.
[15:32] And it says that He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness where for 40 days He was tempted by the devil and He ate nothing during those days. And at the end of them He was hungry. And then the devil, it goes on to say that the devil tempted Him with food and saying he would give Him all the kingdoms of the earth. But then Jesus responded with Scripture. I think that's very important to observe that Jesus responded with Scripture. There was a sinful temptation, the thing that God is calling us to abstain from, abstain from sinful desires. And we're like, how do we do that? How do we have a response where we abstain from sinful desires? Well, it shows that Jesus actually responded with a godly response to a sinful temptation.
[16:23] And I think that's really important for us as we evaluate who we are and what we do. Remember when I said that, now when we get out of bed, the answer to the question of who am I should dictate everything that we do? Well, that is something that we will need to do as followers of Jesus: has abstained from sinful desires. And the way that Jesus did that is He actually responded with a godly response, with Scripture, with the truth. And He went on and He did that three times. And Jesus actually set the example for us. And this was at the very beginning of Jesus's ministry. And it was very, very important that He did this. And this is why, if Jesus wasn't living significantly different from culture, then people wouldn't listen to His teachings, which were significantly different.
[17:16] Let me say that one more time. If Jesus wasn't living significantly different from culture, then people wouldn't listen to His teachings, which were significantly different. I chatted about this at young adults just a few months ago, that Jesus is actually showing us the countercultural way of living in truth. He's still in culture, but He's living differently from culture and He's setting the example for us. And that He continued to teach us these countercultural teachings, which were just radical, but nobody would've listened to them if He wasn't living it out Himself. Maybe that's the truth that we need to kind of hear in ourselves. But we're gonna chat about that in a minute here. So Jesus showed us how when He resisted the devil in the desert, and He's actually calling us to follow in His footsteps.
[18:08] Because maybe the first question, the first answer to the question of who am I, is that our identity is to be a disciple of Christ. And maybe you don't know what disciple is. And Jesus actually had 12 disciples that actually followed Him in person, in His culture in His day. But we're actually called to be disciples too. And disciples aren't just followers, but disciples are someone that were with Jesus. And they were someone who actually learned from Him and they followed Him and they actually imitated Him. And I think that's super important for us, that we imitate Jesus.
[18:58] But then it goes on, if we can go back to that highlighted scripture in verse 12, it actually says, live such good lives among the pagans, among culture, that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us. It kind of takes a shift. So let's take a shift with it. In the middle of that verse it says, though they accuse you of doing wrong. What does that mean? Well, maybe when we live countercultural lives to culture, they might accuse us. Now, that's a harsh thing for some of us, but it's a reality. And when I say us, I mean followers of Jesus that are called to imitate Jesus, that are called to live that out. Well, the reality is, and this might be harsh for some of us to hear this morning, sometimes maybe culture's accusations are right. Maybe they're right.
[19:55] Our, a story from someone, and I'm sure some of us have heard this analogy, is that some, like, waiters at restaurants will hate working on Sundays. Hate is a strong word. They'll say they hate working on Sundays 'cause they know people from church will come after. That breaks my heart as we lead into 2024 to reach our community locally. We definitely do not want that to be the perspective of the church. And that's the opposite of what Peter is saying when, in verse 12, when he says, live such good lives among the pagans, that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God.
[20:42] Because paired with culture's desire to define us is their desire to criticize us. And it's really our job as Christians, as followers of Jesus, to discern where that criticism comes from. And if there is any validity in it, it's our job to discern that. Because if we can just take a look at history for a second and kind of continue this journey of anthropology, study and culture, right? If we look, take a look 10, 15 years back, we had a lot of people who were skeptical of the church, who were skeptical of what we believed in, more so, is God real? Is He real? That was the question. But now as we're kind of studying in the shift of generation and young adults, which are just such a vitally important generation to have in our church and we're making the most important decisions of our lives from the age of 18 to 24 and we're in such important times in our lives as young adults, and now we're starting to question, is not whether if God is real, but is God really worth it?
[21:53] The question is becoming, I don't really care if He's real. I think God's real, but is He worth it? I don't see that He's worth it. And it is our job as Christians to imitate Jesus and to show them, well, this is how Jesus lived. This is how Jesus is calling us to live. And this is why He's worth it. It's important. It's important and it should break our hearts when people take that stance and that perspective of us, the church, the church of Jesus Christ, the people of Jesus. Because the reality is that we play a role in culture and people need to know who we are before we ever get close to telling them who they need to be.
[22:47] We can't get caught up with telling people how we disagree with them until they know that we love them, until they know that Jesus cares for them. So again, let's do that perspective change where we see how did Jesus live this out? We're gonna go to John 13, starting in verse 12. And it's a story where Jesus actually washed His disciples' feet. He washed His disciples' feet. And for a rabbi, a teacher, to wash his disciples' feet, that was like a rabbi up here in cultural status, up here in social status, and his disciples down here, and He got down and He washed their feet.
[23:32] And that was just a radical thing to do. Remember when I said that Jesus had to act out in countercultural acts in order for us to listen to His countercultural teachings. He had to live significantly different in order for us to listen to His significantly different teaching. So Jesus set the example for us. And after He finished washing their feet, He says this, "When He had finished washing their feet, He put on His clothes and returned to His place. Do you understand what I have done for you?" He asked them, "You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet."
[24:21] And hear this, hear this in verse 15. This is what we've kind of been talking about all morning. He says, "I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you." And He says that, let me say it one more time just so we can fixate on that. He says, "I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you." He says, Jesus the Messiah, the Savior of the world, the Son of God, God in human form, the highest of highs in terms of cultural status and social status, He was a rabbi, and He got down and He washed His disciples' feet.
[25:09] That is a radical act destroying all cultural status, all cultural identity that people might have had. He destroyed it by getting down. And He washed His disciples' feet. And at the very end of it, He says, "I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you." And Jesus washes the disciples' feet even when it wasn't culturally appropriate. And the example that Jesus sets for us here is that not only should our identity as a chosen people, as a people of God, not only should that identity as a child of God and a disciple of Christ be affirmed in ourselves, but it should also be on display for the world to see.
[26:03] The identity of us in this room, the identity of Moncton Wesleyan, should be on display for the city of Moncton to see, for the east coast of New Brunswick to see. It should be on display for all of Canada to see, so that when they look at us, they can't say, "Why is God worth it?" They will just see why God is worth it. They need to see that, 'cause the reality is that we are a member of culture. And that's great, the fact that I have these titles, that you have these titles that culture has given us, that maybe we've worked for, that maybe we appreciate: friend, coworker, colleague, brother, sister, daughter, maybe your mom and dad, grandmother, grandfather, all these various things that culture gives us.
[27:04] They're not bad, but we are a member of culture, but we're also a disciple of Christ. And the fact that we are a disciple of Christ should always trump whatever identity culture is trying to give us. Because the reality is that Christ is calling us to imitate Him. He's saying, "Do what I have done. Go out as my disciple, and not only just follow me, not only just learn from me, but imitate me." Because the reality is that we're up here and we're hearing all of these identities that culture is giving us. But when we get down here ready to wash the city of Moncton's feet, we stop hearing all the culture is calling us to do, and we start aligning ourselves and our identity and who we are with the person of Jesus.
[27:59] And all of a sudden, our identity aligns with Christ and all cultural identity comes second. So one last time, our identity should not be affirmed in ourselves as followers of Jesus only, but also should be on display for the world to see. Can we pray? God, we just thank You for who You are. We thank You that we are chosen people, that we are, we are children of God, that we are disciples of Christ. And we pray right now that our identity would be on display for the world to see, that people wouldn't be able to look at Christians, at followers of Jesus, at the church, and say, "Why is God worth it?"
[28:52] But they would just be in awe of the fact that God is worth it because He wants a relationship with them. And maybe some people in this room right now are in that spot where they're asking, why is God worth it? Is God real? But we just pray that it would be revealed to them that God is in desire of relationship with them and the identity who they are. The answer to that question is that they are a child of God and they're being called to be a disciple of Jesus. And we pray that as we wrestle with this vitally important question that You would bring clarity, that our identity is in You and it should be on display for everyone to see.
[29:43] And we pray this in Your name, amen. Before we, before we worship, do we have anybody like from South America in the room? Would you be so bold to stand up if you're from South America? Would you be so bold? How about if you're from, if you're from Africa in the room, would you be so bold to stand up? Maybe if you're from Central America in the room, would you be so bold to stand up? Or how about maybe from Europe or Asia, if that's you, would you be so bold to stand up?
[30:32] Now, I grew up in Moncton. I'm from Canada. I'm from the Maritimes. That's the culture that I grew up in. That's the identity that I have. But can we take a look around in the room? There are some good things about where we're from. There's pride there. Culture has given us a sense of identity. But can we acknowledge that God has given us so much more identity than culture could ever give us? My friends, my friends from North America, can we join them? Can we stand with them as we prepare to worship? If you had any doubt that our God, the power of the God that calls you a child of God, if you had any doubt that His power didn't trump the identity and the power that culture puts on us, I hope that that moment was a testament to that.
[31:23] Can we worship as one nation, one holy nation?