1 Peter 2: Your Identity Comes From What God Says About You

Introduction

"Be yourself, be authentic, follow your heart." The guest preacher at Église Saint-Lazare opens this third message in the series "Faithful Where God Has Placed Us" with a little-known phrase: expressive individualism. It is the idea that our identity is defined by what we feel or by what we say about ourselves.

He points out a paradox: everyone wants to be themselves, yet no one wants to be too different from everyone else. Social media pushes us to express ourselves freely and, at the same time, locks us into the same algorithmic loops. Yet this identity crisis did not begin with social media. It goes back to Genesis 3: the first one to sing the refrain "be yourself" was the serpent.

In 1 Peter 2:4-10, the apostle writes to Christians living as foreigners, under cultural, social and religious pressure. To help them stand firm in a society that rejects Christ, he reminds them of two things: their identity, a people chosen by God, and their calling, a company of priests set apart to serve God.

Message outline

1. The world wants to shape you in its own image

• The preacher tells of the day he walked into the home of a sister who had redone everything exactly like what she had seen on Pinterest. People follow the same trends: the same looks, the same accessories, the same interiors.
• The philosopher Charles Taylor described it: modern freedom and autonomy turn us in on ourselves, and being authentic requires discovering and expressing our own identity.
• As early as 1942, C. S. Lewis showed this in The Screwtape Letters, fictional letters from an old demon, Screwtape, to his nephew. A man who loves something for its own sake, without caring what others say about it, is already armed against certain attacks. Hence the demon's instruction: push the man to abandon the people, the dishes and the books he truly loves in favor of fashionable friends, refined food and the books you are supposed to have read.
• As a child, you felt uncomfortable on the playground when you had not seen the cartoon or the movie everyone else had seen. The world tells you to be yourself while forcing you to conform to prefabricated norms.
• From the beginning, the enemy's plan has been that we define ourselves on our own rather than in relationship with God.

2. Your identity: a people chosen by God

• "Our identity is not defined by ourselves, nor by what others say or think of us. It is defined by what God says about us." You can be slandered, insulted, attacked in your reputation: none of that ever changes who you really are.
• Verse 4 begins with an invitation: "Coming to him, a living stone rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, precious." Jesus was mocked, rejected, crucified. But God had chosen him before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:20), raised him from the dead and gave him glory.
• The rejection we suffer from people is not proof that God has rejected us. We are walking in the footsteps of our Lord, who said: "A servant is not greater than his lord. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you" (John 15:20).
• "For you who believe therefore is the honor" (verse 7). Everything people may say about someone who believes will count for nothing next to what God says about them.
• For those who do not believe, the cornerstone becomes a stumbling stone. Those the world applauds will be disowned by God if they have rejected Christ. Those the world rejects will be welcomed by God because they believed in his Son. You can be rich, influential, well placed, and still be walking toward eternal ruin. You can be poor, unknown, rejected, and be walking toward eternal glory.
• "What defines us is not our relationship with society, it is not our relationship with our family, it is our relationship with Jesus."

3. A word for young people and for their parents

• The preacher speaks to middle and high school students: if you face pressure, mockery or rejection because of your faith, talk to your parents about it. The tools change, and there was no TikTok in their day, but "the human heart was the same. The mockery was the same. The pressure was the same." There is nothing new under the sun.
• He admits, though, that the pressure is probably stronger today and that it is harder for them.
• To parents: pray with your children before the problems arrive. Remind them what God says about those who put their faith in Jesus, so that they have such a clear sense of their identity that even when they are hurt by what is said about them, their faith is not shaken. And the whole church is called to pray for its young people.
• In all our hearts, not only in the young, something cries out: "Love me!" We want to be seen as kind, smart, beautiful, interesting. "The more you listen to the world, the more you will be shaped by it. The more you listen to God, the more you will be shaped by him."
• Read the Word. Parents, read it with your children and take them to church. What matters is what God says about you.

4. Living stones: your calling as a priest set apart for God

• Christ is the living stone, and those who are in Christ become living stones too, built together to form a temple for the glory of God, in which the Spirit dwells. The world rejects and persecutes the church, but it is through the church that God chooses to display his power and wisdom. In this temple, its members are priests set apart for God.
• An identity crisis produces a crisis of calling. The preacher is not talking about work, but about the question everyone asks: "What are we doing here?" Everything we say, love, buy and choose draws our answer, and others read it in our lives.
• Talking about priests always feels a little strange to Protestants: the older ones think of Don Camillo and Fernandel, the younger ones perhaps of Brother Paul-Adrien. But Peter is simply quoting Exodus 19:5-6: "you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation."
• This calling begins in the garden. In Genesis 2:15, God places the man in Eden to work it and keep it. The only other times these two verbs appear together are in Leviticus and Numbers, for the service of the Levites in the sanctuary. Adam was placed there as a priest, set apart for God and charged with guarding the sanctuary so that nothing unclean would enter. He failed.
• Holiness is not only purity. It is first of all consecration: a holy object is an object set apart for worship, no longer used for ordinary purposes. When God saves us, he consecrates us. "Our life does not belong to us."
• In concrete terms (1 Peter 1:14-16), that sometimes means turning down an outing, not taking part in certain conversations, not laughing at certain jokes, not lying about numbers or reports. And hearing: "Do you think you are better than us?" We are slandered even though we are doing good.

5. The trap of spiritual pride

• There is a deeper irony, more hidden and more dangerous: our hearts are so twisted that our desire for holiness can produce pride. We say no to sin, then quietly add: "Thank you, Lord, that I am not a sinner like them."
• This is the beginning of legalism: when holiness stops being a response to God's grace and becomes a reason to think you are better than others. The hidden logic becomes: God is right to love me, because I am not like those who do whatever they want.
• Verse 9 reminds us that God called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. The creation of God's people is compared to the creation of the world: as God said "Let there be light," he called his people into existence.
• Verse 10: you were not a people, but now you are God's people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. "The only thing that explains why God loves us is that he loves us."

6. Proclaim the excellencies of the one who called you

• The spiritual sacrifices of verse 5 are our whole life offered to God, and in particular the public praise that proclaims his works. The preacher perhaps sees an allusion here to Psalm 50: "Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving."
• 1 Peter 3:15-16 spells it out: honor Christ as holy in our hearts, be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in us, with gentleness and respect. The purpose of our life is to proclaim that Christ is Lord and to live in keeping with that declaration.
• What someone should say to themselves on walking into Église Saint-Lazare, seeing you praise, forgive and live out grace: "We live for Christ, our King."
• In verses 11 and 12, Peter speaks to believers who are slandered, mistreated and under economic pressure. He does not call them to launch a crusade against the culture, but against their own sins. Their good conduct is a seed that will sprout on the day God visits those who watch them live.
• Our holiness supports our witness: you cannot proclaim the excellencies of the one who called us out of darkness into light while continuing to live in the darkness.

7. An encouragement and a call

• The church is both organized and organic: "an organized organism," living stones gathered around the cornerstone. Jesus is its head.
• The preacher knows that the church is going through a complicated season, marked by a change in its pastoral team, and that some may feel unsettled by it. He brings no prophecy, but the promise of the Word: Christ builds his church, he is the great shepherd of the sheep (Hebrews 13:20) and he promised to be with his own every day until the end of the world (Matthew 28:20). He invites the congregation to pray for Armel and Bryan, the pastors now in place, and to be patient with them.
• The call: humanity is divided into two camps, with no neutral ground. Those who have put their trust in the cornerstone, and those who stumble over the stone of offense. Peter was already saying so in Acts 4:11-12: there is salvation in no one else.
• "Who is Jesus to you? A stone on which you build your life, or a stone over which you stumble?" If you have not yet come to Christ, do not wait until tomorrow: come to him today.

Key takeaways

• Your identity comes neither from yourself nor from others: it comes from what God says about you in Jesus Christ.
• Rejection by people is not rejection by God. Christ, the rejected stone, is the chosen and precious stone.
• You are set apart for God: holiness is first of all belonging wholly to the Lord, in every part of your life.
• Holiness that is no longer a response to grace turns into pride. God loves us because he loves us.
• The way you live answers the question "what am I doing here?": I live for Christ, my King.

Personal application

1. Which voices shape your identity the most today: social media, the people around you, or what God says about you?
2. In what situation do you fear other people's gaze so much that you conform to them?
3. If someone watched your week, what answer would they read to the question "what am I doing here?"
4. Is your holiness a grateful response to grace, or do you sometimes catch yourself thinking you are better than others?
5. Who is Jesus to you: the stone on which you build your life, or a stone over which you stumble?

Verses cited

• 1 Peter 2:4-10
• Genesis 3
• 1 Peter 1:20
• John 15:20
• Ecclesiastes 1:9
• Exodus 19:5-6
• Genesis 2:15
• 1 Peter 1:14-16
• Luke 18:11
• Psalm 50:14
• 1 Peter 3:15-16
• 1 Peter 2:11-12
• Hebrews 13:20
• Matthew 28:20
• Acts 4:11-12

Frequently asked questions

What does it mean to be a "living stone" in 1 Peter 2?

Peter calls Christ the living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious. Right after that, he calls Christians living stones: united to Christ, they are built together into a spiritual house, a temple where the Spirit dwells. The world rejects the church, but it is through the church that God displays his power and wisdom.

Why does Peter speak of a royal priesthood?

Peter takes up Exodus 19:5-6, where God calls Israel to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. The preacher shows that this calling already begins in the garden of Eden: Adam is placed there to work and keep it, two verbs later used for the service of the Levites. Being a priest means being set apart for God in all of life and proclaiming his excellencies.

How can holiness lead to pride?

When holiness is no longer a response to God's grace, it becomes a reason to think you are better than others: this is the beginning of legalism. The preacher recalls verse 10: we were not a people, and we received mercy. The only thing that explains why God loves us is that he loves us.