Tag: identity

Escape from Chasing Status and Success

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(Daniel 6:1-23)

There are two ways to get ahead. One, you set yourself apart from the rest of the pack in striving for excellence. You stand out. You go above and beyond. Whether you have natural ability or work hard, you distinguish yourself and others take note. The other way to get ahead? You focus your energy on getting rid of the kind of people I just described. You tear down everyone else ahead of you in the pecking order. If a person doesn’t have what it takes to be on top, that person may choose to expend all energy negatively on bringing others down. If successful, once everyone else is out of the picture, that person then fills in the void – again, not by skill or ability or hard work, mind you – but by default. 

It’s quite clear which approach Daniel’s co-workers took. They simply could not match his exceptional administrative abilities. He was a head above the rest. “Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom” (v.3). For some reason, his coworkers took issue with Daniel. Perhaps his promotion meant their roles would change. Perhaps they were jealous of his recognition. Perhaps they were irked that a foreigner would be given such status. Whatever the reason, we know that they resented Daniel. Rather than trying to improve themselves and outwork or out-hustle him, they just wanted him out. “At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent” (v.4). 

You know when it’s really hard to say something bad about someone? When there’s nothing bad to say about someone. No matter how hard they tried, this group of envious administrators couldn’t drum up any bad press on Daniel. In addition to doing exceptional work, he was also a man of character and integrity, so they weren’t able to dig up any dirt on him. Today anyone with an ax to grind simply scours through the past decade of tweets and social media posts, and eventually they’ll find something that will offend someone, but Daniel’s reputation was pristine. These other government officials gunning for him only hit one dead end after another.    

Before we proceed further, let’s go beyond the actions and consider the attitudes behind them. What is it that drives people to choose the course of action that Daniel’s co-workers did? Surely as top officials in the kingdom, they would have enjoyed an above-average lifestyle and had it pretty good. They weren’t barely scraping by. Their roles were still quite exclusive and undoubtedly included both great responsibility and recognition along with it. So why wasn’t that enough? 

Because it never is when chasing status and success. That was exactly the point of one of the popular songs from the movie The Greatest Showman, entitled “Never Enough.” That was the song sung by the beautiful world-renowned singer who was on tour with and being promoted by the main character in the movie. The singer belted out the same refrain, again and again, lamenting that no amount of fame or fortune would ever be enough. And if fame and fortune, if status and success are what someone is chasing, then it’s true: it will never be enough. 

We all crave it, to some extent. We want to matter. We want to be recognized, to be liked. After our very basic needs are met, like food, safety, and security, right there in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is our need to be liked, our need for significance. But where is the fine line between feeling secure with my status and being unsatisfied? And, related, is it wrong to want to be successful, to strive for more, to be ambitious and driven? Or is it the lot of the Christian to simply remain reserved, to maintain one’s lot in life and be happy with where one is at, to settle?

What is the answer? Well, the answer is found in determining exactly what it is you’re looking for. But here’s the problem: if your pursuit of status or success is tied to your identity, then you’ve got a long road ahead of you. The good news is that you won’t be traveling that road alone – there are countless others in pursuit of the very same thing: an achievement-based identity. The bad news? You’ll never arrive at your destination, because there isn’t one. If you are looking to others for status and significance, well, you can board that train, but here’s the thing: that train only makes pick-ups, never drop-offs. That’s because there is no destination. It’s always “just a little further.” If my value is tied to views – the view or opinion others have of me, it will never be good enough. Today is filled with likes but tomorrow I get unfollowed. These people praise me, but that one, whose approval I really crave, doesn’t give me the time of day. One moment I’m delighted by all the compliments, the next I’m deflated by all the cut-downs. Eventually, like a hamster spinning relentlessly in his wheel, you’ll end up collapsing of exhaustion – and not just physical, but even more dangerous, spiritual exhaustion. 

Let’s return now to Daniel and take note of something else about him that stood out – for it wasn’t just his governing ability that was exceptional; it was also his relationship with God that stood out. “Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God” (v.5). Stop right there for a moment. Consider how evident, how obvious Daniel’s faith must have been for his opponents to take such note of it. It wasn’t just his raw talent and ability that stood out. It wasn’t even just his character and integrity. His faith stood out – and in a foreign land, mind you, where it surely would have been much easier on him to just go along to get along, to try to fit in and avoid ruffling any feathers by either embracing the local religious customs or at least keeping his own religions under wraps. But he apparently did the opposite, so much so that everyone knew how devout he was when it came to his faith. 

Do others know that about us when it comes to our faith – that we are devout? Or do they just know that we want to debate? Do they know what we’re for as Christians, or only everything that we’re vehemently against? Do others know from experience that Christians are all about love, compassion, patience, gentleness, forgiveness, etc., or do they just hear us talk about such things while rarely seeing them put into practice? If/when others know that I am a Christian, is it only when I feel compelled to point out my opposition/distaste regarding some grievous sin captured in the headlines or a questionable lifestyle of an acquaintance? And if my Christian faith only comes into play when I am insistent on making a stand against this evil, wicked world, let’s ask – who has ever been won over by that approach? I don’t know about you, but these attitudes and descriptions don’t seem to fit the impression I get from Daniel and his expression of faith. 

He didn’t use his faith in God as a club to beat down the Babylonians and all their pagan practices, yet his opponents were still well aware of how important his faith was to him. He didn’t verbalize or vocalize what a godless country he lived in and make it a point to protest all the things that violated his faith. And perhaps the greatest expression of it was in what Daniel did when the new law was put into effect: “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before” (v.10). All he did was go home and pray. He didn’t try to shock or offend. He didn’t express outrage that his rights were violated. He didn’t play the victim. He didn’t complain that society – especially through this latest offensive demand! – was pushing back on his faith and he just wasn’t going to stand for it or take it anymore.

Here’s the sad thing about where we’re at today: while rather rudimentary, Daniel’s behavior is really quite radical. What if that was the radical approach we took instead of bemoaning everything wrong in the world today? What if we just… focused on Jesus and developing our relationship with him, on growing in our faith? What if we did something so simple as… got excited to be able to wake up every Sunday morning and enjoy the freedom of gathering together with my church family for worship? What if I found tremendous peace of mind in not only knowing that I can, but actually taking advantage of the privilege of prayer, talking to God routinely throughout the day instead of listening to the talking heads on this channel or that one? What if I looked for reasons to attend rather than excuses to avoid the numerous Bible study opportunities offered each week? If we did all these things, let me ask you, do you think you’d be better off or worse off than letting the world have so much space in your head right now? 

That’s really what today is about. Kick-Off Christian Education Sunday is the opportunity to take stock in where I stand right now in my walk with God. Are the choices I am making, are the priorities I am setting, are the ways I am spending my time – are these serving the purpose of bringing me closer to Jesus, or am I unknowingly, inadvertently letting my life allow me to drift apart from him? 

This Wednesday our school kicks off another year. Aside from allowing Jesus’ grace and forgiveness to decorate your home, having your children enrolled in our school is one of the best – if not the best – blessings you can give your child. And no, that’s not me tooting our horn about what a great school ours is – although it is! Rather, that’s the confidence I have in what Jesus is able to do in the hearts of the little children we allow to sit at his feet day in and day out. Because here is the greatest takeaway we pray for any student impacted by our school: that it becomes so deeply ingrained in them that they are worth far more in Jesus’ eyes than any value that can be attached to them by anyone else in this world. To know that in Jesus they have a status that no social media account will ever achieve, that not all the praise of men will ever bring about. They are cherished and loved in Jesus.

And so are you. So are we all. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 Jn. 3:1). I know, I know – it’s not the easiest thing in the world to believe, is it? After all, if it’s so hard for us to consistently achieve acceptance and validation and significance merely from other people, how on earth could we ever possibly hope to have it from a holy God??? How could he feel this way about me when so often he’s barely a blip on my radar, when I’m much more like one of the conspiring co-workers than I am like Daniel?  How could he feel this way about me when my Christian faith has served more as a platform for a shouting match with the world than it has a calling to care for the world and confess Jesus to it? How could he feel this way about me when I know that he can see right into my heart where I cannot hide even the slightest single sin from him and my hypocrisy is exposed? 

Listen, for this is how: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” (1 Jn. 3:16). Jesus gave his life for us. That’s how we know how God feels about us. Compare that to the praise and validation you might receive from people. Facebook gives you a “like”; Jesus gave you his life. Instagram gives you followers; Jesus gives you forgiveness. A manager gives you a raise; Jesus gives you his Resurrection. A friend pays you a compliment; Jesus makes you complete. There is no comparison between the shallow status the world offers and the permanent promise of love and acceptance the Father offers because of Jesus. 

And, just like the law of the Medes and Persians, it cannot be repealed. Because God’s love for you is not based on your performance one way or the other, but on Jesus’ perfection and sacrifice, God will not change his mind about how he feels about you. He has loved you, he does love you, and he always will love you. Let us stop chasing worldly status and success as an escape, and instead focus more on clinging to the status that is already ours through Jesus Christ: dearly loved children of God – for that is what we are!

Bounce Back to your Baptism

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(Mark 1:4-11)

One of the most under-utilized resources at our disposal to help us bounce back, or to be OK when life isn’t, is baptism. You may think I am overstating its importance or value in your life, but I would respond by asking how well you rate yourself at being OK when life isn’t. If your answer is anything less than a perfect score, isn’t it at least worth considering how your baptism could play a bigger role in helping you be OK when life isn’t? If so, and if we’re going to leave today with a clearer understanding of and a deeper appreciation for our baptism, we must first start with His.

Here’s something rather fascinating about Jesus’ baptism: it is one of the very rare events in Jesus’ life and ministry that is recorded in all four Gospels. The Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – are the books of the Bible that record Jesus’ words and works for us. Now then, to put it into perspective, I think we’d all agree that Christmas – Jesus’ birth – is a pretty big deal, right? You know how many of the Gospels cover Jesus’ birth? Two. Just two. So, without reading too much into it, can we agree that at the very least, an event in Jesus’ life that is covered by all four of the Gospels is deserving of our attention?

If ever there was reason make a big deal of something or to have a high-end ceremony, it might be Jesus’ baptism. But what is recorded couldn’t be more unceremonious. The angels who announced Jesus’ birth are not lined up along the Jordan announcing his baptism. Crowds weren’t flocking to Jesus to witness his baptism; rather, he was a part of the crowds flocking to John to hear his message first-hand and be baptized. John himself was not dressed in some ornately flowing robes, rivaling the pomp of a pope, but rather primitive animal skins. The setting stands out in its stark simplicity.

The simple setting itself wasn’t the only surprise; the matter of why Jesus was even being baptized in the first place added to the surprise even more. Mark detailed for us that those coming to him to be baptized were “confessing their sins,” an activity in which the sinless Son of God could not participate – he had no sin to confess! John even expressed his confusion, asking, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (Mt. 3:14). What business did Jesus have participating in a practice meant for sinners?

Ah, and that last phrase captures it: “meant for sinners.” Jesus and baptism have something in common in that regard: they are both meant for sinners. Baptism was given for sinners, and as we were just again reminded at Christmas, Jesus came for sinners. It wasn’t his own personal need that prompted his baptism; it was yours and mine. Jesus responded to John’s confusion by saying, “It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness” (Mt. 3:15). Being righteous meant that Jesus was to carry out the Father’s will. What’s more, imagine how awkward it would have been before Jesus’ ascension if he had commissioned his church to make disciples by baptizing and teaching, while he himself had not carried out the very directive! So in being baptized, Jesus was doing the right thing as our perfect Substitute. 

And now let us zero in on the detail of Jesus’ baptism which must always stick with us if our own baptism is going to serve as the stuff that has real substance to be OK when life isn’t; to bounce back when everything and everyone else may fall apart. That detail happens immediately following Jesus’ baptism. “As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open…” (v.10). Now I wasn’t there, but stop and consider how jaw-dropping it must have been to see heaven “torn” open! Was there a seam that split in the skies? Was it as if a curtain had been peeled back for just a moment? 

Even more amazing than the physical occurrence was the spiritual significance of what was going on. To appreciate it, go back to the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve’s sin. God sent them out of the garden and had it guarded by angels with flaming swords. See what sin had done! It had literally separated man from God! God used to walk in the garden with Adam and Eve, but after the bombshell of sin dropped on our world, so did separation from God. But now look what was happening! Jesus was on the scene. The holiness of heaven was split open. Hope was being restored for a restoration and reconciliation between God and men in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Our sin separated a fallen world from a holy heaven, but Jesus coming onto the scene was about to change that forever. And the exclamation point on all of it? That was in what happened next. 

Then the Father spoke – and do not let his words fall on deaf ears this morning. He proclaimed to Jesus, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (v.11). Psychologists have studied the impact that parental approval – or lack thereof – can have on the development of children. Some children struggle well into adulthood because they never felt they had either one or both of their parents’ approval. They always fell short and never lived up to their expectations. It can drive us to prove ourselves in unhealthy ways as adults while still striving to achieve approval from parents. And it isn’t just family. It’s friends. It’s the workplace. It’s social media followers and likes. We constantly crave approval. 

And here, on this divine day in the desert, the Father gives his full approval to his Son. Not only does he pour out his Father’s heart, verbalizing his love, but he also expresses the delight, the pleasure, the pride he has in Jesus. Let there be no doubts about Jesus’ calling and credentials to serve as the Savior! The Father himself approves, giving consent with his own voice to Jesus and the work of salvation that he was born to carry out. The Father approves!

Friends, the Father approves. The Father approves. The words he spoke at Jesus’ baptism live on in our own baptism. THAT is why Jesus’ baptism matters – it is what makes ours matter! 

Siblings help us understand the connection between Jesus’ baptism and our own. If there is one thing we can count on when raising kids, it’s that siblings will be absolutely determined to do everything in their power to make sure they get what their sibling got. Go ahead and throw any rational or logical thinking out the window. “If my brother got it, then I should get it. If my sister got it, then I should get it.” They will not be shortchanged. They will not be slighted. They will get what their siblings got, and will whine and complain and fuss until it happens. 

Stated positively, that is exactly what we receive in baptism – we get what Jesus, our brother, got: the Father’s approval. The Second Lesson today from Romans helped explain how that happens. “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:3-4). The point is that baptism binds us to the blessings Jesus won for us. Jesus suffered and died for our sins and through baptism we died that death. That means there is no more punishment for our sins – the death penalty has already been served! But Jesus didn’t stay dead; just as he was raised from the dead, our baptism means that we have been raised to a new life. 

Do you know what comes with that new life because of the blessings bound to our baptism? The Father’s approval! It is as if we can take the very words the Father spoke to the Son at his baptism and insert our first name: “You [name] are my son/daughter, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (v.11). This isn’t just fluffy church talk or spiritually sappy stuff – baptism in Jesus is the assurance that the Father loves you and that he is pleased, thrilled, delighted with you! 

And the love he has for you and the delight he has in you is not performance-based. It isn’t because you managed to impress him or win his favor by anything you ever did. But neither does your track record disqualify you! That means he isn’t waiting for you to right all your wrongs, as if any of us ever could. It means that no matter what you did in the past, no matter how much you’ve convinced yourself it’s beyond forgiveness, or how much others have condemned you, baptism even washes away that past. So if no such sin any longer separates us from God, as Adam & Eve’s cast them out of Eden apart from him, then you have God’s approval. Jesus’ baptism, life, death, and resurrection, made that possible. And your baptism guarantees it.

So if you want to be OK when life isn’t, remember to bounce back to your baptism. Remember that it isn’t just some event that happened in the past, but it’s who you are. That day was not just the day on which you were baptized, but on that day and every day after, you were set apart as a baptized child of God, bought and paid for with the blood of Jesus. As a baptized child of God, the Father approves.

You don’t have to try to please everyone to get their approval. You don’t have to be the best at your job to get recognition from your boss. You don’t have to be more like that parent so your kids think you’re the greatest. You don’t have to buy this or own that to seek out validation. Stop feverishly chasing from others what you already have from the Father: approval. After all, whose opinion of you matters more – theirs, or His? He has already spoken. He is pleased. The Father approves. Jesus and your baptism guarantee it.