20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Our Heavenly Father loves us so much, and He is drawing us into relationship with Himself. He has created us, He has made each of us distinctive, and He wants to infuse His identity with our human personality, so that our saved selves, who are being sanctified, line up with His intentions for us. We are in Christ, and we are called by His name; we have the incredible potential, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to bring honor to our Father by living out of the resources of the new creation.
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God is our Creator, the One who has made us and ordained our lives, Who wants to bring us into a knowledge of Him through Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 43, we read:
1 But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.
This weekend in south London, at the Oasis Church in Waterloo, a Baptist minister, Steve Chalke., will conduct a "name-changing" ceremony for a woman living as a man, according to a piece on the Christian Today website. Not satisfied with the gender with which she was born, designed and ordained by God, she wants to "identify" as someone else.
The person now saying she is a man will be "prayed for by friends and by Chalke and he will be renamed before being presented with a Bible with his new name written in it." The BBC has taken an interest and will film the occasion.
Pastor Chalke said that the person is "a totally committed Christian – a fantastic guy. He's the kind of person you'd die for being in your church. There are some people that are there on a Sunday and there are some people that are really there. They are committed to God's kingdom – they are committed for living out their life for Christ and he is one of those."
By the way, the church also hosted a baptism for a man who had declared that he would like to be a woman. This person was told by her parents, according to the article, that "she" was inter-sex at birth and they had to make a choice.
For the guardians of the LGBT agenda, who shout "I was born this way and cannot change" concerning their homosexuality, the transgender element says "I was (or may have been) born this way, but I can (or need to) change," insisting they were "assigned" a gender and can change - by whom? By the doctor? The medical staff? The hospital? The so-called "identity" doesn't line up with the biology - so was the Creator wrong? So, let me get this straight - you can change your identity, but not your sexual orientation - sounds like duplicity in the camp.
So, if I'm following this correctly, you have people claiming to believe in God and follow Christ, yet they reject who God made them to be, right? There are several principles that I want to highlight here.
One deals with biology. Biologically, you were born with a certain gender. The Bible says in Psalm 139 that you were fearfully and wonderfully made. This is a fixed element.
Another area concerns capacity. You were wired by God with certain characteristics, genetically speaking. He has a plan for your life. Now, a number of factors, including the environment in which we are raised and the choices we make for ourselves, will no doubt shape how our lives turn out. But, I believe there are certain mental, emotional, and psychological elements that are there from birth.
We were also born, like all humans, with a capacity to sin. There are even tendencies, I believe, that are inherited and passed down generation to generation. Now, we can realistically talk about the concept of change. While you don't change your biology and you can accept there are certain personality traits that have the potential to be developed, your spiritual identity certainly can change.
Because, when we come into a relationship with Christ, change occurs. Real, transformational change - not the product of human manufacturing or manipulation, but the work of the Spirit to make us more into whom God has created us to be. And, we are described in new ways - I have heard something like this said: we are no longer called "sinners," who are trying to become saints, but "saints" who sin. We are no longer "unrighteous," but the "righteousness of God in Christ." We have embraced the name above all names, Jesus, and He has called us by name. Man tries to manufacture change, but God is the One who can truly transform.
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