1 Peter 4:3-4 (NKJV)
3 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 4 In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.
What's the difference?
What's the difference between us who claim Christ and the rest of the world around us... the people around us?
Is there a difference? Should there be a difference?
(Before I begin let me point out that this comes from some self examination first and foremost and is in no way an attack on any one person. The goal is to get each person who reads this to also examine their own walk with the Lord.)
I was thinking about this topic the other day while in church. Within the past few weeks I have heard from the pulpit that it was ok for us to be different, that we should as Christians be different... we should be set apart unto God. First a few weeks ago from a guest preacher who is a missionary to Zambia, and then from my own Pastor who also added that it was ok to be weird... to seem weird... at least weird to the world. That is how we seem... at least I think we should... weird to the world. Yet when we take a good look at the church is that something we are seeing? Do we see a nation of believers set apart unto God??? Or do we see a nation of believers who live as if they are set apart from God?
Jesus Himself was an outcast in His own day... at least He was an outcast to the mainstream, the people around Him. Those who accepted Him knew who He was and what He was all about. Those who did not accused Him of being a drunkard, a sinner, and a man basically posessed and powered by Satan.
Matthew 11:19 (NIV1984)
19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.”’ But wisdom is proved right by her actions.”
Matthew 12:24 (NKJV)
24 Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”
The leaders of His day deemed Him an outcast and an outlaw. He was different. He is our example. But are we different? Are we "outcasts" in our world? Are we?
This is a hard topic to talk about because it is hard to be different. It is hard to know where to draw the line between fanaticism and a life that exemplifies the Christian faith as Christ intended. So how do we know what He intended? How do we know how to rightfully live a life that shows the world our faith in Christ without watering it down so the world barely notices a difference?
I think it would have been so much easier if Jesus would have lived in a recent time and had to deal with the world we deal with today. Immorality runs rampant through the streets. What is right is considered wrong. What is wrong is considered right. What is good is considered evil, and what is evil is considered good. I think I heard or read that somewhere before.
Isaiah 5:20 (NKJV)
20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
We live in a world with people who love themselves and not God. Who seek to please themselves and not God. I think I read that somewhere too.
"1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,"
Woe to those people. Yet don't Christians also do this? Do I? Do you? At times... I think so. But should this be... should we? I think not. I know not. Yet we do. So why... how. Why do we. How can we. Are we not supposed to radiate light? Are we not supposed to show Christ in us? Do we? Do I? I know that most people will say that this is impossible. We cannot always radiate Christ's love... can we? We cannot always live as Christ lived... can we? Is that something to strive for or something to dismiss as impossible? Do we seek first the Kingdom of God and HIS righteousness or do we settle for less because we as people are incapable?
Tough questions to asnwer but isn't this what we see in the church... how we live... how I live? But why? Why settle for less? Why suppose and assume that it can't be done? Why do we live with one foot in the world and one foot in heaven thinking that it is acceptable to do so? Why live anything less than a life wholly dedicated to God that includes what we listen to, what we watch (both movies and tv), what we say, how we dress, and so forth and so on? Why allow the world to corrupt our thoughts, lives, and actions? Why be transformed by the world when we should be being transformed by the Word? Why do we seek to fit in rather than stand out?
Why?
What should our standards be? Where do we set the bar?
Our standards should be His, and we don't set the bar but He does. It is up to us to live by them.
If we go a little further in 2 Timothy we get a warning from Paul...
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
We live in a world with people who love themselves and not God. Who seek to please themselves and not God. I think I read that somewhere too.
2 Timothy 3:1-4 (NKJV)
"1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,"
Woe to those people. Yet don't Christians also do this? Do I? Do you? At times... I think so. But should this be... should we? I think not. I know not. Yet we do. So why... how. Why do we. How can we. Are we not supposed to radiate light? Are we not supposed to show Christ in us? Do we? Do I? I know that most people will say that this is impossible. We cannot always radiate Christ's love... can we? We cannot always live as Christ lived... can we? Is that something to strive for or something to dismiss as impossible? Do we seek first the Kingdom of God and HIS righteousness or do we settle for less because we as people are incapable?
Tough questions to asnwer but isn't this what we see in the church... how we live... how I live? But why? Why settle for less? Why suppose and assume that it can't be done? Why do we live with one foot in the world and one foot in heaven thinking that it is acceptable to do so? Why live anything less than a life wholly dedicated to God that includes what we listen to, what we watch (both movies and tv), what we say, how we dress, and so forth and so on? Why allow the world to corrupt our thoughts, lives, and actions? Why be transformed by the world when we should be being transformed by the Word? Why do we seek to fit in rather than stand out?
Why?
What should our standards be? Where do we set the bar?
Our standards should be His, and we don't set the bar but He does. It is up to us to live by them.
If we go a little further in 2 Timothy we get a warning from Paul...
2 Timothy 3:5 (NKJV)
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
Yet we don't turn away do we. It seems we turn into them instead of turning away from them.
Throughout Paul's letters he gives us a picture... an idea... of what we should be doing...
11 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Yet we don't turn away do we. It seems we turn into them instead of turning away from them.
Throughout Paul's letters he gives us a picture... an idea... of what we should be doing...
1 Timothy 6:11-12 (NKJV)
11 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Romans 13:12-14 (NKJV)
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
Strive to be different. Strive to be strange (as Peter put it). Strive to be weird as my Pastor put it. Strive to be set apart unto God offering your body (and life) as a living sacrifice. Strive...
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;"
Ephesians 5:3-5 (NKJV)
3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Romans 6:1-3 (NKJV)
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
I think I could write for days all of the exhortations of Paul, Peter, John, and James of how we should be living as Christians... but most of us who read the Word, go to a good church, and love the Lord already know these things. The question is why do we fail to see it so often amongst the church to actually live these things?
Shouldn't we be "Doers of the Word?" (James 1:22)
Shouldn't we be "Imitators of God?" (Ephesians 5:1)
Shouldn't we "Pick up our own cross and follow" the Lord? (Matthew 16:24)
Shouldn't we (me included)?
But let's be honest, when we look at the church as a whole... when we look at the body of believers as a whole... we don't really see this. We see a church corrupted by the world. Jesus said that He came not to bring peace but the sword (Matthew 10:34). He came to separate His followers from the world. One day when we all stand before Him, He will separate the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25). I tend to think this means a separation between the believers... those true to His Word, and those not. If we parallel what is spoken of in Matthew 25 and the Sheep/Goat judgment with what Jesus said in Matthew 7 we can see that there will many who think they are Christians who are not.
Matthew 7:21-23 (NKJV)
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
These verses have always scared the daylights out of me. To me, for many to call Him Lord must believe He is Lord. Yet they may have known of Him, but never known Him. What a tragedy it would be to wind up being one of these who hear these words from Jesus... I never knew you... depart from me... how tragic.
There is a lot of harshness to this post. I have had many conversations over the past 4 years about what people watch, listen to, talk about, joke about, think about... etc., etc. But the question is when it comes to how you live your life... what's the difference? Are we claiming Christ and still living as our neighbor who knows nothing of Christ lives? Are we allowing the world to dictate to us how we live our lives rather than letting God dictate how we live? Is society and all it encompasses more powerful than God? Is culture, tradition, TV, more valuale to you when it comes to making a decision about how you live and what you do than the Word of God? I pray not.
My prayer and my hearts desire is to be one of the sheep at Jesus's right hand to whom He says... "well done good and faithful servant."
Strive to be different. Strive to be strange (as Peter put it). Strive to be weird as my Pastor put it. Strive to be set apart unto God offering your body (and life) as a living sacrifice. Strive...
Matthew 7:13-14 (NKJV)
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Dare to live as an outcast just as He did. Living this way does not mean we never leave our houses... or that we never have anything to do with the world... but just beacuse we are in the world does not mean we have to be part of it.
Yes, I know it is difficult. I know how hard it is to change. I know how hard it is to give up the things we have grown accustomed to. I know how hard it is to say no to the world. I know all of this from experience and I still struggle at times. I can tell you that the first decision is the hardest... the first thing you change or give up for the sake of the cross. But all things are possible through Christ who gives us strength, and each decision after will get easier. This life may be full of small choices here and there that we must make in order to separate ourselves from a world gone mad. But doesn't our savior deserve for us to give all we have, all we can... to part with the things of old so we can take hold of the new? Doesn't His sacrifice for us deserve a sacrifice from us in return. Not because the sacrifice in itself makes us worthy... but because HE is WORTHY. He is worthy for us to give up all things to grasp hold of HIM.
Shall we let our comforts, the things we take pleasure in, our movies, our music, our lifestyle, and/or our wants, get in the way of our walk with Him?
If we are alienated by our families, colleagues, friends... should we allow our feelings get in the way of our choice to follow Christ?
Do we stand firm on the rock of Christ, alone if necessary, and say to the world... "Come what may I will not be moved"... or do we fall in line with the goats and with the nonbelievers, because we refuse to be separate? Are you willing to be different?
1 Peter 1:13-15 (NIV1984)
13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;"
May God bless you and keep you and show you His will for your life.
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