| Stand Out from the Crowd |
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Holiness: Stand Out from the Crowd Leviticus 11:44-45 In his book Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable, Seth Godin suggests that marketing as we have known it, dominated by what he refers to as the TV-industrial Complex churning out products to meet the market's need, and television advertising directing people to these products, is broken. The book claims that we have now moved into an era where markets are largely satisfied, and to be noticed a product and its marketing need to be remarkable to be seen at all, let alone to sell. In business, success will come only if something is remarkable. The markets are saturated with unremarkable products; yet there is room for success in saturated markets if and only if you are remarkable. Consider the ordinary brown cow, as you drive by the first couple brown cows they are interesting to look at; but, after a while, you stop looking at brown cows. Once you become saturated with the ordinary brow cow, you lose interest. But, what if you saw a purple cow among all the brown cows. Would that capture you eye, your interest? The purple cow among all the brown cows is remarkable. A remarkable item will get noticed and has greater opportunity for success. The same truth appears to be true in the spiritual world. When it comes to choosing a church, what kind of churches are people choosing? 85% of all churches have 85 members and are declining. 2% of the churches are mega churches which is 1,500 people or more. Inside this 2% of all churches you will find more than 50% of all church attendees. How do people choose their church? They often choose the church that is remarkable, that stands out from the crowd. These churches stand out maybe for their exceptional preaching, worship music, programs. But, they all do stand out. One way we stand out from all other churches around is our MainStreet program. This is a once a month family worship experience. We take about 40 people and put on a full production of high energy worship singing and dancing; funny sketches and drama; relevant bible teaching; treats; and great games. We believe that by offering this purple cow, this remarkable Mainstreet program, we stand out from the crowd that we are the church choice for parents with young kids. Kids who experience Mainstreet and our kidstown on Sundays are saying – “I love going to church!” That is remarkable. For the last two weeks, we have talked about pleasing our commanding officer (God) and running the race to win (becoming all things to all people so that we might save some for Jesus). Today, we begin a new 6 week series on holiness, we will be referring to it as standing out from the crowd. This series of sermons are the answer to how do I please my commanding officer – be being holy as God is holy; and how do I run the race to win; that is, what must I do to save some of the lost for Jesus. The bible is clear that running the race to win means running in such a way to save some and we will only save some IF we run in a remarkable way, IF we stand out from the crowd, IF we are the purple cow; we accomplish this one way – holiness. So, if God has reached into your life over the past two weeks, and you now say YES I want to please my commanding officer, and YES I want to run the race to win. This sermon series is for you. Holiness is the most important element to accomplishing both of those goals. My 1st point: Whether you will stay a brown cow or turn to be a purple cow, one thing is true of all cows…they all moo. The purple cow is the Christian who is not just running, but running to win. The purple cow is the believer who runs in a such a remarkable way that he/she stands out from the crowd and draws people to Jesus. Why do some believers draw the lost to Jesus and others do not? Some believers are remarkable, they stand out. How so? Their holiness. Most of us are believers, but I would say we are most brown cow believers. That is we are average. We are not remarkable, we do not stand out. This is why most of us cannot say that we have led any or many to Jesus for salvation. But, if running the race to win is saving people for Christ, then if it is purple we must turn, then let’s do it. What will make you stand out, make you remarkable is your holiness. Whether brown or purple believers, we all moo. That means that we all share some basic stuff that is true of all of us. Martin Luther lived in the 1500s, and was a key person in the reformation of the church. Luther had a wonderful Latin phrase to describe that status of a believer: simul Justus et peccator. This means “at the same time just and sinner.” This is what all believers are, people who are at the same time both just and sinful. We are sinful…that is obvious. We see it in ourselves and others. How then can we be just? Believers are just because they have been justified. All believers are made just by Christ. When we put our personal trust for our salvation in Christ, then God transfers to our account all of the righteousness of Jesus. His justness becomes ours when we believe in him. God puts Jesus’ righteousness in my account while I am still a sinner. At the point of salvation, by faith believing and embrace Jesus, the Father allocates who Jesus is and what Jesus accomplished to our account. When Luther declared the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone, he said, “Justification is by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.” James had said it earlier in a different way. He said that “faith without deeds is dead” (James 2:26). True faith, or saving faith, is what Luther called a fides viva, a “living faith.” True faith always produces real conformity to Christ. It is this – conformity to Christ – that is holiness. Holiness is imitating God. We imitate God through our lifestyle. If we are saved, this justification will then generate a lifestyle desiring, delighting and treasuring conforming to Jesus. Imitating Jesus’ life of righteousness, his right way of living, is what we call holiness. Holiness is what turns a brown cow purple. The great degree of holiness, the great degree of color change; the more intense the purple the more remarkable which means you are standing out from the crowd. This will please the commanding officer and empower you to save the lost. My 2nd point is that all brown cows have the same calling to stand out from the crowd. All believers are commissioned by God to become remarkable, turn purple, by embracing the vision of a lifestyle of holiness. I invite you to turn to the book of Leviticus chapter 11, it is the 3rd book of the Bible. The first five books of the Bible are called the Pentateuch; this is what is referred to as the Law. These five books were all written by Moses. We come to Leviticus which many people choose to skip over; many believers who believe the Bible is the inspired word of God; who believe that all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. Why is this book overlooked? Why is the book skipped? Please do not skip this book. Pick up the Romeo Peach Magazine and follow along in our daily devotions as we wrap up the book of Leviticus. When it comes to holiness, Leviticus is the book to read. Lev. 11:44-45 “I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy…I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.” This is the first time it is said in the book of Leviticus, but it is said about 50 more times throughout Leviticus. The primary point of Leviticus is this – all believers are called to be holy because God is holy. Furthermore, Peter references this command in the New Testament. 1 Peter 1:15-16 “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." Consider the context of Leviticus 11: God tells them that the only animals they are allowed to eat were ones with a split hoof and that chews the cud; you can’t eat them if they only meet 1 of these requirements. They were told they could eat from the sea only that which has fins and scales, but they were to detest all other things and not eat them. Why all these rules on what is clean food and unclean food? God is using these clean and unclean distinctions to separate Israel from other ungodly nations who have no restrictions. Through dietary laws and rituals, God is teaching them the reality of living His way in everything. They are being taught to obey God in every seemingly mundane area of life. Sacrifices, rituals, diet, and even clothing and cooking are all carefully ordered by God to teach them that they are to live differently from everyone else. This is to be an external illustration for the separation from sin. The striking thing about Lev. 11 is how far the will of God reaches into the daily routine of his people. I would have thought the Ten Commandments would have achieved God’s goal to distinguish his people from the ungodly nations, but the 10 commandments are not linked to holiness. Why? One explanation is that neither the Israelites nor us in today’s culture stand out with obeying the 10 commandments because virtually every civilized nation accepts many of the values and commands of the 10 commandments as a valid standard of conduct. Most everyone condemns stealing, lying, and murder. Israel was not made distinct by the 10 commandments but by her obedience to the laws regarding clean and unclean set down in Leviticus. Just as Israel was called to emulate God’s holiness, we likewise are called to imitate him in a life of godliness. We are to live according to his will and follow his way of life. The Law was designed to distinguish God’s people from the world by having them live according to his nature. People of God are required to imitate God’s holiness in every aspect of their lives. Since Christians have been brought into the new covenant through Jesus, they do not need to follow the specifics of the law about how to remain distinct in their lives. They are to develop the maturity of the faith to know how to be in the world but not of the world, how to be with and influence unbelievers but not become like unbelievers. In short, God calls us to stand out from the crowd. My 3rd point is for those tired of being brown and not having much if any impact for Jesus; aren’t you tired of not being all things so that you can save some people? If you want to stand out, be remarkable, run the race to win and please the commanding officer, then here’s the advice. The Law found in Leviticus is all about God telling the Israelites desire this and do it, but detest that and don’t do it. Desire God’s good and detest what God says is bad. Why did God do this? Holiness is the opposite of being common. God is holy in that He is utterly different and distinct from his creation. God calls us to be holy by standing out from the crowd of unbelieving attitudes and actions. A believer who struggles in letting go of his past; a believer who surrounds himself with all the same people from his past and is influenced by them is and will always be brown. 1 Peter 1:14-15 “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;” Consider the contrast, consider what holiness IS NOT. Holiness is not continuing in the desires you had before you were a believer. Before you were a believer you had a short fuse and your temper raged. Before you were a believer, you cheated your boss anyway you could at work. Before you were a believer, you were into excess – excess sex, excess drinking, excess pills. Holiness is desiring to turn away from all that; holiness is removing people and influences that were too powerful in your life. Holiness is the choice to march to the beat of a different drummer. Rather than live as our culture encourages, we must live as God requires. Holiness is not only giving up past ungodly ways. In the Levitical Law, God told the Israelites to both desire Godly things and detest everything that was not godly. What is it that makes us stand out from the ungodly? What makes us purple? It used to be following the Law of clean and unclean items, but that is no longer because Jesus fulfilled that Law. So, what is it today? It is the cross-section of the Great Command and the Great Commission. The Great Command is to love god and love others. The Great Commission is to reach people for Jesus Christ. Love God – desire and detest Love Others – desire and detest Reach People for Christ – desire and detest |
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Students
Students are vital to many aspects of Romeo's ministry. We invite middle and high school students to join a small group, get connected, and experience life change.
Students are vital to many aspects of Romeo's ministry. We invite middle and high school students to join a small group, get connected, and experience life change.
