Standing Out
Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. In preparing for this sermon, when considering my audience I found it most appropriate to preach to you tonight from 1st Tim. 4: 12. Let’s go there
“Don’t let anyone look down on your because you are young; but be an example of the believers, in word, in speech , in love , in faith, in purity. “
This verse is broken down into a couple key parts that I feel like we need to look at tonight. First off, we’re going to talk a little bit about job interviews.
I’m sure the adults would agree, the main thing you want to do when going in for a job interview is set yourself apart from all the other people.
You look at these stories of these people who apply for the same job as hundreds and hundreds of other people, and just one get the job.
Why do they get it? because they set themselves apart from other people.
In a US News story from October 2010, they listed the top qualities job interviewers look for during an interview.
Here are the top ten: Energy, good manners, maturity, judgment, problem-solving skills, loyalty, cheerful nature, good health, financial responsibility, and demonstration that you finish what you start. These are all great qualities that everyone should possess.
Now, Tonight, I want you imagine you are going in for a job interview. This is your dream job. You have wanted this job since you were a kid, and you couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
So you get all nice looking, shine your shoes, comb your hair. You’re doing all right, you feel really good about the job interview. You practice all the qualities that I just read, You go to the waiting room, you’re all fired up and ready to go, they call your name, you step into your interview room, the boss has his chair spun around, you walk in there, he spins toward you, and your mind is blown.
Your interviewer is none other than Jesus! Things just changed a little bit didn’t they.
What would you do if this happened? I would be a little freaked out! But in reality, this will happen, whether your ready for it, or not. 2 Corinthians 5:10 says
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad”.
When you die, you will be judged whether you like it or not. The bible says we are appointed to live once, then face judgment.
Fortunately, for us and anyone who is willing to accept it, God sent his only begotten son to die on the cross for whoever believes in him, shall not die, and we know that it is by faith that we are saved not works.
Although we aren’t judged based on our works, Matthew 7 talks about how only those who do the will of the father are saved, and we see later in James 2, that faith without works, is dead. Not only should we have faith, but as evidence of that, we should do good works, and do the things that Christ did, and obey all of his commands.
So let’s go back to that job interview, you walk in and you see Jesus.
What qualities do you think Jesus wants out of someone he is interviewing?
What do you think Jesus wants to see in a possible candidate, that would set one person apart from someone else? (Ask around)
Those are good answers, but as we look back at 1st Corinthians 4:12 we see some qualities of someone God is look for, especially when we look at the youth, or a younger person.
You guys can probably tell, but this generation we are living in now, is unbelievably wicked, there is perversion of all kinds around every corner.
Its disgusting. I mean you have people doing drugs, and teenagers having sex, or committing terrible crimes, and who can tell me what the typical excuse is nowadays?
YOLO.
These rappers and these celebrities that teenagers look up to have perverted the America’s youth’s minds into thinking that that they can do whatever they want, live however they want, Act now, think of the consequences later.
You want to know where that’s found in the bible? The first book of Nowhere!!!
Give me a Break!
You might have your parents fooled, you might have your youth pastor fooled, but listen to this, and you sure don’t have God fooled.
And if you are in here and you claim to be a Christian and you listen to this music, and you put yourself into this kind of culture, then you need to do some serious self evaluation, because this is the cause of a lot of immorality in America.
The generation is pretty much an atheist generation as a whole, because it doesn’t seem like anybody cares about the wrath of God. Nobody seems to care, about what happens after they die, nobody seems to care about Heaven, or Hell.
I don’t know about you but I couldn’t sleep at night if I thought for a second I was going to Hell. It truly breaks my heart, because so many don’t understand the necessity of being born again.
If you look at the story of the Lazarus in the bible, he would stay outside of the gates of the rich man’s house and lay there, just hoping for a bite of the rich man’s food. However, it never happened, and Lazarus died. Lazarus was a believer, so when he died he went to Heaven, and then the rich man died, and awakened in Hell. He begged! Ohh have mercy on me, have Lazarus give me just a drop of water off his finger! But then The rich man prayed and said, please go testify to my five brothers so they don’t have to enter this place of torment!
This is probably the cry of many who are in Hell today. If only people understand the need for salvation.
But there is hope! And that hope is us!
The body of Christ, We are the light of the World, we are the City on the Hill, and we have to let our light shine!
And this can be done by setting ourselves apart from the world! Not in a – Im better than you, arrogant way, but in a loving way, the way Christ would be different from the world.
Let’s look back at 1st Timothy 4:12
“Don’t let anyone look down on your because you are young; but be an example of the believers, in word, in speech , in love , in faith, in purity. “
So right there, we have things we need, to set ourselves apart. I really like the first part of that verse: “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young”
Adults and older people have created this idea that teenagers are lazy, and irresponsible. They think teenagers just don’t care about anything important and listen to rap music, and they ultimately see teens as just plain disrespectful.
Now while I see why adults have conjured up this perception of teenagers, I also see a great need for someone to prove them wrong! There has got to be a point in your walk with God, where you say enough is enough! I’m not playing games anymore, I’m not going to conform to the ways of the lost, I’m not going to conform to the patterns of this world, but I’m going to transformed by the renewing of my mind, to the ways of Jesus Christ!
You see lots of stories in the bible where God uses young people. You can take the story of Joshua in the Old Testament. Joshua was one Moses’ top dogs from a young age.
Now you might say, I’m no Joshua, now you might not be, but God wants to use you if you just let him. I gave that same message at the bible study the other day. 1st Corinthian 12 give a great lesson, in that the body of Christ is made up of several different parts, but yet one body.
Every person has a talent, every person has gifts, and it’s you start using these gifts, it’s when you start letting go, and letting God, that you begin to see your relationship with God take off to another level. When you realize that nothing else matters but advancing the kingdom of God, then you will see your purpose and your meaning. We just had the Olympics, now I’m not knocking the Olympics or anything, I personally enjoy watching it, but you have these people who, since the age of three years old have done nothing but run around a track, nothing but swing around on a bar, they have given up friendships, they have given up meals, they have given up sleep, for a Gold medal, a gold medal that will just rot away one day and have no value to God. What I’m trying to show you with this illustration is that we all have talents, and we need to make sure that we are using them to glorify God, in all that we do.
The next thing we need to realize is that we have to get others; we have to get non believers to not buy into the norm. As tough as this may seem, it can be done. There is a couple ways we could do this.
The first being, just straight up telling people, hey you need Jesus. Now this is good, but the most effective way is through our actions, through proving adults wrong, and showing them that you possess the qualities that Jesus would want in hiring for a job.
According to our theme verse the first way we can do this is through our words.
Are the words that come out of your mouth the words that Jesus would want someone that he is hiring to say?
Before we go any further, I want us to take a look at what the bible says about our words.
Ephesians 4:29 says “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as it fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”
A lot of people say that actions speak louder than words, but I think in some situations, our words are just as powerful, if not more.
We have the power to do a lot with our words, so we need to make sure we are using them in a way that is suitable for God. I realize that a lot us have different ways we like to talk. Some of us are quiet, and some talk waaaaay too much, but lets face it, over the course of one day we talk a lot.
In a clinical study done a few years ago at the University of California, It was revealed how much the average male and female speak in one day. How many words do you think the average male speaks a day? Seven-thousand! Seven thousand words in one day.
Now that’s a lot. Guess how many the average women speaks a day? According to this study, the average female speaks 20,000 words a day!
We talk sooo much! Maybe without even realizing it! And when you’re not physically speaking, odds are you’re texting or you’re on facebook or you’re tweeting.
I’ve heard it said that most used word is “I”. So maybe instead of bragging about ourselves and our own accomplishments, we could brag on our lord a little bit, and tell other people about your savior, and how they can have him too.
So what you need to ask yourself, is, am I using all these words that I speak for the purpose that God intended.
All the guys in here, maybe instead of talking about a hot girl, or talking about your favorite sports team or athlete, you could talk about your savior and why we need him. And girls, maybe instead of gossiping about the girl you don’t like, maybe instead of telling others about how much you love your boyfriend, you could try telling others about how much you love gospel of Jesus Christ!
Luke 9:26 says “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
When I hear that I think of what the apostle Paul said, and we all need to adopt this, “For I am unashamed of the gospel for it is the power by which all are saved” What if we all thought this way? I don’t know about you, but in this past I have given up precious chances to talk about Jesus to other people, and I regret that, but I do know that it won’t happen again. And I hope that as you go out and you converse with your unsaved friends, that you take any chance possible to talk about the gospel.
The next thing we need to look at tonight, are we respecting others?
You would agree with me that everyone is equal, and no one is of lesser value to God, so then I ask you, why we are treating people like they don’t deserve the same respect that you think that you deserve.
Jesus Christ didn’t just die for white people, he didn’t just die for black people, he didn’t just die for the rich poor, fat, skinny, middle class, the weak, the lame, the blind and the deaf, he didn’t jut die for those with disabilities, Jesus Christ died for everyone!
We are all as wicked and sinful and we put people down, as if we are better than them. I know exactly what happens, I go to public school, I hear the stuff some kids say each other, and it almost makes me cringe. Another big thing is how I see other kids talk to teachers. It almost makes me cringe, and not only should we, as followers of Jesus, not participate, we should set an example, to those who do. Form of respect I want to talk about is one of the most important, and its respecting your parents
The last form of respect I want to talk about is one of the most important, and it’s respecting your parents Exodus 20:12 says
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
While we aren’t living in the time of the Israelites, and we aren’t trying to get to the land flowing with milk and honey, we do have a promised land that we are striving for. And I do believe the same concept applies today. If you honor your father and mother, you will live longer.
It’s important to God that we honor our parents, because it shows him that have respect for authority.
God has put your parents in your life for a reason, we need to honor what God has done, because he knows what’s best, and even if he didn’t we need to honor them, because are your earthly authority
Another question to ask yourself is, am I respectful of other people’s opinion?
Just think of your friends, if they told you something, maybe something that was important to them, and you said, no you’re wrong I don’t want to hear anything you’re talking about, they probably wouldn’t want to be your friend.
It’s the same concept when we are witnessing to others. You can’t just go up to someone and say, you’re wrong you’re going to hell.
As tempted as I am sometimes, I realize that this just won’t work, and you’re not going to “debate” someone into the kingdom either. You have to take the time, and listen to what they’re saying, and in a loving way, teach them what you believe.
You see for some people, its not enough just to preach someone a great message, you might have to be the message, in their life.
The next quality I feel like Jesus would want to see is our ability to love others. Some of us, don’t know what love is. A lot of the time we think that love is received only by doing what we are supposed to, and that’s how we think that God loves us.
A lot of the times in our earthly relationships, we feel the need to be someone that was not, to impress someone to ultimately make them love us. That’s not the kind of love that God has for us, God told us very clearly what love is and isn’t. Let me tell you what love isn’t.
Love is not envious, love is not proud, love is not boastful, love is not rude, love is not short-tempered, love is not evil
Love is kind, love is patient, love is kind, love rejoices in truth, love protects, love believes, love hopes, love understands the faults of others, and love perseveres to the end. And because we know that God loves us this, we have to love others the same way.
1st John 4:19 says: Our love is because of him, first loving us. It should get you excited that your father loves you so much, So much, to look past your flaws and imperfections, and still want the best for you.
It’s not just a little relationship that you have with someone of the opposite gender that might last a week, even two thousand years after Jesus paid the price for your sins, his feelings about you haven’t changed! So as we go out into this dark world, we have to be a light, we have to be a beacon of hope, even to those that we don’t like, even to those that have done something wrong to you. And we show those people love, because we are to love everyone, and we have to forget what someone did to us, and forgive.
The next quality you need to look at tonight is, self-respect. Do I have faith in myself?
Before you can share your faith to someone else, you have to make sure you have faith yourself, and before you can show someone else love, you have to love, yourself.
As I’ve already said, everyone is of equal value to God. He loves! Your God loves you!
When I hear that I’m filled with joy, even on the worst days. You should always feel loved just knowing you have a savior
And to know you have value from God, should make you give yourself value. Instead of looking at the way that you want others to see you, try looking at the way God made you. Special and unique to him.
Another question to ask yourself, is am I growing closer to God.
The psalmist wrote, "It is good for me to draw near to God" (Psalm 73:28), and hopefully you are learning how good it is for you. A relationship with God begins when God calls us or draws us. Jesus said, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up [resurrect him] at the last day" (John 6:44).
We see there that the nearer that you draw to God, the nearer God will draw to you.
There ways we can draw closer to God are….??? (Ask around) I’ll give you a hint, what are two answers that you can say in church and you’re never wrong? Praying and reading your bible
Good, and the last one is fasting.
The Bible is more valuable than all the rest of the books in the world, combined; it is priceless! It is the Creator
