I. Most of the sermons that I preached are birthed from still moments in my life where I am removed from the noise of everyday living. This sermon is no different. I was on my way to take pictures of the Eagles at Morrow Mountain and as I was on the road to the boat ramp when out of my peripheral vision, I saw something white moving in the woods. I pull over and looking at me is an almost white deer with brown spots. Without frightening the deer, I get my camera and begin to take pictures of it. I knew I was capturing something unique. It would soon take off with the rest of the herd. It didn’t take long and the Lord began to speak to me, and I started doing some research on the deer and He kept speaking to me.
A. This kind of deer is called a piebald, and it stands out from the other deer due in part to a mutation that only appears within 1-2% of the deer population. Now I am a bit of a word nerd, and I noticed a pattern in my research because one word kept popping up to describe these types of deer, they were called an anomaly. Anomaly is a word that is usually used negatively that references something that is a malfunctioning error, unnatural, a deviation from intent, a glitch. The word anomaly itself does not appear in scripture but there are synonyms like stranger, alien, special, peculiar, and miraculous moments that break the natural.
1. It’s an anomaly for something to come from nothing, for an elderly woman to become a first time mother, for a bush to burn and speak, for 10 plagues to disrupt a community but not affect another, for waters to part and dry ground to appear, for water to go from bitter to sweet, for meals prepared and delivered without door dash, for a rock to become a water fountain, for a donkey to converse, for sound waves to topple walls, for the earth to hold its rotation just to keep the lights on without causing complete destruction, for a jawbone to become a weapon of mass destruction, for a river stone to become a lethal weapon, for the bottom of a barrel to become an endless buffet, for an axe head to defy physics and its molecule composition, for a shadow to change hemispheres, for fire to lose its burn for three boys, for lions to lose their appetite, for a whale to become a prayer closet, for a virgin to give birth, for water to become wine, for a fish sandwich feed over 20,000 people, for a liquid to become a solid walkway, for the blind to see again, the lame to walk again, the deaf to hear again, the dead to live. What is unnatural to us is natural to God.
B. Society claims to embrace distinctions, differences and varieties. While that may be the messaging the world promotes the reality is that the world does not accept differences that go against their established order of what is acceptable. It is more of a message of you can be different as long as you look like us.
1. Christians are looked down upon and seen as the world’s anomaly. Any google search or a scan of comment sections and forums reveal that this is not the shared view of a few atheists but is a collective consensus. In the minds of those in this world, it is take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. They are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight. Sin is celebrated and honored. There is no shame anymore. The World now calls evil good, and good evil; they put darkness for light, and light for darkness; they put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Children of God are seen as unnatural. We are a glitch in the system.
2. We are witnessing the merger of the thoughts and intents of the heart of those from the days of Noah and Sodom and Gomorrah, a life of decadence and debauchery. In Acts 17 the house of Jason is accused of these that have turned the world upside down, a sentiment that is still following children of God today. Obedience to God is seen as rebellion to the world’s system and culture.
a. Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Job, Samson, Ruth, Hannah, Samuel, David, Solomon, Elijah, Miciaiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Hosea, the disciples were all anomalies, but the greatest anomaly of them all was Jesus.
II. There in the garden from my opening text, Jesus prayed for His disciples and us. Through His prayer He proclaims that He and those that choose Him will be hated by the world, but His followers are not to be removed from this world but kept from its evil that we may be sanctified in truth. Piebald means, from dark to light.
A. Like the piebald we are not camouflaged to blend in with our environment, but we stand out from it. 1Pe 2:9 But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: (10) Which in time past [were] not a people, but [are] now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. (11) Dearly beloved, I beseech [you] as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
1. A child of God doesn't look and act like everyone else. There is a distinction about us, there are traits from our Father that are to set us apart. We are different, we are not bound, we are free! When we are born into the family of God, we [are] partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, [so] walk ye in him: and He was an anomaly to the world's system. This world relies on what it can see, but we walk by faith, not by sight.
2. We have a perspective not of this world. We should be as Moses, endured, as seeing him who is invisible. Like Abraham, the Christian lives as in a foreign land … For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker [is] God. Like Jesus, we can be shown all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and, like Jesus, we can refuse it all.
3. We have treasures not of this world. We lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: Our riches are not material but eternal, kept in heaven. The world wants it all now; but we can wait for it.
4. We have weapons not of this world. Our enemy is spiritual, so are our weapons and strategies. (For the weapons of our warfare [are] not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5. We have power not of this world. Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD, Some [trust] in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. We live within a paradox: when I am weak, then am I strong, because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
6. We have peace not of this world. Our peace in any situation comes straight from our Lord, the Prince of Peace: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Nothing can take that away.
7. We are not dual citizens trying to enjoy the benefits of two worlds, we are ambassadors and know Thy Kingdom come... Our citizenship is in heaven. Those who have lived and died in faith confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. This world was not their home, nor ours. We look forward to the Father's house, where there are many mansions. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. We are not of the world and we are to set [our] affection on things above, not on things on the earth. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. We are a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new, For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal [must] put on immortality. We are not perfect, but we should be dying and crucifying the flesh so that we may look and act more like Jesus.
B. Matthew chapters 5-7 records Jesus’ longest sermon, the sermon on the mount. Within those three chapters Jesus lays it all out for a New Testament believer. He lays out that Kingdom living is a contradiction to the world’s system and religious order. The sermon on the mount is the New Testaments believer’s version of the Ten Commandments.
1. Within verses 3-11 Jesus lays out what we now call the “beatitudes”; which sets up the rest of the sermon. He prepares us by turning this world upright to Kingdom precepts. Wealth, power, entitlement, and authority are the values of the world, but Kingdom people do things differently. We are to give when others take, to love when others hate, to help when others abuse. We are to give up our own rights to serve. We are not selfish but selfless.
2. If I had to sum up the sermon on the mount with one word, I would choose “meek”, sadly that word has become a word that means “weak”, meekness is not weakness. I told you I was a word nerd. Jesus said in Mt 5:5 Blessed [are] the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Mt 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
a. Meek or humble is “anah” in the Paleo-Hebrew it is represented by the pictograph of an eye (ayin) "to see," "to know," or "experience", a seed (nun) "life," "action," or "continuation.", and a man with raised arms (hey) "revelation," "behold," or "the spirit". Combined you get the meaning that man must see and experience life in the spirit. Paul tells us in Ga 5:16 [This] I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. Jesus said Lu 9:23 And he said to [them] all, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. It is a denial of your will and accepting of God’s will. We are to live a life in denial, denial to the flesh and denial to this world and acceptance to God and His word! Meek means I don’t choose me, but I choose God.
b. Jesus laid before us as an example Joh 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. In the garden before his betrayal, Jesus said, nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life. Ro 8:10 And if Christ [be] in you, the body [is] dead because of sin; but the Spirit [is] life because of righteousness. Life is in the Spirit!
III. Jesus would end His prayer that we will share the truth to the world that God loves them, just as He loves His son and is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
A. Jesus told us through the sermon on the mount that we are called to be salt and light to this world. This world thinks it has all the flavor, but it is bitter, bland, and poisonous. 1Jo 2:16 For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. Children of God have all the flavor this world needs. We have the seasoning the zest they need and the best part is that’s its free and it’s no secret. A corporation will hide away their “secret sauce” so they can continue to profit but Jesus said freely ye have received, freely give. The secret sauce is For in him we live, and move, and have our being; Are you seasoning those around you or are they diluting you. When you don’t use your seasoning in your pantry it is subject to its environment and it starts to get caked up and hard, the only way to prevent that from happening is to shake and use it. It’s time for the church to stop dropping a little pinch here and a little pinch there and get to shaking!
B. If the church is the only place that sees your light you are not living a life of denial but rebellion to God’s word. A life in Christ extends beyond these walls. This world needs to see the Light of Christ in you. Your neighbors, your family, your co-workers, the contractor that comes to your home, wherever you encounter people is an ordered step to show them the light that they may see. Paul said 2Co 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: (4) In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. And in Ac 26:18 To open their eyes, [and] to turn [them] from darkness to light, and [from] the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
1. We are given opportunities to share and show that we overcome by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of [our] testimony. Jesus met the woman at the well, He met her where she was. I believe that God allows what we deem as an inconvenience to be a divine design. He had a well dug up only for it to dry up for Joseph to be placed in, to fulfill the dream. I am so radical to believe that a contractor can do a poor job, and it get discovered years later only to have someone else come and fix the original job so they can hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
2. Romans 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now [it is] high time to awake out of sleep: for now [is] our salvation nearer than when we believed. (12) The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. (13) Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. (14) But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to [fulfil] the lusts [thereof]. It starts with us! Be the anomaly to this world! Live in denial to this world! Stand firm on the Rock, don’t be moved by this world!
C. One last thing I want to share about the piebald deer, since they are so unique and different they are prized and considered trophies among hunters, who also believe that by removing them from the herd they are preserving the herd from their genome mutation. As the anomaly to this world, you are marked The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: 1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
1. Just because you are marked, you have nothing to fear. You have protective status. The laws of the Kingdom protect you, Psalm 91:5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; [nor] for the arrow [that] flieth by day; (6) [Nor] for the pestilence [that] walketh in darkness; [nor] for the destruction [that] wasteth at noonday. (7) A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; [but] it shall not come nigh thee. Ps 46:1 God [is] our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2Th 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep [you] from evil.
2. Jesus covered us in prayer in the garden, and that prayer is still covering us today. Not just that prayer but the continued prayers as our intercessor and mediator.
