Peculiar or Weird?
TEXT: 1 Peter 2:9
INTRODUCTION:
1. Remember how college students dressed during the hippie days of Haight Ashbury?
2. Suddenly after decades of short hair and no beards, the hair was long, greasy and the beards were scraggly and unkept, bell bottoms, tie died shirts, braless babes
3. What was going on?
4. It was the counter culture. Non conformity was the cry of the day.
5. But..... the irony of it was that they were all conforming to the non-conformist model
6. Have you ever set outside a junior high school, waiting to pick up your children and watched the children that come out the door?
7. have you ever attended a junior high or high school football game and watched the way the kids dress?
8. I remember the spiked hair, girl with the purple hair, the skin heads, the boy with half of his head shaved and the other half shoulder length.a) At least two things are going on. They want to show they are different.
9. But the reason they want to be different is because their friends are all different.
10. In other words they are conforming to a non conformists mode.
11. All of this non conformity goes on in a misguided search for freedom (usually from parents, school and state).
DISCUSSION:I. The irony of this is that the truly free non conformist should be the Christian. And he should be proud of his non conformity.
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
A. The phrase "Special People" was unfortunately translated "peculiar people" in the KJV.
B. Webster = "Only one, special 3. Strange. Today we think of it as meaning strange or weird.
C. "Ye are a weird people."
D. PERI-POI/-ESIN = "Possession, ones on property.
E. Ye are God’s special possession or creation.
F. It’s no wonder Christians sometimes feel weird when we consider whats happened to the world. But the problems is not with us it is with the worlds skewed world view.
G. The Christians to whom Peter wrote suffered from this inferiority complex.
H. They were living in an area characterized by every kind of philosophical, spiritual, moral and religious perversion.
I. 1 Pet 1:1-2; 4:2-4.
J. Peter wanted them to know they were special and should not become discouraged.
K. The Christian is special.
L. He is one of the chosen.
M. Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 1 Timothy 5:21 I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing with partiality.
N. In fact what they had was so special that some were beginning to ask about their hope.
1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
O. Many Christians are afraid of being different but we should not feel that way.
P. Consider the mess the world is in.
II. Something has gone wrong in America.
A. We seem to be on a course to self destruction.
B. The "Land of the free of the home of the brave" which at one time was proud of her national motto, "In God We Trust," is now so bent on separating "church and state," that the voice of religious people can barely be heard without a court battle ensuing.
C. Few people are aware that Secular Humanists are at war with Christianity, determined to choke out its influence.
D. Hedonism of the rankest kind dominates our airwaves and night life.
E. "It happened so subtly that few people noticed at first. Little by little, morality and freedom started to crumble. It came first in government, in education, in the media--and finally it began to shake our families and our own lives. Something fundamental has changed. Law and government no longer provide a foundation of justice and morality but have become the means of licensing moral perversions of all kinds. Education has become the enemy of religious truth and values. And the media have provided the means for propagating the change. Dr. Francis A Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto (p.i).
F. Anyone who is educated in the lessons of history is surely aware that the survival of any nation hinges on the restoration of the righteous principles that once made our country great.
G. The words of the song are true, "Jesus really is the answer, the only hope" of turning it all around.
III. Jesus is the answer to our deteriorating permissive society.
A. We cannot afford to leave the King of Kings or his principles of righteousness out of the forming of a nation, a home, or a life.
Psalms 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, And the people whom He has chosen as His own inheritance.
Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
Jeremiah 10:23 O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.
IV. We must not forget the righteous foundations upon which our country was founded.
A. Our founding fathers established this country on the principle that we were created by God with inalienable rights
B. They understood more clearly that today’s Supreme Court Justices that they were building this country on the reality of a Supreme Being who was the creator of all things and the ultimate basis for the freedom of mankind.
C. Francis Schaeffer wrote, "The founders. . . ."
D. William Pen, Wrote:
E. John Witherspoon.
F. A law designed to guarantee religious freedom is being used to snuff out the role of religion in America.
G. Listen to Paul and see if any of this sounds familiar.
Romans 1:29-32 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
V. Evidence of increasing sin in America.
A. The deterioration of personal righteousness is evidenced by the increased depravity of television and the movie industry.
1. Look at the topics on TV: molestation, Cross dressers, homosexual conduct
B. There is a decline in traditional morals in many of our public schools. Many of our schools administrators and teachers are trying to hold the line but many are not.
1. Heather has two Mommies, is a children’s book about a lesbian couple having a child through artificial insemination. It is one of many books listen in the first-grade teacher’s guide for New York City public schools. So is Daddy’s Roommate, Which features a happy younger with two male parents who conclude that being homosexual is just one more kind of love. (US NEWS Aug. 17, 1992).
CONCLUSION:
1. Our lord said.
a. Matthew 5:12-16 "Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. 14 "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 "Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
b. It is time for Christians to stand up and shout Viva la difference. long live the victory that Christ gives us.
