Conversion Series Continued

High and Low over the last few weeks! (5 min)

Have my wife pray for us before we begin.

Introduction

What does it mean to be holy? This about this for a moment.

The word itself means to be set apart. Set apart for what though. Set apart from the rest. Set apart to be different. To resemble Christ and not the prince and power of the air. We are called to be made like Jesus.

Transition: As you know, we have spent several weeks walking through a series on conversion. This week in particular I want us to come to one big idea. The big idea for today is...

Main Point: Believers are to be distinct from the world

What does distinct mean?

It does mean different, but it is a little stronger than the word different. The word distinct means “recognizably different in nature from something else of a similar type”. So men and women who are believers are recognizably different from men and women who are not. Or a church is recognizably different from a book club, or a fan club, or whatever club or community you can think.

With this being said, we have two points that we will dig into this morning. For we, as believers in the gospel of Jesus Christ are distinct in two ways.

Here they are, are you ready?

We are distinct in our individual identity

We are distinct in our corporate identity

Transition: As we consider these two ways we are distinct in Christ, we will look at two helpful passages, first we will look at 1 Peter 1:13-23… before we read this, I want you all to look at the very first word of verse 13. What do you see? “Therefore” right. This is there because it is pointing us back to the previous set of verses in this same chapter. In the verses previous, Peter is explaining what the gospel of Jesus Christ is, and is rejoicing because the people in which he is writing to have accepted this gospel and place their faith in Jesus. So this section of 1 Peter, is explaining what the believer is now called to do after they have placed their faith in Jesus.

So, Maya would you like to read verses 13-23 for us?

In this passage, Peter is telling believers that…

We are distinct in our individual identity, both inwardly and outwardly

So let’s look at this together. Where am I getting this? Where does Peter tell us that we are distinct inwardly?

1 Peter 1:13–23 (ESV)

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. (not in yourselves)

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God (the gospel message; BDAG);

Look at verse 18 and 19. Now look at verse 23. You are ransomed by the precious blood of Christ, therefore you are no longer who you used to be, you have been made new.

For those of you have been convicted of your sin, have repented of it, and turned to Christ in faith knowing that in his death he bore the wrath of God on your behalf, and in his resurrection has washed away all of your sin, this is your reality.

Do we understand how significant this is? For us to be holy outwardly, which we will discuss in a moment, we must first recogize that we have been made holy inwardly. For God now sees us as he sees Christ, that is holy and blameless. This does not mean that we do not sin, but that we have the ability to say “no” because we have been made knew and are no longer enslaved to sin.

So when it comes to being distinct inwardly, we are distinct because we have been born again and ransomed by the precious blood of Christ. Praise God for that. We no longer are enslaved. This leads to our next point....

2. We are called to be distinct outwardly! What do you all think this means?

Application: We now get the privledge, not obligation, to live out who we are in Christ, that is to live out the holiness in which we already obtain inwardly. How do we do this though? If we are honest it is not easy to be holy as God is holy. So many times throughout our days we act in ways that are impatient, unkind, unloving. We think thoughts of jealousy, envy, rage, and even lustful thoughts. In all of these ways, we are not pursuing holiness but rather giving ourselves over to the passions of our former ignorance as Peter tells us. How shameful and guilty I am sure most of us feel when we go back to our sin time and time again. But praise God, we are not defined by this sin, and that we were not expected to save ourselves.

Look back with me to verses 20-21 friends. For it is God who has saved. We need not rest in our own strength to fight sin and pursue holiness. For we can trust in God. We can trust that the God who has washed us clean by the blood of his Son will give us the strength to love one another and kill the sin that so often keeps us distant from God. The way that we can love others earnestly from a pure heart is by understanding that we have been made knew and now have the Spirit of God living inside of us. The same Spirit who raised Christ Jesus from the dead lives inside of you, O the confidence we should have in him as we ask him to help us run from sin daily, and instead love others earnestly. Let us not forget this. Place verses on your phone that remind you of who you now are, and that the God of the universe loves you and is with you always, enabling you to say no to your former passions and to say “yes” to loving others earnestly, yet you can not do it without him, and you were not designed to live this Christian life alone.

Transition: This leads us to our next point...

We are distinct in our corporate identity

What do you all think I mean by this?

Transition: Turn with me to Ephesians 2:11-22. Would someone reda this for us.

Ephesians 2:11-22(ESV)

11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

We see another “therefore” at the beginning of these verses for the same reason as before. Paul in the previous verses rehearsed the gospel to the audience, and is now calling the believer to respond.

We have been brought near to God by the blood of Christ as we are told in verse 13, but we are not brought near by ourselves are we?

No, We are brought near to God in Christ with all of those who have been saved. That’s why in verses 14 through 16 Paul is telling us that the dividing wall of hostility has been broken. For people who would never be unified outside of Christ are unified in Christ. Whether that be Jew or Gentile as in this case, or young and old, white or black, introverts or extroverts, and so on. You get the picture. In the gospel, we have peace between all believers, and not just peace, Paul goes one step further to say that we are no longer two, but one. This means that everyone found in this body of believers, at Trinity church, is one. For we both have access in one Spirit to the Father, we are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. The people of God must not live in solidarity away from each other. But in our unity we are called to be joined together as a body, being unified and purified to look more like Christ and in so doing be a witness to the outside world.

One author puts it this way:

“Because of Christ, I have more in common with a retired widow at my church than I do with a non-Christian dad who is my age and likes to hike and camp like me. Because of Christ, a white, middle-aged businessman has more in common with a young native American woman in his church that he does with a non-Christian member of his Rotary club. To the world, this seems crazy, but its true. And the only way to explain it is the gospel of Jesus Christ, which makes us one.”

He goes on to say at another point that:

“a real church is one where we do not need to have anything in common other than Christ in order to radically love one another”

This is how we are different than a book club or a movie club or even a fan club.. we are formed from two separate people into one because we all have been saved by the blood of Christ. This is one of the reasons why we take communion every week. We do so to remind ourselves of the goodness of God to bring each and every one of us into relationship with Him and each other through the blood of Christ. We are celebrating this as we take the Lord’s supper together.

2. Another way that we are distinct from another community of people is because we are being made holy in our unity. Look at verses 21 and 22. Paul makes it clear that the people of God as a unit are being joined together, growing into a holy temple in the Lord. Because we are in Christ, we are going to continue to be made like Christ. This is not true for those who are not in Christ. The book clubs or fan clubs are not going to be a witness to Christ to the watching world, only those who have been saved by God in Christ will stand altogether different, living under the authority of God and his Word, to join in loving on another for the good of the believer and the unbeliever as they witness to the goodness of God in the church eventhough they are not a part of it.

Application: Okay great Phil, but what does this mean for us right now? Great question. This means that along with youth group we should make it a priority to get to know more members of this body, young and old, like us or not like us. We need to get to know those in which we are united to. The church is called to love one another for we are fellow citizens. However, for you to be loved you need to be seen and known. You to be honest with other members of the church, confessing sin with others, so that the body of believers can encourage you with the Scriptures, and pray with and for you and so that you can do that for others. . Your youth does not make you less of a Christian or give you a reason not to engage with the rest of the church body. Because you are a Christian, although young, you are called to love those who are unified to you in this church family.

My last application towards this end, which really ties much of this together, is for you to join in membership in this church body. No matter your youth, you can still go through membership classes and interviews. In so doing you are signing up to be cared for and loved by the other members of this church and for you to care for and love other members within. This is a practical first step that I would encourage any believer towards.

We will talk more about the importance and biblical precedence for church membership in just two weeks, but for now that will suffice.

Let’s spend some time in prayer together friends. Is there any pressing prayer concerns as of right now? (5-10 min)

Conclusion:

In just a few weeks, we will talk in much more depth about what the church is and why it matters for you and I. So come prepared to learn more, but for next week we will take a break from our normal rhythms and hear from Grace as she shares her testimony with us.