Sermon Tone Analysis

*DARE TO BE DIFFERENT*

1 Peter 1:13-25

At the Fish House we have just begun a new series from 1 Peter called /InCourage/.

It's about bold living in tough times.

The purpose of this series is to encourage you to live a life of courage, because it takes courage to be a Christian in recovery.

There are times when you have to stand alone against the crowd.

·       When the rest of the world is saying No, you've got to be the one to say yes.

·       When the rest of the world says Retreat, you've got to be the one saying Charge.

·       When the rest of the world cries for revenge, you've got to take a stand for mercy.

Living as a Christian in recovery calls for living a life that is different.

*That's what Christian recovery is—being different from the rest.**

*

William Barclay, in his commentary on 1 Peter, talks about how the *root word for holy is the same as the root word for different* or being set apart.

Separated from the world, from sin, we too are separated from drugs, booze or our chosen addiction whether it is heroin to Ho’s Ho’s.

The temple was holy because it was different from all other buildings.

The Sabbath was holy because it was different from other days.

Christians in recovery are set apart and different because we are, ideally, different from other people.

There are a number of different ways Christians try to accomplish this.

In some churches the men wear polyester suits and the women long dresses and beehive hairdos—they think that is a sign of being different.

Other churches play only music from 50's—*the 1850's*.

They think anything contemporary is worldly and, therefore, unholy.

Some churches don't allow members to watch movies, or listen to popular music, or read secular books, and on and on and on.

But as you have heard me say before, that's not really what being holy is about.

God has something completely different in mind.

Yes he wants you to be different, but not just on the surface: he wants you to be different from the inside out.

Today we're going to take a look at what that means.

In the last half of 1 Peter 1 there are three principles for holiness that we can pick up on.

Let's take a look.

Being holy means being different, and that means, first of all, that we must...

*1.                       **Accept responsibility for our lives.*

Listen to what Peter says...

*/(v.

13) So think clearly and exercise self-control./*

The NIV states it this way...

*/(v.

13) Prepare your minds for action./*

Peter goes on to say...

*/(v.

14) Obey God because you are his children.

Don't slip back into your old ways of doing evil; you didn't know any better then.

But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God—who chose you to be his children—is holy.

For he himself has said, "You must be holy because I am holy."/*

Peter begins this passage by emphasizing our responsibility—

ü Be ready,

ü Be clear-headed,

ü Be set-apart.

ü It's your job;

ü It's your responsibility.

*Do you want your recovery to be different than the rest?** *

*Accept responsibility for where you are in life.

*

Be willing to say,

*/"I'm here today because of the decisions I have made” /*

*/“I'm here today because of the actions I have taken”/*

*/“I am responsible for who I am” /*

This will certainly separate your recovery from the crowd.

Do you want to be different than the rest?

Accept responsibility for where you are going in life

ü make it your job to do right,

ü make it your job to take action,

ü make it your job to get things done

That will certainly separate you from the crowd.

Have you noticed that we live in a world that doesn't want to take responsibility?

*Our society is so hard-wired for blame it's hard to imagine any other response to most situations.

*

You get coffee at the drive-thru, balance it on your lap as you're driving down the highway talking on your cell phone and putting a CD in the stereo, and the coffee spills and burns your legs.

Whose fault is it?

McDonald's, of course.

Their coffee is too hot!

I asked my friend who was in a traffic accident whose fault it was.

He said, */"It was my wife's fault."

/*I said, */"I thought you were driving."/*

He said, */"I was, but she called me on my cell phone, and when I went to answer it I swerved and hit another car.

If she hadn't called me, I wouldn't have had the wreck."/*

Now, he was joking—but sometimes that's how foolish our blame game sounds.

*It's a question of responsibility*.

It's a matter of looking at our lives and saying, */"You know what?

This is my job to do and I'm going to do it.

It's my job to obey, and I will stop blaming others for my failures.

It's my job to take action, and I will stop being lazy.

It's my job to think clearly and today I will start”/*

Being a Christian in recovery means accepting responsibility for yourself and your actions.

This is why people who are recovering Christians are different.

Secondly, we must learn to...

*2.

Expect results for our actions.*

*(v.

17) And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites when he judges.

He will judge or reward you according to what you do*

*/a.

God doesn't show favorites/*/./

When it comes to our relationship with God, we live in a cause-and-effect world.

It may not work in other areas—investments don't always pay off, in relationships you may not get back what you put in, diets and exercise don't always work like you expect them to...but with God, the equation A+B=C always works.

It works for everyone, not just for some.

*/We are not held accountable to different standards—no one sins without consequences or does good without a reward./*

*/b.

He paid your ransom/**/./**

*

God has, you might say, a vested interest in seeing you become clean and sober, set-apart.

Why?

Because we have been held hostage by our addictions, by the master of our addictions – Satan.

But guess what we have been set free because God our ransom –

Listen to Peter's words...

*/(v.

18) for you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors.