The Sin of Being Ordinary
Acts 16:23-31
Intro: Perhaps many of you have already rebelled against this title.
You think, there is nothing wrong with being ordinary.
In fact, it was Abraham Lincoln who said, "God must love the common people, he made so many of them." You may say that it is the common, everyday, ordinary man that makes the world go around.
Well I am thinking of ordinary in the sense that Paul used it when he wrote to the church in Corinth ... "With jealousy and quarrels in your midst, are you not behaving LIKE ORDINARY MEN?”
He is condemning them of acting just exactly like the commonplace, ordinary, run of the mill men or women about them.
Paul is reminding them that they are to be DIFFERENT... EXTRAORDINARY.
That is the hardest part of being a Christian ... Being DIFFERENT, sticking out like a sore thumb.
We want to be alike, to conform and to blend in. We don’t want to be thought of as QUEER.
We are more comfortable when we CONFORM.
Life trims us down to average.
We can have water in two containers and one higher than the other. But then if we connect them with a tube, what happens?
THEY LEVEL OUT.
Yes, it is true that the lowest levels are raised but the HIGHEST LEVELS ARE BROUGHT DOWN.
It is true in nature… true in people.
Jesus always taught that those who wished to follow him must be DIFFERENT… EXTRAORDINARY
"You have heard that it used to be said...BUT I SAY TO YOU"
The way of life he modeled and taught was different, higher, better than the world.
A Christian way of life MUST be different, morally superior ... "Except your goodness excels that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the Realm of Heaven."
Pharisees = religious standard of the day.
You are to be the SALT of the earth... Extraordinary
You are the Light of the world Extraordinary
"Let you light (=life) so shine (= stick out, before man) that they may see it (= because it is different) and glorify your Father."
Was Jesus counseling a SHOW OF RELIGION? NO
He was counseling them to live a certain type of life, a way that by its very nature is so different that it would STAND OUT ... like the sun.
That was precisely the power of the early church-... the Christian way of life stood out against the pagan background like a spotlight against a dark screen.
It was OBVIOUSLY DIFFERENT, EXTRAORDINARY.
The bible tells us that early society said in amazement..."Behold, how they love one another."
That was different.
Is it any wonder that they attracted attention?
that they had power?
that lives were saved?
that the church grew?
Paul wrote to those early Christians in Corinth because he was distressed to hear of the rivalries, jealousies, and contentions among them
They were losing the very thing that marked them as Christians, as DIFFERENT…That gave them POWER.
Think of the crowds that followed Jesus. WHY did they?
Was it because his words were different?
They were different, but that was not the reason.
We would never have heard his words had it not been for his life., his way of living, or relating ...to man and to God was EXTRAORDINARY, NEW, DIFFERENT.
"Never a man spake like this one"
because he spoke with power.
The POWER of His words came from his life.
THE EXTRAORDINARY CHRIST CALLS FOR EXTRAORDINARY CHRISTIANS
Does the church lose power when it descends to the level of life about it?
Why does the church not have the power that it did in 1st century?
Why does the church not have power it had just twenty five years ago?
Why do religion and faith have so little to do with society today?
Why is your neighbor not here today?
Why are there so many lost persons?
Is it because the church is not hearty enough? Not large enough?
NO
"IT IS BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING SUFFICIENTLY DISTINCTIVE ABOUT CHRISTIANS, NOTHING TO DISTINGUISH A CHRISTIAN OR CHURCHMAN
FROM ONE WHO IS NEITHER." (Unknown)
There is every opportunity today to stand out just as distinctly as did those early Christians.
Our society is at least a GODLESS, SINFUL, IMMORAL, and flagrantly indecent.
It has so infested our society that it has touched every level.
The background against which we live is just as black if not blacker.
We should stand out just as starkly, the light in the darkness.
DO WE? DO YOU?
Do you wonder why your children reject your teachings, the church?
Do you wonder why your neighbor will not come to church?
Do you wonder why?
PERHAPS Your children do not see a relation between your words and actions. Your neighbor doesn’t see anything you have that he doesn’t.
PERHAPS THERE IS NOTHING DISTINCTIVELY CHRISTIAN OR DIFFERENT ABOUT YOUR LIFE,
NO LIGHT, NO SALT.
Ask yourself a question…
Is there anything so different about your life from theirs?
Oh, I know you have faith, and perhaps you can see many areas that your life is different, better, higher.
BUT ... is it anything that others can see, or just you can see?
Is there anything EXTRAORDINARY, DIFFERENT about your life, your words, your actions, and your treatment of others that is as different as night and day from the non-Christians around you?
Could anyone watch you from a distance for 24 hours and know that you were a Christian?
Not going to church, not signs on wall, YOUR WAY OF LIFE?
What did you do or say last week to co workers that told them that you were different?
Did they see you pray? Hear you praise God?
Did they see you love your enemy?
Did they see you sacrifice for others?
Did they see you reject dirty jokes, gossip?
Think about this for a moment: DO YOU KNOW ANYONE WHO IS DIFFERENT… REALLY DIFFERENT... LIKE JESUS?
If they do… they are kind not sharp, they radiate the spirit, they make a room different when they enter. THEY ARE Definitely CHRISTIAN?
Is there anywhere in the world a better argument for the Christian Faith?
No one ever proved a spiritual principal, or their own spiritual reality with words, but they have by their life
"The highest cannot be spoken, but it can be lived."
There are objections and walls that words cannot overcome, but a life can level.
And that leads me to my point... the sin of being ordinary.
IS IT A SIN TO BE ORDINARY?
There is not scripture that says "Thou shalt not be ordinary."
1. THE BIBLE DOES SAY IT.
Scripture says we are to be salt
light
new creation
Everything Jesus taught was radical, new, extraordinary, different.
It all said we were to be radical, new, extraordinary, different.
There are many things not couched in "Thou shalt not..." that we know are sins.
Being ordinary is one of them.
2. IT UNDERMINES THE CHURCH.
For Christians to live ordinary lives robs the WORD and the CHURCH of their power and ability to change the world.
The word is God’s WORD, The church is Jesus’ Bride.
You can imagine how you would react to any who raped your bride.
That is how I believe Jesus sees any Christians who would discredit his church.
3. IT CAUSES OTHERS TO STUMBLE INTO REJECTION.
For those who still need reference... Matthew 18:6
We cause others to fail to accept and live aright.
We may even turn many away from the church.
God does not take that lightly.
We will be punished.
It is a sin against others.
We rob them of the light and salt that they need
We rob them of the truth that could save them.
They react to the church and the WORD as a response to what they see in us... RESULT: DIE LOST, DOOMED
What will be their reaction?
"How could you have done this to us?"
It is the greatest sin we can commit against others... and we are doing it to those we love most.
It is perhaps our greatest sin today ...being ORDINARY.
God hates ORDINARY...lukewarm... tells us that he will reject the ordinary.
Well, by now some of you think I am beating a dead horse and are ready for me to stop.
Obviously this message has not spoken to you because you don’t think it applies to you.
I’m sorry, I wish you could see that it does.
But some of you know this message is speaking to YOU.
You are convicted.
You know that you have been ORDINARY.
You wish to be EXTRAORDINARY.
Well, don’t loose me now.
Now comes the most important part for you.
What will you do about it?
The Word of God has been a mirror this morning to show you what you are.
That has left you feeling a need to do something about it. But what?
Unfortunately some of you will do nothing. The bible speaks of you in James 1:23-24 "he is like a natural man who observes his face in a mirror, for he observes himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like."
Some will leave today and do nothing, and the conviction will fade.
Others will know they need to do something so they will promise themselves they will change, and they will leave with good intentions.
Like a man who sees dirt on face and says “I’ll clean it” ...but leaves and does
nothing.
Maybe he will remember. Probably he will forget.
He can’t see it and will not do a good job.
Still others will pray a prayer there in the pew and ask God to help them.
BUT...they will not come forward and make the decision public. WHY?
THEY DO NOT WANT TO STICK OUT, BE DIFERENT.
They will pray, “Lord I know I need to be different“, and will ask him to help them be extraordinary
but they will show by their actions that they do not plan to be different.
God knows their genuineness by their actions.
They have tried this before, convicted and tried to change
but DIDN’T
WHY?
POWERLESS ... weakness
They need to come forward and seek the prayers of others
They need to take the first step now ..step out be different
If you can’t be different here, forget it out there.
HOPEFULLY...SOME...will be convicted of being ordinary… just like all the rest.
They will desire to change, be new creations, different, extraordinary, SALT, LIGHT.
And they get up, and come forward to make a public decision to be different.
They want others to hold them accountable
They want others to pray for them.
They have taken the first step and the next one will be easier.
God will bless them for their faith, with more faith
God will bless them for their stand, with more power to stand
Which are you...
Doesn’t apply to you
Does apply, but do nothing
Does apply but will do it alone
Does apply, and you are ready to change today, BE DIFFERENT
Jesus healed a woman of an issue of blood, then he called her out of the crowd, to stand out, different.
Today he is calling you.
Will you come
