Set Apart!
Thesis: Today we will look at what it means to set apart for the kingdom of God. Today we will dedicate two children to the Lord and license their father into the service of the ministry.
Scripture Texts for Baby dedication:
Proverbs 22:6: “Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.”
Deut. 6:1-9:
1These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.
4Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Eph. 6:4 says we are to bring our children up “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
Mark 10:13-16:
13People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.
Baby Dedication service- Taken and adapted from the Pastor’s Handbook (NIV)
Address to the Parents:
Throughout the ages, godly parents have presented their children to the Lord in dedication.
Abraham dedicated Isaac to the Lord (Gen 22:1-13)
Hannah dedicated her child Samuel to the Lord (1 Sam. 1:27-28)
Joseph and Mary brought the infant child Jesus to the temple following his circumcision at 8 days they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord… (Luke 2:22).
Today you Brian and Angie follow a godly act of setting apart your children for the Lord. In presenting your children to the Lord, you enter into a Covenant relationship with God about your children. You believe that these children are a gift from God. This belief parallels what Psalm 127:3 states, “Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.” This means that you also believe that the Lord will hold you accountable for raising both Nathan and Collin in the ways of the Lord.
Charges to Brian and Angie:
Brian and Angie do you solemnly commit to dedicate these children to the Lord and His service?
Will you pray with them and pray for them daily?
Will you faithfully instruct them in the ways of the Lord?
Will you faithfully teach them through your lives what it means to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ?
Will you teach them to read the Word of God?
Will you teach them how to pray and how to live a holy life?
Will you faithfully take them to the house of worship and show them the value of the Church of Jesus Christ?
Will you do everything within your power to bring Nathan and Collin to the knowledge of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord?
Parent’s response: We will!
Charges to the Church:
Will you faithfully pray for Nathan and Collin as they grow and mature in the Lord?
Will you be willing to instruct Nathan and Collin in the teaching of the Word with your lives?
Will you help teach them the Word of God?
Will you commit to be living examples of what it means to be a Christian to these two young lives?
Church Response: We will!
Prayer for Collin and Nathan: (Have Family come forward with them for prayer)
I dedicate you two to the Lord God Almighty in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. May your young life be nurtured under the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit. May God protect you physically and deliver you from temptation. May the Lord Jesus call to you and may you respond with the surrendering of your heart to him at an early age.
Introduction:
The meaning behind the phrase set-apart!
The verb set apart has 2 meanings:
Meaning #1: select something or someone for a specific purpose
Synonyms: assign, specify
Meaning #2: set apart from others
Synonyms: sequester, sequestrate, keep apart, isolate
The Sifra, an early commentary on Leviticus, written about 220 A.D, paraphrases you shall be holy as: As I, God, am set apart, so you must be set apart. Plaut (p.894) says the meaning is more like: You shall be something special.
From http://www.lovechristnow.com/prosesetapart.html: If we live up to our privileges in the Spirit, we shall live unto God so clearly and distinctly that men shall see that we are set apart for holy service. We may work or trade as others do, and yet we may be solely and wholly the ministering servants of God. With this being our all important aim, it has become easy to leave distracting concerns to those who have no higher calling. As for us, we shall put on the vestments of holiness and minister before the Lord all the day long.
Being set apart means to chosen by the Lord to be something special. It includes the concept of being set apart from others in the world by being holy and therefore becoming recognized as being something different from the norm.
Scripture Texts for Brian’s license message:
Isaiah 6:1-9:
1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
6Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
9He said, “Go and tell this people:
In our text in Isaiah we see how God called out to Isaiah to set him apart to do something special for the Kingdom of God. He was assigned the special job of telling people about the Lord and I believe about what it means to be holy and set apart for the Lord in a sinful world. He was called and notice he responded but I have another verse were we have another person who is called by the Lord but he does not respond.
Matthew 19: 14-30
14Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.
16Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”
18“Which ones?” the man inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
20“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
25When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
26Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
27Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
28Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
In this text we see the sad scenario of the man with no name choosing to say not to Jesus to follow him. In told Jesus no I cannot follow you because there is no way I can give away all wealth it’s my security blanket. So the man leaves sad we never learn what his name was. Have you thought about that? He is only known as the rich young ruler not by his name. I believe if he would have said “yes” then we would have known his name.
T.S. - Lets explore our two texts a little more and see what we learn about being set apart for something special.
I. We are to be set-apart for the glory of the Lord. To be set –apart means that we must be willing to say, “Send me Lord!”
a. In our text from Isaiah 6 we discovered that Isaiah received a vision from the Lord.
i. He saw in his vision the throne of Heaven.
1. He observed the angels flying around the throne saying Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty.
2. As they were saying this the whole placed shook and trembled.
3. There was smoke rising up all around him. Isaiah then cries out to the throne how unworthy he is to see the awesome majestic Holy God.
4. He immediately recognized his sinful and unworthy position there in front of the throne of God.
5. Then one of the angels grabbed a coal off the altar and brought it to Isaiah and touched his lips with it. It singed them but he discovered that it was an act of atonement. This action released him from his sin and atoned for his sins. In a sense he was made holy right there at the throne.
6. After his gift of holiness he then hears God say who will go for us? Isaiah cries out “Send me Lord!” Then the Lord answered him go! And we know from the book of Isaiah that he went and he delivered God’s message to His people.
a. He went out set apart by God because of what he saw when he experienced the Lord at the altar.
b. He went out to the world also because of his gift of holiness and he wanted to tell others how to receive it as well.
c. His experience at the altar of God changed his life and his direction in life. Therefore he was eager to go represent the Lord to the people.
b. In comparison I want to draw your attention to another text in the New Testament.
i. In this text we have a young man who approaches Jesus. It is noted from our text that he is rich.
1. He questions Jesus about what good thing he must do to inherit eternal life?
a. He is looking for that one act that he could do to be made special for the Lord.
2. Jesus replied first that no one is good but God then he tells him to “Obey the commandments”
3. The man replies I have done these but “What do I still lack?”
a. I don’t believe he would have asked this question if he did not doubt in his heart that something was missing in his life.
b. He knew he was missing something in his life.
c. He had the money but not the peace. He wanted to know what else he could do to feel holy and special in the eyes of the Lord. In a sense to set apart.
4. Jesus then answers his question with this remark, “If you want to be perfect go sell possessions and give them to the poor and then come follow me!”
a. Believe it or not this man was just asked to be set-apart for the kingdom of God.
i. Jesus just called him to be one of His disciples!
1. What an honor!
2. What a privilege!
ii. He was being given a chance of a life time - to be a disciple of the Lord God Almighty.
1. This man’s name could have been written in the Word of God.
a. He could have been listed next to Peter, James and John and the others.
b. Instead he is referred to as a rich young man – not by his name!
i. His name was not even worthy to be entered into in the Holy Scriptures.
ii. Why? He sad no to being set apart for something special for the kingdom of God. He was asking for this and when it was offered to him by Jesus he said “No’ the price is too high.
iii. All he had to do was give up all the stuff and the things of this world and in turn get reassure in Heaven.
1. Then he would have been written into the text we now read.
2. Then he would in the end sit and judge the world and also receive a 100 times more than he gave.
iv. All he had to do was to put his faith and trust in Jesus instead of his wealth but he failed to do it.
1. He is the one that really lost it all at this moment in His life!
2. He could have been a hero of the faith instead he is a sad reminder what happens when we let the riches of this world direct and control our lives.
5. The Scripture tells us that the young man went away sad because he had great wealth.
a. He was called by God and given the invitation to be one of Jesus disciples and the man said “No!”
i. Why? Because he could not part with his worldly finances and because I believe his faith was in his wealth not really in Jesus.
b. To be called and set apart means you will have to sacrifice for the Kingdom of the God.
i. It will cost you a lot to follow the call of God in your life.
1. It will cost you material possessions!
2. It will cost you your time!
3. It will cost you your individual rights and freedoms!
4. It will cost you your life!
c. As I consider these two real life scenarios from the Bible we discover that God calls and God sets people apart for ministry and for holy living. He also sets people apart to serve in His kingdom. He calls and I believe He also equips those He calls. He is looking for people to accept his call and to say “yes”
i. In our two Scripture texts I see three servant leadership motto’s that I have learned to apply to my leadership within ministry.
1. I must choose to lose to God.
a. I must take up my cross and decide to follow Jesus with my whole heart mind and soul.
i. This means I lay down earthly treasures and earthly desires for success.
b. This means I lay down my selfish desires and decide to follow the will of God for my life.
i. I say, ‘Not my will Lord but your will be done with my life!”
c. I must also say, “Yes Lord I will go!”
i. This means I will go were God sends me!
ii. It says “I give you my life and all that I possess Lord” use it for your honor and glory.
2. I must say “No pride”
a. Isaiah was a humble man and he recognized his unworthiness to be at the throne of God let alone represent it to the world.
i. We also need to come to the Lord at this time with a spirit of humility.
b. Many confuse being set apart as being better, or as it’s more commonly called, "holier than thou". Somehow, leaders, some pastors and even Christians, too, are still sinners saved by grace, we all have as many failings as the others around us.
i. We recognize that God uses imperfect people like ourselves to do his perfect will!
c. Leadership with in the Kingdom of God is to be modeled after the Lord Jesus Christ who demonstrated that we are to be servant leaders! We are to lead by serving.
d. Hybels states, "Jesus’ perspective was shaped by a deep sense of humility. It was a humility where none was called for; Jesus, as God, clearly deserved His titles, position, and praise. But as we have seen, Jesus "did not consider equality with God something to be grasped." He wanted instead, to relate with man on an equal level. Where religious leaders of His day relished the separation between themselves and "the common people", Jesus sought to break down the barriers, even those imposed by His divine rights. Humility was at the core of His philosophy. More times than not, He used His power for the powerless, showed love to the loveless, and served those who could not possibly return the favor. With characteristic consistency, He repeatedly rejected a Pecking Order based on conditional response." (121)
e. To have no pride means: Spurgeon makes this statement about pride: "…pride is a breach of consecration. As soon as I begin to get proud of what I do, or what I am, what am I proud of? Why there is that pride, the act of taking away from God, His glory . . . Mark this, Christian, God will never give thee (you) strength to glorify thyself (yourself)." (247)
3. We have to say, “I will not quit!”
a. Paul modeled this mind set for us in
i. Phil. 3:13, 14: Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
ii. Also II Tim. 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith
b. A recent statistic from Leadership Magazine encourages me that I must have this motto!
i. “40% of those in full time ministry today, will not be there in 3 to 5 years.”
d. Bonnie Ricks states “…Learn what being set apart really means... It means leading a life that is a reflection of Jesus Christ. It means demonstrating with your life that life in Jesus makes a difference. It means showing people through your actions what the love of God really means. It means being the kind of person God would have you be, so that others will be attracted to Him through you. It means showing others the One Who forgives you for all your failings, just as you are to forgive others for theirs. (From Newsong- Ministries-Newsong6@bellsouth.net).
The Licensing service for Brian:
A. Explanation of what a Licensed Minister means:
Introduction
Licensing is the acknowledgment by the church of a vocational call on a person’s life. It gives them the legal authority to perform marriages and other functions of a minister after appropriate filing has been done. Any necessary filing should normally be done by the church.
Steps to Licensing
1. Call: The candidate for licensing should be able to do the same as the call for a Ministry Permit but also be able to give a clear testimony of the confirmation of the call of ministry by the affirmation, response, and support of the church.
2. Preparation: The candidate shall give evidence of appropriate preparation to fulfill his/her call (e.g. education, training, etc.). Suggested education minimum would be a B.A. or a Pastoral Degree, or a life experience within New Life Ministry.
3. Requirements: The candidate shall fulfill the following expectations:
a. Hold membership in the church.
b. Have received sufficient confirmation by the church that they are suitable for licensed ministry.
c. Demonstrate adequate skills in the understanding and interpreting of the Bible, theology, Church History, and the Statement of Faith.
d. Demonstrate an emerging understanding of their leadership roles, style of ministry, and their goals.
4. Recommendation of the Official Board of Elders: The official board of elders shall examine the candidate’s testimony and recommend to the church as to the readiness of the candidate. The church will be given opportunity to bring questions and concerns to the official board of elders. The membership will then affirm the candidate for licensing.
B. Scriptural Qualifications for one who desires to be a servant leader in the Kingdom of God:
1). 1 Timothy 3:1-13: 1Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. 2Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 5(If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) 6He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap. 8Deacons, likewise, are to be men worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. 9They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. 10They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons. 11In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything. 12A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and his household well. 13Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.
2). Titus 1:5-9: 5The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. 6An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. 8Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. 9He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
3). 1 Peter 5:2-4: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; 3not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.
C. Brian’s charges for being a servant leader: (He will respond with an “I will with God’s help” after each charge)
1. Brian do you enter into this licensing service with the understanding that you are not to take this licensing lightly but take it with holy awe and the fear of God?
2. Brian do you with God’s help determine to guard your conduct and speech to make sure that it always glorifies God?
3. Brian do you promise to never be a stumbling block to others but to live holy in the eyes of the Lord?
4. Brian do you pledge to give careful and dedicated service to the office God has entrusted you with?
5. Brian do you pledge before God and this congregation to always preach and teach the word of God by staying true to the Biblical text?
6. Brian do you now accept your office as a sacred and solemn trust from the Lord Jesus Christ, promising Him and this church to fulfill its responsibilities and ministries to the best of your ability?
7. Brian will you strive with God’s help to be an example of Christ in the midst of those whom He has set you as a servant leader, holding the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience?
D. Pray for Brian and Angie for their service and dedication to the Lord in ministry.
1. We will gather the elders and the family down here in front to pray for Pastor Brian and his call to serve the kingdom of God.
Conclusion:
Being set apart means to be chosen by the Lord to be something special. It includes the concept of being set apart from others in the world by being holy and therefore becoming recognized as being something different from the norm. It also means that you have chosen to do something special for the lord God Almighty. So do it!
