Sabbath 1-30-2016 Edgewater Seventh Day BAPTIST Pastor Keith “Peculiar People Day” Titus 2;11-14 (KJV)

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Sabbath 1-30-2016 Edgewater Seventh Day BAPTIST Pastor Keith “Peculiar People Day” Titus 2;11-14 (KJV)

 

 

Titus 2;11-14

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

January 10th was “Peculiar People Day”. The whole idea of this Peculiar People day is: “To celebrate those who are eccentric, non-conformist or otherwise unique in some way.” Peculiar People Day is here to celebrate the leaders of the strange and unusual, those who refuse to succumb to the world’s idea of what is normal and sane. They challenge the status quo and utterly rebuke the concept that that which is out of the ordinary is bad. Whether they simply dress in their own style, or have very clear ideas of what is right and normal. Peculiar People Day is their opportunity to shine. All in all, the idea of a “Peculiar People Day” is that the “peculiar people” in question are those who are odd or weird in some fashion. Basically, folks who just aren’t NORMAL!!!

But that’s not what the word “peculiar” originally meant, The word “peculiar” originally came for the Latin “peculium” which means: "private property." So when the KJV was originally written in the 1600s… they used that word to describe private property, but not just any old private property. This was a treasured possession that belonged to God. In fact, the NASB substitutes the phrase “peculiar people” in this passage with “a people for His own possession.” For the English speaking people of that day, “peculiar” didn’t mean something that was strange or bizarre. They understood it to be talking about something that was special to God.

For example: in Deuteronomy 14:2 God told Israel: “thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a PECULIAR PEOPLE unto Himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.” (KJV) In other words God was saying He OWNED Israel. They were His special treasured possession. They were under His exclusive protection. Now, what’s intriguing is that God says the same thing about you and me. We are His people, His special possession also. In I Peter 2:9 God declares: “… ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a PECULIAR PEOPLE; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” KJV. So, yes we are PECULIAR. Because we are SPECIAL to God. We are a CHOSEN generation, a ROYAL priesthood, a HOLY Nation, and we’ve been called out of darkness into His marvelous light.

THIS is what God DID for us. We don’t deserve to be honored like this. We can’t do enough good deeds to buy God’s approval or to earn salvation. That’s what Ephesians 2;1-10 says:

That you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

You were dead in your transgressions. You had NOTHING to offer God. You didn’t earn your salvation… it was given to you as a gift. Christian comedian Brad Stine noted: “The only reason I’m a Christian is because it’s the only religion that would have me.” And he’s right! Because “God so loved (you and me) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whomsoever should believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” And because God loved us – and we accepted Him on His terms – God made us His peculiar possession.

I Peter 2 said we’re “an HOLY nation, a peculiar people” I Peter 2:9. What does “HOLY” mean? We think of it as a deep theological term. But you don’t need a college degree to understand it. It’s a very basic word and it means “separate” or “set apart.” In Scripture, the word means you were set apart by God. So we have been “set aside” from the rest of the world to be God’s treasured possession! And that makes us peculiar - “something that is DIFFERENT.” And, we are NOT normal – we’re NOT like everybody else. God has set us apart to be DIFFERENT than this world. God made us HOLY.

But the Bible also says:

“Just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’” I Peter 1:15-16 God calls us to be holy. He calls us to be different than the rest of the world. He calls us to be NOT normal… to be peculiar!!! Titus 2:12 “ (God’s grace) teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.” (NIV) And why should we live like that??? (Because He) gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a PECULIAR people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:14 (KJV) God gave Himself for us so that we might be purified and become holy, different… peculiar. Now is it a bad thing to be “different? ”

I remember back when I was in High School it was like you didn’t want to be “different” back then – being different was an invitation for ridicule. And many people shy away from being “different” in life because they learned that lesson all too well. Em Griffin in his book The Mindchangers describes an experiment done by Solomon Asch with groups of 12 people. They were brought into a room where four lines of unequal length were displayed. They had to decide which two were the same length and publicly vote for their choice. Person after person after person (11 in all) voted for the wrong line--because they had all been told ahead of time to do so. The one individual who was in the dark couldn't imagine how in the world all these seemingly normal people could all choose the wrong line. When it was his turn to vote, he had to decide, "Do I go with what I know my senses are telling me, or do I go with the crowd? " 1/3 of those tested caved in to group pressure and changed their vote to agree with their peers.

Romans 12:2: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” We are a CHOSEN generation, A ROYAL priesthood, A HOLY Nation. And we’ve been called out of darkness into His marvelous light. We must have the courage to stand up for God’s truth! And so God says: Because I’ve given you this great honor you need to live holy lives. You need to live differently than the world around you. Say “no” to UNgodliness and worldly passions. Paul tells Timothy that there will be people who are “lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.” II Timothy 3:2-5

Because you are called to live differently than that. You are called to live holy lives. Peter writes that we should “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God in the day of visitation.

1 Peter 2:12: We live as a “holy” set apart, “peculiar” people, so that we can GLORIFY GOD.

And Jesus said:

“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and” …. what?

(glorify your Father which is in heaven).

We live holy lives… not because we’re “nice” people.

We live holy lives … not because we’re better than everyone else.

NO. We live holy lives simply because we want to glorify God. Our righteous deeds aren’t done because we’re more righteous than the folks outside of church… but because the God we serve is BETTER than anything this world can offer. And we love Him so much we want others to love Him too.

We are “...a CHOSEN generation, a ROYAL priesthood, a HOLY nation, a PECULIAR people.”

 

AMEN