Weird //3 – Weird is Better // 10/30/11 – MS
We are in the third week of a series I’m calling “Weird” where our big ideas has been this: If you want what normal people have, do what normal people do. If you want what few people have, do what few people do! We’ve been talking about a God kind of weird, because normal isn’t working. We saw in week one, the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 7, where He showed us very clearly, there are two different roads. There is one road that is broad, and that’s where many people travel. Unfortunately, that road leads to destruction and that’s where the big crowds go. “There’s another road,” Jesus said, “that’s narrow and…” (the good news is) “…this road leads to life.”
The bad news is, only a few people have the courage to leave the broad road and enter the narrow road. When you do leave the crowd, which is where normal people go; I used to find comfort in being with the crowd, if everybody is going this way, it must be the right way to go. When you have the courage though to leave the road that leads to destruction, get on the narrow road that leads to life, the people on the broad road will say, “You’re a little bit weird, but we’ll find comfort in that because normal isn’t working.”
Remember, we also looked at Proverbs 14:12 Jesus wants you to have life. He wants you to trust Him and follow His way. See, normal is where the crowd is going and I pray you have the courage to exit the broad path, get on the narrow road following Jesus. That’s is the hard way and the way that looks weird to the rest of the world.
Here’s what God said, it’s found in 1 Peter 1:16 God said to be holy. Now for me, years and years of my life, the word “holy” was very intimidating to me. But what I want to do is give you a little more context to the meaning of the word holy, and this may be an important thought for you. The word holy in the original language, comes from a root word that means to be pure; it means to be set apart, it literally means to be different. God says, “To be holy because I am holy.” God says that in this very impure world, you be pure. God says, ‘To be set apart,’ you’re not normal, you’re going to be different. God says, ‘Don’t be like the rest of the world, but be different.’
And here’s the key, those of you that are seriously following Christ, where you’re not just a Christian in name, but you truly want to give honor to God in the way you live. When you follow His teachings, Jesus will lead you off of the broad path onto the narrow one and your goal is not weird for weird sake, your goal is to please God. And when you’re striving to please God, He will set you apart, you will be different, and the rest of the world will call you weird. And the moment you leave that path, you’re going to be smacked in the face with people who are going to make fun of you. “Where you going? Stay with us! Here’s where the normal people are, don’t be different! Don’t be weird, you used to be cool! Stay with us!” And you’ll be hit with this pressure to conform to the norm.
Look at Psalm 69:9-12 Passion for what matters to you. I love when you read David in the Psalms. There’s this sense of, ‘God, I want to serve you and you alone. I want my whole life to count for you. I want to worship you all day long. Passion for the things that matter to you, that’s what matters to me, it’s consumed me.’ Here’s the deal, if you think you’re weird and there’s no drunk people making up songs about you, you can get a lot weirder! David’s saying, “I’m so close to you God that when people insult you, they are insulting me. They make fun of my devotion to you.” As a follower of Christ, when you leave the broad road and you follow Christ on the narrow road, people are going to mock you. They are going to call you weird. You are going to have to leave the crowd behind.
Some of you, you’re growing in your passion for Christ. You really want to please Him, His Word is making you different, you’re set apart. But you’re going to have to, for the rest of your life, deal with the constant pressure to conform to the norm. All of your life there’s going to be a strong pull back to the cultural norm and you will have to fight the drive to conform to the norm.
Barriers on the Road to Weird
1. The Inward Pull: The Need to Please
The inward pressure is something that most all of us deal with and that is the need to please. We want to make other people happy. We don’t want them to think we are weird. We want them to like us, we want to blend in, we want to be normal. In fact, if I were being really, really honest, the need to please has been one of the biggest obstacles in my own life in truly serving God. Whenever I feel like God is leading me to do something, the very first thought that drops into my mind is, “Well, what are the people going to think? I mean, what are my friends going to say? Well, this is kind of different and are they going to make fun of me?” and “Are they going to understand? And what are the people going to think?”
Scripture addresses this problem very clearly in Proverbs 29:25 This word trap in the original language give the picture of a hook that was put into an animal’s nose. It was a trap or a snare. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a bull that has one of those rings in the nose. And then, you get a rope and you can take a big ole’ bull and you can just yank that bull around because it’s in the nose. Fear of man, it will prove to be like a hook in your nose. You’ll be lead just to follow what everyone else is doing if you live for their approval.
But God wants you to be different – to be weird. God might lead you to turn off the television and not watch TV anymore because it takes up so much time, it robs you from time with God. And so, you just decide to do this; but as soon as you do, you are going to wonder, ”What are people going to think if I don’t watch TV,” and “I don’t know what’s going on with the latest show everyone else is watching. Or, God may lead you to dress modestly in a very immodest world, where all of the styles are immodest. You may think, ”I want to dress modestly,” but then you wonder, “What are they going to think if I don’t dress like everyone else.
I can promise you; so many of you are not doing what God has called you to do because you’re afraid of what people are going to think. Never forget this, becoming obsessed with what people think about you is the quickest way to forget what God thinks about you, and that’s where some of you live. ”What are they going to think? What are they going to say?” Remember it, becoming obsessed with what people think about you is the quickest way to forget what God thinks about you, and surrendering to the opinions of others will draw you back onto the normal road that leads to destruction.
2. The Outward Pull: Fear of Persecution
Remember what Jesus said to His followers (and that is us). In John 15:18-20. Jesus tells us persecution is coming. If you are going to be a follower of Christ – if you are going to be weird, then just get ready for it. it’s a part of being set apart, it’s a part of being pure. It’s a part of leaving the normal road that leads to destruction and getting on the narrow road that leads to life. Normal is not working, and normal people don’t like when you do something different.
Why is our faith costly? Because Jesus’ rescue of us was costly. Jesus laid down His life. There was no greater persecution than what Jesus endured to save us. And if you seek after God, then He’s going to lead you to do weird stuff for the Kingdom and you will endure persecution for it. Friends will make fun of you or even abandon you. Others won’t listen to you. You won’t be at peace in this world. When you follow God, you will be persecuted, and when you are, you remember this, Matthew 5:10-12
Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 2:4 Becoming obsessed with what people think about you is the quickest way to forget what God thinks about you. Fear of people will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe. If you want what normal people have, do what normal people do. If you want what few people have, do what few people do. When you follow Christ, you will be different. You will be holy, you will be set apart, and you will be persecuted. Do not worry when you’re persecuted for righteousness sake, worry when you’re not. Find comfort when they call you weird, because normal isn’t working. And you know when led by the Spirit, weird is way better than normal.
