Assimilation vs. Differentiation – a Biblical Perspective

Transcript

what I want to do tonight is talk about x assimilation versus differentiation x as we get into this I I have found this x fascinating this entire study this x entire subject x and I I know you you probably find this x hard to believe but I don't have all the x answers x your break you're breaking up whoever's x saying something x okay I don't know what that was x um x but you know so so this subject like I x said is is fascinating to me but I was a x little worried on Sunday when Steve said x that this was discussed a bit at a Bible x class A while back I must have missed x that Bible class and I hope that this x isn't a repeat for for some of you but x and I wish I could go back and figure x this out a few years ago I started x listening to an audiobook I've got a x half hour commute every day into work x and back so I'll I'll listen to x audiobooks periodically and I was x listening to an audiobook and this x phrase came up x and I noted it and then the book just it x got really dry I wasn't engaging I x deleted it and then and now I can't go x back and figure out which one it was I x don't know where it came from this this x phrase uh assimilation versus different x differentiation now I can't say it but I x wrote it down I've pondered it over the x last two years and I finally said you x know I need to do a class on this and x the what I want to do in class is is x present to you some thoughts some ideas x at the end of the class if we have time x we can have more of a discussion too and x bring I want you to think about your own x list of Bible characters who either x assimilated those who were different you x know just think about that list I've got x a list at the end and we won't spend a x lot of time on that but x as we as we go through this class and x think about it the one thing I want to x say is x I truly believe that we are in the last x days x as we think about this subject to me the x poster child for this subject is Noah x and we know that it says as in the days x of Noah and that's the days I think very x very much like today x so we we will if we have time to talk x about Noah specifically at the end x because again I think he's a poster x child for for this this entire subject x but as we first think about it and look x at ourselves x I want to say well who are we hold on a x minute let me get this out of the x who are we you know or better yet who x should we be x you know it talks about being holy or x set apart and Sanctified all meaning x similar things little different nuances x here and there but but basically this is x this is what we're talking about x and as we think about that there's a x couple verses that come to mind came to x my mind anyway in Deuteronomy 7 it says x for you're a for you are a people holy x to the Lord your God the Lord your God x has chosen you to be a people for his x treasure possession out of all the x peoples who are on the face of the Earth x in Deuteronomy and then there's another x verse in First Peter says but as he who x called you is Holy you also be holy in x all your conduct since it is written you x shall be holy for I am Holy x the things I'm sharing with you tonight x aren't x going to be new to you these are things x that you we all know we've all heard I'm x just trying to to package it all x together into one class tonight x and it's not just us x I think we know that it's not just us x who understand that there are people x today in this world and especially in x this Christian world who do understand x this subject x and I was thinking of some things on my x own I went out and Googled a few things x but there's a guy named Matt lore and he x does a marriage seminar he's written a x marriage book but it's called dare to be x different x and I think that's an idea and again I'm x not going to get into each one of these x different subjects but just the his his x overall premise about marriage is dare x to be different you know don't don't be x like the the hordes of people in the x world and treat their marriages anything x less than holy there's another one and I x did this for for Jim boyko it's in the x it's in the the show The Chosen and the x phrases get used to different it's a x simple conversation between Jesus and x Simon before he was his name was changed x to Peter and Simon said this is x different and Jesus is Jesus's reply was x get used to different x and I just I I love that phrase I think x about that frequently thanks x and another one that I think I mentioned x somewhere along the way in one of my x classes that I did but just years ago x when my boys were teenagers they're in x their in their 30s now but we took them x to a conference and it was called do x hard things there's a book written by x these two two I think they're twin x brothers I can't remember now do hard x things a teenage rebellion against low x expectations but it was about being x different as teenagers you know as x Christian teenagers it's about being x different x and the one that is is one of my x favorite books that I've read over the x years is a book called radical taking x back your faith from the American dream x by David Platt and I I read this again a x number of years ago but it always just x sort of bubbles up in my mind and I've x written down a few quotes that I wanted x to share with you from this book and I x think it fits into x us as Christians as Christian dolphins x in terms of who we should be and or who x we are but he says in his book radical x obedience to Christ is not easy it's not x Comfort not Health not wealth and not x prosperity in this world radical x obedience to Christ risks losing all x these things but in the end such risk x Finds Its reward in Christ and he is x more than enough for us x he goes on to say in another chapter of x the book we desperately need to explore x how much of our understanding of the x Gospel is American and how much is x biblical x so think about that for a minute x another chapter later in the book he x says I cannot help but think that x somewhere along the way we had missed x what was Radical about our faith and x replaced it with what is comfortable x so assimilation differentiation I think x it all fits into some of these some of x these comments that that x other Christians will bring up and talk x about as well or have written about x when I think about the term assimilation x I related to conformity x and in terms of the the verse I think x everybody I'm not I think I know x everybody knows this and do not be x conformed to this world but be x transformed by the renewing of your mind x so that you may prove what the will of x God is that which is good and acceptable x and perfect x so this word and I'll I'll butcher this x word the Greek word is susque matizo x that's the best I'm gonna do but it's it x means to conform to the same pattern or x fashion yourself according to it's only x used one other time in First Peter 1 x where it says as obedient children do x not be conformed to the former lusts x which were yours and your ignorance x I found an interesting quote too from a x gentleman x named Earl Nightingale Earl Nightingale x was an American radio speaker and author x in the 1950s and he said the opposite of x courage in our society is not cowardice x it's conformity x the opposite of courage in our society x is not cowardice it's Conformity he said x that in the 1950s so 70 plus years ago x and again look into in today's culture x today's environment in this world and I x think we're spot on x definitions of a similar assimilation uh x Webster dictionary says assimilate is to x absorb into the body or to absorb and x incorporate x and in anthropology in sociology this x process of assimilation is the process x process whereby individuals or groups of x differing ethnic Heritage are absorbed x into the dominant culture of a society x so I think we see how you know I was x trying to picture I don't know I don't x know I was thinking about this as I x drove home from work tonight just a a x cell a molecule I'm not a scientist by x any stretch but just being absorbed into x the body around it you know I don't I x don't know I was just thinking about x that and and how then it just all x becomes one x so this is assimilation x in the 19th and 20th centuries there was x a policy x the United United States government said x about assimilation x policy of assimilation was an attempt to x destroy traditional Indian cultural x identities many historians have argued x that the U.S government believed that if x American Indians did not adopt European x American culture they would become x extinct as a people x so the question is what's happening to x the Christian culture x are we becoming extinct and if so why x and we're not going to further with x that thought that's a that's a whole x other thought but x as I was working on this I came across x another word which I I hadn't heard x before and I just again I found it x fascinating the word acculturation x the culturation the definition of that x is the change made by a person or group x of people when they adapt to a foreign x culture or adopt aspects of another x culture x so assimilation acculturation I believe x there's a lot of similarities but there x is there is a subtle difference the x assimilation can be the eventual outcome x of acculturation x and acculturation is usually a two-way x process of cultural exchange versus x assimilation is one way x so what I'm going to do for tonight for x the time being is I'm going to speak of x acculturation and assimilation as the x same even though there are some subtle x differences but I believe it's it's x close enough that I think you you get x the point that I'm trying to make x as I think about acculturation and x whenever I have a discussion about x voting with with anyone you know if I'm x at work and somebody says they've got x their little sticker that says I voted x today and somebody says oh did you vote x we have a discussion but I always talk x about being an expatriate talking about x being a foreigner talk about being a a x citizen of a different country and x acculturation is really natural for an x expat for next Patriot that's living in x a in a different country for example x you know an Englishman x living in Spain x is going to learn Spanish they're going x to learn Spanish Customs they're going x to adapt to the culture x and really in any place acculturation x can be healthy and a beneficial practice x when x the best of other cultures is adopted as x a way of honoring and appreciating what x that culture has to offer x but if we allow any culture even our own x to shape our own values or our own world x views x we can be headed for trouble x and I'll say this and I I've got this x highlighted and underlined in my notes x culture should never be the loudest x voice in our lives God's word must be x the foundation for everything we think x say or do x and if our culture magnifies or enhances x that truth x then that culture can be embraced x let's look for a minute and think for a x moment about acculturation or x assimilation with the world x as we as I think thought about that I x said to myself okay the there are x secular views that are out there and a x lot of secular x secularness whatever the right phrase is x embraced by ungodly people and when that x happens it causes trouble for God's x people x and this is partly where we're going to x get a little into the Exiles which which x Stephen mentioned but you know we we x read different verses such as in John 15 x it says if the world hates you you x that it has hated me before it hated you x if you were of the world the world would x love you as its own but because you're x not of the world but I chose you out of x the world because of this the world x hates you x in Romans 13 it says let us behave x properly as in the day not in carousing x and drunkenness not in sexual x promiscuity and debauchery not in strife x and jealousy x there's the world and then there's our x lives as Believers and where do we x fit in this a cultural acculturation x assimilation with the world x we're going to speak specifically to x that later toward the end of the class x in First Peter 2 and we're going to look x at this this is a verse that we're going x to look at a little more closely later x first Peter 2 it says beloved I urge you x as foreigners and strangers to obtain x from fleshly lust which wage war against x the soul keep your behavior excellent x among the Gentiles so the thing in which x they slander you as evildoers they may x because of your good deeds as they x observe them glorified God on the day of x visitation x you know and I meant to say this earlier x but I think it's a good point to say x this now but x as much as I get anxious and frantic x about doing Bible class here twice a x year now I've done it now for the last x couple years x and sort of hate to say this but I x really enjoy it and I enjoy it because x it gives me opportunity to talk to x others and today I had to to take a a x another co-worker from one location to x another at the the Boys and Girls Club x where I work and we were just chatting x on the way back over to our office and x she said well you have big plans for the x evening and I said well actually I'm x leading a Bible class tonight and so I x need to get home a little early and go x through it again and it just opened it x opened a conversation found out she she x was born just south of Richmond Virginia x where my son and daughter-in-law and x granddaughters are her father is a x preacher x um so we're going to continue the x conversation as we go but you know I I x thought about this and it because of x your good deeds I'm not saying that x doing Bible class is a good deed that x she's going to look at it that way but I x think that it gives opportunity in our x lives to show who we are you know and to x be different as foreigners and strangers x in this world x good x the last verse I have under this this x acculturation assimilation of the world x is in second Corinthians 6 17 it says x therefore come out from their midst and x be separate says the Lord and do not x touch what is unclean and I will welcome x you x so some overriding verses but then x there's some other themes that I want to x look at both bad and good themes of x assimilation and Conformity and x acculturation in Scripture x I'm going to start with the bad and x Leviticus 20 and this is where we get x into the the Exiles x um Leviticus 20 moreover you shall not x follow the customs of the Nations which x I will drive out before you for they did x all these things and therefore I have x abhorred them x in Deuteronomy 18 it says when you enter x the land which the Lord your God gives x you you shall not learn to imitate the x detestable things of these nations x in Second Kings 17 they rejected his x statutes and his Covenant which he made x with their fathers and his warnings with x which he warned them and they followed x vanity and became Vain and went after x the Nations which surrounded them x concerning which the Lord had commanded x them not to do not to do like them so x these are messages from many many many x years ago x still because God's word doesn't change x still applicable today x you know today in this world you know x Christians Christian Dolphins will say x well it's a different culture that we x live in now God's word doesn't change x these principles are overriding x throughout scripture from beginning to x end the principles are there x it says in Ezekiel thus you will know x that I am the Lord for you have not x walked in my statutes nor have you x executed my ordinances but have acted x according to the ordinances of the x Nations around you x flipping over to the good side x and there's there's sort of good and bad x mixed in both of this I just x picked picked the good side for some of x these but it said this one actually this x is a good one there are certain Jews x whom you have appointed over the x administration in Daniel 3. there are x certain Jews whom you have appointed x over the administration of the province x of Babylon namely Shadrach Meshach and x Abednego these men O King have x disregarded you they do not serve your x Gods nor or worship the golden image x which you have set up x so they Shadrach Meshach Abednego Daniel x did not assimilate x into the culture that was around them x in Colossians 3 it says and in them you x also once walked when you were living in x them but now you also put them all aside x don't assimilate put them all aside x anger wrath malice slander abuse of x speech from your mouth x in John 13 actually the next two verses x about imitation John 13 says for I gave x you an example that you also should do x as I did to you and then in First x Corinthians Paul says the imitators of x me just as I also am of Christ so you've x got sort of two levels of invitation x there directly from Christ and then to x Christ through through Paul x these are good things to do as opposed x to assimilating into the culture this is x the good side x in Ephesians 5 it says therefore be x imitators of God so another imitation x verse as beloved children and walk in x love just as Christ also loved you and x gave himself up for us and offering and x a sacrifice to God is a fragrant aroma x I think the last next to last verse I x have in this section x um Philippians 3 that I may know him and x the power of his resurrection and the x fellowship of his suffering being x conformed to his death x good confirmation in order that I may x attain to the resurrection from the dead x and then the last verse in Ephesians x also is Ephesians 2 but God being rich x in Mercy because of his great love with x which he loved us even when we were dead x in our transgressions made us alive x together with Christ by Grace you have x been saved x they raised us up with him and seated us x with him in the Heavenly places in x Christ Jesus x where are we being assimilated where are x we being x acculturated x where or what are we conforming to x the bad or the good or like the x laodiceans somewhere in between x I want to turn our attention now to the x other half of the equation assimilation x versus differentiation I want to look at x differentiation for a moment x um x I should put these two quotes on I've x got it in my notes but I didn't put them x on the screen x um actually before I do that I want to x read the verses to that are my Bedrock x verses for the the subject of x differentiation in Proverbs 1 it says my x son do not walk in the way Windham hold x back your foot from their paths x so in other words go your own way x don't be assimilated don't be x acculturated be differentiated Go Your x Own Way x and then in Philippians 2 it says that x you may be blameless and innocent x children of God without blemish in the x midst of a crooked and twisted x generation among whom you sh you shine x as lights in the world x that is differentiation x the last thing I ever want to do in x wife is Pat myself on the back but I x said this in another class I think last x time I mentioned this because I x mentioned that I might do this do this x subject but x sometime early on when a x young lady came to work young lady she's x older my son so but um she came to work x at the boys and girls club and I don't x know we worked together for I don't x remember x two months something like that and she's x she one day said x I just have a sense that you and Dana x are a little different x and I know Steve's laughing right now x because he's like oh yeah of course of x course but it was a it was a good thing x it was a right thing and I felt good x about myself that I x that it was noticed again it's not it's x not a proud thing at by any stretch of x the imagination x but there are people that we know that x that you know that are different I mean x that different in a good way in a right x way and that's what I'm talking about x here is differentiation being different x in a good way and a right wing the two x quotes that I have that I that I came x across as I was researching this one is x there's x anonymous quote unknown it said don't be x afraid of being different be afraid of x being the same as everyone else x interesting thought x be afraid of being the same as everyone x else then another quote I found by a x gentleman I'll probably get his name x butchered he's a Turkish playwright his x name is Mehmet Moret ilden it's the best x I can do but he said be different so x that people can see you clearly amongst x the crowds x be different so that people can see you x clearly amongst the crowds I laugh when x I just think about that for a minute x because my boys and I were we were x somewhere I don't remember where we're x in a crowd and I don't remember if it's x Nicholas or Simeon and we're all x basically six foot three I think x Seminoles say he's six foot four but one x of them said why I'm so glad I'm tall x and In This Crowd and I just said you're x welcome x but you know that's a physical x difference this is a difference in our x character Who We Are x being in a crowd and do we stand out in x a good way x so that people do see us differently x as we looked at the x assimilation acculturation Conformity x theme I wanted to also look at the x differentiation theme add some verses to x to share with you about that x this is one of my favorite verses x um I think when when Dana was x homeschooling the boys Once Upon a Time x this was a memory verse that they they x it was always right there but Psalm 1 1 x blessed is the man who walks not into x counsel of the wicked nor stands in the x way of Sinners nor sits in the seat of x scoffers x that is how we can be different we're x not there with the wicked or with the x Sinners or with the scoffers but we're x different x we're different people x in first John 2 it says do not love the x world or the things of the world in the x world if anyone loves the world the love x of the father is not in him for all that x is in the world the desires of the Flesh x and the desires of the eyes and the x pride of life is not from the father but x it's from the world and the world is x passing away along with its desires but x whoever does the will of God abides x forever x this is how we should be different from x the world not loving the things of the x world Matthew 7 says enter by the narrow x gate for the gate is wide and the way is x easy that leads to destruction and those x who enter by it are many x it is a very narrow gate very narrow x gate it calls us to be differentiated x from all those who are entering x the wide gate the wide path that leads x to destruction x in Colossians 3 x 1-25 this is not 1-25 that is a typo but x in Colossians 3 it's as if then you have x been raised with Christ State the things x that are above where Christ is seated at x the right hand of God set your mind on x things that are above not on things that x are on Earth for you have died and your x life is hidden with Christ in God when x Christ who is your life appears then you x also will appear with him in glory put x to death therefore what is Earthly in x you sexual immorality impurity passion x evil desire and covetousness which is x idolatry x so x that is where our minds are to be as x we're differentiating ourself from the x world and the culture around us x I've got a continuation of this theme in x Deuteronomy 12. and I'm not going to x read all this this passage but I wanted x to get it up there if you want to go x back and look at first five verses of x Deuteronomy 12. it's talking about again x about the Exiles these are the statues x and rules that you shall be careful to x do in the land that the Lord your God x the god of your fathers he's given you x to possess toward the three three lines x up it says you shall not worship uh x looking for carb images of God you shall x not Worship the Lord your God in that x way but you shall seek the place that x the Lord your God will choose out of all x your tries to put his name and make his x habitation there there you shall go x so you're to go somewhere different set x aside special holy x in Ephesians 4 says put off your old x self to put off your old self which x belongs to your formal manner of life x and is corrupt through deceitful desires x and to be renewed in the spirit of your x minds and to put on the new self created x after the likeness of God in true x righteousness and Holiness remember that x verse we read earlier about being x imitators of God Jesus says imitate me x Paul says imitate him here's that x lightness of God that we are to be like x that is how we are to differentiate x ourselves x and in Daniel we were gonna talk about x Daniel as an example too we know Daniel x was different x but Daniel resolved Daniel verse chapter x one but Daniel resolved that he would x not defile himself with the King's food x or with the wine that he drank therefore x he asked the chief of the eunuchs to x allow him not to defile himself x Daniel was different and using the x phrase of the one book I talked about x earlier that dare to be different Daniel x dared to be different what was going to x happen to him he didn't know but he knew x what to do and what was right to do x in First Peter 2 x um you are a chosen race this is right x before the verses that we're going to x look we looked at before and look at and x look at a little bit later it says that x you were a chosen race a royal x priesthood a holy nation a people for x his own possession x uh different people x that you may proclaim the excellencies x of him who called you out of Darkness x into His Marvelous Light x so x ask yourselves look in the mirror I look x in the mirror and then say am I a chosen x race am I a royal priesthood am I a holy x nation am I a people for his own x possession am I different x or not x we're going to gears slightly for x a second x and x I x thoroughly for whatever reason I x thoroughly enjoy reading about x the Holocaust and about the Jews and x about World War II not not the war x itself but just x that the whole genre I I enjoy reading x it I just just fascinated by it all my x sister and brother-in-law were just in x Poland and went to Auschwitz and as much x as I don't want to go and see it I would x like to go and see it to better x understand what's happening there x but when I think about assimilation x I think assimilation is anti-jewish x the Jews x were and are x separate people x they are a separate people and part of x being Jewish was a separation from the x culture around them x and that's what made it so easy for the x Germans to follow through with the x Holocaust because it was so easy to x identify in in many many cases x you know to be God's people for them for x the Jews is something that they're born x into x for us the royal priesthood versus you x know we're adopted we're adopted into x that but they are born into this x jewishness you know language like chosen x people or God's elect these are terms x that are bestowed upon them by birth and x not by choice x and x again to be Jewish was really to avoid x assimilation with culture x and I want to hold that thought for for x a little bit longer because I'm going to x go back to that idea in a minute a few x minutes x but to assimilate as a Jew was to x embrace non-jewish ways you know whether x Old Testament whether x 1800s whether 1900s whether the 2000s x um you know to assimilate is really to x embrace non-jewish ways and then it's x made clear in the Jewish community that x that if you marry outside the Jewish x faith Calamity May Come x if you what's the right word sold out x and you ate unclean Foods you could x bring disease x when you worshiped alongside other x faiths x God they bring destruction this is what x the Jews thought process about x assimilation x and then Along Comes Jesus x and then Peter's vision in Acts 10 and x 11. you know this this wasn't a loophole x for for how to be Jewish like you know x well for those living in in in in Israel x you know it was an invitation in this x day Jesus's day to anyone and everyone x who believed that Jesus was a messiah x for them to become God's elect for them x to become God's chosen people x it didn't matter x who you were born to it mattered if you x were born again and baptized x there and it was a choice fundamentally x different is that in Christ you can x choose to become one of the elect x and then the question about tonight's x class is and then what what do you do x because all of this is relevant for x today x so x are we like the Jews are we set apart x from culture x are we different differentiated or are x we assimilated or acculturated x what I want to look at now is I'm going x to go back to that verse in First Peter x in a moment x and ask the question that I have up here x on the screen is do we assimilate or do x we integrate x because as Peter was writing x in his letters he was writing to x Christians that were scattered x throughout turkey and Greece that x general area x some of those were converted Jews x many of them were Gentiles who were new x to x let's call it jewishness new to x Christianity new to Walking With Jesus x new to to the Messiah that whole thought x process x some of them it was a it was almost a x double double culture shock because they x if they came out of the world and now x here's this Christianity and here's this x jewishness and they're it's all x Incorporated together and they're trying x to say what is going on x you know do I need to assimilate myself x in all this x or what x but in First Peter we're going to go x back to this verse now I'm going to read x it again it says once you are not a x people but now you are the people of God x once you have not received Mercy but now x you have received Mercy dear friends I x urge you as foreigners and Exiles to x abstain from sinful desires which wage x war against your soul live such good x lives among x the pagans that though they accuse you x of doing wrong x they may see your good deeds and glorify x God x that among I think is critical x in the difference between assimilation x and integration x I want to ask you a rhetorical question x I wanted you to think about this for a x second have you ever been an alien x you don't have to answer that I just x just rhetorical have you ever been an x alien x let's change that have you ever been a x refugee x have you ever been an immigrant x these all fit together and when we think x about today especially in the Christian x delphian World these days lots of x refugees in the last x 20 years let's call it x lots of refugees arriving in x new communities in North America x they're aliens to our country x they're relocated here from places of x conflict places of Devastation around x the world they don't speak the language x the transportation system is scary some x haven't had electricity some haven't x shopped at a grocery store or ever been x to a bank they are not westerners as x westerners would be defined x and a lot of times I I would propose x that these our new neighbors our new x Brethren sometimes fear assimilation x you know assimilation can appear x as maybe the only option x but to give up your x congoleseness or your iranian-ness x or whatever it is where you're coming x from it may seem like the only option x and I was thinking back to this you know x a century ago x maybe a little bit more x I'm not good at that part of History x but assimilation was the answer for a x lot of people immigrants who went x through Ellis Island x they often gave up their names for x English names and as soon as they could x they gave up their language and they x gave up their their Heritage living the x American dream x they assimilated completely into the x culture x but is that what Peter is talking about x is he's talking as as us as aliens is he x saying give up your identity and x assimilate x or is he saying live among x though the world around you to make a x difference actually I'm going to back x for a second here x because x that living amongst x why x they may see your good deeds and glorify x God so keep that in mind x what about Christians what about x Christians today x I think and I'll put forward the thought x that some groups of Christians today x want to assimilate with a larger culture x altogether x and they tend to give up their using the x same terminology their christianness x in order to blend in x I pray that I'm not one of those I don't x want to be one of those but for a lot of x so-called Christians x it's a social network x it's a whole social thing it's not about x a devotion it's not about living the x lives as royal royal priesthood about it x as aliens x it's different x and so I think what Peter is telling us x is he's saying that he's calling us to x integrate ourselves in society x you know don't just rail against the x culture don't just rail against the x society x we need to be among the culture among x the society x because we can't change our society x by not assimilating at all or standing x outside of it x we can't change our culture by by fully x assimilating and becoming so much a part x of it that no one could even pick us out x as different x I think what Peter's talking about here x is saying you need to be different when x you're integrated into society into the x culture around you x you need to be different you need to get x dirty you need to learn to an extent the x language of the culture but it's still x about standing apart humbly x while standing amongst x the culture and the society x it's not about standing outside and x pointing fingers it's not about Pride x it's not about I told you so it's not x about giving up our identity x it's not about sacrificing our x distinctiveness or pretending the Bible x isn't vital or denying that we believe x for fear of a spending somebody x it's about being in the midst of the x world but not of the world x and that's a definition that I think x each of us have to make ourselves x but I remember years ago x a young brother saying well I'm going to x go out to a bar every night because I x want to be there amongst the Sinners and x the tax collectors and I want to be x there to to help them and he later in x that conversation said x I want to live on the edge I don't want x to live hugging the mountain I want to x live on the edge and I thought oh my x goodness you know you can't live that x close to the world and not be affected x by the world so there's that balance and x there's a different line for everyone x some people have to draw boundaries x differently than others but I believe x there have to be debt boundaries when we x integrate ourselves in the world x because ultimately we want to be x conformed in the image of Jesus our x assimilation our Conformity is not being x assimilated or conformed with the world x not being as close as we can get to the x world and hope that it's all going to be x okay x we don't want to conform to our the x world and the fleshly desires God calls x us to be holy x he says in Romans 8 we know that it says x that Paul says in Romans 8 and we know x that God causes all things to work x together for good to those who love God x to those who are called according to his x purpose for Those whom he foreknew he x also predestined to become conformed to x the image of his son so that he would be x the first born among many Brethren x conformed to the image of his son that's x where I want to live closer to the x mountain closer to Jesus closer to the x only way to Jesus our only way to God is x through his son I want to be like that I x want to to to to focus x on Jesus I want to set my face toward x Jerusalem I want to be different I don't x want to assimilate if I'm going to the x culture eight I've got to look at the x culture around me and say x is there any part of this that is x magnifying God and if so great if not I x put it aside x so now's an opportunity to talk about x some specific examples x only going to talk about Noah but I've x got a bit of a laundry list and I think x there's probably a case to be made for x practically any character of The Bible x but I've got some that I've highlighted x and as I do that x I I sort of thought through I started x out with a small list it kept growing x and I started coming up with different x things about each one x but what I really want to do tonight x is we get toward the end of class is I x want to focus this is my last Slide by x the way so so get your thinking caps on x and and you can add to anything on this x list add your thoughts after I talked x about Noah or you can add those of your x own x um but when I look at Noah and who Noah x is I said earlier he is the poster child x for non-assimilation he is a poster x child for being different Noah was a x true non-conformist x you know there's there's there's x sometimes being a non-conformist has bad x connotations you know it's like well I'm x going to be my own person I'm going to x do what my what I'm not going to conform x well I'm looking at being a x non-conformist is a good thing in terms x of Noah and I think too for us in a way x I don't know if any of you have probably x heard about it and I don't know if x anybody's ever been to it over in is it x Indiana Ohio somewhere near Cincinnati x um there is a replica of Noah's Ark x and it is astounding we've been there x twice x and it's it's astounding the size the x magnitude of it all x but and it's been goodness six seven x eight years I think since we were there x last x but the one thing that keeps coming up x when Dana and I talk about it is this x video that they show x and they show in this video x you know totally conjecture about what x was happening but I believe you know as x in the days of Noah and there's evil x congenally throughout the Earth x in this video they show people mocking x Noah and patronizing Nova and attacking x Noah and just you know just saying x mocking Noah scoffing at Noah x and x we always think as in the days of Noah x we are in the last days as people scoff x at us because of our belief in the Bible x sometimes because of our beliefs that x Jesus is going to return x you know and x when I look at Noah specifically in the x in terms of this subject I think to x myself you know Noah didn't seek the x approval or acceptance of others you x know a lot of people just like to fit in x with a crown you know and Noah wasn't x like most people x he was unlike every other person in the x world at that moment in history we don't x know much specifically about his family x other than they were saved with him but x for side I'm gonna for a moment I'm x gonna set them aside but every other x person in the world at that moment in x history Noah was different x he sought his approval and his x acceptance from God x and he rejected utterly rejected the x actions of those around him and again x that's where I go back to this video x that we saw saw over this this Arc x um x over in Ohio or Kentucky or Indiana x somewhere x um x you know no it didn't fit in or the x culture around him in fact x he was in direct opposition as a x preacher of righteousness second Peter 2 x tells us that Noah was a preacher of x righteousness this was how he was x differentiating himself x you know he x when no one responded to Noah's x preaching x and so God said okay gonna bring a flood x gonna cover the entire Earth and gonna x start over with Noah with you and your x family x and x when Noah was commissioned to build this x Ark he only had God to direct him nobody x else was there guiding him he didn't x have family he didn't have mentors to x look up to he didn't have anybody else x at that moment to be a role model for x him to to help imitate for him to x imitate and he x pun intended he had to swim against the x current x you know he had to swim against the x current and it was difficult 100 Years x of swimming against the current x you know and during that time x Humanity just became so sinful x that again in Genesis they the the x people's intentions were only evil x continually x this is who Noah was surrounded by these x are the people who rejected the truth x that he was sharing with them x but he was a non-conformist for x righteousness x he was very uncomfortable it was x dangerous for him x you know it says in Genesis 6 that the x world at that time was violent x this is where Noah lived x and you know when you when you speak x about that violence that mocking that x scoffing and again I think back to that x video we watched years ago x um at the ark x I think when people notice x when people know they're doing wrong x they resent those who are doing good x and then become hostile towards them x and that's where you suffer for the sake x of righteousness I think that's what x Noah did x you know I think he suffered threats I x think he suffered threats on his own x life and maybe his family's life maybe x physical beings you know just like later x Paul happened to Paul x Noah had to deal with his unpopularity x this uncomfortableness x but that was what God called him to do x so because of that I again look at Noah x as my hero x of not assimilation and of x differentiation x and I think that x when when I think about this subject x he's the first one that always comes to x mind x and then I think about all these others x so x I want to open it up at this point again x this is the last slide x but I want to open it up for any x discussion about some of these others x and I'll just go through it real quickly x Abraham Isaac and Jacob I just Bunch x them all together and again there's x enough examples differentiation between x the three of them that we could talk x about that all night Joseph Moses Joshua x and Caleb again Caleb is another one of x my heroes x um Rahab x being different in the midst of of x Jericho Samson interesting Ruth Elijah x Elijah David Solomon x Jeremiah you know what a what a good x example of being different Daniel we x talked about Daniel already Anna and x Simeon in the temple x setting themselves apart waiting for the x Messiah x all the disciples all the disciples in x one way or the other x had to be different had to be different x Paul I mean through all Paul's letters x you see that and then ultimately the x main difference main example is Jesus x so I'm going to stop there with what x five minutes left and see what comments x or x any questions anybody might have and x again I don't have all the answers but x that's why Jim Sullivan's here so Jim x prepare yourself