Warren W. Wiersbe - Be Distinct. Standing Firmly Against the Worlds Tides

BE DISTINCT

Published by David C. Cook

4050 Lee Vance View

Colorado Springs, CO 80918 U.S.A.

David C. Cook Distribution Canada

55 Woodslee Avenue, Paris, Ontario, Canada N3L 3E5

David C. Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications

Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England

David C. Cook and the graphic circle C logo

are registered trademarks of Cook Communications Ministries.

All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes,

no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form

without written permission from the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. (Public Domain.) Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version . NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved; NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission; NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved; NEB are taken from The New English Bible, Copyright 1961 Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press; NLT are taken from the New Living Translation of the Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers; and MLB are taken from The Modern Language Bible: The Berkeley Version in Modern English, 1945, 1959, 1969 by Zondervan. Used by permission.

LCCN 2010934943

ISBN 978-1-4347-0051-3

eISBN 978-1-4347-0264-7

2002 Warren W. Wiersbe

First edition of Be Distinct published by Victor Books
in 2002 Warren W. Wiersbe, ISBN 0-7814-3303-7

The Team: Karen Lee-Thorp, Amy Kiechlin, Sarah Schultz, Jack Campbell, and Karen Athen

Series Cover Design: John Hamilton Design

Cover Photo: iStockphoto

Second Edition 2010

Contents

: An Introduction to Be Distinct by Ken Baugh

1. (2 Kings 12)

2. (2 Kings 34)

3. (2 Kings 5:16:7)

4. (2 Kings 6:87:20)

5. (2 Kings 89; 2 Chronicles 21:122:9)

6. (2 Kings 1011; 2 Chronicles 22:1023:21)

7. (2 Kings 1213; 2 Chronicles 24)

8. (2 Kings 1415; 2 Chronicles 2527)

9. (2 Kings 1617; 2 Chronicles 28)

10. (2 Kings 18:120:11;
2 Chronicles 29:131:21; 32:2426; Isaiah 38)

11. (2 Kings 18:1719:37; 20:1221;
2 Chronicles 32:2733; Isaiah 3637; 39)

12. (2 Kings 21:123:30; 2 Chronicles 3335)

13. (2 Kings 23:2925:30; 2 Chronicles 36)

The Big Idea

An Introduction to Be Distinct

by Ken Baugh

Do you know that you are a unique creation of God? You are! Your fingerprints are unique to you, your heart beats at a rhythm that is unique to you, you also have unique eye and voice printsyou are distinct from anyone else in all creation. You are a unique, one-of-a-kind masterpiece! In addition to your physiological uniqueness, the Bible says that at the moment of salvation, you become a child of God (John 1:1213) and are set apart for the work of God (1 Cor. 6:11). As a Christian, you are a preacher of the gospel (Rom. 10:1415), an ambassador for Christ (2 Cor. 5:20), and a member of Gods chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy (1 Peter 2:910 NIV).

Makes you feel pretty great, huh? Heres the ironic thing: As distinct as we are as human beings and as children of God, there is a relentless pressure to conform to the pattern of this world (Rom. 12:2 NIV). Even though we are unique, we drift into the behaviors of what everyone else is doing so as to make us indistinguishable from the people of the world.

Recently I read an unsettling book by George Barna, who heads a research group that conducts surveys of both Christians and non-Christians in order to discern trends within our culture. In his book Growing True Disciples , Barna makes an alarming discovery:

After studying 131 different indicators of who we are as people, we concluded that it is difficult for non-Christians to understand Christianity since few born-again individuals model a biblical faith. While there are instances in which believers are different from nonbelievers, when we compare the two groups, the statistical differences are minimal. To the naked eye, the thoughts and deeds of Christians are virtually indistinguishable from those of nonbelievers.

To put it simply, Christians have conformed to the pattern of this world to such an extent that it is difficult to tell the difference between a believer in Christ and a nonbeliever. This is a serious problem, because when Christians lose their distinctiveness, they lose their testimony for Christ to a watching world. Unfortunately, this problem is nothing new for Gods people.

As you have read the Old Testament, you may have noticed how many times the Lord warned the Israelites not to conform to the lifestyles of the pagan nations around them. Yet tragically, time and time again we read about their compromise. But God is always faithful to keep His promise. These are the twin themes, the Big Ideas, of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles.

For example, in 2 Kings we witness the severity of Gods discipline for compromise as He allows Israel (the northern kingdom) to be conquered by the Assyrians, and 150 years later Judah (the southern kingdom) falls to the Babylonians. They destroy Jerusalem, including Solomons temple, and carry Gods people into captivity for seventy years.

God warned the people of Israel and Judah through the prophets Elijah and Elisha, as well as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and Hosea, yet they did not relent from conforming to the patterns of the godless culture around them. Make no mistake, there are dramatic consequences for the sin of conformity. But God does not abandon His people; He only disciplines them for a season.

The book of 2 Chronicles was most likely written and read to the Israelites during their captivity in Babylon. It speaks of Gods faithfulness to forgive and restore: If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land (2 Chron. 7:14 NIV ). At the end of the seventy years of captivity, thats exactly what God does: He brings the Israelites back to the Promised Land as a united people once again.

The story of Gods people in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles must not be forgotten by Gods people today, because we have the same pressure to conform to the pattern of this world. Compromise does not happen overnightits a slow, often unperceivable process. Compromise begins in the small thingsa little white lie, a lingering hug with a person who is not your spouse, or a slightly padded expense report that you submit to your boss. These are easily justifiable because we think everybody else is doing it. But as a Christian, youre not everybody. You are different. You are distinct, set apart for the work and glory of God. So as you read 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, keep your eyes open for the subtle drift into compromise. Take note of the warnings given by the prophets, and learn from Israels and Judahs mistakes. Never forget that as a child of God you must Be Distinct .

***