(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

all right so my sermon for this afternoon I want to deal with this subject and hopefully I'll be able to clear things up it's one of those things so again similar to this morning where it has more to do with the spirit and attitude that we ought to have as Christians more so than necessarily just being a sin right so there's a difference between what the law spells out is you know if you do this you're sinning if you don't do this you're sinning whatever versus how we ought to be right and in the subject matter for this evening is along a similar path or along a similar line and what I want to try to do this evening what my goal is there's a lot of passages and if you look down to verse number one and two we're gonna just read this real quickly the Bible says I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind they may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God and that that phrase that be not conformed to this world okay and the title of my sermon is conformity and rebellion and just like anything in the scripture if you just want to focus on one area on one aspect and and you know it's easy for people to teach things and and take them out of context and even take them too far to an extreme which is unhealthy and if you look at a lot there's a lot of verses that talk about you know not being of the world not being conformed to the world not you know and and we're gonna look at some of these passages too as well as you know when the Apostles in the book of Acts are preaching in spite of the government and you know not not listening what man's gonna do and not worry about what man's gonna do and still just kind of going forward and you can call it rebellion maybe to the government right or being non-conformist with with the world and everything else and that's true and that's right okay but what we don't want to do is take that attitude or mentality too far and start applying it more broadly in areas that the Bible doesn't really apply it to what what we see in Scripture is that there's this duality on the one hand you know and ultimately what it boils down to and what we're gonna see is that whatever God commands to do anything else or anyone that's gonna tell you not to do what God does you're gonna have to be in rebellion to any of those other authorities in order to be in obedience to God in order to be in in God's will that's when you break that rebellion but other than that you're gonna find that the Bible is basically telling us to kind of go along with things so we could have a good report and similar that preach this morning you know we want to be above reproach we want to be able to have a good testimony we won't be able to people to listen to us and and go through this world not just being you know like bucking the system every chance you get and just trying to be a rebel right and again even even though you may be you know right or you may not be wrong there's a certain way and a certain pattern that we should be living by as Christians to have the best testimony that we can have of Jesus Christ so it's kind of careful waters I want to be able to tread this appropriately and do it looking at the at the at the scripture but hopefully you see at least where I'm coming from and kind of where we want to parse and separate the difference between when is it right to just be no we're not doing any of that but be careful not to take that too far and just and just go well anything that this world says or anything that this world does is just you know I'm not doing any of it or whatever just because the Bible says be not conformed to this world now I'm not being conformed to the world again it's true we shouldn't be conformed we shouldn't just be like the world we're supposed to be separate we're supposed to be a peculiar people we're supposed to be people who are and the reason why we're supposed to be separate and peculiar is because we're looking to God for our way of life we're looking to God's rules we're looking to the Bible to be our standard and how we live our life now there's plenty of people out there who are non conformists to the world in general but they're non conformity still isn't in conformity with the Lord with the Bible right so it's not good enough just to be not conformed to this world that's why it says but be transformed by the renewing of your mind they may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God you know many cultures and many societies will go through these these cultural revolutions we have a lot of people who are non conformist to the the culture the world at large at that given time but it doesn't always make them right I mean you think about the the the 60s and 70s and in in our modern society in the United States of America and there's all kinds of these these revolutions going on that were very rebellious and and you know rebelling against authority and rebelling against the status quo and there's a lot of that most of that was was not right now when it comes to you know maybe some instances of racism and people treating people different skin color as a lower person or something like that yeah you know that should be resisted against and and and should be you know battle and and and and that's that's a fight worth fighting but most of the other fights and things that you see in this this nonconformity and rebellion is coming from you know a wicked standpoint and actually making things more wicked as opposed to making things more righteous turn if you would to first John chapter number two we're not we're supposed to be not conformed to this world not pattern not formed as this world would like to form you or shape you or mold you to the person that the world thinks you should be but to the person that God thinks you should be so the Bible says also in first John chapter 2 verse 15 love not the world neither the things that are in the world if any man loved the world the love of the Father is not in him so again very strong language about not being conformed not loving this world not really having anything to do with this world and not going by the world standards but I was is for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world and the world passeth away and unless thereof but he that do it the will of God abideth forever and look I'm not trying to downplay this because amen and amen I'm all for not being of the world and not loving the world and you know if the Bible says in James 4 you have to turn James 4 for the Bible says ye adulterous and adulterous is no you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God that's again more strong language hey if you're gonna be friends with this world and just be buddy buddy and just yoking up and and being like the world and want to just be in the world and of the world then you've got a serious problem with God that we're not supposed to be of the world we're not supposed to be like the world we're not supposed to pattern ourselves after the world but if you only read that that could you could take that conclude you know take that too far to just have nothing to do with anything at all in the world that's that's even right or you know what I mean like like you just you take things too far to an extreme to where you end up kind of just becoming a rebellious person against everything as opposed to understanding what the differences are here and the Bible in first John chapter 2 verse 16 when it says you know not to love the world it gives us an understanding of what the Bible is talking about when it's referring to the world it says for all that is in the world and then it says the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes in the pride of life these are the things that the Bible is referring to when it's just referring to the world at large okay the lot and there's a lot of things that fall into this category right the the lusts of your flesh the desires that your flesh would have that the world wants to tell you oh yeah you know give in to those lusts of your flesh and satisfy and gratify those lusts right the lust of the eyes all the you know the eye candy the things that the world's gonna want to put in front of your face right the marketing to sell you stuff to make you covetous to make you you know looking on you know other people other than your spouse with lust and you know the and then the pride of life so there's so many things that will fall under these categories that is of the world but these are the sinful things that the world is pushing forth and propagating to get you to sin it's not just every little possible thing that just exists in the world right I mean there's a lot of stuff out in the world that's very benign and there's nothing sinful about it all right I mean just think about just how about going and playing some you know miniature golf or putt-putt golfers are you like everything sinful about that now you could say that's of the world right well that's all of the world it's not of the Father but that's not what the Bible is talking about when it's talking about things of the world it's not saying you can't go and and hit a ball or play some basketball or play something like that right you see how you could kind of if you just focus too hard on that it can take you way way out into cult territory where you got people like wanting to just completely isolate themselves and start a compound and man we can't have anything to do with anybody which is why we need to balance one one just read in context I mean read stuff in context anyways you're getting the definition in 1st John chapter 2 of what it's talking about when you read all of these passages in in context you're gonna you're gonna realize what it's talking about in general but we need to balance it with all the rest of the Bible as well turn if you would to Romans chapter 8 so when it comes to conformity the Bible teaches not to be conformed to this world not to love the world if you're a friend of the world you're an enemy of God very strong language but the Bible also teaches us in Romans chapter 8 look at verse 28 the Bible says and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are other called according to his purpose verse 29 for whom he did for know he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren so while we're not to be conformed to this world we are to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ that that's who we are to be conformed to and you know that's who we're supposed to be modeling ourselves after and there's a culture that would teach you know nonconformity in a sense of just I'm not going to follow anyone at all and even people use you know we use the term sheeple a lot and usually when you hear the word sheeple it's referring to people who just kind of ignorant and just follow whatever but the Bible does refer refer to Christians as being sheep and it's not because God wants you ignorant or that you can't think for yourself but it's because good sheep will listen and follow and we are to be followers of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and if you're a good Christian you'll be a good sheep in that you're gonna follow the Lord Jesus Christ so we're not supposed to just be total nonconformity to everything and just go your own way and just do your own thing and follow your own heart and not be conformed to anything at all there are people out there that will teach that and subscribe to that and make you think that oh that's the right way I'm not going to listen to any man I'm not gonna listen to any book I'm not gonna listen you know that's wicked okay the Bible teaches us that we are to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ now we aren't conformed to the world at large but we need to make sure that we are conforming ourselves to what the Bible says what the Bible teaches and and you know if the world is in opposition to that then of course we're not going to follow that but it has nothing to do with being mindless or you know being being a sheeple because we're stupid or ignorant but it's being a sheep in the sense that we're gonna follow the voice of the Good Shepherd and we're gonna we're gonna stay close to him because he's gonna guide us and he's gonna navigate us and he's gonna keep us from the evil that's out there because that's what a Good Shepherd does watch over the sheep so we are to be conformed to Jesus Christ the Bible says turn if you would to Acts chapter 4 we are to be obedient to the Lord we are to be conformed to the Lord and rebellion against the Lord is not tolerated by God the Bible says in 1st Samuel 15 22 and Samuel said at the Lord has great delight and burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry because thou has rejected the word of the Lord he hath also rejected thee from being king why am I bringing this up because if you get too much of an attitude of being a nonconformist you could end up finding yourself in rebellion to God and not wanting to conform to the Bible standards to the Bible's truth and and to God's laws we don't want to go so far as being this nonconformist in anything that all of a sudden now you're finding yourself in rebellion to God which the Bible says rebellion is as a sin of witchcraft and in the Bible the sin of witchcraft being a witch is the death penalty so it's not a light thing it's not something that you're like we joke around about it but the Bible doesn't God doesn't joke around about that and he's saying you're gonna be a rebel you're gonna have stubbornness it's like iniquity and idolatry you know we need to be in in obedience and submission to the Lord but not to the world and that's where we draw the difference we need to make sure that we could maintain that proper balance and that we're not going out of bounds you know too far with the nonconformity with the world obviously we don't we have nothing to do with the with the lust of the flesh lust the eyes of pride of life absolutely not but but don't get an air of self-righteousness to the point to where you end up becoming not conformed to the image of Jesus Christ that you turn to Acts chapter 4 verse 15 again and I'm gonna be going kind of back and forth between some of these verses where you're gonna see oh yeah you know amen and amen and look nothing here that I'm saying we go back and forth is like oh well this isn't true and this is true right they're all true we just need to get the right balance so I love these passages like we're gonna see in Acts chapter 4 in Acts chapter 5 we got the Acts of the Apostles you got the disciples and they're and they're going forth and they're preaching the gospel and they don't care what the what the rulers say they don't care what the Pharisees say they don't care what the governor says they're gonna go forth and do what God says no matter what and you know what that's inspiring that's that's a great message what God would have for us to do you know it's just a preaches word and if people tell you you can't do it then you're gonna do it anyways because God said so and you're not gonna let any man usurp the authority of God so God's commandments trump any of man's commandments which is why when we go out and preach the gospel we're commanded to preach the gospel to every creature we're commanded to go out into all the world and preach the gospel every creature so if someone has a sign on an entire community that just says oh yeah you there's no soliciting here or something well first of all we're not soliciting and second of all we have a commandment from from God in heaven to go forth and to preach the gospel every creature so you might have made up your little rule that says you can't go knock on someone's door or some state may have a law that says you can't do it but you know what God's the one who said that we do need to do it God's Jesus is the one that sent them out to and to into the world to preach the gospel okay and that's who we have to obey now it's not because we just want to cause trouble and be rabble rousers and just oh man I'm you know I'm anti government and anti this and anti that it's because we're listening to our ultimate authority so at the end of the day our nonconformity to the world the only reason why it's nonconformity is because we're in conformity to God it's not just nonconformity with no other obedience with no other submission with no other authority in our life and this is a side note and I don't like getting too political but I know for a while for a long time myself in my own journey and gaining knowledge and wisdom and understanding especially when I was into politics a lot more you know I was I was of a mindset that that changed over time as I grew and understood more you know starting with you know being this Republican and then understanding more kind of going towards more like libertarian and small government and all this other stuff and Constitution and everything else right all all this stuff and then as I'm looking into that then you get a lot of you know people who are into anarchy right and that's like the ultimate form of libertarianism because then it's like yeah I don't want this thing in government to you know getting involved in my life and you know what though that's that's too far of an extreme and they have these axioms and these principles but you know what these axioms and principles are still man-made for them God has established powers that be and he's established rule of law and governance and there to be you know the word anarchy means no rulers well God established for there to be rulers he did so going again having this concept of being no rulers is is anti Bible and anti God first of all there's a ruler in heaven there's a king of kings and Lord of Lords who we ought to obey but on top of that there is authority given from God in this world for human governments to exist and for people to execute the law and justice upon evildoers in this world now the way that the Bible describes that is dramatically different from what anything we have today as far as a form of government government's concern but it's not that there's no rulers because there's always going to be people who are going to need to be in charge to be able to have the authority to carry forth a sentence or you know punishment against people who've done wrong I mean it just that someone has to have that authority because no one just inherently has an authority to put someone to death for example but God has given that authority to people once one someone's been found out to have committed a crime that's worthy of death but anyways I digress I don't want to get too far off into the weeds on that I don't even know how I got off on that there you're in Acts chapter 4 let's look at Acts chapter 4 so we're going to see the way that we ought to serve God and how we ought to be in obedience unto him and in and if it means being disobedient to the to the government then so be it but the only point I mean when it comes to all the little things right every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether it be the king of supreme verse 14 or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of you do without and the Bible even tells us here what they're for right the governors are supposed to be here for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well all right that's their job that's what God has put them given them the authority to do granted many of them will go outside of that those bounds and try to enforce laws and ordinances that don't line up with their authority structure and again you don't have to follow the laws that are outside of their realm of authority but when it's not that big of a deal anyways it's not worth the fight to be seen as someone who's just always contrary for the sake of being contrary and and this is what I believe that the Bible is trying to teach us here is that there's you know there's some things that are just more important and just suck it up and just kind of live with it because you're never gonna have perfection anyways there's always gonna be people acts out you know acting outside of the role and stuff and we want to be able to get along with people as much as possible let's keep reading here the Bible says in verse 15 for so is the will of God that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men our good conversation our good actions our good works ought to speak for themselves people ought to know you people know brother Peter and brother Kevin and brother Vernon know and know I know what what type of person this is just people out in the world they live honest they do what's right they're not just a bunch of criminals you know they care about people they care about the Lord they care about Church and that witness is going to be very strong among the people that that see you and and and you could communicate with and that well-doing is going to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men so the foolish people that just don't like you because they're religion or you know whatever this want to throw something at you the people who know you're going to see and know better and honestly living this way will help build a hedge of protection in and of itself anyways now we're just talking about this before service you know there's always some level of threat that when you're living godly and righteously especially these days that you could face persecution on the job and you can have these these implacable sodomites come after you and try to get you fired from your job or whatever but what's going to help protect you the most is if you are living with integrity and you're doing what's right and you're keeping yourself from the fleshly lust that war against the soul and you keep your conversation honest and and you can see your employer is going to know hey this is a really good employee this is not someone I want to lose just because some fool is is mad and upset and and and wants to start some problems they know you they know you know that's going to help now again in our wicked society and in the way things are going people still buckle under that pressure of the of the evil influence but when you're when you're doing what's right I mean that's all you can do and that's the best that you can do but you want to have that on your side you don't want them finding something out about you and then also well he's not really that good of employee anyways he's also you know not always very honest or I can't always trust them with you know you want to have that good report because that will put to silence the ignorance of foolish men and this is why Bible says in verse 16 as free and not using your Liberty for a cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of God while you do have Liberty in Christ we're not supposed to just use that as a cloak as a to hide behind maliciousness verse 17 honor all men love the brotherhood fear God honor the king servants be subject to your masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward and the Bible again is teaching us here you know hey some people aren't gonna be very good to you but you know what the Christian thing the Christian attitude Christian mindsets gonna say we're gonna put up with it and deal with it anyways right to the best that we can and we're still gonna work hard and we're still going to serve with all fear even when people aren't good to us because it's what's right verse 19 for this is thankworthy if a man for conscience toward God endure grief suffering wrongfully for what glory is it if when you be buffeted for your faults you shall take it patiently but if when you do well and suffer for it you take it patiently this is acceptable with God you say if you do something wrong and you're okay well I'm gonna take wrong well that's what you ought to do anyways if you shouldn't have been doing wrong you're not gonna get any credit for going okay I stole so I'll accept whatever well yeah of course you should accept whatever punishments coming to you because you did something bad you did something wrong but what the Bible saying what's actually thank worthy in the eyes of God is when you didn't do anything wrong but you're still gonna get punished for it and when you endure the grief and suffer wrongfully then there's a glory that goes along with that the Bible says for even here unto were you called in verse 21 because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that you should follow his steps who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatened not but committed himself to him that judges righteously so Jesus Christ gave us the example he was reviled he was lied about he had all kinds of slander against him but did he respond in turn sale if you're gonna say that to me then I'm gonna say this to you know he didn't he kept his mouth shut right when he suffered he didn't make all these threats oh man you know what's gonna happen to you you're doing this to me you know he didn't do any of that he suffered it he allowed it to go to Titus chapter 3 and to be honest with you these are the things that I had to look to when I may you know you're gonna be tried with with testing this out in your own life you all will have your own trials of applying the Word of God I'll share this a little briefly with with one of my own trial after to figure this out and you know when you go through things it's not always as clear as when someone else can look at it and and give you an example cuz you're directly involved right so don't feel bad if you if you if you like you're trying to go through something you're trying to figure out what's right it just doesn't seem always very clear when I lost my job a couple years ago you know I was trying to figure out what would be right when I know that was being wrongfully fired I know what the laws are and I know I could go after these people I know I could get probably more money from them and in some type of you know compensation because they just totally broke the law and in firing me for religious purposes which is against the law in this country but I had to make a decision based on scripture and it's not easy right because you want to fight and you say you know what this can't I want to fight for other people and everything else but at the end of the day I made the personal decision based off of scriptures like this to say you know what I'm just gonna take it I'm just gonna take it and and just you know what they can have their money or what you know whatever it is I'm just gonna move on and I'm just gonna rely on God to provide and to see me through and you know I believe I was blessed for that I think you know God was was watching out and taking care of me I didn't need to get involved in some other legal battle and some other fight because you know what that would have done that would have distracted me we got a church to run I got another job to find I don't need to be spending all my time now focused on some stupid legal battle that in the end what is it really gonna accomplish anyways I could get a few extra bucks maybe but then how much of that time is just gonna be eaten up in that and what I'm reading here regardless of the money side of it because that's not what should be making the deciding factor anyways I mean whether I could have gotten a hundred thousand dollars or two thousand dollars doesn't even matter what I should what we should be doing is going to the word and saying well what's the right thing to do what's the right thing to do in this situation and it's not always easy to see what that is and you know I'm not saying if I went the other path that it would have been wrong either or would have been sinful I don't think it would have been sinful but what's the best thing to do what what's that what's the most Christian thing to do I don't know I mean you know maybe maybe other people disagree with me on that I that's fine you know and I asked for counsel on situation like that too my point is I don't want to get too far into my own personal stuff you're gonna have your own personal applications to make with being able to suck it up and just take things that go your that come your way and not just have this attitude of needing it to buck it to everybody you know buck the system because you know you're all fired up about about what the disciples are doing yeah well you know what if it's if you've got evil people attacking you and and the government's on you can't do things to serve the Lord then yeah you know what go go for it be like the disciples amen but it's not necessarily in every aspect of your life even when people do wrong to you because Jesus would it had a lot of wrong done to him but he didn't go back on a counter-attack fighting that same fight that they were fighting against him Titus chapter 3 verse number 1 the Bible reads put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers to obey magistrates to be ready to every good work so again we see this teaching you can't ignore the teaching of being obedient on the magistrates and being subject to principalities and powers to speak evil of no man to be no brawlers but gentle showing all meekness unto all men and again the concept is you're showing all meekness unto all men it's the way that you carry yourself it's it's not being some big contentious fighter that just has a fight with everything in the whole world you know we fight the fights that need to be fought we fight the fights we stand on the Word of God but we're not just out to have make a battle out of everything Bible says verse 3 for we ourselves also were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hateful and hating one another turn if you would to 1st Corinthians chapter 11 we're almost done 1st Corinthians chapter 11 Jude verse 3 says beloved when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation it was needful for me to write on purpose of that is to be an obedience to God and not to transgress God's commandment so verse number 15 says but when they had commanded they meaning that the authorities right the the people in charge when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council they conferred among themselves saying what shall we do to these men for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem and we cannot deny it these days what they would do if someone was was healed by a miracle they're gonna say oh we had our fact checkers check this and they would post that and say this is actually false this is a you know you're missing some context here there you know that's what they would do about it today but see back then they didn't they didn't have such heavy propaganda to be able to just dismiss everything but they tried to write at this point you're saying look this notable miracle we can't we can't even deny this and as you read the scripture to when when all these men of God the disciples are going out they're seeing these great acts are doing these great miracles they're always trying to cover it up I mean what did they do with Jesus's resurrection they hired the soldiers and paid them off to say no they came by night and stole his body to cover it up to propagandize to not allow the the truth to be broadcast for their own purposes their own evil purposes because they're worried about their own power they're worried about an uprising they're worried about what it's going to do if people actually hear the truth so they need for their own good they need to silence the truth right look there's the same type of wicked people in charge today doing the same exact type of thing just that just with more technology involved but let's keep reading here so verse number 17 says but that it spread no further among the people let us straightly threaten them that they speak henceforth to no man in this name so basically all we can do everyone knows miracles done but all we can do is just threaten them and make them stop and just in and tell them that they can't preach Jesus and they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus but Peter and John answered and said unto them whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge ye for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard they're saying okay well how about you judge you know God has told us to do and if we should listen to you more than we should listen to God yeah you be the judge of that you tell me what we're gonna do right God told us to do one thing you're telling us to do another thing okay now this is a righteous act of rebellion this is a righteous act of nonconformity because you're doing what God said to do flip over to chapter 5 we're gonna see another example of this Acts chapter 5 verse 25 the Bible says then came one and told them saying behold the men whom he put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people then went the captain with the officers and brought them without violence for they feared the people lest they should have been stoned and when they had brought them they set them before the council and the high priest asked them saying did not we straightly command you that you should not teach in this name and behold you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us either worried now because they're responsible for the death of Jesus Christ and they're out there preaching the truth and now they're worried oh well these people are listening to them and they're gonna bring you know some anger back on us well yeah you know what you reap what you sow maybe you shouldn't have killed the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ if you didn't want people getting mad about it and coming back at you but they're saying no we didn't we command you to do this and look at I love that response verse 29 then Peter and the other apostles answered and said we ought to obey God rather than men hey we're gonna obey God rather than men that's what's right that's what we ought to do I know that you told us not to teach in this name but you know what God told us to teach in this name and that's what we're gonna do the God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a tree him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a Savior for to give repentance Israel and forgiveness of sins and we're as witnesses of these things and so is also the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey him God wants us obeying him ultimately he wants us in obedience and ultimately God wants us in obedience as much as is possible under all authority okay and this isn't in my notes but even at in the home you know if he's in chapter 5 teaches that that the the wife is to submit ourselves unto the husband as unto the Lord that's a scope of authority that God is given within a marriage but at the same time you know that's the authority that the man has in the home doesn't trump God's authority so when the husband tries to act outside of his authority with God or tries to tell his wife to do something that's sinful or wicked or wrong that's when it's right for the woman to not be submissive to not be obedient now I mean I've preached multiple times on this on what the Bible teaches on women being submissive obedient and everything you know me quiet humble spirit everything right this is what the Bible teaches that wives are supposed to be but when it comes to obeying God okay you have to honor that highest authority in all of our lives and that is individually we all have that responsibility now you can find examples where people are doing that right and they're good examples and there's stuff that we should I mean amen and amen and it's fun and it's exciting we do people just standing with God even in the face of other opposition and other authorities and other threats but let's not let that go too far and start taking that beyond okay well they're not really telling me to break any God's commandments and there's not really much else going on here it's just a difference of opinion or different you know like these small things and and turn if you would to 1st Peter chapter 2 because we have to reconcile these stories we have to reconcile the nonconformity when it comes to breaking God's commandments with other passages and other teachings that the Bible teaches about being in conformity with the ruling with the with the with the authorities with the government okay we're going to see that and we and we need to make sure that we have the right balance and we don't take things too far first Peter chapter 2 verse number 11 the Bible reads dearly beloved I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as evildoers they may by your good works which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation so now this is basically referring to your reputation among people right so you need to abstain from fleshly lusts because that's going to cause a war with your soul and your body and getting you into sin and trouble and it's going to have its own ramifications so we got to stay away from those fleshy lusts and keep your conversation or your manner of being how you live honest need to be honest need to be up upstanding upright right living righteously and being honest because the people who want to speak against you they're gonna see your good works they're gonna see that you are an honest person they have nothing whereby they can accuse you remember this morning we saw that they're trying to take occasion against Paul so even though he would have been in the right to make this stand and say no you have to do this and enforce this submission and everything else because he would have been technically right he was taking a route where the most good can come by suffering them in in in the area where they lacked and keeping his conversation above reproach his manner above reproach and this is the same teaching that we're being taught here so the wise person while you may have liberty to do something isn't always going to choose to do those things after consideration of the big picture all right and I know it's really generic and in in really high level but let's let's keep reading here and see a little bit more specifically the Bible says in verse 13 the Bible says submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake now obviously we could tell just by reading the whole Bible in context this isn't talking about things that go against God's commandments otherwise then all the disciples would be wrong and what they're doing and even Jesus Christ then would have been made a sinner by by breaking whatever commandment they're telling him not to preach in there you know so but this is still here it says submit yourselves every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the king is supreme or unto governors is unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well now there's always going to be a limit there's all right there's always a line where you're just saying no we can't you know I can't do that but the point here and what's being taught is that you know what we ought to just be able to put up with things even if they're stupid even if they're not right you say what they don't have the right to do that or whatever you know they go outside of the bounds now you don't have to you don't have to technically follow them but to be above reproach and to just be able to live just a law-abiding person you know it's important for your testimony for other people you don't you don't want to be known as just a big troublemaker in general right now when you speak you know like like the Bible says David said you know I when I speak I'm for peace but they're for war now those things are gonna happen so we can't you know you also can't take this too far ago oh well now I'm not just gonna say anything because it's gonna upset people and this is I think we're part of the old IFB has gone too much to the extreme of not wanting to offend anybody because they don't want to you know ruffle any feathers or you know shake things up at all we have to preach the truth we have to preach the whole counsel of God while simultaneously doing our best to abide within the laws of this world the ordinances of man and and to and to navigate through everything while being bold while proclaiming the the word of the Lord and that being at the top and that being the priority and there's no backing down from that while also trying your best to fit everything else into that puzzle to you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered under the Saints so again now there's a reference to fighting hey contend for the faith right that's right we should be contending for the faith we shouldn't be afraid of the fight or the battle when it comes to the faith when it comes to preaching a gospel when it comes to preaching the Word of God contend for the faith but we ought not to be contentious you could get in fights where God would have you get in a fight you stand up for the truth you stand on the Word of God but there's a difference between contending for the faith and being a contentious person being someone who's just always getting into fights right you could be in nonconformity to the world but not just a total nonconformist to everything in anything right we're supposed to be in conformity to the Word of God 1st Corinthians 11 verse number 3 the Bible reads but I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God and you know it's funny that it's not funny it's just interesting how everything fits together so perfectly in the Word of God when we're talking about this conformity nonconformity this obedience versus rebellion and we talk about these types of concepts ultimately it has to do with the authority in our lives right coming what are you rebelling against rebelling against authority what are you being conformed to being conformed to an authority right and what's interesting about 1st Corinthians 11 here we're going to see there's actually an outward manifestation and expression of being in rebellion to authority the Bible says here it starts off by stating hey the head of every man is Christ Christ is your head meaning head meaning your authority and the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God every man praying or prophesying having his head covered dishonor at his head I'm not going to preach entire so I've already preached entire sermon about this what the Bible is referring to when it's talking about your head being covered or uncovered and it's very clear from context it's referring to your hair and there's a lot of you know religions out there when I take this I came and say it's literal because they're not taking it literally they're just applying it incorrectly by thinking it's a piece of fabric that covers your head right because that because that could be a covering a piece of fabric or a hat or something like that but when you read this in the context I don't know how you could walk away with anything other than it being your hair because that's explicitly what it says as we keep reading here so the Bible saying if a man is praying or prophesying they're talking to God or about God having his head covered he dishonors his head and who's the man's head Christ but every woman that prayeth or prophesied with her head uncovered dishonor at her head and who's her head the man for that is even all one as if she were shaven so it says here if her head is uncovered it's just like she were shaven so this is talking about a hat then why would that be the same as if she were shaven and talk about her hair for if the woman be not covered let her also be shorn again this is something that time up the hair that you know the her head being shorn but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven let her be covered for a man indeed ought not to cover his head for as much as he is the image and glory of God but the woman is a glory of the man for the man is not of the woman but the woman of the man neither was a man created for the woman but the woman for the man for this cause ought the woman have power on her head because of the angels nevertheless neither is the man without the woman now the woman without the man in the Lord for as the woman is of the man even so as the man also by the woman but all things of God judge in yourselves is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered verse 14 does not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him and you read through the passage and it's talking about their dishonoring his head and being ashamed if he has if his head is covered if his head is covered his head is covered and now it says if a man has long hair it's a shame on him it doesn't even nature tell you that if a man has long hair it's a shame unto him but if a woman have long hair there's a glory to her look at this for her hair is given her for a covering her hair is given her so all this time we're reading about a covering a covering a covering a covering a covering and then it just comes right out and says you know what her hair is given her for a covering how do you how do you not see that how do you how do you just take that and say oh no this is actually talking about a hat no it's not it's talking about her hair being given her for a covering a covering but then look at this verse 16 but if any man seemed to be contentious we have no such custom neither the churches of God well who's gonna be contentious who's gonna be the one that's fighting and contentious it's the one who bristles at this teaching and isn't it funny how I was I brought up at the beginning of the sermon you know these cultural revolutions of the 60s and the 70s and what is it it's a sex drugs and rock and roll right all this we're not gonna listen to our authority you know our parents that they had all these rules back in the 50s and stuff now you know what we're gonna rebel against that we don't want to have these rules we don't want to go to school we don't want to do anything we just want to you know live free and and and do all these drugs and just give ourselves over the lust of our flesh and the music that came out of that era is music of rebellion no doubt I mean the world will tell you rock and roll is about rebellion and what is it how does every image look of a rock and roll star a man they have long hair all of them do why because they're contentious because they have a problem with their authority and on the flip side the women that have the really really short hair I mean isn't that where the Karen meme comes from it's more of a reflection of their disgust with authority the authority that God's put in their life than anything else now at the end of the day you know the length of your hair is mentioned in the scripture and it's something that people ought to be aware of and if you if you love God you're gonna look at this passage and say I'm going to be in conformity with the Word of God but it's also not the most important thing in the world either I'm obviously there's you know what's inside is more important and what this is teaching though while it's while it's expressing this outward manifestation the real problem is with the authority the real problem is hey you're dishonoring your head but see the people who have this problem nine times out of ten they don't care because that is their problem because they do have the problem with the authority in their life and they're just displaying it outwardly through their hair and it's and it's an interesting phenomenon because I think it's I mean I do I do see that in life in general is that the women have the short hair are not having the feminine attributes that they ought to have of being submissive and being in subjection and the men have the long hair they're also have that rebellious just I'm gonna do what I want to do and I don't care what any authority says which both are ungodly let's close this out turn over turn to Romans chapter 12 back to Romans 12 where we started knowing when should I conform when should I not conform when should I be in rebellion right against against the world against the government and when should I not be when should I be in obedience it all comes down to having the right spirit and if you get that down if you get the right spirit down you get the right answer down then it's not it's not really going to be much of a problem for you hopefully Romans 12 verse 17 the Bible reads recompense to no man evil for evil so again this is not taking vengeance in your own hands is not just going after someone has come after you provide things honest in the sight of all men again live your life is one of honesty one of integrity one of uprightness one of righteousness if it be possible as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men follow that standard I want to live peaceably as much as is possible and you know what so you know what it meant for me when I was going off and doing my work and doing all the traveling and stuff you know I didn't want to I was wearing masks it's not an airplane I wore masks when I was out in public you know like it wasn't worth it it didn't hurt me to do it now look if you disagree and you want to have your fight on the massive whatever okay I don't want to just be known as the guy like like I'm trying to preach the gospel and get people to listen to the message of Jesus Christ I don't want to be known as the guy who's not wearing his mask at the airport and getting kicked off of a plane because he's just refusing to put on a mask when really there's no reason why I can't put on a mask okay now do I think we should all have to wear masks I don't personally believe that okay but there's a point at which I'm just gonna say I want to live at peace with all men okay and while I may not think this is right I also you know we all have a line where we're not going to you know say okay well you tell me I can't preach the gospel of people that's different and a lot of other things that are different too you're gonna try to jab my arm and inject something in me it's gonna change my DNA and inject some disease into me no I'm not gonna have any filthy thing come into my body but putting a piece of cloth over my face it's not worth a potential you know bad reputation even though it may not be bad I have liberty in the sight of some people I don't want to have that type of a reputation I'd rather just say you know what I'm gonna suffer it because I want to just be honest in the sight of all men Bible says in verse 19 dearly beloved avenge not yourselves but rather give place unto wrath for his written vengeance is mine I will replace at the Lord therefore if that enemy hunger feed him if he thirsts give him drink for in so doing that should keep coals of fire on his head be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good that's the ultimate guideline is just hey people are doing bad do you suffer it and overcome evil with good just do good do right live honestly flip over to chapter 14 last place we're going to look at and understand when it comes to conformity nonconformity and things like that we're in conformity to God and and we cannot go against the word of the Lord no matter what it is and that's where the rebellion and nonconformity comes comes into play with the government or with any other you know potential authorities in our life we serve God 100% and that is non-negotiable and we don't compromise on that we serve God 100% regardless of what any other authority is going to say in our life we serve God if God said to do something then we must do it unwavering obedience to the Lord everything else keep Romans 14 in mind for this right because what our goal is is to live right in the eyes of God and of man we want to have as much as possible a good reputation first and foremost with God if having a good reputation with God means having a bad reputation with men guess what we choose having a good reputation with God right just like the apostle said hey we ought to obey God rather than men but if we could make both work if I could be completely having a great reputation with God while simultaneously also being able to maintain a good reputation with man then that's what we ought to be seeking and ensuing is having that peace having that good conversation having that walk with God and understanding that while you may be right in some areas you don't always use that Liberty because it's not going to fit in with that spirit of humbleness and meekness to try to win people over in Romans 14 does a good job of explaining this out look at verse number 13 because this goes about people who you know think it may be a sin to eat certain foods when God's already said hey you can eat whatever you want or to respect certain days look there's obviously a right and a wrong right some people are right some people are wrong but the people who are right people who know you can eat everything you still it's better for you to not be a jerk about something and to entreat people and to not cause extra problems for people who are weak for people who are going to have problems with that and try to do your best to cater to that if he can right because it doesn't hurt you any you know if someone's a oh man you can't eat meat no you know like I can and I know there's nothing wrong with it but there's nothing wrong with me just eating salad or something too and if that's what's gonna help that person along maybe especially get to the point where they could grow and just understand the truth a little bit better than great I don't want to try to offend my brother I don't want to try to offend people just because I can right look at verse number 13 the Bible says let us not therefore judge one another anymore but judge this rather that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way see this is the mindset if you're thinking about other people you're thinking about you know what I don't want them to fall I don't want this to be some big problem for them to be a stumbling block in their way I know and persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean to him it is unclean so I know there's nothing that's just unclean of itself but if someone thinks that it is you know what for them it is because they're not acting by faith so I don't want to just cause a big problem and dilemma for them even though I know the truth by my actions verse 15 says but if thy brother be grieved with thy meat now walkest thou not charitably saying you're not really caring that much about them just because you know that hey you know I could I could eat this meat and it's not a big deal destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died so you know what the right thing to do is just don't make a big issue out of it think about them consider them and if that's a huge problem for them then you know what okay I won't I won't do this to offend you and to put a stumbling block in front of you let not then your good be evil spoken of verse 17 for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost for he that in these things serve with Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edify another for meat destroy not the work of God all things indeed are pure but it is evil for that man who eateth with offense it is good neither eat flesh nor a drink wine or anything whereby thy brother stumbleth or is offended or is made weak it's also important to point out though in this passage that you don't over apply it as well because this is talking about like meats and drinks and saying like who cares about that stuff this isn't talking about some heretic that has just some you know damnable heresy that they're believing oh I'm not gonna say anything about that because you know I don't want to offend them that's not what this is talking about at all this is just talking about some real minor thing about what do you eat or what you drink you know look I'm not gonna cause a stumbling block for you you may not realize this fine I'll suffer it and and try to help strengthen them without just going about and shove it putting my liberty in their face you know because then that's not being very charitable hopefully this isn't I mean it's not that difficult of a concept of grasp right overall you could get lost in the weeds a little bit when you start applying every single individual situation but hopefully you got enough wisdom here using the Word of God to make the applications appropriately in your life and and that we could all do our best to well yeah there may be some stupid laws and ordinances of man out there you know let's just try to keep a good report among the people let's try to live peaceably with all men and just do the work that God has for us to do while at the same time not compromising on any of God's commandments and 100% standing on the Word of God boldly proclaiming the truth and in preaching from the housetops okay because that's what God has commanded us to do we know that some people will get upset by that so we're not going to sacrifice the truth to be at peace with them but at the same time we're not going to be non-conformist just because it's cool and we like getting in fights and we're contentious people because we're not we're not supposed to be we're supposed to be able to live at peace as much as possible as far as that board of prayer dear Heavenly Father Lord we thank you so much for the wisdom and guidance that you give us through your word that your timeless word dear Lord that could navigate all of us through this life and and generations to come and the generations that have passed dear Lord that we have the same truth to to walk by and to live by and I pray that you please help us in our own understanding to to be able to apply your word in this life open up our knowledge open up our understanding dear Lord we love you we want to do what's right help us to help others help us to have a humble spirit and have the charity in our hearts to to fully just be able to do as much as possible to be in your will in Jesus name we pray amen