“Getting Our Cues” – FBC Morning Light (2/16/2024)

Well, a good Friday morning to you. I hope your week is wrapping up well. You'll finish up this last day of your work week, probably, and looking forward to a good weekend. And I trust you're planning to gather with God's people on the Lord's Day.

I'd encourage you to come and visit with us at Faith Baptist if you're in the area and not already a part of our church. I always welcome folks coming and visiting with us. And this particular Sunday should be getting back to our focus in the book of Galatians and the Sunday morning service.

And then in the afternoon, we have a luncheon after the morning service, and then have an afternoon service at 1 o 'clock. And I started a series in the Song of Solomon in that 1 o 'clock time together.

The Call to Live by God's Word, Not the World

So if you're in the area and can make it on the Lord's Day to Faith Baptist, we'd be glad for you to come. Well, today in our Bible reading, we're reading chapters 17 to 19 of the book of Leviticus. And I want to hone in on the first few verses of chapter 18.

And this is what the Lord says as he speaks to Moses. He says to them in verse 2, says to Moses in verse 2, Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord, or I am Yahweh your God. According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do.

And according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do, nor shall you walk in their ordinances. You shall observe my judgments and keep my ordinances to walk in them.

I am the Lord your God. This compels me to ask the question, what cues do I look to to determine how I live? To whom do I look? Do I take my cues from the world around me? Do I determine how I'm going to dress, how I'm going to appear before others?

Do I take my cues from what I see the culture telling me guys who are 65 years old ought to look like and do so forth? That may be seemingly a little thing, but the question really is this. Does the world dictate to me my way of thinking, and therefore my pattern for living?

All the way in the Old Testament, the Lord told his people, don't go there. Don't do that. Don't take your cues from the surrounding world. Look to me. Look to my word. Look to my ordinances and my statutes for how you are to live, how you are to think, and how your thinking is to affect your living.

Transformed by the Renewing of the Mind

This same principle is brought out in the New Testament, in Romans chapter 12. Remember the opening verses of Romans 12, after the Apostle Paul spends 11 chapters talking about God's grace and redemption and regeneration and justification and all the rest of it, your salvation, how God has graciously delivered you from bondage to sin and the world and so forth.

He says in chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, he says, I beseech you, therefore brethren, on the basis of God's delivering you, I beseech you, do not be conformed to this world. Don't be conformed to this world.

By the mercies of God, be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. This is the thing that is acceptable and pleasing to God. Even as a New Testament Christian, look, you are constantly being pressured to be squeezed into the mold of the dominant culture around us, and you can see how that has happened in so many churches and in the lives of so many people who profess to be Christians.

The world has squeezed us into its mold. Paul says to us, don't be squeezed into the mold of this world. He's echoing the Lord's command, Yahweh's command, to the Old Testament Israelites. Don't be squeezed into the mold of the Egyptians from whom I delivered you, or the Canaanites where I am bringing you.

You are to be holy unto me. You are to be conformed to my image. You are to live according to my ordinances and my statutes. How does this occur that we can be so obedient? Only by the renewing of our mind, being transformed by the renewing of our mind, as we allow our mind to be shaped and molded by the Word of God.

Encouragement to Reject Worldly Conformity

My friend, I want to encourage you, don't be squeezed into the mold of the world. Instead, look to the Word, listen to God's Word, and find there how he would have you to think and how he would have you to live.

And so our Father and our God, I pray that indeed, in spite of all the pressure around us to conform to this world, I pray that we would be transformed by the renewing of our minds and we might live unto you in such a way that pleases you.

We pray in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. All right, again, have a good rest of your Friday, a wonderful weekend. Gather with God's people, worship the Lord on the Lord's Day. Have a great weekend.

God bless.