Be Weird

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Most of us try pretty hard not to be weird.  Just think of the way we dress.  Most of us choose socially-acceptable outfits.  How else would you explain what happened in the 70’s?  Ever seen pictures of yourself or your parents from back then?  “Dad, seriously?  Plaid bellbottoms?  Did you lose a bet?  And, mom.  It looks like a box of crayons threw up on your dress!  What were you thinking?”  But I bet your parents weren’t trying to be weird.  Just the opposite.  They were trying to be normal.  They’d say, “That was the style.  Everybody dressed like that.”  And many years from now, the names will change, but the conversation will be the same, “Mom, those giant sun glasses!  Skinny jeans?  Dad, why did you make your hair go straight up in the front?”  Yes, most of us try very hard to be normal.

                But what if “normal” is the problem?  Not with our clothes or our hair, but with our lifestyle?  What if living like everyone else lives is what is robbing us of joy, not giving it?  Because if someone was looking at our culture from the outside, they might have some questions about what’s “normal” to us.  “You have three bedrooms and thousands in debt?  You and your friends just choose to just complain every time you got together?  You look at porn every week even though you know it could wreck your relationship?  You worry about tomorrow even though tomorrow is out of your control?  You work how much at your job and how little at your marriage?”  From the outside, someone might look at our culture and wonder, “What are you guys thinking?”  And we could truthfully say, “Hey, everybody lives like that.  That is normal.”

                But since we live in a fallen world, God wants us to be weird.  He knows that abnormal, out-of-the ordinary, weird lives will bring us the most joy.  That’s why we’re diving back in Philippians today, that weird book of the Bible that promises us we can have endless joy if we understand and embrace the promises of God.  We pick things up today in chapter 2, verse 12.

                Philippians 2:12—“¹²Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”  Quick disclaimer:  This verse is not teaching us we earn our salvation by our works.  We can’t do enough good stuff to save ourselves because God demands perfection and no sinner has it.  And in Philippians 3, Paul is going to explain our perfection comes through faith in Christ, not through keeping the law of God.  So what does “work out your salvation” mean?  It means when God saves you, you still work!  You don’t crash on the couch of spiritual laziness.  No, you fight like a loyal solider.  You run like a championship athlete.  You toil like a hard-working farmer.  God’s forgiven people take their salvation and they work it out.

                Now here’s the weird part:  “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”  That’s not normal.  Normal normally looks like one of two things:

                Sometimes people lack fear.  They lack a reverence for God.  In other words, we can take sin too lightly.  A few years ago, I met a young man who lacked a fear of God.  He knew I was studying for the ministry, so he asked me, “Mike, can I confess to you?  I know you’re not a priest, but do you take confession?”  “Sure,” I said, “What’s up?”  “Well, next Friday is prom.”  “Okay…”  “Well…you know.  It’s prom.”  “And?”  “Well, I can’t make it to confession next week at my church, so I was wondering if I could confess to you in advance.”  “So…you want to tell God today you’re sorry for the sin you are hoping to commit tomorrow?!”  That guy took sin too lightly!  He lacked a fear of God.

Sometimes, we skip through the hills of our spiritual Afghanistan, forgetting that is an enemy.  We can forget the devil is real and he really wants you to commit real sins until you become really calloused and join him in the real fires of the real hell.  So we dishonor our parents and we don’t apologize.  We lust after everything with a pulse as if “there’s nothing wrong with lookin’.”  We talk and text Jesus’ name as if it were a filler word instead of the only name that can save us.  And that’s common!  It’s normal to lack a fear of God.

                On the other hand, it’s just as normal to lack a trembling joy.  Trembling might sound bad, but that’s the way the women felt who first found out Jesus was alive.  It’s the consuming feeling something too good to be true is actually true.  Sometimes we take forgiveness too lightly.  We can’t forgive ourselves even though God has forgiven us.  We see ourselves as filthy though Jesus has made us clean.  We identify ourselves as sinners while God sees us as saints through faith in Christ.

                So Paul pleads, “Be weird!”  “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”  Take sin and forgiveness seriously.  How can we?  Verse 13—“¹³For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”  God himself lives within every Christian.  That makes anything possible.  The God who parted the Red Sea and shut the lions’ mouths and raised the dead and forgave the sins of the planet is working in you.  Your strength comes from the weirdness of Jesus Christ.  He is God and he became a man.  Weird.  He never sinned ever.  Weird.  He came to help those who couldn’t help themselves.  Weird.  He called the greedy, the prostitutes, the petty, and the proud to repentance and he forgave them all.  Weird.  He let a few nails hold him (God!) to a cross.  Weird.  He died for the sins of all mankind.  Weird.  He didn’t stay dead.  Weird.  And now those who believe in Jesus are filled with the forgiveness and power of God himself.  Very weird.

So be weird and take sin seriously.  Be like Joseph.  When his boss’s seductive wife came with her seductive offer, he worked out his salvation with fear.  He confessed, “How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”  So when your boyfriend wants to hook up, work out your salvation with fear.  Be weird and say, “How could I sin against God and do that?”  When your financial advisor tells you to pay off debt first and save for retirement second, work out your salvation with fear.  Be weird and say, “How could I sin against God and not give generously first?”  When your sinful nature pushes you to click “reply all” and let him digitally have it, work out your salvation with fear.  Be weird and  say, “How could I sin by being so vengeful?”  Be weird and take sin seriously.

                And take grace even more seriously.  Get giddy every time you see a cross.  “Seriously, Jesus?  You seriously died for me?  You know me, care about me, and have cleansed me of everything of I’ve ever done wrong?  You’ve given me such a generous gift God himself calls me “perfect”?”  Trembling with joy, be like David who sang, “Oh, God, you are my God, for you I long.  Your love is better than life.”  Work out your salvation with fear and trembling by the power of the almighty God who lives within you.  Be weird.

                If that’s not weird enough, look at what God says next:  “¹⁴Do everything without complaining or arguing.”  Last year, I read a book called A Complaint Free World.  This pastor came up with the idea to wear a bracelet and every time he complained, to switch the bracelet to his other wrist.  The exercise was meant to make him conscious of how much he complained and when he complained.  His goal was to go 21 straight days without moving the bracelet, proof he didn’t need to complain to have a fulfilling life.  I loved the idea.  So I found a bracelet and started the challenge.  The first day was a busy day of bracelet-switching.  The second was a little better.  The third day, however, was a disaster.  The problem?  The referee.  Every time he blew his whistle, the bracelet moved.  It covered more distance than I did that day.  After a few weeks, I stopped the challenge.  I never went a single day without complaining!  I took it as a sign when my bracelet snapped from overuse.

                I learned two things from that experience:  One—there is always something to complain about.  Always.  That’s why complaining is…normal.  As I switched my bracelet seven times during that soccer game, no one once said to me, “Man, you whine a lot.”  Because we all complain all the time!  The second thing I learned—Complaining and joy aren’t compatible.  Yelling and whining and grumbling never once made me feel better.  From the outside, someone might say, “If ‘normal’ complaining is robbing you of constant joy, why do you do it?!”

                Now listen to Paul’s weird words:  “¹⁴Do everything without complaining or arguing, ¹⁵ so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe ¹⁶ as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. ¹⁷ But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. ¹⁸ So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.”

                If you don’t complain, this finger-pointing world will see you as blameless.  If you don’t argue, you will become pure in this squabbling culture.  If you don’t mutter under your breath, you will be without fault in this crooked and depraved generation. 

                But how is it possible to be that weird?  How is it possible to stop complaining if you have a decade-long streak of moving your bracelet?  Only if we remember the promises of God.  Then why would we ever complain?  If we live, we can talk about Jesus right here.  If we get sick, we can talk about Jesus with the doctor.  If we die, someone can talk about Jesus at our funeral.  If we remember that, why would we complain about our health?  If we can pay the mortgage, we can talk about Jesus in the nice suburb.  If we have to move into low-income housing, we can talk about Jesus with our low income neighbors.  If we have to spend the night in a shelter, we can talk about Jesus with the staff.  If we remember that, why would we complain about our finances?  If everything happens for a reason (which God promised), if in all things God is working for our good (which God promised), if bad things happen to “good” people to open up great opportunities to share the best message (which God promised), why would we ever need to move our bracelet?  I know it wouldn’t be normal behavior, but the promises of God are not normal either!

                When you become a complaint-free weirdo, you will “shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.”  You will be different.  And this world needs something different.  Leadership guru John Maxwell says every time you enter a conversation, you hold two buckets in your hand.  One filled with water.  The other with gasoline.  And in almost every normal conversation you’ll find the fire of grumbling and complaining.  The question is simply which bucket you will pour out.  Will you fuel that fire or extinguish it?  Will you complain like everyone always seems to do or will you be weird?  If you choose the latter, you will shine like the brightest star on a pitch-black night.  You will be a joyful person in a country of complainers.  You will be a positive force in a family of fault-finders.  And when they see your joy and wonder why you are so weird, so different, you can hold out the word of life.  You can share the message of Philippians with them, the message of joy and hope and forgiveness.  And by the power of the Holy Spirit, they will rejoice with you.

                How do you think the dictionary defines “weird”?  There are two definitions.  The second definition is the one we’d expect—“Weird:  Of a strikingly odd character.”  The first definition, however, is a little bit…weird—“Weird:  Relating to the supernatural.”  Let’s be weird people.  Not odd, but relating to the supernatural.  In a world that spends, let’s be weird and give.  In a world that indulges, let’s be weird and abstain.  In a world that seeks revenge, let’s be weird and forgive.  In a world that hooks up, let’s be weird and wait.  In a world that worries, let’s be weird and trust.  In a world that expects, let’s be weird and serve.  In a world that complains, let’s be weird and be content.  In a world that lives with guilt, let’s tremble with the unending forgiveness Jesus gives.  Why?  Because God is working a supernatural weirdness within us.  Because there is great joy in not being normal.  Amen.