Düsseldorf IMC2International Missionary City ChurchDiscipleship Training
The Holy and the Common, the Clean and the Unclean
Bible: New International Version (NIV)Led by: Brother Kai
Name: ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
Introduction
Scripture
Leviticus 10:10 So that you can distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean.
Brief Explanation
“Holy” means what belongs to God alone—what matches his nature, his will, and the order of his life; at its core, it is otherness and unmixed purity. “Common” means the ordinary and everyday, what has not been set apart for God—not bad in itself. The first thing God commanded the priests was not some great task but a capacity: to distinguish what is holy from what is common, what is clean from what is unclean.
Do you know the vision of our church, IMC²? QT (quiet time), one-on-one discipleship, generation to generation, the gospel for the city. Today we take this one verse as our measure and apply it to five areas of life: time, obedience, spiritual life, money, and relationships.
In each area we ask the same question: What here have I set apart for God—and what is still mixed with my own will?
Warm-Up
This week, which area of your life felt the most blurred and unsorted?
I. Time Is Holy
Scripture
Genesis 2:3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Psalm 90:12 Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Ephesians 5:15–16 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
Brief Explanation
The first thing God made holy was time—the seventh day. Time, then, is something the LORD himself set apart: when time is set apart for God, it is no longer ordinary time but a special season. And the purpose of rest is to watch attentively for how God is working, rather than fixing our eyes on our own concerns. When the season comes, we must stop our own work in order to recognize what God is doing. In truth, all our time should be available to God.
“Seek first his kingdom” is about order: where does God rank in my schedule? “Making the most of every opportunity” literally means buying the time back. Time gets quietly eaten away by many things; we must actively redeem it for God’s use.
Set Apart for God
Set apart a portion of time for God—quiet time, prayer, reflection, stillness in the Lord.
Mixed with the Common
Time is swallowed whole by the phone, entertainment, and unchecked busyness.
Discussion
This week, was there a portion of time set apart especially for God? And what makes your heart beat faster?
II. The Pattern on the Mountain Is Holy
Scripture
Exodus 25:40 See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.
John 14:15 If you love me, keep my commands.
Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Brief Explanation
When God had Moses build the tabernacle, he did not leave it to Moses’ imagination; he gave him a pattern on the mountain and told him to follow it. Holiness means not only that our motives obey God’s will, but that our methods obey his revelation. The church’s service is to be built, with our whole being, according to the pattern God has shown—yet we are used to doing things the way that seems good to us.
Jesus places this obedience inside love: “If you love me, keep my commands.” Obedience is not reluctant compliance under pressure; it is the testimony of a life filled with love in Christ. Romans reminds us how easily we live, without noticing, according to the world’s pattern and are shaped by it. So we need to keep coming before God, resting in Christ, being transformed by the renewing of our minds—only then can we wisely discern what God’s will is.
Set Apart for God
Act according to God’s pattern—his Word, spiritual covering, and order.
Mixed with the Common
God’s instruction is there—yet we still do it the way that seems good to us.
Discussion
Is there something where you actually know God’s way, yet still want to do it your own way? In your heart, is obedience “pressure”—or “because of love”?
III. The Revelation We Receive Is Holy
Scripture
Luke 10:23–24 Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”
Luke 9:59–62 He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Ephesians 1:17–21 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
Brief Explanation
To “see” is to notice, to recognize, to perceive. Many prophets and kings longed to see and did not—but the disciples saw. That is why Jesus called their eyes blessed: God’s good purpose had come among the disciples and awakened hope in their hearts.
What, then, enables us to see? Jesus says: purity of heart. A pure heart means focus—eyes fixed on one thing. The single-minded, steady gaze sees God; a mind scattered across many things fails to see the Lord even when he is right there.
No pretense, no double heart—not drawing near to God while stubbornly clinging to our own opinion.
The men in Luke 9 are the opposite. They all want to follow the Lord—yet each comes with a “first let me….” Their words call Jesus “Lord,” but in fact they still decide for themselves the timing, manner, and terms of following.
This is exactly Paul’s prayer for the church: that God would enlighten the eyes of our hearts, reveal himself, and open our eyes—so that we run hard after him.
Set Apart for God
Eyes fixed on one thing, gazing straight ahead.
Mixed with the Common
A scattered gaze—hearing without hearing, seeing without seeing.
Discussion
Was there a recent moment when you clearly sensed God speaking to you or showing you something? If that has become rare, what is hindering the relationship?
IV. Giving Is Holy
Scripture
Malachi 3:8–10 Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, “How are we robbing you?” In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the LORD Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.
2 Corinthians 9:7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Acts 20:35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Brief Explanation
Malachi speaks of giving as something very practical that can be practiced—and that nothing can replace: it is the channel of God’s blessing. Offering the best acknowledges that every blessing is given from heaven.
In the New Testament Paul puts the weight on the heart: not reluctantly, not under compulsion—God loves a cheerful giver. So giving is not a required figure but a willing response.
And before Paul says “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” he says, “In everything I showed you.” Giving is something we can model for one another and learn from one another.
Set Apart for God
Set apart the best portion for God first—and give it gladly.
Mixed with the Common
Money arranged entirely by my own plan; God’s portion depends—only if something is left over.
Discussion
Have you ever, in faith, set apart “that portion” for God? What did the experience give you? If you have not started, what is holding you back?
V. Our Brothers and Sisters Are Holy · Value Others Above Yourselves
Scripture
Philippians 2:3–4 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
1 Peter 2:5 You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Romans 12:10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
1 Peter 4:10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
2 Corinthians 4:12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
Brief Explanation
“Value others above yourselves” does not mean putting ourselves down; it means seeing our brothers and sisters with different eyes—seeing the other as someone worth helping and honoring. This is humility put into practice.
First Peter calls us living stones. A single stone can never become a house; it must be set upon other stones or no wall rises. Relationships, then, are themselves construction: how I treat the brothers and sisters beside me is how I am building God’s house. And when Peter says “a holy nation, God’s special possession,” every word is plural—what God sets apart is never just one person but a whole people.
“One another” is the word that runs through these verses—encourage one another, love one another, honor one another, serve one another. God gave each of us different gifts—precisely so that we need each other.
The last verse names the cost of such care: “Death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.” Wherever two are together, one of them is the “leader”—and what the leader must learn is to let death work in himself so that life may break out in the other. When each one in God’s house lets life rise in the other, the love of the crucified and risen Lord is among us—and our relationships come alive.
Set Apart for God
See our brothers and sisters as living stones in God’s house.
Mixed with the Common
Treat our brothers and sisters as objects of comparison, competition, and judgment.
Discussion
Is there one specific person here you could help and honor this week? Or how would you like others to help you? Let us pray for one another daily.
Closing
Closing Scripture
Leviticus 10:10 So that you can distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean.
1 Corinthians 5:6–8 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Brief Explanation
Back to the core from the beginning: Leviticus 10:10—distinguishing the holy from the common, the clean from the unclean. Paul says the same thing with yeast, and goes a step further: a little yeast leavens the whole batch. So the old yeast must be removed for a new batch to arise.
This means one person’s old yeast affects the whole community—and the reverse: when one person lets God cleanse it away, the whole batch is renewed. Being set apart is never merely my private matter; it concerns us all.
So the five things we spoke of today—time, the pattern, revelation, giving, and our relationships with brothers and sisters—are really one thing: in every area, handing the mixed-in old yeast to God to be cleansed, so that together we become a new batch. Stone by stone, set upon one another, the living stones are built into God’s spiritual house.
One word God spoke to me today
What I would like my brothers and sisters to pray for me
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