2 January 2017
For I am the Lord who brought you
up from the land of Egypt, to be your God; you shall be holy, for I am holy. (Leviticus
11:45; NRSV)
Instead, as he who called you is
holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, “You shall be
holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16; NRSV)
Good evening, welcome. A week or
so ago, one of my friends posted a reference to the atonement and holiness on
Facebook. The post had to do with holiness and the atonement being more or less
fundamental doctrines for Christians; in it he mentioned holiness as being set
apart for God. My friend’s post got me thinking about what it means to be holy
from a ‘big picture’ point of view-the entire Biblical story from Genesis to
Revelation-seen within the framework of creation/fall/redemption/restoration
theology and defined with the already-present-but-not-yet view of the Kingdom
of God. Now that I have put it all together-more or less-I thought, being the
beginning of a New Year promising change (or upheaval, depending on your point
of view) this might be a good time to post my thoughts. So, here goes.
In order to properly understand
holiness (or any Biblical theology, for that matter), the Bible must be seen as
one unified whole, as opposed to a collection of separate books. The story has a
Protagonist (hero)-God; an antagonist (villain)-Satan; and a bunch of agonists
(other characters)-us. It has a plot, which goes something like this. God (or
The Godhead, if you prefer) decides to make humankind to bear His image
(Genesis 1:26-27). First, though, He made a perfect environment for His
image-bearers, over which God made them stewards-caretakers. This, obviously, would
be creation. At some point Satan comes along and persuades God’s creations to
bear his (Satan’s) image instead. As
a result God’s once good and perfect creation is cursed (this would be the
fall). All this happens in the first three chapters of Genesis. God, however,
does not give up on His creations; instead He promises them a redeemer-one who
would “buy them back” from their new owner (Satan). Keep this thought in mind;
we will be coming back to it. The next five chapters of Genesis describe the
effects of the fall, culminating with the Great Flood. Chapter nine begins the
story of God’s plan to buy His creatures back (more or less; some may argue the
story starts with Abraham in Chapter 12. Either works, in my opinion). This
would be redemption. The rest of the Bible describes our hero’s (God)
redemptive plan, culminating in our ultimate restoration.
Fast forward now to Exodus. At
this point God has raised up a people and called them out of Egypt-where they
had been held captive-forms them into a nation-Israel-and gives them a specific
and very important mission-to be His presence among the nations to whom He is
sending them. Keep in mind, these were pagan nations, evil nations, whose idea
of worshipping their gods sometimes included human sacrifice (if I give you my
son, will you please let me live). Israel’s God did not need to be bribed or
placated in order to be worshipped. He did, however, require holiness from His
people.
How were the Israelites to know
and understand holiness? Well, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments-and a whole
bunch of other laws and statutes and ordinances covering their relationship
with Him and with each other. He also made provision for their sin by
instituting a sacrificial system (animal, not human, although still very
bloody) which included observing a national Day
of Atonement every year. On this day, one goat was sacrificed to atone for
the nation’s sin; another was sent away into the wilderness after the priest
has laid his hands on it, transferring Israel’s sin to the goat. Sin was atoned
for and removed from Israel’s
presence by a couple innocent goats (redemption, again).
God made a very specific promise
to His Israelites-if they would observe all the laws He gave them-thereby
demonstrating His presence, showing the nations what He was like (or who He
really was), they would be blessed beyond belief. Their families would be
fruitful and multiply (the original charge given to Adam and Eve). Their crops
would be fruitful and multiply. They would be blessed coming and going. The
blessings would be huge. The nations would see all this and say “whoa, that is one
awesome God indeed. He needs to be our God; we need to worship Him”. On the
other hand, if they did not obey God’s commands and follow His laws and
ordinances, God promised curses. No fruit. Cursed coming and cursed going. If
they wanted to behave like the other nations and forget God, they would get the
other nations. Up to their eyeballs. The Israelites agreed to God’s terms and
it became a binding contract. All this is recorded in Exodus through Deuteronomy.
Unfortunately, the Israelites did
not live up to their end of the bargain. They-as a nation-failed to honor the
holiness code God had given them; failed to be God’s presence. God sent prophet
after prophet to remind them of the ancient covenant; to act as His prosecuting
attorneys bringing charges against His wayward people; to explain what they
were experiencing and to remind them why. For the most part God’s prophets were
ignored; finally God fell silent.
Fast-forward to the birth of
Jesus, the Christ-God’s Redeemer. Remember the ancient promise to Eve? Here He
is. God’s final redemptive act. Jesus fulfills every mission given to the
Israelites. He explains and fulfills the Law (you have heard it said…but I tell you). He demonstrates what God
is really like. He doesn’t just demonstrate God’s presence, He is God’s presence. Being God’s presence
He ushers in God’s Kingdom. He teaches His listeners (especially His twelve
disciples-another thought to keep in mind) how God intends His children to
live. Finally, on the cross, He provides atonement for our sins. They are removed
completely. Redemption is accomplished. God has purchased back His creation “What
I did not steal must I now restore?” (Psalms 69:4, NRSV). Restoration can
begin.
Which brings us, finally, to 21st
century holiness. As the Body of Christ, the Church-the New Israel-is today
tasked with the same mission as the Old Israel-to demonstrate God’s presence by
being God’s presence. Not just in the United States but in the entire world.
Remember the great commission-“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything that
I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the
age.” (Matthew 28:19-20; NRSV; italics mine). Redemption-the Atonement-is
finished. Holiness, however, making disciples (remember them?) is a daily task,
a continuing process.
Holiness is the process of
considering ourselves dead to sin but alive to God (Romans 6:11), of putting
off the old self and putting on the new (Colossians 3:9-10), of being made new
(Ephesians 2:22-24). Peter, who should know, puts it this way “For this very
reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and
goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with
endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection,
and mutual affection with love. For if these things are yours and are
increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in
the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:5-8; NRSV). Note the
wording here. Increasing. Ineffective. Unfruitful. Make every effort. Jesus
Himself gives us a very clear picture of what holiness looks like in His Sermon
on the Mount (and the rest of the Gospels, for that matter).
But how do we do all this, you
might ask? Well, let me tell you. We do it by putting ourselves in a place
where God’s transforming power-His grace, administered by the Holy Spirit-can
renew us from the inside out. We need new hearts and God is just the person for
the job-this is restoration and it is a daily process. Every day, as long as we
are on this earth. We do not achieve holiness by our own effort-obeying all God’s
laws, as if we could. I am making a case here for the Spiritual
Disciplines-activities we (and millions of saints before us) can do which get
us to the place where God can transform us. Things like prayer, study,
meditation, confession, fasting, worship, solitude, service, submission,
simplicity. I am not talking about obeying a set of laws here-or forcing them on
anyone else-however, as our hearts change, as the image of God is restored in
us, we may very well find that we desire to know God’s laws because keeping
them makes God very happy. And demonstrates His presence.
So, yes, holiness is being set
apart for God. It is also becoming like God, bearing His image. It is God
putting His character in us so we can show it to the world and it does not come
automatically. We have work to do if we expect to demonstrate Jesus-to be
Jesus-to whomever we meet. So, here’s the assignment for a new year. Let this
be the year of the Spiritual Disciplines. Do some research. Pick up a book or
two, or three. No need to reinvent the wheel. We have as our ultimate teacher
and example Jesus Himself. The Holy Spirit will, as Jesus says, explain
everything. At least, everything we need to know.
Finally, let me leave you with
this. The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks the question “What is the chief
end of man?” The answer-Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him
forever. Jesus told His disciples He brought Glory to the Father by completing
the work The Father gave Him to do. We glorify God in the same way. The
disciplines will enable us both to do our work and to enjoy God (after all, He
created us for a relationship with Him). Besides, if we don’t learn to enjoy
Him now, how will we ever enjoy Him for eternity?
May the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of
you throughout the coming year. JRG