Being Different / Holy

It isn’t popular in our society to be different, is it?  Peer pressure doesn’t affect just kids and teenagers.  Adults are also worried about what others may think or say.  We are afraid to speak up at work or in various meetings.  We don’t like attention drawn to us.  We don’t want to “rock the boat.”  We don’t want to be different.

But Jesus was different – very different from anything anyone expected.  This is what impressed the Apostle Peter about Him.  Jesus didn’t conform to the preconceived ideas that everyone had for Him.  Instead, He chose to be different.  He was born different, he lived different, he taught different, he prayed different, he treated others differently, he endured suffering differently and he died different.  He also rose from the dead - talk about different!

The word Peter uses in his letters to portray Jesus’ difference is the word “holy.”  Holy means set-apart (for a special or religious purpose).  Unger’s Bible Dictionary defines holy as “separation from all that is sinful, or impure, or morally imperfect.”  It means being different by destroying our sinful behaviors and living a life devoted to God and His principles rather than living for self – differently from most of those around us.

Peter’s call to us today is to adopt for ourselves this holiness that Jesus portrayed.  The apostle encourages us to “Be holy, because I [God] am [is] holy” (1 Peter 1:16).  We must be different (from the selfish, greedy, uncaring majority) in our way of thinking, which leads to a change in our behavior (selfless, generous, kind & thoughtful).  And in 2 Peter 1:5-9, we are persuaded to grow in our faith so that our holiness will grow as a natural result.  The more we grow in holiness, the more like Jesus we become: the more different we will be from the ungodly around us.

Since Jesus was willing to be different / holy, it follows that His people should be too.  Would those around you every day consider you to be different - holy?  Jesus warns us that by being His disciples, the world considers us to be different (John 15:19).  Peter uses the word “peculiar” or “strange” when referring to our difference / holiness (1 Peter 2:9) even going so far as to say that the crowds around us will consider our attitudes and behavior to be quite odd (1 Peter 4:4).

But think of the end result of pursuing holiness in all that you do - eternal life in God’s presence.  That should be plenty of motivation to help you put up with the temporary troubles that those outside of Christ will provoke you with.  Plus, thinking of Heaven is a great way to improve our attempts at continuing to mature in Him (see 2 Peter 3:11).

Doug

The Seal of Christ

     A common practice among all cultures is to mark possessions.  The purpose is to denote ownership.  For the thing marked, a seal provides security, identity and purpose.  It also warns a thief of legal consequences should he try to steal the marked item.

     The Bible depicts God placing a seal on His people for the very same reasons.  His desire is to own us.  He wants to protect us and provide us with an identity and purpose.  He has also sent Satan notice to stay away from us.

     What is this seal that God has placed upon His people?  What is it that makes us His?  What has God given to us to protect us and provide us with identity and purpose?  What could be powerful enough to keep Satan at bay?

     Paul says in Ephesians 1:13-14 that the seal God uses for His people is His promised Holy Spirit (in essence, Himself).  Symbolically it is placed on our foreheads (Revelation 7:3; 14:1; 22:4) to be in plain sight so as to be the first thing others notice about us.  And by producing the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) we show the world that we belong to God, for no human can live this way consistently without divine guidance.  Jesus also said that loving others as He loves them demonstrates this in a vivid, visible way (John 13:35).  The Holy Spirit within us motivates us and gives us the power to continually live holy lives as we were created to.  And Satan cannot stand against us when we surrender to the direction and leadership of God’s Spirit (see James 4:7).

     We are told in Acts 2:38 that we receive this special marking when we are immersed into Christ.  From this moment on, we are owned by God, we are protected by Him, we are given an identity (child of God) and a purpose (to be holy as our Father is holy) with a blessed destination (heaven; God’s eternal presence). 

     Show the world, as part of your daily attitude and practice, that you bear the seal of Christ on your forehead (in plain sight of everyone).  As Paul’s says:

   “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.”                                                                          (Romans 6:13-14)

Doug

Cleaning The House

Cleaning The House

It was a common complaint that I heard while I was growing up; “Clean up your mess.”  “Straighten up your room.”  “Put your clothes away.”  “Put your dishes in the washer.”  My mother was in the Marines after WWII and she brought those standards into her home and instilled them in her children.  I wondered if we would ever get a break; just a moment’s rest from cleaning so that I could give my life to more important things – TV, or model cars and airplanes, or baseball and football.  But no such luck.  “Work before play” was our family motto.

            You know what?  This is what I have tried to instill in my children as well – though I don’t believe that I was as good as my mother was.  I have learned in my few short years under the sun that cleaning never ends.  It is a constant battle; in the house, at the office, with the car, in every part of my life.  And may I never forget that this is so with my spiritual life.

            Whenever I read the gospel accounts of Jesus cleansing the temple, I am reminded about God’s desire to keep His house clean.  The apostle Paul states that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  We are a holy place in which God lives.  And He refuses, as we would, to live in a place that is dirty, ugly, broken-down, smelly and unsafe.

            “And just what do you mean by dirty, ugly and smelly?” you may ask.

            To which God answers, “Your sins have made you an unfit dwelling.”

            Our sins pile up like dirty clothes or dirty dishes that constantly need to be washed and put away.  Bad attitudes and selfish lusts have caused “raw sewage” to back up into our spiritual house.  Now, really; would you want to take up residence in that kind of place?  And how do we clean it up?  Nothing made by man can do as much as even smear the mess into a bigger and smellier mess. 

Thankfully, like the song says, “What can wash away my sins?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus.  What can make me whole (clean) again?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”  Those of us in Christ have the blood of Jesus’ sacrifice that scours these messes away (1 John 1:7); the only remedy for the sin-mess of our lives.  And with the help of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, we also have the means available to keep our spiritual houses clean – as God designed us to be. 

            When we committed our lives to Christ, what we were in effect promising was to be continual custodians / janitors of God’s house.  All of the sin that dirties, clutters, stinks and messes us up must be cleaned and taken out with the trash (Hebrews 12:1).  If we are not willing to do it, the owner of the house may take drastic measures in hand as Jesus did, to drive out the greed, and anger, and lack of love and forgiveness, etc.  His house (our body) is not to be a den of robbers and thieves.  It is to be a house of prayer.

Doug

Holy To The LORD

God chose Aaron and his sons to serve as Israel’s priests.  This was an extremely important and gracious appointment on God’s part.  Priests are mediators.  They stand before a deity on behalf of mortals who wish to make requests of their god or to make atonement if the individual has offended the divine being. In the biblical case, humans have sinned against the all-powerful, all-mighty, creator God.  To allow any humans to mediate was an act of grace.  And if you re-read Exodus 32 you’ll plainly see why His choice of Aaron was surprising indeed.
 

In order to make the priests visibly elite and to publish their appointed task between sinners and a holy God, they were ordered to wear special garments. Part of the distinctive clothing Moses was commanded to provide to Aaron and his sons to use while ministering on behalf of the people, was the turban.  It was to have a label fastened right on the front of it – right between Aaron’s eyes.  The inscription that God required to be etched onto this sign was “Holy To The LORD” (Exodus 28:36-38 & 39:30-31).  This identified Aaron as the people's representative before God and allowed their sacrifices to bear the guilt of their sins.  This statement was also a constant reminder for Aaron, his sons, and for Israel that the atonement being made on their behalf was allowed by God's graciousness; not because of any holiness on their part.  God willing to transfer their iniquities to their offerings so as to provide atonement for their many offenses.

In the New Testament era, Jesus fulfilled this priestly role for us by His selfless sacrifice at Calvary.  He was the epitome of holiness as He took our sins with Him to the cross in order to atone for them with His own blood.  He became holiness for us in order to separate us from our sins and mediate between us and God.  Now, being washed by His blood, He continues to provide us with direct access to the Father.  He will forever be our mediator and high priest.  And as Peter says all Christians, being cleansed by His blood, are now given the privilege to serve as priests and stand before Him.  Thus, in Christ, we are now deemed by God to be "Holy To The LORD".

However, just like in the history of the Old Testament, it is possible that God’s priests today (Christians) profane their being holy to the Lord by not living up to the standards God has set for us.  He created us to be holy (that is righteous, faithful, virtuous, pure, etc.).  It is to be written across our foreheads that we belong to Him and represent Him (Revelation 7:3). Yet many live according to their lusts; they change God's rules to suit themselves; they mix popular cultural philosophies and practices rather than following God's Word.  The result is that many seekers and lost souls continue to wander through life aimlessly without the divine blessings of God's grace because those sent to mediate for them do not represent the Lord's holiness.  And these unholy priests themselves stagnate in their faith and fall into Satan's traps of apathy, arrogance, and imprudence.

Is your life a testimony of God's grace and holiness?  Are you being a faithful mediator for souls in search of their Creator?  Can others count on you to bring them closer to God?  Renew your mind by committing yourself daily to being holy and showing others the right way to live.  Let it be known (right between your eyes) that you’re striving to be “Holy To The Lord”.

Doug