CHRISTIANITY 101: GOD IS HOLY
People are funny. They have an absolutely profound need to feel as if they are somehow in control of their lives and the world around them. One of the ways we maintain our sense of control is by pinning labels on people. And members of the clergy experience this just as much as anyone else. For example, whenever a minister begins to serve a new parish, one of the questions he or she is inevitably asked is this: “Are you a liberal, or are you a conservative?” The person who asks such a question asks it so they can understand where you are coming from – such that they might maintain a measure of control – by either accepting you or rejecting you.
Now I don’t like the terms “liberal” and “conservative” because I think they are relative terms. For example, at the Presbyterian seminary I attended, I anchored the conservative wing. But just down the street there was a Southern Baptist seminary. There I would have been considered a raving liberal. Like I said, I don’t like the terms “liberal” and “conservative” because I think they are relative terms.
Thus, when I am asked that question – and I’ve been asked it many times – I respond by saying, “I am orthodox.” Orthodox means “standard” or “right belief.” It is built upon 2000 years of Christian theological history. You see, from a theological standpoint, conservatives tend to emphasize personal piety and holiness, while liberals tend to emphasize social justice and peacemaking. As an orthodox theologian, I believe those two concepts are like the wings of a bird. How far can a bird fly by only flapping one wing? The world needs personal piety and holiness on the one hand, and the world needs social justice and peacemaking on the other, if it is ever going to fly…if it is ever going to grow.
Now try this thought on for size. What if the grace of God – and the holiness of God – are also like the two wings of a bird? Maybe the world needs the grace of God on the one hand, and the holiness of God on the other hand, if it is ever going to fly…if it is ever going to grow. Keep that thought in mind as we move on.
Several weeks ago, we talked about the contrast between our tendency to gratify the desires of the flesh and the Apostle Paul’s call for us to live by the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit. We noted how human will power lacks the capacity to change much of anything within us. Change happens when something else is modified. What is it that needs to be modified? What needs to be modified is our personal narrative of who and what God is. We need to have the proper story in our minds as to who and what God is, if we’re ever going to change who and what we are, because everything about us stems from our own internal narrative.
As Jesus is God Incarnate, we determined to let Jesus establish our new internal narrative. We noted how one of the false narratives that many people have of God is that God is an angry judge. Citing a passage from the gospel according to John, we saw Jesus and his disciples encounter a man who was blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned – this man or his parents – that he was born blind?” In their minds it had to be one or the other. Blindness was believed to be punishment from an angry God. Thus, Jesus set out to establish a new narrative within them. He quickly replied, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned. He was born blind that the works of God might be made manifest in him.” In other words, “God is good; God wills the good…and the glory of God will ultimately be revealed in him.” Then Jesus healed the man born blind. The point is that God wills what’s best for us. The problem is that we don’t see the big picture as God sees the big picture. Yet the narrative Jesus clearly sets out to establish here...is that God is good.
We considered how much of our experience might lead us to believe that God cannot be trusted. Why, even Jesus was not spared the agony of the cross when he begged God to do so. Thus, what we did was embark upon the process of conducting a spiritual inventory. In other words, we took the time to count our blessings. What we discovered is that while our troubles are indeed very real, they are really quite small compared to God’s widespread mercy. The more we are able to comprehend how many blessings we really have – freely given and freely received – the more we come to realize that God truly does will what’s best for us. And when that moment of revelation occurs, we can’t help but discover that God is indeed trustworthy.
Then we explored what we called a performance-based narrative. A performance-based narrative dictates that the good are rewarded with good, while the bad are rewarded with bad. The problem with a performance-based narrative about God is that it completely neglects the concept of grace. Thus, while looking at the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, we encountered a landowner who gave not on the basis of what the laborers earned, but rather, on the basis of his abundant generosity. Jesus’ intent, of course, was to equate the landowner with God. We discovered that, while the way of the world may be survival of the fittest…the way of God is generosity to a fault.
Looking at another angle of the performance-based narrative, we wrestled with whether or not God loves us only when we’re good. We considered the parable of the prodigal son. There we discovered that there is a difference between hating the sin and hating the sinner. God loves us unconditionally and longs for our return. He will not rest until all of his children are securely under his roof. What remains for us is to decide whether life in the Father’s house is better than life on our own. Some come to that realization later than others, and some never come to it at all. Yet the Father’s love remains undaunted, for the love of God is unconditional.
Today our goal is to establish the narrative that God is holy. In light of that, consider the question we posed earlier. What if the grace of God – and the holiness of God – are also like the two wings of a bird? Maybe the world needs the grace of God on the one hand, and the holiness of God on the other hand, if it is every going to fly…if it is ever going to grow. While the grace of God has to do with God’s unconditional love and acceptance, the holiness of God has to do with God’s passing judgment on sin. Does the world really need both?
Let’s begin by considering the concept of sin itself. What is sin? Sin is defined as separation from God. I like to look at sin another way, however. If that lectern over there is God, my obedience necessarily draws me closer to God. Sin, aptly defined as separation from God, has to do with turning in another direction. In other words, sin is simply turning one’s gaze in the wrong direction. And what does it accomplish? All it does is separate us from God.
But you’re educated people, are you not? The Bible is full of some pretty ridiculous rules, particularly in the Old Testament. For example, in the 11th chapter of the book of Leviticus, it lists the animals that are not to be eaten. Verse 4 says, “But among those that chew the cud or have divided hooves, you shall not eat the following…The pig, for even though it has divided hooves and is cleft-footed, it does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you.” That’s why Jews don’t eat pork. That sounds pretty ridiculous, does it not? But what can happen if you eat pork that is undercooked? It’s a little thing called trichinosis. Tell me, how good were the microwave ovens 3000 years ago? There weren’t any microwave ovens 3000 years ago. Eating pork was risky business 3000 years ago because the likelihood of eating it undercooked was high. So you see, as ridiculous as this law sounds to us, it was designed for the people’s own good. That’s the way the laws of God are. They are not meant to oppress us; they are designed for our own good.
The question was, “Does the world need the grace of God on the one hand, and the holiness of God on the other?” Listen to this. Dr. James Bryan Smith is a theology professor at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas. He talks about preaching a sermon in a Wichita church where he spoke about the grace of God. “God loves you without condition,” he said. “God has reconciled you to himself, and in Christ you are a new creation.”
Shortly after the service, a woman approached him and said, “Thank you so much for that sermon. It was very freeing!” She went on to say, “You see, I’ve been living with my boyfriend for the past six months. I was raised in a church that said this was a sin, and I felt really guilty. But this morning you said that God loves us without condition, and that Jesus has forgiven us all our sin, and then I realized that my guilt was unnecessary. So I just wanted to thank you for preaching such a liberating message.”
As she smiled and bounded away, Dr. Smith’s heart sank. He had labored long and hard to present the message that the love of God is unconditional. What he had failed to present was that God also has some standards by which we are called to live. What he failed to include was the holiness of God.
The passage we read from the book of Malachi addresses God’s holiness. The historical setting is shortly after the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians, and the subsequent fall of the Babylonians to the Persians. The people of God had been dispersed to foreign lands and longed to return to their homeland. Malachi quotes God when he writes, “Ever since the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.”
Yet before he gets to that, Malachi describes what God is doing to his people. “For he is like a refiner’s fire; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendents of Levi and refine them like silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.” The purification of the people is compared to the process of refining metal…removing the dross and leaving the pure metal.
Some time ago, a women’s Bible study group was examining the book of Malachi. They came upon that remarkable expression in the third verse: “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” They were curious about it, so one of the women decided to visit a silversmith and report to the others on what he said about the subject. So she went, and – without telling him the reason for her visit – begged the silversmith to tell her about the process of refining silver. After he had fully described it to her, she asked, “Sir, do you sit while the work of refining is going on?”
“Oh, yes ma’am,” the silversmith replied. “I must sit and watch the furnace constantly, for – if the time necessary for refining silver is exceeded in the slightest degree – the silver will be compromised.” The woman at once saw the beauty in the expression, “He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.”
Yet before she left, she asked the silversmith one final question. “How do you know when the process is complete?” she asked. “Oh, that’s easy,” the silversmith replied. “The process is complete…when I can see my reflection in the silver.”
Perhaps that is also what the holiness of God implies. God does not establish rules and regulations to make life hard on us. The laws of God are for our own good. For you see, what God really desires…is to see his own reflection in us. Amen.
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