The Scriptures as agent of change

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
John 17:17

Jesus prayed that God would use His Word as the means to holiness for His disciples. We are changed through the process of sanctification. And we become more like Christ by knowing, believing, following, and obeying the truth. We know the truth in the Holy Scriptures. There is no other way. Jesus Himself asked for God the Father to do this in us.

So it is absolutely imperative for me to be changed by the truth of the Word of God. Only by exposure to the Word, acceptance of its truth as I come to understand it, and applying the principles to my daily experience can I truly mature in my faith and become more like my Master. So getting into the Word is a mandate of discipleship. It is my work for true life. And it is a life's work.

Lord,
I thank You for the accessibility to Your Word that I enjoy. It is an abundance of riches. And it is also a serious demand. You want me made holy, changed, and charged for Your service by my intake of Your truth. Do so in me, even today!
Amen


- Posted with my iPad. The Apple Kool-Aide tastes fine.

Knowing your future.

Moses commanded the people of Israel, saying, “This is the land that you shall inherit by lot, which the LORD has commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half-tribe.”

Numbers 34:13

 

All of Numbers 34 is about the boundaries of the Promised Land of Canaan. There is a verbal map directed to Moses that let the Israelites know the extent to which God had given them a new possession. But it also meant that territory had to be conquered. It was great to know God’s will for the future. Yet, there was responsibility with that knowledge.

 

With the knowledge of God’s revealed will there comes about a necessary human responsibility to obey it. We cannot shirk away from this truth. Yes, God was giving them this geographic territory that was not theirs. Yes, it was God’s will that they have it. But receiving the gift meant entering into battle and eradicating the idolatry of the existing Canaanites in order to possess the promise of God.

 

God does not make easy promises today. We know heaven and eternity with Christ await us. But we don’t get to sit back on that fact. We tend to be starry-eyed as evangelicals. We put on our rose-colored glasses and insist that “believing in Jesus is so easy, a child can do it” (sounds like a Geico commercial!). But it takes manly faith and outward demonstration of childlike faith to live like we should. Sanctification happens to us when we receive the holiness of Christ, but we must also WORK OUT our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12-13). That sounds like sweat equity to some degree, not for salvation, but because of it. God always expects commitment with His gifts.

 

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Sanctification has a goal and a purpose.

So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.

Numbers 15:40

 

There is a very simple reminder in this verse. When I am called to be holy, I am called to an object / person that enables me to be so. Israel kept the law even in its most unusual aspects, like making tassels on garments, as a means to grow closer to the God Who had claim on them.

 

There was nothing innately holy about a fringe of cloth or even about avoiding one food or another. Instead, what the Law was meant to do was create an atmosphere of obedience that drew the heart to God as the object of holiness. In the remembering and doing of the requirements, a relationship to God in holiness was developed and pursued.

 

Sanctification calls us to God.  I often focus on what I am saved from. But I am equally saved to a relationship with God. That makes obedience all the more precious and important.

 

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Even dedicated people will do wrong…

Then the priest shall present them before the LORD and shall offer his sin offering and his burnt offering.

Numbers 6:16

 

What is interesting about this verse is that it describes the condition of ending a Nazirite vow. This was a special vow that a person could take to dedicate themselves uniquely to the Lord. They set themselves apart by not cutting their hair, refraining from wine and all products made of grapes (hard to do in a Mediterranean culture), and avoiding any potential contact with dead bodies of people or animals. It was a unique vow meant to help the person who took the vow concentrate on their relationship with the Lord. And the hairstyle made it visible to everyone else in the person’s life. The most notorious Nazirite in the Old Testament was Samson. But Paul in the the Book of Acts appears to have taken this kind of vow at one point.

 

What is interesting was that at the end of the time period of the vow (set by the person taking the vow) in addition to a haircut by the priest, the person also offered a sin offering along with additional offerings. Even though the vow was meant to concentrate on sanctification, the sacrifice of the vow was not enough to remove the guilt of the sin. They still did wrong things. The sin offering was meant to deal with that issue. The Nazirite vow then did not make them sinless, or even “more holy” than someone else, even though they were concentrating on God with an unusual fervor. God still had to atone for sin despite the efforts of the Nazirite.

 

Here is where I am going with this. God knew we have a tendency to trust in our efforts, and the Law, though it was good, by nature fed this in us. And the Nazirite rules were even more restrictive. It would be easy to think that keeping the rules made me holy. God made sure that was not the external emphasis for the Nazirites by insisting that sin offerings be part of the vow. The same principle holds true today. When we come to faith in Christ, we are saved by His work, not our own. And He keeps us holy, even as we are called to obey. I still must confess my sins. I still must seek forgiveness from God and those I may sin against. This will always be the case until I reside with God in heaven.

 

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Two motivations for holiness.

"So you shall keep my commandments and do them: I am the LORD. And you shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel. I am the LORD who sanctifies you, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the LORD."

Leviticus 22:31-33

God appeals ultimately to His person as a grounds for Israel living holy lives as His unique people. The reason we should worship and obey God is because He is the LORD. Period. Holiness is grounded in the person of God. But there are two unique things that God had done for Israel that are given as reminders for observing the law out of relationship with God.

The first motivation is the very holiness of God. He should not be treated any other way because He is holy. We cannot “profane his holy name” and except that any subsequent “worship” we offer in pure ritual will mean anything to Him. He is holy, and He sanctifies us to His service and worship. He expects holy living in us as a result. A holy God cannot produce unholy worshippers. That is completely out of the question.

The second motivation is that which comes from God’s grace. God appeals to His gracious dealings with Israel. He did the sanctifying. He did the delivering during the Exodus. The reason that Passover was the big event in Jewish history was because God was gracious. And it is that event that is brought to their attention in this call to holiness. If I really understand that kind of grace that God gives me, I am moved to worship and obedience. Grace to an undeserving sinner brings joy and peace and motivation for all of life.

Lord,

Thank You for this reminder of Your holiness and grace. I need it now. Help me to keep it before me in the decisions of my day. Help me not to lose sight of how wonderful You are in Jesus. I recognize all that you have done for me in Your mercy, love, and grace.

Amen

Technorati Tags: Leviticus,Sanctification,Holiness,Motivation

Relationship with God: motivation to holy living

Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. Keep my statutes and do them; I am the LORD who sanctifies you.

Leviticus 20:7-8

Holiness is a two-way street. And this passage captures that truth well. God asked Israel to commit to relationship through Him through the covenant of the Law. They were to do so primarily through the motivation of worship. If they truly were God’s people and loved Him, they would do as He said for them to do. They would consecrate themselves and they would be holy because they would want to please God. That is a fine and wonderful reason to be sanctified.

We set-apart ourselves to God only if He first does something for us. A convicted man cannot find the graces of his judge be merit of his charms. Only the judicial decision can ever create anything better for him than his crimes deserve. And the same is true with us. We have sinned against a holy and just God. And only if He makes a move toward us can we move toward Him. That is exactly what the last phrase of this passage told Israel: “I am the LORD who sanctifies you.” They would be helpless in holiness if God had not decreed a righteousness for them out of the relationship with the Law that they would enjoy. They obeyed, but it was God Who made them holy.

Lest I forget this truth, God repeats this truth throughout the Old and New Testaments. The scriptures I could cite would be more than I could list right now. The New Testament makes it clear that I “work out” my salvation, making holy living a personal choice. But I can’t do that unless God first saves and sanctifies me. He makes me holy and clothes me in the very righteousness of His Son. So I am moved to holy living because Jesus is my Savior and I have a relationship with the Father through the Son. I am enabled for this task not because I am so good, but because God has sanctified me and given me truth for holy living in His Word. The Bible continuously shows me the choices that I must make that are pleasing to God. God makes me able to come to Him. But I must still choose to come to Him. God makes me able to live a righteous and godly life, but I must still make the right choices to live that life in Christ. I must allow Jesus to live in me if I am going to live a holy life.

Technorati Tags: Leviticus,Holiness,Sanctification

Unclean

The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, 'Unclean, unclean.' He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.

Leviticus 13:45-46

Outside the camp

I am unclean…

rotting corpse of dead sin

still clinging to me.

What I am

is in need of cleansing;

Who You are is the One Who dares to touch me.

I am unclean

and You are the Holy One;

if I am to be clean

then I have to accept Your healing touch…

for You will make me clean again.

And then… I can go home.

Technorati Tags: Leviticus,Holiness,Purity,Sanctification

God often works with “if’s”.

"And those who are far off shall come and help to build the temple of the LORD. And you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. And this shall come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God."

Zechariah 6:15

This word of prophecy from Zechariah to the returning exiles in Jerusalem contained a certainty and a contingency. The certainty was that further help was coming in the temple project. You can read all about it in detail in the contemporary account found in the book of Ezra. God was re-gathering the remnant of His people. Jerusalem was once again becoming repopulated with returning Jews from Babylon. And the temple would be rebuilt. God would be glorified and His Word confirmed by these events.

But this was all contingent on obedience. And the returned exiles did struggle to do this. You can read all about that in another contemporary of Zechariah, the prophet Haggai, who had to compel the Jews to finish the work they had started. God would bring the blessings of His worship to His people if they would obey Him in the re-building of the temple. Diligent obedience and hard work would have to come on their part for the blessing to be truly known to the nation.

Obedience to the Lord is often required for us to know His full blessing. To the believer in Jesus, sanctification involves living out what God has given us in Christ. We are declared holy, but we must learn to make holy choices if we are to truly know God and please Him. God’s blessing is still offered, but the “if” of our own holy choices and obedience often must precede the “then” of God’s blessing and promise to us.

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sanctification: the best defense

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

Jude 20-21

The command here is straightforward: keep yourselves in the love of God. This is Jude’s way of talking about the personal responsibility to live holy lives. The false teachers he is combating will have none of that. They indulge in sexual immorality (Jude 7), they blaspheme doctrine they do not understand (Jude 10), and they are ultimately not holy but ungodly and destined for God’s justice as a result (Jude 15). The book ends with a call for Christians to defend against apostasy by guarding the way they live their lives. It is the best way to combat false doctrine and practice.

There are three things we do to keep ourselves in the love of God. The first is to build ourselves up in our most holy faith. I believe it is a call to knowing doctrine AND the sanctifying work that true doctrinal commitments bring to us. That is why it is called a holy faith. It is not purely about simple propositions, statements of fact, or doctrinal vocabulary. It is about the truth of biblical teaching changing us into the holy, different, and called out people that God has always wanted for His glory. The second thing we do is called “praying in the Holy Spirit.” Nothing mystical here either… this is just prayer that stems from a relationship with God that can know and follow the promptings of His Spirit. That only really comes as we understand and follow the Word of God. The first thus is necessary to understand the second. The final piece is also important. We must be waiting for the mercy of Jesus. I believe that is an understanding that our growth in holy living is a process that is not complete UNTIL WE MEET JESUS! We are saved when we come to Christ, we are being saved by Him now, and we will be saved forever in His presence in eternity. I am just not all the way there yet. But I know my journey is headed to His destination.

One final thing to point out: we are called to keep ourselves, but God also does the keeping. Jude has already pointed this out (Jude 1 says we are beloved in God and kept for Jesus Christ). The book ends with a reminder and a prayer to the One who is “able to keep you from stumbling and present you blameless before the presence of his glory” (Jude 24). Sanctification is God’s big work in saving me and keeping me. It is my lifestyle in living like the man He has made me to be.

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