Why Don’t We Think About The Holiness of God?

This morning, as I am preparing for our 5th Sunday Service, my heart is a bit heavy. Maybe it’s reading through Ezekiel, and seeing God’s broken heart at Israel’s unfaithfulness, or maybe it’s looking at the Church in the West, and seeing how we’re creating a cult that worships self while using God’s name, or maybe it’s a combination of the two. There’s no two ways about it, people do not have a healthy fear of God, nor do they see Him as Holy. Instead, by and large, people view themselves and how God could enhance their lives. We do not regard our sin, nor the Cross that Jesus was nailed to because of it, and we do not see the weight of our actions: we look at ourselves and see Jesus as an enhancement, and not as Savior and Lord.

Yet, Loved ones, regardless of how we regard Him, He is Holy. He is supreme. He is mighty and wonderful beyond all measure. God is pure, and lovely, and just, but full of Grace and Mercy, patient toward us, and yet hastening the day where His wrath will become known. God is Holy, He is set apart from us by far, and there is none beside Him.

So why have we forgotten this? First and foremost, we compare ourselves to others instead of God. We say phrases like “Well, I’m not as bad as so-and-so,” or “I’m not a murderer, I’m basically a good person” and we justify ourselves. Instead, we should look at God’s Holiness, and His perfect Law! Not that the Law could save us, it exists to point us toward our own deficiencies. The Law shows God’s perfection, and lets us know where we have fallen short. God is perfect in all of His ways, and, as such, demands perfection. If we look at His perfection and His law honestly, we can’t help but see how far short we fall, and His perfect Holiness. It should drive us to our knees, begging for forgiveness, and seeking a savior.

Secondly, we do not look to God’s word near enough. We focus on the parts we like (much like Disney’s Polly-Anna, where she said her father preached only the “glad texts” of the Bible), and do diligently hunger for God’s Word, and thus His righteousness. It is God’s word that tells us how to draw near to Him, and it speaks to us of Jesus and His perfection, and our need for Him. It tells us of the Holy Spirit, by whom every believer is sealed for the day of redemption, and by whom we ought to walk. We cannot get close to God if we do not listen to His Word (obedience is more valuable than sacrifice)!

And Lastly (though I am sure there is more), we do not walk by the Holy Spirit or in Faith. Instead, we seek out the means by which we can walk. We look to our jobs, our bank accounts, and our assets. Our trust is placed in our relationships with others, and not in God. We look at this world as our reward, instead of the place of our sojourning, and we do not look forward to the Heavenly Home to which we are sealed by the Spirit. Loved ones, this is so short, and over simplified, but my urging for all of us is this: look to God as Holy. Seek His love and perfection. Read His word, and walk by the Spirit. In this, we will gain the proper perspective, and sink to our knees in awe of His Holiness, and in love and gratitude for His great love and mercy.

Matthew 9:1-17

And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

James 4:1-12

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?