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“WHEN GOD SENDS A PROPHET”

 Jeremiah 26:8-15       2^nd Sunday in Lent  3/4/07

 FIRST LESSON    Jeremiah 26:8-15    Kill The Prophet!

8 But as soon as Jeremiah finished telling all the people everything the LORD had commanded him to say, the priests, the prophets and all the people seized him and said, "You must die! 9 Why do you prophesy in the LORD's name that this house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate and deserted?" And all the people crowded around Jeremiah in the house of the LORD. 

 10 When the officials of heard about these things, they went up from the royal palace to the house of the LORD and took their places at the entrance of the New Gate of the LORD's house. 11 Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people, "This man should be sentenced to death because he has prophesied against this city. You have heard it with your own ears!"

 12 Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people: "The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the things you have heard. 13 Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the LORD your God. Then the LORD will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you. 14 As for me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right. 15 Be assured, however, that if you put me to death, you will bring the guilt of innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on those who live in it, for in truth the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing. 

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

   You’ve heard it said, “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times”.  Well in the days of Jeremiah, it was mainly…the worst of times!  The prophet Jeremiah - you remember him, don’t you?  Not only did he write (with the help of his scribe Baruch) the book of Jeremiah, but he also wrote the book of Lamentations.  “Lament” means to weep or mourn, so Jeremiah is also known as “the weeping prophet”.  And as a believer living in the land of Judah …he had much to weep about!

 

 You see, early on in Jeremiah’s day, there was a good King by the name of Josiah.  Josiah was God fearing and did good for God’s people.  But upon his death, Jehoiakim replaced him on the throne and it was then that a dark cloud enveloped the land!  King Jehoiakim was the exact opposite of what his father Josiah had been – he was vain and blood thirsty.  To give you the flavor of how godless he was, read chapter 36 sometime – there you’ll find he even burned the Bible (God’s Word given through Jeremiah)!  Imagine how shocking that would be if a President or King did that today!  So indeed, dark times will always follow when a ruler has contempt for the Word of God.

 

 And in Jeremiah’s day the people were spiritually not much better than the King!  They believed they were God’s people and proudly called themselves such, but the lives they lived were in total contradiction to that claim.  They had become a ‘tolerant people’.  Now tolerance in itself is nothing bad.  We Christians need to be “tolerant” people – that is patient, longsuffering, and generous with kindness.  But never should a Christian tolerate what the Lord does not tolerate, and that’s where the people of fell short.  Not only did the inhabitants of God’s Promised Land begin to tolerate false religions, but they themselves began worshipping such idols.  “A servant cannot serve two masters”, and, the Lord has said, “Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only”.  So God would tolerate this no longer, and from the Lord’s dispatch, Jeremiah was sent!

 

 So imagine then the scene:  The Lord sent Jeremiah to the high traffic area of the Temple – no one was to miss what God was saying.  And while some sermons aren’t worth repeating (no personal comments, please –ha ha), God told him to preach his sermon over again – word for word speaking what he had before.  The message was basically this:  ‘God has sent you prophets, but you did not listen.  They said ‘turn from your evil ways’, and you did not turn, but instead provoked the Lord to anger.’  And then the Lord gets painfully personal with the inhabitants in God’s House:  He says, ‘Therefore, I will send that mighty King, Nebachadnezzar, to take you from the Promised Land.  He will destroy that land in which you live and make it desolate.  Then as slaves, you will serve Babylon for seventy years!  However, if you repent, God will relent – He will change His mind and forgive you’. 

 

 But their reaction was this:  Right there, in the Temple , God’s own House, a mob started gathering around the prophet.  They seized him and said, ‘You’re calling us ‘bad’?’…‘You’re saying God is against ‘us’?...then You must DIE!’  Can you feel the claustrophobia of the pressing crowd; the anger hanging in the air?  It all too well reminds us of the words that would one day echo near this very same spot, as a jeering, angry crowd would shout at not only a prophet, but THE Prophet - God’s own Son, saying “crucify him, crucify him!”

 I.  It’s Not Always Easy To Speak About Sin

 Talking to people about their sin is never an easy task.  By nature, we humans never like to be told when we are doing wrong and that we need to get back on the right path.  But it is a necessary message, is it not?  Even as God’s people, we need the Lord’s loving rebuke and His call for repentance and change in our lives.  Interestingly enough, did you notice that Jeremiah was speaking to God’s people?  At this time the message was not for an unbelieving world that needed reforming, but the very people there in the House of God!

 

 Can we not also today see a parallel in the House of God today?  I think about the rise of the “MegaChurches” that we’ve seen arise over the past 2 decades.  They often boast up to 15,000 worshippers in a weekend.  But the message usually in those places has little to do with Law and Gospel; sin and sacraments (God giving forgiveness).  Instead, the messages each week are little more than practical advice on ‘how to live a better life.’  That’s hardly the message that the prophets, Apostles, and even Jesus died for!  Or look at others, like the Episcopalians.  Here too, thinking themselves also to be God’s representative people, they now ordain and tolerate the sins of homosexuality, even ordaining Lesbians and Gays into the supposed Ministry of Jesus Christ!  And sadly, many other mainline Denominations are not too far behind them.

 

 Or what shall we say of the plague of pedophilic Priests within the Roman Catholic church?  The cures they offer are merely to “move the Priests to another Parish” – that’s like moving the fox from one hen house to another.  No wonder just this last week the San Diego Diocese announced bankruptcy because of such lawsuits against them! Where is the condemnation of sin?  Where is the call to repentance in the Temple of God ?  Where are the Lord’s ‘prophets’ of today to faithfully proclaim His Word?!

 II.                Trusting In God’s Promises and Salvation, We Are Made Bold To Speak 

 How blessed you and I are to be part of a Church and Church Denomination that holds on to God’s Word and fails not to preach the whole counsel of God!  But you know what?  God has not placed us here to merely “look down our noses”.  When Jeremiah pointed to the sin of the people there in the midst of God’s House, it was not with an attitude of “holier than thou”.  It was done with a heart for people who had lost their way; with love and compassion that desired to lead people back to the truth and back to their holy, almighty Father!  We Lutherans usually do well to have such concern about the truth of God’s Word – it is our spiritual heritage going back to Luther and beyond.  But equally, we must speak that truth with love and compassion. 

 For example, imagine if we saw people trapped in a burning house?  Would we stand there and simply condemn them and say, “See, I told you one day this was going to happen– they are learning their lesson now!”  Would a snide “I told you so” really be our response?  Or what if on the other hand we simply looked at the house and said to ourselves, “Well, I don’t want to disturb those people.”  “They might get mad at me if I bother them” or “It might be too uncomfortable a conversation to talk about their house being on fire.”  Wouldn’t we instead do everything we could to warn and save them?  Of course we would!  So if we can care about human life and the saving of temporal bodies, then why would we not all the more be concerned about these same people’s eternal souls?  Oh I know, it is not always an easy thing to do – to be God’s mouthpiece and to speak about sin.  But that is why God provides His word here and teaches us about Jeremiah. 

 Jeremiah’s strength as ‘God’s man’ came from God as he trusted in the promises of God.  God told him: “Do not be afraid, for I am with you and I will rescue you” (1:8).  And, “I will make you a wall and they will not prevail against you.  For I am with you to save you and deliver you” (15:20).  And “Before you were formed, I knew you; before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you; and I ordained you a prophet to the Nations.”  Now maybe some will say, “Well I’m no Jeremiah!  God hasn’t called me to speak His Word.”  But is that really true?  Did not our Lord also “form you”, oh Christian brother/sister?  You were created by Him, just the way He wanted you to be – you are “known” by Him.  You, like Jeremiah, have been “sanctified”.  God set you apart and made you holy by the shed blood of Jesus.  And He has “ordained” or ‘chosen’ us, the Church, by the Great Commission to make Disciples and lead others to the cross of Jesus Christ.  Oh, He may not call you to go into the full time Ministry or to stand on Jerusalem ’s walls, but He has called everyone of us to be a light shining in the darkness, to do our bit in warning others of sin and pointing them to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 

 Oh loved ones – Christ came to save YOU!  He Himself faced all manner of persecution so that you and I might know eternal peace!  He shed His holy Blood to pay for what was lacking in ourselves before God and to remove sin and its power from our lives!  Ephesians 2:8,9 says it so beautifully:  “For by grace you are saved, through faith; and not that of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast”.  But have you ever wondered the purpose for which we were saved?  V. 10 goes on to say, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them”.  You see loved ones, if God has formed you, never can you say that you are inadequate for the task He calls you to.  And if He has chosen (ordained) for you a certain work, should you ever have need to fear?  God created this opportunity for you!  So why then be afraid ?  If there were an army of 8 thousand armored tanks against you, could not God bat them all away with an eyelash?  Of course He can!  So if you believe He can do that, then why be afraid of just a few people?  Go and speak His Word in the opportunities He provides!  God’s called us not to be just “salt among salt” or “light among light”, but calls His light to shine forth “in the darkness”, that is, in the sinful world around us.  You are His Kingdom and you are His light in the darkness around you.  Shine when God gives you opportunities!  

   In closing, I want to share with you a quote from a Missionary named Hudson Taylor.  He said this (and I’ll say it twice for those who sleep through it the first time!):  “All God’s giants have been weak men, who did great things for God because they believed God would be with them”.  Jeremiah was fearful at first.  He said “I can’t speak; and my age is a hindrance!”  But then He took God at His Word and believed that God was with him, just as He said:  “Do not be afraid, for I am with you and I will rescue you” (1:8).  And, “I will make you a wall and they will not prevail against you.  For I am with you to save you and deliver you” (15:20). 

  
 The Lord also promises to be with us!  The Lord your God is with you – stand firm!  If you see yourself afraid and weak, then good, God can use a person like you.  He’s made giants out of people like you in the past!  So trust in God’s promises and faithfully speak His Word.  Like Jeremiah, you have been saved for a purpose: “created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has” ordained for you!  Amen.

 

 Rev. Daniel McQuality

Lord of Life Lutheran Church (ELS)

Holland, MI

BUILDING A STRONG BODY OF CHRIST 

1 Corinthians 12:12-27          1/21/07 

Dear Friends in Christ, 

There’s a story of a conversation between the angel Gabriel and the Lord after Jesus had finished His work on earth and returned to Heaven.  Gabriel asked, “Lord, who will continue Your work now that You have returned to Heaven?”  

Jesus said, “I’ve entrusted that work to people like Peter and John; Martha and Mary.  They are going to tell people about what I have done, and the people after them will do the same.” 

To this, Gabriel asked, “What other plan have you made if these fishermen are too busy fishing, or the women too busy doing their tasks?”  

Jesus replied, “I have made no other plans.  I am counting on them.” 

Now, the sermon today is not about outreach – as important a topic that is and needs to be remembered by us, daily!  Instead, the point that this imaginary conversation drives home this morning is that we are the body of Christ here on earth.  We’re it!  You and I are His mouth to tell others of His undying love at the cross and His undying passion for the lost as the risen Savior;  You and I are His hands as we don’t just speak His words of love but reach out in action;  You and I are His feet as we don’t just ‘talk the talk’, but ‘walk the walk’ of a living faith in our Lord, and being light in a sin-darkened world. 

So if WE are the Body of Christ, His Church, don’t we want Him to build us up as a “strong body”?  I mean, we don’t want to be a ‘weak body’; nor a lazy or unhealthy body, do we?  No, to be “spiritual wimps” is never our goal – instead, we want God to make us strong!  

Well God shows us how He makes us to be just that in 1 Corinthians 12 by 1) recognizing our unity  2) accepting our diversity of gifts as Christian people and 3)appreciating our interdependence in this Body!  So may the Lord, our living Head, bless us as He shares with us ‘His heart’ this morning in the Word of God, as we talk about ‘building a strong body of Christ’. 

I.  Different Parts; One Body 
 

Once again, our text:  

12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body. (1 Corinthians 12:12,17-20)  

Now last week we talked about the Corinthian Church and how they were probably the most gifted Congregation to ever exist:  They spoke in unlearned languages (tongues) given by the Holy Spirit, so as to be an amazing witness to unbelievers.  They had miraculous gifts – no ‘phony bolony’ stuff, but real gifts of healing and power.  And they even prophesied, that is, God’s Word was divinely put upon their tongues to speak and proclaim!  The Church at Corinth had gifts and talents that no other Church, perhaps in all history had – but unless they came together, the Body of Christ was in danger of crumbling at Corinth . 

Rather than realizing and accepting that God had gifted each one of them individually and that each one of them were a special and unique part of Christ’s body, they became jealous of one another.  Backbiting was practiced and each one was ‘making it all about themselves’, as they used their gifts not to serve the members of the Church, but to inflate egos. 
          So the apostle Paul had to take them back to basics, saying:  “do all speak in tongues; do all prophesy; do all have every gift?”  The answer to these rhetorical questions was ‘no’.  Not every one had every gift, and that was by God’s divine purposes!  Each person there was a unique and different part of Christ’s body, and each was specially gifted by the Holy Spirit.  And every one was important to God, and together they made up the body of Christ. 

          If we at Lord of Life are to be a strong body of Christ, we also must take these words to heart.  We have to recognize our unity in Christ and accept the diversity of gifts as He, the Spirit, has given them.  We may not have all the same kinds of gifts as found in Corinth , but God has still given us different gifts to serve one another and to glorify Him.  Different is good!

 

For example, we are not all members of the Choir -  and think of how silly that would be if we all had a special gift for singing – all us in the Congregation getting up during the Service; shuffling over by the organ in a massive crowd!.  All of us then singing to empty chairs; and then shuffling back to our seats when finished!  Likewise, all of us are not gifted to teach, and that’s a good thing!  Imagine all of us in Bible Class and Sunday School standing up and trying to teach each other – no students, but all teachers!  You see, not all of us are the same “parts” – we are not all “eyes” or “ears”.  And would that not be a ‘monstrous’ thing if we were all ‘eyes’ or ‘ears’.  Picture a bunch of ‘eyes’ globbed together, or a ‘giant ear’ walking down the street.  Spiritually speaking, we would look like something out of a Sci-fi movie!  
       So instead, the Body of Christ is made up of different parts, and each part serves the other!  Take our organist for example:  how would the Body be if we didn’t have someone to give us the right pitch or help us sing the right notes?  Kristen is an important part of this Body.  How would the Choir sound if Bruce were not there to lead them?  The Bible talks about different gifts, like the ‘gift of encouragement’, and that would be Rod in our Congregation (the eternal optimist!).  There are ‘gifts of service’:  that is Duane and Anita helping to manage the small children at Church, and Pearl and Robin – so often they have been called ‘the hands’ of Christ among us!  And did you know that nearly every time we have a visitor sign the Guestbook, Ellen makes sure to send our guests a note?  She is the welcoming voice that goes out from the ‘mouth’ of this Body! 

       You know I could go on and on and individually point out how the Holy Spirit has gifted each one here.  But the point we take home with us is that each of us is gifted by God in a different way, just as different parts are designed for different purposes, but together we make up the body.  So let each one use their gift in proportion to the measure of faith which God has given them! 

     Do you know what Pastors often time see happen in Churches?  Sometimes someone gets angry when someone “who doesn’t usually do that job” steps up and serves in a certain way.  People sometimes get offended when they shouldn’t be.  It’s like when there is a foreign object in your eye and it needs to be removed.  The eye has to realize that the finger is not there ‘poking the eye’ but trying to help the body in a way that it can.  But so many times, one part is offended by another part and they end up leaving the Body.  And when that part is gone it affects the whole body.  For example, when the foot is missing, it doesn’t just effect the leg or knee, but the whole body limps.  Likewise, when the toe is stubbed, does not the whole body writhe in pain?  So there is a real important message here that the Lord is trying to convey to us, His Body:  Don’t be offended if God uses someone else with their talents and gifts to do a certain task in His Body.  And realize that you are not the “Body” individually, but you are one part that makes up the Body!  The Body doesn’t revolve around you, but you are an important part, and without you and the function that God has for you in His Body, the Body is weakened! 

II. Putting It All Together 

So what does this mean?:  

 21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. (1 Corinthian 12:21-26) 
  

            Loved ones, each one of you are important because Christ died for you!  Talk about a body…Almighty God, the Son, stepped down from Heaven’s throne and became fully human to redeem you.  Think of that for a moment – God almighty, taking on the form of His creation!  And He did that not just for 33 years, but eternally, He has become the ‘God-Man’.  His scars still bearing witness of His love for you, His Body:  the thorn-pricked brow; the stripes on His back so that we might be healed; the hands and feet pierced for our transgressions!  My, how His body still bears witness of His love for you and me! 

              And His work in your life didn’t end with His dying and rising 33 A.D., but He has called you today to faith, gifted you in a unique way, and makes you an indispensable part of His Body.  There is a reason for your being at Lord of Life;  there is a service in this world that God has given you to play out; and without you and your God-given gifts, would the Body of Christ not suffer somehow?  So important you are, loved ones!  Not that God couldn’t do His work without us, but the honor is that He has chosen to do His work through you!  He has died and risen to make you His own, and made you a member of His holy Body! 

              One day there was a young man in the School Orchestra.  He was a percussionist (for you non-musical people, that means he played the drums), and he was upset because the Director had placed him on cymbals.  In his eyes, the cymbals were the worst and most unimportant instrument.  He thought he was much more suited to be the lead snare drum player; or at least shine on the xylophone or pound the dominating Bass drum!  So when the time came for the Orchestra to play at their annual Concert, he decided to boycott it in protest. 

            But at the night of the Concert, there was a last minute change of plans.  Due to certain circumstances, the Director chose to change one piece of music for another, and chose to play the “1812 Overture”.  We all know this familiar tune (humming), and it is in this song that the cymbal player… has the most important part!  So on this night when this majestic song was being played, how lonely and incomplete that beautiful piece sounded without that one, modest cymbal player! 

              Oh, do we not see the importance of every part?  Do we not see the significance of every member?  To see the unity that we have amongst a diversity of gifts is indeed a blessed thing!  Others are important, and you are important too.  We’re that way because Jesus made us that way!  How strong the Body of our Lord becomes when we understand all that He has done, and still does, among us!  Amen. 

Rev. Daniel McQuality 

Lord of Life Lutheran Church (ELS)
Holland, Michigan 

  

Wow!  God Has Made Me “A Manager”! 

Genesis 17:2    1-7-07 
 

Dear Friends in Christ,

We live in an age of “financial bombardment”, don’t we?  We just sit down to eat when the phone rings.  A telemarketer reaches through the lines, grabs us by the collar, and wants us to send us something in exchange for our credit card information!  At Christmas time, we may feel that ‘uneasy pressure’ to empty our pockets into a red, tri-pod bucket as the Salvation Army worker rings their bell at us as we go in and out of the store. For every little thing you buy, there’s sales tax– and for everything that you make a buck on, there’s income tax.  And have you ever taken a close look at your bills?  AT & T promises my family a $29.95 economy plan each month for our phone, but then there’s the “Star Code Access charge”, a “Federal & State access charge”, and a whole host of one and two dollar charges that I don’t even know what they are, so that my $29.95 economy plan quickly turns into a $75 bill!  It seems that everybody is ‘greedy for the green’, and that everyone is trying to reach into our pockets and take it!

It’s no wonder then that when you come to Church and the topic of the day is “Stewardship”, that we have a ‘shell-shocked’ reaction!  People start squirming in their chairs and in people’s hearts, there is an instinctive clutching of the wallet or purse!  We do that because we tend to spell the word “Stewardship” with an ‘S’ that has 2 vertical lines running down through it. But is that really what ‘stewardship’ is all about – your  Washington’s; your Lincolns ; your Benjamin’s?   Is the idea of ‘stewardship’ just some ‘ploy’ developed by the Church a long time ago to coerce ‘money’ out of the people? (Some actually think that, you know).   Actually, if the idea of Stewardship ‘threatens’ you, more than ‘thrills’ you…then I guarantee you, you don’t understand what ‘Stewardship’ is, and you don’t truly understand the honor that the Lord has bestowed upon you when He calls you ‘His steward’!  So at the beginning of this New Year, let’s talk about the amazing thought that God has made you, the Manager of His things!

I.  What Is A “Steward”? 

So what is a ‘steward’?  Is it someone who manages just money? No, actually, the biblical definition of a Steward is much wider than that.  Yes, they may manage someone else’s money, but it is really a whole household responsibility.  A Steward could be a person free or a slave;  they usually had charge of nearly ALL that the master owned; and they represented the master in all that they did.  In the Old Testament, we find specifically two clear examples of what ‘stewards’ really are. 

The first is Joseph.  You’ll remember that after receiving that famous ‘Technicolor coat’ from his Dad, Jacob, Joseph’s many brothers got jealous of him and whisked him away into a life of slavery.  Ultimately, he landed down in Egypt as a slave to a man named Potipher, and it wasn’t long before Potipher’s wife, in perfect Soap Opera form, thought he was cute and made a pass at him.  But listen to what this faithful steward of Potipher’s household says: “But he refused (her).  “With me in charge, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care…my master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife.” (Gen. 39:8ff).  Joseph rightly understood who he was and his responsibilities, and this ‘Steward’ was entrusted with nearly EVERYTHING his master owned.

In today’s text, we meet someone you might not be familiar with.  Eliezer was the Steward of father Abraham’s household. Eliezer represented Abraham in ALL of his dealings – he even entrusted Eliezer with the task to find Abraham’s son, Isaac, a wife (Rebekah)!  Listen to the ‘principles’ God’s Word lays down for Steward in how Genesis 24 describes Eliezer:

1. v. 2:  Eliezer is called the chief Steward and “ruled over ALL that he had” (v2) and that ‘all the goods of his master were in his hands’ (v10)  - he knew that everything he had was not his but his master’s possessions!
2. v.2:  He made himself available to do whatever his master wanted
3. v.3: He was anxious and wanting to do his master’s will
4. v.9:  He was allegiant to his master by an oath – this means he took his responsibility as a steward seriously!
5. v.35 (and other vs.):  In everything Eliezer does, he attributes praise not to himself, but his master’s glory. 

HOLY IS OUR GOD    Trinity Sunday 2006    Isaiah 6:1-8 

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
       "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." 

 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 

 5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." 

 6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." 

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
      And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:1-8) 

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

The preacher, R.C. Sproul once said about this text:  

  “The Bible says God is “holy, holy, holy.”  He’s not merely ‘holy’, or even ‘holy, holy’.  He is “holy, holy, holy.”  (And) “the Bible never says that God is ‘love, love, love’ or that God is ‘mercy, mercy, mercy’, or that God is ‘wrath, wrath, wrath’.  It does say that He is “holy, holy, holy.” 

  Well incase you haven’t guessed, this morning we are talking about God’s ‘holiness’ – God IS holy.  So, how would you define “holy”?  A definition is a good place to start! 

  When I first think about what “holy” means, the word ‘pure’ first pops into my mind.  Yet, there is more than ‘purity’ to the meaning of ‘holy’.  Afterall, if you look at bottle of bottled water, it might read “100% purified water”.  But we probably wouldn’t call that water “holy”.  God is not just ‘pure’, He is also ‘separated’ or ‘set above’.  Perhaps Psalm 24 helps to illustrate:  “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?  And who shall stand in His holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart…”  When we say that God is ‘holy’, He is not only pure, but He is high, exalted and set apart. 

  And ‘holy’ is also one of God’s “Attributes”.  You remember those, don’t you, from your Confirmation years?  ‘Attributes’ are words that describe God:  for example, God is ‘omniscient (all knowing), omnipotent (all powerful), just, merciful, love, almighty, etc.’  “Holy” is an attribute of God, but ‘holy’ is not just a general attribute, it actually envelopes who He is.  It is synonymous with His Deity.  ‘Holy’ is who He is!  Over 39 times, God the Father is addressed as “Holy Father/Holy Lord”.  The same is said of God the Son by both Angels and Demons.  One example is when Jesus preached in the Synagogue at Nazareth .  A demon spoke up and said ‘We know who you are, Jesus of Nazareth …You are the Holy One of God!’.  And over 90 times in Holy Scripture, the Spirit of God is addressed specifically as the “Holy Spirit”.  More than an attribute or description, “holy” is the very essence of who God is! 

  And by the word “holy”, it calls attention to ALL that God is, that is, it envelopes all the other attributes!  God is ‘love’, for example.  ‘Love’ is an attribute of God, but is this an erotic love, a brotherly love, etc?  God’s love is a “holy love”, just as God’s justice can never be a ‘corrupt justice’, it is a “holy justice”; His knowledge is a “holy knowledge”, and the list goes on.  His holiness envelopes ALL that God is. 

  You see, everything that God is, is conditioned by His holiness.  The Bible says that because He is holy, God Himself cannot be tempted by evil (James 1:13), nor can He lie ‘for it is impossible for God to lie’ (Hebrews 6:18).  So if anyone would seek to know God, let him first of all know that God is Holy, Holy, Holy! 

  I.                 God’s Holiness Is  Foundational 

  So, why does that make a difference to you and me?  Afterall, most everyone who believes in God would acknowledge that God is holy.  So why spend any more time on the topic?  Well the answer lies in Isaiah chapter 6 and the calling of Isaiah the prophet. 

  Certainly, the lives of all are full of many challenges.  But Isaiah was called to a particularly difficult task in his life.  Isaiah lived in a time where nearly all the people in his Country had fallen from grace and literally turned from God and were worshipping idols of wood and stone.  Now how would you like to be the one facing those dagger-filled eyes of an entire Country as you stand before them – telling them they are doing wrong and sinning?  Add to this the discouragement Isaiah faced as he preached for some 60 years and yet there is not a record of even ONE convert in all his labors! 

  Where does one get the strength for such a task?...the courage to preach before a  Nation and condemn its sin (would you want the job)?!  Where would you find the encouragement to go through year after year; decade after decade and seeing no fruit for your labors?  How would you manage to persevere in the face of continual suffering, rejection, and persecution?  

  God supplied this all in one short but powerfully dramatic lesson on “God’s Holiness”.  This was the foundation he would need! 

  You see, in Isaiah’s experience in the throne room of God: 


 

 

-         Isaiah immediately experienced that God is HOLY.  This produced fear and reverence!  In one heartbeat, Isaiah learned to care about GOD’S opinions instead of what men thought!  THAT’S STRENGTH TO PREACH, DESPITE ADVERSITY!         

-         Seeing the Lord in all His holiness and glory put the reality of eternity and Heaven into His perspective.  The ideas of "forgiveness", and "standing before God's judgment throne" were no long just "Churchy, Sunday Morning thoughts".  The Lord supplied a HEAVENLY AND ETERNAL MINDSET! 

-         Isaiah saw clearly his own unholiness and sin in contrast to God’s holiness.  It caused him to desire grace and mercy, and the Lord graciously provided such.  ISAIAH COULD SPEAK FIRST HAND TO OTHERS OF SIN AND GOD'S FORGIVENESS!

-   Then, when asked "whom shall I send?" for this most difficult task of speaking Law and Gospel, it was Isaiah with this renewed perspective that said, "here am I, send me!".  From a forgiven heart, GOD CREATES A WILLINGNESS TO SERVE, and this is exactly what we see in Isaiah's calling!

STRENGTH, COURAGE, ENCOURAGEMENT, AND PERSEVERANCE ALL POURED OUT FROM THE LORD’S FOUNDATIONAL LESSON ON GOD’S HOLINESS! 

  How foundational this truth is throughout the Scriptures!  When the Lord called Moses to serve Him, Moses was confronted with the holiness of God as His first words were, “take off your shoes for you are on holy ground”.  Or in the Exodus how complained that there was no water at Kadesh (which incidentally means “holy”!).  It was there that Moses in anger hit the rock instead of speaking to it, as God had told him.  He had not rightly revered God’s Word, which is equivalent to disrespecting God’s  holiness.  So God said to Moses, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of , therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” (Numbers 20:12) 

  Consider too the Ark of the Covenant.  Here was the symbol of God’s presence which was kept in the holiest place of the Tabernacle and Temple , the “holy of holies”.  God commanded that NO ONE was to touch it.  When the Philistines captured it at Beth-shemesh and did not treat it as ‘holy’, 50,070 men died!  And when Uzzah the Israelite removed the Ark to bring it back, the ox cart hit a bump and the Ark was about to fall.  When Uzzah steadied and touched the Ark , he too died.  Why did God allow Uzzah to die even when his motives were good.   Well, Uzzah too did not treat God as holy in the sight of all because he was not carrying the Ark as the Lord had directed (with poles through the golden ring).  He'd disregarded God's Word.

  And what shall we say of Ananias and Sapphira who lied to the Holy Spirit about the price of the land (Acts 5) and died as a result?  Or the Corinthian Christians and the judgment brought on them out of their irreverence for the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11)?  The Lord is not just holy, but He is holy, holy, holy, and such knowledge is the basis for knowing the Lord rightly and serving Him.  "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom"!

  II.             Through Mercy, God Makes the Unholy, Holy! 
  
 Now who among us wouldn't tremble like Isaiah in the presence of this Holy God?!  Our lips have not been clean - think of the words we sometimes say.  We haven't loved God with all our heart, nor have we perfectly reverred and kept God's holy Word.  But do you know what my favorite part of Isaiah’s calling is?  It is the coal from the Altar.  Think about that – why is there a coal in Heaven, and where does it come from?!   A ‘glowing coal’ is that which remained after a finished sacrifice, and this my friends, is the best and most powerful part of the vision! 

  As we consider the holiness of God, Calvary then becomes an amazing place!  God is completely holy, as the Bible well points out.  He despises all sin and cannot tolerate it in any way.  And yet, these same Scriptures go on to tell us: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)!  Without holiness, it is impossible to enter God’s Heaven.  Yet, in holiness, God made provision for our sin to be fully atoned for so that we might become holy and righteous in His sight!  This Holy Father sends His Son; the “Holy One of God” (Jesus) lays down His life and fulfills the Law’s demands of a death penalty for those who do not keep the Lord's Law 'holy';  and the Holy Spirit comes among us to deliver and distribute God’s mercy from the cross to all with open hearts (1 Cor. 12:3).  Because Christ has cleansed away our sin by His sacrifice at Calvary’s cross, He makes us who believe this good new, His ‘holy ones’ (also know as His ‘saints’)! 

  And the Lord continues to cleanse His children from sin!  What a blessing it is that each time we come into His presence and partake of Communion, He again and again brings that ‘completed sacrifice’ of long ago to our lips.  His Body and Blood is given to us to make us clean.  It is from that 'completed sacrifice' that Christ comes to us and says that this is His Blood shed "for the forgiveness of sins".  Our sins are cleansed and removed just as the Lord did for Isaiah long ago!  And like Isaiah we can leave God’s presence with a heart ready to serve Him, motivated by the grace and forgiveness that He has extended to us and that we have received!  Through all that Jesus does for us, He has taken us who were once 'unholy' and made us His 'holy and precious in His sight'!  Stop and let that sink in for a momment!

  How rightly Sproul said it!  God is not merely “holy”, but “holy, holy, holy”.  And yet this amazing, holy God reaches down to us and cleanses us by the merits and sacrifice of His Holy Son.  How beautiful then are the words of Scripture: 

  “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” – 1 Peter 2:9,10 

 In Christ’s holy name, Amen. 

 Pastor Dan McQuality
   2 Peter 3:18