The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel, Classic Version, 2015Sample

The Beauty of Holiness

Do you try to fit Jesus into your schedule? Or do you work your schedule around Jesus?

‘God cannot fit into our plans, we must fit into his’, writes Eugene Peterson. ‘We can’t use God – God is not a tool or appliance or credit card. Holy is the word that sets God apart and above our attempts to enlist him in our wish-fulfilment fantasies or our utopian schemes for making our mark in the world. Holy means that God is alive on God’s terms, alive in a way that exceeds our experience and imagination. Holy refers to life burning with an intense purity that transforms everything it touches into itself.’

The Hebrew word ‘holy’ (qadosh) probably originally meant ‘separate’ or ‘set apart’. It came to be used to describe the ‘otherness’ of God, and how his character and nature are so much greater and more wonderful than any other person or thing. For something else to be ‘holy’ simply means for it to be dedicated to God. You are holy to the extent that your life is devoted to him, and your actions reflect his character. Today’s passages help us understand what holiness looks like.

Psalm 27:1-6

1. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness

How do we live a life without fear?

David had plenty of reasons to be afraid. He was surrounded by ‘vandals’, ‘bullies’ and ‘toughs’ (v.2, MSG). Yet he said, ‘I’m fearless, afraid of no one and nothing’ (v.1, MSG). ‘I’m calm as a baby … I’m collected and cool’ (v.3, MSG). How can he be so confident in the face of such opposition and attack?

The focus of his life was worship. He focused on ‘one thing’ (v.4). This was his number one priority. He was not trying to fit God into his plans. He made his plans around his first priority of worship.

He gives a wonderful description of worship. What he wants to do more than anything is ‘to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple’ (v.4b). There he will ‘sacrifice with shouts of joy; [he] will sing and make music to the Lord’ (v.6b).

I love the expression ‘the beauty of the Lord’ (v.4b). The Greek word for ‘beauty’ (kalos) is the word used to describe everything that Jesus did (Mark 7:37). Dostoevsky described Jesus as ‘infinitely beautiful’. Jesus had no outward beauty (Isaiah 53:2–3); he had a different kind of beauty – the beauty of holiness.

As we seek the Lord and gaze upon the beauty of the Lord in worship he lifts us above all the distractions, fears and temptations. As David puts it, ‘That’s the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world … God holds me head and shoulders above those who try to pull me down’ (Psalm 27:5–6, MSG).

I love you, Lord. You are my light and my salvation. You are the stronghold of my life. One thing I ask, that I may dwell in your house all the days of my life, to gaze on your beauty.

Mark 9:33-10:12

2. Serve the Lord in a life of holiness

What should our attitude be to other Christian ministries and other Christian churches?

Divisions among followers of Jesus started very early on! The disciples started arguing about who was the greatest (9:33–34). In this context, Jesus speaks to them about the characteristics of a life of holiness.

• Humility
  Jesus tells them not to compete to be number one. It is always a temptation for Christian leaders to compete. Envy and rivalry are great dangers. Jesus says if you are going to compete it should be to get the last place. If anyone wants to be first, they ‘must be the very last, and the servant of all’ (v.35). Leaders are called to humble service.
• Love
  ‘He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me” ’ (9:37).

Jesus demonstrates that we are to love and welcome everyone, even those who are unable to do anything for us – the very young, the weak, the poor – in doing so we are loving and welcoming Jesus.

• Tolerance
  Jesus tells the disciples not to dismiss or judge others who do things ‘in Jesus’ name’ just because they are not part of their group (vv.38,39,41) or they were doing things in a different manner to how the disciples were doing them. It is a mistake to dismiss other Christians, other denominations or other organisations because they are not ‘one of us’ (v.38).
• Discipline
  We sometimes tolerate sin in our own lives but are intolerant towards other people’s sin. Jesus teaches us to be tolerant towards others, but intolerant about sin in our own lives (vv.42–49). We are to be disciplined, uncompromising and radical about sin in our lives. It is often sin that leads to division. Jesus calls us to be ruthless about living a life of holiness.

Of course, Jesus is not speaking about literal maiming (as some have taken it in the course of church history). Rather, this is figurative language about what we do (with our hands, v.43), places we go (with our feet, v.45) and what we look at (with our eyes, v.47).

• Peace
  Jesus tells them not to argue but to be at peace. Jesus longed for his disciples to get along with one another, to stop arguing and to ‘be at peace with each other’ (9:50). Later, he prayed that we may be one in order that the world would believe (John 17:21).
• Faithfulness
  Jesus calls his disciples to faithfulness in marriage. He points out that Moses’ permission of divorce was a concession and not a command. God’s intention for marriage is life-long faithfulness. Husband and wife are so closely united that they become one flesh: ‘So they are no longer two, but one flesh’ (Mark 10:8). This is the context for the wonderful words in the marriage service, which follow the joining of hands and the exchange of vows: ‘Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate’ (v.9).

Lord, help me through the power of your Holy Spirit to live a holy life and to develop the characteristics of humility, love, tolerance, discipline, peace and faithfulness. Help me to serve you in a life of holiness.

Leviticus 1:1-3:17

3. Be holy as the Lord is holy

How can we live holy lives when the world around us is so unholy?

As the people of God are about to enter the promised land, there is what Eugene Peterson describes as a ‘narrative pause’; an ‘extended time-out of instruction, a detailed and meticulous preparation for living “holy” in a culture that doesn’t have the faintest idea what “holy” is.’

‘First’, he writes, ‘every detail of our lives is affected by the presence of this holy God.’ We are called to holiness in every aspect of our day-to-day lives. Second, ‘God provides a way (the sacrifices and feasts and Sabbaths) to bring everything in and about us into his holy presence, transformed in the fiery blaze of the holy.’

The language of Leviticus sounds very strange to our modern ears. The law required that the sacrifice be perfect – ‘without defect’ (1:3). Through the sacrifice, ‘atonement’ was made (v.4). Symbolically, through the laying on of hands on the head of the bulls, goats and lambs (for example 3:2,8) the sin passed to a substitute who would be sacrificed on behalf of human beings. The blood of the sacrifice was extremely important (1:5; 3:2,8,13).

All this can only be understood fully in the light of the New Testament. The writer of Hebrews tells us that ‘without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness’ (Hebrews 9:22). He tells us that the law is a ‘copy’ (v.23) and a ‘shadow’ (Hebrews 10:1). In other words, this is just a foreshadowing and a picture of something far greater and more wonderful.

He writes, ‘The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming – not the realities themselves … It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins’ (Hebrews 10:1,4).

All this was leading up to ‘the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all’ (Hebrews 10:10). ‘By one sacrifice he has made perfect for ever those who are being made holy’ (v.14). We receive total forgiveness and ‘where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary’ (v.18).

So, the New Testament tells us none of these sacrifices are needed anymore. However, they form the background to the sacrifice of Jesus and help us to understand just how amazing it is. Holiness starts by putting our faith in what Jesus has done for us and asking his Holy Spirit to come into our lives to help us to begin to live holy lives.

The fact that there is so much about sacrifice in the Old Testament tells us just how significant the sacrifice of Jesus is for us. If we are to ‘keep the main thing the main thing’, the cross and resurrection of Jesus need to be at the heart of our thinking, preaching and worship. 

In gratitude for all that God has done for us by the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf we are to offer our ‘bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is [our] true and proper worship’ (Romans 12:1–2).

Lord, full of thankfulness and praise, I offer you my body as a living sacrifice. Help me, through your Holy Spirit who lives in me, to be holy as you are holy.

Pippa Adds

Jesus says, ‘Be at peace with each other’ (Mark 9:50). That would solve most of the problems in the world!  

Notes:

Eugine Peterson, The Message: ‘Introduction to Leviticus’, (NavPress 2007)

Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.

Scripture quotations marked (AMP) taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.