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Location:
6425 Jefferson Rd. For
directions, click here.
Jerry
Varnado,
pastor January
13, 2002 Most
of our preaching and conversation
on the subject of holiness has to
do with the human side -- what
does it mean for us to be holy.
The definitions in our
dictionaries reflect this
understanding. 9-The
God
Who
Fills
Heaven
and
Earth That's
what I would call the "human side
of holiness. But even the
dictionary definitions that
relate specifically to God don't
fully tell us what it really
means when we say "God is
holy": You
see, these even those definitions
explain holiness by our reaction
to it, rather than by what it
really is. But these secular
definitions do give us a correct
starting point. They make it
clear that there is no holiness
apart from God. Presbyterian
pastor and author Frederick
Buechner puts it this way in his
book, Wishful Thinking: "Only God
is holy. To say that anything
else is holy is to say it has
something of God's mark on it."
In other words, a thing or a
person is referred to as "holy"
only because of contact with or
relationship with Holy God.
At
the root of the biblical concept
of holiness is absolute moral
perfection, the total freedom
from moral evil. But we mustn't
make the mistake of thinking that
God is subject to some law or
standard of moral excellence
outside Himself. Rather, all
moral law and perfection have
their eternal and unchangeable
basis in God's own nature. He is
the One in whom these eternal
sanctities reside; God Himself is
the root and ground of them
all. We
learn from scripture that God is
perfect, transcendent, and
spiritually pure,that He is
unsearchable, incomprehensible,
incomparable, great, wonderful
and exalted, invoking our
adoration and awe. So
we sing with the victorious,
redeemed saints in Revelation
15:4: "Who will not fear you, O
Lord, and bring glory to your
name? For you alone are
holy." That
brings us to another dimension to
the biblical meaning of "holy" as
it pertains to God:
fear. God
is holy and we are unholy. God is
omnipotent and we are weak. If we
really think about it, God should
be frightening, He has
potentially fatal
power. In
Old Testament times, no one but
the High Priest could go into the
Holy of Holies, the place where
God resided in the Tabernacle.
The High Priest was to go in
there only once a year to make
the sacrifice of atonement. He
had a long rope fastened to him
so that in case the presence of
God killed him they would have a
way to drag him out. They knew
something about having the "fear
of God." But
that isn't solely an Old
Testament concept as some have
supposed. In Acts 5 we have the
story of Ananias and Sapphira.
Here it is, starting near the end
of chapter 4, talking about the
early church: Joseph,
a Levite from Cyprus, whom the
apostles called Barnabas
(which means Son of
Encouragement), sold a field
he owned and brought the money
and put it at the apostles'
feet. Enter
Ananias and Sapphira: Then
Peter said, "Ananias, how is
it that Satan has so filled
your heart that you have lied
to the Holy Spirit and have
kept for yourself some of the
money you received for the
land? Didn't it belong to you
before it was sold? And after
it was sold, wasn't the money
at your disposal? What made
you think of doing such a
thing? You have not lied to
men but to God." When Ananias
heard this, he fell down and
died. Well,
then his wife Sapphira comes in,
is confronted with her sin, and
she falls down, too. And verse 11
says, "Great fear seized the
whole church and all who heard
about these events." I
guess so! That's what I call an
incentive to holiness. So
the "fear" of God is rooted in
God's holiness. I
want to take a few minutes to
explore the fear of God. Unger's
Bible Dictionary divides fear
into three kinds. One is
superstitious fear, which is the
fruit of ignorance. Another is
servile fear, which leads to
abstinence from many sins through
apprehension of punishment.
Servile fear is the kind of fear
that drives idol worship and
other non-Christian religions;
and yes some church folk are
stuck in these kinds of fear,
too. They struggle and strain to
do what is right for fear if they
don't whatever or whomever they
revere as god will get
them. But
there's a third kind of fear --
and this is the kind God desires
in His people. It is filial fear,
which is rooted in a love
relationship with God. This is
the kind of fear gives us an
earnest desire to not offend or
grieve God, a desire to try to
please Him in all things. This
kind of fear is produced in the
soul by the Holy Spirit, and
brings great blessing upon those
who possess it. Here's
some of what the Bible says about
the benefits of having this kind
of "filial fear" of
God: Fear
and love must coexist in us in
that kind of balance. When they
do, both passions -- fear and
love -- will be healthy, and the
attitude of our lives will please
God and our actions will rightly
serve Him. Why
is it so important to know and
understand God's holiness? The
Scriptures set His holiness
before as something of great
practical consequence. I'll
give you five practical
consequences that Unger's Bible
Dictionary mentions -- maybe you
can think of some
others: 2)
His holiness is the standard
of holiness common to all
people -- clergy or layperson,
rich or poor, strong or weak,
male or female, regardless of
race or color, there is one
standard, the holiness of
God; 3)
God's holiness implies divine
opposition to and condemnation
of all sin; 4)
The holiness of God awakens a
consciousness of sin in
unbelievers -- and deepens the
consciousness of sin in
believers; 5)
God's holiness is revealed to
humanity as a gracious gift of
God that sets before us the
highest end of all our
aspirations, hopes, and
endeavors. Here's
what is meant by that last one.
The founder of the Methodist
movement, John Wesley, use to say
"the people are unhappy because
they are unholy." Unless we live
the way God created us to live we
will never realize the full
potential for joy, peace and
happiness that God has
offered. To
live an unholy life is to live
contrary to the very fabric of
creation. It doesn't work. I
know. I tried it. It
is God's holiness that points,
draws and pushes us toward that
holiness that is necessary for
our human fulfillment -- that
holiness without which no one
will see the Lord. Our
God is an awesome God because He
is a holy God.
Gateway
Church gathers
for worship
Sundays
at 10:30 a.m.
(Hwy. 129) in Athens,
Georgia.
Ministry
of the
Word:
Recent
sermons
Our quarterly e-magazine
Gateway
Today
For the Gateway family
Pastor
Jerry's Weekly
E-Mail
A
GATEWAY SERMON
A
holy God
(Fourth
in the series, Knowing
God)
Gateway
Church,
Athens GA
consecrate yourselves, and you
shall be holy; for I am
holy.
Leviticus 11:44
(NKJV)
Here's what my dictionary says
about holiness:
In
this
series
a)
Belonging to, derived from, or
associated with a divine
power;
b)
Living according to a strict
or highly moral religious or
spiritual system;
c)
Specified or set apart for a
religious purpose.a)
Regarded with or worthy of
worship or veneration;
b)
Regarded or deserving special
respect or reverence.
The
fear factorThere
were no needy persons among
them. For from time to time
those who owned lands or
houses sold them, brought the
money from the sales and put
it at the apostles' feet, and
it was distributed to anyone
as he had need.
Now
a man named Ananias, together
with his wife Sapphira, also
sold a piece of property. With
his wife's full knowledge he
kept back part of the money
for himself, but brought the
rest and put it at the
apostles' feet.
The
right kind of fear
I believe kind of "fear of God
would" continue in a truly pious
person even if there were no
punishment for sin -- because it
dreads God's displeasure, desires
His favor, reveres His holiness,
submits cheerfully to His will,
is grateful for His benefits,
sincerely worships Him, and
conscientiously obeys His
commandments.
Practical
implications1)
As I have already mentioned
God's holiness is the special
ground of reverence, awe,
adoration and the healthy fear
of God;
An
audio tape of this sermon is
available
free of charge (U.S. requests
only).
Request
a tape by calling
or writing the Gateway Church
office.
Please specify tape number
020113a: A Holy
God.
©
2002 Gerald R.
Varnado