Chapter 1 - Be Holy As I Am Holy (Part 2 of 4)

Discussions about “holiness” today, and what that is supposed to look like, raise a great many eyebrows amongst those within the church.         

And those outside the church as well.

The answer seems to be harder and harder to find because of all the differing views on the subject.

Whether it be Calvinism, Catholicism, Episcopalianism, Lutheranism, Pentecostalism, Charismatic teachings, Presbyterianism, Wesleyan/Methodist teachings, non-denominational teachings, et cetera, et cetera, it seems each group has its own “flavor” of holiness to espouse. Each group embraces its own point of emphasis on holiness, which often downplays (or even berates) the other group’s tenet, while at the same time, propping up a different attribute of God they’d rather emphasis.

Then, when you add political layers, social layers, cultural layers, psychological layers, historical layers, and economic layers to the discussion—even erroneous biblical teachings—you have a Christian version of WWE Raw on your hands!

Not a pretty sight, to say the least. It is so contradictory to the teachings of scripture, as God truly meant them.  

Holiness, From God’s Point of View

In Leviticus 11:44-45, God says, “For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth. For I am the LORD who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy” (NASB, 1995, emphasis added).

When you look at the meaning of God’s own words within this context of Leviticus 11, the message is profoundly clear and simple. The Israelites were to consecrate themselves. This was the step that led to “being holy as God is holy.” There is something the human and his or her heart has to do before being holy as God is holy can even become a possibility.

In addition, this “consecration” and subsequent status of being holy was because He is the LORD your God, and because He was the one who brought them up from the land of Egypt to be their God. The Israelites were a people destined for the abyss because of their wickedness. They were a people who had abandoned God and His ways time and time again, living their lives in sin. It started in the book of Genesis, which is filled with story after story of Jacob’s (Israel’s) children living lives that looked more like the people around them rather than the God they worshipped (See Genesis 37-38; 42:11, 22, 29-38; 44; 50:15-18).

Yet, despite their short-sightedness, God saved them from the famine in the last chapters of Genesis. As Joseph put it, they intended wickedness, but God used it to save them by raising Joseph to prominence with the Egyptian court (Genesis 50:20).

Then, God saved them again when they cried out to Him because of their suffering, and He granted it by saving them from the clutches of Pharaoh and his armies (Exodus 12, although the “salvation plan” began with the saving of Moses as an infant in the Nile and raising him up to a position of power just like He did with Joseph).

However, it wasn’t long before the Israelites bellyached about “how God saved them,” showing that their “consecration” was external, not internal. Thus, God explained to them what true consecration looks like. True consecration comes because of who God is and because of what God has done, not who we are or what we have done. True consecration flows from a human heart and soul that understands these two realities (Matthew 13:24-30; 7:21-23). Any other means of consecration falls short and is thrown into the fire.   

The same is true of Leviticus 19:2, where God told Moses, “Say to all the congregation of the people of Israel, ‘You shall be holy; for I the LORD your God am holy.’ (RSV)” This particular message was for the “the congregation of the people of Israel,” which means “all the people,” not just a select few.

This command also came on the heels of an entire chapter of immoral behaviors in Leviticus 18, all of which were to be avoided because they were pagan practices performed in relationship to the worship of other gods.

Therefore, we start to see a distinction between how God’s chosen people are to live and how the rest of humanity lives. That distinction is based on their relationship to God (i.e., either we are consecrating ourselves to Him or not).  

Then, as we continue to move through the book of Leviticus, we start to get a clearer picture of what “being holy as God is holy” looks like. God finally spells it out for us in Leviticus 20:26, in case we are slow to understand 

“Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine (NASB 1995, emphasis added).”

The message is there, in black and white, if we choose to see it. If we follow God, and if we wish to be holy as He is holy, then we first must consecrate ourselves, and when we do, then we will live a life that is markedly different from those around us who do not follow His ways. Therefore, we will be “set apart” by God to be His holy people, and thus, “be holy as He is holy.”

The word “holy” in the Hebrew is the word qadosh (שוֹדקָ – pronounced “ka-DOSH”). It means “to be set apart for a special purpose.”¹ Interestingly, “consecrated” is another word to help describe its meaning.

When something is “consecrated,” it is “set apart.” Its meaning and purpose are different from other, similar things around it. Physically speaking, the consecrated object may be amongst other objects just like it that are not consecrated. However, it is still consecrated, nevertheless.

The offerings brought to the Temple by worshipers (the bulls, the lambs, the doves, etc.) are an example of this concept. A consecrated object, like an unblemished lamb, for example, can live and move

amongst non-consecrated objects and still be “set apart” with a specific meaning and purpose, destined to be a sacrifice for God (cf. Romans 12:1-2). In other words, the consecrated object (in this case, the unblemished lamb) does not always have to be isolated and set apart physically from the objects (all the 

 other lambs in the flock) not designated as such. It can still walk and feed in a field filled with lambs that do have blemishes of various kinds and yet remain set apart. This is because of its unblemished character and its relationship to God in the act of worship.

We as humans can understand this concept to some degree. Every one of us has had a special something or someone in our lives. It could have been a vehicle, an animal, or a friend. We’ve owned other vehicles, but there was something special about “that” car or truck. There was something that set it apart from all the others in our mind and heart, and this special status was bestowed upon it by us. Or we had a family pet that was special to us. When “Rover” died, we tried to find a replacement, but no other dog will ever measure up to “Rover,” which is no fault of the subsequent pet, mind you. There was just something special that set Rover apart from the others because we had designated Rover as such. The same can be said of a friend. Anne of Green Gables called them, “bosom friends” and “kindred spirits.” They don’t come along every day, but when they do, you know it. There’s something about that individual that set them apart from all your other friends. As a result, these special things or people have had ascribed to them a special status by us, which is the key part to understand here. We saw something in them that caused us to designate them as special, or set apart.

In addition, these special things and people keep that status as they treat us well, serve us, and give us joy. If they falter in any way, we tend to give them a “benefit of the doubt” we would not give to other, similar objects or people. We work at restoring the relationship back to its utmost status because these things or people are “set apart” by us and for us.

However, if those special things or people continue hurting us, continue letting us down, continue betraying us, even disobeying our wishes—and do so deliberately, then we may disavow the “set apart” status of the relationship. Therefore, they may lose that special standing and become just like all the other objects around it.

If you’re seeing the correlation, then you start to get a teensy glimpse, however flawed the analogy I am making is, of how God feels when His people—who have consecrated themselves to Him and have thus been set apart to be holy as He is holy—continue to hurt Him, continue to let Him down, continue to betray Him, even disobey Him, and do so deliberately, in an downward-spiral of sinful acts after they had been “set apart” by Him and for Him.

 

Thought for the Week:

To be “set apart” and “consecrated” in the Biblical sense, to God, is the key to true Godly living. It was true in the Old Testament, referring to the Israelites, and it is as true today in the New Testament, referring to the Church. To be “set apart” in the way God intends it means we are to live for Him, the King, and His Kingdom alone.

Therefore, the things of our earthly kingdoms cannot get in the way and cause us to stumble and fall. We cannot be people of two kingdoms. God doesn’t accept dual citizenship. Either you are living for His Kingdom, in the here and now, where God is the Master and you are His slave (Romans 6:16-18), or you are living for another kingdom and another master. That’s why Jesus said those who clamor after money can’t be a part of God’s Kingdom. It’s not a money issue. It’s a consecration issue of the heart and a Kingdom-serving issue of the servant (Matthew 6:24).

So, how should we live then?

We should live for God’s Kingdom, not our own kingdom. That means we have to come to Him on His terms—just like He commanded the Israelites to do in Leviticus 11:44-45, 19:2, and 20:26—if we wish to be admitted into His Kingdom. It begins with a right understanding of our relationship to God (cf. Matthew 5:3). Without this right understanding, then any other understanding of how we are to live our lives for God will be flawed and damning (Matthew 7:13, 21-23).

We should live for God’s Kingdom, not our family’s kingdom. If we put family first, before God, then Jesus has something to say to us about that dilemma as well: “For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:50, NASB 1995). We love our families because of what God has done. We take care of them as an act of worship to God. However, our earthly family can never take the place of God, lest they become an idol.  In God's Kingdom, the family structure changes as we are all related to Christ as adopted children anyway, therefore, we need to start thinking about family like our Lord does (Romans 8:15, 23: 9:4; Ephesians 1:5). How many of us truly view our family members, if they know Jesus, as brothers and sisters in Christ? Or does the concept of son, daughter, wife, husband, still dominate your thinking? Not that referring to your wife or husband in those terms is bad, but our thinking does tend to become skewed negatively when we conform to the patterns of this world as apposed to God's (Romans 12:1-2).  This is just something to think about as we move forward in this study...

We should live for God’s Kingdom, not our company’s kingdom. Jesus said where we keep our treasure stored is where our heart resides (Matthew 6:19-21). Our work can so often become our little kingdom. We strive to help it succeed. We work feverishly to benefit from its fruit. However, has your desire to see it grow overcome your desire to see God’s Kingdom increase? Are you afraid to talk about God’s Kingdom for fear it may damage your business? Run customers off? Offend someone? Who’s your master again? God, or money? God, or power? God, or prestige? God, or fame? God, or your 401k?

We should live for God’s Kingdom, not our nation’s kingdom. We are to be in the world, but not part of it (1 John 2:15-17). I realize America is a pretty cool place to live. We often tout its freedom as the major selling point. However, is the “freedom” America sells truly freedom? From a Biblical perspective, the answer would be, “No.”

That kind of “freedom” without God’s Word as the ultimate guide is nothing more than “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life” repackaged into a very enticing bundle. It

becomes “freedom,” for sure. Unfortunately, it is freedom from God, which the Bible teaches, is actually slavery to sin, and thus, not freedom at all.  

Therefore, which kingdom do you serve?

NEXT WEEK:

We will look at little deeper at this concept of being “set apart” and how that looks in the “real world.”

 

Endnotes

 

¹ Benner, Jeff A. “Holy.” Ancient Hebrew Research Center. No Date. Web. 20 April 2019. https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/definition/holy.htm; See also Brown, Francis, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs. “6918.” Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Hebrew and English Lexicon. (Hendrickson Publishers; Peabody, Mass., 1979), p. 872.

 

 Pictures courtesy of  Pixabay and the following photographers/artists:

"Holy Bible" by Pexels-Pixabay

"Lamb" by Elsemargriet

"Sheep" by Peter H

"Children" by Bessi

"Handcuffed" by Klaus Hausmann