God is Holy/ Why this is good news/ and one thing I could have said a lot better

We really do not understand the word Holy too well as a culture. Holy, if you are Robin, can be an adjective put in front of almost any noun (or adjective or phrase): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nltVuSH-lQM

Holy obviously has lost something of its punch in culture at large.

The church uses Holy to describe God. When using Holy to describe God we are saying a couple of things. First, we are saying that God is completely other than creation. We are affirming that God, though the maker of all, has remained distinct from creation. Second, we are saying that God is morally perfect. In other words there is nothing evil about God. God is all good.

This second meaning can sound like bad news to us, because we recognize that we are not entirely good. I know that I have certainly had this attitude towards holiness at times. The Bible talks about all of us sinning, and because we have sinned, we fall short of God’s standard of Holiness. God’s Holiness can make God seem unapproachable.

In preparing for this talk, though, I really came to grips with the fact that God’s holiness is really good news. God being holy means that God is actively opposing all that is evil and counter to God’s good intentions for creation. A couple of key scriptures that we looked at were Luke 4 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%204:31-37&version=NIV and 1 John 3 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20John%203:7-8&version=NIV

God’s holiness means that God is working to defeat evil. So the answer to the question the demon asks: “have you come to destroy us?” is YES! This is crucial. God in Holiness works to undo the effects of evil, and is actively opposing evil. However, we can experience this as bad news. It is bad news for the evil in us, but it is ultimately really good news for us. Because as God drives out the evil in us, we find that we are actually more of who we were meant to be, not less.

Consider how this is illustrated in this passage from Isaiah: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%206:1-8&version=NIV First Isaiah experiences God’s Holiness as really bad news: “Woe is me…” But, God is actually moving towards Isaiah and cleansing him, “The angel took the tongs…” This not the end though. God then gives Isaiah a mission: “Who will go for us…” We see here that God’s Holiness is really good news. Isaiah is not less of himself because of his encounter with the Holy God. He is actually more of himself. God has given him a mission.

We see this principle in the Luke 4 passage as well. Because of his encounter with Jesus, the man in the Capernaum synagogue is also certainly more of himself. God’s Holiness makes us more ourselves. As Paul says we are God’s handiwork, and God is at work restoring His handiwork. As we encounter God in His Holiness we actually become more ourselves. Or in the word of John Ortberg, I become me-ier and you become youier.

I used this clip from Lord of the Rings as an illustration. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tlkrR_hasU Because Theoden has encountered goodness (represented by Gandalf) he is more himself than he was before the encounter.

Now for something I wish I would have said a whole lot better. (For you football fans this is sort of like the pass the Quaterback wishes he would not have thrown - Kirk Cousins could relate)

As we were wrapping up I said something like this: “I was taught to preach the Bible not my experience.” Then I went on to say something like this: “But, I want a God I can experience.” Both these things are true, but not the most helpful things I have ever said, and certainly not the best way to say it. One, it makes it sound like I might not value the Bible that much. Two, it makes it sound like things are more about me than they are about God. Sort of like, “God needs to be this way for me.” So as part of my Monday morning quarterbacking, let me take another shot at it.

I think I should teach the Bible. But, here is the deal with the Bible. The Bible is all about people’s experiences with the Living God. God is alive. This is one of the most basic messages from the Bible. God is alive and interacting with people. So, from the Bible we can expect that we will actually experience God. I think if I don’t have actual experiences with God, the Bible will begin to seem just like a book of fantasy. Because I value the Bible, my expectation is that God will actually interact with us. As I talk about God’s Holiness, as we look at God’s Holiness in the Bible, my hope and expectation is that we as a people will actually experience God’s Holiness and find ourselves changed and growing from the experience.

This is a little bit more like what I was trying to say, thought it is still inadequate. So maybe you can help me.

How could we say this better? Do you think it is important to experience God? How have you experienced God in the past couple of weeks? How have you felt about God’s Holiness? Do you think God’s Holiness is good news? Have you had an experience of God’s Holiness and found that you were actually more of yourself after the encounter?

Thanks for exploring these things with me.