Category: Theology: Thinking Deeply About God and His Relation to the World

Who is God? What is He like? What has He done?

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What is Holiness?

“We don’t smoke, and we don’t chew, and we don’t run with boys who do.” If people think of holiness, they may think of something like that old caricature of holiness.

But people don’t usually think about holiness. Holiness is one of those concepts the Bible uses that we don’t run into very often in our daily lives. It’s a concept that is at the periphery of our civilization.

For the writers of the Bible, however, it was very important. When they pictured the throne room of God, they described the angels around God’s throne saying, “Holy, holy, holy!”

God is absolutely holy. This means He is absolutely perfect and pure, set apart from everything else. Now note: He not only has this perfection, He is devoted to it and delights in it. This may seem strange until we remember that God is Triune: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That means the Father is devoted to the glory of the Son and the Holy Spirit as each member of the Trinity is to the other.

This gives us some idea of what it means when God says, “Be holy as I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Lev. 19:2).

In the Bible, God is not the only one who is holy. Places are holy like the temple. Things are holy like the ark. People are holy like the priests.

This means that they are set apart from service to other things. In this sense, the caricature of holiness (“We don’t smoke, and we don’t chew . . .”) has something right in it. We separate ourselves from evil things and even from the misuse of good things.

Take the Sabbath, for example. The Sabbath involves setting aside things we do on the other six days. So, many people think of it merely in terms of not working.

But being set apart is about being set apart for something. It is about being set apart unto the Lord Himself. It means seeing His glory and delighting and finding joy in it. That is holiness.

There is an instructive scene on this point in the book of Nehemiah. When the Israelites returned to the land, they celebrated the Feast of Booths. During this Feast, the priests would read the law of God. When the people realized it, they were filled with a sense of their own disobedience, and this rightly grieved them. However, Nehemiah told them: “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (8:10). Let go of other things and rejoice in the Lord. That is holiness.

In one of my Doctor of Ministry classes, Dr. Steve Childers gave me this definition of holiness that I’ve relished ever since. He said, “Holiness is loving God and others well while maintaining our joy.”

This gives holiness quite a different flavor than what we are used to. The more I think about it, though, the more I believe that Dr. Childers had captured the positive side of holiness. Holiness sets us apart from certain things that will harm us or lead us in a wrong direction to send us in the right direction: finding our delight in service to and love of God. Holiness is about joy. Any talk about holiness that fails to mentions this should be proscribed. We were created to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. That is holiness.

Even though we don’t use the word holiness much in our society, we are all looking for something bigger that can give our lives meaning, purpose, and joy. The trouble is we seek it in things that can’t really provide it. Thus, the call to holiness–finding that meaning, purpose, and joy in God alone. This is a purpose and joy that will not disappoint, and this is holiness.

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How Can I Learn to Anticipate Christ’s Return?

It’s easy to think that life will go on and on like it has forever, but we know that’s not true. You came into this world. You will leave it. Nations rise. Nations fall. Circumstances change.

Our faith teaches us that the biggest change in world history occurred when Jesus came into the world. It also teaches us that He will come again. This world where people eat, drink, marry, sleep, work, and rest will radically change. There will be a renewed heavens and new earth.

This change is so huge that it is hard to wrap our minds around it. How can we do it?

First, all the joy we desire will be fulfilled. Whatever brings you joy in this world is a pale reflection of the joy that will occur in the new heavens and new earth. The new earth will be a place of unspeakable joy.

Second, all that is lost will be restored. This is a world full of tragedy. Children die. Parents die and leave their children behind. As I was thinking about this article, I recalled the Gatlinburg fires a few years ago where countless people experienced trauma, lost houses, and lost pets. Sixteen people lost their loves. This is a world of tragedy, but the new heavens and new earth restores what is lost.

Third, all that has wounded us will be healed. Many people are experiencing deep wounds from circumstances, the people around them, and their own actions. Even when are not, we all have wounds from the past. For a while, we do well, but then something happens and all the pain comes rushing back. We wonder, when am I ever going to get past this? While we can have healing in this life, perfect healing exists in the new heavens and new earth.

That is the glorious hope of the Christian. If we can think in these ways about the new heavens and new earth, it will help us anticipate them with much greater hope. We can define ourselves in the words of the Nicene Creed as those who “look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”

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Jesus Pursuing Zacchaeus

When I was young, I read and heard C.S. Lewis’ wonderful classic The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (hereafter LW&W). As a young boy, I was moved by the story of Peter.

Peter’s story is the classic story of a young and inexperienced on a quest. This person has to grow up in order to take leadership in meeting a great challenge. It’s a story of growth, and it’s a story that we all love, whether its form is Annie, Star Wars, or James and the Giant Peach.

A few years ago, I read LW&W out loud to my children, and I made an astonishing discovery. This book is not really about Peter at all. It’s all about Aslan. The title is not Peter, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.. It is The Lion, W&W.

Throughout LW&W, the focus is on what Aslan is going to do or is doing. Aslan wins the victory. Yes, some of the Narnians and Peter fight, but their role is relatively minor. It’s Aslan who defeats the witch and wins the fight.

I think that some of the Bible stories are like that. In the case of Zachaeus, we, as wee little children, were fascinated by the wee little man Zacchaeus who climbed a tree, which was something we also loved to do.

However, the “Zacchaeus” story is not really about Zacchaeus. It is about Jesus. Zacchaeus is there, but it is Jesus who is pursuing Zacchaeus and making things happen.

Zacchaeus was a tax collector for the Roman Empire, and he was no doubt a hated man. Sometimes we try to think about who Zacchaeus represents in our modern world. I think he represents me . . . and you . . . and every other human being on earth.

The God who created the universe comes down in human form to connect with us. He goes right up to us in the midst of a crowd and says, “Wes” or “David” or “Zacchaeus, I’m coming to your house today. I want to have a relationship with you.”

The conclusion of the story tells us this: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

It is God pursuing man.

Jewish Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel explains that this is what the Bible is all about. He writes, “Most theories of religion start out with defining the religious situation as man’s search for God . . . [but, a]ll of human history as described in the Bible may be summarized in one phrase: God is in search of man (emphasis his, God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism, p. 136).

The Christian faith concurs with this perspective and adds that God’s search is so intense that He became a human being. In Jesus, as the Zacchaeus story reveals, God is pursuing man. The God who made heaven and earth and governs it all in perfect wisdom is pursuing you.

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Do You Let Jesus Challenge You?

“Do you hate your father and mother?” I asked one woman in our church.

“No.” She replied.

“Then, you cannot be Jesus’ disciple.” I answered.

She looked at me like I was crazy, but my question was based on Jesus’ statement to a large crowd, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26).

Of course, I don’t think Jesus literally wanted us to hate our parents, our siblings, or ourselves. So, why did Jesus say something so crazy?

I wonder if Jesus saw all these crowds and thought, “How can I get them to think about what I’m really asking them to do? How can I get them to see that I am the only one that can give them hope?” So, Jesus said something that would arrest them and make them think. It wouldn’t be the first time that Jesus had said something like that.

So, what was Jesus after?

Here’s my thought. Human beings were made to find their hope, security, blessedness, happiness, direction, purpose, and acceptance in God. He is the ultimate source of these things. All other things, even the best things like parent-child and husband-wife relationships are secondary and impossible substitutes for this divine relationship. This relationship must come first and have no peer.

Our problem is that we get it backwards. Where do we go for our comfort, security, and acceptance? Those closest to us. This is actually what creates most relationship problems. We look for a spouse, a child, or a parent to give us the affirmation and acceptance that only God can give.

So, Jesus is telling us that we have to turn that around. Our relationship with God comes first. Everything else must be relativized in comparison with Him.

It is also important to recognize that our relationship with Jesus is not a relationship of equals. Jesus defines the terms and sets the agenda. He does not enter into our life and just add something to it. He asks us to do things that conflict with our own desires. This is what he means when He says that anyone who follows after Him must “hate their own lives.”

If we are to follow Jesus, our relationships and agenda may have to give way to Jesus’ agenda and the relationship He wants to have with us.

This week I had lunch with a friend and fellow Jesus follower. He gave me an interesting example of how this works out. He loves to run, and he told me that he had given up running because He felt that He needed to spend more time in communion with Jesus. Giving up his running time was the best way to do it. It was hard, but it was worth it.

I, on the other hand, have recently started running. I have done it because of Jesus. I have realized that I want to increase my own strength, energy, and capacity for endurance so I can serve the Lord better. Running once a week is one way that I am trying to do this.

It’s the same Jesus who is calling us in different ways to give up our own lives in following Him.

It begins with letting Jesus challenge you. It begins with saying to Jesus, “I have my agenda, but what is yours, Jesus?” Have you ever said that to Him?

And why would we do this? Because Jesus’ agenda is better than our own.

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Man Between God and the Devil

“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the work of the devil.” So wrote the Apostle John.

The drama of the Christian faith takes place on the backdrop of the opposition of the devil.

The modern secularized, corporate world rejects the supernatural. So, in Western society, spiritual warfare often embarrasses Christians. Even those who believe the devil is real have trouble integrating that truth into their lives.

Theologian Richard Lovelace argued that this is problematic. It does not do justice to the content of biblical revelation or to the actual experience of Christians. It seems easier in the short term to ignore the Bible’s mention of the devil, but in the long run it won’t work. He writes:

Such a domesticated view of spiritual reality may be superficially comfortable for a while, but eventually it is simply not credible. We will have less anxiety ourselves and more of a hearing from the world if we will believe in and preach the awesome, dangerous, but solid realities taught in Scripture. (Dynamics of Spiritual Life, 144)

You just cannot get around the fact that the Bible is unapologetically supernatural in its approach.

Lovelace’s focus was not merely on defending the truth. His main interest was practical: how can individuals and churches be renewed and revived? One important aspect of renewal is recognizing the reality of spiritual warfare and the good news of the Christian’s spiritual authority in that warfare, he argued.

Lovelace illustrated this by recounting the history of the church’s teaching on Satan. He said that there was certainly superstitious approaches in the history of the church, but there has always been a bedrock of careful biblical teaching on this subject that can be found in the writings of the great teachers of the church. Martin Luther appropriated this teaching because it was biblical, and it is a significant part of the story of the Reformation.

During the Enlightenment, the church retreated from its emphasis on the supernatural in general idea of Satan and demons specifically. The focus was on the Bible as containing merely rules for a good life.

What Lovelace noticed in his studies of revival is that in times of revival such as the Welsh Revival of 1904 to 1905 and in missionary endeavors, an emphasis on spiritual warfare regularly developed. As the kingdom of God expanded into new areas, the conflict became clearer and much greater.

So, Lovelace concluded from Scripture and history that a necessary element of spiritual renewal is an awareness of spiritual warfare and of the authority that Christians have in it through Christ.

Lovelace went on his book to explain the strategies of Satan. These five strategies help flesh out how the devil attacks Christians.

1. Temptation: he seeks to get us to give in to things we shouldn’t do or distract us from what we should do.

2. Deception: he seeks to get us to believe wrong things about ourselves, others, God, and the world.

3. Accusation: he seeks to show us the faults of others and hide their good characteristics in order to increase division among Christians. He tries to show us our own real faults to make us believe God will have nothing to do with us. Note that the name “Satan” means “accuser.”

4. Possession: when a demon takes over the personality of an individual.

5. Physical attack: when he seeks to use physical force to keep Christians from following Christ, as he does with 300 million Christians around the world today.

So, how do we oppose the attacks of Satan?

1. Be aware that these things are attacks of Satan. There is more going on in the opposition to the Christian faith than what meets the eye.

2. Read Scripture. I have experienced times of intense temptation, and I have experienced it go away immediately as I read the Word of God out loud.

3. Pray. Be strong in the Lord’s power. We engage in faith by praying to the Lord and seeking His power and authority in this matter.

4. Call a Christian friend. The Apostle Paul used the metaphor of armor to explain how we fight against the devil. However, the Roman army was an army not just a group of individuals. They would use formations that made them much stronger as a collective than they would be individually. Often our first step when we sense spiritual warfare should be to put our shields together, that is, to get other Christians involved.

It is hard to maintain these truths in our society, which is perhaps itself an evidence of spiritual warfare. However, more awareness and emphasis on this conflict can bring renewal to our lives and churches. It can make us more aware of what is really going on and more appreciative of the power and triumph we have in Christ, who appeared to destroy the works of the devil.

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