Dwelling in my text for this week (1 Peter 1:13-21) I was stopped as we talked about in class. Out of my 20 years of preaching this never occurred to me. It was actually more than a stop, but more like running into a brick wall. I already new the theme for the sermon because I already knew the text. This is often our problem with merely reading the text as we've discussed. Reading is a critical practice for spiritual formation, but if we don't intentionally dwell and listen we may miss the new ways God through his Spirit wants to speak through his living word that is active and cuts through our soul. I thought we could do a communal hearing of the text this week through email and develop a word for the congregation through the sermon together. Ok. You're wondering what was it I heard. I've gone this long so as to weed out any who only read the first few lines. 😀I've never considered this before. The text is about being holy. So naturally I began to think about new ways to communicate what means to be holy since this is such a common idea. But, did you ever notice we are to be holy as GOD is holy? Wait...WHAT? God is holy? How can God be holy? Isn't holy that part of Christianity where we live moral lives, and as the previous verse says, "do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance." If It is impossible for God to sin, how can he be holy? If holy is the opposite of sin and must be chosen, then how can God be holy? Maybe it's just me, but the idea that we should not sin just as God doesn't sin seems odd. Of course God can't sin. So, whether you are puzzled as I am by this, the question is: If holiness and sin are two sides of the same coin, how can I be holy as God is holy when God can't choose to be holy? Is holiness the opposite of sin, or something else?
Grace and peace,
Danny
3 comments:
Danny,
To me God defines and embodies the word Holy, he is sacred and divine. My hope and faith is to be holy like him through the grace of Jesus Christ. That is why I depend on the Holy Spirit that he left for me. I realize this is a simplistic answer to your question but it is one of those things "I know I know" (as we are studying on Wednesday night).
Sincerely, Eddie
Danny,
My understanding of holiness is that the root concept is this "otherness of God". The ground at the burning bush was holy. The rooms in the temple that represented the presence of God were holy. Sin interferes with our fellowship and participation with this "otherness" and makes us unholy. Holiness is a concept that is hard to put a concrete definition to.
Blessings,
Scott
Good thoughts for sure. Yes, Scott, holy is about otherness, set-apart in order to be used by God. There is also some connection to Gods glory and our ability to see him based on holiness. I've got a lot of thoughts I'll share later. Eddie, your thoughts about holiness being the result of Gods work is right in line with a question that came to me: Do I behave to become holy? Or am I holy in order to behave?
Grace and peace,
Danny
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