holiness

Let’s Go!

Matt Otto D-Groups , , , ,

Who makes you drop everything just so you can spend a few minutes with them? Where would you go at a moment’s notice regardless of the time or cost? What invigorates you to get involved even when you feel weary? There are certain people, places, and activities that evoke a zealous response in us. We are immediately engaged and shout, “Let’s go!” On the flip side, there are people, places, and activities that simply leave us indifferent and cold. Our knee-jerk response is, “Who cares?!” Thus, let’s take a few moments to consider what we should care about. What should make our hearts ache with hope, fan the flames for change, and catapult us forward to sacrificial service?

As believers and followers of Jesus – those who have received a new heart and a mind – it should reason that our passions and purposes are also transformed. Paul explains to Titus:

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” (Titus 2:11-14).

In the opening eleven verses of Nehemiah, the author describes his response to hearing of the trouble that has cast a long shadow over the former exiles and the City of God which remained in a state of disrepair. Nehemiah’s response includes genuine interest (vv. 1-3), earnest empathy (v. 4), expectant prayer (vv. 5-10), and humble availability (v. 11). Behind his reactions lie two items that should captivate the soul of every believer: a concern for God’s people and a devotion to God’s glory.

It is important, like Paul and Nehemiah, to have a firm grasp of these, because they reveal the very heart of Almighty God and evidence that we have been reborn into His family. They determine whether we care or not, whether we get involved or turn a cold shoulder, whether we strive for holiness or slip into spiritual lethargy. They determine whether our interest will be piqued, our souls will be burdened, our prayers will be fervent, and our conduct will be fruitful. In short, caring for God’s glory and people (Matt 22:36-40) will motivate us to be “zealous for good works.” Do you care for what your Heavenly Father cares about? If so, it’s time to shout, “I care!” and “Let’s go!”

1 John 2:3-6 (ESV) – “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”

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Where Sin Belongs

Matt Otto D-Groups , , ,

Are you super organized? Ladies, are all of your kitchen gadgets properly arranged and stored away? Men, does every tool have its place in your garage or workshop?

Yes? But be honest… You have a junk drawer though, right? Don’t be ashamed. Everybody does. Every homeowner has a little drawer that is filled with a collection of odds and ends – mismatched pens, crusty rubber bands, twisty-ties, unsharpened pencils, faded receipts, a handful of stale Cheerios, and so on.

Similarly, everybody has a drawer filled with sin. Generally speaking, our life is organized and presentable, in part because we place things where they belong. As followers of Jesus, we admit that sin is incongruous with the holy life to which we have been called, but we keep some compelling ones in our home, neatly stashed away for convenient access.

In Zechariah 5:5-11, we read of a symbolically bizarre vision whose divine significance is powerful as it is beautiful. The seventh of Zechariah’s eight dreams involves a large basket, covered by a heavy lid, and containing a confined woman named “Wickedness”. This basket and its contents are then supernaturally moved from Jerusalem to Shinar, also known as Babel/Babylon, where it is permanently placed in a home prepared for it. The basket represents a gathering of Israel’s transgressions. Due to their repeated sin and idolatry, God’s people have been in exile from their home and passed through the hands of one pagan nation to another. Yet God has not forgotten them. His desire is for them to be holy as He is holy (Lev 11:44; 1 Pet 1:16) and despite their repeated failure, He promises to remove their sin once and for all and send it to where it belongs – far away, to the place of its origin.

What a beautiful truth! God doesn’t just demand our holiness, but He actively works to provide it for us and create it in us (2 Thess 2:13). Paul refers to God’s purging and restorative work in his letter to Philippians:

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

God is intently involved in your life and your spiritual well-being. His greatest desire is for you to become holy and Christ-like. He uses a broad spectrum of “tools” to accomplish His work in you: His Word, prayer, the local church, circumstances, suffering, just to name a few. He is skillful, careful, and reliable in His craftsmanship. His righteous and sovereign plan will not be thwarted or delayed. So, don’t shove your sin in the figurative junk drawer… Open it up, let Him clean it out, and take its contents to where they belong – away from you, child of God!

Isaiah 6:1-7 (ESV) – “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.’”

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His Lovingkindness Endures Forever

Matt Otto D-Groups , , ,

I just took a moment to check the delivery status of a recent book order. I was a little surprised and disappointed that it had not yet arrived in my mailbox. Can you relate?

In this day of digital communication and online shopping it is not uncommon to want an immediate response and speedy delivery, receiving an order in less than two days and without any additional shipping cost. We have been conditioned to think that we are entitled to a response that is quick and painless. Sadly, our world doesn’t revolve around us nor does time bend to our bidding.

God is the one who holds the planets in their orbits, creates galaxies and stars, and knows every moment from beginning to end. The remarkable reality is that when it comes to Israel and the church, God has unequivocally shown Himself to be bound to His people, working on their behalf and for the sake of His glory. Throughout the Old Testament we find the human authors declaring that God’s steadfast love is everlasting. God is unalterably loyal, protective, faithful, and true. We can conclude from this, that God’s aforementioned work is certain.

This should be fabulously comforting to the church! In and through Christ, God grows us “into a holy temple in the Lord” (see Eph 2:19-21). Eden, the Tabernacle, and the Temple at Jerusalem all point to the temple that is Christ and His Church. The Old Testament spaces are examples of God’s very presence taking residence among His people. With the arrival of the Messiah, Jesus, God again has moved into our neighborhood. He inhabits you and me. How easy it is to forget this! Paul pointedly asks:

“… do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor 6:19-21).

So, let us be patient with one another as God continues to transform each one of us. At the same time, let us long for our church to be built up in beauty as it welcomes God’s holiness, glory, and steadfast love.

Exodus 34:6 (ESV) – “The Lord passed before [Moses] and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness…’”

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