God is Immanent & Transcendent

Father, we ask that you would gently but deeply pour out the Holy Spirit upon us,

pour out the Holy Spirit upon us who are gathered here in the Ottawa Little Theatre,

those gathered through YouTube Live.

And Father, for those who will maybe watch this service later in the week or in the weeks ahead,

we ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit will fall with might and power and deep conviction.

We, Lord, invite and give you permission to, without any qualifications or any conditions,

we invite and give you permission, Father, to have your words speak into our hearts and rule in our hearts,

so that we might, Father, be in your presence and receive grace from you and respond to you in a worthy manner.

And all this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Saviour. Amen.

Please be seated.

One of the things before the, we have an 8 o'clock service before this,

and then we, of course, have this 10 o'clock service.

And before each service, there's usually the people involved up front, at least some of us,

we have a very short prayer time.

Basically, it's just me praying.

And at both the 8 o'clock service and the 10 o'clock service,

one of the things that I prayed is just for us to really be thankful and grateful that we're not in Afghanistan.

And I don't say that lightly, but just to think that Christians in Afghanistan,

and there are Christians in Afghanistan, even before the Taliban took over,

Afghanistan was the second most dangerous place in the world for Christians to be Christians.

And so, but especially now, you could just imagine we'd be, we wouldn't be in here,

we'd be in the basement with all the lights upstairs turned off,

and we'd be meeting in the basement, and I can't even begin to say what it would be like to be in a situation like that.

But I can very well imagine that we would all be worried about the sound of a pounding on the door,

that this might be the time that you're caught.

And so, you know, we just take our freedom so much for granted.

And anyway, that's why I prayed.

Thank you, Father, that we're not in Afghanistan.

And at the end of this sermon, hopefully I'll remember to do this,

because I'm going to mention Afghanistan a couple of times in this,

that we'll remember just to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

I mean, for all of Afghanistan, obviously, but especially for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

And it's just a bit of a wake-up call for all of us.

We really have it very easy here, and yet the easiness,

I mean, if you think about it, for many of us,

we'd get upset if we posted something in social media,

and it was Christian, and somebody gave us a thumbs down.

And we might get depressed about it.

And the difference between that and a knock on a door in Afghanistan

is a million, billion miles.

It's just huge.

Some of you might or might not know, I've said it occasionally in sermons,

and I've said it in some of my blogs.

I haven't watched the news.

Other than September 11th attack,

I haven't watched the news since somewhere in the mid-'70s,

so it's over 45 years since I've watched news on television.

I read a couple of books by a man named Jacques Gillil,

and one of them was on propaganda.

And after I read that book, I stopped watching the news on television,

and I stopped listening to the news on radio,

unless it's just sports news.

So I haven't watched the news in a long time.

Don't listen to the news.

But I read newspapers, and of course there's the social media.

I try to stay away from that for my news.

But all of us have been just horrified with the scenes

that are going on in Afghanistan.

Like, it's just heartbreaking to see pictures of people crushed up against the airport in Kabul.

I don't know if I'm pronouncing it correctly.

Just desperately trying to get into the airport to be taken away from Afghanistan.

The pictures of women holding their babies over the wall

in the hope that their baby would at least be taken,

knowing that they'd never see their baby,

knowing it's very likely they'd never see their baby again for the rest of their life.

Like, that's heartbreaking.

It just shows the great desperation they have to leave what they would see

and probably are completely right to see as a place of doom

and a place of oppression.

As you know, God has blessed us with many kids,

and just the idea that my wife would be able to hand a baby over a wall.

Like, on one hand, I could see that she would do that

as a final desperate act of love.

But it would break her heart.

And I mention this not just for any type of cheap emotional effect,

but because all this week I've really struggled.

All of us who have had to preach on these,

we're going through a sermon series on the attributes of God

called Knowing God, the Attributes and Characteristics of God,

and I think all of us have commented.

We found the sermons, on one hand, very, very difficult.

I mean, they've been very fruitful, at least for, I think,

for each of us who've had to reflect upon these things,

but it's just any one of the topics can go in so many different directions,

it's been difficult.

But it struck me that what's been going on in Afghanistan this week

is a perfect way for us to understand the holiness of God

and what it means for us to be called holy.

And so, I really do.

I'll get to it in a moment, but just first,

the first thing to understand about this talk,

that God is personal and God is holy,

and the situations going on in Afghanistan

helps us to understand,

enter into emotionally

and at an imaginative level

and an intellectual level,

what it means when God calls us to be holy like he is holy,

which otherwise just seems like a weird and awkward doctrine.

So first, if you turn in your Bibles,

we're going to look at Psalm 24,

then we're going to look at Leviticus 11,

Leviticus 12, 22,

then 1 Peter 1 and 1 Peter 2,

just five texts today.

But we'll start just with a very, very simple text,

which is Psalm 24, 1 and 2, verses 1 and 2.

And if you don't have your Bible,

you know, it's really helpful to have your own Bible

so you can sort of follow along,

and it's always really good.

I want us to be Bereans.

Those who are Christians maybe know what that reference is,

that people check to see if what I'm preaching on

is what the Bible teaches.

And so it's really helpful to have your own Bible

so you can look around and say,

oh, George took that out of context,

or no, oh, well, he didn't take it out of context,

whatever.

Anyway, so here is the first text,

very simple and famous text,

Luke, sorry, Psalm 24, verses 1 and 2.

Psalms 24:1

The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof,

the world and those who dwell therein.

For he has founded it upon the seas

and established it upon the rivers.

So the basic idea there is that everything is God's.

God created everything.

He sustains everything.

Everything is his.

And he didn't only create everything.

He sustains everything.

That's why it says the earth is the Lord's

and the fullness thereof.

In other words, everything in it.

The world and those who dwell therein.

So it all belongs to him

because he founded it upon the seas.

In other words, he created it

and established it upon the rivers.

And both of those have this idea

not only of creation,

but of sustaining,

that he continues to sustain the world.

And so whatever we're going to mean about,

whatever we're going to understand

about holiness or God being holy,

it always begins with this idea

that God owns everything.

It's like the question,

if people ever ask me about tithing,

and they ask,

and do I ask them,

well, is it 10% is God's

and 90% is yours?

And it's easy to think that way.

But actually,

the biblical teaching on tithing

is that 100% of your money is God's.

And that he just asks as a sign,

a token of you believing

and trusting that it's all his,

that you give 10% for his purposes.

And so whatever holy is going to mean,

it doesn't mean that there's just

sort of some people that belong,

that in a sense belong to God

and everybody else doesn't.

No, the bottom line is everything,

every star, every nebula,

every atom, every molecule,

every person, every creature,

ultimately belongs to God.

Now, obviously,

this is going to raise

the whole question about evil.

I just realized

I don't have to always be

looking at the mic

because I have this.

And that, of course,

only the Christian story,

it's only when you understand

Psalm 24,

that the earth is the Lord's

and everything in it,

and then you understand

how evil came.

It's only the Christian story

that really accounts

for human experience.

The human experience

that there is both good in the world

and that there's good in people

and that there's good in things,

but at the same time

that there's evil in the world

and there's evil in things.

And that, and it's, you know,

one of the,

there's many, many, many problems

with critical theory

and all of its offspring.

And one of the great problems

with critical theory

and all of its offspring

is it constantly is dividing the world

between the good and the bad,

the good people and the bad people.

And the Christians,

the Bible rejects that analogy

completely and utterly.

The word Christian is not a synonym

or another word for good.

There's lots of terrible Christians

in the world.

And if we're honest,

every single one of our Christian,

of us who are Christians here,

our walk is second rate.

But the world is not divided

between the good and the evil

because the division

between good and evil

runs right through

every single human being.

It's one of the many ways

that Christianity,

in a sense,

rejects key tenets

of critical theory

and all of the critical theories

offspring.

And some of you

who are involved

in a more intellectual

and that never know

what I mean.

Others,

I've just put you to sleep.

But to get back

to this particular thing,

the Bible has a very,

very simple

and profound story.

And it's the only story

that understands

our human experience

and understands

our human experience

with hope.

Because it understands

that the Lord

made everything.

He made it good.

He continues to maintain

and sustain everything.

And part of the way

that he made human beings good

is he made human beings

have a very special place

in the world.

In a sense,

human beings are made

and not in a sense,

we are made in his image.

And in a sense,

we are made

to every single human being

is to be like a priest

for the entire created order,

offering up,

in a sense,

the entire created order

to God

at the same time

that we were called

to fill the earth,

to flourish,

and to have dominion.

And for God

to create a creature

like that,

which is you and me,

he can only do that

if he gives us freedom.

He can't do it

without freedom.

And then he gives us

that freedom.

And if God

has given us freedom,

then it is possible

that we will use

our freedom

to rebel against him,

to choose evil

over good.

And that is,

in fact,

what the Christian story is,

that during the time

of humanity's probation,

Adam and Eve

used their freedom

to choose to be

not just like God,

but in a sense,

to be over God.

And it's seen,

if you go back

and you read

the original story

of Genesis 3,

they choose to go over God

in the sense

that they doubt his word.

They now act

as a judge of it.

They don't really

want to be like God,

but because they

want to be like God,

they look at his word

and they think

that his word is wrong,

so they're judging his word.

They very quickly move

not just from,

I want to be like God,

I want to be God's boss.

I want to be God's judge.

I want to be over God.

And when human beings

did that,

it bent them.

It bent us.

It bent you and me.

It created a tear

in you and me.

And because the entire creation

is one piece,

when one piece tears,

the whole thing

is, in a sense,

torn.

If you went

to a store

and you were going

to buy an article

of clothing

and there was

a little bit of a tear,

you'd either wonder

why they didn't

just throw it out

or you'd ask

for a very,

very great discount.

And if they said to you,

well, one moment,

99% of it is untorn,

it's just that one

little bit that's torn.

What would you say?

You'd say,

no, it's torn.

It's torn.

And you don't just

reduce the price,

because there's only

a 0.3% tear,

so you're going

to take 3 cents

off of every dollar.

You'd say it's torn.

You should either

throw it out

or make it

greatly reduced.

That's how we would react

with any article

of clothing.

If we went home

and found out

it was torn,

we would go back

to the returns

and act that.

And if you were handy

at sewing

and you thought

you could sew it,

you might take

the big discount

or you might just say,

I don't want it.

It's torn.

But what the Bible says

is that in the mystery

of God's love,

because God created

everything out of love.

It was out of the

overflowing of his love

that he created all things.

And that what God does

is he doesn't just

sort of discount

and say,

well,

this is now just

a tenth rate creation

and I'm just,

or he didn't discard it.

What he does

is he promises,

well,

first of all,

what he does

is he promises

that there will come

a time

when he will judge

the evil

and that he will

redeem those

who do evil.

And he promises that.

And he promises that

at the same time

part of his love

and mercy

is that not only

does he begin

to give these pointers

about what he's going

to do at some point

in time in the future,

he begins to enact it

right in that original story

by covering them

with clothes.

But at the same time

what he's doing

is he sustains

the created order

out of his love.

And that's what

our situation

is in right now.

So that's why

we can understand

that the earth

is the Lord

and the fullness thereof.

That is why

I can say

to my non-Christian

friends sometimes

when you have

a very, very,

very beautiful day

in Ottawa

can have some

very, very,

very, very

beautiful days.

Days when,

I don't know,

take your pick

about what's beautiful

but it's,

you know,

the mid-twenties,

it's sunny,

there's no humidity,

every, you know,

maybe a day in the fall

the leaves are all

just glorious

and I can say

to my non-Christian friends

days like this

make it easy

to believe in heaven.

And that's part

of God's goodness

that he has

maintained creation

so that everybody

can say that.

But I could also say

very easily

to my non-Christian friends

if we were

maybe in a bar

or a restaurant

and there was

a news clip

going on

about Afghanistan

you'd say

things like this

make it easy

to see

that there's

real evil

in the world

and a real devil

because when you

see something

like this

you can smell

the sulfur

you can smell

the brimstone

and I think

non-Christians

would go

yeah

just as an aside

never say

a day like this

helps you

to believe in hell

because hell

isn't where

the devil rules

hell

is where

the devil

is judged

hell

is death

and the devil's

and evil's

doom

not where he rules

it's a

terrible mistake

to think

that hell

is the place

where he rules

it's the place

where he

is finished

now we mention

all of this

because

as I said

if we look

at Afghanistan

I mean right

if you think

about that mom

putting her baby

up

in the hope

that a soldier

on the other side

will take that baby

for her

not only

that it will then

be under the control

of Great Britain

or France

or

the United States

but that it would

even come to this

country

and be adopted

on one hand

that very same

image

shows

the great

horror

and evil

that exists

in the world

and the great

love

that exists

in the world

doesn't it

the great love

of the mom

and the great

horror of the

situation

and so

it's within this

that we can then

start to understand

what the biblical

teaching of holiness

is

let's look at the

next bible text

which is 11

Leviticus

sorry

a book that

basically

Christians

virtually never

look at

or preach on

when

Messiah

Kanata

is off

and running

for a little

while

Daniel

and I

Daniel

doesn't know

this

but I

and I'm

sure he's

just going

to go

let's do

this

at some

point

time

hopefully

within

the first

year

I've been

meaning

for a long

time to preach

through the book

of Leviticus

and so at some

point in time

we should just

do it

but Leviticus

towards the beginning

of the bible

and if you look at

Leviticus chapter 11

Leviticus 11:45

verse 45

look at this

very very interesting

text

and one of the

reasons that

Christians don't

read Leviticus

is you get

these long lists

of the food

you can eat

the food

you can't

eat

and how

to deal

with mold

and whether

it's a bad

thing or not

and leprosy

and all the

sacrifices

and if you're rich

you do this

if you're a little

bit less

you do it

just you know

it goes on

and on

and on

and for many

of us

it's just

very very

very off

putting

hard to read

but one of the

things

and this is too

generally about

the bible

is that one of

the things

about the bible

is that the

bible interprets

itself

and so what

is needed

is for an

attentive reading

of the bible

where you can

actually notice

how it interprets

things

and you go

oh

that's what's

going on in

the rest of

the book

oh

and so this

is one of

the first

moments

about halfway

or a third

of the way

somewhere in

between that

40% of the

way through

the book

there's this

very very

powerful

explanatory

statement

and it's

it's

Leviticus

11 45

I could have

quoted the other

verses a bit

before but this

gets to the

heart of it

for I am

the lord

who brought

you up

out of the

land of

Egypt to

be your

god

you shall

therefore be

holy

for I

am holy

read it

again

for I am

the lord

who brought

you up

out of the

land of

Egypt to

be your

god

you shall

therefore be

holy

for I am

holy

so what is

this revealing

this is revealing

first of all

the lord is

revealing that

he's personal

which I'll

talk about

in a second

he's revealing

that he's

holy

but he

does it

he reveals

himself in

the context

of redeeming

first he

redeems

and then he

calls us

to be

holy

like he

is holy

and this

whole analogy

of Egypt

is very

very appropriate

to Afghanistan

if you just

realize

if a law

came in

Canada

and they

wanted to

show us a

little bit

of mercy

so they

weren't going

to kill

all the

Christians

but they

said that

every time

a Christian

has a baby

boy the

boy will be

killed

that's

Egypt

if it's

saying that

all of the

Christians

will be

slaves

that's

Egypt

and so

God

uses his

mighty power

to deliver

people

out of

slavery

bondage

death

and doom

into a

land that

is promised

for them

and so

look at it

again

I am the

Lord

who brought

you up

out of the

land of

Egypt

to be

your God

you shall

therefore

be holy

for I

am holy

don't know

there's

lots in

this

which is

very

significant

that

first of

all is

that God

says I

am the

Lord

he reveals

himself as

personal

and one

way to put

it and I

put it up

on a

screen is

that the

true and

living God

is a

who

not a

what

the true

and living

God is

a who

not a

what

and all

of the

religions

and the

spiritualities

of the

world

divide

along this

very very

important

distinction

God is

an I

he is

a who

he is a

person

he is not

a what

and most

of the

religions

and

spiritualities

of the

world

conceive

of God

ultimately

as some

type of

a what

but the

Bible is

very clear

that God

is a

who

he is a

person

and the

second thing

is if you

put it up

is that the

true and

living God

and this is

where we

put in a

sense

Psalm 24

together with

Leviticus 11

and Genesis

1, 2, and 3

the true and

living God

made lots

and lots

and lots

and lots

and lots

of what

but he

only made

each human

a who

it's obvious

God likes

what

he loves

atoms

and energy

and light

and stars

and worms

and dogs

and wood

and he

loves it

he made

piles of

what

in fact most

of the

universe is

what

but out of

all of the

universe

he made

each human

being

a who

and that

is why

I can

speak

to God

as a

who

and he

can speak

to me

as a

who

the second

thing we

see

actually

Claire

could you

flip back

to 1145

thanks

for I am

the Lord

who brought

you up

out of the

land of

Egypt

to be

your God

you shall

therefore

be holy

for I

am

holy

well

what does

it

mean

for God

to be

holy

big books

written

on it

but very

very

simple

there's

two

basic

ideas

the first

is

that he

is

set

apart

and the

third

the second

thing is

that he's

completely

and utterly

himself

and set

apart

now this

is this

is going

to be

very

important

and it's

part of

the in a

sense the

subtext of

the book

of Leviticus

which we

don't really

get unless

we think

of the

the

contrast

or maybe a

better way

to put it

is how

do we

naturally

think of

holy

as

Canadians

and what

most

religions

and most

spiritualities

and most

ideologies

in a sense

the natural

way for us

as human

beings to

think

is something

along the

line of

a chain

of being

and at

the top

there's

like some

type of

God

and then

I don't

know

you know

there's

different

levels

of beings

you know

maybe there's

angels

or something

like that

and then

there's

the

but that's

all the

world

of spirit

so there's

like God

and then

there's

the world

of spirit

or the

world

mind

and there's

different

types of

spirit

or spirits

or mind

or soul

and then

you come

to the

level of

matter

so to

speak

and so

what most

people think

of when

they think

of holy

is they

think of

something

like

Yellowstone

Park

only in

terms of

the levels

of being

in Yellowstone

Park

the earth's

crust

is very

very

very thin

it's

one

of

I

think

only

three

places

in

the

world

where

the

crust

of

the

earth

is

very

very

very

thin

and

all

the

stuff

that's

underneath

is

very

close

to

the

surface

and that's

why you

have the

geysers

and the

hot water

and all

those

other

types

of

things

because

the

earth's

crust

is

very

thin

and so

what

most

people

think

of

as

holy

is

those

places

or

people

where

the

division

between

the

realm

of

spirit

and

the

realm

of

the

body

that

that

is

a

very

thin

place

and

so

when

we

think

of

a

holy

person

generally

speaking

you

think

of

somebody

who's

emaciated

looks

like

they're

starving

themselves

to

death

they

look

anorexic

they

look

as if

they

don't

care

about

things

like

cleanliness

or

grooming

why

well

that

individual

you

see

if

matter

and

everything

is

sort

of

bad

and

evil

and

that

person

is

representing

that

thinness

and

then

maybe

it's

because

they

say

all

sorts

of

pithy

types

of

things

you

know

wipe

left

wipe

right

never

mind

anyway

and

the

other

thing

is

that

we

think

of

like

a

grove

of

trees

or

a

church

or

a

temple

where

everything

is

very

still

and

very

quiet

and

we

can

easily

imagine

that

the

distance

between

the

other

so to

speak

the

spiritual

and

the

physical

is

very

thin

and

that's

how we

tend to

think

of

holiness

but

you

read

the book

of

Leviticus

and

it's

talking

about

here's

when you

have

your

feast

here's

when

you

have

your

time

of

denial

oh

let's

have

another

feast

oh

and

oh

let's

have

some

more

feasts

and

oh

here's

marriage

and

here's

how

you

deal

with

the

babies

and

here's

the

type

of

food

you

can

eat

and

none

of

it

looks

very

holy

it

looks

all

about

how

you're

going

to

regulate

things

like

marriage

and

friendship

and

how

you're

going

to

organize

your

to

work

hard

and

to

make

lots

of

money

and

be

prosperous

and

flourish

and

it

doesn't

look

like

that

thinness

at

all

because

you

see

at

the

heart

of

the

idea

of

holy

is

that

the

Bible

doesn't

say

that

there's

God

and

then

there's

a

whole

world

of

spirit

or

mind

or

soul

and

you

go

down

levels

and

levels

and

levels

and

finally

you

come

to

the

physical

and

then

you

come

to

the

physical

that

has

both

a

bit

of

spiritual

and

body

because

you

have

humans

and

dolphins

and

dogs

and

beetles

and

rocks

the

Bible

said

that

there's

just

this

one

line

there

is

the

triune

God

and

everything

else

what

did

the

psalm

say

the

earth

is

the

Lord's

and

the

fullness

thereof

the

Father

the

Son

and

the

Holy

Spirit

they

create

everything

they

make

everything

there's

the

Father

the

Son

and

the

Holy

Spirit

there's

this

big

line

and

then

there's

everything

else

there's

mind

and

spirit

and

body

and

soul

and

creativity

and

physical

labor

and

there's

sex

and

there's

all

of

this

other

stuff

it's

all

there's

no

level

of

beings

just

God

and

everything

else

and

so

God

is

completely

and

utterly

himself

and

he's

completely

and utterly

separate

and that's

what

to be

holy

and

here's

where

we

come

to

the

thing

in

Afghanistan

and

the

heart

of

discipleship

if

you

fall

asleep

fall asleep

until

now

you're

going to

fall asleep

in three

minutes

you get

this

image

you've

got

the

heart

of

the

sermon

because

what

is it

that

the

people

making

their

way

to

the

airport

desperately

want

they

want

to be

set

aside

and

allowed

into

the

airport

for

freedom

they want

to be

delivered

they don't

want to be

people who

are still

caught

in the

terrible

mess

of a

Taliban

controlled

Afghanistan

they are

hoping

that some

soldier

some

bureaucrat

some

person

will look

at what

they hold

and will

do this

and they

will be

set

aside

from the

crowd

to come

into the

airport

to be

taken under

the care

and jurisdiction

of one

of the

powers

my mom

and dad

are immigrants

Louise's

father

was a

basically

a refugee

her

mom's

parents

were

immigrants

Louise's

father

did not

come to

Canada

because he

thought Canada

wanted more

Polish people

he came to

Canada because

he believed

that Canada

wanted more

Canadians

my parents

came to

Canada because

they believed

that Canada

wanted more

Canadians

and you see

at the very

heart of this

idea of

holy

listen to the

text again

for I am

the Lord

who brought

you up

out of

the land

of Egypt

to be

your God

you shall

therefore

be holy

for I

am holy

at the

heart of

this idea

of holy

is that

not only

has God

redeemed

you

which we

need to

do

away

from

evil

but

that

God

sets

people

aside

for

himself

for

his

purpose

and

for

his

mission

if you

could

put up

the

third

point

the

true

and

living

God

made

lots

and

no

sorry

the

third

point

is

here

it

is

I'm

jumping

ahead

aren't

I

don't

put it

up

yet

that's

fine

you're

right

I'm

wrong

I have

to

follow

my

notes

anyway

that

so

that

God

sets

people

aside

for

himself

and

that's

what's

going

on

in

Afghanistan

and

what

we're

to

understand

is

that

God

sets

us

aside

for

himself

in

the

face