Holy, Holy God

Eugene Peterson, who paraphrased the Bible into what's now called the Message,

wrote this about Old Testament prophets.

We humans keep looking for a religion that will give us access to God

without having to bother with people.

We want to go to God for comfort and inspiration when we're fed up with the men and women and children around us.

We want God to give us an edge on the dog-eat-dog competition of daily life.

This determination to get ourselves a religion that gives us an inside track with God

but leaves us free to deal with people however we like is age old.

It's the sort of religion that has been promoted and marketed with both zeal and skill throughout human history.

Business is always booming.

It's also the sort of religion that the biblical prophets are determined to root out.

They are dead set against it.

Because the root of the solid spiritual life is embedded in a relationship between people and God.

It is easy to develop the misunderstanding that my spiritual life is something personal between God and me.

A private thing to be nurtured by prayers and singing, spiritual readings that comfort and inspire and worship with like-minded friends.

If we think this way for very long, we will assume that the way we treat people we don't like or who don't like us has nothing to do with God.

That's when the prophets step in and interrupt us, insisting that everything you do or think or feel has to do with God.

Every person you meet has to do with God.

It is basic to our humanity that we perhaps try to make that separation between what is going on between ourselves and God spiritually and what we do with other people.

But in scripture, both Old and New Testament, there can be no such separation.

Remember, Jesus himself was cornered over this when he was asked, what's the most important commandment of all?

Jesus said, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.

And love your neighbour as yourself.

And he said that second one is like the first.

In other words, we can't separate, we must not separate those two things.

They're part of the whole.

You can't do one without the other.

You can't have one without the other.

And yet, how often we try.

Isaiah got into a lot of trouble for saying the words that have just been read now.

Because they were considered a scandalous claim.

Let's hone in on one thing in particular that he says.

Your appointed festivals I hate with all my being.

He is claiming that this is what God is saying to God's people as God's people offer their worship to God.

I hate your appointed festivals with all my being.

Even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening.

Now that seems like a totally black and white contradiction with what we read elsewhere in scripture.

Where it is precisely God.

Where it is precisely God.

And God alone who instigates those festivals.

And God who invites his people to pray.

And yet, here, Isaiah is saying that God wants nothing to do with it.

Why?

Well, the point is, is that all the while the people were offering their religious activity to God in organized worship,

there was corruption, there was oppression of the poor, tolerance of the most profound injustices,

a preoccupation with material prosperity, a disregard for the marginalized and violent crime.

Now this was targeted to the context of the people of Israel at that point in time.

But you know, whatever group of people we are talking about,

whether collectively, at any time in history,

or whether we're talking about us as individuals,

the same universal truths apply.

That worship means nothing if we disregard our relationships with those around us.

We cannot separate, and we must not separate, even though we try to,

our relationship with God with the relationship that we have with those around and about us.

We can't.

There was a Peanuts cartoon a few years ago, Charlie Brown.

Charlie Brown was in conversation with his sister,

and his sister says,

I hate everything.

I hate everybody, and I hate the whole wide world.

And Charlie Brown replies,

But I thought you said you had inner peace.

And his sister replies,

I do have inner peace,

but I still have outer obnoxiousness.

Isaiah presents us with this challenge and calls us back to this challenge,

that to love God is to love people,

to love people is to love God,

and you cannot separate the two.

And it is born out of a vision.

Isaiah chapter 1 begins,

Isaiah 1 · chapter mention

we're saying that this is a vision that Isaiah has had.

We see that in more detail,

explained a few chapters later on,

in Isaiah chapter 6,

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

where Isaiah has this vision of the Almighty God.

He is engulfed with a sense of the presence of the holiness.

And to bring it back to our series now,

Names of God,

here we hear that the words,

Holy, Holy, Holy God.

But what does that word mean?

It's too hard to put into words,

but it's trying to describe through language,

something that you can't describe through language.

It's just that Isaiah's experience

was one of just being confronted with the presence of God,

with a dazzling light,

a sense of the presence of utter, utter holy otherness.

But God is so pure and so loving,

so perfect and so brilliant,

that if he dared to look upon God,

he would be consumed.

And in that vision that is spelt out in more detail in Isaiah chapter 6,

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

we're given this picture of how God's presence

is surrounded by heavenly beings

who have to cover their own eyes,

because even the heavenly beings

cannot look on God and live,

because God is so perfect

and so holy.

Think or try to think of what

the most absolute sense of perfect love is.

And we begin to get onto that track

as to what we're talking about here.

Such perfect love

that were we to meet it face to face,

we'd go up in a puff of smoke.

And yet by grace,

the message of Scripture

is that we can encounter that.

And Isaiah encounters

the holiness of God,

and it's with that vision that he knows

that you cannot encounter

that

absolute love of God

and yet hate those that are around you.

And so that call to holiness

is that call

to love those around us

unconditionally.

And yet the problem

Isaiah says

in the words of prophecy

is that

in verse 4 of this chapter

he says that

the people had turned their back

on God's holiness.

You know,

we live thousands and thousands of years

after these words were written

and yet

the same truths

of our humanity remain.

We can have an encounter

with the living God

and yet

almost unwittingly

we can turn our backs

on that reality.

We can even come to church,

we can be involved

in our worship services,

involved with church

during the week,

we can read our Bibles,

we can pray,

and yet

and yet

it's all too easy

for us to turn our back

on that fundamental truth

that

the one

who we

claim to love

and who loves us.

That relationship

cannot and must not

ever be separated

from the relationships

that are going on

all around us.

Let's just think

what might

we need

to be very careful of

as we think about

what this means

in our ordinary lives.

What might be

some of the warning signs

where almost unwittingly

we turn our backs

away

from the one

who is holy

who calls us

to love

not just him

but those that are

around us

because they're

inseparable.

The first thing,

the first warning sign

here is this,

that we must beware

the danger

of divorcing

our everyday life

from our worshipping

Christian lives.

Faith

and everyday life

belong together.

They must never

be separated.

There's a story

about an old story

from the American West,

the old West

where a minister

was placed

in a frontier town

and he was

down by the river

one day

and saw

a number

of people

hauling logs

out of the river

and then saw

that they were

cutting the ends

of the logs off.

On the ends

of the logs

were stamped

the names

of the owners

of these logs.

But he was horrified

that it was actually

his own members

of his own congregation

that were doing this,

cutting the ends

off the logs.

So the next Sunday

he was just going

to preach a sermon,

really, really

powerfully focused

sermon on the message

Thou shalt not steal.

And he did.

And just as they

were leaving church

each member

of his congregation

walked past,

shook his hand

and said

fantastic sermon

pastor.

He thought

this message

is clearly

not sunk in.

So the next week

he not only

preached his sermon

pretty much

word for word

the same

on the message

Thou shalt not steal

but also

he worded

all of his prayers

around that theme

and as much

as he could

try to grab

as many

of the words

through the hymns

and the way

he introduced

those hymns

that were all

around this theme

you must not steal.

End of the service

exactly the same response.

People walked past

smiled and politely

shook his hand

and said

fantastic service

pastor.

The third week

he did exactly

the same thing

again

with Thou shalt not steal

right at the centre

of not just the sermon

and the prayers

but the whole service

except at the very end

he concluded

Thou shalt not

cut the ends

off thy neighbour's

logs.

They fired him.

The point is

is Christian faith

is not an abstract

concept.

Well it can become

one and there's

the problem.

We totally miss

the point

if we think

that Christian

discipleship

being a follower

of Jesus

is just

something we can

do in abstract

terms

when we detach

it we remove

it from our

everyday lives

whatever we're

doing.

The second thing

that we need

to watch out

for is the way

that we talk

with people

with all people

all of the time.

The story I'm

about to tell you

is a true story

it happened a long

way away from here

and I'm pretty

confident that you

would not know

anybody in this

story so I'm safe

but it was a

number of years

ago and I was

at a Christian

gathering with a

load of other

ministers and we

had a keynote

speaker who was

presenting through

the course of the

afternoon.

I can't remember

what he was

speaking on now

it was that good

but I can remember

he led the whole

of the afternoon

session.

The day ended

and I went to

get the train

back and I was

sat on the bench

at the station

the train was

running late

everybody was

frustrated

and I could

overhear and the

reason I could

overhear was it

was particularly

loud and vocal

somebody on the

platform really

laying into a

member of staff

now everybody

was frustrated

and I don't think

anybody would have

disagreed with

the person's sense

of frustration over

the fact that the

train was running

late

not that there was

necessarily anything

inherently wrong with

expressing dissatisfaction

but the way this

particular individual

was speaking to

this member of

staff was as

though he was

talking to the

scum of the

earth.

It was cringeful

and it was very

very loud

and it was so

so bad that it

caused me to look

up and it was

at that point that

I thought I

recognised the

voice and to my

horror it was the

same keynote

speaker that had

just been speaking

to us as a group

of Christian leaders

for the whole

afternoon.

It simply won't

do if we feel

that we can

separate the way

we talk when

we're in a

Christian gathering

with the way we

talk with others

throughout the week

in our ordinary

everyday lives.

And one of the

ways we need to

keep a really

close focus on

not turning our

backs on the

holiness of God

is no matter how

frustrated we might

feel in our

everyday lives

to see the

presence of God

before us in

each and every

conversation.

No matter how

frustrated we might

be feeling.

The third final

way I just want to

share with you

that I think is

really important

that we need to

keep an eye on

in the widest

sense is our

lifestyle.

Now I realise

it's a really

broad thing

but it can mean

all sorts of

different things

for each one

of us and

each of us

will probably

struggle with

something or

another in our

lifestyle but to

pay really close

attention to those

things, those

patterns of our

own behaviour that

can slip in in

our everyday life

whereby we can

without even

realising we're

doing it turn

our backs on the

holiness of God

and the presence

of God who is

there in each and

every hour of our

lives.

Because the thing

is that to use

that word in

scripture sin which

is an old

fashioned word but

is a word that

goes right to the

heart of what the

problem is, that

sin does not come

with flashing lights

of warning.

it's so much more

subtle than that

to the point that

we can engage with

things that we

don't even realise

in a way that

we're not even

aware of doing.

I probably shared

this story before

but I'm going to

do it again because

I think it's a

helpful picture even

though it's a

slightly gruesome

one.

Years ago apparently

there was a way

that in some parts

of the world wolves

were captured in

very cold climates.

Apparently what they

would do is they

would take a blade

and they would

kill another animal

and get its blood

somewhere and then

they would dip this

blade in the blood

and freeze it so

you've got like a

layer of blood frozen

around this blade.

And then they do it

again, they dip it

into some blood and

refreeze it and then

again and again and

again building up

frozen layer upon

frozen layer of blood

around this knife

until eventually you

are left effectively

with a block of

frozen animal blood

with a knife in

the middle.

And they would put

this in the snow

and leave it overnight.

A wolf would come

along, catch a whiff

of the blood and

begin to lick.

As the wolf would

lick the blood, the

more it got, the more

it wanted.

The more it wanted,

the more it got and

so it would just lick

away, lick away,

lick away at the

frozen blood just

craving for more all

the while.

The more it got,

the more it wanted

and yet it could

not actually satisfy

because the more it

got, the more it

wanted and it would

lick away layer after

layer after layer

of the frozen blood

until eventually all

of the frozen blood

was gone and the

wolf was licking

away at the animal,

not at the animal

blood but at the

blade inside.

And as its tongue

would lash away at

the naked blade of

this knife, so the

wolf without realising

would be consuming

not the frozen blood

but its own blood

as it choked to

death on its own

blood.

And then the people

would come along the

next day and find

one knife in the

snow next to one

dead wolf.

And I know that

whenever you hear

this story you never

ever want to go

near one of those

strawberry flavoured

split ice creams

again.

That's how sin works

in that it's always,

always subtle.

Whatever type of sin

we're talking about

and that is why we

need to pay such

close attention to

our lifestyle.

It's so easy for us

to think to ourselves

you know, I can just

slow down on this

rather than stopping.

But that never works.

I read of a story of

another part of the

world where somebody

was out driving their

car and they were

meant to stop at a

stop junction.

They didn't, they

slowed down.

They didn't realise the

police car was behind

them.

They were pulled over

for it.

They were pretty cocky

and as a police officer

came over there and

said you should have

stopped there but you

just slowed down.

They came back with

all this stuff, oh

come on, you know,

there's no big deal

between slowing down

and stopping.

I mean, give me a

break, go after

somebody who deserves

to be arrested.

There's no real

difference after all

between slowing down

as I did and coming

to a complete stop.

At which point the

officer yanked them

out of the car,

threw on the cuffs,

threw them up against

the wall and they

shouted back stop.

The officer said,

well do you mean

stop?

Or shall I just

slow down?

It might seem

a subtle distinction

but it's a vital

one for us to pay

attention to those

areas in our

lifestyle and I guess

for each and every

one of us there will

be something that we

struggle with,

whatever it might be.

and to know that

there is a difference

between just doing a

bit less of something

and actually stopping.

I'm going to finish

as we come to pray,

as we reflect on what

that might be.

I'm going to finish by

really a quotation for

somebody called Josh

Billings, who really

in these few words

highlighted the danger

when we allow things

to just roll on in

our own lives

without having the

courage to grasp the

nettles and invite the

sheer holiness of God

to take command.

Here's the quote,

listen carefully.

It is much easier

to repent of sins

that we have committed

than to repent of those

we intend to commit.

Let's pray.

Let's take a few moments

of stillness.

And in the stillness

we hold the reality

of our lives before God.

Knowing that each

and every one of us

is broken.

Nobody is perfect.

God knows our hearts

and he knows

the patterns of our lives

and he knows those things

that we struggle with.

And that invitation

to confess our sin

to God

is not an invitation

to be condemned.

It's an invitation

to be transformed

by his holiness.

To know that you are

loved unconditionally

and in the presence

of his holiness

to be transformed

and to go on

being transformed.

and to know

that there is nothing

that is beyond

the transforming power

of God's love

and holiness.

So in this moment

of stillness

let's be courageous

and bring our whole lives

before God

including those bits

that we would perhaps

pretend were not there.

Bring before God

our relationships

the ones that we struggle with.

Bring before God

our thought life

our habits

the workplace

our homes

in the stillness

of this moment

I invite us all

to join together

in the words

of confession

that are on

the screens.

Let's pray

together

this simple prayer.

Holy

everlasting

and forgiving

Lord

have mercy

on me

deliver me

from my sin

and renew

a right spirit

within me.

Amen.

May the God

of love

and power

forgive us

and free us

from our sins

and restore us

in his image

to the praise

and glory

of his holy name

through Jesus Christ

our Lord.

Amen.