"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty."
-Revelation 4:8
What is God's central characteristic? Most people would say that God is love, referencing 1 John 4:8. Though it is true that God is love; love is not His main attribute. GOD IS HOLY!!! We often find solice in God's love, but rarely do we look to His holiness as a place of comfort. In our culture and society there is such a desire from people to have their ears tickled, that preachers spend all their time preaching on the "easy to swallow" messages about God's love. Yes, Jesus loves you. However, without His holiness, there is no love. God's holiness is the attribute of God in which ALL of His other attributes flow from. Everything about God is funneled through His holiness.
We often hear messages about how God loves you so much that He sent His only Son to die for us. Again, that is Biblically accurate, but it is not the whole story. Why did God send His Son? To pay or atone for our sins! Why does our sin need atoning? Because God hates our sin! Why does God hate our sin? BECAUSE HE IS HOLY!!! It is God's holiness that caused Him to punish sin. The punishment for our sin lies on our shoulders. We are responsible for our own sin and thus incur the penalty for our sin which is God's wrath. Because God loves us, He was gracious to send Jesus to die in our place and offered Himself to take on the punishment of the wrath of God. It is God's holiness that causes Him to punish our sin, and it is His love that provoked Him to say, "I will pay for you."
Let us not forget that our God is a holy God. Holiness is ascribed to God far more often in scripture than is love. Let us start preaching about God's hatred for sin and His standard of holiness that we cannot achieve without the atoning death of Jesus Christ. Though it is His love that made Him take our place, it is His holiness that moved Him to love. Let us set for ourselves a standard of holiness that causes us to love, not so that love is the end, but that God is glorified in our exaltation of His holiness through our holiness in Jesus Christ. His holiness is a standard we cannot achieve apart from Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is One we cannot achieve apart from His grace. Let us begin to grasp the full spectrum of the gospel all wrapped around the glory of His holiness, for our God is holy!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Biblical Theology for Transformation - 16th Posting
"Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent."
Proverbs 17:27-28
Are we quick to listen and slow to speak as we are warned in James 1:19? If even a fool is deemed as wise just by keeping silent, how much more wise is a wise man who does the same? The verse begins by telling us that one who has knowledge and understanding will restrain his words. Can a christian be a fool? Well, there are many christians we know that do not keep silent and are quick to give their two cents. Think about all the times you have been accused and have been quick to defend yourself. Or times when you are being taught and instead of listening to the teacher for their wisdom, you are slow to hear and quick to give your "wisdom". Ironically, that is in itself not a display of wisdom, but of foolishness.
It is so easy to be quick to tell others our perspective. But God tells us in Proverbs 17 that there is more wisdom to be gained by being quick to listen. James tells us that when we are quick to speak we are quick to anger. Rapid defense is a form of anger. James 1:20 says, "for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires." Being quick to listen and slow to speak and slow to anger is an example of humility. The reason we are to do this is to be portrayers of Jesus Christ in being humbly submissive to wisdom and not haugty towards our own agenda. James also tells us that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
So the next time you are in a situation where you are able to learn from the wisdom of others, LISTEN! Be slow to share and quick to humbly listen to the wisdom of others. Obviously we should be able to share our wisdom with others too, but it is the one of knowledge and understanding that gains his wisdom by listening to others. We often are quick to speak and do not gain a full understanding of situations before we share our perspective. No doubt we all have opinions, but our opinions can be developed by the wisdom of others.
My encouragement is that we begin to listen to the wisdom that God has for us from His Word and from others, so we are able to grow in our knowledge and understanding.
Proverbs 17:27-28
Are we quick to listen and slow to speak as we are warned in James 1:19? If even a fool is deemed as wise just by keeping silent, how much more wise is a wise man who does the same? The verse begins by telling us that one who has knowledge and understanding will restrain his words. Can a christian be a fool? Well, there are many christians we know that do not keep silent and are quick to give their two cents. Think about all the times you have been accused and have been quick to defend yourself. Or times when you are being taught and instead of listening to the teacher for their wisdom, you are slow to hear and quick to give your "wisdom". Ironically, that is in itself not a display of wisdom, but of foolishness.
It is so easy to be quick to tell others our perspective. But God tells us in Proverbs 17 that there is more wisdom to be gained by being quick to listen. James tells us that when we are quick to speak we are quick to anger. Rapid defense is a form of anger. James 1:20 says, "for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires." Being quick to listen and slow to speak and slow to anger is an example of humility. The reason we are to do this is to be portrayers of Jesus Christ in being humbly submissive to wisdom and not haugty towards our own agenda. James also tells us that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
So the next time you are in a situation where you are able to learn from the wisdom of others, LISTEN! Be slow to share and quick to humbly listen to the wisdom of others. Obviously we should be able to share our wisdom with others too, but it is the one of knowledge and understanding that gains his wisdom by listening to others. We often are quick to speak and do not gain a full understanding of situations before we share our perspective. No doubt we all have opinions, but our opinions can be developed by the wisdom of others.
My encouragement is that we begin to listen to the wisdom that God has for us from His Word and from others, so we are able to grow in our knowledge and understanding.
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