The Difference

"They are to teach my people

the difference between 

holy and the common

and show them how to distinguish between 

the unclean and the clean."

Ezekiel 44:23

Holy.  Even the word seems set apart and special.  It is a word that the winged creatures covered in eyes and seen in John's vision of the throne in heaven sang over and over again, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." (Revelation 4:8)  I have a sense that holy means sacred and hallowed; but what do I really know of holy?  

Listen to and meditate on the lyrics of the Addison Road song of the same name.

As Jenny Simmons sings, "I think I've made You too small, I never feared you at all."  What do I really know of "holy" and how does it affect the way I live my life as a follower of Christ?

Sabbath

I rush from one activity to the next, always aware of the time and how quickly it is slipping from my grasp.  How will I finish all these tasks?  Maybe I'll have to do a little on Sunday, just so I don't fall behind. We've all been there.  Life moves at warp speed and many times I feel as if I can't keep up.

When Moses carried the tablets engraved by the finger of God with His Ten Commandments, the fourth law on the list proclaimed to, "Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work. . . ." (Deuteronomy 5:12-14)

As one who desires to please God in all I do and who has the benefit of God's Spirit dwelling within, I want to follow this command.  His day is special, different from all other days, free from toil and labor, set apart for Him.  

It seems observing the Sabbath is similar to tithing: Both take a certain amount of faith that God will make what time or money I have left after giving the required amount enough to finish my work and pay my bills.  Six days should be enough to finish all that my life has for me to do.  Ninety percent of my income should be enough to provide for my household.  But what if it's not enough?

Faith is being certain of what I do not see, or cannot comprehend.  (Hebrews 11:1)  If I want to please God I must trust Him that six days are enough, and that 90% is sufficient.  Without faith, it is impossible to please God.  If I can't bring myself to rest on Sunday, my faith is lacking, and I am displeasing God.

Part of the difference Jesus makes in my life is that my Sabbath is holy.

Name

"What's in a name?  That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet."  (Romeo and Juliet, Scene II, lines 45-46)

Juliet loved her dear Romeo, but tragically, he belonged to the family of her relatives' enemy.  She, however, loved him despite his unfortunate ancestral lineage.  His name meant nothing to her; it was he that she wanted.

In contrast, God's name does mean something. It is more than just a title or label, rather it is a part of who He is.  Herman Hoeksema attempts to shed some light on the significance of God's name in his book, Reformed Dogmatics.  "The Name of God is His Being, not as He is in Himself, but as He is revealed to us."  There is no way my tiny mind can fully comprehend God, but His name, in part, gives some enlightenment to His essence. 


By knowing God's name, we have some idea of Who He is, but L. Berkhof goes further by explaining in Systemic Theology that, "The names of God are not of human invention, but of divine origin though they are all borrowed from human language, and derived from human and earthly relations."  God gives Himself a name that we can understand and relate to, but it falls far short from doing His character and being justice.  He transcends a mere word.  Still, in order for someone to be known, I must have something by which to call him. 


I can look to scripture for examples of how to treat God's name.  The LORD is described in Isaiah 57:15 as, "he who lives forever, whose name is holy."  David encouraged us to, "Praise his holy name." (Psalm 30:4) He also encouraged his people in 1 Chronicles 16:10 and 35 to, "Glory in his holy name," and to, "give thanks to (his) holy name."  Each time, His Name is described as being "holy."


The name of the LORD is one of the ways God reveals Himself to us, is a word we can use to try to understand Him, at least in part, and can be used to give praise, thanks and glory to Him. Clearly, God's name is special.


Consequently, using His name in a common way is offensive to God, to say the least.  


When I exclaim, "Oh my God!" when I see something funny or surprising, I am denigrating His Name, and thus God Himself.  When I use God's Name to give validity to an oath I'm taking, I am lowering His Name, in turn disrespecting Him.  When I flippantly talk about God as if He were a mere human, I am showing a lack of respect for Him.  


Part of the difference that Jesus makes in my life is that I make an effort to treat God's Name as holy.

Temple

 The redness started in His cheeks and spread until it covered His entire face.  An ever-so-slight pulsating movement could be detected near his brows.  His eyes swept back and forth, taking in the scene.  Cattle and sheep munched on hay as they waited patiently, tied to the temple pillars.  The sound of the cooing of dozens of doves perched in cages lining the wall filled the air.  Worshipers filed past the tables set up for the convenience of transacting the sales of all these animals.  How dare they treat my Father's house in such a lowly, common way, as if it were a mere marketplace!  (John 2:13-16)  

Jesus demonstrated the level of respect that He held for the dwelling place of His Father's Spirit.  The temple was not simply a building.  Instead, it was the place where one could go to find God.  It was a representation of His presence among His people, both when they wandered in the desert and when the more permanent temple was built and dedicated by Solomon.  

Under the new covenant of grace offered out of God's great love for me, there is another temple where God's Spirit constantly stays with His people. The Apostle Paul teaches by asking, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your body."  (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

Treating my body, therefore, as common, like everyone else in the world who does not know Jesus treats their body, goes against this teaching.  This lesson spills over into my beliefs about sexual purity and what I do and do not allow as acceptable for me.  As Paul said, "Flee from sexual immorality.  All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body."  (1 Corinthians 6:18) I can easily justify my actions with the claim that everyone else does it, so it can't be that bad.  Or I could say it's not that big a deal.  Even watching the blatant sexuality permeating our modern entertainment is just a part of the world we live in, right?  I can't really be expected to stay away from it, or am I?

My standard is to please God, and everything I do must be driven by that desire.   The way I dress, both the amount and kinds of food that I consume, the care I give my body, the kinds of entertainment of which I partake, all reflect on the One Who inhabits it's structure.  I treat my body as special not because I am special, but because God is special.  

Part of the difference that Jesus makes in my life is that my body, as the temple of the Spirit of the living God, is to be treated as holy.  

God is a holy God.   As His child, I am also called to be holy.  Some of the ways I abide by His holiness is in the way I treat the Sabbath, His Name and His Temple.  

What do I really know of holy?

As I begin this day it is my prayer that I may consider God's holiness, seeking to revere Him in all that I do.

How do I treat Sunday as any other day, using it as a time to play catch up?

What are some ways I could begin to show honor to God in the way I use His name?