This Is So Beyond Me

"Then they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote on it an inscription like the engraving of a signet:

HOLINESS TO THE LORD."

(Exodus 39:30, in the format it actually appears in my NKJV) 

"HOLINESS," is a scary word for a lot of people in Christendom; you rarely hear it.  But it is our Family central characteristic.  Of, "HOLINESS," yes, even the New Testament declares, "Pursue...holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord."  According to Revelation, they are not saying in Heaven, "love, love, love," or, "mercy, mercy, mercy," or, "grace, grace, grace.  They are saying, "Holy, holy, holy...."  Now we have all heard the definition, "set apart, hallowed."  Could we say, "HOLINESS," is absolute surrender and obedience to Jesus Christ and His Words, that love, mercy, and grace apart from, "HOLINESS TO THE LORD," are just qualities of our own making?!?

I really don't like to attempt to speak of, "HOLINESS."  The word has been misused, abused, perverted, etc.  This is not a judgmental or critical statement.  Yet for far too long, "HOLINESS," has been measured sleeve length, abstinence from smoking, drinking, swearing, and on and on.  Rarely is hateful speech and mistreating of people mentioned.  While, "HOLINESS," has to do with conduct, you and I know it is so, so much, much more.  And though there is still "mystery" surrounding, "HOLINESS," Hebrews 12 tells us that Father's objective for us is, "that we may be partakers of His holiness."

I have encountered "HOLINESS" in my life time.  Of course it is more than a feeling, experience, sense, etc.  But there is a very real sense, as in so much of life, while you cannot describe it, you recognize it.  In, "HOLINESS," we have Jesus Christ.  Watch His Life, hear His Words.  As you and I live in Jesus, it can be written upon us as upon Aaron, "HOLINESS TO THE LORD."  !!
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* Preaching in the Quest Church (formerly CCE) meetings, Sundays, July 21 and July 28.
* Please pray for wisdom and guidance concerning this Fall's Berlin/Jerusalem Mission.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

This is No "Crossover" Faith

"Behold these are the ungodly, who are always at ease; they increase in riches.  Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence."  (Psalm 73:12, 13)

Hence, the temptation is to turn to "crossover faith."  Or, "This isn't working for me.  Maybe I should not be so narrow-minded, so intransigent.  Look at how_____ is doing.  Maybe I need to take a second look at what I believe and how I live."  The psalmist later, however, came to his senses and rejected such a notion, "I was so foolish....Nevertheless, I am continually You; You hold me by my right hand."

I wrote the other day about crossover music and the whole "crossover" culture.  "Crossover" is defined as "The dilution of a music's distinctive qualities to accommodate to mass tastes."  The "distinctive qualities" of What and Whom you and I are a part of is Jesus Christ Himself.  He separates Truth from Fiction; crossover theology cannot do this.  It is what Galatians 2:16 calls, "the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ...."  Nothing could be more clear, and less "crossover."  The whole issue is, regardless of my critic of 45 years ago, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus."  Crossover music in church gatherings and crossover living is just an attempt to win the lost by keeping the Name of Jesus in the "assumed" category.  According to the Bible, the Holy Spirit does not work that way.

Crossover religion is sort of like Lot's.  He negotiated with the Lord about to where he should flee.  God said, "Escape for your life!...Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed."  Lot replied, in typical "crossover" fashion, "No, wait; 'Please let me escape there'; after all, '(is it not a little [city]?)....'"  Yet after Lot saw the mighty judgment of God upon Sodom, "Then Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountains...."  I guess he realized that crossover living is not very safe after all, that his security place was not as reliable as God's.

The temptation to negotiate with the Lord Jesus a "crossover" life style is ever before us.  Some of the temptations come in oh-so-nice fashion, look so much like the "real thing."  Yet as is crossover music, is a crossover religion, "the dilution of [The Faith's] distinctive qualities to accommodate to mass tastes."  No one in the world who observes such living in you and me is quite sure who we are and what we believe.  When our worship honors Father by honoring Jesus, singing His praise, glorifying Father by Jesus' Name, when our life and life style is solely fixed on and in Jesus Christ, there is no confusion to "visitors" in our church gatherings, to neighbors, and to fellow workers as to who we are. 

Father, in Jesus' Name, I reject "crossover."  Amen.

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* Preaching in the Quest Church meeting this coming Sunday, July 21
* Please pray for our mission this Fall.  We are now caring for Sarah's Mom and are seeking Jesus as to how to handle everything.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2