I'm concerned about the concept of holiness within the Church. We seem to have lost something of the grasp of knowing the holiness of God. He is pure. He is perfect. There is no darkness, no deception, no evil whatsoever within him. He is good. He is the definition of all that is good. And he has revealed that to us, through the law and other means.

Does the law point to something, or someone, that is holy? Because of the Law, we know what sin is. And when we know what sin is, then we know that we don't line up with the perfection of the Law, given to us by the only perfect One. So what are we to do?

Jesus came not to abolish, but to fulfill the law. The law still remains so that we may still know what sin is. However, Jesus perfectly fulfilled the Law, so that when we are in him, we are within the fulfillment of the law and the law no longer has a hold on us. We no longer need to attempt to fulfill the law because we already know all of our efforts will fail and the only effort that succeeds is to surrender everything to Christ saying, "I can't do it. Thank you for doing it for me!"

Because God is holy, He cannot tolerate any imperfection, any spot or blemish of anything outside His standards in his presence. The law shows us what is necessary to meet his standard and, as Scripture says, all have sinned [broken the law] and fallen short of the glory of God. Not one of us is able to fulfill within ourselves that which is necessary in order to stand without dying within God's holy presence. The definition of holiness itself is something that is morally perfect and to be revered, and unless we meet that standard, we can't enter into the presence which is the substance of that standard.

That's why it was necessary for Jesus to die to fulfill the law. The perfect law demands punishment for the breakage of any point within the law. Jesus took every time we broke (transgressed) the law upon himself and took the full brunt of our punishment upon himself in our place. No strings attached. It was done by God's foreplanning. If we accept this (acknowledge) this free gift that Jesus did for us, then we are cleansed and made holy, and allowed to enter freely into the presence of God without fear of punishment or death.

However, if we say no thanks to what was done or believe it never happened, then we are still held responsible in God's eyes for the full fulfillment of the law - of which none of us have or will ever be able to fulfill. Jesus was the only one to have ever been able to perfectly fulfill the law, and there will be no other. It is only through his gift that we can be cleansed and made holy, without compromise, as is necessary to stand in God's presence.

Because we have been made holy in such a way and because we now understand the holiness of God, we are expected, no, we absolutely must, reside within the holiness he gives without compromising in any way, shape or form. To do so would be to spit into the very face of God!

Now there is a difference between maintaining holiness through remaining in his grace, or trying to do so by rules and regulations set forth by man. Or by even trying to follow the very Law itself to the letter. The Law was fulfilled in Jesus, so to remain in Jesus fulfills the law in us. To try to follow the regulations of the law without fulfilling the spirit of the law through him first is religious in a nature that is not good. To fulfill the spirit of the law by abiding in Christ and through him fulfilling the deeper regulations of the law is fine. But to look at the law and try to fulfill it through our own efforts is to then walk away from the grace offered.

Likewise, to set up regulations that one must follow in order to maintain holiness can also cause others to stumble in their walk in grace. Yes, there are things to avoid, as is written in Scripture, but to try to follow them as rules instead of through a grace-filled desire out of appreciation and love for the gift of Christ can again be religion in a way that is not good.

Let me give an example. Suppose one is trapped within the confines of sexual sin. To try not to lust, or to deny an illegitimate partner solely based on the reasoning of, "I shouldn't do this. It's not allowed," won't help the person any in overcoming that which holds him or her. It only sets the person up for failure, when in their flesh they find they are too weak to hold onto the regulation for long. There is no reason behind their holding to it except that it's not allowed. There is no other motivation.

But, if that person resists lust and other temptation based on the appreciation of grace, then they are a new person in Christ and their reason for denying themselves is Christ and his fulfillment of the punishment for devious behavior. Such a one knows that to fall into such sin is to then fall away from grace, which can then only be found again through repentance and turning back away from that sin once again.

It is because of the defense of his holiness that God instructed us through his word to not associate with anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ, yet regularly practices sin without repentance. If we even eat with such a one, we are showing the world a tarnished image of God's holiness. There is grace for one who is repentant. Not for one who isn't. To believe that God will allow an unrepentant person into his presence is to negate the very reason Christ died to begin with! Scripture is clear - only those with a repentant heart towards God find his favor and grace.

Now let me give an example of a compromise of God's holiness within the church. Besides the myriad of situations where unrepentant sinners are allowed fellowship with the Body in a way they oughtn't to have (indeed, they can't have true fellowship if they aren't true believers), there are also situations where church bodies as a whole compromise God's holiness. Take for example the issue of abortion. Where in God's word does He ever proclaim that it is okay for children to be killed? It is an abomination to him! Look at Ezekiel 16. God tells Israel (the ungrateful bride) that her giving up her children to be sacrificed and torn apart is so much worse than those who despise their children that it makes the latter look righteous in comparison to the former! What are we doing with our children? We are sacrificing them to the god called convenience. And many of those within the church give their approval. Does God's holiness allow this?

Take another example. Let's look at the issue of homosexuality. Many are now saying that it's okay for God's leaders - those who are called as such to be examples of his righteousness and holiness - to be openly practicing this sin while leading the sheep of his flock. We've even come to a point where many don't even consider this abomination a sin, making excuses instead to justify it as something natural. It is something natural - it comes from the fallen part of man that has yet to surrender to God. This cannot, and will not be allowed within his presence, nor should we ever expect it to be.

Now, once again, understand that grace is there for those who are repentant, and those who do not know the holiness of God should be instructed in it in love and kindness, and not judgment. But Scripture says we are to judge those within the church - those within the Body of Christ who have been cleansed by acceptance of His grace. And we gently, with love, help each other to see what is not acceptable within the sight of God, while knowing with trembling we ourselves have not yet been made perfect. Even though we are under grace, we cannot use that grace as an excuse to sin even further. Jesus himself commanded others to, "sin no more." And so must we. It's a matter of defending and upholding an untarnished image of the holiness of God. Without this, the world will not see their need for anything other than what they already have, let alone the salvation that comes through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is for him that we do these things, enabled by the grace his gives.

Trusting God is something hard to do. He's given us many reasons to trust, and shown us in many ways His Love. However, we still find it a difficult task. Consider Peter who, upon seeing Jesus approaching the boat, first desired a command to come out of the boat. When that command was given, he then dutifully climbed out of the boat and onto the water! He was following the command and had the power to follow given to him during his obedience. However, he then looked around and saw the waves and doubt crept in. It was this doubt that felled the command and caused him to fail in following. But, one good thing to remember is that if he hadn't asked for, received, and followed the command to begin with, we wouldn't even have that piece written in Scripture. We wouldn't be encouraged ourselves to at least try something with God's strength. And we definitely wouldn't be encouraged that when doubt creeps in and we fall, that God wouldn't reach out "immediately" and save us.

These things we must remember as we have been given a command to live differently in a world full of waves and wind. If we look at the culture around us we are drawn to fear almost everything. But when we focus on Christ and who He is, we find ourselves on a solid rock; a foundation which cannot be shaken even when a storm rages against us. Daily we have a choice to make. Will I trust the world and all I'm told to fear, or will I trust the solid foundation of the One who is above all that can be feared? He is our rock, our foundation in all things. In Him will I trust!

Two things:

One. I've always had an issue being really down on myself. I've pondered the verse that says loves your neighbor as yourself. That's hard to do when you don't love yourself. Although I've made a lot of progress in this area over the last few years, something profound happened the other day. I was driving along and thinking something negative about me. Something like, you were stupid to do that. What were you thinking? God stopped me. He told me, don't say anything to yourself that you wouldn't say to someone else. That's stopped me in my thinking footsteps many times already. This will change me.

Then, a few days later as I was pondering this He told me, don't think anything about someone else that you wouldn't say to Me. wow. I need to change. Profound.

Two. As I was driving home today I was thinking of what a rough year it's been. Not only for us, but for many others I've talked to. I was thinking through a list of all the difficult things that have happened this year when it hit me that God has been no farther away through all of this. Then I realized that no bad thing came from him. It hasn't been a bad year because of him - it's everything else. He's still been faithful, loving, right nearby. He's been good and kind. He's answered prayer. So, it's been a hard year. But it hasn't been so because of Him. In Him, it's still been good.