The Presence of Holiness

Good morning and welcome to Living Faith Church. I am so excited to be able to worship Jesus Christ with you on this amazing Sunday. If we have never met before, my name is Aaron. My wife Stella and I are honored to be able to serve on the Pastoral team at LFC. Today we are wrapping up this series called “Set Apart… a series on holiness”. And, I’m really excited for today, because I genuinely believe that today many of you are going to experience God in a way that you never have before.

As we get into this topic today, for the last time in this series, I will share again, that the word holiness in your Bible means to be separate, consecrated, or dedicated. To be set apart for something means that whatever is separated cannot be used for another purpose. But also, by this very same token, to be set apart means that we have left something else behind.

For some of us, the reason we have not experienced the new season, is because we have not left the old stuff behind? I think that each of us have had our experience leaving things behind. One of my kids had an incredibly hard time parting with a particular stuffed animal. It went with them everywhere. To the grocery store, the park, to bed, to breakfast, dinner, the bathroom… it was a real problem. One day Stella was like- we have to wash this thing. It smelled so bad! But it was not to be parted with. Every time we took it away the alligator tears flowed. Finally we decided to just let them cry it out- because this was becoming a toxic hazard. As time went on, the little animal became less of a Linus blanket and showed itself much less frequent. One day while doing a little spring cleaning, our kids were entering their early teen years, we found this little guy tucked underneath the pillow on their bed. I said to Stella, we are well beyond these years. And so, we took it put in hidden place in our bedroom. I thought for sure the secret absence would end this eternal childhood syndrome. Yet, a few weeks later- I found that little stuffed animal back in the bedroom. I said, honey, we gotta fix this! - I’m not letting my secrets out of the bag- But I can tell you- it’s fixed!

The book of Exodus is a book of presence. It is in this book of Exodus where we learn more clearly that God is zealous for His chosen people to separate themselves from the presence of the world, and to Himself. It is in this book that Israel is called to meet with God, Moses spends 40 days with God on a mountain, we are given a tabernacle in which God meets with the High Priest, there is actually a thing called “The Bread of Presence”.

In Exodus 2 we find that Moses has killed an Egyptian that was beating a Hebrews slave to death. In verse 15 of this chapter, we find that when Pharoah heard of this, he tries to kill Moses. Verse 15 says:

Exodus 2:15 NASB95

15 When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.

One chapter later in verse 5 Moses stands in front of a bush that is burning but not consumed and God tells Moses,

Exodus 3:5 NASB95

5 Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

Moses was not able to enter into the presence of God as long as he was in the presence of Pharoah. Moses had to encounter a divine discomfort. A discomfort sent from God. This is when Moses begins to see Egypt from Heavens eyes, not a palace of glory and splendor, but a prison cell for Gods chosen nation. A divine discomfort was sent, where Egypt did not look as desirable as it used to. A divine discomfort where Egypt began to irritate and even anger Moses. It may be helpful for us to realize that often what we call irritation, frustration, or simply a bad day, is actually a divine discomfort. Divine discomfort is where God causes you to be uncomfortable in one season to prepare your for another season. It is a tool that God uses to move you from one place so that He plant you in another place.

God intentionally drove Moses out of Egypt, so that at just the right time, Moses could be meet with God at the burning bush. And I am here to tell you today, that God is brining you some divine discomfort. There are some of you that have been wondering why life doesn’t feel as easy, as pleasant, as comfortable as it used to feel. There are some of you that are wondering why things that used to bring you so much pleasure, now only annoy you. I am here to with a word from the Lord today, I have been sent to tell you God is driving you out of Egypt because He has a burning bush encounter awaiting you.

And it is interesting to us, is it not, that this book of presence is called “Exodus”, or the book of leaving. Because, as we have already stated, you cannot find your place in Gods presence if you do not leave the presence of the world. Moses made this clear to Pharoah from the very beginning. God instructed Moses to tell pharoah:

Exodus 7:16 NASB95

16 “You shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened until now.”

There is no clearer illustration of this than in the story of Israel and the Golden Calf. Just 90 days after Israel has fled Egypt, they arrive at the base of Mount Sinai. 40 days later Moses comes off of the mountain with the tablets of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 32:7 tells us that God actually sent Moses from His presence saying:

Exodus 32:7 NASB95

7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.

These Israelites have made a calf out of golden jewelry, and this was not just any golden calf. This was the false god Apis. Apis was an Egyptian bull god, that was a mediator between the common people and god. So while Moses is “in” Gods presence, Israel is reintroducing Egyptian culture back into their way of life. And so God says to Moses:

Exodus 33:3 NASB95

3 “Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are an obstinate people, and I might destroy you on the way.”

See, the exodus was not about the promise land, it wasn’t about Egyptian slavery, or being a nation all to themselves. The exodus was about worship. The exodus was about Israel being with God. And this is the same for you today. Holiness is not just about rules, and do this, and don’t do that. Holiness is about living with God. Holiness is about worship, and presence.

God wraps up his conversation with Moses with this final directive.

Exodus 33:5 NASB95

5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the sons of Israel, ‘You are an obstinate people; should I go up in your midst for one moment, I would destroy you. Now therefore, put off your ornaments from you, that I may know what I shall do with you.’ ”

Some, even more modern, denominations have taken passages like this and others to make rules about jewelry. This passages is not directed at the jewelry, it’s directed to what the jewelry represented. Tommas Pace in The Lexham Bible Dictionary has this to say:

Ancients used objects of adornment as votive offerings to gods and goddesses to give thanks for a successful birth or recovery from illness.

Amulets were commonly used to ward off evil and magic.

Tommas Pace, “Jewelry,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

God was after Israels heart, and the same is true in your life today. Anything and everything that God is asking you to separate yourself from is only for the purpose of growing closer to HIm. He wants your worship, He wants relationship, and Holiness makes way for you to be in His presence. He will not mix, He will not dilute Himself and accept compromise. God “is” holy. God is separate. That is His unchanging nature. He is 100% pure to Himself.

So, as we end this series, I want to offer two practices that can be put into motion today, that will be helpful to us as we pursue a more holy life, a life consecrated for God.

Turn Moments of Frustration Into An Invitation of Presence

Little did Moses know that his growing anger toward the Egyptian slave drivers would cause him to flee to Midian and later encounter the visible presence of God. How could Moses have predicted that his murderous anger would lead him to a burning bush experience where he would be called to lead the Israelite exodus?

Let allow Moses to be a mentor to us. Let’s allow this truth to teach us, that sometimes moments of frustration are an invitation of presence. That not every irritation is a demonic intervention, but every irritation can be a moment to say Lord, I come to you. To separate myself from the current atmosphere and enter into Gods presence. This is where I belong.

Lately I have been allowing these frustrating moments in my day, as a trigger to call me to go on a prayer walk. The benefits far outweigh the inconvenience. The release of norepinephrine (naw-reh-puh-neh-fruhn) that lowers my stress levels, the fresh air that clears my thoughts, and the chance to draw close to God and hear His voice, instead of so many other voices in my head.

God uses divine discomfort to move us into another season, but He keeps us in divine discomfort until just the right time. Don’t make the mistake of praying away the work of God, but allow the discomfort to draw you close to Him. Like Moses, go find the burning bush.

Turn Unholy Encounters Into An Exodus for Presence

There is no draw to stop sinning apart from the presence of God. It was the void of God presence that awakened Adam and Eve to their nakedness, and awareness of their sin. After King Davids rebound from sinning with Bathsheba he prayed:

Psalm 51:10–11 NASB95

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

What draws us to a more holy life is the promise of a closer walk with God. And so maybe our next practice of holiness should be to turn unholy encounters into an exodus for presence. To ofter our natural reactions are:

Guilt

Shame

Fear

Doubt of our own salvation

Gossip (if we find sin in another)

And none of these behaviors have anything to do with a Holy God, as a matter of a fact, they are not much better than the sin itself. As a matter of a fact, Paul has a lot to say about guilt, shame, fear, and doubting our own salvation. He says this in Romans 8:1-2

Romans 8:1–2 NASB95

1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

So next time you find yourself in guilt, share, fear, or doubting if you are still a Christian because of a sin you committed, remember this- that separation you feel is only the Holy God of the universe drawing you closer. Later in Romans 8:38-39 Paul clarifies this thought by saying that there is nothing in this world that can separate us from Gods love when we are in Christ.

Romans 8:38–39 NASB95

38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Practice Presence

So maybe today you need to draw near. Maybe you need go along with the divine discomfort instead of fighting it. Or maybe you need to turn an unholy encounter into an exodus of presence. I want us to take a moment and draw near to God. As we worship, simply stretch yourself in Gods direction and say “Lord, I’m drawing near”. You may not feel anything at all, as Moses did not encounter the burning bush until nearly 40 years after his escape from Pharoah. You may feel a wave of emotion, that is normal, you may feel a release of stress, and inward rush of peace. Don’t overthink it, just draw near.

Salvation Response

Maybe you do not have a personal relationship with God; maybe you are still carrying the anxiety, guilt, and pressure that sin induces in your life. Maybe you are stressed out by trying to navigate life all on your own. Can I assure you; today all of that can end, and you can walk out of this room with hope in your heart? The Bible tells us:

 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;

Romans 10:9 NASB95

Many people have told me, I don’t want to become a Christian because I can’t keep up that goodie lifestyle. But this verse says nothing about your lifestyle. God is more interested with your heart. If He can get to your heart, He will deal with your actions later. 

 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23 NASB95.

We know that sin leads to death – you’ve felt the sting, and pain of sin. The good news is this, Paul calls God’s gift of life a “free gift”. I want to pray with you right now to receive this gift. If you would say, I want God’s forgiveness, I want to accept this gift of life, I want Jesus to live in my heart, raise your hand so I know who I am praying for. 

KEEP YOUR HANDS RAISED HIGH - I HAVE A PRAYER PARTNER COMING TO PRAY WITH YOU

“Heavenly Father, I trust You to save me through Your Son, Jesus. Forgive me for all of my sins. Make me brand new. Because You died for me, I want to live for You. Fill me with Your Spirit, so I could follow You. Jesus, You’re now my Lord and the Savior of my life. Take my life. It is Yours. In Jesus’ name, I pray.”