How God is Changing the World
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Holiness, Sanctification, and Mission
Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst.
For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle.
On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward.
And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.
On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost.
And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light.
On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.
And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.
The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses.
And it shall be inhabited, for there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction. Jerusalem shall dwell in security.
And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
And on that day a great panic from the Lord shall fall on them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other.
Even Judah will fight at Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be collected, gold, silver, and garments in great abundance.
And a plague like this plague shall fall on the horses, the mules, the camels, the donkeys, and whatever beasts may be in those camps.
Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths.
And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them.
And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain; there shall be the plague with which the Lord afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths.
This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths.
And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to the Lord.” And the pots in the house of the Lord shall be as the bowls before the altar.
And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the Lord of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day.
A long passage, and somewhat difficult in places to understand, but this passage ending the book of Zechariah is an end-times prophecy. It predicts the final reign of Christ over the earth. Those who fought against God and His chosen people, Israel, will be defeated forever. The ones who survive will worship the Lord, and most of all, they will be known for Holiness.
We see some language of the plague coming upon those who fight against Israel. It sounds a little like something from Indiana Jones. Their flesh will rot while they are standing on their feet, their eyes will rot or melt in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. It says before this happens, there will be a last charge against Israel by her enemies, and it is not a pretty site. the city taken, houses plundered, women raped. But then the Lord will go out to fight those nations who came to fight Israel. Then Christ will return with His holy ones. The nature of the world will change. No light, cold, or frost. No wind chill. Sounds good to me!
Christ is King, and Christ will reign. And all nations will be subject to Him and His rule. And those people who stayed faithful to Him will be called Holy. Will you be called Holy? You must persevere and continue to move towards God in a lifelong effort. And in verses 20-21, we get the impression that everything becomes sacred, even household pots and bowls. This is a picture of the fact that when all of this happens, there will be no difference between secular and sacred. Everything will be holy to Lord.
So what are we to take from this type of passage? We call it apocalyptic literature. It reflects what will happen at the end of the current age and gives us a glimpse of the new heavens and earth. Not a completely clear picture, but at least an indication of what will happen. So what is a Christian to do with a passage like this, or the book of Revelation, or parts of Daniel, Ezekiel, or some of the other places in scripture that speak of the end times?
Well, there are a number of reasons these are contained in scripture. I think since some of the descriptions remain a bit cryptic that these passages remind us that with God, many things are mysterious, and many things will not be revealed until God reveals them. These passages should give us hope in trying times, helping us to put faith in the promise that no matter what we are enduring now, we can look toward the day when He makes all things new. There are many reasons for apocalyptic passages of scripture, but this morning I want to focus on these two: Sanctification and Mission.
Sanctification is that process that every Christian is called to actively participate in. Through teaching of the Word of God, reading and meditation on scripture, and asking the Lord to reveal things in your heart that need to be dealt with, we continually grow to be more like Christ. We begin to take on more of HIs character and put aside more of our own. And we should want this! After all, His character is so much better than ours! We should desire to become more like Him every day.
But how do end times studies remind us to continue being sanctified? Because the church is the Bride of Christ. He will return to receive His Bride, and scripture tells us He will be looking for a bride that is spotless. This language in scripture that compares our relationship to Christ to marriage is one of many evidences in scripture that God takes marriage very seriously. The picture is clear to us, then. Just as a groom would hope for HIs Bride to prepare herself through chastity, or purity, Christ wants to receive us as a people completely loyal to Him. As He expectantly awaits that day, so should we, by preparing ourselves. This is what sanctification means. This is what holiness is, being set apart unto our Lord.
Along with end times studies causing us to seriously consider our sanctification, we also should be awaken to our need to obey Christ in His Great Commission to us. We must be all about mission. Our mission is to share Christ. Jesus did what needed to be done to obtain our salvation, but He did it for others as well. Many people still do not understand or have never heard a clear presentation of the gospel, or if they have, it has been dampened because of hypocritical Christians.
People are told they need to repent and leave their wicked ways by people who are sometimes resistant to give up their own vices. We need to focus on sanctification in two spheres of our lives: As individuals and as the church. You could add in the family unit as well. As individuals, we need to actively read and meditate on God’s Word, and pray and seek His face in order to do His will in our lives. This is best done within the context of the other sphere, the church. It will be very difficult for a Christian to be an effective witness if they resist being sanctified, becoming more like Jesus.
The church holds responsibility to each other to teach each other and challenge each other to live in a way that honors God. Part of the reason for this is that we each have a mandate to share the gospel, to show the kindness of God to people in hopes that His kindness will lead them to repentance in order that they can also join the family of God, the church. Our goal should be expansion, not for the sake of a bigger crowd than some other church, or so we can have a bigger building or something, but out of love and compassion for the many people in the world who are on a path that, unless interrupted by the gospel of Jesus Christ, will bring them to eternal torment and everlasting fire.
We must have love for them. I saw a famous atheist speaking in a video and he said, “how much do you have to hate someone if you truly believe they would go to hell unless they repent and turn to Christ, but you don’t try to proselytize them” In other words, if you really believe in the gospel, that it is the cure for everyone’s biggest problem, then why not share it?
Unfortunately, the church often sees an either or situation when it comes to holiness or sanctification and mission. It seems some churches focus entirely on holiness. They are so holy that no one else feels they can get in. And then there are churches that are so mission minded that all they think about is how to get a bigger crowd that they ignore the difficult work required of all believers of changing their hearts and behaviors to become more like Christ.
Many believe the church should not be a place where people come and feel bad, but in one sense I disagree: If there is sin in your life, and you come to church and do not feel bad about it, something is wrong! I and all Christians have a grave responsibility to tell people wheat the Bible says about how we ought to live so that they can make good choices and choose the narrow path.
So how do we find the balance between sanctification and mission? How can we do both, since we are clearly mandated by scripture to be mission-minded and sanctified? I have a word that describes where these two come together: Discipleship. Discipleship is what brings them together. Discipleship, or becoming a disciple, means that we are becoming like a master. Jesus was both mission-minded and concerned that people make themselves holy.
All too often, churches are afraid to tell people about the things that the Bible clearly says about moral living. They say that is going to turn people off and they won’t come to church. Well, this may surprise you, but I really don’t care if we get more people coming to church. I’m not interested in people coming to church. I’m interested in people coming to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. I think so many of what are called “seeker-freindly” churches have it backwards. They think that if they tone down the ugliness of sin and focus on the kind acts of Jesus, more people will come. The problem is they never identify the problem. The problem is sin.
Without people understanding the problem, they won’t seek a solution. This is basic sales and marketing class, folks. I’m not trying to cheapen the gospel by saying that, but in marketing, you will hardly ever sell a product that someone feels they have no need for.
Until we identify what sin is and why it is a problem, no one needs Jesus to die on the cross for their sins. If hell isn't made real to people, they won’t take action to turn away from it to avoid it. Without a passionate plea to wake up and turn from wickedness and to the Savior, there will be no response. You see, you can sing nice songs and tell great stories from the pulpit about how God loves you just the way you are and get huge crowds. But telling people about the love of God without telling them about the holiness of God, and the wages of sin, they really won’t see the need for the cross.
So these wishy washy churches say, “we don’t like to focus on the negative. We just want to teach the words of Jesus, how He loves everyone.
The churches pursuing holiness to the point of inventing rules about what everyone can and cant do are no better. No one even feels comfortable enough to stay as a guest. They won’t return a second time if they happen to visit. They preach and teach so much on clean living that they forget about the Great Commission. So one side says we want to teach the words of Jesus and how He loves everyone, the other says He loves you, but mind yourself, or you will be cut off. So which did Jesus focus on? In His ministry, did Jesus focus on Sanctification, or how we ought to live, or did he just love on people? Well, guess what? He did both. The two things are not mutually exclusive, they go hand in hand.
Did Jesus avoid making people feel uncomfortable by not talking about their propensity to sin? Absolutely not! In the sermon on the mount alone, among many topics we find Jesus warned about anger, and how it quickly becomes sinful. He warned about lust, rebuked the concept of divorce, chided those who lie, told us we should not retaliate against those who hurt us, talked about the sin of greed, and how worrying is sinful, and that we should not judge each other. My preaching professor said a sermon needs to be on one or two main ideas. Jesus spoke of all these in one sermon!
Jesus gave many, many warnings. He even said that people would be shocked to find out they did not have true faith, because to some who thought they were righteous he will say, “I never knew you”. Jesus talked about the cost of following him, he called out hypocrisy, He always cut to the heart of the matter. So was Jesus seeker-friendly? You bet He was! Because a true seeker will always find Christ. Through the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord said “if you seek me, you will find me, if you seek me with all of your heart”.
What does that mean? That the church should only preach fire and brimstone and shout repent all the time? No! We need to teach all of the Bible. The parts that comfort, the parts that bring joy and adoration to God, the parts that offer us insight into the end of times, the parts that remind us of our tendency to sin….
So I mentioned all these warnings of Jesus. But was Jesus not missional because He was always reminding people of their lostness? Just the opposite. he cared enough about the lost to give them the straight scoop. Jesus considers the church to be His bride. He gave the church instructions, the Great Commandment and the Great Commission among them. And He modeled for us how we can both pursue holiness and sanctification and also be missional. It’s called discipleship, and that is what this church is committed to.
We aren’t going to water down the gospel to appeal to someone who does not want to change and turn to God. We will welcome everyone and hope that as they hear the gospel preached, the Holy Spirit would do His work of convicting people of sin and convincing them of the truth. But I am not your conscience or anyone else’s. if I preach, it ought to be the Word of God, broken down and explained so that you can make good decisions in life, so that you can understand the grace of God that does not burden you with needing to live up to His love, but that freely gives grace and mercy to all who will receive it.
Whenever I talk about sanctification, I feel the need to mention again that all of the actions we take, the things we deny ourselves of to better serve Christ, they are not done because we will earn bonus points or secure our eternal life. No, that is given freely. The reason we want to become more like Christ is because we love Him and we want to honor Him with our lives and bless God.
Matthew 11:25–30
At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children;
yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
His yoke is easy and his burden light. It isn't so hard to live for Him. He gives us the Holy Spirit to empower us and guide us.
Finally, as we wrap up the book of Zechariah, I want to point out that the last two verses show us that there will no longer be a division between the sacred and the secular. However, the church is supposed to be a changing force in any culture is touches. For many years, the church set the tone for morality and living. Over the last few decades in the US, it has given up its moral authority. We seem to think we have no right anymore to declare the things of God, particularly as they speak to the moral degradation in our land. This needs to stop.
Whether we are ridiculed by the world, shouted down by the tolerance police, or laughed at by the Politically Correct crowd, the church must take back the God-given authority it has to declare God’s morals. We must not be afraid to do so. Do you truly believe the Bible? Do you really believe that if a nation gets more and more wicked that it can at the same time expect the blessing and protection of God Almighty? It won’t happen, folks.
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
You have the light of Christ, and the light of God’s way for mankind to live. Don’t hide it under a bushel! Do you remember what I said about the atheist who said if you truly believe in Christianity, and you do not tell others they are headed for hell, you must really hate them! Otherwise, you wouldn't stand back and say, “Well, they have their right to live the way they want. They are outside the church, so it isn't my duty to tell them how to live.” Well, let me tell you. It is your duty to declare what is clear in scripture. Some things are less clear. I wouldn't recommend you spend time trying to get people to conform to requirements that have more to do with tradition that scripture.
But here are a few things scripture tells us about where people are headed who are immoral:
But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.
Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.
For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
This is a warning. And further down he doesn't say we are to ignore those behaviors since they have their right to do what they want. Instead, he says:
Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
Again, Paul says
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,
nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
This does not seem like good news! The people who do those things, unrepentant, refusing to turn to God because they haver their right to do what they want, they will not inherit the kingdom of God! What is the alternative if they do not inherit the Kingdom of God? Eternal, conscious torment where the worm never dies. It sounds hopeless. But it isn’t hopeless. Even if you as a Christian have had moments of failing, there is hope:
And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Were is a past tense word. Such were some of you. But no longer if you are in Christ. Those outside, should we let them twist in the wind, ignorant of the consequence of the sin? Is that loving? We need to be missional like Christ was. At the same time that he warned, He loved. Warning without love will only drive people away. Warning with love may just save them from everlasting hell and bring them to eternal life.
We as the church are called to be counter-cultural. This means we will get insulted, made fun of, laughed at, called prudes, and perhaps even arrested or physically harmed. But that is what Christ did for us. He endured insult and pain as He modeled for us the intersection between holiness and mission, and it is called discipleship. That is what we are about. And the church needs to find its voice again and speak out boldly against the evil in our nation.
Homosexuality is an abomination to God. Saying this does not mean I hate homosexuals. I have many acquaintances that I would love to see saved from this destructive lifestyle. Abortion is cold-blooded murder. That doesn't mean we don’t love the mother who had an abortion and try to help her find forgiveness, healing and redemption in Jesus. But we must speak out against it. How we vote may speak volumes about how serious we are as Christians. I have grown have a love/hate relationship with politics. I don’t know if I can trust any of the candidates completely. But I can tell you that how America has voted over the past decades reflects less and less influence from the church as a moral authority. It is time for us to stand up for the morality of the Bible.
It may be that our constitution grants people of opposing views a voice, too. But so long as that constitution stands, we have the freedom under law to speak out on these moral issues and others. And not only do we have the freedom from our constitution, we have an obligation to our fellow men and women who are lost and headed to hell to speak clearly about what God has to say about His standards of morality. The church can still make a difference. If we are true disciples of Jesus, we will pursue holiness as individuals and as the church, but we will also push holiness outside the walls of the church.
