A Life Devoted to God
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What kind of God do we serve?
What kind of God do we serve?
God has revealed himself to us through His word. If you want to know who He is, if you want answers, so much of it is in here. Take for example Psalm 19.
Read and point out his characteristics.
God also reveals himself to us through what he does in others.
Have someone share their testimony. What did God show us through their story?
God’s most defining characteristic is HOLINESS. When you think of holiness, what does it mean?
“Be Holy for I am Holy” In the OT, God chose the Israelites to be holy as He was holy. It is his essential attribute. But how could they be holy? What did it mean?
Only God is holy. His nature isn’t human or worldly or evil. It’s sometimes a hard concept to understand, and theologians have been debating it for centuries. God doesn’t separate the world or see the world as we do.
We divide the world into good and bad or natural and supernatural or moral and immoral. Did you know that this is because we are in a western culture? To God, there were only 2 distinctions - what was His and what was NOT His. What was of Him and what was NOT of Him.
EXAMPLE: 2 of everything - So in the OT, basically the story of God in this world before Jesus came, this is how God explained it to them. See these candlesticks? If they are consecrated to me, they are now holy. It is not them of themselves that make them holy, it is I who make them holy.
Ask: 2 backpacks. 2 pens. 2 phones. 2 people.
The Bible dictionary says they are “Holiness is clearly portrayed as an encounter with the living God, which results in a holiness of lifestyle. Therefore, holiness is more than a onetime separating and uniting activity. It is a way of life.” The more we are with God, the more we become like him.
He made a way for us to be like Him!
He made a way for us to be like Him!
So, how do we become like him? Is it through learning everything we can about Him? Is it through finding out everything he wants us to do and not do and then follow that to the letter?
There was a time in my life, not that long ago, where I was
In the OT, God chose the Israelites to be holy as He was holy.
“Be Holy for I am Holy” In the OT, God chose the Israelites to be holy as He was holy.
Priests/Saints, the word is used 61 times
Well, let me tell you a parable. There was a group of people. They went to church every Sunday. They didn’t just tithe, they gave generously to all kinds of missions projects. They had memorized Scripture, made sure they read the Bible inside and out. They never got drunk, they didn’t steal, they
Servant/Slave,
He made us holy - which means He set us apart. Consecrated us for special use.
The Pharisees missed this. They saw only how they looked on the outside, their actions as needing to be consecrate to God. They missed the fact that being holy, giving ourselves to God means that we are given to Him FIRST and then made holy from the inside out.
I call this the God sticker. We label things as holy without the most important thing - making sure that it is devoted and set apart for God.
He is worthy of our DEVOTION
He is worthy of our DEVOTION
Holy vs. Profane
To God there are not certain things that are holy and ones that are not holy in and of themselves.
The things we devote to Him.
The things we devote to Him.
There were no God activities and human activities. Chasid meant that every part of life was devoted to him. Every part of life was made holy. Just as there were holy candlesticks and not holy candlesticks. There are holy activities and not holy activities. Example: there are friendships that are holy and friendships that are not holy. There is schoolwork that is holy and schoolwork that is not holy. There is speech that is holy and there is speech that is not holy. There is prayer that is holy and prayer that is not holy. What makes them holy? You’re probably already thinking, “well, these types of friendships are holy and these are not. These certain words are holy and these are not. Studying this or that is more holy than these other things. Asking for this thing is holy and for this thing is not.
But I want to challenge you to think a little deeper. Because if we study scripture and what Jesus said and did, what makes them holy is whether or not that relationship or that activity or that study or that person or has been set apart for God, to be completely devoted to Him.
What does that look like? It looks like every single thing in my life belonging to God. It’s his. My body is his. My mind is his. My family is his. My relationship is his. My house is his. My car is his. My money is his.
When I am studying, I’m studying for Him. When I’m driving, I’m driving for Him. When I’m speaking, I’m speaking for Him.
Do you see how this changes, well, everything? And not in a, oh I’m going to become boring kind of way. Into a, now let’s see what God can do with something so utterly unholy and mundane kind of way.