Day 17 - Holy?

Day 17: Matthew 15

HOLY?

Read Matthew 15 here first

 

Holiness. It's not a word we hear a lot these days. We often sing it, but we don't think about it a lot in our day to day lives. As far as I know, the origin of the word means to be separate, different. We sing about God's holiness, knowing how different he is to us. We know His ways are higher, His thoughts are higher, and He himself is different to anything we can experience in this world.

I struggle with seeing myself as holy. Paul often refers to us as holy people, raising holy hands, even greeting each other with a holy kiss (be careful with that one). I guess I always equate holiness with being pure or good, as opposed to being set apart or separate from the world.

When I went to university at 18, I really tried to stand out from the lads initially. I tried to live a different way, being different in the amount I drank, my attitude on the football pitch, the words I spoke. So often I failed, but as I look back, I genuinely tried. In no way did I consider myself better than them, but I tried to live a lifestyle that was outside of the 'normal' university crowd. I didn't do this in order to get a pat on the back from God, or to condemn them or show my life was 'better' in any way, but I did it because I believe God calls us to be different to the world around us. I think that's all encompassing, in terms of our whole lifestyle.

Being called to be 'different' by God is so much more than a case of not getting drunk, or believing that sex is only for marriage. Whilst those things are part of how God calls us to live, He calls us to so much more than that. He calls us to forget living to build our own little empire, but to live selflessly, laying down our lives in order to follow Him. That means being different in what we're passionate about, the way we use our money, the way we use our words, the way in which we love people.

It's important that we stand out in terms of drawing a line where we stop drinking, or who we choose to date. I think as the church, we have emphasised the importance of that and that's good. However, it's also so vital that we let God shape our hearts so that we are passionate about justice, the poor, and the broken. As we do this, this will probably mean letting our time, energy and money be poured out in a way that doesn't make sense in our modern day society. So much of the book of Matthew is Jesus reaching out to the poor and despised in society, and not locking ourselves away in our own nice homes. For a lot of us, living holy lives, trying to be different will relate to our wallets. It will mean living in less fancy surroundings, it may mean not buying a home. It'll be tough.

This call to holiness is an all-encompassing, life-changing call, and it's so easy to reduce it to a list of activities that we don't do. As we do this, we can reduce God to a list of do's and don'ts, rather than standing out in every area. We consider ourselves set apart because we don't watch certain TV programmes, or listen to certain music, but while we sit in our comfortable houses, not really thinking about the needs of so many, whether that's a greater global injustice or those who are hurting and broken on our doorsteps.

Recently I heard a woman called Danielle Strickland talking about going into brothels to give our cupcakes to the women and pray with them. As everyone in the room was amazed at that bold ministry, and stories she told of being part of closing down brothels, she said something that really stuck with me. She said that genuinely she'd rather not do it. She said she found those places tough, harrowing places to visit. She said that every week she'd much rather be sat at home in comfort, watching TV. She had to force herself to get up and go, letting God's calling shape her life rather than the call to comfort. Maybe that's what holiness is, maybe that's how we really show we're different, by getting out in the world and really following God as he calls us off our chairs and into a hurting world.

Anyway, back to my university life. I hadn't grasped much of this, but I genuinely tried to live a different lifestyle at the time. It led to loads of conversations about God, and even one person seeking me out to come to church with me and give her life back to God. I was heavily involved in the CU and I had 2 great years.

The third year was tougher though. I lived in a house with 4 great lads, but as I spent less time close to God, I began to become less 'different' in many ways. As the year progressed, I found myself swearing a lot, as it became normal for me. It was only when I left university that someone noticed how bad my language had become.

I think that as I spent less time with God, there was no huge crisis in my life, but I became a lot more like the people around me. I started to slip into the same mentality without really realising. I believed all the same stuff, but I was no longer separate in the same ways that I had been. The belief I had in God didn't come out in my words and actions and I became a normal guy, passionate about Pro Evolution Soccer and Chicago Town pizzas. There would be many times that if you stuck a camera in our house for a couple of days, you'd have struggled to pick me out as a Christian.

In this passage, Jesus is talking about being clean or unclean. Jesus is saying that just following certain rules about eating doesn't make someone clean, but it depends on what comes out of your hearts and mouths. As Jesus does so often, he comes against the outward show of the Pharisees, who long to be seen as holy and important. Jesus is showing that holiness isn't about simply following rules to put yourself on a pedestal.

Jesus came and lived a completely holy life. Jesus resisted temptation, never sinned, and always had compassion on people. Jesus came to serve, to heal, to point to a much higher way than we can reach, and give his life. As we started this, we said that God's ways are higher than our ways. Jesus' words show us this. He points to such a high standard. Not simply rules, but a sacrificial lifestyle that knows what it is to truly be devoted to God, separate from all the temptations of the world.

In Psalm 24, it says 'Who may ascend the hill of the Lord, and who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart'. My hands aren't as clean as they should be, and my heart certainly isn't pure. Rather than discourage us, this should spur us on, that we may be determined to be closer to God, to live for His ways, to be different to those around us.

As we reflect on this, let's take a look at our lives as followers of Christ. I know when I became a Christian, I worked hard on areas that I knew I was desperate to change. I also know that I can often get complacent and just slip into the same mentality as everyone around me, just fitting in, coasting along.

Recently, Anna challenged me massively on this area, about how the disciples and early church would live if they were in 21st century Britain. I don't exactly know how that looks, but I know it's a lot less comfortable than we currently live. As Bonhoeffer says, 'When God bids a man come, He bids him to come and die'. Dying to ourselves, to what society or people expect, to what seems normal. To me, that seems to be the essence of how God calls us to be different. I don't really think we're there, and I don't really know how we get there, but I genuinely want to determine to live it out, so at the end of my life I don't look at my pile of nice stuff and realise it was worthless compared to being part of the people of God.

Today, write down some thoughts. In what areas do you think you are ‘different’ to those around you? In what ways have you slipped into just being one of the crowd? As we look at Jesus and the disciples, and how they were different to society around them, let yourself be challenged at how you stand out, how God is calling you to be different.Think about what the disciples would do in your shoes. Think about what God is calling you to. As we think like this, it'll be scary. It'll feel too big. It'll feel out of our control. That's ok, I'm pretty sure that's how God would have us live, looking to Him and not to our own self-sufficiency.