What does it mean to be holy?
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0.0 kHz 0 Kbps min 2006-02-12-Todd-Stewart.mp3 35 min (4.01 MB)
What does it mean to be holy?
Luke 5:27-39
After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” So, leaving everything behind, he got up and began to follow Him. Then Levi hosted a grand banquet for Him at his house. Now there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were guests (literally – “were reclining”) with them. But the Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to His disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus replied to them, “The healthy don’t need a doctor, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
How can you be holy and pursue intimate association with “unholy” people? (Luke 5:27-32)
*Jesus purposefully engaged a sin-filled sub-culture
*Levi used his available resources to expose people in his loop to Jesus
*The religious establishment misinterpreted the Old Testament call to holiness
*Jesus illustrated a picture of holy living
Interpretation – What does this mean?
*If Jesus did this, we should do the same
*NOBODY is ever beyond the pursuit & grace of God
*You can come to God just as you are…you don’t need to clean up your act first!
*Who was more “holy” - Jesus and Levi in their dangerous position among “sinners”, or the Pharisees as they avoided such people and temptations?
Application – What does this mean for me?
*Does your view of holiness jive with Jesus’ in this story?
*Does your view of yourself match up with Jesus’ view of you?
*Do you expect people to “clean up their act” before they come to Jesus, or do you meet people right where they are?
*What “messy people” are you pursuing with all of your available resources in order that they might meet Jesus?
He also told them a parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. Otherwise, not only will he tear the new, but also the piece from the new garment will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, it will spill, and the skins will be ruined. But new wine should be put into fresh wineskins. And no one, after drinking old wine, wants new, because he says, ‘The old is better.’”
How can you be holy and not do all the spiritual, holy stuff? (Luke 5:33-39)
*Fasting became a test of spirituality and source of religious merit
*The religious establishment accused Jesus & his disciples of being inauthentic
*Jesus presented a new way of approaching God, incompatible with the old ways
*New ways call for new forms & new expressions (or at least renewed ones)
Interpretation – What does this mean?
*Spiritual activity & disciplines are not the measures of holiness…they are a means of connecting with the Holy One!
*The old covenant forms and traditions are no longer obligatory in the new covenant:
Old Way vs. New Way
Ritualism vs. Relationship
Priesthood Caste vs. Priesthood of all believers
Temple focus vs. Body Focus
Law-emphasis vs. Grace emphasis
Application – What does this mean for me?
*Does your view and practice of the spiritual disciplines align with Jesus’ view?
*What would it look like for you to more fully experience the freedom of grace?
*How can you discipline yourself to more fully experience grace and intimacy with the Grace-Giver?
*Do you have an old covenant or new covenant approach to God and life in His kingdom?
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