http://www.ligonier.org/learn/series/holiness_of_god/the-holiness-of-christ-3254/?
#6 – The Holiness of Christ
On a college campus a gentleman was speaking about Christ,
and someone heckled him and hollered out, “Who cares?” He noted that the audience
was hostile. There has been a growing hostility
in our nation toward the Christian faith and a growing sense of militancy from
pro Christian and anti-Christian forces. The unbelievers are deeply afraid that
militant Christians are going to try to force religious adherence through law
on unbelievers and they are justifiably afraid of that. Remember: the 1st amendment of the
Constitution of the United States protects the non-Christian as much as the
Christian. We have to be careful about that.
Anguish and hostility is directed against Christians, theologians,
ministers, tele-evangelists, etc. However, it is rare
that people will publicly criticize the integrity of Jesus.
George Bernard Shaw, who was not a Christian, once
commented that “there were times when Jesus did not behave as a Christian”! There is some irony in that! When Shaw wanted to criticize Jesus he could think of no higher
moral standard by which to criticize Him than the standard of Christ
Himself. When there is hostility against
us, there is a kind of restraint about Jesus.
Of all the human beings who have
ever lived, there has never been someone who has engendered more universal
respect for his integrity than Jesus of Nazareth. The world is so complimentary about him, but if he was so wonderful, kind and compassionate, why was He killed? Not only was He executed, but the masses were
clamoring for His blood. What was it
about Jesus of Nazareth that inflamed people’s passions either for Him or
against Him?
Let's read a passage in the New Testament. Mark 4:35-41: “And the same day, when the
even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.
And when they had sent
away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were
also with him other little ships. And there
arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was
now full. And he
was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and
say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and
rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased,
and there was a great calm. And he
said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? And they
feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that
even the wind and the sea obey him?"
There would be terrible wind tunnels that came upon the Sea of Galilee
without any warning, and still do to this day. There was a bad storm, and Jesus was sleeping during this storm. The disciples were afraid.
Dr. R.C. Sproul taught a course called, "Academic Atheism." Students had to read the primary sources/writings
of the most articulate atheists of western history. They did these readings and found the atheists of the 19th and 20th century asked this question: we know there is no God, but why
is it that mankind seems to be incurably devoted to the pursuit of religion?
Madelyn Murray said they are given to superstition, and not thinking
critically, and we need to educate further.
They agreed on this: religion emerges historically out of the
psychological needs of people, out of man’s human fraility. We all share our mortality. Frued and Marx
said that every human has a built-in fear of natural forces that threaten our very
lives. Historically people began to
invent religion to impose the idea of a living soul inside these forces, a god
in the storm, in the earthquake, in the pestilence. Personalization of nature was a first step in the evolutionary process.
All kinds of
things threaten our existence: cancer, fire, flood, war, other people. We have learned to survive the hostility of
other people. We have learned how to
deal with that. If we are around someone who is angry, we may beg for mercy,
compliment him, bribe him, find ways to short circuit personal attacks against us. Freud
asked, how does one negotiate with a hurricane or flood? You can’t plead with a
storm, bribe an earthquake, flatter cancer and make it go away. These are non personal
forces, but we project onto nature personal characteristics so we can talk to
the storm, then sacrilege it into deity. Or we invent monotheism and talk to one God about
all of these problems. It's thought that if you worship
God and honor God and tithe, send in your check, then God who is more powerful than the storm will protect you from
all of these problems.
Emphasis on prosperity and health on TV, it's said by some preachers that God always
wills these things, "name it and claim it."
To experience prosperity you have to name it and believe in it and God will
deliver these things. We certainly have an
ability to project our desires and wishes upon nature as Freud indicated. He
said out of fear of nature we invent God, so God becomes a crutch, or opiate at
Marx suggested, for people who simply can’t bear to live in a hostile or
indifferent universe.
Going back to the Scripture in Mark, we
find the disciples of Jesus terrified because of an encounter with the
destructive forces of nature. Their lives are in jeopardy from the tempest
arising at sea, so as people will often do when they are afraid, they went to their leader, woke him up, and said, "Master, do
something or we perish!" He looked around and apprised the situation and then
the Lord God incarnate, the Creator of heaven and earth issued a verbal command
not to men but to the impersonal forces of nature. He addressed the sea and the
wind and commanded in a loud voice, “Peace be still!” Instantly the response of
the cosmos in obedience took place so that the sea became as glass and the wind
was still.
What is the response of the
disciples when Jesus removes the clear and present threat of nature? Did they
rejoice and say they knew he would do it? No, at that moment they became very
much afraid. Their fears now became
intensified instead of relieved. There
is something inside the human heart that fears more than the impersonal forces of nature
and that is the power and presence of a person who is holy. Now the disciples are trembling, and say, “what
manner of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
Xenophobia, the apartness, the difference of God that threatens and frightens us – the disciples realized we have
just now witnessed a display of a kind of humanity with which we are utterly unfamiliar. When you meet a new person, your brain goes
through a catalog of responses, if smiling, frowning, tall people, etc., it tells us
different things from our experience, and we learn how to be with other people
from our experience. There was once a therapy to strip of
their clothes and reveal their secrets of their heart. Premium of openness, vulnerability, but that movement was short lived, and people were brutally hurt when they opened up. Everyone has had a secret betrayed, someone
tramples over your soul. We learn to put some armour on after that happens. We don’t want to be vulnerable and open. We use this mechanism very carefully to see
if a person is safe or not safe.
They
saw Jesus and their mind’s computers went haywire; we don’t have a category for
this man. Never encountered someone who is so other and so different, separate
and apart from normal humanity that He can command the sea and the sea
obeys. They realized they were in the presence
of the holy and their fear was increased. This is the only time that sort of
thing happens in the NT.
However, on another occasion,
same people, same sea, they were out all night fishing and came back with empty
nets. Jesus approaches them and says to
Peter, how did it go? Lousy night, no fish. Jesus said to put the nets on this
side of the boat. Peter was probably thinking, “Hey, Jesus, you are a fantastic
theologian, but give me some credit, I’m a professional fisherman, are you
going to tell me how to fish?” But he figured, Let’s humor him. Then every fish in the sea of
Galilee jumps in the net! For Peter, fishing was not
for fun but for profit. Peter could have said to Jesus that he wanted to contract with him, split the profits 50/50, and make some real money here! But no, Peter said to
Jesus, “depart from me for I am a sinful man.” In other words, Jesus, please leave. I
can’t stand it.
When one who is holy comes into our midst, immediately we are uncomfortable
and dreadfully aware of our unholiness,
and want that person to get as far from us as possible. A golfer played with Billy Graham once and
that person felt that religion was shoved down his throat for 18 holes, but Billy Graham never said a word. People are
uncomfortable in our presence not because we are holy but because we represent
the One who is. The Pharisees were Jesus’
worst enemy, devoted to righteousness, but were self righteous. The people who were
most comfortable around Jesus were the outcast sinners because they had no
illusions about their own righteousness.
Those who took pride in their moral purity were uncomfortable because Jesus exposed their unholy
character. When the light comes, the
darkness cannot stand in its presence.
Jesus didn’t leave Peter. He told
Peter to come unto me, your burden, I will give you peace. We are invited to come into the presence of a holy God. The Psalmist said, "Search me and know me." The secret the Christian carries around with
him is that the one place we can be naked without fear is in the presence of
Christ. Even though we have this built
in fear toward the holy one and we recognize we are unholy, in Christ we are welcome.
The first fruits of a person’s justification is peace with God and access into
His presence.
If you are saying, Please
leave, Jesus, you make me uncomfortable, realize this: 1. There is no possible escape ever from the
holiness of God. You are going to have to deal with it now or at some point.
Get it settled right now. 2. Understand there is a righteousness that God has
provided for you in Christ, it’s foreign, it's not your own, it’s the righteousness of Christ
freely offered to you if you submit to the Lordship of Christ. All He has and
all He has done becomes yours. The worst storms of divine wrath is silenced
forever and He declared “PEACE.” Your
guilt is taken away. To be a Christian is to be forgiven. Not arrogance but
gratitude is the response. No Christian is righteous in and of himself. Will you come into His presence today and receive His free gift of grace, salvation for your soul?
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