Fire And Water: The Elements Of Holiness

21 Eleazar the priest said to the troops who had gone to battle: “This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded Moses: 22 gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead— 23 everything that can withstand fire, shall be passed through fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless it shall also be purified with the water for purification; and whatever cannot withstand fire, shall be passed through the water. 24 You must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean; afterward you may come into the camp.” (Numbers 31:21-24; NRSV)

11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (Matthew 3:11; NRSV)

16 John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with[a] the Holy Spirit and fire. (Luke 3:16; NRSV)

5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:5; NRSV)

Our primary text in Numbers shares a directive given to the Israelite troops after vanquishing the Midianites. Spoil was taken from the enemy, however it could not be accepted into the community ‘as is’. Interestingly it is a priest and not a hazardous materials expert whom God uses to instruct the troops on processing the goods, as well as preparing the troops for safe reentry into the community.

If you are familiar with any part of Israel’s journey to the Promised Land, you know that God typically used the physical to teach them about the spiritual. In this instance, the cleansing of the goods and the troops required two steps. Step 1 – anything made of metal had to be submitted to fire to burn out the internal impurities. Step 2 – anything that could not withstand fire had to be submitted to water to wash away the external impurities. Internal and external purifying was demanded by God.

The cleansing roles of fire and water are contrasted in the secondary texts. These two elements are linked to the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. In mapping water cleansing to John and fire cleansing to Jesus, we hear an echo of the primary text. Water baptism is an external cleansing for ceremonial, ritualistic and symbolic purposes; fire baptism is an internal cleansing of the heart. Not either/or but both/and.

The need for external and internal purity is stated by Jesus in His conversations with the leaders of the religious community. He says that they clean the outside of a cup, but leave the inside dirty. He says that they are white-washed tombs that contain the bones of the dead. He says that a person is not defiled by what goes from the outside-in but by that which comes from the inside-out. He says that harboring the desire to commit adultery is just as bad as committing the act. In effect the holiness of God is comprehensive. God is concerned about the totality of our beings.

What does the duality of holiness mean for us? Simply this – that what pleases God are not the staged acts that we perform for the sake of public consumption but rather the attitude that we have toward Him and each other in our hearts.

Let’s think about this in detail. Do we superficially greet each other in church but say to ourselves ‘I cannot stand him/her’? When we bow our heads in prayer, are we quietly checking our text messages or updating our location status on Face Book? Do we ever replicate the deception of Ananias and Sapphira to create the perception that we real team players? Do we have clean hands but dirty hearts?

Let us leave here today rededicated to letting God control us completely. I realize that what constitutes holiness may be considered a moving target. Historically, when we recognize that we cannot sustain total holiness, we lower the bar and reinterpret the meaning for the current generation. Oddly, we embrace any scripture that promises us God’s blessings but we historically contextualize the scriptures that address righteous living.

But the unvarnished truth is that living for Christ is challenging because we wrestle against the flesh and live in a world system that is contrary to the righteousness of God. Make no mistake, all of us struggle – however some folks hide the struggle better than others. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.

In that light, let us encourage each other, pray for each other (but not prey on each other), cry with each other and lovingly hold each other accountable. Consistent and comprehensive holiness is a stretch goal. But we must reach for it because holiness in word, thought and deed is what pleases The Master.

Let us press for the mark of the high calling in Christ. Amen.