Thomas Fountain, of Vidalia, Georgia, was with his family in Mexico City several years ago. Now, Mexico City is 7,500 feet above sea level, so it rarely gets hot, but one of the days they spent there was a scorcher. Trying to cope with the heat, their youngest daughter, Debbie, shed all but her panties.
Tom asked his daughter, “Debbie, what are you doing running around half naked?”
“Well,” she replied, “you want me to be half decent, don’t you?” (Thomas E. Fountain, Vidalia, Georgia, “Kids of the Kingdom,” Christian Reader; www.PreachingToday.com)
I think that’s what most of us want not only for our children, but for ourselves, as well. We want to be decent, human beings, living lives that are worthy of the Lord who loved us so much. But that’s hard sometimes. Our sinful, human natures get in the way, and we become self-absorbed, irritable, or anxious, which leads to all kinds of bad choices.
So how can we, as sinful human beings, learn to live holy lives? How can we grow to live lives that please the Lord who saved us from bondage to a worthless life?
That was a problem the children of Israel faced after God rescued them from bondage to Egypt. They were self-absorbed, irritable and anxious, and that was leading them into sin. So God had to do something that would keep them from sinning.
If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Exodus 19, Exodus 19, where we see what God did for His people in Moses’ day and what He does for us today to keep us from sinning.
Exodus 19:1-4 In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on the very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain. Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. (NIV)
I remember walking home after worship one Sunday, looking up, and seeing a pair of eagles swirling around in the sky between the church and the parsonage. I was awestruck! Let me tell you: there is nothing more majestic than watching a pair of eagles soar over our beautiful island, but they don’t start that way.
They start as little eaglets in nests perched high above the earth. Then mamma decides that her little eaglets need to learn to fly. So she takes her little eagle out of its nest, flies up as high as she can go, and then drops the little fledgling, letting it fall. Now, the fledgling has never flown in his life, and the ground is coming up fast. No doubt, his heart is ready to burst, and he knows there is no way he is going to survive.
But the mamma eagle is watching, and at the last moment she swoops down and catches her baby eaglet. Relieved, the baby eagle thinks, “I’m saved, I’m fine, I’m gonna survive.” But mamma flies up as high as she can go and drops him again, and she continues to do this until he learns to fly. (Ron Mehl, pastor of Foursquare Church, Beaverton, Oregon; www.PreachingToday. com)
That’s the picture we have here when God tells Israel, “I carried you on eagles’ wings.” When they came to the Red Sea with the Egyptians hot on their heels, God swooped down and parted the waters. When they didn’t have food, God swooped down and provided manna. When they didn’t have water, God swooped down and gave them water out of the rock. God wants his people to know that He carried them on eagles’ wings. Then he says to them…
Exodus 19:5-6 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” (NIV)
God wants His people to know that He treasures them. They are special to Him, holy, set-apart and uniquely His, but only if they obey Him fully.
Exodus 19:7-8 So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak. The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord. (NIV)
The people agreed to obey God fully, because they wanted to be His special people. And that’s where our holiness starts. If we want to keep from sinning and live lives that please the Lord, then like Israel we must…
APPRECIATE THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WE HAVE WITH GOD.
We must value ourselves as His special treasure. We must cherish the unique friendship we have with the Holy God of the Universe.
Now, God granted this relationship to Israel conditionally. They had to “fully obey” Him in order to be considered His special people according to verse 5. There was only one problem: Israel could NOT fully obey the Lord. The Old Testament is the story of their failure to obey God time and time again, so they could never achieve any status with God.
That was the failure of the Old Covenant. It said IF you obey, you will be blessed. But nobody could obey, so nobody was blessed. That’s why Jesus had to come and die. Jesus died on a cross to pay the price of ALL our sins. And by that death, Jesus established a New Covenant where ALL the conditions are removed.
Turn with me, if you will, to 1 Peter 2, 1 Peter 2, where we see the same language used, but without the conditions.
1 Peter 2:6 For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” (NIV)
That stone is Christ, and those who trust in Him will never be disgraced.
1 Peter 2:7-8 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,” and, “A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. (NIV)
It was inevitable that Israel would disobey God’s message, because no man or woman can ever fully obey the Lord.
1 Peter 2:9-10 But you (i.e., you who trust Jesus) are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (NIV)
Notice, there are no conditions, no if’s and’s or but’s like there was in Exodus 19. We who trust Christ ARE God’s special people unconditionally. We ARE a holy nation before we do anything! We ARE a kingdom of priests without any requirements.
As a result, we live lives of obedience, verse 11 says. We don’t obey in order to get God’s acceptance and blessing. We obey because God has already given it to us. It’s what motivates us to “abstain from sinful desires.” You see, holy living comes when you realize that you are already holy to the Lord from day you put your trust in Christ before you do anything for Christ. We live holy lives before God when we know we ARE holy to God; we ARE special to Him; we ARE His treasured possession without condition.
My dear friends, if you want to keep from sinning, then appreciate the special relationship you have with God through your faith in Jesus Christ.
The movie, Blood Diamond, tells the story of a fisherman and a mercenary-turned-smuggler and their quest to find a rare pink diamond during the turmoil of Sierra Leone’s civil war in 1999. Danny Archer (the mercenary) and Solomon Vandy (the fisherman) are at the site where the priceless diamond is buried. Solomon’s son, Dia, who was once kidnapped and forced into being a child soldier, is with them.
Eventually, Solomon uncovers the rare diamond, but he looks up to see Dia, his son, pointing a gun at Danny. “Dia, what are you doing?” Solomon asks. “Look at me. What are you doing? You are Dia Vandy of the proud Mende tribe.” Dia then points the gun at his father, who tells him, “You are a good boy who loves soccer and school.”
Solomon walks up to his son, Dia, and continues, “Your mother loves you so much. She waits by the fire making plantains and red palm oil stew with your sister N’Yanda and the new baby.” Tears stream down the father’s cheeks. “The cows wait for you. And Babu, the wild dog who minds no one but you.”
Tears are now streaming down Dia’s cheeks, too. Solomon continues: “I know they made you do bad things, but you are not a bad boy. I am your father, who loves you. And you will come home with me and be my son again.” Finally, Dia puts the gun down, and Solomon hugs him. (Blood Diamond, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2006, directed by Edward Zwick, written by Charles Leavitt, scene 28: “I Am Your Father”, 01:56:00–01:58:35; www.PreachingToday.com)
Sometimes, we just need to be reminded of who we really are no matter how bad we’ve been. And that’s what God does here in 1 Peter 2. He reminds us that we are uniquely His, “a people belonging to God,” which when it grips our hearts has a life-transforming effect on our lives.
I like the way Tim Keller, pastor of the Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, put it. He says, “Here’s the gospel: you’re more sinful than you ever dared believe; you’re more loved than you ever dared hope.” (www.PreachingToday.com)
Such love is truly life transforming. Please, let it grip your heart, then you will never be the same again. If you want to keep from sinning, then appreciate the special relationship you already have with God as a believer in Christ. Then after that…
GIVE YOURSELF COMPLETELY TO GOD.
Set yourself wholly apart to the Lord. Consecrate yourself entirely to your Heavenly Father. Dedicate or devote yourself totally to Him. That’s what the children of Israel do at the of Mount Sinai. Please turn back to Exodus 19.
Exodus 19:10-15 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not go up the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. He shall surely be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on him. Whether man or animal, he shall not be permitted to live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they go up to the mountain.” After Moses had gone down the mountain to the people, he consecrated them, and they washed their clothes. Then he said to the people, “Prepare yourselves for the third day. Abstain from sexual relations.” (NIV)
For three days, they were to completely give themselves over to God without pursuing any other interests. My friends, they were getting ready to meet the Holy God Himself, and you don’t do that without serious preparation. In their case, it involved a 3-day purification ritual that included washing their clothes and abstaining from sex.
Thankfully, we don’t need to do that today, because the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, already purifies us from all sin (1 John 1:7). Because of Christ, we stand pure in the presence of a Holy God.
All that remains for us to do is give ourselves completely to God like the Israelites did, to consecrate ourselves, to devote ourselves totally to Him. How else can we respond to God’s total and complete unconditional love for us?
I draw from Tim Keller again. In his best-selling book, The Reason for God, Tim Keller shares the story of a woman in his congregation who was learning how God’s free grace extended to us through Christ’s work on the cross can actually be more challenging than a works-based religion. He writes:
“Some years ago I met with a woman who began coming to church at Redeemer and had never before heard a distinction drawn between the gospel and religion. She had always heard that God accepts us only if we are good enough. She said that the new message was scary. [Keller] asked why it was scary and she replied: ‘If I was saved by my good works then there would be a limit to what God could ask of me or put me through. I would be like a taxpayer with ‘rights’ – I would have done my duty and now I would deserve a certain quality of life. But if I am a sinner saved by grace – then there’s nothing he cannot ask of me.’”
Keller said, “She understood the dynamic of grace and gratitude. If when you have lost all fear of punishment you also lose all incentive to live a good, unselfish life, then the only incentive you ever had to live a decent life was fear. This woman could see immediately that the wonderful-beyond-belief teaching of salvation by sheer grace had an edge to it. She knew that if she was a sinner saved by grace, she was (if anything) more subject to the sovereign Lordship of God. She knew that if Jesus really had done all this for her, she would not be her own. She would joyfully, gratefully belong to Jesus, who provided all this for her at infinite cost to himself.” (Timothy Keller, The Reason for God, Riverhead Books, 2008, pp. 189-190; www.PreachingToday.com)
Isaac Watts put it this way: Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all. And it’s not because GOD’s love for us demands it, no! His love is free and unconditional. Rather, OUR love for God demands our total commitment. We give our all not because we HAVE to. We give our all because we WANT to out of our love for Him in response to His love for us.
My dear friends, if you want to live a decent life and keep from sinning, then appreciate how much God loves you and love Him in return. 1st, appreciate the relationship you have with God. Then, as a response, give yourself wholly and completely to God. Finally, if you want to keep from sinning, learn to…
FEAR GOD.
Learn to tremble in His presence. Gain a healthy respect for the Holy God of the Universe. Now, I know this sounds contradictory to what I just said, but I’m not talking about a cowering fear of punishment, because perfect love drives out that kind of fear (1 John 4:18). Rather, I’m talking about a healthy respect for the One who has unlimited power, who can shake the world if He wants to.
When you’re standing before the mighty Niagara Falls behind a safety rail, you don’t fear falling in, but you do have an overwhelming sense of Niagara’s power, which does shakes you up a little. You watch the falls with a kind of “trembling pleasure.” Oh, the fear of death is gone as you watch behind the safety rail, but there remains the trembling, the awe, the wonder, and the feeling that you would never want to tangle with such power. Well, that’s the kind of fear the Israelites had to learn if they were to keep from sinning.
Exodus 19:16-19 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. (NIV)
Why this great display of power with fire and smoke? Why shake the whole mountain? Skip over to chapter 20.
Exodus 20:18-20 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.” (NIV)
God shook the mountain to keep His people from sinning. He wanted them to fear Him, not to be afraid of dying. And that’s the kind of fear we need to learn if we want to keep from sinning, as well.
From the early 70’s until the 90’s, ABC’s Wide World of Sports opened their program with a montage of sports clips and these words: “Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport... the thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat... the human drama of athletic competition... This is ABC’s Wide World of Sports!” (show video clip) How many of you remember that?
The skier tumbling head-over-heals off the side of the ski jump and bouncing off onto the ground was actually a Yugoslavian skier, Vinko Bogataj, and he actually chose to fall. In an interview after the event, he explained that the jump surface had become too fast, and midway down the ramp he realized that if he completed the jump, he would land on the level ground, beyond the safe landing zone, which could have been fatal. As it was, Vinko Bogataj suffered no more than a mild concussion. (Jeff Arthurs, Clearing the Debris, www.PreachingToday.com)
Fear led to life! The fear of the slope, the fear of flying too high, and the fear of the fall led him to change course. In the same way, a proper fear of the Lord leads us to change course and keeps us from sinning.
The problem is: a lot of people want just enough of God to feel comfortable, not so much that he shakes up their world.
In his book, Letters to My Children, Daniel Taylor responds to a series of questions from his young children. One of the questions asked why church was so boring. I mean “if God is really there, then how come we aren’t bug-eyed and breathless most all the time?”
Taylor responds, “That’s a very good question. I wish I had a very good answer. Part of it is that God knows we can’t take very much of him. It’s like when you hold Fluffs, our hamster. If you squeezed very hard, Fluffs would be on his way to hamster heaven. You have to hold him gently, talk to him quietly. Well, God has to be sort of like that with us.
“Truthfully, though,” Taylor says, “the biggest reason might be that we don’t want very much of God. We want God to stay in his cage like Fluffs does. We are afraid of losing control of our own lives. We just want him to help us a little here, and forgive us a little there, and let us handle the rest. And so we try to make church a safe place where we can get a little bit of God but not too much.
We don’t like surprises, not even from God, so we make our churches places where surprises aren’t likely to happen. We ask God to come, but only if he will be polite. And therefore, little kids and adult kids often fall asleep – even if they keep their eyes open.” (Daniel Taylor, Letters to My Children, InterVarsity Press, 1999, pp. 64-65; www.PreachingToday.com)
Wilbur Reese put it this way years ago:
I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.
Not enough to explode my soul our disturb my sleep,
But just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine.
I don’t want enough of him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant.
I want ecstasy, not transformation.
I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth.
I want about a pound of the eternal in a paper sack.
I’d like to buy $3 worth of God, please. (Wilbur Reese)
Is that all you want from God? Then be content to live a boring, mediocre life. But if you want more than that, then appreciate the relationship you have with God; give yourself completely to God; and learn to fear Him. Grow to love the One who values you even as He shakes up your world.
I close with these words from Gerald Vann (British Catholic theologian and philosopher, 1906-1963): “To grow in wisdom and love is not to lose all fear of God; it is to change our fear of God. It is to pass from the servile fear of the slave, the fear of punishment, to the loving reverence of the son, fearing to offend his father, and in the end to the purely selfless fear of the lover, the fear of hurting what you love.” (Gerald Vann, The Divine Pity, Scepter Publishers, 2007; www.PreachingToday.com)
Oh Lord, give us that kind of fear, because Your love for us compels us to love you deeply. In Jesus’ name, I ask it. Amen.
