HOLINESS (session 3)
Manuel James Delgado
The Bible Project • Sermon • Submitted
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· 11 viewsHoliness is a biblical word that means “unique, set apart.”
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Part 6
When Jesus arrives on the scene announcing the arrival of God’s kingdom, he seems to identify and move towards people who were considered ‘unclean’ and unfit to enter God’s presence in the temple.
UNCLEAN
UNCLEAN
Jesus’ contact with the leper (Matthew 8:1-4), the bleeding woman (Matthew 9:20-23), the dead boy (Luke 7:11-17) should have made him “unclean,” but instead his holiness and purity transfers to them, healing and restoring their bodies.
Large crowds followed Jesus as he came down the mountainside. Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.”
Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared. Then Jesus said to him, “Don’t tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.”
Just then a woman who had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding came up behind him. She touched the fringe of his robe, for she thought, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.”
Jesus turned around, and when he saw her he said, “Daughter, be encouraged! Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was healed at that moment.
When Jesus arrived at the official’s home, he saw the noisy crowd and heard the funeral music.
Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him.
A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her.
When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said.
Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.”
Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother.
Great fear swept the crowd, and they praised God, saying, “A mighty prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people today.”
And the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding countryside.
IMPURE
IMPURE
Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “All of you listen,” he said, “and try to understand. It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.”
Then Jesus went into a house to get away from the crowd, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the parable he had just used. “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.)
And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”
Jesus claimed that he was the new temple, the place where God’s holiness meets people in their sin and uncleanness: He offered forgiveness of sins apart from the temple and said his death was a sacrifice that covered for the sin of others.
MATTHEW 9:1-8
Jesus climbed into a boat and went back across the lake to his own town. Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Be encouraged, my child! Your sins are forgiven.”
But some of the teachers of religious law said to themselves, “That’s blasphemy! Does he think he’s God?”
Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you have such evil thoughts in your hearts? Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”
And the man jumped up and went home! Fear swept through the crowd as they saw this happen. And they praised God for sending a man with such great authority.
MATTHEW 26:26-29
As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.”
And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many. Mark my words—I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom.”
PART 7
Jesus established the community of his followers as a new temple, where God’s holiness meets with his people and changes them forever.
After his resurrection, the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 resembles the entrance of God’s holy presence into the temple.
On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place.
Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting.
Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them.
And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
COMPARE THE IMAGES OF CLOUD, FIRE AND GLORY IN EXODUS 40:34, LEVITICUS 9:23-24, AND 2 CHRONICLES 7:1 WITH THE IMAGE OF FIRE IN ACTS 2:1-4
The apostles argued that the community of Jesus’ people are a new temple, and so are called to be holy like priests, set apart from showing the world the grace and mercy of God.
Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.
Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.
We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.
Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor.
And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.
But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
“Once you had no identity as a people;
now you are God’s people.
Once you received no mercy;
now you have received God’s mercy.”
Jesus also used the image of Ezekiel’s temple-river to describe any person who trusts in him: the Spirit will make that person a holy source of God’s own life that spreads to others.
On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me!
Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’ ”
(When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)
The story of the Bible concludes with John’s vision of the new creation, where Ezekiel’s river is flowing out of God’s presence creating a new garden of Eden-city where his people are with him forever.
REVELATION 21-22