Destination Holiness

“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.”-Hebrews 12:14

I think that the reason that so many people struggle to live for God is that they have determined the ultimate destination of our faith to be heaven. When we approach salvation as simply the transaction that secures our place in heaven, there is a tendency to sit back and wait for God to take us home. 

Don’t get me wrong. Heaven is going to be an amazing place, however it is a future expectation; which is fine as long as it doesn’t cripple our living for God now. However, what if heaven is not our ultimate destination. What if God’s desire for us is not necessarily heaven, but it is holiness:

“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.”-Ephesians 1:4

God gave us some specific instructions in regards to holiness in 1 Peter 1:15-16: 

“But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

God calls us to be holy, for He is holy. The key word (next to holy) is the word “be”. Being indicates that this is something that we are to do in the present. Holiness is not just a future expectation, but a present reality. 

The word holy in its least complex definition is to be set apart. When we think about God as being holy we think about Him as being set apart from all other gods, set apart from all wickedness and sin. He is pure and righteous. Holiness is God’s nature (Exodus 15:11, 1 Samuel 2:2). He is solely set apart and above any other. 

When we don’t see holiness as a destination, it is easy to conclude that being holy is simply positional:

“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”-1 Peter 2:9

Although it is true that we are made holy in God’s eyes through Christ; if we see holiness as completely achieved through salvation we can convince ourselves that there is nothing more to pursue. Why pursue something we’ve already completely attained? Yet, scripture is clear that once we place our faith in Christ the pursuit of holiness continues:

“Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.”-2 Corinthians 7:1 

God saved us and called us to live a holy life (2 Timothy 1:9). Truth is, when we pursue holiness, we are really pursuing God. When we pursue holiness we are going to engage God in the present and in heaven. However, if we purse only heaven, we are going to miss the present reality of God in our lives. 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

Jesus greater than religion (Pt.2)

(Part 2 of 2)

“What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.”-Luke 11:42

Throughout Luke 11, Jesus continues to pull back the curtain on those whose hearts are becoming religious. Not only are religious people more concerned with how they look than how they live; vs. 42 shows us that they are also known for giving what is expected rather than what is needed. 

Are we really reflecting Christ if we are diligent to bring in our tithe each week, but do nothing to help a neighbor in need? Jesus was known to chastise their religious tendencies by pointing out how they would be quick to pull one of their ox out of a well if it fell in on a sabbath day, yet healing an individual in need on the sabbath messes up their religion. 

He also pointed out in vs. 43 that religious people are more concerned about being noticed than drawing attention to God:

“What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you love to sit in the seats of honor in the synagogues and receive respectful greetings as you walk in the marketplaces.”

However, one of the most telling things Jesus said about the religious is that they are good at removing headstones:

“Yes, what sorrow awaits you! For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on.”

Rather than deal with the dead/sinful parts of their lives, religious folks will simply remove the headstones (outward evidence) so that no one will realize what is decomposing beneath the surface. They are unwilling to face their own faults and become defensive and insulted by those who attempt to speak truth into their lives. 

““Teacher,” said an expert in religious law, “you have insulted us, too, in what you just said.”-Luke 11:45

Instead, they heap unbearable demands on others to deflect from their own unwillingness to address the unrighteous behavior in their own lives. 

“Yes,” said Jesus, “what sorrow also awaits you experts in religious law! For you crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden.”-Luke 11:46

Their greatest fear is that those they lead will grow beyond them spiritually and soon recognize their shortcomings. So they intentionally make serving God about following rules rather than developing a relationship with Him. 

“What sorrow awaits you experts in religious law! For you remove the key to knowledge from the people. You don’t enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering.”-Luke 11:52

Ultimately, religious people are not convicted by Jesus’ teaching and life; they are provoked and frustrated by it:

“As Jesus was leaving, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees became hostile and tried to provoke him with many questions.”-Luke 11:53

You might be drifting towards religion is you are attempting to marginalize the importance of following the teachings of Christ. Because having a relationship with Jesus is greater than being religious. 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

Jesus greater than religion (Pt.1)

(Part 1)

“As Jesus was speaking, one of the Pharisees invited him home for a meal. So he went in and took his place at the table. His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom.”-Luke 11:37-38

Everybody thinks that Jesus makes sinners uncomfortable, but in reality He makes religious people uncomfortable. In fact, throughout the gospels Jesus regularly speaks to sinners with kindness but speaks to religious folks with sternness. 

Take for instance the woman caught in adultery. He didn’t deride her or chastise her because of her sinful condition, but asked, “ Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you? Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” How about when He was passing by a sycamore tree and called out to a tax collector by the name of Zaccheaus. Instead of rebuking him for his less than scrupulous practices, Jesus invited himself over to his house for lunch. Better yet, how about the thief on the cross next to Jesus, who was being crucified because of his criminal activity. Instead of saying to him, “You are getting what you deserve” Jesus promised him that, “This day you will be with me in Paradise.” 

Although He worked hard to demonstrate kindness towards sinners, He seemingly went out of His way to disrupt the religious leaders of His day; pointing out their hypocrisy and usurping their traditions and practices. 

Ultimately it wouldn’t be the sinners that would spearhead His crucifixion, but the religious. The lost, hurting, broken and oppressed flocked to Him. They were disenchanted with religion, but hungry for a relationship with Christ. Religion has a tendency of replacing a genuine relationship with Christ with works and traditions. In fact, if we fail to develop our relationship with Christ, we can easily drift into a religious mindset, that ultimately draws us farther from Him. 

Consider our passage in Luke 11. Jesus chooses to grace this man’s home.  Unfortunately the presence of God in His home was overshadowed by his concerns over Jesus not washing His hands. This man let Jesus into his home and immediately Jesus began to mess up his religion. Truth is, you let Jesus into your life; He will challenge every religious stronghold in your mind. 

So, how do I know if I am drifting towards being religious? 

"Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness! Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside? So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.”-Luke 11:39-41

First, religion may be grabbing hold of your heart if appearance is more important than holiness. An authentic relationship with Christ is going to change the way you live. 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church

The harvest is dying (Pt.2)

(Part 2)

“These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”-Luke 10:2

This passage affirms to us that we do not have a harvest problem. We have a laborer problem and the reason the harvest is dying in the field is there are not enough people committed to bringing it in. 

We learned last week, that part of the problem is that we don’t see harvesting as our job. We convince ourselves (wrongly) into thinking that one person plants, another waters, and another brings in the harvest; when in reality it is all of our responsibility to glean the fields. 

Another reason we don’t see the harvest dying is the field is because we are gauging our success at harvesting by what we are seeing at the grocery store. Let me explain. As long as there is corn in the bin at the grocery store, I don’t see a problem with the harvest. As long as there is bread on the shelf, I don’t see a problem with the harvest. 

For many people, as long as there are people coming to church, people giving their lives to Christ at church, being baptized, there is a nursery for their kids, and the worship is solid; they don’t see a problem with the harvest. We have “wheat” at our church, so I don’t see an issue. As long as everyone at our church is saved and we are growing, things must be fine. 

However, they are also the first to complain, when the cupboards run dry. They didn’t harvest anything, but are the first to complain when the shelves are bare. Crying out because there is no bread, but didn’t lift a finger to bring in any wheat. We can’t wait for the church to be empty before we start to worry about the harvest. 

Sometimes we spend so much time tending to what have been brought in that we leave tons standing in the field. In large part, most churches are just shifting commodities (that which has already been harvested) from one location to another; when there is enough harvest on this planet to fill every church 100 times over. 

The problem is that reaching some fields is hard. So we choose selective harvests. We harvest what is closest to us (family, friends, co-workers). When we are only interested in harvesting what is closest to us, we leave much of the harvest to die in the field. That is why supporting missionaries and evangelist is so important, because they are harvesting in fields we cannot reach. Am I so selfish, that I am only concerned about getting this field harvested and not seeing the rest brought in. We can’t harvest what is easy, while avoiding the hard places.

Jesus warned his disciples, “I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.” It isn’t going to be easy, but we are not accomplishing God’s mission by having good church or shifting more of what has been harvested into our house. We are accomplishing His will when we win souls for Christ. If we don’t there will be people who will be lost. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to see a single stalk left unharvested. 

Scott Burr
Dayspring Community Church