Holy One

This is at Yellow Stone National Park…who, but God could create something so beautiful and full of such color?!!

 

1Samuel 2:2  There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. (NIV)

Read Psalm 99 and Psalm 111 Both of these Psalms talk about the nature of God.

Read Isaiah 6  This chapter is where Isaiah is commissioned by the Lord to serve Him.   The Seraphs recognized God’s Holiness, loudly.  It was noticeably praiseworthy.

Can you just imagine being Isaiah and finding yourself in this situation?  Here he is suddenly confronted with the holiness of God, he looks and sees the Seraphs who are regularly in God’s presence are not daring to look directly at God or stand on the ground in His presence.  Isaiah expresses to us the idea, “I am certainly going to die!”  After all, no one can look upon the Lord and live!  Nothing can survive God’s presence if it is unclean! 

The marvelous thing about God is that He can make things clean….God is the only one who can clean things up that others would think are beyond saving!

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is an important prayer that the Jews say regularly:

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

Note:  There is only one Holy One, and that is God. 

Psalm 89:5-7   Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

⁵ Lord, the heavens praise Your wonders—
Your faithfulness also—
in the assembly of the holy ones.
⁶ For who in the skies can compare with the Lord?
Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord?
⁷ God is greatly feared in the council of the holy ones,
more awe-inspiring than all who surround Him.

Psalm 89:5-7 mentions the “holy ones”, which means those surrounding God in heaven….this would be, most likely, God’s other creation…the angels, seraphs, and cherubim.

Being Holy according to Unger’s Bible Dictionary is to be set apart, or separate from something.  Truthfully, this definition falls far short of describing the Holiness of God.  We in our humanity have no way to describe God’s Holiness.  We are too self centered and judgmental.  The only valid guidelines we have for what God’s Holiness is like are God’s guidelines.  Since he is the Holy One and we are not, then shouldn’t we use his guidelines to establish what living a Holy life is to be like?  

Job 4:17-21  “Can a person be more righteous than God,
or a man more pure than his Maker?” If God puts no trust in His servants
and He charges His angels with foolishness,
¹⁹ how much more those who dwell in clay houses,
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed like a moth!
²⁰ They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk;
they perish forever while no one notices.
²¹ Are their tent cords not pulled up?
They die without wisdom.

Eliphaz the Temanite in Job 4 has a very tough picture in his mind of who God is, doesn’t he?  Yet, we know that God charged Eliphaz, and Job’s other friends with misrepresenting God to Job!  However, Eliphaz’ attitude is very similar to our attitude toward God.  We frequently charge God with characteristics that he does not have.  We blame God whenever things go wrong in our lives.  We blame God whenever things we have done, or others have done cause pain and suffering.  If we cannot understand what is going on, then we blame God for not stepping in and “fixing it!”  because he has the power to do so!  The truth is that just because someone has the power to do something doesn’t mean that it is the right thing to do!

God is the Holy One, he is the only one who actually knows everything that is going on…the full picture!  Only God knows when it is the appropriate time for him to step in and “fix things!”  We don’t!  We are not qualified to make that decision, as we are not the ones with all of the information.

God does not have the ability to sin…it is not in his nature.  Sin is not Holy!  Nothing that is unholy can be a part of God.  That is why Satan who was the most beautiful and glorious angel in heaven was cast down along with 1/3 of the population of angels who threw in with him and sinned!  God gave us free will and free choice, and he did the same for the angels in heaven.  Truthfully, there can be no such thing as love without choice.  Love that is forced is not love, but coercion.  God wants us to love him and choose him freely and genuinely.  That is the most Holy thing we can do.

It is true that God knows what choices we will make, but we don’t know what choices we will make. He didn’t give us free choice for his own benefit, but so that we may grow closer to him by our voluntary obedience to him.

In the Bible sometimes, men are called Holy men.  This means they have dedicated their lives to serving God, and living faithfully to follow God’s direction for their lives.  Even doing that we fall short of the Holiness of God. However, God loves us, anyway!  He loves when we choose Him.

Only Jesus lived up to God’s standard of Holiness, being God in the flesh.  That is what made him a perfect innocent sacrifice for mankind.  Jesus told us that the two most important commandments are to Love God above everything and everyone and to love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves….our neighbor being our fellow man.  Jesus gave us these as the two most Holy things that we humans can do.  He said if we can keep these two commandments we won’t have to worry about any of the other ones.  That is because the other ones will take automatically fall into place in our lives if we follow these two.

 In Mark 1:21-24, during Jesus’ casting out of a demon from a man, the demon recognized Jesus’ Holiness and Authority as being that of God and in John 6:69  The disciples recognized Jesus’ as the Holy One of God.

Challenge: Make a personal scrap book, or journal of your journey towards being closer to God.  You may use, poetry, stories, magazine pictures or articles, bible verses, anything that  expresses your journey to know God.  We should pursue God’s holiness in our lives.

Bible Verses:

Isaiah Chapter 6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and His robe^[a] filled the temple. ² Seraphim^[b] were standing above Him; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.³ And one called to another:

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts;
His glory fills the whole earth.

⁴ The foundations of the doorways shook at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.

⁵ Then I said:

Woe is me for I am ruined^[c]
because I am a man of unclean lips
and live among a people of unclean lips,
and because my eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of Hosts.

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs. ⁷ He touched my mouth with it and said:

Now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed
and your sin is atoned for.

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying:

Who should I send?
Who will go for Us?

I said:

Here I am. Send me.

⁹ And He replied:

Go! Say to these people:
Keep listening, but do not understand;
keep looking, but do not perceive.
¹⁰ Dull the minds^[d] of these people;
deafen their ears and blind their eyes;
otherwise they might see with their eyes
and hear with their ears,
understand with their minds,
turn back, and be healed.

¹¹ Then I said, “Until when, Lord?” And He replied:

Until cities lie in ruins without inhabitants,
houses are without people,
the land is ruined and desolate,
¹² and the Lord drives the people far away,
leaving great emptiness in the land.
¹³ Though a tenth will remain in the land,
it will be burned again.
Like the terebinth or the oak
that leaves a stump when felled,
the holy seed is the stump.

Footnotes:

1. Isaiah 6:1 Lit seam
2. Isaiah 6:2 = heavenly beings
3. Isaiah 6:5 Or I must be silent
4. Isaiah 6:10 Lit heart

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.

Psalm 99

The King Is Holy (HCSB)

¹ The Lord reigns! Let the peoples tremble.
He is enthroned above the cherubim.
Let the earth quake.
² Yahweh is great in Zion;
He is exalted above all the peoples.
³ Let them praise Your great
and awe-inspiring name.
He is holy.

⁴ The mighty King loves justice.
You have established fairness;
You have administered justice
and righteousness in Jacob.
⁵ Exalt the Lord our God;
bow in worship at His footstool.
He is holy.

⁶ Moses and Aaron were among His priests;
Samuel also was among those calling on His name.
They called to Yahweh and He answered them.
⁷ He spoke to them in a pillar of cloud;
they kept His decrees and the statutes He gave them.
⁸ Lord our God, You answered them.
You were a forgiving God to them,
an avenger of their sinful actions.

⁹ Exalt the Lord our God;
bow in worship at His holy mountain,
for the Lord our God is holy.

Psalm 111 King James Version (KJV)

111 Praise ye the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.

² The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.

³ His work is honourable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever.

⁴ He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the Lord is gracious and full of compassion.

⁵ He hath given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant.

⁶ He hath shewed his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen.

⁷ The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure.

⁸ They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.

⁹ He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.

¹⁰ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

Immanuel – God With Us

Matthew 1:23 The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel – which means, “God with us.”

Read Isaiah Chapters 6 and 7:  This is where the prophecy of Jesus being born from a virgin appears.  King Ahaz is being told not to worry or be afraid to stand firm on his faith, or not stand at all.  There are two kings planning to attack Jerusalem, but God tells Ahaz that this will never happen.  He says that before Immanuel is born both the kingdom of Damascus and the kingdom of Samaria will be in ruins, for more information about this invasion see 2Kings 15 and 16.

Also note that in King James the name Syria is used in the place of Aram.  Looking into a bible dictionary we find that Aram and Syria are interchangeable.  The word Aram  is the name of the youngest son of Shem who was one of Noah’s son’s making Aram his grandson.  Aram was the founder of the Aramaean nation and so the country of Syria is rightly called Aram, though the same Hebrew word means Mesopotamia and Syria.  The designation Syria as an abbreviation of Assyria and came into common usage after the conquests of Alexander the Great. During Ahaz’ time there were actually two separate countries/nations Assyria and Syria.  

In the story of King Ahaz, God was with Ahaz and God had Isaiah give a prophecy of when God would be with us in the flesh.  The prophecy was given to the people of the House of David.  Obviously, this part of the prophecy wasn’t taking place that day or being fulfilled in Ahaz’ life time.  Jesus wasn’t born for several hundred years after this,  but it was a promise from God, and these people knew that God keeps his promises.  

The thing about prophecies in the Bible is that God almost always gives a “short term – in their life time” prophecy whenever he is giving a long term “somewhere in the future, but not necessarily in your life time” prophecy.  One reason for this is to show that the prophet is legitimately a prophet and can be trusted that if he gives a prophecy it will eventually come true.  

In this case the short term prophecy was directly to King Ahaz and his people that God is with them in spirit “right now” and will take care of their problem…all they have to do is to wait on the Lord to act…they just need to wait faithfully.  The second half of the prophecy is that later on God will be with his people, literally, “in the flesh.”  Walking among them.

Sometimes, I don’t think that, as Christians, we really give enough thought to the idea of God walking around in the flesh and what that tells us about God.  He didn’t just send Jesus to “die” for us…he also sent him to “live” with us.  So that we would know exactly who God is, and what God believes is the best form of worship, and so that we can have constant communion with him….each and every day of our lives.

We could never reach up to God…so God came down to us…isn’t that just the most awesome thing?  Whenever, I think of it…how deep is his love for us that he would enter the hardship of living in a physical body with its daily needs and aches and pains just so that he can get close to us?  I know, you are thinking, but how can God house himself in a human body?  Well, I don’t know the specific answer to that question, except to just acknowledge that He is God..by the very nature of being God…shouldn’t he be able to do anything?  If there is something that God cannot do, then He would not be God, would he?!! 

We do not need to know how God does everything…we just need to know that he can and he does…God is able and he is with us!  What more can we ask for in life?

Wonderful Counselor/Friend

A lot of valuable advice is passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. That is one way that we “honor our parents”.  Leviticus 19:32 says to “Stand up in the presence of the elderly and show respect for the aged…” 1Peter 5:5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders.  Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

John 15:13  Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Read Matthew 11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners, but wisdom was proved right by her actions.

Read Luke 10:38-42  Jesus counsels to Martha on the importance of working for the Kingdom of God.

When we think of a counselor many times in society we are thinking of someone who is paid to give us counsel…such as a lawyer, or psychologist, psychiatrist…etc.

However, we also get counseling from our friends about our problems, usually we don’t pay them – even though sometimes their counsel is better than that of the professionals. A lot of our best counselors in life are older people…sometimes, simply because they have lived longer they have a much calmer way of thinking than younger people…their way of looking at things is viewed through the lens of experience…many of the things that seem like a crisis just are not as much of one as we think they are…many times they are but a “bump” in the road of life.  Jesus is the ultimate counselor.

If we look at the qualities of a good counselor most of us are looking for someone who is

1.) able to keep a secret (trustworthy)

2.) able to give good advice (wise)

3.) compassionate and understanding(feeling)

4.) a good listener(attentive)

Now, if you have a counselor who fails in any of these areas it is really difficult. There is simply no point on which Jesus fails to be a good counselor.  Sometimes when we have a friend who is a counselor they don’t always give the best advise, isn’t that so?!!  It depends on the maturity of the friend, and also on the nature of the friend.  Sometimes, the friend may advise you to do something that is actually not wise at all, but is an indication in their mind of them being “on your side.”  A lot of the time a friend may get angry “on your behalf” when someone else has hurt you.

In those cases you need to pray that God will give you the wisdom to seek out the best counselor for the situation at hand, or that God himself will give you the counsel you need through his Holy Word.

Remember that when Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness what he used to defend himself against temptation was scripture.  That is an awesome lesson of wisdom to all of us.  Just about every problem known to man is covered in scripture one way or another.

A lot of times we hear people say, “oh, that doesn’t apply to today!” or “they didn’t know about all the modern technology we have today!”  Well, whenever someone says something like that remember that even though we don’t live the same way there are some truths that are simply true and timeless.

If you always take the time to ask yourself…what is the most loving thing that I could do toward that person in this situation…and ask God to show it to you…then you will know the Wonderful Counsel of Jesus Christ….and will make a good decision.  It may not be the only good decision, but it will be a good decision.  Frequently, there is not only “one” good decision in any given situation, but several, and a good decision in the same situation may be different and not so good if the people are different in the same situation.

For example…sometimes a good decision requires “tough love” and sometimes it requires “gentle love”.  In either case, the key is “love”.

The important thing is to remember that God has standards of behavior toward others and it is to deny yourself, and follow him in loving others.

The Breath of God

Last year I borrowed an incubator from a friend and hatched some chicks..some hatched and some didn’t…only God could determine which would make it.  BTW many people don’t realize that the chick is made from the white part of the egg, and eats the yolk before hatching.  So obviously, the chicken came before the egg as God created man and animals with the ability to procreate it’s like.

Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

When I was sitting in church this weekend one of the speakers made a statement that caught my attention.  He said that we all have the breath of God in us.  I really had not given that idea a lot of thought, but it really reminded me of all the Bible verses which talk to us about God’s breath.  I looked up the word breath in all of its forms in my Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible and there are 53 lines of verses listed which use that word in some form.  When I looked up the word Spirit it has more than 3 pages.  My Strong’s is for the King James, so if you are reading a different version of the Bible you will get a slightly different count most likely.  However, no matter which version you use, the fact remains that the idea of breath is really important…especially when you read things like  Job 33:4  The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.  and  Job 27:3-6 As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice, the Almighty, who has made my life bitter,3as long as I have life within me,the breath of God in my nostrils,4my lips will not say anything wicked,and my tongue will not utter lies.5I will never admit you are in the right;till I die, I will not deny my integrity.6I will maintain my innocence and never let go of it;my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live. (ref. NIV from Biblehub.com)

Job definitely recognized that God is the author and giver of life, right down to the breath in his body.  This kind of gives new meaning to the idea that your body is a temple of the Lord, doesn’t it?!!  I mean in the Old Testament God residing in the Holy of Holies so that gave man a fixed place to go and worship him…however, since God first created Adam and breathed life into his nostrils man has generation after generation been kept alive by the breath of God.  Even sinners are being kept alive by the breath of God, and God loves us even when we are sinning.  (Romans 5:8) However, that sin separates us from God, even while we are breathing with God’s very breath in our bodies.  No wonder it is so painful to be separated from God.

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness..The mist on Niagara falls reminds me of the vastness of the power of God…we could feel this mist up a tall hill and still another 15 stories above that through a window.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

Here in the main portion of Paul’s speech to the people of Athens about the Unknown God. Paul reminds us of several things…1.)  God is not made of anything that man has created, 2.)  God made the world and everything in it, 3.) God doesn’t dwell in temples or buildings, 4.) God doesn’t actually need anything from us, 5.) God made all mankind from one blood, and he determines the length of everyone’s life, 6.) Once you have heard the gospel you need to take God seriously and make the decision to repent and draw closely to God, 7.)  There will be a day of judgement that only God knows when it is coming.

Acts 17:23-30 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.²⁴ God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;²⁵ Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;²⁶ And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;²⁷ That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:²⁸ For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.²⁹ Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.³⁰ And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:³¹ Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Bible Gateway KJV)  

If we go and read Isaiah 40 we can be lifted up and comforted by the power of God, even though people are described as being like grass and their faith like flowers which wither at the breath of God. I found that statement to be rather disheartening when I first read it.  It can be interpreted as mankind being delicate and temporary, easily destroyed by God.  However, though grass and flowers are temporary and delicate, God still cares for them, (Luke 12:27), and when we continue reading Isaiah 40 we find that God cares for and loves his people and he is strong enough to protect them.  (Besides, if you think of it the same wind or breath of God that can destroy also brings in the clouds which causes rain to fall and nourish the grass and flowers.)  Going on in Isaiah 40:10 we find that we are told not to be afraid, but to shout out and proclaim God and who he is to those around us.

Isaiah 40: 1Comfort, comfort my people,
    says your God.
² Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
    that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
    double for all her sins.

³ A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
    the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
    a highway for our God.
⁴ Every valley shall be raised up,
    every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
    the rugged places a plain.
⁵ And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
    and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

⁶ A voice says, “Cry out.”
    And I said, “What shall I cry?”

“All people are like grass,
    and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
⁷ The grass withers and the flowers fall,
    because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
    Surely the people are grass.
⁸ The grass withers and the flowers fall,
    but the word of our God endures forever.”

⁹ You who bring good news to Zion,
    go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good news to Jerusalem,
    lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
    say to the towns of Judah,
    “Here is your God!”
¹⁰ See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power,
    and he rules with a mighty arm.
See, his reward is with him,
    and his recompense accompanies him.
¹¹ He tends his flock like a shepherd:
    He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
    he gently leads those that have young.

¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
    or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
    or weighed the mountains on the scales
    and the hills in a balance?
¹³ Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord,
    or instruct the Lord as his counselor?
¹⁴ Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him,
    and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
    or showed him the path of understanding?

¹⁵ Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
    they are regarded as dust on the scales;
    he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
¹⁶ Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,
    nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
¹⁷ Before him all the nations are as nothing;
    they are regarded by him as worthless
    and less than nothing.

¹⁸ With whom, then, will you compare God?
    To what image will you liken him?
¹⁹ As for an idol, a metalworker casts it,
    and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
    and fashions silver chains for it.
²⁰ A person too poor to present such an offering
    selects wood that will not rot;
they look for a skilled worker
    to set up an idol that will not topple.

²¹ Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
    Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
²² He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
    and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
    and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
²³ He brings princes to naught
    and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
²⁴ No sooner are they planted,
    no sooner are they sown,
    no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
    and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

²⁵ “To whom will you compare me?
    Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
²⁶ Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
    Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
    and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
    not one of them is missing.

²⁷ Why do you complain, Jacob?
    Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
    my cause is disregarded by my God”?
²⁸ Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.
²⁹ He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.
³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
³¹ but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.

Now Isaiah 40 is a prophecy about the coming of the Messiah, but it is also a message to those of us who are living today.  It tells us to be bold that God gives us the strength of his breath…we can run and not be tired, we can walk and not be faint…why?  because we have the breath of God living in us…in the form of the Holy Spirit.  We are literally God breathed and God supported.  So when the world is running madly around and you are racing along with it…remember to fill your lungs with the breath of God and pursue with your full heart to do God’s work in your life…tell others who God is just as Paul did, and be bold about it!  God will give you the words to say!  As in Luke 21:15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 

God’s breath is the breath of life, and it is powerful….count on it and be faithful and bold!

The “Church” is not the building and “Faith” is not works

A Dominican Church on the Island of Santorini, Greece  It was interesting to hear the gospel preached in the language it was originally written in, though I didn’t understand what was being said…it was still quite a spiritual moment as I thought of the Disciples going from one place to another spreading the gospel message.

James 2:17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

(Read James 2:14-26)  James talks about how to demonstrate your faith to others.  The only way to demonstrate that you have faith, is through your deeds, or the way you act , in other words.  Saying that you have faith, is not enough.  Just as going to the alter and accepting Jesus is not enough by itself.  In order to stay on track with Jesus and build your faith, you must have faithful actions in your life.  The Great Commission that Jesus gave to his disciples was to go out to all the world and spread the word of the gospel (Matthew 28:16)

Read Matthew 14:22-31 Peter walks on water faithfully, which is his action of faith, by walking on water he is showing others his faith, when he starts to sink, this story demonstrates what happens when you start to lose faith, if you call on God for help, he will uphold your faith.  Your faith is built and demonstrated through your actions.  You cannot build faith or show others your faith, without doing anything.  As the saying goes,”Talk is cheap”.  

Don’t confuse works as faith.  Faith is a decision you have made to follow God and believe in him.  The works that you do are a demonstration to others of that faith, but they are not the faith itself.  They are part of building your own faith and strengthening it, and also can be thought of as a kind of “Thank you” to God for his grace, forgiveness and the Salvation that God offered to you through Jesus Christ.  This is the correct perception of how works relate to faith.  People frequently confuse works with faith, but remember that a person without any faith can be a kind, nice person.   We frequently hear someone say, “but they are a nice person…” whenever they are trying to excuse someone’s sin, or make the criticism of the sin be less harsh.  The truth is that “being nice” does not excuse sin.  Only repentance can get sin to be “excused” or forgiven by God…because only God can forgive sin.  Sin cannot be whitewashed by any actions that we can take here on earth besides asking God for forgiveness with a genuine repentant heart.  Works without faith are dead, and become like filthy rags in the sight of God.  (Isaiah 64:6)

There are many works based versions of Christianity…any church that puts the emphasis on your good works, and not on the salvation message of God, and trusting God is a works based church.  The reason for a church’s existence Biblically speaking** is simply to spread the gospel and bring people to God through the saving grace of the Christ, and to uphold each other in faith, and support the spiritual growth of fellow Christians.  It is not in existence to uphold the “building” or the “programs” of the church….those are nice when they are kept in perspective, but frequently the building itself and its expenses and the programs and their expenses and experiences become the “god” of the church.  At that point people are simply coming to church out of habit, and doing works in substitution of a seeking a closer relationship with God.  The only way that this can be prevented is to keep the focus on God and study his word, and pray for his will.  The idea of faith based works is that we are seeking to do God’s will and not our own.  Therefore, all of the works that we do should be done prayerfully to make sure that they are God’s will.  An amazing thing about doing God’s will is that things seem to fall into place with almost miraculous ease.   (Acts 11:22-24 Barnabas acted in faith, and many came to the Lord, Acts 2:47, Acts 5:14)  

James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.  

Acts 6:1-7  1 And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.² Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.³ Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.⁴ But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.⁵ And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:⁶ Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.⁷ And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

**Biblically speaking the church is not a building, but a group of people who are saved by God’s grace through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ…in modern times we have become very confused because we and secular society refer to the building that we meet in as a church, but the Biblical reality is that the people following Christ are the church whether they ever meet in one of those buildings or not!