Holy

"Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."

- Jesus, Matthew 11:28

"The laws of God were not meant to make us holy...they were meant to lead us to Jesus...

who makes us holy as a Gift."

- A Pastor

Since we're in this series on Discipleship, I thought this might be the right place for… confession!

Several weeks ago, Candace and I were driving along the Boardwalk in Carlsbad, next to the beach, when the flashing yellow Crosswalk sign comes on. As I brought the car to a stop, I look to my left and see… the most stunning, scantily-clad young woman you have ever seen… slowly walking right in front of our car. I stopped talking… mid-sentence… and, I don't know… I guess my mouth dropped open. I stared… ‘cause just as the car behind me honked… since the yellow light had stopped flashing… Candace said, "You can close your mouth now and start driving… Pastor!"

"Oh Man! Sweetheart," I pleaded, "you will always be the most beautiful woman in the world for me!" "Forget it," she said, "You blew it and you know it! Live with the guilt!” (Smile.)

I'm sure some of you are saying, "Wow! And you call yourself a pastor… I want a refund on my Daily Devotional subscription."

The truth is, I used to really beat myself up over stuff like that. I'd be like, "Who am I to teach about God and His Holiness when I cannot control my gaze for 10 seconds." I know it was 10 seconds because Candace timed me staring. She said, "I forgive you ‘cause it was 10 seconds. But if it had been 15 seconds our marriage would be over." (Ha!) You ever find yourself in a pity-party of self-condemnation over a conscious act of sin in your life?

I know Christians who look like they've been baptized in pickle juice simply because they have not discovered the greatest secret of the Christian life:

It's not about being good.

It's about being in relationship with Jesus! In Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus lays out law after law on what it looks like to be holy in the eyes of God. Why? Because he is trying to convince a group of religious professionals called the Pharisees that, no matter how hard they try, they cannot be good enough to be perfectly righteous - that is, without sin - in the presence of a Holy God. Their biggest problem was not that they were still sinning. God was used to that. Their biggest problem was that they believed they were righteous in God's sight - that they were good enough to get into heaven on their own merit.

Here's the rub: They had missed the point of the Law.

The Law was not meant to make us good. The Law was meant to lead us to Jesus who makes us good (righteous) in the eyes of God… as a gift. On the cross, Jesus took our sins upon Himself and paid for them, as the sinless Son of God, as if they were His own. He purchased our righteousness for us, by dying the death we deserved, on that cross. My dad used to say, "I don't go to church because the church is full of hypocrites!" And I'd say, "Dad, even if there was a perfect church, as soon as you got there, it wouldn't be perfect anymore!" I confess… I am Pastor Hypocrite. Every Sunday I called people to be like Jesus when I struggled as much as the next person to be patient, kind, forgiving, loving and caring in every situation. I'd deliver a message on being patient with our children… then go home and snap at one of my kids for losing the remote on Super Bowl Sunday. Can you relate? I don't think I'm all alone here! So what do I do? Think… I'm not worthy of being a pastor?

Hey… I was never worthy! It's not about me! It's about Jesus!

Jesus taught the Law in Matthew 5 to lead us to the Grace in Matthew 11…

"Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."

- Matthew 11:28

Listen… You and I need to make a conscious decision to rest in the grace and the forgiveness of Jesus! Don't get me wrong… I'm not denying my sin… I'm not justifying my sin… I'm not diminishing my sin… I'm not suggesting we care less about holiness.

I'm simply suggesting we care more about Jesus! You will never be more righteous than you are right now… in Jesus! AMEN.

Pastor Harry

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