God’s Standard Is Holiness!

7th Sunday after Epiphany, 2/19/17
Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18


God’s Standard Is Holiness!
I. A holiness he demands of us
II. A holiness he provides for us


Expectations. Everyone has them. When you purchase a vehicle, new or used, you have expectations about how it will perform. If it doesn’t meet those expectations, you have to determine whether you will adjust your expectations, or negotiate a solution with the seller.

You select a restaurant at which you and a special person in your life intend to eat dinner. As you’re seated by your hostess, you have expectations about your dining experience that evening. Will the food you are served and the dining atmosphere meet those expectations?

As a parent, you have expectations regarding your children. You expect that they will behave as you have instructed them, that they will study hard in school, and that they will be faithful in using the talents and opportunities they are given in life. Are they meeting your expectations? If not, you have an issue to address.

If you’re employed, you have all sorts of expectations—about compensation, work environment, the cooperation of your peers, the support of the person to whom you report, the level of satisfaction your job gives you. Unfortunately, in the working world our expectations often don’t match reality and we’re forced to make adjustments.

Expectations. We all have them. Are you surprised to hear that your God has expectations, too? In fact, he has expectations about you personally. Those expectations revolve around your life as his child. As a Christian, he expects Christian behavior out of you. And those expectations are non-negotiable. Don’t think that your God is open to the suggestion that he should be ready to adjust what he expects from you. He tells us in no uncertain terms, “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” God’s standard is holiness. Let’s see what he expects from us and what he gives us as we focus on this portion of his word this morning.

Part I.

Before Martin Luther became the reformer of the church, he was a Roman Catholic monk and priest. As he studied his Bible through his monkish lens, Luther obsessed with God’s expectations of him. He would later declare, “I came to hate the God who demanded of me a holiness that I couldn’t possibly give him.” As people who have before us those demands for holiness or perfection in our readings, we have to wonder if these very verses were at least partially responsible for Luther’s spiritual angst.

Let’s look again at the demands God makes in these verses of Leviticus. “Do not hate your brother in your heart.” Moses uses the word “brother” here to mean all the Children of Israel. He doesn’t mean to exclude anyone. Have you ever hated someone for something they did to you? And even if you didn’t feel and acknowledge the hatred rising in your heart, did the words you speak about and to that person reveal that hatred all too clearly? That’s sinful. God demands holiness.

The Lord continues his demands, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people.” He’s not leaving us much wiggle room, is he? Committing acts of vengeance is something God clearly forbids elsewhere in the Bible. But here he even forbids the feelings and the thoughts of seeking revenge. Raise your hand if you’re guilty.

Those expectations are difficult enough to for us to meet. But look at what our Savior demands in his Sermon on the Mount. He says, “Love your enemies.” Is he kidding? Intentionally overstating his point? You know your Savior and his word well enough to know that he’s serious. OK, Lord; I’ll try to love my enemies but I can’t make any promises.

But his demands go even deeper. He says that if someone strikes you, turn the other cheek. If someone takes your tunic, give him your cloak. What in the world is he demanding of us? He wants us to be willing to be abused instead of being filled with vengeance. Imagine that! He wants us to go out of our way to suffer as we wear the badge of his name.

That sounds silly, doesn’t it? I mean, if I can’t stand up for myself, if I can’t give someone what they have coming to them, I’m going to get walked all over. But our God is telling us that he demands that we love such people who malign and manipulate us, who take advantage of us and harm us. That sounds ridiculous. And it is ridiculous to our world. Can you imagine someone who loves his enemies, someone who allows himself to be taken advantage of and abused? Think hard, because I think you can. His name is Jesus and he’s your Savior from sin. He’s your holy Savior from sin. That’s exactly the holiness that God demands. God’s standard is holiness.

This portion of God’s word makes me uneasy. How about you? It comes easy for me to love people like you. I simply love you the way you love me. But when other people malign me, when they lie about me, when they impugn my actions and my motives, when they judge me without cause, then I lose it. So far I have successfully avoided punching such a person, but the vile thoughts that fill my head and the violent desires that fill my heart are damnable before God. I have not loved my enemies. I have held grudges. I have wished evil on such people. How about you? But God’s standard is holiness, a holiness he demands of us. We’re guilty as sin! What’s a sinner to do? Plead with the holy God! God have mercy on us all! And he does. Remember the person who always loved his enemies and allowed himself to be taken advantage of and abused. Remeber Jesus. And he didn’t stop there. He took our sins of hatred and revenge and every other sin to the cross with him and suffered the punishment for them. All of them. There’s where God’s holy standard for you is met—in the cross of Jesus Christ your Savior.

Part II.

“Behind every dark cloud there is a silver lining.” Have you used that saying? Most of us have. We’ve used it to help others see that their situation may appear to be hopeless now; but if they wait, they will see good things to come.

If you focus intently on these words from Leviticus and then add to them the words of our Savior in his Sermon on the Mount, you’re watching as the dark clouds come billowing in. Simply stated, God’s standard is holiness and he demands it of us. Like Martin Luther, we could be led to hate the God who demands of us what we can’t possibly give him. But there’s a silver lining in this dark cloud. Did you catch it? Were there any words of hope in these four verses? Anywhere to hang our spiritual hat?

It’s there. If you have the words handy, look at them again. I see three words of hope. Two in the beginning and one at the very end. In fact, all three are the same word. It’s LORD. Our silver lining in the dark clouds of God’s holy standard is in his name. When our God uses that name for himself, he wants us to recall that he is the God who binds himself to sinful people with a covenant. And this is the God of that covenant: I am “the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin” (Ex. 34:6-7). When our God uses that name for himself, he wants us to know that he’s all about forgiving us. That’s his highest desire. That’s what he’s all about.

In fact, he tells us, “I am the LORD your God.” He wants us to know and believe with all our mind and heart that he is our God. We’re aren’t estranged from him, divorced from him, at odds with him. He is our God by faith in Jesus.

What’s more, his highest will is not to condemn us for our sins. He wants no sinner—not even the world’s most vile sinner—to enter hell. No, his highest will is to save sinners, every sinner. By God’s grace, through his working by the Holy Spirit, that’s exactly what he’s done for you. You see, in his love for you he not only had his Son, Jesus, die for your sins, he also gave you the righteousness or holiness of Jesus. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). God’s standard is holiness. It’s a holiness he demands of us that we can’t possible give him. But the silver lining is that we don’t have to, because Jesus is our holiness.

God’s standard is holiness, a holiness he provides for us in Jesus.

Do you realize how liberating that is? I’m sure you realize with me how often we sin every day. But our day isn’t consumed with the endless chore of trying to make up for all our sins with holy deeds and words. No, we live each day in the forgiveness of sins by faith in Jesus. God gives us the holiness of Jesus. That frees us, people of God, to live in joy out of love for God. We don’t have to live holy lives, we get to live holy lives to the glory of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We have the privilege and the blessed opportunity to serve our God and our fellow human beings. Your God empowers that living through Jesus who comes to you through word and sacrament. Here’s the message of the holiness God demands. Here’s the message of the holiness God provides. Live each day in that holiness for the sake of Jesus! Amen.