You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
Our passion is to experience and express grace.
Join us.
Thanks, DJ, for helping to lead us before God's throne.
I want to stay there this morning.
We're going to get back in just a little bit to our study of John's gospel.
Lord willing, we will finish this spring.
I know some of you don't believe that, but we will.
But today, I wanted to get back to basics.
At the beginning of a new year, I want us to talk a little bit about why we are here.
What's our why, so to speak?
What motivates and drives us personally and as a church together?
What's your why?
Some of you, especially business people, like to ask that question a lot.
What the question's about is, what's your purpose?
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
What gets you through the afternoon when you're starting to get weary?
For many of us, at its core, our answer to that question is basically to be happy.
Whether that means being comfortable, you know, making enough money to retire early and do whatever I want.
Or, you know, being respected.
Having others recognize me.
Having my parents see me as successful and made something of myself.
Maybe it's making a difference or an impact in the world.
Giving my kids a better life than I had.
Or seeing justice advanced in my community.
And many of those are very noble goals as far as they go.
But if at the end of the day my why is really about myself.
About my being fulfilled.
My being happy.
The Bible says it actually has a higher purpose for us.
A grander mission if we're willing to accept it.
It's the why without which we will never be fulfilled.
We've articulated the mission here at Southwood as to experience and express grace.
In relationships that impact eternity.
You've heard me say before that that's a big statement.
And it's synonymous with other things like knowing God and making Him known.
Like tasting God's love and sharing God's love.
As Libby said, like loving God and loving neighbor.
It's why we exist.
And notice that in all of those things, no matter what words we use to say it, it's all about who?
God.
All of them.
My purpose begins with Him.
Grace.
Jesus.
That comes from God.
That is Him.
It's the same idea saying the main thing is about my relationship with God.
Out of which flow my relationships with other people.
An eternal impact.
Because He's eternal.
It's what our every breath should be about as we breathe in God's grace.
And then, moment by moment, breathing out God's grace over and over.
And I want you to remember this morning that that's not merely for Southwood as a church.
Because it's easy to think that and think, well, when I show up in this building, I'll be about that.
Okay?
Today?
No.
It's for each of us individually, too.
That's our why.
Life with God.
And today, I want us to see that primary purpose that you may already think about through a fresh lens.
I want to play word association with you this morning, which I know is risky, like asking a question during a children's moment.
You know, you don't know what you're going to get.
But word association means I'm going to say a word.
And some of you are going to need to talk.
And say the first thing that comes to mind.
We don't do this often.
So, if you're visiting, we're trying something new.
Okay?
The word for this morning is holy.
Whoa.
Okay.
Now you're going to have to slow down.
It was too many at once.
Holy.
Set apart.
God's.
Weak.
Weighty.
Thank you.
Better than weak, I think.
Other things?
Yeah.
Halo.
Yeah.
So, a lot of times we think of holy and we think of something churchy, right?
And super spiritual with a halo.
And I understand that.
You may think about a lot of things when that word is thrown out there.
What if I said to you this morning, you are holy?
You don't have to respond.
But how would you feel if I said that to you?
I've tried this on a few people.
And so, I know some of the answers.
Would you be too ashamed to agree?
Apparently, pastor, you don't know how I talk.
You don't know what I've done.
Whatever it is that you'd fill in that blank.
I'm not super spiritual.
What are you talking about?
Would you be embarrassed to think of yourself that way?
Because of the negative connotation that word has for many of us.
I'm not stuffy, stuck up, thinking I'm better than everybody else, holier than thou.
Would you maybe accept it?
You've been in church long enough.
You're like, yeah, I think that's probably true.
But kind of begrudgingly, like, I mean, maybe I am.
But I'm really not excited because holy means no fun.
I know that much.
I hope to start changing the script on holy this morning.
What it means for you to be holy.
So that you'd be excited about being holy in 2025 or any other time.
What a great why that is.
What a great purpose.
What adventure is in that.
What fun even.
Yeah, some of you don't believe that's going to be convincing.
But let me back up for a minute before we go there.
Your instincts were right, a couple of you, in word association.
You can't talk about holiness without talking about God first.
It is all about God.
Holiness is sort of, it's his godness.
What sets him apart from everyone and everything else as the one true God.
We sang it that there is none beside thee.
Perfect in power.
Perfect in love.
Perfect in purity.
God is holy, holy, holy.
Right?
In fact, being holy is so associated with God in the Bible that whatever is associated
with God, whatever gets close to him, becomes holy.
That's how it happens.
This is actually what got me thinking about this topic.
We were reading toward the end of last year.
If you were doing the Bible reading plan with us last year.
And one of the last books we got to toward the end of the year was Leviticus.
I kept noticing things in Leviticus that were holy to the Lord over and over.
Lots of things.
And see, what happens in Exodus, it's right before Leviticus.
And at the end of Exodus, God's people finish building the tabernacle.
It's the initial temple, the house for God to live in among them.
And the book ends with Yahweh's presence coming down and filling the tabernacle, which is what
makes it a holy place.
It's just a nice-looking tent before God shows up to live there, right?
And so in Leviticus, I noticed all sorts of things being referred to as holy, being set
apart for God.
The crazy things, a table, an altar, various utensils, a basin, a stand, every tenth animal,
holy.
And it's not that they were superior objects to all of the other objects.
That's not what made them holy.
What was it?
It was that they were gods.
They were in His presence.
They were used for the purposes of God.
So they were holy.
Otherwise, honestly, they're not a whole lot different from the next table or the next cow
or the next utensil.
But holy, set apart to be gods.
I just think about that.
That's pretty cool for the average bowl, right?
I mean, you're just a bowl, an ordinary, everyday bowl.
And all of a sudden, you get set apart.
And what happens to you?
This bowl is going to witness the sacrifices for sins, for thanksgiving to Yahweh Himself.
It's going to hear God's voice speaking to the priest.
And most of the people of Israel don't ever get to hear it.
It's going to be an instrument itself of cleansing and forgiveness as blood that is in the bowl
is sprinkled on things.
And on a daily basis, that's what it's going to be used for.
How amazing for an average bowl, right?
And it didn't even win a contest.
It didn't perform the best or the longest as a bowl.
It just got placed in God's presence.
Wow.
You starting to track with me?
Being holy means being gods.
It means an average person without having to perform to win a contest,
without having to outdo someone else,
can come in close contact with God Himself,
can find oneself becoming an instrument of His healing in ordinary, everyday places,
just by being placed in God's presence.
And here's the deal.
It's not just that that could happen, theoretically.
It's that the Bible says over and over to God's people,
you are holy.
So many places.
I'll just start with one.
1 Corinthians chapter 3.
Do you not know that you are God's temple
and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
If anyone destroys God's temple,
God will destroy him.
For God's temple is holy
and you are that temple.
You are holy.
You, not the super spiritual elite task force.
You are the tabernacle of the Most High God.
His Holy Spirit dwells inside of you.
So your why is to be His.
Your purpose, above all else,
is to live with Him, through Him,
and for Him in everything.
Young or old, by the way,
kids, don't you check out on this
because holy sounds like a word for big people.
Elsewhere in the Bible,
our kids are specifically referred to as holy.
And then throughout your life,
once you're holy, you never cease to be.
I want us to see that set apart for God reality
in two ways this morning.
First, we were made for this.
To be God's people.
Yahweh is God.
It is He who made us.
And as a result, we are His.
Psalm 100.
In Isaiah, God gives us a glimpse of His heart
in creating us.
Everyone called by my name whom I created.
Why?
For my glory, whom I formed and made.
It's about me, God says.
Jesus boils it down to this in John 17.
Remember, if you were here last year,
this is His high priestly prayer.
He's talking to His Father.
And He says, where is life?
It's in knowing and having relationship with
the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent.
We were made for this.
I mean, imagine that you owned a race car, okay?
Some of you have driven some of these cars that are designed to go 200,
even 300 miles an hour.
Imagine you owned one of those.
That would be pretty cool.
Imagine you took it out every day on the streets of your neighborhood here in Huntsville
and drove it 20 to 30 miles an hour.
There's a lot of things you could do with that race car.
You could drop the kids off at school,
although it might be a little tight squeeze for carpool in the back.
You could coast down neighborhood roads to Lowe's
and pick up a dozen bags of mulch,
probably fit them in the back.
You may have some issues when you get home to the driveway.
It may do some damage.
It may ding up the race car trying to get in the driveway
with the back dragging full of mulch.
It's not made for that.
I mean, the race car could do some of those things, right?
But the whole time, I think you'd be feeling something.
I know the car would be.
You'd be thinking, it could do so much more.
This car was made for more.
Wouldn't you be thinking that?
Some of us thinking, man, I was made to sing.
I was made to make good grades.
I was made to play basketball.
I was made to make money.
And this year, I'm going to do that.
Come what may, nothing's going to stop me.
That's what I was made for.
And you probably will.
Although, if you do those things, you may get dinged up along the way.
And at some point, you will almost certainly,
if not this year, in a year soon, you'll feel,
you know, I was made for more than studying and acing tests.
Amen, students?
I was made for more than studying and taking tests.
Have you felt that before?
Some of you feel that a lot right now.
Others of you remember feeling it when you were younger.
You know why you'll say that at some point?
I just feel like I was made for more.
It's because you were.
You were made to be holy.
Among other things,
to glimpse the glory of God's infinite holiness
and study Him until you realize
you're never going to ace that test.
There's always more to marvel at than you can comprehend.
You were made to rest
in an eternal security
as the tightly held treasure of the king of the universe,
even when the storms of life hit hard.
You were made to share
the wonder of a perfect creator
who would grace a rebellious creation
with mercy and life and hope.
And you were made to strategize
how that wonderful message
would reach every corner of the globe
and every person in your life.
Whoa.
Kids.
God says if even one of your parents
has this special relationship with Him,
you are holy from birth.
You were made to be His.
So whatever else it is that you want to be,
and I know there's a lot of things,
firefighter, right?
Professional athlete,
nurse, engineer,
whatever it is,
first, you are holy.
You're God's.
And as good as those other things are,
there's a lot of good things for you to be.
They'll never fulfill you.
They will never make you deeply happy on their own
if you skip living with God.
You'll always feel like that race car
was made for more.
And you were.
1,700 years ago,
a man named Augustine
tried out a bunch of these possibilities.
He looked for life for his why
in money,
in women,
in fame,
and he finally concluded,
you have made us for yourself,
O Lord,
and our hearts are restless
till they find their rest
in Thee.
You have made us for what?
For yourself.
We are designed for God
like a race car
is designed for a speedway,
like a fish
is designed for water.
Are any of you feeling
like a fish out of water
in this world?
Are any of you feeling
you're doing some good things,
but you're a bit dinged up
and there must be something more than this?
I can't just do this
the rest of my life.
Are any of you feeling restless?
Would you be honest enough
to admit,
I know that restlessness
he's talking about.
You're on the road
to being happy
and fulfilled
and comfortable
and respected
and all the things
you've ever dreamed of,
but you feel the restlessness.
Would you be willing
to consider
you may be feeling that
because you were made
for God.
You were designed
to live with Him.
You're destined
for another world.
You're shaped
with a void
at the center
of your soul
that only God can fill.
Well, one of the reasons
we know what that feels like,
I think we all
can relate to that,
is because all the way
since the Garden of Eden,
we've been trying
to make ourselves happy
apart from God.
We prefer our own ways
most of the time.
The Bible says,
although we were made for Him,
we were separated
from God
by our sin.
So what did God do?
God sent His Son
to deal with that sin
so that we could live
with Him again,
so that we could be
in the holy place
where He lives.
So, Christian,
you were redeemed
for God,
not only made
to be holy,
but redeemed,
remade,
if you will,
to be holy.
Now, I just want you
to marvel with me
at this for a minute.
It's amazing enough
to think that God
would make you
once upon a time
to be His,
to be holy,
set apart for Him.
You know how much
He loves you?
How precious you are
to Him?
That when you broke,
when you didn't work
right anymore,
when you weren't really
in that relationship
with Him
the way you were
supposed to be,
He came and remade you.
He came to find you
broken and remake you
and restore you
in that relationship
with Him,
to make you holy,
to set you apart
for Himself forever.
That's how much
He loves you.
That's amazing.
I hope that gives you joy.
I hope it delights
your soul
to know that the God
of the universe
thinks of you that way
and doesn't just think,
but acts towards you
in that way.
I talked to John Foreman
this week.
John knows Leviticus.
I've heard him teach it.
That's how I knew.
I asked him what he learned
about holiness,
spending so much time
in Leviticus.
Most of us don't camp out
in Leviticus
for long periods of time.
And John said the thing
that struck him
is how amazing it is
that God keeps providing
for us to be in His presence.
He keeps making provision
for us to experience
His holiness.
It's why right after
God's presence shows up
in the tabernacle
among His people,
we get the book of Leviticus,
which is mostly,
if you read it on the surface,
about what?
Sacrifices.
All kinds of sacrifices.
What's happening
is that God is dealing
with our sin
to make us holy.
And He especially does that
when He sends His Son
to be the ultimate sacrifice.
He's dealing with our sin
to have us back holy to Him.
I could put passages
about this up here all day.
I'll just highlight
a couple different ones.
Ephesians 1
says,
this has been on God's heart
since before you were born.
That when the Father
and the Son
decided to rescue you,
it was setting you apart
for God
that you would be holy
with the goal,
next verse says,
of adopting you
into His family,
that you'd be His.
Colossians 1
says that making you holy
is the specific effect
of Jesus' sacrificial death
on the cross for you.
That you are now holy
before God.
He bought you.
You are His.
In fact, 1 Peter 2
says it's not just you,
but you're part of a group
of people bigger
than you can imagine
that are a holy nation
set apart for God
that you might know Him
and make His excellencies,
His glory,
His greatness known
because we are God's people.
His treasured possession,
instruments to serve His purpose
in His kingdom,
to battle.
This is what He saved you into.
Into a battle
that's not a cage match
against flesh
and blood,
but it's actually
even more adventurous,
even more daring
than entering into
something like that.
It's a battle
against the forces of evil,
against powers
and principalities,
Satan and his minions,
and it's a battle
with the souls
of men and women
and boys and girls
and the destiny
of all creation at stake.
And He bought you back
to be on His side
in that great war.
If being holy
doesn't sound like fun
to you,
then you might need
to get outside these walls
for a little while.
You might need actually
to get wounded
in this battle
and to watch King Jesus
ride in
and swoop you up
and rescue you
and heal you
while He Himself
is wounded
in your place.
Pastor Jack Miller
said of that
last verse
we just looked at,
what is the fundamental
nature of the church?
To belong to God.
That's why we exist.
Those who are
the God-possessed
by virtue
of their new life
and relationship
to God
are also holy.
If we belong
to a holy God,
we are inherently
involved in His holiness
by virtue
of that relationship.
I share that with you
to remind us
how it happens.
We didn't perform well
to attract
God's attention.
Remember?
That's not how
holiness develops.
We are ordinary people,
often those
that no one
would choose,
who become set apart
for something
extraordinary
because God
shows up
in our lives,
decides to take
residence
in our hearts,
making us
the tabernacle
of the Most High God,
vessels for His
majesty.
I assure you
that's more than
you can contain
and think about.
But He dwells in you
and the reality
of that transforms
everything about us.
Everything.
It makes you
entirely different.
Friday morning
I woke up early.
I was excited
and I went outside
and the ground
was wet.
Merely wet.
And muddy
in a lot of places.
Messy.
And I was very disappointed
like some of you.
But over the next few hours
you watched
what happened,
didn't you?
This pure
white
stuff
started falling
from heaven.
and it came
in contact
with the messy
ground.
And I was inside
for a little while
and I came back out
and it was perfect,
wasn't it?
It was
beautiful.
That's how God's
holiness
works.
You got a glimpse
of it this weekend.
God comes down
from heaven
in utter purity
to land
on messy
people.
And there's still
some mess
underneath there.
Right?
But His
perfect purity
covers it.
And we are
as clean
as the driven
snow.
And you only get
to see that
every once in a while
around here.
But that's something
we got to taste
and see
that's holiness.
Child of God,
you are
holy.
Like it or not,
and I hope
the more we talk
about it,
the more you will
like it.
You are
holy.
Set apart
to be
gods.
Well,
so what?
There is another
facet of holiness
in the Bible
where God
calls us
to become
holy.
To holy
living.
And we'll
focus on that
next week.
But here's
what we're
going to
remember then
as well.
I want to
connect this
one dot
before we
come to
the table.
Dr.
Martin Lloyd-Jones
says it well.
Holiness is
not something
we are called
upon to do
in order that
we may become
something.
It is
something we
are to do
because of
what we
already are.
it's a big
difference.
Something we
do
because of
what we
already are.
Because God
has shown
up.
God has
set us
apart.
God has
made us
holy.
That's where I
want to challenge
all of us to
start today.
If it's all
about Him,
you are
holy.
You are set
apart for God.
You are made
to live in
relationship with
Him every
moment of
every day
and every
place to
be holy,
holy.
The why
behind every
other why
for you
must come
back to
Him.
And some
of us
recognize that.
For many
of you,
that's not
surprising to
hear this
morning,
but what
you're living
in is the
reality that
life is
coming at
you so
fast.
It's
work and
school and
parenting and
dance and
sports and
God and
family and
friendships and
finances and
it just feels
overwhelming and
it feels like
the best we
can do is
squeeze God
in among all
of those other
important things.
Squeeze Him
in when we get
a minute to
make it to
church or to
grace group or
a few minutes
of Bible
reading.
But I think
God in His
Word today is
calling us to
something a bit
different.
different to
start with
Him as we
approach all
of those other
things.
He's not one
among them.
We've been set
apart for one of
those specifically
for Him.
There are a lot
of ways to
approach this.
We'll talk more
next week, but
talk with your
grace group.
Challenge one
another.
It's what the
Bible means when
it says spur one
another on.
What's it look
like for you?
One thing you
can do is you
could pick a
verse of take
my life and
let it be.
The song DJ
just sang.
And pray and
reflect through
it.
I say just pick
one because I'm
still on the
first verse.
It's about time.
You might want
to skip it.
Take my moments
and my days,
God.
You take them.
That means my
mornings.
And my evenings.
It means my
meetings that I'm
expecting and it
means my free
time.
It means my
weekends and it
means my vacation
weeks.
God, they're
yours.
They're to be
about you.
They're to be
with you.
They're to be
for you.
God, all of
them.
Nothing else
assumed.
Nothing else I
know has to
happen.
And I've got to
start on that now
because I don't
know about you,
but I've already
started dropping
in on my calendar
commitments for this
year and ways I'm
spending a lot of
that time.
We need to start
from being holy,
set apart for God.
That's the one
thing.
Believing what's
best is actually
being His.
That's the best
thing.
That's a life of
real purpose.
Would you be more
excited about this
year if you
actually believed
that God was
living in you,
that you were a
tabernacle of the
Most High God,
and that He was
going to be using
you for His
purposes that will
last for eternity
this year?
Is that how you've
thought about your
year?
Is that what you
think He's going to
do with the time
that He's given
you?
I don't know how
long it'll be.
It may be just
today.
You may have a
whole year ahead
of you.
But how exciting
if God was going
to show up and use
you for His
purposes.
If you're really
brave, you can
start with take
my hands and
feet, what I do,
where I go, or take
my money and my
intellect, or take
my words and my
will, all of them
consecrated, set
apart, holy to the
Lord, because they
are.
Whatever you
consider, I'm
challenging you to
wipe the slate
clean.
I've done this
enough times to
know that our
first assumed
priorities are
often selfish.
Yes?
Have you ever
had a selfish
priority?
I think you
have.
If they're not
selfish, they may
well be culturally
driven, just
assumed priorities.
I have to make
this much.
I have to wear
this, work this
long, live here,
fit in there, reach
that goal.
I have to.
I want to
reframe that for
you.
You are holy.
You are set
apart for God.
You have to be
His, period.
Just stop there for
now.
No matter how old
you are, this year
is for knowing
Him, living with
Him, living for
Him, not to become
holy, but because
you are holy.
He's made it that
way.
Remember that.
He wants you to
remember that you
are holy.
It's one of the
things this table
teaches us because
as you come here,
just ask yourself
the question, how
else could He sit
and eat with you?
Right?
The holy
God
comes here
by His
Holy Spirit
to a holy
table.
Not holy
because it's
made of better
wood than
another table.
Not holy
because this
bread is better
bread than
some other
bread.
Holy
because He
is here.
The only
holy,
holy
one.
And He
eats with
holy people,
doesn't He?
That's the only
way it can be.
So we come
here
calling ourselves
holy,
not because we've
outperformed
anyone else.
Don't get the
wrong idea,
please.
But because
Jesus has
outgraced
our sin.
Amen?
He's taking
care of
everything that
would make us
unholy.
In fact,
when we
wandered
away from
God,
that's what
made us
unholy,
right?
That distance
from Him,
Jesus chased
after us
to bring us
back and
He's done
that for
you even
this week
when your
heart has
wandered away
from God
and He's
chased after
you to
bring you
back,
to make
you holy
as you
turn back
even now
by faith
to being
His.
I'm His.
That's where
I rest.
If that's you
this morning,
whether you're
a member of
this church
or another
church that
preaches the
good news
that we
are holy
not because
of our
good efforts
or our
good performance
but by grace
through faith
in Christ
alone,
then please
come and
eat and
celebrate with
us.
If that is
not your
why,
if you're
not about
wanting to
be holy
to the Lord
or you're
not sure,
you're still
kind of wondering
about that
because it
seems like
a big
change for
you,
a big
commitment
to make,
what a
great thing
to be
considering.
I'm so
glad you're
here considering
that and
we would
invite you
not to
come to
this table
to this
bread and
it's a
bite of
bread,
a sip of
wine.
We want
more than
that for
you.
We believe
that you
were made
for more
than that.
You can
come up and
observe,
you can come
and let
us pray
with you
but we
would love
to talk
with you
about a
holy God
who makes
unholy people
holy with
him forever.
It is a
big change
for people
like us.
It is a
big commitment
but more
than that,
it is a
big gift
that he
offers to
you freely.
Jesus,
on the night
he was
betrayed,
sat with
his disciples,
he took
bread and
he broke
it.
As I
ministering
in his
name,
give this
bread to
you,
he gave
it to
them and
said,
this is
my body
given for
you.
Do this
in remembrance
of me.
In the
same way
after supper
he took
the cup
and said,
this cup
is the
new covenant
in my
blood,
shed for
many for
the forgiveness
of sins,
drink from
it all of
you.
For as
often as
you eat
this bread
and drink
this cup,
you proclaim
the Lord's
death.
until he
comes.
You declare
that your
holiness comes
not from
yourself but
from one who
would give
himself for
you.
Let's pray.
Jesus,
what an
amazing gift.
What a
great celebration.
Father,
would you use
a common
table set
with common
food and
drink for a
holy purpose?
That you
would meet
very common
people and
by your
spirit so
work in
their hearts
that they
would be
all of us
for a very
uncommon
purpose for
you and
for your
kingdom and
your glory.
Meet with
us, we ask
in Jesus'
name.
Amen.
For more
information,
visit us
online at
sapwa.org.