Blessed and Holy: Understanding Them Better Leviticus 19 (Train Actions - Part 4 of 5)

When it comes to training the focus has to be on action and results.  It also has to be understood that seeing is not doing.  You can even watch a video of the action and not learn immediately how to do an action.  But also with training it is important to give the why for the how or the reason for the action.  We can also say that usually a person does the action or does something how they were taught for the sake of the effect of that action or their desire to reach a certain goal. 

In Leviticus 19, there are a myriad of different kinds of actions to perform.  But there are also reasons for that action.  The introduction to the chapter begins with "Be holy, because I Yahweh your God am holy".   So, right from the outset, we are to "Be holy".  That then begs the question, "What does it mean to be holy?"

John Eldredge, in this recently published book (2013), The Utter Relief of Holiness: How God's Goodness Frees Us from Everything that Plagues Us, says something that must not be ignored.  He moves past the meaning or definition of holy to what being holy means in its effect or the reason why "be holy" is to be done.  He says:

     Follow this closely now: God is working with us ---  correcting, guiding, disciplining ---
     so that we might share in his holiness (whatever that is).  Therefore, choose your way
     carefully, so that whatever is broken in you might be healed.  Severity is not the point;
     discipline is not the point.  The point is the restoration of your creation.  Whatever
     holiness truly is, the effect of it is healing.  That what it does to a person. (p. 14)

This paragraph by Eldredge on holiness is one of the best statements on holiness that I have ever read or heard.  That is saying a lot, since it would be hard to imagine any book on holiness that I have not at least opened or any sermon on holiness that I did not listen closely to, since 2004.  (That being said, I did spot a new title today on Amazon, but beyond that I have read close to anything you can get your hands on about holiness.)

Now what makes John's statement in this single paragraph so good in my opinion?  First, it  is a great job of training people in the sense of separating action and motivation.  It answers the how or in his words, the "way", and the motivational why, or in his words, the "effect", of being holy.  I like especially that he points out that two effects are not the purpose behind being holy.  It is not to bring the effect of being severe.  So many people I talk to about holiness think that it is the desired effect or point of being holy.  He then says that discipline is not the desired effect or point either.  I've heard people speak of the point of holiness being that as well.  (By the way, what John says does not necessarily exclude these things from the way holiness is arrived at.)  The point or effect for Eldredge is to heal what is broken.  Now that is a great "why" behind the "how"! 

When people do something or choose not to do something, they usually do it seeking an outcome for someone, whether themselves, others, or God.  I admit people do things only because they were told to do something, but more often they do it for a higher purpose than that.  That especially becomes more true for adults.  Hence the reason that they are harder to lead sometimes! 

Seeking a better purpose behind their actions is also a clear reason why Rick Warren was able to sell a lot of books about having a purpose-driven life rather than a purposeless-driven dull action of drudgery.  The questions "How?" and "Why?" need each other and in that order of priority.  You see that in the problem in our day that we are given many purposes in our jobs, but now without a lot of how to.  This is our bigger problem post-Warren, it seems.  If you disagree with me here, it is not terrifically important.  I just want you to think about it then next time at work. 

So how am I to be holy?   I believe that question is very well answered in Dr. Alllen P. Ross' four sets of four instructions that he found in Leviticus 19 and as found in his book, Holiness to the Lord.   [I am currently working on Smart Art displays of what are the actions and then pre-effects and post-effects of non-action or action.]

The next question is why be holy?  First, let's recall John Eldredge's effect of healing.  Is there any sign of this in Leviticus 19?  There might be.  Repeatedly in this section of Scripture there is a repetition of "I am Yahweh" following instructions of conduct as part of "be holy".   If you want to make it real explicit, then you might translate "I am Yahweh" out into "I am I am who I am".   How is that a motivator, we might ask?

First, keep in mind this is a bigger motivator than "Do it, because I [God your parent] said so".   That says nothing about whether we are doing what he is doing or whether we are to just do as we are told.  A big difference is that God in this case is "I am who I am".  There is no incongruently, no lack of integrity, and no lack of fit.  Who God asks us to be is consistent with who he requires himself to be.  Now that's the kind of person and God, I would love to work for, especially if he can teach me to be the same - "I am who I am". 

Second, if Yahweh is our God, the creator, then it would be a good idea as his creatures to conform also to what he has made in consistency with who he is.  I can see how this could be restorative and by implication healing.  It could have the ring of "repair" to what we too once were - "holy". 

So "be holy" is no small instruction.  It is one of the greatest instructions along with "be blessed".  Being who we are as God is who he is might be a great way to begin restoration and revival.  So please be blessed and be healed, whatever holy means.   Be healed in what is broken.  Just do it!


In Christ,

Jon

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Holy: Understanding it Better Through Answering the Question "Why?"

So why does the definition of holy matter?  There are fundamentally two answers to that question.  The first is the life-relevant answer.  The second is the teaching-relevant answer.  I have generally spent more time on the second than on the first in this blog.  I have a second blog that answers more the first question, but it depends a great deal on answering the teaching-relevant question that this blog focuses on the majority of the time.  Today, I want to expand more on both answers to the why questions you might have. 

By the way, before I get too far, I want to say that holy can be defined according to the level of adherents for each view, either as: (1) set apart, (2) pure, or (3) whole/wholly.  I'll say more on this as I progress, but I know some readers are visiting this blog just for the fast answer and they will not read any further.  For those who are reading further, here is what I am up to in my blog and in my paper for my post-graduate work. 

My plan is as follows:

I will define holy (Leviticus 19:1-2) as either: 1) set apart, 2) pure, or 3)whole/wholly depending on the evidence that I collect from Scripture in its original languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek  ....

...  using both biblical exegesis and linguistic synthesis & analysis as my tools, including:
    1) 5 T's - Translate, Transfer, Total, Train, and Teach - Nehemiah 8 (issue: Whole)
    2)  clarity and meaning combined (issue: Amount)
    3)  contextual structural analysis diagrams to identify precise parallels (issue: Relationship)
    4)  pre-state and post-state diagrams as well as syntactical tools to clarify actions (issue Action)
    5)  the combination of lexicons based on both classical grammar and scientific linguistics to insure
    the best results (issue: Things) ...

... Because:
    1)  the definition of holy is a potential solution to corporate and individual struggles in the church 
     and even worldwide, based on its implications
    2)  other potential solutions that have been tried in recent decades and years have fallen short of
    solutions during past periods of church reformation and revival
    3)  there is a measure of uncertainty or lack of clarity for what holy is by definition, and there is
     a likely way to reduce the uncertainty that has been acknowledged by big name scholars (Otto,
     Snaith, Kline, etc.)
    4)  there is a moral obligation to pass on the gifts given to me by my teachers (and I believe the
     Holy Spirit) to the wider world
    5)  the effort to define holy fits with the tools that I received for exegesis and for linguistic
     synthesis, so it means that I can contribute something to the discussion because otherwise I should
     do nothing, so I don't waste the time of others.

So the first 5 focus on what is the "How?" for what I am doing.  The second 5 get at the nitty-gritty part of "Why?" am I doing all this.  For me life matters more than teaching, but also teaching is sometimes the means to life change.  May God richly bless you this day and may He guide my efforts at teaching, so they have worth and value to others and to myself.  Thank you for taking some time to read to the end of my writing today. 


In Christ,

Jon