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Pray for Christ-centered Wisdom

The ultimate goal of Christ-centered wisdom is not a method to get what you want.

Christ-centered wisdom

Jesus needed to solve a tax problem. When he came to Capernaum on one occasion, the collectors of the two-drachma tax approached Peter with their hands out.

Apparently Jesus and his disciples did not have the money, and so he needed wisdom, which can be defined as understanding how to solve a problem, do something successfully, accomplish a purpose, or reach a goal. Wisdom is not just knowledge; it is knowledge you can use to some benefit.

Jesus told Peter, “Go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself” (Matthew 17:27).

This is one extraordinary example of the divine benefit that comes from knowing how to do something. On the other hand, we can find hundreds of ordinary examples of wisdom in the Book of Proverbs, which tell us how to manage our finances, families, and much else successfully. Whether God provides wisdom in an ordinary or extraordinary way, Scripture promises, “A wise man is full of strength, and a man of knowledge enhances his might” (Proverbs 24:5).

Dangers of wisdom

As beneficial as wisdom is, however, the pursuit of wisdom also has its dangers. For instance, consider Solomon. As a new and young king who had recently inherited the throne of his father David, he knew he faced many challenges. He had rivals within his own family, and the nations surrounding Israel were not friendly.

One day God appeared to Solomon in a dream and said, “Ask what I shall give you” (1 Kings 3:5).

What an exciting offer! How tempting it must have been to ask for riches, long life, or the death of his enemies. But Solomon did not. Instead he said:

“O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” (1 Kings 3:7–9)

Solomon’s downfall

The Lord granted his request, and Solomon accomplished much, grew unimaginably wealthy, and ruled a golden age of peace in Israel. Nevertheless, his life is a tragedy, for he did not end well. Apparently he thought he was smart enough to be able to get away with disobeying God’s commands without paying the consequences. Ignoring the commands of the Lord, he married foreign women who led him into idolatry, the fundamental sin of the human soul. (See 1 Kings 11.)

The sin of idolatry—the sin of loving and serving something other than God like God, treating some thing or person as though it were ultimate, substituting the created things of this world for the place in our heart that only God should have—is the great temptation of those who seek wisdom. In fact, the original temptation in the Garden of Eden was to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 3:6 says, “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.”

Eve is not alone in her desire to have wisdom apart from God. Even the most wicked people in the world want to solve problems, succeed in what they do, and reach their goals. Worldly people want power, and wisdom gives it.

And so, people both good and bad seek knowledge, methods, techniques, how-to guides, hacks, formulas, and steps that will help them succeed in what they want to do and be. They google for it, go to seminars and watch webinars for it, read books on. It may be driven by a godly desire, such as how to pray effectively, or by a worldly desire, such as how to become rich and famous. The desire for wisdom can be pleasing to God, or it can be an idolatrous desire to have something that replaces God at the center of one’s heart.

The wealth of Christ-centered wisdom

For this reason, it is essential that we pursue wisdom in a Christ-centered way. We need Christ-centered wisdom, not merely the secret to whatever. Christ-centered wisdom brings us closer to God rather than leading us away from him.

The apostle Paul told the Colossians, who were enamored with this world’s wisdom, “In [Christ] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).

Pause and let that sink in. It is not an exaggeration. All the wisdom and knowledge on all the websites, in all the books in all the libraries, in all the brains of all the people of the world is not even one trillionth of one percent of the wisdom and knowledge that are in Christ.

In particular

Through the treasures of Christ’s wisdom and knowledge he created and upholds everything that exists: every atomic and subatomic particle and element, every atom, molecule, proton, and neutron, every living cell, chromosome, DNA, and gene, every human person, every animal and plant, every insect and reptile, every star, planet, moon, asteroid, solar system, and galaxy.

Christ is the divine wisdom, the divine intelligence, the divine reason, the Logos, the Word of God through whom God spoke all things into existence and upholds all things in existence. (John 1:1–4, Hebrews 1:1–3, Genesis 1:1–3)

Through the treasures of Christ’s wisdom and knowledge he gave to Moses the Ten Commandments, the foundations of morality.

Through the treasures of Christ’s wisdom and knowledge he spoke the Beatitudes and the Sermon the Mount, the Parable of the Good Samaritan, the Parable of the Prodigal Son and his Gracious Father, the Parables of the Kingdom, and all the remaining Parables.

Because of the treasures of Christ’s wisdom and knowledge he is the vine and we are the branches. He is the Teacher, and we are his disciples. He is the Head, and we are his body.

In fact, although we learn much from books and human teachers, Jesus actually said, “You have one instructor, the Christ” (Matthew 23:10). In other words, ultimately all wisdom and knowledge come from him. Because of this verse, I make it a practice when I open a book to say: I thank you, Lord, for this book and its author, but I confess that ultimately I have only one instructor: the Christ. Teach me now through this book and author what you want me to know.

Five ingredients

On a practical level, then, how do we seek wisdom for everything that matters to us in a way that keeps it Christ-centered? Here are five suggestions.

1. Christ-centered wisdom trusts in Christ, not in the method. It knows that a method cannot accomplish anything apart from God’s blessing.

2. Christ-centered wisdom uses the method because it is given from Christ. The ultimate goal is to be in relationship with him through the process, not just to get what we desire.

3. Christ-centered wisdom begins with prayer to him that he will supply the needed understanding.

4. Christ-centered wisdom continues with prayer to him that he will help us implement the wisdom and that he will make the wisdom successful.

5. Christ-centered wisdom concludes the process with prayer by thanking him for his help and giving him the glory. Christ-centered wisdom gives credit to Christ, not to self, not to man, not to methods.

The wisdom of salvation in Christ

When we follow practices like this, Jesus will give us his wisdom in his time, in his way, according to his will. And this wisdom will rest firmly upon the most important wisdom of all, namely the wisdom that saves our souls. That most glorious of all wisdom comes only in the person of Christ, “who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30, NIV).

To be righteous in God’s sight through faith in Christ is the most valuable wisdom we can have.

To be holy in God’s sight through faith in Christ is the most valuable wisdom we can have.

And to be redeemed in God’s sight through faith in Christ is the most valuable wisdom we can have.

Truly there is no higher wisdom than Christ-centered wisdom.

Conclusion

Everyone wants success. Everyone wants to solve their problems and accomplish their goals. And everyone therefore wants the secret to success. And if God is willing to give the divine secret to success, everyone wants it. But few people want Christ as much as they want the divine secret to success. You will truly be wise if you recognize that he is the real prize. In receiving his wisdom you can know him better if that is what you prioritize.

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How to Get Wisdom for Everything That Matters to You

Praying for wisdom is how you learn to lean on the Lord and prove to yourself you can trust him for everything that matters to you.

how to get wisdom

Life is hard. Your challenges and trials are many. Your goals and desires matter to you and to God. How do you get there, how do you solve problems, how do you smooth the way?

You take hold of one stunning opportunity, one breathtaking promise from the Almighty: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (James 1:5, ESV).

How to get wisdom for anything

Consider the scope of this promise. This verse does not limit the need for wisdom to a specific area. If you need wisdom for your work or a certain relationship or managing finances or physical, emotional, or spiritual health or understanding things in the Bible or much, much more, this promise applies. You might need wisdom to solve a problem. You might need it to plan your future. Or to manage a project. Or to find peace, or to overcome a sinful habit. The relevance of wisdom for everything that matters most to you is boundless.

The first qualification for applying this promise is a sense of being emptyhanded. “If any of you lacks wisdom.” This promise is not for those who have the hack, but rather for those who lack. That certainly applies to me; how about you? Since I began wholeheartedly believing and depending on this promise, I have collected a long list of things for which I am praying for wisdom.

That list suggests one important lesson I have learned about praying for wisdom. The answer is often not an overnight shipment. Like all God’s promises, we must be prepared to persevere patiently for the answers. If we recognize that we lack wisdom and are willing to seek wisdom for as long as necessary, James 1:5 presents a universe of opportunity to even the simplest of God’s children.

One way I pray for wisdom

My most acute need for wisdom is how to lead people in Chicago into a relationship with Jesus Christ and enfold them in his church. For 26 years I have been pastor of a church in downtown. There are lots of people here, stacked up in tall buildings reaching to the sky, but leading them from where they are spiritually to a life of devotion to Jesus and involvement in his church has been quite a challenge. I know God can do it, and I believe he wants to do it, but when and how are still in the works.

What the wise can do

That is just one reason why James 1:5 stirs deep currents in my soul and keeps me praying daily for wisdom in evangelism. What James 1:5 promises about wisdom stands on the shoulders of all Proverbs says about the power of wisdom. For example:

“By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. A wise man is full of strength, and a man of knowledge enhances his might, for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.” (Proverbs 24:3–6)

Getting things done, putting up buildings, earning money, waging war—wisdom makes it possible. Even God does his mighty works by wisdom:

“The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens; by his knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds drop down the dew.” (Proverbs 3:19–20)

And by wisdom God created and established things as sophisticated as the ecosystem of earth, the dynamics of weather, water, and light, and the plenitude of our planet’s living things.

By wisdom we learn to live in happy, fruitful ways pleasing to God. “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.” (Proverbs 3:13–18)

Finding God in the details

Based on passages like these, I am convinced God can give me and you the wisdom we need for our challenges. James 1:5 opens the door for anyone who will pray and believe for wisdom.

But there is more at stake. This is important not only for working successfully through life, but also for getting to know God better. Praying for and receiving heavenly wisdom is the way you work through the particulars of daily life in partnership with the Lord. This is as practical and relevant as Christian living gets. You know God by depending on him to give you wisdom for your job, family life, finances, health, emotions, ministry, goals, trials, prayers, and sanctification. This is how you learn to lean on the Lord and prove to yourself you can trust him in everything and for everything that matters to you.

Learning to pray for wisdom successfully is my new theme, and the Bible has much to say about it. You will not want to miss a single week.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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July, 2021, Newsletter

Dear reader,

Greetings in Christ. I pray all is well with you and you are growing in the true knowledge of God.

Christ-centered wisdom

Last week I concluded the series on Seven Aspects of God’s Holiness. My next series of posts will be about praying for wisdom. It is titled, How to Get Wisdom for Everything That Matters to You. This is another important way to know God, and nothing could be more practical and relevant. We know God in our daily experience by learning we can trust him to provide the wisdom we need for all life’s challenges and all our desires. We receive that wisdom through prayer. This is one way you walk with God.

My son Aaron proposed marriage to a woman in our church last week, and she said yes! Lucia and Aaron have both attended our church for years. Church and family are looking forward to their wedding later this year.

A few weeks ago our granddaughter Evelyn spent the night at our apartment in Chicago for the first time. She and Nancy and I had loads of fun. She is a sweetheart.

To celebrate our wedding anniversary, Nancy and I drove about two hours west of Chicago to Rockford, Illinois, to see the Anderson Japanese Garden. It is regularly rated as one of the finest Japanese gardens in America, and for good reason. Creating the garden on a section of his property was the vision of John Anderson, who had his home on a ridge overlooking what was a swampy several-acre bowl of land. On a trip to Portland, Anderson visited a Japanese garden that impressed him so much he hired a professional Japanese designer to create one on his property.

I get inspired by stories of people with vision who create wonderful institutions whose legacy we now enjoy. That, and my new theme, brings to mind a Scripture relevant to you in what you want to build in your life, whether a family, marriage, church, business, house, career, ministry, or even a Japanese Garden. Hebrews 3:4 says, “The builder of all things is God.” We can do nothing apart from him, and we can do much more than we thought possible with him and his infinite wisdom.

God’s name

Knowing God includes knowing his name. For one of the better explanations of the name God uses in the Old Testament—Yahweh—and how it is translated in English Bibles, I recommend this video, explaining how the new Legacy Standard Bible translates the name: how Bible translators treat the name Yahweh in the Old Testament.

A surprising open door

I was on the phone with a company’s customer service recently, and after finishing our business the agent asked, “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

I said, “Thank you, that takes care of my problem. But I do have a personal question for you if you can take a few minutes more. Have you ever taken The God Test?”

“No,” he said.

“Can you do that with me right now on the phone?” I asked. “It involves ten questions and can take about ten minutes, or more if you like.”

“Sure,” he said.

So I launched into the gospel presentation called The God Test, which my church and I are learning. I asked the agent ten questions, which he answered in ten minutes. The final question is, “Would you like to know what the Bible says about these questions?”

He said yes, so I presented the message of the gospel of Christ in about ten minutes. Then I asked, “Would you like to become a follower of Jesus right now?” He said yes. So for ten minutes I got him started on what it means to trust in Jesus and become his disciple.

Knowing God and helping others know him—what could be better than this?

Thank you for letting me be a part of your life. I pray this blog increases your knowledge of God—which is by far the most important knowledge you have.

Much love,

Craig Brian Larson

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A Personal Reflection on God’s Jealousy for His Own Glory

God’s jealousy for his own glory is right and good and loving.

glory

God is holy because he delights in and guards his reputation.

We all can relate to this. We know what it is like to care about our reputation, to want a good reputation. And we want to have a good name. We want others to think and speak well of us.

In a perfectly noble sense, this is what it means that God is jealous for the glory of his name. Here are some examples of his coming right out and saying that:

“I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.” (Isaiah 42:8)

 “For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.” (Isaiah 48:11)

Jesus prayed, “Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven: ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’” (John 12:28)

God’s concern for God’s glory

Here are other examples showing God’s pursuit or protection of his own glory:

Jesus said, “The true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” (John 4:23)

“God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:28–29)

“When [Judas] had gone out [to betray the Lord], Jesus said, ‘Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.” (John 13:31–32)

These are just a few examples showing that God’s own glory is of ultimate importance to him. He is not shy about it or apologetic. The Bible everywhere assumes it is right for God to receive and seek glory, and that we owe him worship and thanksgiving. (See also 1 Corinthians 10:31; Ephesians 3:21; Revelation 5:11–14; Romans 1:18–22)

What is right for God, but wrong for us

God’s jealousy for the glory of his name is an aspect of his holiness that is harder for me to understand. But I know it is right; the God of the universe should not be any other way.

It is right because God only does what is right.

It is right because it is right and necessary for God to do and feel things that it is wrong for his creatures to do and feel. God’s role in the universe is utterly different than ours. God’s worth is infinitely greater than ours. Our worth is derived from him; his worth is intrinsic to himself, from himself, independent of anyone or anything.

And it is right because God is love, and love unselfishly seeks the welfare and happiness of others. God’s unselfish love is obvious when you consider the attention he gives to meticulously governing all that exists and continually providing for each of his creatures. “You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.” (Psalm 145:16)

Yet this loving, unselfish God at the same time is jealously devoted to the glory of his own name. Those two seemingly contradictory things are not contradictory according to what God has revealed about himself in the Bible. They are perfectly harmonious. God is both an unselfish, generous lover and a self-centered seeker of glory.

Self-centered

That for me in my human thinking is part of the stumbling block: God is self-centered. When a human is self-centered, it is obnoxious, unloving, immature, and often dangerous to others. But that is because a self-centered, narcissistic human is living in delusion and falsehood, since the world does not actually revolve around him. Everything he has he received, and his life should actually revolve around his Creator, Sustainer, and God and around his family, neighbors, and society.

But for God to be self-centered is completely true and necessary. Everything that exists actually does revolve around him and depend on him. He actually deserves all glory for everything, and so for him to deflect that glory to anything else (such as “Mother Nature,” the idolized Cosmos, the laws of nature, or the American economy or military) or anyone else would be false. Because he deserves glory, because he is worthy of glory, that glory should actually come to him, just as an employee should be paid for her work.

God should not try to prevent or avoid what ought to be his. He should not say, “Aw shucks, it was nothing,” because that would be false and would negate what ought to be. What God does is great and ought to be glorified—indeed it must be glorified. When Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey and received the praises of the people, and the religious leaders objected, he said, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” (Luke 19:40)

To shift anything or anyone away from being God-centered is to kill it, for God is the source of everything. A newborn infant should be mother-centered. A human needs to be food-and-water centered. God knows we must be God-centered for our very existence and for all happiness, and therefore he is loving when he insists on it as the highest good.

Why a great God takes human actions seriously

Here is another thing that can seem to my puny, human perspective to be somewhat unworthy of God: namely, to care what people think about him, especially what his enemies think. Shouldn’t he be above that, secure in himself, impervious to criticism?

No, the Bible presents a starkly different response from God. He is in fact infinitely concerned about what people think and say of him, and how they respond to him. He delights without end in the praise of angels and humans. At the Final Judgment he plans to shut the mouths and bend the knees of every person who has spoken falsely about him. He plans to make his enemies his footstool.

God’s concern for what people think and say of him results not from any insecurity whatever in God but from how seriously he has chosen to take his creation. He takes us seriously because he chose to make us in his image, and his image is infinitely important. His words and actions are important, and he has created us so our words and actions are important.

Moreover, he made a universe of objective morality, where the moral or immoral actions of responsible moral beings like us have objective consequences. This life is not make-believe, not a fantasy, not a board game. We can’t just put away the pieces, fold up the game board, and forget about it.

For example, the disobedient and unbelieving words and actions of Adam and Eve in the Garden changed not just their lives, but the lives of all their descendants, all life and natural forces like weather on earth, and even the nature of the universe. (See Romans 8:19–23).

God became a man

The greatest evidence that God chose to invest infinite significance in the words and actions of humans is the Cross of Jesus. The reason Jesus had to suffer and die for our sins is that God chose to make humans whose words and actions matter. Right and wrong matter. And the glory of God is a matter of right and wrong above all else (Romans 3:23).

The Son of God became a man, continues to be a man, and will forever be a man—fully God and fully human—in a resurrected human body, with a full human nature. One member of the Trinity took upon himself the nature of humanity forever! Clearly God takes human beings seriously. He has invested us with infinite meaning and significance, and therefore our words and actions are significant, and therefore our praise or our profaning words infinitely matter to him.

This therefore is another important aspect of God’s holiness. To say God is holy is to say he delights in and jealously protects the glory of his name, in heaven, in all the created universe, on earth, and in particular among the humans he created in his image and with whom he has united himself forever.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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Why God Is Jealous for the Glory of His Name

God is jealous for the glory of his name much like you are concerned about your reputation.

name

To say God is holy is to say he delights in and jealously protects the glory of his name.

God’s concern for his name is at best a distant idea for most people, so let’s compare this to some things we might relate to.

Imagine a salesman living and working in a medium-sized community where a salesperson’s reputation quickly gets around. He cannot succeed without being trusted. He must develop a name for honesty and for delivering what he promises. Therefore his reputation is of ultimate importance to him.

Imagine a mother deeply committed to caring for her three young children. Her sense of identity and worth is lovingly wrapped up in the welfare and health of her children and family. Imagine how she would feel if a malicious rumor somehow started that she was neglecting her children, not changing her toddler’s dirty diaper for hours, sitting around watching movies half the day.

Imagine how an entrepreneur feels when she starts a company and invests much money and time to name and brand it and then to promote and market that name and brand. That name, the company logo, the values and standards it represents, its products and services—all are of ultimate importance to her. If a competitor begins to slander her company in the media, she will take that seriously and do all she can to maintain the truth about the identity of the company she has given years of her life to start.

These are examples of a normal human concern for reputation and name, for the value we all place on our identity and what others think of us, and the human need for self-respect.

The glory of God’s name

These examples are limited, imperfect windows into understanding God’s concern for his name. The stakes are infinitely higher for him. This is not just about someone’s business turning a profit; at stake is who is the God of the universe. Who created all things and thus owns everything and everyone? Who has the right to define right and wrong? And who has the right to give commandments to mankind and require obedience? Who deserves ultimate allegiance? Who deserves exclusive worship and love? And who matters more than anything or anyone? Who actually is the Almighty Lord at the center of everything? Who is the most glorious of all beings?

All that and more is at stake in God’s name. And therefore he takes seriously his name, identity, glory, and reputation in the earth. He does so for his own sake, for the sake of the truth, as well as for the sake of the people he created, who cannot have a right relationship with him apart from a true knowledge of him.

Intolerant of false gods

The truth about God’s name has been at the center of Israel’s long, troubled relationship with him. After delivering them in love from bondage in Egypt, God entered into a covenant of faithfulness with Israel, but again and again they turned their faith to idols, to the false gods of the nations like Baal and Molech. This is the running theme through all the prophets whom God sent to correct them.

Through the prophet Isaiah, for example, God says, “I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols” (Isaiah 42:8).

At Mount Sinai, Moses, speaking for God, says, “You shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” (Exodus 34:14).

God’s very name is Jealous, meaning he does not tolerate rivals to his glory. He will not give his glory to another, not to another god nor to a human who wants to play God. Therefore he is unswervingly opposed to false gods and human pride.

Jealous

Webster’s Dictionary says one meaning of the word jealous is, “intolerant of rivalry or unfaithfulness.” Another sense of the word is, “vigilant in guarding a possession.” Both of these senses of jealous apply to God.

One reason God is jealous for his name is his perfect goodness. He seeks the highest good in all things, and he himself is the highest good. Jesus said, “No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18). Therefore the manifestation of his glory and the sacredness of his name are the best things that can happen to the world and to you. He alone brings life, and therefore he alone is peace, joy, love, and every good thing.

Vindicating his name

When God’s name is profaned, he takes action to vindicate it. Sometimes this involves salvation and sometimes judgment.

God’s name was profaned, for example, among the nations when he sent Israel into exile as a consequence for their stubborn (centuries-long) breaking of his covenant, so he told Ezekiel the prophet:

“Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.” (Ezekiel 36:22–23)

Vindicated by giving salvation

Happily for Israel in this case, God vindicated his name by saving them from exile in Babylon and restoring them to their land. God says he will completely reverse their fortunes, not because they deserve it—they definitely do not—but as a display of his name.

Ezekiel continues: “[24] I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. [25] I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. [26] And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. [27] And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. [28] You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. [29] And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. [30] I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.” (Ezekiel 36:24–38)

Vindicated for God’s sake

God then doubles down on why he is showing this kindness to Israel, and it is not because they in any way deserve it. They in fact deserve only judgment.

“[31] Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. [32] It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.

“[33] Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. [34] And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. [35] And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ [36] Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the LORD; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it.”

God’s undeserved goodness to Israel vindicated his holy name.

God is holy because he delights in and guards his reputation.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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Why God’s Holiness Requires His Justice

A holy God must be just. Who else could ensure that justice is ultimately done?

justice

May 2021 saw an extraordinary murder. Prosecutors charged a 14-year-old boy with killing a 13-year-old girl by stabbing her 114 times.

Suppose the case were tried in a place that did not require jury trials, but rather a single judge determined guilt or innocence and the nature of any punishments. Suppose in this case the judge found the defendant guilty but then dramatically told him, “I have decided this court will forgive you for what you did. You were having a bad week. School was not going well, and you were under a lot of pressure at home. You have grown up playing violent video games, and you are the product of your experiences.

“You should not have killed this girl, but everyone has a bad day now and then and does something they regret later. I am sure you are basically a good person, and I don’t think we should ruin your bright future by giving you a criminal record. So the court is releasing you and ordering you to attend anger management classes. After that is completed, let’s just act as though this unfortunate incident never happened. I’m sure the girl’s family and friends will get over this.”

The cross and righteousness and justice

Even in our super-permissive society, such actions by the judge would cause outrage. A good judge must punish the guilty and acquit the innocent.

We recognize this on a human level, but it is even more true when it comes to God in his role as the ultimate judge. Who else could fill that role? God must judge because he knows and rules all things, and because he is a moral being who created us as moral beings, and because he gives us commands that will produce a good society and holds us responsible for the harm done when we break  those commands.

God is a good and holy judge, a judge who only does what is right and just. Therefore he does not violate his standard of perfect righteousness and justice to save us from our guilt.

That is why Jesus had to die on the cross for our sins. God would not wipe away our sins simply on the basis of his mercy. We were unrighteous, and his righteous justice required punishment.

However, in love and mercy, he chose to make a way to save us. He would substitute for us and receive the punishment we deserved. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, [that is, God made his sinless son Jesus to be sin] so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

This exchange satisfied the righteous justice of God. What Jesus did on the Cross satisfies the holiness of God. When God looks at a person who has faith in Jesus, he sees that person clothed with Christ himself and therefore clothed with his righteousness.

Only Jesus can satisfy God’s justice

This is why Jesus said no one can come to God apart from him. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). No other religion has

(a) a sinless leader

(b) who is the eternal Son of God

(c) who became a man

(d) who died as a substitute for our sins

(e) whom God raised from the dead, thereby vindicating him and his teachings and enabling him to save from death those who believe in him.

Without having the one and only Son of God as one’s Savior, no one can meet the demands of God’s holy righteousness and justice.

Perfection

That is because God’s standard for righteousness and justice is perfection. For example, one sin of Adam and Eve was enough to incur condemnation (see Genesis 3 and Romans 6:23).

We cannot imagine perfect justice. Human justice is always approximate and messy. Some criminals get away with crimes or get leniency they do not deserve. Some innocent people are convicted for crimes they never committed.

But God’s justice is perfect and comprehensive. He does not grade on a curve. He does not give mulligans (a golfing term for letting a player who has made a bad drive re-do it and score the hole as if the bad first shot never happened). Evil deeds incur real, objective guilt in God’s sight—a debt to God’s justice that must be paid—not just a subjective feeling of a guilty conscience.

God knows all things, all thoughts, motives, words, and actions, and he knows every person’s guilt. He knows every evil a person has ever committed and as a perfect judge will bring every last deed, bad and good, into the light and give the just recompense in perfect proportion, never too much or little in punishment, but extravagant in reward.

To say that God is holy is to say that he is just.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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God’s Righteousness and Justice

The ideal person to deal with in any situation is someone who does what is righteous and just as commanded by God.

righteous and just

Would you like to have grown up in a family in which your parents and siblings and extended family who lived with you, were always loving, generous, peaceful, and faithful? If that was not the case, it was because one or more members of your family failed to do what is right as commanded by God.

Would you like to live in a town where all your neighbors and all the city officials and employees were law-abiding, honest, responsible, and servant-hearted? If that is not the case where you live, it is because your neighbors are not doing what is just and right as commanded by God.

Would you like to work for a company in which the leaders and your colleagues are generous, fair, honest, treating others as they want others to treat them? If that is not the case where you are employed, it is because your colleagues are not doing what is just and right as commanded by God.

Would you like to do business with a company—buying or selling, using their services—whose employees are diligent, honest, respectful, and fair? If that is not the case where you do business, it is because you deal with a company that has policies and employees that are not just and right as commanded by God.

Would you like to be married to someone who—okay, you get the idea. The point is, the ideal person to deal with in any situation is someone who does what is right and just as commanded by God. That is why God commanded these behaviors. That is one reason why all God’s commands are good. And that is why a holy God is passionately concerned about righteousness and justice.

Righteous and Just

To say God is holy is to say he is the sovereign creator who always does what is right and just and requires the same from the people he created. In fact, his character and will are the yardstick of righteousness and justice, and he will not compromise that standard for anyone.

Isaiah 5:16 says, “The LORD of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.”

For example, he gave to Israel the Ten Commandments and hundreds of laws based on them to reveal what righteousness and justice looked like in daily life and to establish righteousness and justice as the norm for his holy people. Honor your parents. Do not murder or commit adultery or steal or lie or be greedy. And so on. He insisted that his people live in the way that is right and just.

He commanded his people to be generous to the poor, the alien, the widow, and the orphan, and not to oppress them. The Lord upholds the cause of the weak and needy, and defends the oppressed. Psalm 68:5 says the Lord is “Father of the fatherless and protector of widows.”

The righteous judge

God does not stop at giving commandments; he also holds people responsible for how they respond to those righteous and just commandments. He is the Judge of all. As the Creator of all people, he alone has the right, and the infinite knowledge and power, to hold each person morally accountable for their conduct. Therefore because he is holy, he punishes evildoers and rewards the righteous.

Ezekiel 28:22 says, “They shall know that I am the LORD when I execute judgments in her [the city-state of Sidon] and manifest my holiness in her.”

Isaiah 33:22 “The LORD is our judge; the LORD is our lawgiver; the LORD is our king; he will save us.”

Romans 2:6 says, “He will render to each one according to his works.”

For example, the Lord punished Cain for murdering his brother Abel (Genesis 4). He judged King Ahab and his wife Jezebel for stealing the vineyard of their neighbor Naboth and killing him (1 Kings 21). He providentially ordered events in astounding ways so that Haman, the oppressor of the Jews, would be hanged on the gallows he had built to execute Mordecai (Esther 3–7).

God is the righteous judge of every person, city, and nation.

Final Judgment

Because he is righteous and just, he will someday bring an end to this current evil age, and he as Holy One will conduct a Final Judgment Day. He will then with perfect fairness and all knowledge judge every person who has ever lived. He will call each person to account who ever wronged you. And he will reward you for every good thing you have ever done, no matter how insignificant or small it seemed at the time. He will bring everything into the light and give every thought, word, and deed its just reward or punishment. He will then create a new heavens and earth in which there is perfect righteousness and justice for all.

Psalm 9:7–8 says, “The LORD sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness.”

It is good that the world is ultimately run according to God’s justice and righteousness, and that God will ultimately judge all people and happenings. Good people want to live in a place where people do what is right. Only criminals, lawbreakers, and those who hate God want a world without righteousness and justice and the Holy One who alone can sustain them through his laws and judgments. God’s holy justice and righteousness make possible peace, prosperity, and happiness for all his people.

How should we live?

Given God’s holy insistence on what is right and just, how should we live?

1. We should obey God’s holy, moral law. We should love our neighbor as we love ourselves, treating others as we want to be treated. (Romans 13:8–10)

Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21–23)

2. We should obey human laws (that do not counter God’s laws). (Romans 13:1–7)

3. We should help the needy and weak, defend them from others who would exploit them, and not take advantage of them ourselves.

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction” (James 1:27).

(Matthew 25:31–46)

4. We should live in light of the Final Judgment, which will be the most important day in our lives. On this day God’s righteousness and justice will be on full, ultimate display, and if we have not prepared for it, we will be sorry. (2 Corinthians 5:10)

5. To be ready for the Final Judgment, we must believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ to receive the forgiveness of sins. Only through faith in Christ will God justify anyone, for only Jesus is the Son of God, and only he died as a substitute for our sins to satisfy completely the justice and righteousness of a holy God. (See Romans 3:9–26. John 3:1–21; 35–36. Ephesians 2:1–10)

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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God’s Purity and Your Health

God’s purity and your health are linked. Because God is absolutely pure, he loves what is clean, and what is clean brings health to every aspect of your life.

gods purity and your health

With all the knowledge and technology available today, you would think clean, healthful water would not be hard to get in America.

Several decades ago the idea that tap water was contaminated and unhealthy took hold among the masses, and a wave of marketing persuaded us that if you wanted pure water you needed to buy bottled water. I did not want to spend a major part of my budget on bottled water, but when I did drink it I felt as though I was doing something healthy. I felt I was putting purity in my body, water that cleansed my body of toxins.

Then we began to learn that bottled water was contaminated. Chemicals could leach from the plastic. Lots of bottled water did not come from clean sources. Just because water was in a bottle did not mean it was pure, as many people had assumed. Bummer.

Foul in Flint

Then you have a case of major negligence from a municipality like Flint, Michigan. In 2014 a crisis began over the presence of lead in the city’s water supply. For months numerous governmental leaders and agencies who were responsible for the situation denied or minimized the problem. But eventually they could no longer deny the facts. The number of children showing up in local hospitals with lead poisoning was increasing. They were being poisoned by drinking tap water and suffering neurological harm.

One outside expert on municipal water quality, who was brought in to study and report on the situation, said about the governmental leaders handling the crisis: “It was the injustice of it all and that the very agencies that are paid to protect these residents from lead in water, knew or should’ve known after June at the very, very latest of this year, that federal law was not being followed in Flint, and that these children and residents were not being protected. And the extent to which they went to cover this up exposes a new level of arrogance and uncaring that I have never encountered.”1

Stories like that do not make for trust in government.

Don’t drink from the water fountains

Here in Chicago we have not had a problem as bad as Flint, Michigan, or the same level of official negligence as far as I know, but we have had tainted tap water. When the Flint story came out, people here started testing the water and found that the water flowing from the fountains in public parks and in public schools had excessive levels of lead in many places, due to old lead pipes. News sources listed locations where the water was bad. Now the city is systematically digging up old water pipes and replacing them with new ones.

Meanwhile, don’t drink the water unless it is filtered.

Everything tainted?

All that is unsettling. What do you do? At my home we drink tap water run through a Brita filter. Is it pure? I don’t know. Is it tainted? Certainly. My son works for the EPA, and he says there is no such thing as food or water that is absolutely pure; the best you can hope for is toxin levels below what has proven harmful. Acceptable contamination. Relative purity. Minimal pollution.

Nontoxic God

The point of all this is not water, but God. The Bible says he is what our water cannot be: absolutely, 100 percent pure, without a trace of toxins.

1 John 1:5 says, “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

Revelation 22:1 describes the New Creation: “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.”

The water of life that God supplies is as bright as crystal, sparkling with purity like a crystal vase under a lamp in a jewelry store.

The Bible highlights God’s absolute purity not only by comparing him to bright light and sparkling, clean water but also to pure gold. Again and again God’s directions for the construction of the tabernacle specified that Moses was to use pure gold on various articles such as the Ark of the Covenant. “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold” (Exodus 25:17). The pure gold symbolized God’s absolute purity.

God’s Purity and Your Health

Therefore he loves what is morally clean. Through Moses he gave Israel detailed laws to follow for what is clean and unclean. God knows clean and pure.

Therefore he knows what is perfectly healthful for us in every aspect of life. He is not like a negligent government official who fails to tell people what can poison them. Rather, God has been faithful to warn us about impurity of every kind.

He knows what is pure and healthful for you sexually and in your thought life. He knows what is pure and healthful in your attitude toward possessions and money, and toward other people. And he knows about pure emotions and desires, and pure speech. He knows about pure books, movies, and music. He knows about pure doctrine.

What is pure is clean, and what is clean is healthy. God is absolutely pure, absolutely clean, and therefore he brings health to your spirit, soul, and body.

Footnote:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis. Accessed 5-18-21.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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The Holy One Is Righteous and Just

To say God is holy is to say he is the sovereign king who always does what is right and just. In fact, his character and will are the yardstick of righteousness and justice, and he will not compromise that standard for anyone.

by Pastor Brian Larson, delivered to the congregation of Lake Shore Church in Chicago on June 13, 2021