You Shall Be Holy | Sunday, April 24, 2022

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1, 14)

When the Word became flesh, the veil was torn away — and beholding His unmasked glory is what transforms us into His likeness.

A Timely Title: Unmasking Jesus

I love when something in the culture becomes the perfect setup for what we're studying. We're beginning a new series this week, the week after Easter, called Unmasking Jesus. And as it happened, a federal judge in Florida just overturned the CDC's mask mandate for airlines. People cheered, the White House appealed, and travelers rejoiced as they took off their masks.

I couldn't have planned a better setup for a series called Unmasking Jesus if I had tried. Three years ago the title wouldn't have made much sense at all. But that's beside the point. What does "unmasking Jesus" actually mean?

The Word Became Flesh

The Gospel of John opens, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Spoiler alert: the Word, capital W, is Jesus. He was in the beginning, He was with God, He was and is God, He was active in creation, He was the origin of all life. All life springs from Him because He is life.

But this Word was incomprehensible to creation. Though He existed before creation and made it, that which is alive in creation could not comprehend Him. In a sense He was separate, distinct, invisible — existing outside of time and space, in eternity. Then John returns to the Word in verse 14: "the Word became flesh." That which was invisible and outside of time became comprehensible. He became visible. And John adds, "we beheld His glory."

These are some of the most beautiful words in all of literature, and they are filled with theological depth. They are essential to the doctrine of the Incarnation. The Latin incarnatio means "to become flesh." God became a man, and this has been an essential Christian teaching for twenty centuries, going back to the apostles and the early church fathers. God in Christ is revealing Himself in all His fullness to us.

The Veil Removed in Christ

Before Christ came, it was impossible to fully behold God's glory. Even as God revealed Himself to the Jewish people, there was a veil. Paul writes that this veil is removed in Jesus:

But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away... But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:15-18)

A quick history lesson: in Exodus 34, Moses encountered God and saw a portion of His glory — not the fullness, because no one can see God's glory and live. God hid Moses in the cleft of a rock, and Moses saw the residual afterglow. What he saw so altered his face that he put a veil over it, because the people were frightened by his transformed appearance. Paul tells us Moses also veiled his face to hide that this transformation was fleeting and fading away.

Paul's point is that apart from Christ Jesus we cannot behold the fullness of God's glory. Jesus is the unmasking of the greatness of God's glory. The veil is taken away in Christ. And when we behold His unmasked glory, just as Moses was altered, we too are transformed from glory to glory — only this transformation is not temporary as it was with Moses.

Theosis: Transformed from Glory to Glory

This idea of being transformed by beholding God is what early Christians in the first four centuries called theosis. It isn't talked about much in Protestant circles in the United States, but it has been core to Christianity for a very long time. Read the early church fathers — Athanasius, Irenaeus — and you find it everywhere. You also find it in Scripture:

Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. (1 John 3:2-3)

We find the same in 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Corinthians 15, and elsewhere. The teaching of the church for two thousand years has basically been this: the Word became as we are so that through Him we might become as He is. There is a work God is doing in us, but there is also a part we play — everyone who has this hope purifies himself just as God is pure.

Paul says in Philippians 3 that the Lord "will transform this lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body." That is theosis, a phenomenal thing given to us in the Scriptures. My earnest hope is that as I behold Him, I am being transformed and purified by the Spirit, until that day when I see Him and shall be like Him.

The Purpose of This Series

Over the next four weeks, this series is meant to help us see Him as He is — as the Word is revealed in the words of Scripture — so that we may better behold His glory, follow Him more faithfully, become more like Him, and reflect and represent Him better to the world. We'll look at teachings of Christ that are often misunderstood or gotten wrong, so that seeing them with clarity, we will be more transformed.

This is God's desire. When you become a disciple of Jesus, His desire is to transform you. Paul says in Romans 8 that He predestined you "to be conformed to the image of His Son." How does that transformation take place? One of the ways is this: as we behold His glory, we become more like Him.

Our culture, here at the end of April 2022, needs to see the transforming power of Christ at work in our lives. It needs to be evident — not only to us, but to those we live with, work with, and are related to — that we have been altered by the presence of Christ. And unlike Moses, this transformation must not be veiled. It should be clear that the power of Christ is changing us, so that we are not conformed to this world but conformed to the image of Christ.

The Sermon on the Mount: Jesus' Distilled Teaching

We're going to look at one of the great passages of the Gospel, which seems to contain the "greatest hits" of Jesus' teaching — Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7, commonly called the Sermon on the Mount. I believe there was a moment when Jesus delivered this on a hilltop near the Sea of Galilee. But this teaching also seems to be the message Jesus gave in several places as He traveled around Galilee — kind of like His stump speech, the core body of what He taught His disciples.

That's why Matthew records it on a mountain while Luke records a similar message on a plain. Is it the Sermon on the Mount or the Sermon on the Plain? I think the answer is yes. When Jesus spoke to the multitudes He spoke in parables (Matthew 13), but this passage is the distillation of His teaching for His disciples. I once spent more than three months teaching through these three chapters in a Bible college class, but for this series I'll spend just four weeks on what I think matters most for such a time as this.

It is critical that our culture see Christlikeness in those who call themselves Christians. There should be a distinctness to followers of Christ — not hiding away, but being in the world and yet not of it. In 2022, Christians are often no less partisan, no less abrasive and angry than non-Christians. We often don't appear any more gracious, kind, merciful, loving, honest, patient, or self-controlled. This is horribly bad. I say it not as condemnation but as something I speak to myself.

You Are Plan A

And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them. (Matthew 5:1-2)

Notice this teaching comes in response to His seeing the multitudes. Elsewhere we read that when Jesus saw the multitudes He was moved with compassion, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Look at our culture today — the multitudes are lost, scattered, and seeking things that don't help them, just as Jesus saw two thousand years ago.

So what is His response? To focus on His disciples. Why? Because His ministry to the multitudes happens as He works in and through His disciples. So let me be clear: you, Christian, are God's plan A to reach the world, and there is no plan B. You are God's plan A to reach your neighbor, your brother or sister, your coworker, the person you stand next to at your kid's Little League game. We must become more like Him so that the multitudes might behold Him in us.

The Beatitudes: The Path of Blessedness

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3)

This opens the section called the Beatitudes. Don't hear two words — "be-attitudes" — as though they describe something you must be or do. Beatitude is one word, speaking of a state of blessedness. You could translate verse 3, "Oh, how happy are the poor in spirit." Christians have a vision of a future in which we experience the fullness of God's blessing in His presence — what has long been called the beatific vision.

This blessing begins as we are transformed in this life and reaches its fullness in His presence, for "in His presence is fullness of joy, and at His right hand pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16). But it begins with proper recognition. The entry point is recognizing the poverty of our spirit. That leads to mourning over our lostness ("Blessed are those who mourn"). That brings meekness — a humble view of who we are. And only then do we "hunger and thirst after righteousness," and God begins to work His righteousness in us, fashioning mercy, purity, and peace by His Spirit.

A Righteousness That Is Not Our Own

The religious leaders taught that righteousness came by keeping rituals, rules, and regulations. But Jesus says:

For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:20)

To the fishermen, tax collectors, farmers, and zealots listening, this would have seemed impossibly high. The scribes and Pharisees were the most apparently righteous people they knew. To tax collectors and prostitutes and sinners, Jesus says your righteousness must exceed theirs — which had to sound impossible.

So how is it possible? You begin to experience the blessedness of righteousness as you realize your poverty of spirit, mourn over your lostness, and hunger and thirst for a righteousness that is not your own — a holy, perfect righteousness given to you by Christ. I need to be clothed in a righteousness that is not mine. This is exactly what Isaiah looked forward to seven hundred years before Christ, when he wrote of being clothed "with the garments of salvation" and "the robe of righteousness" (Isaiah 61:10).

Self-Righteousness, the Great Hindrance

I am called to be righteous — to be right and whole before a holy God, walking before Him in perfect obedience. But I have no righteousness of my own, so I need to be clothed in His. The greatest hindrance to standing in Christ's righteousness is my own self-righteousness. The Pharisees were exceedingly self-righteous; never would they have confessed their need or hungered for righteousness from God.

The first thing that must happen is that I recognize and confess my poverty of spirit, mourn over my lostness, and hunger for a righteousness not my own. This is exactly what a Pharisee named Saul experienced after meeting Jesus:

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ... that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. (Philippians 3:7-9)

We become more like Him as we recognize our unrighteousness and receive His gift of righteousness. This is a continual, repeated process for the Christian.

The Weight of the Law Drives Us Back to Verse 3

In Matthew 5 Jesus reveals the weight of the law, which reveals the depth of my lostness — and at every stage it should bring me back to verse 3. We learn that anger is just as wicked as murder (verses 21-26). Though you've never murdered anyone, you've likely been angry without cause, and so you are wholly unrighteous, no better than a murderer. That brings us back to being poor in spirit, mourning, hungering for righteousness, and crying out, "God, forgive me and give me Your righteousness."

We learn that lust is just as wicked as adultery (verses 27-30). Even if you've never committed adultery, if you've lusted you are no better than an adulterer — me too. Back to verse 3. We learn that swearing and not keeping our promises is unrighteous (verses 33-37). Back to verse 3. We learn that retaliating against those who wrong us is unrighteous. Back to verse 3 — "God, forgive my unrighteousness, give me Your righteousness, and help me walk in a way that honors You."

This is the process of sanctification, moving toward glorification, toward theosis, where we stand with the Lord in great blessedness. God is working in us to will and to do what is pleasing to Him, and He calls us to work out that salvation in our lives. This is the whole gig.

You Shall Be Perfect

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven... Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:44-45, 48)

Zero in on that final statement. Nearly every English translation and most commentaries present "you shall be perfect" as a command. There is a sense in which it is — a call to perfection. But it is also a statement of fact. The opening verb "shall be" is in the future indicative tense in the Greek — a verb indicating a future state, not merely commanding it.

In essence, Jesus is saying: walk in these things. Love your enemy, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who persecute you — and the result is, you will be perfect. You shall be as your Father in heaven. We reflect God's glory as we walk as He walked, enabled by the Spirit. As Paul says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13).

Loving Our Enemies in 2022

I say all this to make a simple point: God wants to transform you. He wants your life to reflect His glory to a lost and dying world. The culture we live in needs to see Christians transformed by the grace and power of Jesus, being perfected by Him.

And one of the most essential places to start is right here: "Love your enemies." You may say, "I don't have any enemies." But look at social media, the news, and politics — we have identified a great many people as our enemies, dividing ourselves in a way I haven't seen in any previous year of my life. Maybe they are on the other side politically or hold different views ideologically or religiously. We Christians must recognize that God has called us to love our enemies, to do good to those who hate us, and to pray for those who persecute us. Then we shall be like our Father.

When we read His words and realize we haven't loved our enemies well, may it take us back to "Blessed are the poor in spirit." May we mourn over it and hunger and thirst for righteousness. And on the other side of that, as He gives us His righteousness, may we be merciful, pure in heart, and peacemakers — reaching out with grace and love to those outside our group, bringing them the good news of the gospel. Our Lord is the Prince of Peace.

Closing Prayer

God, I pray that You would work in us, and Lord, that You would reveal if there is any area of our lives that is out of step with Your character. Help us today to be poor in spirit, to acknowledge and recognize our unrighteousness, to mourn over it, and to give it to You humbly and say, "Lord, take this. I confess it. Rid me of it." And then, Lord, we hunger and thirst for Your righteousness. Clothe us with Your righteousness. Help us to be merciful and pure peacemakers. God, work in Your church. Let us stand out as a bright shining light of goodness and grace and truth and love in the culture that we live in, because our culture needs to see it. We ask this today in Jesus' name. Amen.