The Struggle for Holiness

“Hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:23

Often at the heart of our grittiest struggles with temptation are the same lies. You’ll feel better if you do this. God is withholding something from you. You aren’t getting what you deserve. So go ahead.

C. S. Lewis writes in one of his letters: “I think one may be quite rid of the old haunting suspicion—which raises its head in every temptation—that there is something else than God—some other country… into which He forbids us to trespass—some kind of delight which He ‘doesn’t appreciate’ or just chooses to forbid, but which would be real delight if only we were allowed to get it. The thing just isn’t there. Whatever we desire is either what God is trying to give us as quickly as He can, or else a false picture of what He is trying to give us—a false picture which would not attract us for a moment if we saw the real thing.”

My own struggle for holiness, to not nurture temptation in any form, is a struggle to believe this truth: that there is no such thing as real goodness apart from God. There is truly no good thing which he withholds from me. That idea is a mirage, an illusion, which far from offering real happiness or freedom merely entraps or entangles me, spiraling down to a place of increasing self-pity, bitterness, anger, and addiction. 

It does no good to try to talk oneself out of these lies: the only way to begin to extract oneself, to begin to see the lie for what it is, is to fix on the truth. And the truth is not an idea: he is a Person. In the end, temptation is not a matter of self-control, but of relationship. Only love for Jesus, willingness to suffer for him, and trust in the love he has for me, can turn me from temptation. And the promise God offers is this: he himself will sanctify me completely. No matter my feelings, no matter my mess-ups. He who has called me is faithful. He will surely do it.

The Helmet and the Sword

“...and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” - Ephesians 6:17

We come now to the last two pieces of armor that a soldier would take up before battle. The Roman helmet was made of bronze fitted over an iron skull cap lined with leather or cloth; it had a band to protect the forehead, plates for the cheeks, and extended down in back to protect the neck. Strapped into place, the helmet exposed little besides the eyes, nose and mouth. Virtually the only weapons which could penetrate it were hammers or axes.

With the impressive coverage of both the shield and helmet, one would expect that the “sword” Paul refers to here is some kind of broadsword, but in fact it was the machaira, a short sword or dagger, a “cut and thrust weapon for close work.” Similarly, the term Paul uses here for “word” is not logos, which refers to generalized messages and statements, but rhema, which refers to individual words or particular statements. One commentator writes, “While logos embraces nearly everything, rhema has a slighter weight. It really means ‘a saying,’ in this case, a particular, specific portion of God's written revelation.”

The armor we wear tells us about the nature of the attacks we face. We have shields that protect against long-range attacks, but often the battle is closer. Paul says we “wrestle” against the powers of darkness: this is the same type of wrestling we know today, a body-to-body grappling in which opponents attempt to throw each other down. We must “take” the helmet and the sword: that verb is in a Greek tense which suggests urgency, more like “grab.” We must grab the salvation God offers, we must have a precise knowledge and understanding of specific truths from the Bible, lest we be thrown when our fights with evil come close. What specific verse do you have with you today? Do you have hope in the helmet of salvation (1 Thessalonians 5:8)? Even if you've had losses in the past, will you get back up, take up the armor, and fight again?

Feasts Of The Lord: A Primer

“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts.” – Leviticus 23:2

The feasts in Leviticus 23 are a fascinating map of the past and the future. There are 7 feasts (Sabbath, Passover/Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Weeks, Trumpets, Atonement, Booths); one of them occurs every 7 days (Sabbath); two of them last for 7 days, beginning on the 15th day or after the completion of 2 cycles of 7 days (Unleavened Bread, Booths). Seven, the number of perfection and wholeness; God’s whole, created plan over time. The word “appointed” is the same Hebrew word translated “seasons” in Genesis 1:14: “And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years.”

Of the six annual feasts, the first three occur in the spring. The first two occur over a span of 8 days. On day 1, the Passover Feast is celebrated. This looks back to the tenth plague, and looks ahead to the crucifixion of Jesus, which occurred on this day (“Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed,” 1 Corinthians 5:7). On day 2, the Feast of Unleavened Bread occurs and lasts until day 8. This looks back to the hurried exodus from Egypt, and looks ahead to Christ in the tomb. The leaven points to the old self, the sin, that he cleanses us from: “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened” (1 Corinthians 5:7). 

On day 3, the Feast of Firstfruits takes place. At that time, the barley crop would be planted and harvested first, then the wheat crop. The Feast of Firstfruits occurred at the time of the barley harvest, marking the beginning of the harvesting season; the Israelites ate no grain until an offering was made of the barley harvest. This looks ahead to Jesus rising from the dead, which he did on the day of Firstfruits. “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20).

Fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits, the Feast of Weeks occurred. The term “weeks” refers to the period of time between the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. It was also called the Pentecost (literally “fiftieth”) or the Feast of Harvests (Exodus 23:16). This celebrated the end of the harvest season, included a wheat sacrifice, and featured 2 loaves baked with yeast. There is some speculation that this was the day the law was given at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:1). The Holy Spirit was given to believers on this day (Acts 2:1).

After a summer hiatus, the last three feasts were celebrated in the fall. The Feast of Trumpets is modern-day Rosh Hashanah, and many have speculated that it looks forward to some element of Christ’s return (Matthew 24, Joel 2, 1 Thessalonians 4). The Day of Atonement is modern-day Yom Kippur, which some speculate looks forward to future judgment. The Feast of Booths looked back to wanderings in the wilderness and some speculate that it points to the future reign of believers, the new Jerusalem, or some aspect of the joy that follows judgment.

I imagine how it would feel if all of life stopped, regularly, every week and on the same days every year, so that congregations and families could gather around altars and tables, telling through sacrifices and foods and forts stories of God from the past. In this chapter, God is saying, I want you to stop and tell those stories. I want you to understand how Jesus fulfills all of it, down to the very day. I want you to live in the hope of the feasts and harvests and fulfillments to come in the future, because they will come. They will.