God Is Sacred

"There is a pestilence upon this land. Nothing is sacred. Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history."

Roger the Shrubber

When I was a kid going to church, we were told to remove our hats and not run in the sanctuary by watchful ushers.  It was viewed by some as a sacred place, the "house of God," a consecrated location to draw near to God in worship, adoration and reverence.  In Webster's 1828 Dictionary the first entries to define sacred are:  "the sense is removed or separated from that which is common, vulgar, polluted, or open, public...holy; pertaining to God or to his worship; separated from common secular uses and consecrated to God and his service; proceeding from God and containing religious precepts."  The concept of a part of a building or hall being considered sacred in Christian circles perhaps comes from the example of the tabernacle or temple.  More likely it is merely a tradition of man borne out of a desire to honour God, albeit with the pitfalls of legalism.

It is good for man to recognise God is holy, and that believers have been made holy by faith in Jesus Christ.  Those wary ushers would do well to examine their own attitudes, words, motives and actions as conscientiously as they wore collared shirts when on duty and aimed to silence exuberant children with stern looks.  We live in a secular day when frankly nothing is viewed as sacred except the freedom of the individual, and the societal norms around dress, hair length, hair colour, tattoos and rock music--which were frequent points of contention between a traditional generation and my less traditional one--have largely disappeared.  In times past much of what was deemed sacred was drawn from tradition without substance, not having been produced by a personal relationship with the living God.  Now many of the traditional views have faded and thus the legalistic mirage of what was sacred has disappeared as well.

"Nothing is sacred," Roger the Shrubber said, and what he says is partially true.  Man has a way of making the sacred profane through idolatry when God is holy.  He is sacred, free from the pollution of sin and the wisdom of fallen man.  His word is sacred, having been divinely inspired and preserved by His power so man could be taught of our glorious Creator, realise our fallen state and place our faith in Jesus for salvation and redemption.  The sacred lies not in a building or in a hallowed place on this planet which will one day perish but in God Himself and the activity of people drawing near to Him in worship and adoration.  When a person bends the knee in prayer, when hands are raised to God in praise, when the word of God is proclaimed, when a heart submits in obedience and rests in God alone, these are sacred moments wherever we are because it is a soul uniting with the holy, sacred God in faith.  It is God Who must remain sacred in our eyes, for when we draw near to Him we stand on holy ground by His grace.

For this reason I believe during times of worship, whether we congregate in person or online, it is important to lead by example before children and adults alike to lay aside distractions.  It is not a time to check emails or record videos to post on social media.  If Jesus came to church I bet people today would ask for a selfie with Him!  How ludicrous when He is God, our Saviour and LORD!  Our aim should not be to occupy children who are capable of watching a favourite show when they too can learn to engage in worship.  Nehemiah 8:2-3 provides a good example of this when all the people gathered as one man to hear the Law of Moses read:  "So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. ³ Then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law."  When a child is able to understand the dialogue in a TV show, they can hear the word of God.  This requires wisdom, training and discipline, and praise the LORD He is the master of all these and more.

Friends, do you see God as sacred?  Or has the grace of God or our familiarity with Him brought Him down to the level of what is common, worldly and exists for our benefit or enjoyment?  There are many warnings in scripture against profaning the name of God or His temple, and Ezekiel 44 speaks of how the role of the priests and Levites was to teach the people the difference between what is holy and profane, and their responsibility before God to observe this themselves.  It is no longer the Law of Moses which governs these distinctions under the New Covenant but the love and fear of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  We have been made holy by the power of the Gospel, and thus we are in Christ and He in us.  God is holy, and thus our worship, service and praise is sacred unto Him.