Trinity 9, August 12, 2001
Pastor John M. Berg
In the NAME of the FATHER and of the + SON and of the HOLY SPIRIT.� Amen
Then God said, Do not draw near this place.� Take your sandals off your feet, for the place that you stand is holy ground.� (Exodus 3:5)
� Moses was in the wilderness watching over his father-in-law's sheep.� There was nothing extraordinary about that.� But as Moses tended to that very ordinary task something extraordinary took place.� Before his very eyes the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire that burned from a bush without consuming the bush.� How could this bush burn without being reduced to ashes?� Moses turned to look upon this wonderful sight.� Out of that burning bush the Lord said to Moses, "Do not draw near.� Take off your sandals for you are standing on holy ground."� Holy ground.� God's ground.� His space.�� "Our God is a consuming fire,"� says the book of Hebrews, yet this bush is not burned up.� The fire is a manifestation of the Lord's presence, that is of His holiness.
God alone is holy.� We sing about the reality of God's holiness every Sunday in the Hymn of Praise the Gloria:� "For You alone are Holy One." � We sing it three times in the Sanctus:� "Holy, Holy, Holy� Lord God of Sabaoth."� We confessed it again in Evening Prayer: "Joyous light of glory: of the immortal Father; heavenly holy, blessed Jesus Christ."� The hymns and canticles of the church simply echo Holy Sciptures claim the God is holy.� Holiness is the essence of His being.� Apart from the Holy Triune God there is no holiness.� All other holiness is derived from contact with God like electricity from a battery.
God reveals His holiness to Moses in the fire of the burning bush.� This gives us insight into the nature of God's holiness.� It is the nature of fire to be either beneficial or destructive.� Take for example the mass of flame, the sun.� The sun can scorch the earth, causing plants to die.� Or the sun can radiate and warmth, causing the plants to be fruitful.� It all depends on occupying the right position in relationship to the sun.�� So also with God and His holiness.� If one is positioned in unbelief and sin before the holiness of God,� His holiness is fire that destroys.� But if one stands before God in faith, God's holiness is flame that generates the warmth of mercy, bestowing light and life.�
For many the word "holy"� is a red-flag kind of word.� Many people confuse holiness with morality or a strict life style.� In some circles holiness is seen as something that we do or achieve.� But perhaps the biblical word holy troubles us because we have been influenced by a culture of secularism that says nothing is holy, that is, nothing belongs to God.� Not the unborn baby in its womb who is granted life only if the mother chooses.� Marriage is being redefined so as to ignore the fact that God established it as a life long union between one man and one women.� Our society is encouraging is to view our bodies as toys rather than temples of the Holy Spirit.�
Now at this point you are probably wondering what does all of this have to do with a ground-breaking of a new church.�� We are getting there!� I would suggest to you that our culture's discomfort with the holiness of God is reflected in what we see happening in many churches today.� Nowaadays many church buildings are designed to look secular, like auditoriums, gymnasiums.� And it is no wonder that the things that take place within them have little connection with heavenly realities.� Pastors act as though� they were talk show hosts, instead of pastors-- ministers of the holy things of God.� Homemade liturgies often tell us more about the creativity of those who wrote them than they do about the Holy Trinity and Holy Scripture.� Closed communion is dismissed as not being "visitor friendly" and all are allowed to come to the Holy Altar without regard for teaching, confession, and pastoral care.� Indeed we may be tempted to cry out, "Is nothing holy anymore?"
On the basis of God's Holy Word, we may answer "Yes, there is a Holy God and He calls His people to stand on holy ground."� Our sin and God's holiness is a deadly combination.� When God's holiness and man?s sin mix, there you have an explosion and it is not God who gets burned.� A Holy God whose passion it is to have holy people stand in His presence for all eternity sent His only begotten son into this world to take on all of our sin--all that makes us unholy, all that alienates us from His holy presence--to take all that on Himself.� As the sacrifices were consumed on the Altar in the Old Testament Temple, so the Lord Jesus Christ offers Himself--His flesh as the sacrifice for our sin--our unholiness.� He is the very Lamb of God who is sacrifiece over the flames of God's wrath in our place.� His holy blood shed on the cross cleanses us from all sin and makes us a holy people.� In His flesh Jesus is the very Temple of God and those who are joined to Him in Holy Baptism are made members of His royal priesthood, holied by His blood to offer spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise.
When you come to this church you set foot on holy ground.� Because here the same God who appeared to Moses on Mt. Horeb in the burning bush is coming to us physically in His Word and in His body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar;� and where He is present there is holy ground.�
Someone has said that we shape our architecture and then our architecture shapes us.� By God's grace and blessing Lamb of God Lutheran Church is being permitted to construct a church building--a building that will have very prominently positioned a baptismal font, a pulpit, an altar, a crucifix, a pipe organ.�� Dear members of Lamb of God--you are to be commended for wanting to design and build an edifice that reflects the holiness of God to which we have access in Jesus Christ out Lord.�
Whenever you come to this place you will be reminded that you are setting on holy ground.� The hymn that we sang before confesses this so well:
"No we may gather with our King� E'en in the lowliest dwelling;� Praise to Him we there may bring,� His woundrous mercy forthtelling.� Jesus His grace to us accords;� Spirit and life are all His words;� His truth doth hallow the temple.��� Here stands the font before your eyes� Telling how God did receive us;� The altar recalls Christ's sacrifice� And what His table doth give us;� Here sounds the Word that doth proclaim� Christ yesterday, today the same,� Yea and for aye our Redeemer."
At the baptismal font God comes to wash away sin and give the goft of the Holy Spirit.� From the pulpit , the words of Jesus--words that are Spirit and Life will be proclaimed to create and sustain faith.� From the altar we will eat and drink Jesus' true body and blood given and shed on the cross to forgive our sins and reconcile us to God.� We are on holy ground.
Baptismal font, pulpit, altar, pipe organ, steeple yes, everything about this place will proclaim to the world that we are on holy ground.� Indeed may we say with Jacob, "How awesome is this place!� This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." (Genesis 28:17)