Around July of 2007, I learned more about diamonds than I thought I would ever know. I was shopping for an engagement ring for Beth, or rather she was shopping for a ring and then told me what to buy her.

There are a lot of factors that go into how expensive a diamond is. In the diamond industry, they refer to their criteria of diamond quality as the four C’s: cut, clarity, color, and carat. The combination of those four things determines how much you’re going to pay if you want to put a ring on it.

Most of the time you hear people talk about the size of a diamond more than anything else, but that’s actually not the thing that is the greatest determinant of the value. The two factors that matter more than anything else in the quality and value of a diamond is the clarity and color. How many imperfections does it have? Is it perfectly clear? Does it have any cloudiness to it? 

The diamond experts use the terms clarity and color, but what they are really talking about is purity. How pure, how perfect is the stone you’re looking at? The higher the clarity and color of the stone, the more expensive it will be.

A diamond that is 1 carat, is almost colorless and has some inclusions or imperfections might be worth a little more than $2000. On the other hand, a 1 carat diamond that is flawless in clarity, perfectly cut, and completely colorless could be worth over $20,000. Flawless diamonds are extremely rare, which makes them worth exponentially more.

Then you have this. (picture of diamond). This diamond is 20.28 carats, of excellent cut, clarity, and color, and it can be yours for the low, low price of $3,151,290. Oh, and they throw in a free ring to set it in. It’s a good deal. If you plan to buy it, I hope you have strong fingers, because this thing is almost ¾ of an inch in diameter.

In the diamond business, the quality of a diamond has a lot to do with how pure, or how untarnished the stone is. In many ways, the same thing is true of our faith and our discipleship. In the diamond industry they talk about the purity of a diamond in terms of clarity and color. When we move into the realm of discipleship we call it holiness or righteousness.

Last week we talked a lot about the ways that we ought to be transformed  by being a disciple of Jesus. When we are transformed by being around Jesus, we also slowly become more holy and more righteous. As those areas of our life change and transform as we grow closer to Jesus, we become more like Jesus, and in the process become more holy and more righteous.

Before we can really begin to talk about how we as disciples of Jesus become more holy, we first need to define what holiness or righteousness is all about. There are two main words the Bible uses to talk about holiness. In Hebrew, the word is קֹדֶשׁ (qados) and in Greek the word is ἅγιος (hagios). Both of them basically mean the same thing. They mean to be set apart, to be dedicated to God, or to be sacred. 

We can talk about something as holy in the sense of being exalted, being worthy of complete devotion, being perfect in goodness and righteousness, or being divine. Those qualities are obviously things that are reserved for God alone. No human besides Jesus Christ can claim to have those attributes.

We can never fully know God’s holiness, because it is so far beyond what we can even imagine or wrap our minds around. His holiness is incomprehensible to people who are not capable of the kind of holiness that God is. In that kind of absolute holiness, God stands alone.

AW Tozer says that God's holiness is not simply the best we know infinitely bettered. God is utterly holy. God doesn’t conform to the standard of holiness, he is the standard of holiness. He is fully, infinitely pure and he cannot be otherwise. If he were, he wouldn't be God. The authors of Scripture talk about holiness a lot. Those two words are used around 700 times throughout Scripture, and many of those are to describe the character of God.

Exodus 15:11 ESV — 11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

1 Samuel 2:2 ESV — 2 “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.

Revelation 15:4 ESV — 4 Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

God's holiness not only sets him apart in the world, it sets him apart from everything in all of Creation. God is the only one who is holy like he is. He is the only one who is perfectly righteous. There is nothing and no one else that can even come close.

Instead of trying to explain God’s holiness further, I think one of the most helpful things we can do is to look at what happened when other people were suddenly in the presence of the Holy God to see what this looks like and how we should be responding to God’s holiness as well.

Moses was living in the land of Midian and he was shepherding a flock of sheep when he saw a bush that was on fire, but wasn’t being consumed by the flames. This is what happened:

Exodus 3:3–6 ESV — 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

When I was a little kid my parents had that 1970’s, multicolored, brown, orange, and black shag carpet in their living room. I think everybody had that kind of carpet in their house at one point in time. It didn’t matter what we did in the living room because first of all nothing would show on that carpet.

Then one day my parents bought new carpet to renovate a little. I remember helping my dad pull up the old carpet and finally understanding just how gross carpet can be. Then we installed the new carpet. We went from black, brown, and orange shag carpet to a much shorter, light blue carpet. Suddenly everything changed. We weren’t allowed to eat in the living room anymore, we weren’t supposed to take our drinks in that room, and suddenly we had to start checking to see if our shoes were muddy before we wore them in the house.

I got pretty good and checking to see if my shoes were muddy by walking across the floor and looking back to see if I was leaving footprints. We had to start taking care to be respectful and take care of the carpet much more than we ever had before. Suddenly that carpet was much holier ground than it had been before.

When Moses was before the burning bush he was told to take off his sandals because he was on holy ground. What made that ground holy? It wasn’t because the carpet was new. Exodus describes this event taking place at Mt Horeb, which is called the mountain of God. Deuteronomy, Exodus, and Numbers refer to both Sinai and Horeb as the name of this mountain Moses was at when he saw the burning bush, and when he brought the Israelites back from Egypt and received the law from God. Even with all of that, the location is not what made this mountain a holy place. 

The thing that made that mountain a holy place when Moses saw the burning bush, and every time afterward, is that the presence of the one who is absolutely holy was there. God manifested his presence on the mountain that day in the flames on that bush. Moses wasn’t just in the presence of a burning bush, he was in the presence of God himself.

For Moses, that meant that he needed to walk reverently, respectfully onto that ground. He needed to recognize whose presence he was in when he walked up to that bush. Once he realized he was in the presence of God, he hid his face, because he was afraid. He was a sinful man in the presence of a holy God. 

This is a theme we see when people who are not holy come into the presence of the Holy God. They immediately know their sinfulness in relation to one who is truly Holy, and they are fearful. Isaiah also experience what it was like to be in the presence of the Holy God.

Isaiah 6:1–5 ESV — 1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” 

Isaiah had a vision of the Lord on his throne. He was in the presence of the Holy God as well, and this is his response. The word ‘woe’ here is a Hebrew word that spoke of intense sorrow or distress. Isaiah was immediately aware of just how unholy he was in the presence of God. He immediately knew he was a sinful man.

Instead of falling on his face or hiding his face, he confessed his sin in the presence of God. Not only did he confess his sin, but he confessed the sin of his entire nation. Isaiah knew that he was not just unclean and unholy because of what he did himself, but because he was a part of a culture, a nation that was unholy and did not treat God with the reverence, respect, and obedience he deserves.

In response to that confession, God did something about Isaiah’s uncleanness. He did something about his sinfulness to make him more holy, to purify him. He cleansed him with a holy fire.

Notice that even the seraphim, the angels who are constantly in the presence of God, are covering their face and their feet with their wings in reverence, awe, and fear of the Holy God. Again, this is not just God being more holy than humanity. God is far above and beyond the holiness of any of his creation, including the angels who serve him in the very throne room of God.

In Revelation 1, John had a similar vision of Jesus on his throne, and he fell at his feet as though dead because he was in the presence of God. He was in the presence of holiness.

A little later in Revelation, we see a strikingly similar vision to what Isaiah saw in the presence of God.
Revelation 4:8 ESV — 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

Here are our seraphim again, constantly and continually singing “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” They were doing the same thing in Isaiah’s vision of the throne of God. They never get tired of singing of God’s holiness because they are in the presence of perfect holiness.

One year we went to Quetico National Park in Canada on a canoeing trip with Boy Scouts. We were dropped off at the portage into Canada, and we went out for a five day trip. One day we camped at an island right in the middle of the lake that began at the water on one end, and sloped up until it ended at a cliff on the other side.

That cliff was facing west, so when it was dinner time, we took our food up there and sat with our legs hanging off the side of the cliff watching the beauty of God’s creation. When the sun set, which was about 11:30 at night because we were so far north, we sat up there and watched the sun set over the lake. That was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. I could have stayed up there all day for days on end and never get tired of watching the beauty of God’s creation.

That’s what it’s like to be in the presence of God’s holiness. We won’t get tired of it, we won’t think it’s just pretty mundane one day. God’s holiness stands in such stark contrast to the rest of our lives that once we experience it like Moses, Isaiah, and John did, we could never grow tired of it.

In the Tabernacle, and later in the Temple, there was a section called the Holy of Holies. We talked a little about this when we went through Hebrews earlier in the year. The Holy of Holies was the section behind the veil in the Temple where the Ark of the Covenant resided. On top of the Ark were two cherubim that formed what was called the Mercy Seat. That’s where God’s presence resided here on earth. In fact, there were no artificial lights behind the curtain. The only light that was needed came from the presence of God himself.

Once a year, the High Priest would go into the Holy of Holies to offer sacrifices for all the people on the Day of Atonement. When he did, they would tie a rope around his waist just in case he died because he did something irreverent or angered God in some way when he was in the presence of God. 

When people have an encounter with the Holy God, they suddenly realize their lack of holiness, their lack of purity, their lack of righteousness when they were around the one who is the very standard of holiness. That’s what happened with all these folks we read about in Scripture. They didn’t have to be told they were unworthy of the holiness of God. They immediately knew that God was holy and they were not.

That’s why Moses hid his face. That’s why Isaiah lamented that he was an unclean man from a people of unclean lips. That’s why John fell at the feet of Jesus as though dead. That’s why they were afraid the high priest might die every time he went into the presence of God.

The first thing we have to do to become more holy ourselves is learn just how far we have to go. We need to have an encounter with God to know how holy he is and how unholy we are. That’s when we recognize the difference between us. We don’t tend to notice our unrighteousness as much when we aren’t in the presence of God because then we’re comparing ourselves to other people. When we compare ourselves to other people, we can almost always find someone else that we think we’re more holy than, or more righteous than.

The problem is that other people aren’t our standard for holiness. God is. When we compare ourselves to God instead of to other people, we immediately recognize that there is no comparison. There is no chance of us justifying our unrighteousness or feeling like we can come out looking good at all. When we have the holiness of God in perspective, we can’t help but notice our unrighteousness.

Tozer says in his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, “Until we have seen ourselves as God see us, we are not likely to be much disturbed over conditions around us as long as they do not get so far out of hand as to threaten our comfortable way of life. We have learned to live with unholiness and have come to look upon it as the natural and expected thing. We are not disappointed that we do not find all truth in our teachers of faith, fulness in our politicians or complete honesty in our merchants or full trustworthiness in our friends That we may continue to exist we make such laws as are necessary to protect us from our fellow men and let it go at that. Neither the writer nor the reader of these words is qualified to appreciate the holiness of God.”

Because God is holy, he has made holiness a standard of the health of his creation. God created us to be holy. When we are holy we are healthy spiritually and able to be in a right relationship with God. While there is still sin in our lives, we are spiritually sick. It draws us away from God and prevents that relationship with him from being what it should be. Holiness is God’s standard for us. That’s what he wants for us and what he created us for.

One of the things that happens as we grow closer to Jesus as his disciples is that we become more holy by degrees. We’ll never be perfect on this side of heaven, but as we get closer and closer to Jesus, we get a little closer to being holy as he is holy. This is actually our calling from Jesus himself.
Matthew 5:43–48 ESV — 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven… 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Anybody else feel completely inadequate when you hear those words? Here’s the good news. The Greek word Jesus uses there is the word τέλειος (teleios) which can mean perfection, but can also mean maturity or completeness or wholeness. Jesus doesn’t call us to perfection in all that we do. If he were doing that, there would be no point in the cross. Instead he is calling us to be whole, mature, and complete just as God is. 

You might say that he is calling us to holiness or righteousness. God created us to be holy and we are not healthy, we are not whole or complete, without that holiness. This word τέλειος (teleios) can easily be describing the kind of holiness that ought to be in our lives if we are following hard after Jesus.

1 Peter 1:14–16 ESV — 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Peter quotes Leviticus 11 here as he describes how we ought to be holy as followers of God. This often gets misquoted as “You shall be holy, as I am holy.” Then we run into the same problem we had before. We can’t be holy just as God is holy. His holiness is the standard, the ultimate level of holiness that it is impossible for us to attain to.

But this verse says “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” The Greek word here is one that means for or because. We aren’t called to be at the same level of holiness as God. We can’t do that. We are called to be holy because the God we serve is holy. As we become more holy we reflect the image of God more and more. This is the whole point of being disciples of Jesus, to look more and more like him all the time. This whole discussion of developing holiness is simply discipleship we’re talking about.

We don’t have to worry about how God sees us once we’ve put our faith and trust in Jesus. We are seen as righteous by God from the moment we put our faith in Jesus
Romans 5:8–9 ESV — 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Paul tells us through several of his letters that Jesus took on our sinfulness to take the punishment of our sin so that we could put on the righteousness of Christ. We get to enjoy the benefits of Jesus living a sinless life. 

That’s what Paul means when he tells us we have been justified by his blood. Justification is a legal term that means to render a favorable verdict, or to vindicate. Jesus gave us his righteousness so that we could be justified before God. That happens the moment we put our faith and trust in Jesus. We are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, and that’s how God sees us. We are not sinless people, but our sin is covered in the grace of Jesus.

As disciples we spend our lives trying to get as close to Jesus as we can so that we can be more like him. As we do that, we slowly become more holy as Jesus conquers the sin that is still in our lives. That slow transformation to become more holy as we get to know Jesus is called sanctification. That’s the process by which we become more and more holy, more and more righteous over lifetime of following Jesus.

Ultimately, that kind of holiness is how we show the character of God to the world around us. We were made in the image and likeness of God. When we reject the sinfulness and unrighteousness of the world to act in ways that are holy instead, we are reflecting more fully the image and likeness we were created in.

Being a disciple of Jesus should transform us. It should make us into new creations. And slowly, over time, that relationship with the one who is absolutely holy will make us more holy as well. Day by day and year by year, we will slowly become more like the Holy One as we follow after Jesus.