Gordon Hayes
11 May 2024
Roeh Israel Abilene
What is holiness?
The Hebrew word translated as holy is קְד ׂ ש(q'dosh).
In our portion today, the word is in its plural form קְד ׂ שִים(q'doshiym).
This is a way of magnifying the meaning in the Hebrew language.
So what The Almighty is telling us is that we are to be extremely holy.
What does the wordקְד ׂ שmean?
It means to be consecrated or set apart for a specific purpose.
What or who are we to be set apart too?
Who or what are we to be separate from?
I believe we all know the answer to these questions.
The bigger question is, "How do we become holy?"
Simple answer is, By following Torah!
Let us examine some ways that we can be Holy to Elohim
I. BEING HOLY IN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ALMIGHTY
A. The World As A Whole Does Not Accept Yud, Hey, Vav, And Hey As The One And Only Elohim.
1. There are thousands of gods worshipped around the world.
2. Some are even atheists, not believing in any god.
3. By holding the belief that The Almighty is the ONLY elohim sets us apart from the world.
B. The World As A Whole Does Not See The Torah As Being Applicable To One's Life.
1. Many have an attitude that the world revolves around them and they get to make their own rules.
2. Orthodox Christianity teaches that there is no need to observe Torah.
3. Even some in the "Hebrew Roots Movement" focus only on the weekly Shabbath, the Holy Days, and usually the dietary laws.
4. By studying and implementing the entire Torah, we set ourselves apart from others.
C. THE WORLD AS A WHOLE DOES NOT OBSERVE THE SEVENTH DAY OF EACH WEEK
AS A DAY OF CEASING FROM WORK AND WORSHIPPING THE ALMIGHTY.
1. A large part do not observe any day of the week as holy.
2. Orthodox Christianity observes the first day of the week.
3. Islam observes the sixth day of the week.
4. Some say it doesn't matter which day we choose.
5. Some will even say that the lunar cycle determines which day we set apart.
6. By observing the seventh day each week, we set ourselves apart as holy unto The Almighty.
D. The World As A Whole Does Not Observe The Dietary Instructions Of The Almighty.
1.The world in general does not recognize them.
2.Orthodox Christianity says that "Jesus made all animals clean."
3.Even some in Islam, as close as it is, pervert them.
4.By observing the dietary instructions, we make ourselves Holy unto The Almighty.
E. The World As A Whole Does Not Concern Itself With The Appointments Of The Almighty.
1.There are hundreds of special days each year observed by various cultures
2.The Almighty has given us a list of appointments in Lev. 23, et al
3.By observing his appointments and forsaking those of the world, we make ourselves holy to him II. OTHER WAYS TO BE HOLY
A. In Our Relationships With Others
1. The world seems to live by the motto of, "Do unto others before they do unto you." 2. As some have said, it is often a dog eat dog world out there.
3. One of the things I still like from my days in the Church of Christ is the acronym JOY.
4. Yehoshua said the second greatest command was to love our neighbor as ourself.
5. Yehoshua, in his parable of The Good Samaritan defined.
6. The Apostle Paul instructed the believers in not to think more of themselves than they should. He talked about putting others first.
7. Doing so WILL make us Holy unto The Almighty.
B. In Our Marriages
1. The world has an often skewed attitude toward marriage. We have same sex marriages. We have open marriages. We have abusive marriages.
2. Marriage is a sacred covenant between a man and a woman. When The Almighty is a part of the marriage it is even better.
3. Torah says a wife has three inalienable rights
a. the right to marital relations,
b. the right to be clothed adequately, and
c. the right to be fed adequately.
4. Yehoshua said that we don't need "Momma's boys".
5. Paul gave quite a bit of instruction on marriages. Ephesians 5
a. husbands are to love their wives and be willing to defend them.
b. husbands are to lead their wives to a close relationship with The Almighty.
c. wives are to honor their husbands.
d. husbands and wives should treat one another properly.
e. the marriage bed is to remain undefiled.
f. marriage is to be a relationship of mutual and reciprocal respect and service to one another.
g. Paul said that if a man does not provide for his family, he is worse than an unbeliever.
6. IF the marriage ends in divorce, the husband is to give the wife a "get" so that she may remarry.
7. If we will do these things, we and our marriages, will be holy.
C. In Our Jobs
1.We perform our job duties as if The Almighty were our boss.
2.We should pray for a job that will allow us to honor The Almighty.
3.We should not neglect our duties to family by "giving too much at the office".
4.The order of this is The Almighty first, then our family, then our job.
5.We are to deal honestly in our business dealings.
6.If we are the employer, we must:
a. treat our employes fairly
b. never withhold wages from our employees
c. treat our business partners honestly
D. In Our Finances
1.We MUST remember that it all belongs to The Almighty.
2.He is letting us borrow it for a while.
3.Yehoshua speaks of how we are to be generous in our alms
4.Paul argued that we should be willing to support those who labor among us, giving the example of a work animal threshing out the grain.
5.The truthful saying in Proverbs 23:23 is often taken out of context to justify our not paying biblical authors for their studies
Closing
Yehoshua admonishes us to let our righteousness exceed that of the Pharisees
Usually this is explained in a way that belittles the righteousness of the Pharisees I think it very well could be that he is telling us that we are called to be even more righteous than the righteous Pharisees
The Apostle Paul/Shaul tells us that we are redeemed and purified unto Yehoshua as a peculiar people, zealous of good works (Titus 2:14)
I challenge each one of us hearing these words, especially myself, to be extremely holy unto The Almighty Embrace the instructions, commandments, and principles found in the Bible and implement them into your daily life
