I couldn't think of a great illustration but I do like simple games so I have rock, paper, scissors. I brought in a clear cup of dirt and rocks from behind the church, a roll of toilet paper taken from the men's room, and a pair of scissors from my Sunday school class. OK this is clearly not the normal version of rock paper scissors; it's a question and answer game. The question is "which if any of these are holy?" Before anyone answers let's read a passage of scripture.

Read Numbers 4:15-20

Notice the term here holy things. It is also rendered holy articles, holy furniture, or holy furnishings. Reading the previous part of the chapter you'd see that these holy things are pretty normal things like bowls, tables, and candlesticks. But the bible says they are holy. I don't know about you but I normally think of God as holy and some great saints as holy but we (and by that I mean I) don't usually think of things like candlesticks, tables, bowls and forks as holy let alone rocks, paper, and scissors.

But they are nonetheless referred to here as holy. The Hebrew word qodesh translated as holy means "sanctified" or "set apart" for divine service. It's not to be confused with qawdosh also translated as holy which means "morally or ceremonially sacred" or "pure" as in God is holy. Qodesh holiness is what I want to talk about. Qodesh holiness comes about when we surrender the ordinary things of the world to the extraordinary will of God

Once given to God it is his and not ours anymore. It becomes holy. I went to a friend's church for Christmas Eve. He is a denomination of the Episcopalian or Anglican Church. Anyway, they brought a cross in at the beginning of the service. Not understanding it's purpose, I asked about it and he said it symbolized God's presence when 2 or more are gathered. My friend explained how the brass cross was holy and would only be used in church services. When it was replaced it would be given to another church or destroyed not ever hung on someone's wall as art or thrown out as trash. That cross is holy; it's a simple thing given to a specific function of the Lord's church.

In Exodus, God instructed people to give of their gold, silver, and stuff to make lots of common things like bowls, tables, and candlesticks. They were pretty common things but they were made for use in God's tabernacle and were therefore holy things. Here in Numbers, we find instructions for handling these holy things.

With true Christianity, you give yourself to God. You surrender your will to him; you surrender your life to him. You are entirely his. That is why the bible says you are "bought with a price" in 1 Corinthians 6:20, 7:23, you are "servants of God" in Romans 6:22 and Ephesians 6:6, and why Jesus refers to us in his prayer as "them which thou hast given me" as recorded in John 17:9,24. We are to make no mistake about it - we are his. Therefore we are holy – set apart for God's use. We are qodesh holy on our way to becoming qawdosh holy. Thus the command to "be ye separate from the world" in 2 Corinthians 6:17.

We've already seen the warning to the Korathites. Just mishandling holy things was bad news for them. It meant death. They took the holy things very seriously. The Korathites were God's people and were given God's instructions. They were not to even touch the holy things. One man named Uzzah over in 2 Samuel 6 and 1 Chronicles 13 was helping to get the ark from point A to point B on a cart. The ark slipped and Uzzah wanting to keep the ark from falling reached up and grabbed it. He was struck down dead. He had great intentions and was mostly doing what he was supposed to but not totally. He touched the ark. I think if the ark had fallen God could take care of it but Uzzah thought he should grab it. He mishandled that holy thing.

For us, mishandling the holy means not fully doing things God's way. Are you mishandling the talents God wants you to use? You are his; your talents are his. They are holy – set aside for his purpose. When you don't do something you should do you are like a Korathite mishandling holy things. Your talents, your testimony, your time, your things – they are all God's and all set aside to be holy if you really surrendered your life to him. We may do this part and that part but if we don't do his total will we are mishandling our lives, which are holy.

The widow of Mark 12:41-44 was surrendered to God. All she had was his and she gave two holy mites. She gave it all. Remember how Jesus praised her for his total commitment and frowned upon the others giving only parts

God seems more merciful with us today than he was the Korathites. After all we mishandle our lives or only partly handle them properly all the time. We surrender our Sunday mornings to God but not our Sunday nights. We agree to use our backsides to warm his chairs and our ears to hear his words but not our hands and feet to do his work or our mouths to repeat his story. It is the sinner not the saint that is told to just come. The holy saints are told to come and go.

Right now there are two people teaching downstairs. They are respectfully handling that which is holy. They are discipling, ministering, and generally doing God's will with what God has given them. I realize we can't all be teachers but unless the Bible lies, and I do not believe it does, we are all called to a purpose within the church. God has a plan and a job for all his children. Coming to church to sing songs, hear lessons, and listen to sermons is not that job. That's food before the work in the field.

If I know I'm going to be spending the day in the yard or in the woodshop I'll eat a good breakfast and fill me up a big glass of something to drink. I get in those moods where I keep just wanting do just this little bit more and I miss lunch and may even come in late for dinner. We all have to fill up when we can and then get to work and get God's jobs done. Young or old we all have our all to give. We all have holy lives to handle as God instructs.

A good friend and coworker of mine is in his 60's but he's teaching 3rd and 4th grade boys in RA's and fills in in Sunday School when asked. He intends to retire from where we work in the coming year and retire to the mission field. To me, he seems to understand what it means to be set aside for God's use. He is handling holy things well.

We are not to take lightly what is given to God. Being irreverent and misappropriating that which is holy is bad too. Remember the Korathites and their omissions but let's look at Belshazzar and his wrong commissions

Read Daniel 5:1-6, 25-28

These cups Belshazzar used are the same things we talked about back in Numbers. They are the holy things. The danger of the Korathites was in not doing what is right with that which is holy. The danger of Belshazzar is in doing what is wrong with that which is holy. Belshazzar took the holy things for God's table and used them as common things at man's table. There are Christians like Belshazzar in our local church here and through out the body of Christ. They waste their talents on man rather than using them for God.

It never ceases to amaze me how singers will sing vulgar lyrics and dance lewdly then when they win an award they want to thank God. If they really wanted to thank God they'd be using their abilities to encourage and edify the church instead of tempt its members. But I'm guilty of taking the resources God gives to me and squandering it away. I, and so many others, find it easy to justify being couch potatoes but if I could be doing something for God aren't I really just wasting God's time. If I don't study for Sunday school lessons as I should, haven't I taken God's time and made it my time? Aren't I using holy time for common things? Am I not as guilty as Belshazzar for misappropriating the holy? Now I'm not saying you can't watch TV, relax, and do recreational things. No I'm not saying that at all. God wants us to have downtimes; the Sabbath of rest was God's plan from the beginning but rest time implies there must be some work time too.

You are God's. You are holy. Will you respect what is set aside for God and live holy? Will you be separate? Will you serve? Or do you prefer to be counted as a careless Korathite or a belligerent Belshazzar. As I said I know we can't all teach. We aren't all preachers. God gives us each a task and with it the abilities to do that task or tasks.

God didn't give me the gift of ministering. I love others but I'm not a hospital going, sick visiting person. I don't remember who has what health problem or when test are being done. My wife is good with that. She has that gift. I don't even like to make calls. It's not my calling so I have no peace with it; it is downright painful for me. Even though I'd like to be more expressive of concern, I'm not.

God didn't give me the gift of intercession either. If someone tells me a need I will try to pray for their need as often as it crosses my mind. But that may just be once when I'm first asked. I pray for people but I'm not a prayer warrior by any means.

Hopefully you all agree that God gave me the ability to communicate whether through spoken or written word. If you don't agree, I'll just wake you when I'm done. One day God may open the door for me to be a published author, ordained preacher, or even a pastor but I'm not to wait until then. I am to do what I can with the holy things entrusted to me right now.

God made the universe and all in it so in that sense we all belong to God. If you've never expressed sorrow for living for yourself and for sinful pleasure and given yourself to God, you are misusing God's holy things for yourself like Belshazzar and like him you will be weighed and found wanting. If you gave your life to God but are not wholly doing all you can for Him you are mishandling God's holy things. Only things of God will last; Jesus tells us in Matthew 16:25 to find life we must lose it, or surrender it. If you want eternal life give your life to him. If you want an eternal legacy give your service to him. Many of the old Testament books like Numbers and the Chronicles are filled with family lines. For some there is a sentence or two. Those short sentences have been their legacy for thousands of year. What will your sentence be? Will it indicate that you lived a holy life committed to God or that you did your own thing?

Now back to the rock, paper, and scissors; all these things are holy. They all belong to his church and thus to God. If I used the scissors as a hammer and broke them, that would be wrong right? I know better that to do that. I know they were made for cutting paper not for use as a sledgehammer. When they broke, you would say I had misused or mishandled them. If I went and dug a big hole in the ground outside just for my amusement, that would be wrong right? You might think I was crazy to enjoy digging a big hole but you'd also say I had vandalized the grounds. If I grabbed the toilet paper and took it home that would be wrong as well? You'd say I had misappropriated or stole it. Even if I replaced it later, it would still be stealing, right? Now if we treat these things as they should be and recognize the errors in what I've said shouldn't we do the same with our lives. Is any human life worth less than a pair of scissors or a roll of paper? No and our service to God is more sacred than these things so let us act that way.

Ask yourself this question: do you really surrender all? All to Him, do you freely give? Or do you desecrate, destroy, and detract from the holy?