Reflecting God's Holiness

1 Peter 1:13-16 Reflecting God’s Holiness

Now we are starting this year by living in the Light, meaning that we want to live like Jesus. And friend if we are going to live in the light, then we must reflect God back to this world. When you are in the light you can reflect the light. And that is what God has called us to do.

Now we have seen how we are to reflect God’s love, but friend there is another thing we must reflect and that is God’s holiness. Look at the word of God with me.

(Read Scripture)

I wonder if you want to be holy. I wonder, is there in your heart and in your life a longing for holiness?

Did you know that not only is there not a longing in our hearts for holiness—some people actually have a resistance against it, an antipathy toward holiness?

I mean, we make fun of it: “Holy Joe. Holier than thou. Holy roller”—we make fun of it. The idea of being holy is kind of foreign to us, and almost it’s a stigma that has been attached to a person who wants to be holy.

And yet, the Bible clearly and plainly tells us that we are to be holy.

Now Free Will Baptist get a little nervous. I mean, we don’t mind being saved; we’re just not all that keen on holiness. We’re interested in Heaven, not holiness. We’re interested in health, not holiness. We’re interested in happiness, not holiness. We may even be interested in helpfulness but not holiness, but friend God called us to be Holy.

Now, what does it mean to be holy? Well, the word holy means “to be separate, to be distinct, to be separated for a special cause”—that’s what the word holymeans. We’re to be separated unto God. We’re to be dead to the world, but we’re to be alive unto God.

When you get married, there’s sense in which you are holy to your wife. That is, not only do you stop going with all the other girls, but you give yourself unto her completely, totally, wholly—W-H O-L-L-Y—and, in a sense, holy. That is, you are separated completely unto her. And, we are to be separated completely totally unto God. We are to be holy.

Now, to be holy means to be separate; it means to be different, but not odd. We have too many Christians who are odd, now—religious psychos and weird people, and they call themselves holy.

No, no. It’s not primarily a matter of dress, and it’s not a place. You know, some people think a holy man is a man who goes away to a monastery.

Well, you could be holy in a monastery, but that won’t make you holy. There’s no holiness in a hole. It’s not where you are; it is what you are, as you are separated unto the Lord. And, holiness is not just for pastors and priests; holiness is for God’s people. Now there are three things that I want you to see when it comes to holiness. The first is the…

The Character of Holiness

In Worship

· Worship for the Lord, is submitting ourselves and declaring that God is God and is worthy to be worshipped. Worship is not singing. That is praise.

· Worship is hearing the Lord speak to you and you respond to the Lord.

· God demonstrated to us in the Old Testament, that worship for him should be holy. We should worship him as he has told us.

· Leviticus 10:1-2 Nadab & Abihu offered a strange fire to the Lord. And God consumed them for it.

· We do not worship the Lord how we like too, we worship as he has told us to.

· We see what God demands, are we worshipping the Lord with holiness?

In the Word

· God’s Word is Holy, we call it the Holy Bible for a reason.

· The Word of God should be respected and recognized as Holy.

· Randy throwing the Bible at the Peacock

In Jesus Christ

· Now if we want to see Holiness, then friend all we have to do is to look at Jesus Christ.

· A story about Charles Finney, American preacher, walked by some men who were fighting and they saw this man and got convicted by how they were acting. They ended up getting saved.

· Daniel in the Word of God had an encounter with the Preincarnate Christ, and he just felled to his knees because he was a sinful man.

The Command for Holiness

With our Attitudes

· Now the Lord told us to be Holy, he told us to be holy in Leviticus 11:44 and he tells us once again here in 1 Peter.

· That means our life should reflect God’s holiness.

· Read verse 13.

· Gird up your loins, modern English, roll up your sleeves. It means get serious about it.

· Does your words that come off your lips reflect God’s holiness?

· Do your thoughts reflect God’s holiness?

With our Actions

· Read verse 14.

· We are to be holy by not living like we use to live. Our behavior has changed.

· Not everybody who sees us will speak to us. But people will see the way you carry yourself.

· I often think that people just disregard this? (Illustrate this with a red cup, a empty can of beer)

· The way we carry ourselves speaks volume about the Holiness that resides in us or doesn’t reside in us

· Friends if we are going to live in the light of Jesus Christ, then we must reflect the Lord with every part of our lives.

The Course for Holiness

Now let’s be real, when we talk about reflecting God’s holiness, that is hard, because we realize that we are unholy.

I mean, I feel like Peter when he first encountered the Lord, and told him to leave him because he was a sinful man.

Well here is the good news, God can help us. But you must act upon it.

· Acknowledge we are still unholy

· Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal sin in our lives and make us holy in those areas

· Read, Study, Memorize and Apply God’s Holy Word

· Keep turning away from sin in repentance and running towards Jesus.

Closing

· Sometimes I don’t feel so holy, in fact I feel dirty. I messed up, made the wrong choice, said the wrong thing. Its like I took God’s Holiness and just threw it in the trash.

· You know what God says to that? I forgive you. I will make you holy.

· Close out with the Caldonia Prison story and the fresh pair of clothes.