Holiness

Be Holy

I’ve been having a strange reoccurring conversation over the past months, its been a conversation of Diet and diet choices either moral or medical.

I remember in the 90’s that peoples moral choice of being vegetarian was seen as a fad and not necessarily something that should cause us “normal people” any concern. In fact at one time I was a student at a local Horticultural and Agricutual college. Like most educational facilities the food was well talked about, this was not necessarily for the right reasons.

On our course there were a number of Country side conservationists who because of moral conviction were Vegetarian. I remember one day queuing with one such pasty, veggie friends as we went for dinner, shepherds pie.

They used the same utensil, no cleansing, no cleaning, straight from meat in to quorn

The should have used a separate utensil.

They should have had something put aside....apart from the main utensils

They should have left

The bible says something similar to this about us

1 Peter 1:3–21 (ESV)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

We are called to be Holy - what does this mean?

Holy means set apart - different -

We are called to be different from the World we are in, we should distance our selves from the things of this world both in our public lives and in our private lives.

God was clear about this from the beginning, His people are set aside to be His people

Deu 7:6 ““For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.”

Lev 20:23-26 “And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. But I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples. You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.”

You see the world today will dismiss the word of the Bible if it doesn’t fit in with what we believe or what we want

a bit like the child that plays parents off against each other to get the answer we want.

How many times have we watched something on TV and even though we know it isnt benificial or Godly weve carried on.

As a young christian I have heard Christian buisness men advicing on the Joys of Cash in hand work (We dont need to tell the Tax man about everything)

I have seen christians who have found ways to work around systems

On Face book I often see conversations that are looking for ways around copyright rules in THERE church services,

I remember churches that operated without copyright permissions, until it was imposible to get away with it.

These are things I see people doing without any conviction of wrong doing.

But God told us to be different, Jesus told us to be different John 15:19 “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

Now I think sometimes the church has got this wrong, it has decided that our call in this world is to force Gods rules on the world around us. That we are supposed to tell everyone that they are leading a Godless life.

Jesus didn't tell us to go into all the world and judge them.

He didn't say go into all the world and beat them around the head

He said Go in to all the world and MAKE disciples

Did anyone notice what Jesus’ interview process was for those that followed Him?

He said COME, and they came

It was there choice to follow, and it was up to them wether they listened to what he was saying,

BUT it was HIS LIFE and the way HE LIVED and WHAT HE said that attracted them

WHY? BECAUSE HE SET HIMSELF APART.

Living a Holy life takes total commitment

When I first became a Christian I heard this question many times

“If you were arrested for being a christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”

Do you remember in the 80’s we had those government safety videos about kites and pilons, or frisbees and sub stations

Well i understand a little bit about electricity, and the risk is the earth, its the world.

You see we can have these high voltage lines and birds can land on them with complete safety, why? because they are touching nothing else, they are whole reliant on it.

I could do the same, I could sit on that wire without any harm, but as soon as my hand touched the pilon or through the end of the rope down i would be in danger, My body would become a route for the electricity to travel

This is how it is with God, if we allow ourselves to submit to HIM totally we are safe, it’s when we try to hold on to something forbidden, something of the world that we are in the danger zone.

There is a record in Lev 10 1-2 “Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorised fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.”

Your translation may say “strange fire” this is not a verse I can remember hearing a lot of sermons about, maybe its because its difficult to say what it was that Nadab and Abihu had done wrong, what were there motives fo this incence burning?

Maybe it was pride, ambition, eagerness, jealousy, its clear what it wasn't,

it hasn't holiness to the Lord

These Guys had seen the miracles God had done in bringing the nation out of Egypt

They had experienced the voice of God the fire lightning and the earthquake at mount Sini

They had sat with God and the 70 elders Moses and Aron and eaten and drank with God Exo 24:9-11 “Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.”

Here is the warning to each of us, our past experiences of God, can not keep us right with God. This is why we see so many fall from Grace, they mistake the past favour of God as being the same as there current relationship with God.

I know that I often make jokes about chelle, and she sometimes about me, but if I don’t put effort into our relationship, it can become tarnished,

Believe me if I am relying on something nice I did 16 years ago to carry our relationship now.........

Nadab & Abihu had forgotten the otherness of God, the Holiness of God and approached Him without reverence and fear

Now were not talking about an fear that holds us down, but a fear that know Who God is

You see when Jesus made a way for us to enter Gods presance, the curtain to the Holies of Holies was torn and we can now enter HIS presance without fear of the wrath of God

But surly that doesnt mean we should treat Him as if He is anything other than God, the creator of all things?

This communion table is about God making a way to Himself for us, and it is a free gift. But I guess this morning the question is what importance do we give to this gift

You see I have gifts, that have been given to me, that cost very little (in cash) but mean very much because of the thought, the effort, the meaning

This morning I want to be very clear about this.

God wants us to be different

He wants us to be set apart

He wants you to look different, sound different, be different

We are not supposed to reflect the world, we are supposed to be different to the world

We are suposed to reflect God

There is a song in the sound of music about a plant

Practical Illustrations: 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude (12-146: Staying Pure in an Impure World (Holy-Holiness))

Edelweiss is a compound word which in the German means “noble and white.” It is a small herb, whose pure white blossom must be sought after, since it nestles in the highest snowy crags of the Alps. It is so absolutely white that it blends perfectly with its environment, losing its identifying characteristics completely in its surroundings.Even when picked and pressed in paper for preservation, it remains free from discoloration for many years.

If we would be like the edelweiss, we must keep ourselves pure and noble, striving to attain the heights with God. Then, as He keeps us pure in heart and motive, He will enable us to accept with humility the loss of our own status in the scope of His larger landscape.

To remain pure and holy, you must be like the edelweiss, surrounding yourself with the things of God. Only then can He make you exactly what He desires you to be.

To concentrate on being different to the World is impossible, to spend time trying to get closer to God, live like Jesus is the Goal

We become like the things, people we soround ourselves with

Lenard Ravenhill

“The greatest miracle that God can do today is to take an unholy man out of an unholy world and make him holy, then put him back into that unholy world and keep him holy in it.”