Called to be Holy
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Intro-
I asked Shaun to lead us in songs that focus our minds on Holiness, since we, as Christians are called to be just that. Holy.
Take Time to Be Holy— It does take time.
There are people who scoff at the word Holy/ call Christians Holier than thou… I think that because we understand no one is perfect, we sometimes use that as an excuse to not strive for Holiness as we are commanded to do.
We are called to be Holy ()
Holiness- Means to be pure, set apart for a divine purpose
Holiness is a common theme of 1 Peter.
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen
Peter begins his address to these Christians in various cities by referring to them as those who reside as aliens (strangers).
The Christians were scattered in amongst Gentiles who were living immoral lives. Peter continual call to them, was to look at how the ones around them were living, and to live differently.
15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
5 For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands,
Holiness is something that we are to be not something that we are to do.
Too often we can get it in our head that as long as I am checking the right boxes, I can be holy… Holiness is not just about doing the right things, it is about being the right things.
The infamous Ted Bundy who was a serial killer, frequently volunteered for a suicide hotline and helped countless individuals continue living. That was a great thing! It did not make him a great person.
So just doing good, isn’t what makes someone holy… Let’s listen to Jesus in
11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”
Jesus was dealing with the Pharisees who didn’t like the fact that the disciples would eat without the ceremonial washing of hands. In their mind, doing so would defile you, but making sure you washed your hands would keep you clean. Jesus makes it clear that it wasn’t that that would defile you but what comes out. The disciples were confused by what He said, so he explained
17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”
Jesus focuses on the heart/inner man. Who he is. That is what defiles a person.
Out of the heart comes evil thoughts
adultery
sexual immorality
theft
false witness
slander
I think it is important that we understand that we can be law abiding citizens, who have been washed in baptism, born again to a new life… and still be defiled and unholy if we allow these things to exist in out heart.
The challenge for the Christian is not just to do the good things, it is to actually be good.
It is not enough to not say the bad things that come to our mind… those bad thoughts defile us… Holiness is deeper than simple behavior modification.
Holiness affects our entire life.
There is nothing in the life of the Christian that should escape examination.
15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
3 general areas worthy of our examination:
We need to be Holy in what we consume.
We could spend some time talking about physical things that we consume (Drugs/Alcohol, being gluttonous with food).The Bible teaches clearly on these things. However, I want us to focus for a minute on the things that we consume that affect our heart/ our inner man/ who we are.
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
We cannot say that we are loving God with all of our mind if the things we are taking into our mind are unholy.
Books, movies, TV shows (Vid angel), entertainment, conversations with those that always lead to gossip..
We need to be Holy in how we present ourselves
9 likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire,
When we use this text we usually key in on the word modesty.
The best definition of the word Modesty is- “Free from conceit and vanity”
It’s the idea of not wanting to draw attention to onesself by the things that we wear, because… We want the attention to be on God.
In this passage Paul was dealing with a side of modesty that we rarely address… dressing too nice, too fancy....
There is another way of drawing attention to yourself in what you wear… by wearing clothes that are too revealing. ..
Deal with this every single year at camp… It’s tough because we don’t have a strict dress code laid out for us in the Bible. What we do have are principles of modesty to follow.
“Free from conceit, or vanity”--- Every Christian, young and old, male and female should ask themselves, “Why am I wearing what I’m wearing?” If it’s because “I look good”, or trying to attract attention, it’s immodest.
As Christians, we don’t dress modestly in order to follow some arbitrary man made laws… We examine our clothing and ask… is this too flashy? Is this too revealing? Does this attract a lot of attention? We do this because, we want to be holy, we want to be pure of heart. We cannot be pure of heart and constantly striving to garner attention to us… We want attention on our king.
We need to be Holy in how we treat others.
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
Going back to 1 Peter we see Peter charging these Christians who have purified themselves, to love each other with a pure heart.
We have to be people of love. Pure love. Holy love. Passionately/fervently.
We need to understand that we cannot love people from a pure heart, if we are not a Holy people.
If I allow the evil thoughts, the conceit, immorality, greediness, etc.. to hang around in my life, I’ll never be able to fully love someone else.
The purpose of purifying all areas of your life is not so you can check the right boxes and say, “i’ve done that” It is your way of preparing yourself to be able to truly love each other.