The Standard for Holiness Lecture

Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. 15 Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; 16 for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

We’re going to talk about “The Standard for Holiness”.

The word “standard” when used as a noun is defined as “Something established by authority, custom, or general consent as a model or example.

Synonyms for the word standard include...

bar - as in set the bar high

barometer - as in assess the temperature in the room to see how your audience is receiving your message

benchmark - as in the process with which something is done and has achieved success

mark - as in pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling which is in Christ Jesus

measure - as in a tool used to assess whether you’ve reached your goal

yardstick - as in a tool used to measure

What all these words have in common is, they all signify a standard or something to work toward. Some are literal while others are figurative.

We know Peter wrote this letter, first because it bears his name and second because he introduces himself as the writer in the first verse.

In our text, when we look at the word obedient, it often comes with a negative connotation, one that seems to say I’m giving up something. My rights, my freedoms, my choice to do what I want, when I want, with whomever I want and taking on the requirement to do what someone else wants me to do. That’s the way it may seem.

In this world of anything goes, how do we achieve holiness? Well we have to first look at the Standard. Who sets the bar for what holiness looks like? Well I can tell you this, if you’re looking to your right, your left me, your pastor or first lady for the standard for holiness, you’re looking in the wrong place. Man or woman should never be the standard on which you base your quest for holiness. Mankind will get it right sometimes, but what about those times when they miss the mark? What then? Will you fall with them? Will you turn away from God? Will you give up, thinking to yourself, if they can’t do it, who can?

The standard for holiness is the Son of God, the Son of Man, the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. Jesus said you shall be holy for I am holy. The standard for holiness is Jesus the Christ. So how do we get there?

It’s an uphill climb that starts wherever you are in your life and we all have to start in the same place, sinners in need of salvation and so we start at the bottom of the staircase with, step 1 repentance and confession.

John the Baptist preached a message of repentance, coming as one crying in the wilderness, preaching repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. When you repent you turn away from sin. That may mean you have to turn away from

some activities

some habits

some things you like to do

some people you like to hang with

To repent you will have to leave some things behind.

Along with repentance is confession. says to confess with your mouth, not your mind, not silently. Confession means you must open your mouth and say something. If you do something that hurts or offends me, it’s not enough to think, “I’m sorry”, unless you open your mouth and speak, I will never know that you have any remorse about what you’ve done to me. If you never confess your sins to Christ there will be something missing in the process and you may have to begin again. In we’re told, “...confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed”. That last part is so important—we confess to one another not so it can be the topic of discussion at the hair shop, in the mall or on the phone, but we confess so that we can pray for one another and so we can be healed.

In we see these words, “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

So confession should initiate prayer, it results in healing, we will receive forgiveness and we will be cleansed from all unrighteousness.

As a result of taking step 1 of repentance and confession you then go to step 2, you receive salvation. As a part of salvation you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that he was born of a virgin, that he died for your sins, that he was buried and rose again, then ascended back to heaven where he now sits at the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf. In Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

There’s one way into heaven and Jesus is it. He’s the way, the truth, the door, the redeemer, the Savior of the whole world, not just a race or denomination or gender. Jesus said I come that they, whosoever will, might have life and life more abundantly. Do I have anybody looking for an abundant life?

Step 3 to holiness is something many find hard to do, in fact it’s easier for some people to repent and confess their sin than it is for them to take this next step, but to achieve holiness, you can’t skip this step…step 3 is forgiveness.

You must be able to receive the forgiveness of God after you have repented, confessed and received salvation. In we see that God will have compassion on us and cast our sins into the depths of the sea, then in we find that, “As far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us.”

If God can forgive us for all of our wrong, then we have to forgive also. We cannot walk around talking about how much we love God, how we’re blessed and highly favored, shoutin’ all over the church, singing in the choir, and ushering at the door while harboring unforgiveness in our heart. How can you say you love God whom you’ve never seen, yet hate your brother or sister whom you see every day?

To achieve holiness you have to be ever ready to forgive a wrong done to you, be it perceived or real…because when you don’t, when you can’t, when you carry that hurt, that anger, that unforgiveness for that person, about that situation, you’re only hurting yourself. They may not even know you’re mad. They’ve gone on with their life, prospering, loving the Lord and loving life and you’re over here trying to figure out why they’re being blessed and you’re not. Forgive and move on. You’re probably not going to forget, but you don’t have to continue to feed those emotions that are driving you away from forgiveness. Stop replaying that thing in your mind. Set your mind on things above, not things beneath and finally my brother, my sister, “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things”

Let that go so you can get on with the business and blessings God has for you. So you can start being the person God called you to be, and doing the things God called you to do.

Once you get forgiveness in your climb move on to step 4 , Love. We discover in , “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” This is one of those things we must do, it’s a requirement, it’s a command like go ye therefore and make disciples.

Not only is it a command, it’s how we are identified, says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” And we don’t get to pick and choose who we show love to. Christ died once and for all, that through him salvation might come to all.

And then we step up to the fifth step, faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Now why would this be? Because if you don’t possess the faith to believe that God exists, how and why would you even try to obey Him?

Faith must stand, when all else fails. When we get to the end of ourselves we must have the faith to believe that God is just, that He loves us and we must understand that He is sovereign. He knows what’s best for everyone, in every situation.

Faith recognizes that, and walks out whatever path is laid before it, even if you don’t understand it, even if you can’t see it, even if you don’t like it; faith is believing that God has a plan for your life. He told us in “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”

So if God can see into the next minute, next hour, next day, next month, next year, next life, shouldn’t we be able to muster the faith to allow Him to do what He does best, which is work things out on our behalf allowing us to live a blessed life, to experience our best life?

Now step on up to the next step, step 6 is Mercy, without mercy we’d be lost like a ship without a sail and destined for hell. Mercy gave us what God wanted us to have instead of what we deserved. Mercy said not this time, Jesus has already paid the price for our sins and we are no longer in the hand of the enemy, Jesus has snatched us from his vicious grip of death, despair and destruction and given us a life of promise.

The promise of life everlasting

The promise of guidance while we’re still here

The promise of an abundant life

The promise that we will never be alone—because he will never leave us nor forsake us

The promise that when we love him, all things will work together for our good and whatever we do will prosper

The knowledge that the promises of God are yea and amen and when he gives us blessings, he adds no sorry with them.

God’s love leads the way, but mercy’s got our back. The psalmist proclaimed, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life...”

And the last step goes hand in hand with mercy, the final step to holiness, step 7, grace. Grace let Jesus love us through our sin. Grace abounds toward us because of Christ’s love for us.

Grace is the unmerited, undeserved, unsolicited, unearned favor of God. We did nothing, nor can we do anything to receive God’s favor, he gives it freely because we are his children and he loves us in spite of us. Despite all of our wicked ways God still loves us and I’m so glad about it.

When you take these seven steps, you’re well on your way to a life of holiness and each one builds on the next. It is so important you understand what it means to be holy, that we are called to be holy and that takes some work, it takes practice. You won’t always get it right the first time, but praise the Lord, we serve the God of another chance. As long as there’s breath in your body, there’s always another chance to get it right, whatever it is.

You don’t know what you don’t know, so when you know better, repent, confess, receive forgiveness and move on to the next step. With the exception of salvation, you may have to make multiple trips up the stairs. Just when you think you’ve got that thing under control, another area of your life in need of repentance comes up. Satan the accuser, is constantly looking for and finding fault in us, but here’s the thing, we never claimed to be perfect, our assignment was not to be perfect, it was to be holy…so stop beating yourself up when you fall short; all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start again. We are imperfect beings on a perfect mission and God knows we can’t do it without him—Do you?