Holiness for me
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I have to say that this is a topic that I know people often get the wrong idea in. The whole message of holiness and the topic in itself seems unttainable or almost hypocritical to think we can attain.
For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
But in thinking about this verse I wanted to share a few things regarding holiness this week and we are going to focus on this for a number of weeks.
Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.
Holiness means to walk in obedience to God’s word and to live a life that is holy or set a part.
God expects us to live holy lives as Christians.
We are not only expected to it is a promised birthright of every Christian.
Sin shall not be our master!
Holiness here is not living by archaic principles. That is not what I mean by holiness. For some when we think of that we think of hair buns, hats, etc. Also, holier than thou attitudes.
The word holy is mentioned 600 times in the Bible. God commands us to be holy in Lev. 11:44
For I am the Lord your God. You must consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. So do not defile yourselves with any of these small animals that scurry along the ground.
Holy is the idea connected to being a morally good person.
God is the creative force between the entire universe. He is the only being with power to make sure beauty and life. All these abilities make God utterly unique - Holy.
God’s holiness can be explained or helps to give a somewhat clearer understanding by using the sun as a metaphor. The sun is a source of light and brings life because of it. It is powerful. You could say the sun is holy. Also that which is directly around the sun is holy. The closer you get to the sun the more intense the heat gets. That heat/power that generates the light can anihalate you if you get too close to it.
The same way the closer you get to God the more intense He holiness is. In the Old testament we see evidence especially if you are impure and you come close to God you would die. If you are impure His presence is dangerous to you not because it is bad but because it is so good.
I want to share some examples throughout scripture of this. First I go again to Moses and the burning bush. I seem to be using this one a lot lately.
Moses is told to take off his shoes because he is standing on holy ground. The area around the burning bush is holy along with the burning bush iteself because God is in it. Moses covers his face in fear and because of the intensity of the heat and the presence of God. God told him not to come any closer because His power/presence is so intense.
The intensity of God’s presence is explored more in Isreal’s temple. The temple is the main place God’s holy presence was located.
There was a room in the center of the temple called the most holy place. It was known as the hot spot of God’s presence. No matter who ou are an Isrealite living nearby or the priest you are in close proximity to God’s holy presence and it is dangerous. Why? Because purity is essential to be able to be in God’s presence.
So the solution here is purity - moral purity and ritual purity.
Ritual purity means to stay away from anything related to death -dead animals, diseased skin, or bodily functions.
The book of Leviticus was given to aid in becoming pure - steps to become pure.
Ritual purity is not bad it is just not ok to come into the presence of God in this way because it is an impure state.
Steps to holiness keeps going throughout scripture.
Isaiah the prophet has a vision where he is right in God’s presence but he is terrified he knows he should not be there. He is worried about being destroyed.
A seraphim flies over and sears Isaiah’s lips with a hot coal and says
And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
The burning coal somehow made him pure. This goes against the common understanding here. Normally if you touch something that is impure it transfers its impurity to you.
But here we are introduced to a new idea the coal is a holy object that transfers its purity to Isaiah. Isaiah is not destroyed by God’s holiness but is transformed by it. Don’t you see the foreshadowing here?
Ezekiel is another prophet who has a vision where he is standing at the temple. He sees water trickling out from it, then that water turns into a stream then a river that flows through the dessert and it leaves a trail of green trees behind it and then flows into the dead sea making everything fresh and alive.
So instead of becoming pure first then going into the temple we see God’s holiness going out from the temple making things pure and bringing things to life.
This is God’s New Testament plan prophecied in the OT.
What does this mean? We don’t get it until we meet Jesus.
When we meet Jesus He comes in fulfilling all the ancient visions of the prophets in new ways.
Jesus touched people who were impure: people with skin diseases, women with chronic bleeding and dead people.
When Jesus touched them instead of their impurities transferring to Him, His purity transferred to them and healed their bodies just like the holy coal did in Isaiah’s vision. Jesus is the human embodiment of God’s own holiness and He and His followers are now God’s temple that through them God’s holy presence would go out and bring life, healing and hope.
Jesus describes His followers as those with streams of living water flowing out of them.
Revelation is another example of showing holiness in scripture. There is a vision explained here by John. His vision is of the whole earth is God’s temple. Ezekiel’s river is there flowing out of God’s presence emersing all of creation, removing all impurity, bringing everything back to life.
I shared all this with you to talk about the point of us being holy. To be holy is to be morally blameless, to be separate from sin, consecrated to God.
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.
Paul used the term to contract to a life of immorality and impurity.
as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
Peter used it to contrast living according to the evil desires we had when we lived outside of Christ.
Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.”
John contrasted one who is holy with those who do wrong and are vile.
How do I live holy?
To live holy:
to live a life that conforms to the Word of God the Bible - living your life measuring it by the standard of God’s word.
putting off the old self and on the new self
created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness
striving towards living your life according to the example of Jesus
that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
Holiness is basic to Christian life it is something that should be a part of our experience in daily living.
Our attitude towards sin is more self centered than God centered
Our attitude towards sin is more self centered than God centered
We are often more concerned with our own “impressions” our own “victory” over sin than we are about the fact that our sins grieve the heart of God.
Sin is offensive to God we need to understand that and strive to walk in His example because of this. God wants us to walk in obedience. Obedience is oriented toward God. God wants us to experience victory, victory is a byproduct of obedience.
We need to concentrate on living an obedient, holy life, and then we will experience the joy of being victorious over sin.
We have misunderstood “Living by Faith”
We have misunderstood “Living by Faith”
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
We think living by faith means no effort at holiness is required on our part. There are times we think our efforts are “of the flesh”.
We need to wake up and realize we have a personal responsibility for our own walk with God.
We do not take sin seriously
We do not take sin seriously
We have characterized sins into that which is unacceptably and what can be tolerated a bit.
We need to be willing to call sin - sin. Are we willing to do that?
There is no such thing as a big sin and a little sin. If we are pursuing a holy life than we need to stop putting sin into categories.
Are we ready to take responsibility for our sin?
Are you ready to obey God in all areas of life however insignificant the issue may be?
Consider the holiness of God
Holiness begins with God not with ourselves
Focus on or see His holiness, His purity, His moral hatred of sin with this in mind we will be gripped by the awfulness of sin against the Holy God.
Being gripped by these facts is the first step in our pursuit of holiness.
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.
Run in such a way as to get the prize.