Be Holy For I Am Holy

1 Peter 1:15-16 Be Holy For I Am Holy Introduction: You know how when you hear a foreigner talk it stands out? Or when you have interactions with people from other countries, it obviously stands out in your day, it was different than your normal interactions. Or maybe if you’ve ever visited a foreign country you felt that you stood out. Example: American’s and white sock’s in England. In a very simplified form that’s exactly what holiness is. Holiness is a different life, it’s a life that stands out; it is a life patterned after God, and not patterned after the world. This is the language that peter used for these Christians, Pilgrims, exiles, sojourners. Now just like a foreigner won’t always stand out, so also, the christian doesn’t always stand out. There will be many things between us and the foreigner that are the same, but there will also be major differences, homeland, culture, family tradition, dress, diet...etc. Understand the Christian is not someone who opposes everything he finds in the world for the sake of opposing, but one who opposes only the things that are not the way of his identity, the things that are not the practices, or customs of the homeland. Again this is a very simplified understanding of holiness. Last week we saw how, because God has caused us to be born again and given us a new identity, and a living hope that cannot be diminished, defiled, or perish; we out of love and gratitude should obey him. And his command to us is: Be Holy. Peter has already given us the “Why” of holiness. We are to be holy out of reverence for our Father, we are his children, and out of gratitude for his costly self giving love for us, we obey him. This morning I want to consider the the “What” and “How” of Holiness. 1. The What of Holiness. a. Holiness (what it is not) i. It seems to me that as Christians what we are often tempted to do in pursuit of holiness is to practice the philosophy of dualism. Meaning, we view life as two realms: the physical and the spiritual. 1. The physical is ultimately to be rejected, and is a necessary evil. 2. The spiritual is to be cultured (prayer, fasting, bible study, church, tithing, etc.) 3. But what this often does is leads the church not to holiness but to weirdness. a. “It is too be feared that our unbalanced preoccupation with this one theme, taken out of context, has tended to produce and unbecoming lopsidedness of character and outlook. Christian people seeking holiness have become self-centered, small-minded, and conceited, through thinking too much about themselves and too little about God. Many have succumbed to a priggish asceticism which equates holiness with the mere abstinence from this and that (sex, alcohol, jeans, jazz, jokes, rock music, long hair, and sideburns, live theatre, political interest or whatever), or else to the cult of some special experience identified with holiness (the second blessing, the fulness of the spirit, spirit baptism or entire sanctification) which they have sometimes pursued to the neglect of common christian morality" -J.I. Packer 4. This is just an example of what the Church has done with teachings about holiness, it is a shame and a disservice to the true Gospel. ii. “Sometimes when we wrestle with biblical realities like holiness and hope we miss the forest for the trees. The forest is this: Christian living is living permeated by God. God in the morning; God in the midday; God in the evening; God as motive; God as guide; God as moral standard; God as comfort; God as strength; God as truth; God as joy.” iii. “What emerges from 1 Peter and the whole New Testament is that the Christian life is a life lived in God. Ever aware of God. Ever submitted to God. Ever trusting God. Ever guided by God. Ever hoping in God.” -John Piper iv. We must remember that when the Bible speaks of a holy life it is not talking about a boring, reclusive, lifeless life. But it is life in fellowship with God, life the way it was meant to be; life in all it’s fullness. 1. “The word holiness suggest to modern man something pale, anaemic, withdrawn, negative, and passive. That shows how little modern men know about it! Scriptural holiness is in fact the most positive, potent and often passionate quality of life that is ever seen.” - J.I. Packer b. Holiness (What it is) i. Holiness is the quality of God that sets him utterly apart from this world, especially in terms of his purity and sanctity. 1. Some have defined holiness as the complete otherness of God. ii. Holiness has the root idea in the Old Testament of being separated from what is defective and evil and separated for God. 1. So holiness is to be set apart for God’s use. a. In the OT, this is seen in the command to separate from other nations and from everything that can compromise commitment to the Lord. In the NT believers are called to distance themselves from the ways and values of the world, which can be dishonoring to God and destructive to obedience to him. b. The Main example we have of holiness in the New testament is obviously Jesus himself. i. Jesus often identified himself as being one who did the will of the Father. He fully pleased the Father, not himself, and definitely not the world. His aim was to say and do what the Father told him. Example: the temptation. ii. If we want to get a right view of holiness, one that guards against experiential and ascetic lifestyles, or just downright weirdness, we must continually look at Jesus as our example. c. Characteristics of holiness are seen in: i. The Fruit of the Spirit (Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control) ii. The Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount. iii. The command to be holy indicates that the pilgrim people of God are to live differently. They are to separate themselves from the evil desires of the world and live in a way that pleases God. Some scholars rightly point to Lev 18:2-4, where Israel is to distinguish itself from the evil of Egypt and Canaan. To be holy is to separate oneself from what is evil. The injunction to holiness embraces all of life ("in all you do"). No sphere of life is outside God's dominion. - Schreiner 2. The How of Holiness a. Positional Holiness i. There is a sense in which every believer is perfectly holy. 1. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him”. -Ephesians 1:3-4 2. “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him”. -Colossians 1:21-22 3. Every believer in Jesus Christ is holy in the positional sense. We have been made holy by the work of Jesus Christ who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. a. We are hidden in Christ and one with him, fully justified before God; we share in his holiness. b. Practical Holiness i. Because we are holy positionally, we are also to be holy practically. ii. In almost every epistle of the New Testament Christians are told that they are to pursue, or practice holiness. iii. The epistles use the language of clothing. You are to take off, the dirty old clothes of human ignorance, and now you are to be clothed, in pure white clothes of God’s wisdom, knowledge, and character. 1. Put off (or put to death). a. “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. -Colossians 3:5-10 b. Holiness, practically, is begun as we put away our old lifestyles, the things we did by nature before God saved us and gave us knowledge of his own holiness and will. 2. Put on. a. “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:12-17 i. Holiness, practically, is achieved as we put on or practice, the teachings and example of Jesus’ righteous character that we find in scripture. Conclusion: Holiness is to be wholly devoted to God in all aspects of life: husband, wife, parent, child, employee, employer, friend, neighbor, citizen etc. Am I showing the patience of God in my dealings with others? Am I showing the compassion of God to those in need? Am I doing everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ? Holiness in one sense has nothing to do with us. Meaning if we are already positionally holy what does it matter if we practice holiness? Luther once said, “God does not need my good works, but my neighbor does”. Our neighbor needs our holiness not just for his blessing but also for the revelation of God. Our holiness shows the character of God to the world. Our “Practical Holiness” is that huge missional element of our Christian life. It is not by our sameness but by our difference that we will be known. It is as we practice that otherness of God, that men will see our deeds and glorify our Father in heaven. Practical holiness is the wonderful character of God that we get to put on display each and everyday as we come into contact with people who are suffering under the weight and power of sin. This is our privilege and calling, “Be holy, for I am holy”. Questions to consider: 1. What emotion does the command to live a life of holiness stir up in you? 2. Is there an aspect of a life of holiness that is unattractive to you? Why? 3.Which relationship or identity do you have the most trouble with: Spouse, Child, Parent, Employer, Employee, Friend, Neighbor, Citizen, etc? Why? 4. How does (or how should) your identity as a child of God change your relationship with others? 5. What does it mean to you to do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ?