Striving For Holiness

Introduction

Discipline is for our good and for the glory of God. Hebrews 12 has brought us to this understanding largely because of the fruit of righteousness that discipline produces in us. We reflect His glory and that in the end is good for us.

God desires us to share in His holiness.

If holiness where solid gold and God had an infinite supply and He wanted us to share in it most all of us would be passionately willing with great eagerness to have it in our lives.

But we are on earth and gold may be valuable on earth but in heaven they use it to pave streets. Because in heaven that which is of infinite value is God Himself and the character that He possess.

The world doesn’t see things from this priority. We act in consistency with our fallen nature early on in our lives.

In the Revlett household I never had to teach my children how to fight with each other over toys. The priority of the self is built in and it comes natural to us as human beings ever since the Fall of Genesis 3.

And children grow up to be Adults and they get better at putting up projections of what they want others to see. They become very sophisticated at hiding sin and hope that no one discovers what really is going on in our minds and hearts.

If only there was a mask we could wear to keep sin germs out. Wouldn’t that be wonderful. But it would’t work because sin is already embedded into our natures.

Can’t we eventually get a surgery for it? No because it is woven into our nature ever since the Fall it is part of who we are.

It takes God to work a miracle of rebirth and then to progressively sanctify it out of our attitude and our actions.

It is verses 12-13 where the Book of Hebrews instructs in our needed attitude adjustment. Look back at your text to verses 12-13*

I. The Adjustment of Attitude (12-13).

Notice first the physical illustrations that Hebrews is using in verse 12.

Drooping hands, weak knees are not referring to bad posture going on in the early church. No, this is a reference to the emotional attitude of these early Christians.

They were predominately Jewish in their background but they had come to faith in Christ and were fleeing persecution due to their belief in Jesus Christ as Messiah.

These are not pleasant times for them. Their lives had been disrupted far beyond what we may call the normal reality of life.

If you read Hebrews 11 you will see that Hebrews reminds them that the same was true of the Old Testament Saints. They lived in the world without ever receiving the things that were promised to them by God.

But the point that Hebrews makes is that God has a greater fulfillment in mind than just something belonging to the current state and system of this fallen world.

Covenant fulfillment will only be fully realized and experienced in eternity. And that is where the Christian is to set their hope.

The problem is that Christians are often attempting to satisfy their longings for eternity by grasping on to something in the world that is a cheap substitute. And the appetite that drives us to the cheap substitute is corrupt and God is in the business of sanctifying it out of us.

So these early Christian were downhearted because of all they had lost and the hostility they had endured by those in their own communities.

But the writer of Hebrews reminds them that God is using the circumstances to work His sanctifying grace in their lives and through it all He is producing holiness in them.

This is the basis for why Hebrews says in an exhorting way for them to lift their drooping hands and strengthen their weak knees.

The attempt is for them to see their circumstances through the eyes of God in light of His desire to discipline us in holiness. This is a good thing with lasting benefit that all believers should be thankful for.

In verse 13 the illustration continues using physical aspects like making strait paths for your feet and making the lame healed. This is not literally speaking about people who are physically lame but it is illustrating a change in the attitude of how one lives their life before God.

The Christian is not to use just any standard, but the Christian is to use God’s standard in how we think about our lives and how we live out our lives expecting that God will be working holiness in us by His sanctifying grace.

All the while keeping our eye on the prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus and the eternal fulfillment of God’s promises, while looking forward to the day when He dries our eyes by His own hand.

When God Himself will dwell among His people and He will be our God and we will be His people and the distractions and brokenness of this world will be no more.

The distractions of the brokenness of this world are many. When disruption comes to our lives we often think it is so difficult and unfair and unjust and sometimes the disruption can be downright painful. It should remind us that we were not made for this but something else. Suffering in the world is undeniable.

We all know that our Lord knew something about suffering. And often when Christ is brought up we think well He was God in Flesh and was sinless. He doesn’t count. Yes He does count as He was fully human in His experience of suffering. Remember the context of Hebrews 12.

But for the sake of argument let us refer to the Apostle Paul. A man that certainly battled with his own sin and failed on several occasions. Made reference to himself as the chief of sinners. And the hallmark of his ministry was suffering. Acts 9:16 tells us that the Lord Himself assigned suffering for the Apostle Paul.

I would assume that most of us know that Paul knew a thing or two about suffering in the world. But Paul kept hardship in the perspective of eternity as he says in 2 Corinthians 4:15-18:

15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. 16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Christian that is the attitude adjustment that I know that I often need in this world as I live out my Christianity in an increasing reliance on God in what he is doing in my life. This is the perception that we should all have. But the attitude is not the only thing that needs to be adjusted. Our actions need to be adjusted as well. Look at verse 14.

II. The Adjustment of Action (14).

Verse 14 specifically puts the action first in a relational context. Hebrews goes on through verse 17 and Lord willing we will see that two weeks from today but the relational context is what we see first. And in the relational context there are two realms. There is the human realm and there is the God realm.

Hebrews refers to the human realm first in verse 14. We are to strive for peace with everyone (14a).

Strive here means to move rapidly in the direction towards something, to follow in haste (BAGD). It is an imperative command and it is not therefore something considered to be optional for the believer.

We are to pursue peace with everyone on God’s terms. Christian the gospel is not just the basis of our reconciliation with God, but it is also the basis of our reconciliation with one another.

But Pastor we got white Christians on one side of the fence and black Christians on the other side of the fence, how does the gospel fix that? Christian the gospel destroyed the fence 2000 years ago. And it is making one people in Christ from all the Nations of the world.

It does the same thing between Jew and Gentile. The gospel is the only thing that can transform the sin nature in man and address the core of his problem in the world.

Pastor Apologist Jeff Durbin says that , “Attempting to reform society without Jesus Christ is like rearranging furniture in a burning house.”

The problem in the Church is not our lack of belief in the gospel to regenerate a lost sinner it is the lack of desire to strive to reflect the gospel in our obedience to God. It may be because we don’t see the true value of reflecting God’s holiness in the world. But this is not something the believer should consider optional because it is not just about our human relationships it is about our relationship with the Lord.

We are also to strive for Holiness without which no one will see the Lord (14b).

Remember holiness is what God is working in us by sanctification but it is also the position that the true believer is in by faith alone in Christ due to God’s sovereign grace. Some have perverted it to say that the pursuit of holiness is not necessary because our position in Christ secures us.

Certainly our position in Christ secures us but the Holy Spirit in us is then convicting us and challenging our hearts to obedience if we are truly believers. Holiness here is referring to our being set apart and dedicated to the objectives of God and as a Christian we strive to live it out as our objective as well.

God has set us apart for His purposes. We are to strive to live for Him and to live out His purposes for us in the world. That is what a disciple of Christ does.

Remember the sermon a few weeks back on antinomianism. The antinomian gospel is a false gospel because it denies the implications of repentance and sanctification.

We strive for holiness out of obedience to God as we live as justified believers. The gospel is producing change in us by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit who is progressively sanctifying us.

The gospel produces by the Holy Spirit a holiness dynamic in our lives. By grace through faith it saves us from God’s wrath by applying the righteousness of Christ to us and thereby positionally justifying us before God and reconciling us to Him.

Then from that position we are launched into the process of sanctification whereby God begins to progressively work disciplined change in us reflective of His holiness.

And it is a change that we have been empowered and commanded to strive for as Christians who desire to glorify Christ in the world.

It is a peculiar thing that the pursuit of holiness is seen as optional in Christianity in America and ministers make little to no mention of it in pulpits in our Nation. People in churches are turned off by it in Christian circles.

It is peculiar because Holiness is the biblical expression of the very character of God. So much so that the Scripture declares Him to be Holy, Holy, Holy. This declaration magnifies His absolute distinction in His essence from creation and the infinite perfection of His character and nature and being.

Could it be that American Christianity is far more comfortable with who we have made God out to be versus who He really is revealed to be in the Scriptures.

And in doing so have we robbed Him of His majesty and misrepresented Him to the world. And then we set and wonder why the world is rejecting Christianity and why the gospel seems so powerless to change people.

A.W. Tozer warned us many years ago of this danger in his work “Knowledge of the Holy” back in 1961 (READ IT)

Tozer is arguing that redefining God to being less than He is will in the end leave us with a god that will not be considered to be worthy of worship nor worth obedience. As fallen men we will soon become bored with such a being because our hearts will not be captivated with His majesty.

Conclusion

Christian the enemy will see to it that worldly competitors in the place of God’s glory will be put in our path. There will be ulterior objectives that will seem wonderful and good but in the end they will serve to minimize God and the pursuit of holiness in your life.

In my life I have seen these attacks usually in the form of something good that in the end gets perverted in my desires of the flesh that turns me from passion for the glory of God and the pursuit of holiness.

And it can manifest in my mind and heart on the inside as well as in my actions on the outside. But the Holy Spirit is so helpful, He shines the light of the word of God on it. He even applies the needed discipline to help me to pay attention.

The shame and guilt keeps me from desiring to be exposed in my sin. But the truth can’t be denied the conviction is too great. The discipline breaks us but then comes the gospel of the love of God pouring over us. The love of God humbles us because we are confronted again with the relentless love of God displayed in the gospel.

He shines the light of the gospel of God’s grace into our lives and takes away our shame and guilt and reminds us of the sufficiency of that grace to keep us in union with Him through Christ.

Such love expressed tugs at the passion of our hearts to cultivate in us a desire to live for Him. The gospel calls us on to pursue holiness out of love for God with a desire to glorify Him in our lives.

Christian if you know what I am talking about the gospel is sweet music to your ears. Confess and receive His grace.

Unbeliever in the Phantom of the Opera musical the Phantom wore a mask to hide his scared face because he didn’t want the woman he loved to see his ugly disfigured face.

It it not uncommon for us to mask ourselves in an attempt to hide the ugliness of our sin before God. But God already knows what you look like behind your mask. He knows everything about you and your sin.

Come to Him. His gospel is big enough to deal with your sin. Believe the gospel.

Lets pray!