A Holy Lifestyle

Christian Lifestyle - A Holy Lifestyle "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret." These are the words of Paul in Ephesians 5:8-12. God expects His people to be as different from people in general as light is from darkness. Our whole lifestyle is to be different. Our relationship with Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord must affect every part of our life. We will call the result, the Christian Lifestyle. The Christian lifestyle begins with a new identity. Our old identity was darkness, the absence of light. Our old behavior was the fruitless deeds of darkness, shameful. Our new identity is light in the Lord. His light reveals truth, gives life, and brings energy to live it. Jesus our Lord is the source of this spiritual light. Our new behavior is to be the fruit of light: goodness, righteousness, and truth. There is a name for this new identity. Paul wrote this letter to, quoting 1:1, "To the saints." The saints are not a select few super-Christians. Saints are simply anyone who is, again quoting Paul, "faithful in Christ Jesus," living by faith in Him. All true Christians are saints! If you are a believer in Jesus, if you are on your way to heaven by faith in Him, you are a saint. But what is a saint? A saint is a person set apart as holy. There is a word family in English using two different roots but having the same basic meaning. Words in this family include holy, holiness, sanctification, sanctify, sanctuary, and saint. The basic idea is separation, to be set apart. The verb sanctify means to set something apart as holy, dedicated to God. A sanctuary is a place that has been set apart as holy for a place to worship God. A saint is a person who is set apart from the world to serve God. Christianity was different than the religions of Greece. In Greek, holy meant dedicated to the gods of Greece. In Christianity, holy means dedicated to the One True God. The True God is different than the Greek gods. Greek gods were not holy, but the True God is holy, holy, holy. The One True God is set apart, dedicated to His good plan and purpose for His creation. He is set apart from all evil that opposes His good mission. In both religions, saints are set apart to serve their G/god, but only Christians are set apart to model God's holiness and live in moral purity. So, what is this holiness to which God calls us? Primarily, holiness is to be set apart for the worship and service of the Triune God. But to worship and serve the Holy One, our holiness then demands separation from all that displeases God, from all that hinders our service, from all evil and sin. This negative side of holiness, separation from, is a good thing, but holiness is much more than NOT doing things. Holiness is first and foremost a dedication of our lives to God in devotion to Him. To receive Jesus as Savior and Lord is to receive holiness and become a saint. Saints accept God's rules. The New Testament gives many lists of do's and don'ts. Let me read just one example, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." After reading that list, I must read on one verse to give hope: "And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." Christians have been sanctified. Jesus has made us saints. There are many things His saints are NOT to do. There are also many things we ARE to do. Who lives up to this standard, abstaining from ALL the don'ts and consistently performing ALL the do's? It is not easy to be a saint. In fact, humanly it is impossible! But Christianity is not lived by keeping rules. Listen to Ephesians 2:8-9: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." We are saved by His grace received by faith, not on the basis of our works. We fulfill the Law, not by keeping the rules, but by living in the Spirit. We fulfill the Law by allowing His love to motivate our behavior. So, how does one become a saint? We must recognize that there are two aspects to sanctification. Listen to Hebrews 10:14: "By one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy." First, in Christ, we are given a new status, having been made perfect forever. God declares us to be holy in His sight. Then begins a process of being made holy as the Holy Spirit gradually develops us into the likeness of Jesus. Both aspects depend on the one sacrifice of Jesus and are His work, not our own. The first step, being made perfect forever, is sometimes called positional sanctification. At the moment of salvation, our standing before God is instantly changed. God declares me to be holy and begins to treat me as holy in His sight. God no longer remembers our sins and lawless deeds against us. No matter how greatly I had sinned, I am now holy, a saint by grace. Remember 1 Corinthians 6:9-11? The ongoing "being made holy" is called progressive sanctification. Since I am now declared holy, God expects my behavior and attitude to be holy, saintly. But the world, the flesh, and the devil oppose me, especially my flesh, my sinful nature inherited from Adam. Christians do not always live up to our status. We must learn to live as saints. According to Romans 8:29, we are in the process of being conformed to the likeness of Jesus. The Holy Spirit, who dwells in all Christians, is transforming us step by step. We are to grow in grace. Do not let your failures discourage you from following Jesus. In coming weeks, we will learn more of how God enables us to live in holiness. Let me close with two challenges. Are you a saint? Have you trusted in Jesus, His death, and His resurrection to give you standing with God? Have you dedicated yourself to serve and worship Him? You cannot live the Christian lifestyle without first becoming a saint by God's grace through faith in Jesus. If you are a saint, are you growing more and more like Jesus? Are you bearing increasing fruit of light? To bear the fruit He expects of His saints, your faith must be in Jesus continually.