How to Be Holy

The word HOLY appears on the front of your Bibles. It’s called The Holy Bible. The word holy is used about 700 times in the Bible. So what does it mean?

Holy means that something is set aside, designated for a particular purpose.

My daughter Kiley had knee surgery about 5 weeks ago. When they were ready to begin, they wheeled her out of the room where we were waiting with her and into a surgical suite. We were not allowed to go with her. The only people allowed in the room were sterilized and scrubbed for surgery. That room is separated, special, designated as different from other rooms in the building. The equipment in that room is all sterilized. It can only be used for surgery. You don’t take the surgical instruments out of that room and open the mail with them. You can cut a knee open with them. You can’t use those surgical tools to open up a box from Amazon. You don’t take surgical equipment and make sandwiches or use the operating table as a space to get together for lunch.

The doctor who did the procedure said that the surgical suite costs about $80 per minute to use.

That room is different. And that’s sort of what the word holy means in the Bible - it is dedicated and it is different.

And in the Bible - God designated that time, spaces, objects, and people can become holy.

And this is a critical concept in the Bible because God has called you and I to be holy.

And this is not just an OT thing - it’s our code of conduct in our relationship with Christ.

1 Peter 1:14–16 ESV

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

When we hear about holiness, especially as students, we think of restrictions - about denial - and saying no to a lot of things. But holiness is not just about the NO, it’s about the yes.

Think back to that surgical room. Because of how clean and dedicated that room is, you can do things in that room that you can’t do anywhere else. You can perform surgery without giving a person an infection. You can do pretty miraculous things medically to repair a human body.

You can’t do that - at least you shouldn’t do that - in your garage. If you do knee surgery in your garage, if you don’t bleed to death, you’ll probably lose a leg due to infection.

So yes, there is denial and dedication in holiness, but why?

Notice why they are called to be holy in Leviticus 19. It is so that they can experience God.

And I’m about to hit you guys with some 401 stuff here. But you are not going to experience God in hyped up church events. Your life is not going to change because you reach some level of thinking Jesus is awesome. If you want to experience God, cut through the hype and answer the call to holiness.

So what does that look like?

Let’s go back to the surgical room again - they created the space. They changed it from a lot with a run down building on it and built it into a surgical center.

The Tabernacle - take a section of common everyday desert - and make it holy.

Holiness calls for us to empty something out so that God may fill it up.

Camp hype will only last so long - you need to start working on creating some holy spaces, times, things in your life so that you can experience God.

Leviticus 19 He called us to be holy, not for us to make Him common. We don’t bring Him down He calls us up.

We make the mistake of thinking that we need to make God more common, more relatable - that’s wrong thinking. God is holy - uncommon. What we need to do is prepare our lives to enter an uncommon place - uncommon presence.

That surgery room could be entered - but you had to level up on some things to get in there - you have to clean up.

Holiness as a manner of life.

My body.

If you look at the context of Leviticus 19 you will see that it mentions sex a lot. And this is important because as soon as a person loses a sense of WHO THEY ARE and WHOSE THEY ARE they will begin to change WHAT they do.

The problem with pornography isn’t just that you go looking for naked bodies, it’s that you stop searching for God.

Sexuality is not a cultural identity, it is a creation of God and once we start losing a sense of our imageness and start redefining our identity and start blurring the lines and taking something that God created to be holy and start using it as a trash heap.

Paul picks up on this in

1 Corinthians 6:15–20 ESV

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

In Christ, your body - your identity - your sexuality is a holy thing - don’t confuse it and clutter it in the culture - keep yourself set apart for God.

My mind.

a mind cluttered and filled with the shallows.

Your brain is a powerful biological mechanism that can cause your body to do some crazy things. Our brains are in overload. They are tripping fuses.

Kiley and her Streff Syndrome - convinced herself she was blind.

The Bible speaks often about thinking through and evaluating our thoughts against truth:

But you are not a slave to a broken brain, your mind can change. You can create new pathways of thinking.

Psalm 4:4–5 ESV

Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord.

bedtime is not a time to flip through tik toks but to Tabernacle with God

Psalm 119:59 ESV

When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to your testimonies;

Take some time to think about what we think about. To evaluate our thought life and correct it.

There is no way that you can watch the latest movie in the Purge series of movies and think that your mind is going to be a place where God is at work. That stuff is very hard to clean out of your mind.

Philippians 4:8–9 (ESV)

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Psalm 42:11 (ESV)

11  Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my salvation and my God.

My stuff. -

the difference in clean and unclean - helpful and unhelpful

we need a monitor on our lives like our phones monitor our calls - silenced - junk

Holiness as a matter of time.

Daily time with God.

This time like no other time of your day. Protect it - separate it out.

If we were to evaluate on our phones how much screen time we have compared to how much Scripture time we have - no contest.

HOw are you going to see God if you don’t even know who you’re looking for?

Sit before the Lord - 2 Samuel 7:18 (ESV)

2 Samuel 7:18 ESV

Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?

Notice how many times in the Psalms David has tilled or quieted his soul.

You took all the pastor’s notes - but have you sat before the Lord?

Weekly time for God with God’s people.

Leviticus 23:3 ESV

“Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.

Convocation - an assembly

Sunday ought to be something we protect and prepare for if we want to see God - it isn’t the job of the worship team or the pastor to show you God. He’s there, but if you come in cluttered, you’ll never see Him.

Holiness means that others matter to me.

My parents.

My elders.

My friends/strangers/neighbors. - this is the passage that the phrase - love your neighbor as yourself comes from (19:18)

Leviticus 19:18 ESV

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

So how does this look for our behavior on social media or our behavior in conversations about other people - we need to Tabernacle those talks in our lives - reserve those spaces for holiness.

If you will treat people Holy - you will begin to see God in those relationships both good and bad. You will begin to hear Him speak through their voices, you will sense His compassion in the broken places. You will become an agent of reconciliation as you have been reconciled in Christ.

My reputation matters to God so it ought to matter to me.

The reputation of others matters to God so it ought to matter to me.

Conclusion:

If you don’t work at holiness, clear out some dedicated spaces, times, and behaviors in life to meet with God - then it’s like looking for a surgeon in a dumpster. He’s not there.

You are going to have to Tabernacle some places and separate them out for God.

Small Group Questions:

How did this morning’s session change your view of holiness? How does the concept of holiness change the way you treat others? Your parents? What are some things you are going to do in your daily schedule to make space for God?