Whatever Happened To Holiness? Series

Holiness and the very concept of holiness is something that is lost in today’s culture and in the church itself. The very concept of God and His holiness has dismissed. According to Dr Steve DeNeff, author of the book “The way of Holiness: Experiencing God’s Work in You,” he says:

“So, as a rule, the less we think of God, the better we think of ourselves. If God is the jolly good fellow we think he is, we have less to feel sorry for and nothing to fear. So the doctrines of holiness and sin either rise or fall together. What we do to the one, we have done—whether knowingly or unknowingly—to the other.” [1]

As such, we, as a people and culture, lower our view of God, if indeed we believe in Him at all. God then becomes “The Great Santa Clause in the sky.” To that concept of God, Denuff says:

“This is the god of good feelings and high ideals. He is politically correct. The new god loves the homosexual but hates the moralist. He’ll tolerate abortion but never child abuse. He is honored to have us take his sacraments in the sanctuary but hardly notices moments later when we take his name in vain in the parking lot.

Our modern deity is kinder, gentler, and more tolerant than the heavenly tyrant of the last century. He is the perfect countryman. He espouses every view and no view all at once. He is all grace so no grace is necessary. He is love without discrimination, mercy without law, power without intimidation, knowledge without conviction, truth without an attitude. He might even be a she.” [2]

Many are quick to point out that God is love (1 John 4:8). But we need to realize that God is a “holy love,” and holiness is what defines God. His Holiness is the one attribute of God that all His others attributes flow. The Bible clearly tells that God is “holy, holy, holy” (Isaiah 6:3, Revelation 4:8), and not “love, love, love.” Holiness is what makes Him God, and because He is holy, He is also just and His holiness demands that He judge all that is unholy.

Today’s passage deals with being holy as the people of God. Bear in mind that Peter is writing this to the church, fellow believer and those who possess eternal life in Jesus.

1 Peter 1:13–19

I know that it isn’t fair mentioning this so close to lunch time, so I ask your forgiveness in advance. Did you know that the Food and Drug Administration has a publication that gives acceptable levels of ingestion of food contaminates? The first paragraph of their “Food Defect Action Levels” booklet says, “Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 110.110 allows the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to establish maximum levels of natural or unavoidable defects in foods for human use that present no health hazard.” These “Food Defect Action Levels” listed in this booklet are set on this premise—that they pose no inherent hazard to health.” [3]

Not too bad, right? I’m not done yet.

Did you know that, according to this publication, it is healthy for your Fig Newtons to have up to thirteen insect heads per 100 grams (3 ½ ounces) of fig paste? Did you also know that up to four rodent hairs and 150 insect fragments in a 1 pound jar of peanut butter, or If you are having spaghetti or pizza, or anything involving tomato paste, an 8 ounce can of Tomato Paste can have over 30 fly eggs and 2 maggots and still be safe for human consumption.

How pure is the food we eat? Now in keeping with our theme of holiness, how pure is our heart supposed to be? The Psalmist wrote:

Psalm 24:3–4 Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood And has not sworn deceitfully.

So how pure, how holy do we need to be? Can we be holy and still be have some contaminations from the world? The Christian’s heart is no different from a jar of peanut butter with rodent hairs and insect fragments. Our hearts must be cleaned to properly guide the believer. That’s why King David cried out (after he was called down by Nathan the prophet concerning his sin with Bathsheba):

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Now here’s the problem. Does anyone here live a life with totally pure motives? Or are we all sinners? And have we all missed the glory of God? (Romans 3:23) Yet Peter quotes from Leviticus:

1 Peter 1:16 because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”