We describe the free gift that Jesus provides through his death, burial and resurrection, to those who choose to do life with him, salvation. This is the overall umbrella of a Jesus follower. It’s our ultimate protection against the rain of evil and sin that falls on us. If we place the umbrella down and decide not to use it, we open ourselves up to exposure to the things of this world. This gift only comes through Jesus. There is no other way to God but through him. We don’t deserve the gift because of our sinful nature. We can’t earn the gift because there is no way we can be perfect, pure or holy enough to deserve it. This is why we call it a free gift.
So I would like to take a look at a present. This is a box that’s been wrapped up real nice. Well, as nice as I can wrap a box. Let’s just say for the sake of this illustration that this gift or present represents the gift that Jesus gives us. If I give this gift to you what are you going to do with it? Is there something you need to do before you can use the gift? Obviously you must unwrap it before you can use it. Does that make the gift any less free to you?
“Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:37-38
“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Ephesians 2:8
I see all these verses really saying the same thing. Before you can put to use the free gift you’ve been given, you must receive it and open it. Last week when we worshipped at the lake Valerie was baptized. That was when she opened this gift. For her and for all of us who have chosen to receive this gift we own the responsibility to use it. God has shared His glory with us and he expects us to share His glory with the world.
We use God’s gift by understanding the Word He gave us. What we’ve been discussing through Ezekiel is how God wants us to use our salvation. Today we finish up the third life premise that God demands of us. The first is worship. The second is purity. And the third that we will talk about today is holiness. But first I want to show how all of this works together in the life of a Jesus follower. I’m a visual learner and a visual teacher so let me point your attention to the illustration on the screen.
God demands worship. Jesus said, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” Matthew 22:37
A life with God begins with a genuine love for Him. This is where worship starts. The Bible defines what worship is.
Romans 12:1 says, “And so, dear brothers and sisters,I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.”
The word worship really means to serve. When say, “worship service,” we are channeling the Little Ceasars guy because what we’re actually saying is “service service.” We use our salvation by serving others. In Matthew 25:31-40 Jesus is discussing the final judgement and those who would enter heaven. He said it would be those who served others in His name. This is worship.
Then we talked about purity. Jesus said, “God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.” Matthew 5:8
When precious metal like gold is purified it is heated to burn away the impurities. This process is called cupellation. A blacksmith or welder heats hard metals like steel or iron to mold it into a tool or shape that has a particular function. This is what God does when he purifies us. Jesus said, “What sorrow awaits the world, because it tempts people to sin. Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting. So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand or one foot than to be thrown into eternal fire with both of your hands and feet. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell” Matthew 18:7-9 This is the idea behind purity. Cutting off or getting rid of things in our life that cause us or help us to sin.
We use the gift of salvation when we confess and/or repent of sinful behavior. “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” James 5:16 Prayer is the vehicle for purity. We are going to discuss more about prayer in the following weeks as we read through the lives of Daniel, Jonah and Jesus.
And this brings us to the third way we use God’s gift. Holiness.
What does it mean to be holy? 1 Peter 1:16 says, “For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” This isn’t a suggestion. God doesn’t say, “if you feel like it and you’re up to it, it might be a good idea if you are holy, but, you know, if it’s too much to ask, don’t worry about it.” God isn’t asking you for a favor. He says, “Be holy as I am holy.” It’s a command; and an emphatic one, too. Peter is quoting from the law, here are a few references from the law that he pulled from:
Leviticus 11:44-45 – “For I am the Lord your God. You must consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. So do not defile yourselves with any of these small animals that scurry along the ground. For I, the Lord, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. Therefore, you must be holy because I am holy.”
Leviticus 19:2 - “Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.”
Leviticus 20:7-8 – “So set yourselves apart to be holy, for I am the Lord your God. Keep all my decrees by putting them into practice, for I am the Lord who makes you holy.”
One churchy word that you may have heard, especially if you have grown up in church, is the word sanctification, or sanctify. This word has the same definition as the word holy. It means to be set apart or separated for something really special. When we use the word holy to describe God we understand that God is separate from anything sinful or evil. Psalm 92:15 says, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.” Or the same concept is taught in 1 John 1:5, “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” God is completely and totally separated from sin. This makes God holy.
It doesn’t take much reading through the Bible before you get the message that God is serious about holiness. If you have been reading with me through the Old Testament this year, you’ve read through Moses standing on holy ground (Exodus 3:5). When the Israelites were wandering around in the desert they encountered holy worship (Exodus 12:16); a holy day of the week (Exodus 16:23); they were considered a holy nation or people (Exodus 19:6); they carried around with them the most holy place on earth (Exodus 26:33-34) and there is much more mentioned about holy stuff in Exodus. In Leviticus the law discusses Israel's sacrificial offerings and the law often refers to the word ‘holy’. The word ‘holy’ appears in Deuteronomy, Joshua, 1 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, and in the major and minor prophets many times. It also appears in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Hebrews, 1 and 2 Peter, 1 John, Jude, and Revelation.
Just from the many appearances the word ‘holy’ makes in the Bible it’s obvious that this is an important word that reflects a vital concept. We must understand what it means to be holy. The word ‘holy’ is applied to a variety of things, objects, people and to God Himself but the word has one basic meaning.
Think about a Christmas tree. In our family we have a special tradition. We like to go to a Christmas tree farm and spend some time looking for our special tree. I bring a measuring tape so we can find the right tree with the right dimensions. Everyone in our family has an opinion on what they like in a Christmas tree, so, we try real hard to find one that everyone likes; but mom is the final decision. After much scouting, arguing, picking and choosing, when we finally settle on that tree that will become our Christmas tree we surround it, hold hands and sing, “O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, how lovely are your branches. O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...dah, dah, dah, dah”....we always forget the words. And then we cut it down, take it home and decorate it together.
Using churchy words we can say that this tree was sanctified by our family as a Christmas tree. Before we chose the tree, it was just a pine tree among hundreds of others. But after we picked it, we sanctified it as our Christmas tree. We set it apart from all the other pine trees we saw and created a special purpose for it. This is the idea behind holiness. 1 Peter 1:2 says, “God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.”
When I read through all the Scriptures on holiness I have discovered that God almost always includes obedience in the same thought. Absolute holiness as Ezekiel refers to it in the Scripture we started with means being set apart for some specific purpose. In the New Testament (Hebrews 10) we are taught that after the resurrection of Jesus Christ a new testament was initiated by God. In the Old Testament the temple of God was a building on a hill in the city of Jerusalem; now the church of Jesus is the temple of God. “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives inyou?” 1 Corinthians 3:16
We are now that holy place of God. Every person who is a follower of Jesus Christ is made holy by the nature of God. So my question is this. If the word holy means to be set apart, then what am I set apart for? Of all the billions of people on the planet what is my special function? The overall answer is I’m set apart for obedience to God. Jesus prayed, “And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth. I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message.” John 17:19-20
Jesus was set apart from all the people who have ever lived on earth for one purpose. And then he prayed that his people would be set apart or made holy by truth. Our purpose is to share this message. We use God’s gift by obeying truth for the purpose of sharing it with others. 1 Peter 3:15-16 says, “you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way.Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ.” A Jesus follower belongs to God. We have been set apart for a purpose.
I want you to take notice of the three concepts we’ve been discussing. How we use the salvation of Jesus, the free gift he has given us. We worship because we love Him and we do so by serving others. We are pure through confession and repentance and we remain so through prayer. And we are holy through obedience to truth because our special purpose is to share the gift with others. When we live a life of worship, purity and holiness we bring glory to God. We point our life to him and we make God the center of everything we do. Everyone around us knows who Jesus is because everything about our life is about him. When our church becomes united around these concepts the message of Jesus will explode in our community just like it does in every community where God reveals His glory. We are His church. When God’s people show up to do God stuff God’s way God shows up in power.
You might be thinking that this is just too much for you. Who can live up to this standard? But that’s the point. You can’t. I can’t. Only Jesus lived a perfect life, but, we are told in the Bible that God gives us everything we need. We have the same power in us that raised Jesus from the dead. Think about that. Jesus was dead. He wasn’t breathing, he didn’t draw a breath for three whole days his echo would’ve flatlined. Defibrillation would’ve been in vain. Jesus was dead. And a power brought him back to life. That power is indescribable because there is nothing in science or on earth we can point to that makes sense of it; and this power lives in you. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
“The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature,you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are childrenof God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.” Romans 8:11-17
So, I’m not just talking about growing the Weymouth Church of Christ, or about making you a better Christian. This is about God. This is about God’s power. This is about God’s work. I want to see the power of God displayed in my life and in this community. I want to use the gift of my salvation that God gave me so that his glory is revealed around me. When I seek worship, purity and holiness then serving others in Jesus name, praying in Jesus name and sharing the truth of Jesus name comes as natural to me as eating and sleeping. The world is hurting and lost. I hope that you are encouraged by the Word of God today to seek Jesus first, to be like Jesus to this hurting and dying world so that they will have an opportunity to use His gift just like you do.
http://www.sermoncentral.com/articleb.asp?article=sermon-church-video-contend
