Swimming Upstream
Chasing After A Life Of Holiness
TODAY – is week 4 in our message series, ‘The Chase, Going After The Life We Were Created To Live.’ A message series where many of us have declared that we are done!
DONE -with pursuing.
DONE - with chasing after.
THINGS - that NEVER have and never will (no matter how hard we run) give us what we are thirsting for. True and lasting – fulfillment, satisfaction, contentment and fulfillment.
UNDERSTAND…
Chasing after, relationships, possessions, accomplishments and pleasure… thinking that they will give us what we want and always fill our cup, is like pouring water into a cup with multiple holes and trying to take a drink from it.
LIKE – God said through His prophet in Isaiah 55:1-3… why keep working for (why keep chasing after) things that do not satisfy?
Why spend your money on something that is not real food?
Why work for something that doesn’t really satisfy you?
Listen closely to me, and you will eat what is good; your soul will enjoy the rich food that satisfies. 3 “Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life. - Isaiah 55:1-3
REMEMBER - as we have said since we began The Chase…
Living the life we were created to live doesn’t actually begin with chasing after the right things. Instead, it begins when we consider our present chase worthless.
NOW – this week… we are going to talk about ‘Pursuing Holiness’ in a message I am calling…
Swimming Upstream
Hash tag - setapartforChrist
QUESTION – what thoughts immediately come into your mind when you think of someone pursuing holiness?
WHAT THOUGHTS – do you think would come into the minds the average person in the world?
I MEAN – if you told the non-believers in your life (or for that matter) if you told your Christian friends, that you were going to ‘really’ get serious about pursuing holiness…
WHAT - would they think you were getting ready to do?
THEY – would probably think that you were getting ready to kick all the fun out of your life… and become a very ‘not fun’ person to be around.
I MEAN – pursuing holiness has too often become nothing more than a bunch of ‘nots.’
NOT – drinking, smoking, dancing, playing cards, going to parties, watching certain movies, wearing jewelry, getting a tattoo, looking at porn, having sex before we are married…
BUT LISTEN – the truth is we can be very good, proficient at all of the NOTS… AND STILL – not be holy…
AND PERHAPS – God would say, ‘Yes, I am glad that you are not getting drunk and looking at porn… BUT – let me ask you, do you forgive those who hurt? ARE YOU - humble, gentle and kind… do you love your enemies? Are you patient with those who frustrate you.
UNDERSTAND - I think that when it comes to pursuing holiness in the church. One of two things has happened.
WE HAVE – either pursued it the wrong way and have become legalistic, self-righteous (you know that holiness by the things ‘I do and don’t do’ checklist)…
OR – we don’t really think about it or pursue at all.
I MEAN…
It’s like we believe… that because we are saved by grace… THAT - pursuing holiness no longer applies.
THAT – obedience to the Word and Commands of God no longer really matter.
SURE – we know that the bible says we should live our lives a certain way… but we will never be able to be perfect…
AND - besides it doesn’t really matter, because Jesus died for our sins.
MAPLE GROVE – this morning I want to talk about swimming upstream… about chasing after a life of holiness.
Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. – Hebrews 12:14
Make every effort… to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. – Hebrews 12:14
NOW – the word holy basically means… ‘separated, set a part, God-likeness, Christ-likeness…’
AND – we find it used throughout the Old and the New Testament over 600 times…
SO UNDERSTAND – this is not a trivial or minor issue.
NOW – to be honest, when I was planning this series (The Chase) several months back… asking God what I should talk about and encourage us as His people to chase after, I had no idea how HUGE this topic of holiness was going to be!
I MEAN – there is no way that I can say all I want to say this morning, BUT… Let me tell you what I hope to accomplish in our time together
#1 – to get us to think about personal holiness (and that goal is already being accomplished, right?).
I MEAN – if you were not thinking of personal holiness before you walk through those doors, you are now.
#2 - to motivate every Jesus-follower in this room (with the help of the Holy Spirit and the Word) to ‘begin’ the journey of chasing after a ‘personal-practical-progressive’ holiness…
• PERSONAL (in our own lives)
• PRACTICAL (we are actually doing something, living a certain way, it’s visible in our attitudes and behaviors)
• PROGRESSIVE (we are growing and maturing in our Christ-likeness, step by step… day by day)
YES
MAPLE GROVE
I LONG TO SEE US – become a church and a people that love Chris-likeness.
UNDERSTAND – a personal-practical-progressive holiness is one of the reasons for that God saved us…
YES – He saved us because He loves us
YES – He saved us for His glory
YET – Ephesians 4 says;
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. – Ephesians 1:4
AND – I will attempt to accomplish these 2 goals by unpacking a few statements… that I hope will answer some of the questions that many of us have in regards to personal holiness…
YEAH – I know we have already prayed… BUT – if it’s alright, I would like to pray again. AND – I am going to ask you to stand.
Prayer
AGAIN – my goal this morning is not to say all there is about pursuing holiness… I just want to get us to think about holiness, answer some questions about it and then let you and the Holy Spirit take it from there and begin working this pursuit into your life.
I. What Chasing After Holiness Is Not…
b) It is not an option for God’s people
It is not an option for God’s people…. AND - it never has been.
UNDERSTAND – God has always called His people to live distinct lives, separate lives… I MEAN – anyone who has spent even a little time in the Scripture, will see rather quickly that God has always called His people to swim upstream… to be different… set a part from the world.
In Genesis 6-9; God calls a man named Noah to build an ark to save his family from a world-wide flood – WHY? Because Noah was different than the evil world he lived in… In 2000 BC – God called Abraham to leave; his homeland and his gods and become the father of a new nation… A PEOPLE - belonging to God. AND UNDERSTAND – everything about this new nation, was to be upstream in regards to the world…(diet, dress, worship, lifestyle..)
AND CHECKOUT – what God told Moses to say the people shortly after their deliverance. before entering the promise land.
Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” - Exodus 19:3-6
UNDERSTAND ISRAEL - I delivered… Now I want you to live for me.
AND PETER – said this to us as Jesus-followers
You must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
WE… ‘must’ be holy (set apart, separate, God-like, Christ-like)
WE… ‘must’ swim upstream and be different then the world around… it’s not an option.
AND – Peter continues…
And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as “foreigners in the land.”
18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors.
That chasing after things that still leave you empty life..
And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.
– 1 Peter 1:13-19
UNDERSTAND – in the New Testament more than 30 times we are called to be holy people…
To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people – Romans 1:7
God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. – 1 Thessalonians 4:7
b) It is not the means to our salvation
YOU SEE – I think that one of the reasons we don’t pursue holiness is because we think that it in some way would undermine God’s grace.
BUT UNDERSTAND - the grace that saved a wretch like me, is the grace that transforms a wretch like me…
For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. – Hebrews 10:14
Holiness is the fruit of a life connected to Christ… (John 15)
God loves us just the way we are, but He loves us far too much to let us stay that way. He wants us to be just like Jesus.
It is not mere rule keeping
NOW UNDERSTAND – the ‘mere’ is critical in that statement…
BECAUSE – pursuing holiness is never less than obeying God’s commands. AFTER ALL – Jesus did not say, “if you love me, you will give up on rules and religion and do whatever feels right…”
INSTEAD – He said… If you love me, you will keep my commandments. - John 14:15
BUT… like we already said, it’s all to easy to turn the fight of faith into ‘holiness-by-checklist). WHERE – we take care of a few bad habits, develop a couple of good ones, and we’re set…
BUT… the problem with this approach is…
#1 – is usually doesn’t take in consideration the condition of heart (what Jesus says defiles us) and
#2 – ‘holiness by checklist’ it can be very selective…
AND BY THAT – I mean, we end up feeling successful in our pursuit of holiness because we stayed away from drugs and alcohol (we never really like the taste or how they made us feel) never committed adultery or got a tattoo… and we taught Sunday School and served at a soup kitchen…
EVEN THOUGH - we ignored ‘the weightier matters’ gentleness, humility, joy, mercy, justice …
c) It is not about ‘separating ourselves’ from the world
UNDERSTAND – pursuing holiness is not about separating and isolating ourselves from the world and hunkering down in our little Christian fortresses… IN – my opinion there has been way too much of that…
When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. 10 But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. – 1 Cor 5:9,10
d) It is not something to be afraid of
YEAH – I really think that pursuing holiness is something we are at times afraid of. I think we are afraid…
• That pursuing holiness will turn us into a legalist
• That pursuing holiness will make us seem old fashion, out of date, odd, weird… strange, uncool
• That if we really pursue holiness our lives will be not fun at all, boring, stale, stife…etc
• That we will no longer be Gospel and Grace centered…
IF - we pursue holiness…
IF - we talk about obedience…
IF - we really begin to exhort and encourage one another to truly live a godly life…
• That it is about being perfect, which we will never be so why even try in the first place.
II. Why We Should Chase After Holiness
AND LISTEN – the ‘why’ behind something we are asked to do has always been very important to us, right?
I MEAN – even when we were little kids when someone would tell us to do or not do something, the first word out of our mouth was, why?
Don’t stick your fork in the light socket – why?
Don’t ride your bike in the street – why?
Wash your hands before you eat – why?
Don’t throw your little brother down the stairs – why?
You need to go to bed – why?
You can’t date until your 16 – why?
AND – do you know what? I’m not sure we ever quite grow out of that (I MEAN – everyone likes to know ‘the why’ behind the things we are asked to do)... SO - in keeping with this innate desire to know why - let me give you some reasons why we should choose to swim upstream and chase after a life of holiness…
a) We love God
QUESTION – has someone ever asked you to do something for them… and one of the main reasons that you did it was because you love them?
I MEAN – if Laurie asked me to run to Walmart and get her something at 2 am, I would probably do it?
IF – you called me up at 2 am… No. I don’t love you that much, sorry.
QUESTION…
Tim, Steve – do you love God? Awesome, me too!
AND LISTEN – God has asked you as one of His people to be holy? IN FACT – He has asked us to be holy multiple times.
Do you love God?
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. - John 14:15
OKAY – this next one is a bonus one, it is not in your notes…
God Is God, And We Are Not
“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?
- Luke 6:46
b) It brings God glory
UNDERSTAND – when we are holy… when we live the lives we are created to live it brings glory to God.
Bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them.’” – Isaiah 43:7
HOW…
WELL – that brings us to the next ‘why’ behind holiness…
Pursuing Holiness reveals to the world what God is like and how life can be lived.
c) Because it is absolutely possible
On October 28th 2010 God gave me powerful analogy I have never forgotten…
I had just fixed my coffee, put in the sugar and the ‘girly’ creamer… and sat down to drink it and it tasted nasty.
Problem – I forgot to stir it up…
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. – 2 Peter 1:3
OKAY – one more quick bonus ‘why’
d) Holiness IS, life in all it’s fullness
It is the life we were created to live…
It’s who we really are.
III. What Chasing After Holiness Looks Like…
a) It looks like the renewal of God’s image in us
AS – we know man was created in God’s image, but sin distorted that… Holiness what Christ has done for us… and us pursuing a ‘personal-practical-progressive’ holiness is the process of the renewal of that image.
So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. – 2 Cor 3:18
God is holy, so at it’s root holiness is being like God. That is why it is so critical that Christians know the character and work of the God that they worship. IF – we want to know what holiness looks like – look at God.
BUT – just what does God like character look like lived out by God’s people.
b) It looks like a life marked by virtue not vice
Don’t let those 2 words freak you out.
As you read the New Testament, especially the letter to churches… you see a basic pattern…
EARLY - in the letter… writers like Paul tell the churches this is who you are, this is what Christ has done for you…
AND THEN – they wrap up by saying okay, in light of this – here is how you should like…
There are some things you to take off and put to death in your life and there are some things that you need to put on and clothe yourself with… NOW – there are many examples… I will just share one.
So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. 7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. 8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. 10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. 11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.
12 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony… - Col 3:5-14
REMEMBER… - we are pursuing a ‘personal-practical-progressive’ holiness.
NOT PERFECT – making progress.
A progress measured not day by day…
BUT – hey I am marked more by this way of life then I was
A year ago… 5 years ago…
c) It looks like obedience to God’s commands
We’ve talked about this already…
A life a holiness looks a lot obeying the commands of Christ doing what He says… because we love Him…
Calling Him ‘Lord, Lord’ - because we do, do what He says.
And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. 4 If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. 5 But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. – 1 John 2:3-5
IF – we love God we will OBEY His word. Just like, If I love my wife I will keep the vow I made on 1/10/1997 to be faithful to her as we both shall live. AND LISTEN – the demand for me to be faithful to Laurie is not there to hurt our relationship but to promote it, protect it and demonstrate it.
IN THE SAME WAY - the commands of the bible aren’t meant to hinder our relationship with God, but to protect it, seal it and define it.
d) It looks like Jesus
REMEMBER – the whole goal of our salvation (the end game) is that we would be conformed to the image of God’s Son.
LOOK UP – Tim, Laurie part of the reason for God’s ‘Divine Obsession’ with you is for you to become like His Son!
For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. – Romans 8:29
We see all the virtues of holiness perfectly aligned in Christ. He was always gentle, but never soft. He was bold, but never prudish. He was full of mercy, but not at the expense of justice. He was full of truth, but not at the expense of grace.
In everything he was submissive to His heavenly Father, and He gave everything for His sheep. He obeyed His parents, kept the law of God, and forgave His enemies.
He never lusted, never coveted, and never lied. In all that Jesus Christ did, during His whole life and especially as His life came to an end, He loved God with His whole being and His neighbor as Himself.
IF somewhere down the road you forget the Ten Commandments or can’t recall the fruit of the Spirit or don’t seem to remember any particular attributes of God, you can still remember what Holiness is by simply remembering His name. – Kevin DeYoung ‘The Whole In Our Holiness’
IV. How Do We Pursue Holiness
We gotta…
a) Want It!
QUESTION…
I know like me you may have not thought all that much about ‘pursuing and chasing after holiness’ it before today…
BUT – let me ask you do you want it?
Do you want to pursue a life the looks like the life that Jesus lived?
(not boring, not stiff, no out of date)
Do you want to pursue a life that brings glory to God?
Do you want to pursue a life of holiness… that is the ‘life is all its fullness’ that Jesus bought for us on a blood stained cross?
b) Believe It!
That it is possible!
That it is the life God created you to live!
Believe that by His Divine Power has given you everything you need to live a life of godliness…
We just gotta stir it up!
c) Fuel It!
FIRST and FOREMOST by connecting to God…
Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing 6 Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. 7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! 8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. – John 15:5-8
d) Pour more of God in…
Don’t keep focusing on getting the dirt out, focus more on pouring more of God in…
(I will Illustrate this by pouring water into a glass and having dirt overflow out of it)
e) Work It!
Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
– Phil 2:12,13
Yeah what need is… some
Spirit-empowered,
Gospel-Drive,
Faith-Fueled
EFFORT!
We live in a world obsessed with ‘superficial’ beauty.
BUT – what it true beauty?
What is really worth seeing?
Who has the look worth imitating?
GOD is in the beautification business…
All this pain
I wonder if I’ll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us
All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You
