OPEN: A new preacher had just come to town and was visiting one of the Nursing Homes in the area. Thinking to introduce himself to one of the church members who lived there he leaned over her and gently asked “Do you know who I am?” She smiled sweetly and replied: “No, but if you go the front desk, they should be able to tell you.”
Do you know who you are? Peter says, IF you know who you are you WILL be holy. “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.’” I Peter 1:15-16
We are called to be a holy people - set apart from the world around us. When people see us they should automatically think to themselves – that’s a child of God! Because, if we do it right, we look like Him, and we’ll look like Him because we’ll try to be holy like He is holy.
Now, what does that mean? What does it mean to be holy? Well, a lot of people think you can tell which people are holy because of the rules they follow. HOLY people are the ones who are always praying; they’re the ones who are always reading their Bibles; they’re the ones who don’t cuss, and swear and get mad all the time; they don’t get drunk or do drugs; they’re the ones who won’t go into bars, and strip clubs, and R-rated films. And you could go on, and on, and on about what holy people should do and not do.
Now is that true? Should holy people pray and read their Bible? Of course they should. Should holy people not cuss, or get drunk or go to R-rated films. Of course they shouldn’t. That’s what Holy People should be like!! In fact, Peter tells Christians (all of whom came out of a pagan lifestyle) “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.” 1 Peter 1:14
In other words: stay away from the bad stuff. And apparently you all know what the bad stuff is because Peter doesn’t dwell on the bad stuff right here. He doesn’t go over a list of dos and don’ts that mark someone as holy.
ILLUS: There’s a group of churches called the “Holiness Movement” that thinks you do need a list of dos and don’ts. They’ve been around for about 2 centuries and they believe, by their definition, if you’re going to be holy, you’re not allowed to play cards, attend movies, wear shorts or jeans, to to public swimming pools, go dancing. And holy people – who go to church – should dress in only certain ways: women have to wear dresses/skirts, and men have to wear suits.
But Peter doesn’t see the need to do that kind of a list here. He doesn’t make a list of what you should and shouldn’t do. And he doesn’t need to…we all know what things would bring us shame and guilt. That’s the bad stuff of the past.
ILLUS: Now, by contrast Bill Maher (who’s is a supposed “comedian” and not a fan of Christianity) once said that "We wouldn't even know what sin was if it wasn't for the bible." Now… Maher meant it as an insult. He was basically saying that “sin” was something the Bible made up. It’s NOT a real thing. If it weren’t for the Bible, people could live their lives as they wanted without “religious” interference.
But, Peter’s telling his readers: YOU KNOW what sin is. You used to wallow in it when you were pagans, and you know better than to go back to that lifestyle. You may have been “ignorant” back then… but not now. Don’t go there, don’t do that! Now that you’re called to be Holy, don’t go back to the passions of the past.
(PAUSE) But what I found interesting (here in 1st Peter) was that, not only does Peter not dwell on “Bad Stuff,” he tells us that our rejection of the evil bad stuff makes it so that we could do the holy GOOD STUFF.
What’s that GOOD STUFF??? “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth (in other words - you’ve purified yourself from bad stuff) for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.” 1 Peter 1:22
You see, the reason you got rid of all the bad stuff was so you could do the good stuff. And that good stuff is this: Dedicate yourself to a sincere brotherly love, and love one another earnestly from a pure heart.
That’s What Holy People Do!
Now, any religious person can make a list and follow the rules. The Pharisees did that. In fact, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said “I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20
When it came to avoiding the bad stuff of paganism, the Pharisees had it down pat. They knew what bad things they ought not to do; they knew what bad words they ought not to say; they knew all the bad places they ought not to go. They knew how to avoid the BAD STUFF.
The problem was – they didn’t know how to do the GOOD STUFF.
Jesus told them: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.” Matthew 23:23
The problem for the Pharisees was that they weren’t really good at loving others. They kinda went by the motto: “No one’s saved but thee and me… and I’m not sure of thee.”
They would never have understood this holiness concept of “Sincere brotherly love” Or “loving one another earnestly from a pure heart.”
And there’s a lot of religious people like that. They know the bad stuff they should avoid but don’t understand the need for the good stuff of loving others.
ILLUS: But REAL Christianity has always been different than that. I recently read of a congregation in Texas that ordinarily spent $100,000 on advertising their Easter services each year (it’s a BIG church). That included radio & TV commercials, billboards and mailers. But this year (2019) they decided to do something different. Instead of spending that money on advertising… they donated it to an organization that purchases medical debt for pennies on the dollar and forgives individuals and families of their debt. By partnering with that organization, this huge church was able to bless more than 4,000 families within a 20-mile radius of their five campuses by paying off their medical debt totaling more than $10.5 million.
Then they wrote letters to each of those families saying, “We are Covenant Church and we are local in this area. If we can serve you in any way we would love to be your church. But even if we don't get to meet you, just know that God loves you.” (https://www.christianpost.com/news/texas-megachurch-pays-off-over-10-million-medical-debt-4229-families-easter.html)
Now I may have problems with a church spending any kind of money like that on advertising… but I admire them for waking up and realizing the importance of God’s money to do God’s kind of stuff.
ILLUS: And that’s nothing new. At the end of the second century there was a Christian leader in Africa named Tertullian. And Tertullian wrote that while pagan temples spent their donations "on feasts and drinking bouts," Christians spent theirs "to support and bury poor people, to supply the wants of boys and girls destitute of means and parents, and of old persons confined to the house.”
Even the pagans knew what the Christians were doing. The pagan Emperor Julian complained, “The impious Galileans (Christians were “impious because they refused to worship the gods of the Romans) support not only their poor, but ours as well.”
ILLUS: Now we’re not a mega-church, and we’re not a 2nd century congregation (we face a different set of challenges) but we do try to honor that kind of thinking in what we do here. This church understands the need to love others, and I’m so proud to be part of this congregation because of that. For example, a certain percentage of our offering goes to benevolence (helping poor). One of our ladies collects clothes and other donations for people who’ve gone thru fires in the community. Another ministry has donated 171 coats for those who needed them this past winter. And just last Thursday, we had our monthly Free lunch that feeds over 100 people in our area. In addition, I suspect a number of you have been helping the poor in your own… I just don’t know who you are and what you do. I just know that it happens.
I’m proud to be part of this congregation because YOU understand this is what we should do.
Now, not everybody who calls themselves a Christian understands this holiness Peter describes. If you remember, Peter wrote: “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.” 1 Peter 1:22
There are people who call themselves Christians who really don’t want to do that.
I mean: They might help the poor. They’ll give a few dollars to a needy person because it makes them feel good about themselves and they think it gets them brownie points with God… but they aren’t not much for church. They go to church when they feel like it but church really isn’t all that important to them. They believe they can be just as good a Christian off by themselves.
ILLUS: I saw a video this past week I thought explained it this way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLyMg5rpF6Q
Did you catch what that video said: There’s over 50 “one another” verses in the Bible. Over 50 places where God commands us to love one another.
Peter wrote: “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8
Paul wrote: “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” Romans 12:10
James wrote: “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well.” James 2:8
John wrote: “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:18
And Jesus said: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. BY THIS ALL PEOPLE WILL KNOW that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35
BY THIS shall all people know who you are. This is what holiness is all about. Holiness is when we love others the same way Jesus loved us. “For God so loved the world…”
CLOSE: I want to close with a couple of observations from famous preacher named Francis Chan. He was once the preacher of a mega-church. People sought his sermons on the internet and he’s a sought after speaker and author of a couple of books. But he shocked many people when he just walked away from the mega-church he served. He loved the congregation, it was just that he had this really bad feeling that he wasn’t doing CHURCH the way he should. He began to realize that we often “DO CHURCH” just to DO CHURCH.
ILLUS: For example he wrote that “years ago, my friend from India drove me to a speaking engagement in Dallas. When he heard the music and saw the lights, he said ‘You Americans are funny. You won't show up unless there's a good speaker or band. In India, people get excited just to pray.’
He proceeded to tell me how believers back home love Communion and how they flock to simple prayer gathers. I imagined God looking down on the earth and seeing people on one side of the planet gathering expectantly whenever prayer was happening. Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, people up only for the most talented people and the ‘atmosphere.’ It's embarrassing.”
ILLUS: As a popular speaker at motivational gatherings for preacher, he said “There is a simple exercise I walk through with church leaders. First, I have them list all the things that people expect from their church. They usually list obvious things like a really good service, strong age-specific ministries, a certain style/volume/length of singing, a well-communicated sermon, conveniences such as parking, a clean church building, coffee, childcare, etc.
Then I have them list the commands God gave the Church in Scripture. Usually them mention commands like “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12), “visit orphans and widows in their affliction” (James 1:27), “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19), “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2), etc.
I then ask them what would upset their people more – if the church didn’t provide the things from the first list or if the church didn’t obey the commands in the second list.”
Now, here’s the deal. We’ve been in our new sanctuary for about 5 years now, and I warned you about a danger we could experience. The danger would be falling in love with the new building. Now, do you like the new sanctuary? Of course you do. It’s attractive, comfortable, well lit. It helps sets the tone for worship. Because of all that, it would be easy to fall in love with this.
Now, when we were meeting in the other area… nobody was in love with it. It was just one long hall with classrooms on both sides. We didn’t love it, we didn’t brag about it, but we worshipped there. Most folks came to church because they loved God and loved the church. But when you fall in love with the building… that can change.
In the last sermon I gave in the old part of the building I asked people if they knew what the communion table was made of. Almost everyone knew it was made out hollow doors that someone had put together for us (hey, it was cheap and it worked). I pointed out that I could sit on this table and no one ever complained. You know why they never complained? Because it’s just a table made out of hollow doors. It’s just a table we put communion on. BUT… there are churches that have such elegant tables that they’d run you out of town on a rail if you ever sat on that sacred piece of furniture.
Now, I’m not suggesting we should misuse church furniture… but when we fall in love with the building or the furniture that lies within – we run the risk of jeopardizing our holiness. Because true holiness doesn’t focus on the building. It focuses on loving God and loving each other. THAT is the most important thing we do.
INVITATION
