Is our Christianity a hobby we do whenever we have time for it? Or do we take our faith seriously? Is your Christianity something you do? Or is it who you are? We are called to holiness. Do we strive for holiness in our everyday lives?
1 Peter 1:15–16 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”
Do we strive to be holy or do we excuse our behavior?
A church member criticized her pastor because he was preaching against sin in the lives of Christians. “After all,” she said, “sin in the life of a believer is different from sin in the lives of unsaved people.” “Yes,” replied the pastor, “it is worse.” [1]
We know as Christians we need to live a life of holiness, a life without sin. I was reading through 1 John chapters 2 and 3, John goes to great lengths stressing we need to live a sinless life. And I was faced with the question, “Is it my aim to live life without sin? Or is my aim to not sin very much?
As Christians, we ought to be motivated to holy living because of our love for God, in our deep sincere desire to please Him. But the world tugs at us and we find ourselves trying to please the world and trying to please God at the same time. We cannot have both ways.
James 4:4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Especially in this world, a holy life will stand out. It will truly be counterculture. We are called to be different.
Hebrews 12:14-17
1 Thessalonians 4:1–8
The problem for most of American Christians is not persecution, though we are experiencing more that, but keeping pure and living holy lives in the midst of so much unholiness and un godliness all around us. What did Jesus say?
Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
So when we look into our hearts to see if we are pure, more times than not, we will justify ourselves with “At least I’m better than so and so,” or “at least I’m not like THOSE people." But where should we be looking?
Philippians 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
Anyone here obtained the complete attitude and mind of Jesus yet? But here we are. Jesus prays for those us who are His, and being His, we are not of this world yet we are in this world:
John 17:14b–16 … they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
The writer of Hebrews had in Chapter 12 explained how God chastens, disciplines, or otherwise corrects His children, and how we should make our paths straight in verse 13. He goes on and says:
Hebrews 12:14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.
As we strengthen our walk, we need to seek to live peaceable lives. Paul says that we are to pray for those in authority so we may live peaceable lives.
Romans 12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.
Peace is a mark of a Christian – inner peace and lives that make for peace. To live a holy life, we seek out peace where we live, we do not go out looking for a fight. Jesus said:
Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
And we are to "Pursue … and the sanctification.” Notice that little word “and,” we are to pursue peace AND sanctification. It is not either/or – it’s an “and.”
Sanctification means to make holy. That is not easily done in an unholy world. Understand there are three levels of holiness.
1. Positional holiness – We are made holy when we were saved. Jesus becomes our holiness to the Father.
2. Practical holiness – day by day, we often call this sanctification – the process God uses to make us holy. We are to strive to live holy every day.
3. Perfect holiness – which we all obtain in heaven when we are free from all sin.
Practical/day by day holiness is what is being refer to here. Without this pursuit of this holiness, how can we expect to see God’s power at work in our lives? How can we “see” God?
Hebrews 12:15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;
The writer of Hebrews now comes to a troubling portion, similar to others in this letter when we deals with the subject of apostasy.
It is difficult because apostasy means a falling away from the faith. We believe that if one is truly saved, that they can never fall away. If that is true (and I believe that with all my heart), then the question arises about whether someone is truly saved. The fact of the matter is there are those who call themselves Christians who are not. They go through all the motions but as some point they grow weary because they have no divine power to sustain them and fall away. Bitterness follows, and they drag many away with them.
Fighting in a church is evidence of this bitterness. What did Jesus say? They will know you are my disciple by how? The way you love one another. (John 13:35)
Others, though saved, may become weary, and the worries and pleasures of the world carries them away. They will not lose their salvation, but they will lose their eternal rewards.
Hebrews 12:16–17 that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.
“Immoral” – Greek: pornos where we get our word “pornography.” Those who fall away will become sexually immoral and will put away all the things of God. They become very bitter. The story of Esau can be found in Gen 25 and 27. He gave up his birthright, his inheritance, the rewards in the future by what gave him instant gratification, now.
In this computerized world we live in, we want things now and faster. Are we living for now, or for our eternal rewards? But will one fall away if suffering is encountered? Someone who is not saved will often go the easy route. They will not necessarily renounce Christ outright, but will compromise and justify their actions in their minds: “God want me to be happy doesn’t he?" But when things do not work out, they are remorseful, but they lack godly sorrow, like Esau. Paul addresses these same things.
1 Thessalonians 4:1–2 Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more. 2 For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
Our motivation for living right is our love for God, not our love for the world.
1 John 2:15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
How can we best please God? We should not regard right living before God as a set of rules, of do’s and don’ts to be followed, but genuine desire to please Him because we love Him. “For you know what commandments we gave you.” Paul was not going to say anything new. He had said all these things before. What I am preaching today is nothing new to most of you, but we need to revisit it, because we are not yet fully living what we know.
1 Thessalonians 4:3a For this is the will of God, your sanctification;
For those who want to know God’s will in their lives, pay attention, here it is: "your sanctification." Sanctification – a church word for making holy. God’s will is to make us holy. Remember? Practical/day by day holiness?
Why do people seek after God’s will for the major pivotal point in their lives, yet do not seek his will in daily living? [from Facebook: I need Jesus for a lot more than going to heaven, I need Jesus just to go to Walmart!] Why would God reveal his will when the little things are ignored. And if God were to speak, would such a person who ignored His will in the daily living be able to hear Him?
Paul is about to point out three things that are make for our sanctification – each part begins with “that.” First one:
1 Thessalonians 4:3b that you abstain from sexual immorality;
Wow, here goes the Bible again, talking about sex. With everything the Bible has to say about sexual immorality, there must be something to it. The Greek and Roman world was a pagan world. Sexual looseness was not only practiced, it was encouraged. New believers had a hard time separating themselves from it. It is not any different today. You see, holy living is counter-cultural.
Let’s define sexual immorality biblically. Simply put: all sex outside the marriage of one man to one woman is sexual immorality. This includes, polygamy, same sex marriage. It includes living together or sex outside of marriage even if you really love each other.
All those things that our TVs and big screen movies want you think is normal and socially acceptable is still immorality in the eyes of God. You cannot be holy if you are sexually immoral. Holiness and sexual immorality are mutually exclusive, And none of it can ever be justified, ever.
Second point to God’s will in our sanctification process:
1 Thessalonians 4:4–5 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God;
We are talking self-control (fruit of Spirit: Galatians 5:22-23) It can be taught and learned. We are not victims of our desires and lust (our excuse: God made me this way!) We often suffer from our own lack of self-control. Self-control is a requisite to holiness. Yielding to our lust is a mark of being a heathen, “like the Gentiles who do not know God”
We cannot gut it out alone. To try and do so make us not better than the pagans. But God gives us the will and strength:
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
God will insure we are not tempted beyond we can handle, but we must do our part and use the way of escape God has provided.
Third point to God’s will in our sanctification process:
1 Thessalonians 4:6 and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you.
We are to live rightly before our brothers. In this matter could refer to the subject of sexual immorality, in which adultery was considered defrauding a woman’s husband. Possession of salvation does not grant a believer a right to sin without consequences. For that matter, sin in a believer’s life is far more grave than the same sin in an unbeliever’s life. A true believer, who willfully sins, invites God’s chastisement/discipline on his/her life. Often the consequences of sin for believer is far worse than for an unbeliever.
1 Thessalonians 4:7 For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.
The world will lead us into sin. But who are we following?
Holiness is defined by God. Certainly not by you, and not by me. Certainly not by the world. We are clearly called to be holy.
1 Thessalonians 4:8 So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.
Immoral living, living like the rest of the world, living to the world’s standards and not to God’s standards is in fact a rejection of God. If you are living in sin, you are rejecting God. Strong words. I didn’t say it, God’s word says it. “who gives His Holy Spirit to you.” If we are truly saved, we do indeed have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, empowering us to holy living. Yet when we willfully sin, we are grieving God’s Holy Spirit within us.
Ephesians 4:30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Do not grieve the Spirit. A truly saved person living in sin will not be happy because the Holy Spirit will also grieve that person. If you are living in sin, especially sexual sin in which the Scripture go to great lengths in pointing out, and you are not bothered by it, then I would carefully examine your life to see if you are indeed saved and if you indeed do possess the Holy Spirit within you.
Living holy in an unholy world, boils down to this: Who do we want to please more? The world and we crave the world’s favorable opinion of us? Or do we desire to please God and for God to smile down on us?
What is your motivation for holy living? Does your love for God in light of what He has done for you motivate you to holy living? Or you do you love the world. The Bible says you cannot have it both ways.
[1] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 176.
