"Holiness – Part 2 – You be Holy"
2 Peter 1:2-4
Pastor John Bright
2 Peter 1 “2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
Pause right there. Those words I just read; they were “Breathed by God”! God wants you to hear His Word right now! So, what is your response? Do you want to transformed by that Word or do you want to be informed about the words? You must choose.
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Last week we looked at 1 Peter 1 - 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
I told you there were two parts – God and you. Last week I started with the holiness of God and talked to you about the attributes of God. This week, let’s talk about you and me.
Have you ever been to the carnival or funhouse? They have these distorted mirrors that change the way we see ourselves. Those are fun, but one distorted mirror was a disaster for NASA. As far back as the 1970s, they were working on a large telescope to put in orbit around the earth. It became known as the Hubble Space Telescope. In the guts of the telescope is a 7 foot 10 inch mirror. Within days of its launch in 1990, they realized there was a problem with how the mirror was manufactured that caused the images to be blurry. It would take four shuttle missions between 1993 and 2009 to fix the Hubble, bringing the cost of the project up to $11.3 billion. It remains the most expensive NASA project ever. The flaw in the mirror was “2200 nanometers (about 1/450 mm or 1/11000 inch)” – about 4/100 the width of a human hair.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope
All it takes is a tiny error in how we see ourselves for the devil to get a foothold. If we keep playing back the distorted events from the past – it warps the mirror in which we see ourselves. Let’s look at what you and I should really see in that mirror. First, some background -
HOLY GOD AND THE FALLEN WORLD
On the sixth day of Creation, God made human beings. We are all made in the image of God as spirit beings. That’s who you truly are – a spirit being, temporarily housed in a body, attempting to control a soul (mind/emotions/desires). If you don’t control the soul, the soul will control you. (Sides, “Exercising Spiritual Authority” – check out this series on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfPa-MORJgk&ab_channel=LiberatingMinistries) Many of the attributes of God are present within us as spirit beings made in God’s image. We can’t escape the reality of how God made us… nor can we escape the effects of Genesis 3.
In our Bible, the fall of humanity follows closely the Creator God making woman and man. The fall of humanity changes EVERYTHING! Each of us is a fallen human being from the day we are born. We all live in a fallen world. Yet some of our original creation remains:
• Still created to be in a relationship with God
• Still possess the means to be stewards/managers of God’s gifts
• Still have within each person a moral compass
With a clear view of God and self – we are faced with a paradox. (That’s not two surgeons😊) The Holiness of God is who God is, not just what God does. Holiness moves God to be absolutely intolerant of sin, and still God offers forgiveness of sin in the gift of salvation. No matter how hard you and I try to earn that forgiveness, only the blood shed on Calvary can reconcile the fallen human to a Holy God.
A good example of someone who tried to win the favor of a Holy God was John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. He tried and tried to conform his behavior to the commands of Holy Scripture. Wesley sought to live out the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:40 “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Wesley even went on an international mission trip to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Then, he found himself on Aldersgate Street in London on May 24, 1738. Wesley recorded it in his journal:
“In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
Since I am not God, I can’t earn my way to salvation and I don’t get to decide what is sin. God made me (Ps. 139:13-14) and God is reaching out to me (John 6:44). When Holy God calls fallen humanity back into relationship, our initial response and our ongoing response is repentance: John 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” That initial repentance is a part of salvation and the ongoing repentance is part of sanctification, growing into the likeness of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
THE ORIGINAL DESIGN
In his 10-week discipleship course, “Freedom in Christ”, Dr. Neil Anderson describes Adam and Eve as having acceptance, significance, and security in the Garden of Eden.
• Acceptance – an intimate relationship with God
• Significance – they had been given a purpose – to rule over creation
• Security – all their needs were me – food, shelter, relationship
After the fall, these turned into rejection, fear, guilt and shame. (pg. 24-25) Many Believers today suffer under the weight of these distortions of our original design. Rejection drives us to look for love in all the wrong places. Guilt and shame cause us to wander from one bad decision to the next. Fear of not having enough had us filling up our closets with toilet paper during the pandemic. It does not have to be that way!
God made woman and man in His image – Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” In the Church, we call that the Imago Dei (Latin – Image of God). Then came the fall and that Imago Dei was altered. I was on a zoom call this week with other pastors and one of them said the Biblical word for this is “marred.” Jesus came to reverse the fall of humanity and bring us back into relationship with our Heavenly Father. Jesus also came so that the Imago Dei could be restored in each of us.
Listen to Colossians 3:8-11 “8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.” Here Paul is describing the change in outward behavior that is part of our sanctification. It’s an inner change – not a change in our circumstances – verse 11.
We often differentiate between the flesh and the spirit. That “old man” is our desires to satisfy the flesh and be about the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21). The “new man” is a regenerated/changed or remade spirit being that is now “renewed… according to the image of the One who made it” – that’s the Imago Dei being remade in us. Then, through the process of sanctification, we become more and more like Jesus - Colossians 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”
What will that look like? The “new man” should desire the things of the Holy Spirit – Galatians 5:22-25 “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
I have been telling you that holiness equals freedom – that we won’t have a long list of things not to do.
That would be bondage, not freedom. I also can’t give you a long list of things to do or say to be holy. That would also be a form of bondage. Where does that leave us?
THE NEW MAN WITH NEW POWER
If we had to do it all on our own – pull yourself up by your own bootstraps – we would have no hope. Actually, that’s what I see the world selling folks today – NO HOPE. The world loves to call this or that an “existential threat.” That means something is a literal threat to our existence! Really?
What do we have to “sell” folks – HOPE! FREEDOM! A LIFE WITHOUT GUILT AND SHAME! PEACE IN PLACE OF FEAR AND ANXIETY! WOW!
And the absolutely best part of this path to holiness and freedom is that the power for it to happen is already within us! I usually don’t wait this long in the sermon to get to the verses I read at the beginning. Let me read them again - 2 Peter 1 “2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
Look at verse 3 – the Power of God has already given us what we need to live a godly/holy life
Look at verse 4 – we have already been promised to share in the Imago Dei
Paul described it in this way – 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 “17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
As your pastor, I have told you over and over and over – YOU HAVE THE VERY SPIRIT OF GOD IN YOU IF YOU ARE A BELIEVER. THE SAME GOD WHO CREATED THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IS RIGHT THERE - ALL THE TIME - INSIDE OF YOU!
So, what are some bad memories in the face of the Holy Spirit?
So, what are some distorted images in the mirror compared to the truth of who you are in Christ?
Maybe, the problem is we have been trying to take care of it all on our own without ever taping into the power of the Holy Spirit. There is an old story about the horse who was kept in the basement. Even though he was able to run and gallop, the horse in the basement never did. It has been updated to having a car that can run at highway speeds, but you never go more than 25 mph.
How much potential freedom and holiness could be yours if you let go and let God? I have shared with you before the image of the Fruit of the Spirit coming into your life like fruit on a vine. That fruit is not pulled out – it is actually pushed out of the vine into the ends of the branches.
WHAT IF everything we need for holiness and the full restoration of the Imago Dei in each one of us is already there by way of the promised Holy Spirit? Yes… yes, it is. And folks just like us have been finding the pattern to have these things manifested in their lives for 2000 years.
I will talk about a pattern – a pattern for holiness - next week.
This week – have hope that each of us can see the glory of holiness in every mirror that has held a distorted image in the past. Amen.
TEACHING SHEET
Holiness – Part 2 – You Be Holy"
2 Peter 1:2-4
If we keep playing back the distorted events from the past – it warps the mirror in which we see ourselves. Let’s look at what you and I should really see in that mirror.
HOLY GOD AND THE FALLEN WORLD
You are a spirit being, temporarily housed in a body, attempting to control a soul (mind/emotions/desires). If you don’t control the soul, the soul will control you. (Sides, “Exercising Spiritual Authority” –on YouTube – Liberating Ministries channel)
We all live in a fallen world. Yet some of our original creation remains:
• Still created to be in a relationship with God
• Still possess the means to be stewards/managers of God’s gifts
• Still have within each person a moral compass
God made me (Ps. 139:13-14) and God is reaching out to me (John 6:44).
THE ORIGINAL DESIGN
In his 10-week discipleship course, “Freedom in Christ”, Dr. Neil Anderson - in the beginning, Adam and Eve had:
• Acceptance – an intimate relationship with God
• Significance – they had been given a purpose – to rule over creation
• Security – all their needs were me – food, shelter, relationship
After the fall, these turned into rejection, fear, guilt and shame. (pg. 24-25) Many Believers today suffer under the weight of these distortions of our original design.
God made woman and man in His image – Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” In the Church, we call that the Imago Dei (Latin – Image of God). Colossians 3:8-11 , difference between flesh and spirit Galatians 5:19-25.
THE NEW MAN WITH NEW POWER
We can offer – HOPE! FREEDOM! A LIFE WITHOUT GUILT AND SHAME! PEACE IN PLACE OF FEAR AND ANXIETY! WOW! Look at verse 3 – the Power of God has already given us what we need to live a godly/holy life. Look at verse 4 – we have already been promised to share in the Imago Dei
2 Corinthians 3:17-18
So, what are some bad memories in the face of the Holy Spirit?
So, what are some distorted images in the mirror compared to the truth of who you are in Christ?
WHAT IF everything we need for holiness and the full restoration of the Imago Dei in each one of us is already there by way of the promised Holy Spirit? Yes… yes, it is. And folks just like us have been finding the pattern to have these things manifested in their lives for 2000 years.
I will talk about a pattern – a pattern for holiness - next week.
This week – have hope that each of us can see the glory of holiness in every mirror that has held a distorted image in the past. Amen.
