Be Holy Because He is Holy!
You have all seen the television commercial for the Armed Forces "Be all that you can be." Everybody wants to be all that they can be. We all hunger for that, we don’t all reach our potential, but we do all desire to be all that we believe we are capable of being. No matter how degraded, downcast or frustrated, everyone longs for fulfillment. And yet, as we watch what happened last Tuesday September 11th, in New York and D.C. we shake our heads at the seeming impossibility of mankind ever being all that it could be. We listen all week, almost every week of stories describing endless shame, hurt, pain, murder, terrorism, divorce, abuse, cruelty and personal failure.
We ask ourselves is there really any hope? Is there really any real possibility of reversing this mayhem in people’s lives? Can the downward slide we are in ever be arrested and turned around?
The Good News Gospel answers these questions with a Loud and Resounding "YES!"
In fact this is exactly what the apostle Paul is saying to the Colossians, listen to Paul’s words in Ch. 1: 21-23.
Col 1:21 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,
Col 1:22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach--( Listen or look very closely at the next word, because it contains a pivotal word "if" and an action word "faith"- faith which demands our obedience)
Col 1:23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.
At its most basic level, “holy” refers to the condition of being set apart, separated from others, and different. It is a word whose highest meaning is found in referring to God, and to objects and people that God has set apart for His own use and service.
The term “saint” sounds different, but it comes from the same root as “holy.” In biblical terms, a saint is a person whom God has set apart for Himself. Saints are not just honored people of the past. They include real-life, down-to-earth, common people who have been set apart as the Lord’s own special possession, and as receivers of His special favor. All who know Christ as Savior are called saints because God has called them His people, His spiritual children—distinct from nonbelievers.
Holiness is what God wants and expects from us. Holiness is a reflection of God’s character, and He wants His children to look like Him.
When we look to God, we get a right view of holiness. And a right view of holiness leads to a right view of sin. The cost for us to be Holy was the precious blood of Christ.
How THEN Can We Be HOLY?
1. Like Isaiah we have had to have had this personal encounter with Jesus Christ the Savior- for a reversal in our attitudes our pneuma our spirit little "s" to occur. Paul tells the Ephesians and the Colossians and all of us pretty much the same thing-"There was a time when you were alienated from God and we were enemies of God in our own minds and because we were separate from God we committed evil acts." There was a time that we were under God’s wrath because we had no use for God, we did not consider Him important, we thought only of ourselves and our personal desires, never did we think of God and what He wanted from us. We went about our plans, building up things in our lives living for ourselves. We did what we felt like doing, never figured God into the process and if we did think of God, it was only that He was out there on the horizon. Maybe He was in the sunrise or sunset, but we never expected anything from Him--even though it was He who sustained our very lives--we remained hostile in our minds toward God. Be very clear about this it was our alienation from God in our innermost parts that caused our hostility toward Him-and it is that that leads to evil behavior.
2. But, when we understand up front and personal, that the death of Jesus was for us-something happens. When we begin to understand that God wanted to do something about our estrangement, our brokeness and our hurt and that He and only He can deliver us from our evil behavior and through Jesus present us holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation. We move toward HOLINESS only when we recognize that our whole life has been changed, we are not who we used to be.
3. We can tell many stories of people like Isaiah who understand this and move into holiness, yet sadly there are many who understand it, but refuse to move toward holiness and remain alienated from God.
4. There is a story of a man who was planning to divorce his wife, somehow they found themselves in counseling with a minister, he read the material, he watched the videos, but it was only a guilty conscience that caused him to go home. He writes: I truly did not believe after moving home that I could ever be happy again with my wife. After, I had been home for 6 months my wife encouraged me to attend a bible study(like HBF) and go to church, in the process I received Jesus Christ as my Lord. I realized the demonstration of His great love for me on the cross and when I surrendered, I was free. No more drugs, no more alcohol and I had been drinking 1 quart a day for years. My love relationship with Jesus continues to grow, but as the world views it my life has fallen apart. I have lost my business and all that we owned in the last three years. But the world does not know what my family and I know our riches are no longer in things, our riches are in God. Christ is our Rock. My only desire is to be conformed into His image to do His will. I have found in my wife everything I had ever hoped to have in a wife.
5. That my friends is what it means to be Holy!
6. God’s goal is our holiness and it comes to us the passage says from continuing in our faith, firmly established and steadfast, not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, proclaimed in all creation under heaven.
7. It troubles me and I hope it troubles you when we see someone start out the Christian life, filled with joy, but then they begin to set it aside and go back to how they use to live. They would rather experience the pleasures of sin for a season, instead of growing in God’s grace to be Holy like He is Holy.
8. If our faith fizzles before we are finished, it will be worse for us then if we had never of come. Oh sure sometimes our faith grows dim, but it is at these moments that we need to be in the church, with other believers, sharing with one another God’s faithfulness.
9. You see brothers and sisters we need each other in this pursuit of holiness-so we can show each other what it looks like in the difficult times.
10. When we truly pursue holiness, then the battle begins. We find ourselves in combat, we miss satisfying the lusts of the flesh and we face once again the Devil’s deceptions and the lie of this world. We either choose holiness and win or the lie and lose. When we come to Christ we agree to fight this battle.
11. If we call ourselves Christians and then cave into the lie, the world watches us cave in and the name of Christ is blasphemed and whatever seeds of the Gospel had been planted in the lives of unbelievers are whisked away and swept up. Satan loves it when the church does his dirty work..
12. Holiness is Christ "living in us"- It is love, it is righteousness, it is righteous acts, it is right choices and a life with a clear conscience.
13. When we live lives that have encountered Jesus Christ, once in a very big way as we received Him and then daily as we love Him through obedience, we live a life of truth. We live a life that is full of the power of the Holy Spirit and we follow the Spirit’s leading in our lives. As we do this God’s grace is increased to us and others around us see it and want to tap into the same freedom. In so doing we are becoming more holy, more separate from the world until the things of this world grow strangely dim and we realize we are on a pilgrimage here to become holy. Why? Because this earth is not our home, paradise is. We must be holy to stand before Him.
14. Psa 15:1 (A Psalm of David.) O LORD, who may abide in Thy tent? Who may dwell on Thy holy hill?
15. Psa 15:2 He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, And speaks truth in his heart. Psa 15:3 and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman,
16. Psa 15:4 who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD, who keeps his oath even when it hurts,
17. Psa 15:5 who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.
Other Scriptures
Col 3:12 And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;
Col 3:13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
Col 3:14 And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
1 Pet 1:14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance,
1 Pet 1:15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;
1 Pet 1:16 because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY."
1 Pet 1:17 And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each man’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth;
1 Pet 1:18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,
1 Pet 1:19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
One day a young minister was being escorted through a coal mine. At the entrance of one of the dim passageways, he spied a beautiful white flower growing out of the black earth. "How can it blossom in such purity and radiance in this dirty mine?" the preacher asked. "Throw some coal dust on it and see for yourself," his guide replied. When he did, he was surprised that the fine, sooty particles slid right off the snowy petals, leaving the plant just as lovely and unstained as before. Its surface was so smooth that the grit and grime could not adhere to it.
Our hearts should have the same characteristic. Just as that flower could not control its habitat, so we cannot help it that we have to live in a world filled with evil. But God’s grace can keep us so clean and unspotted that though we live surrounded by evil, it will not cling to us.
If we want the Lord’s full blessing and approval, we must heed the admonition, "...keep thyself pure" (1 Tim 5:22). By the cleansing power of His Word and the sanctifying influence of His Holy Spirit, it is possible for the Christian to remain "clean in a dirty place.
That is what the text tonight is saying we must be presented as holy, without blemish, and free from accusation,, just as Jesus was. We are being conformed to the image of the Son. He is bringing many sons to glory. We must have what He has in order to be what He is. Christ in us is the Hope of Glory.
The world knows nothing of this mystery, as thousands died in the terrorist attack on the World trade Center and the Pentagon on Tuesday, some were holy some were not. The world watched and I am sure many asked-"If God is so Good, If God is so loving-Why would He allow this to happen, Why would He allow so many innocent people to die and evil men to win? Why would God allow children to be made orphans? If God is sovereign Why did He lose control?
Well, God is sovereign and He did not lose control. He has turned this world over to the Devil, the prince of darkness who will rule it for just a little while, before God destroys it. God’s desire is for men everywhere to be Holy. You see God’s own son died at the hands of wicked and evil men. Why do we believe it should be any different for the rest of us?
God wants us to understand that all of us are going to die, many Christians are being martyred all around the world, people die in auto accidents, plane crashes and natural causes everyday.
All of us will die, if not by a terrorist or a murderer, either way all of us will still die.
What God says "it is my holy ones, who will live on the holy hill, it is my holy ones who will live with me forever, it is my people who will walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil. It is my holy ones who in the face of war or terrorism will not be shaken. Why? Because of Christ, death for the believer, the righteous, the holy has no sting and no victory!
The only way to live in a fallen, evil world, in which you may be killed, a world in which you will die, because the world is doomed for destruction is to be holy. Trust in Christ that at the moment of your death, regardless of how it comes, that Christ will be there within a twinkling of an eye and you will not taste death.
People asked me "what would you do Joe Bedy if you were in the world trade center, trapped and the flames were about to consume you. Well, I thought about it. I would not have jumped, I would have laid face down and prayed to God for mercy, confidently knowing that, I would not feel the flame, that Jesus would be there to escort me safely home, away from this world where evil men and the Devil will never be. Home where I will dwell with the Lord and His Holy ones forever.
Our job Christians is to invite the world to join us!
Closing
1 Pet 2:7 This precious value, then, is for you who believe. But for those who disbelieve, "THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,"
1 Pet 2:8 and, "A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE"; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.
1 Pet 2:9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
1 Pet 2:10 for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.
1 Pet 2:11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul.
Rev 22:11 "Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and let the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and let the one who is holy, still keep himself holy."
Rev 22:12 "Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.
Rev 22:13 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."
Works Cited
The Holy Bible NAS Grand Rapids: World 1995
Stedman, Ray C. "The Great Mystery" Discovery Publishing 1986.
