Today’s message is framed by incidents provided by two church members. I will not be naming the players, but they have given me both the beginning and the ending of this message on holiness.
The beginning: a few days ago one of you told me that you came to worship each Sunday so that you could feel clean. You told me about your workplace – how that workplace was tainted with profanity and stained with irreverence. You told me that most of others who worked there routinely stole materials and supplies from the company, and that they pressured you to go along with that. You told me that by the end of each week you felt filthy. Coming to worship, you said, provided you with a cleansing. Coming here makes you feel holy once again.
That is right on target. One of the spiritual gifts God gives His church is the gift of holiness. And as each of us shares in the life of His church, we too are given the gift of holiness. Holiness means being set apart from the ordinary. Holiness means being touched by God. Holiness means being in an atmosphere of awe and wonder. God gives us the gift of holiness.
But, just as we saw last week when I spoke about the gift of oneness, we don’t always open our gifts, and the gift of holiness is one we often leave on the shelf. The gift of holiness feels like it’s for other people, special people, and not for ordinary everyday folks, and so we leave it alone. The gift of holiness feels like it separates us too much from others, and so we are squeamish about accepting it. We leave the gift of holiness unopened.
And yet we need it. We need the gift of holiness, because, just like the brother with whom I was talking, too much rubs off on us. Too many things happen to tarnish us. We don’t feel right. We don’t feel whole. We need this gift of holiness.
The ancient creed confesses a belief in “one holy catholic and apostolic church.” We thought about the gift of oneness last week; today let’s work on receiving the gift of holiness.
I
First, I want you to see that holiness is fundamentally the gift of an identity. An identity. Holiness means that God gives us a unique and special individuality. God gives us personality and character. Holiness is who we are, as given by God.
Now Paul, in our Scripture, gets to this, even though he doesn’t use the word “holiness.” The idea is here:
We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.
No longer children, tossed to and fro, tricked and schemed into being something we are not. We are given an identity. When we are holy, we don’t play-act any more. We are no longer children.
The identity of children is shaped by everything that goes on around them. Children are the greatest imitators in the world. Only yesterday I stood out here on the street, talking to two of our boy scouts’ fathers, and I watched as their sons pretended to be boxers. Up and down the sidewalk they went, feinting and jabbing, dancing and punching; they were playing, they were imitating what they’ve seen real boxers do. That’s what children do; children imitate.
But the gift of holiness is the gift of no longer being children. It is the gift of personal integrity. Holiness is the gift of being able to stand on your own two feet and live out who you are. The gift of holiness is being able to see that, yes, the world around you wants to press you into its mold. Everybody wants you to be what they want you to be. But when you have received the gift of holiness, you do not ask, “What do they want me to be?” You ask, “What does God want me to be?” You do not ask, “What is everybody else doing?” You ask, “What is God doing?” And once you know who and what God wants you to be, you will be able to live in integrity. What the world around you wants you to be won’t matter. It won’t matter because you have the gift of holiness. You have the gift of an identity, no longer a child, tossed to and fro, by trickery and deceit.
Did you know that the Bible is replete with people who received this gift of holiness? One after another, they received the gift that taught them who they were and gave them the courage to stand against the tricks and the tides.
I think of Joshua, bringing the people of Israel across the Jordan, and then putting it all out there, “choose this day whom you will serve, … but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Joshua understood that he had been given the gift of an identity. That’s what holiness is. Character. Integrity.
I think of Elijah, surrounded by 450 priests of the pagan god Baal. Why, this Baal thing was popular! It allowed free and unbridled sexual behavior! It promised all kinds of self-indulgence! Let’s go with the flow! Let’s be Baalists, they have all the fun! Not Baptists; they have no fun at all! But Elijah stood up before the people, and declared, "How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." Elijah was not in a popularity contest. Elijah knew his holiness. Elijah knew that he had been set apart and given an identity. Elijah lived in integrity, not just to satisfy the demands of popularity. The gift of holiness is the gift of an identity, no longer children.
I could go on. I could name Job, who, in the midst of his suffering, refused to agree with the popular theology of his day; but instead Job stood on his own. Job had received the gift of holiness.
I could name Jeremiah, the great prophet of the last days of Judah – Jeremiah, who when the King and the people, under the stress of a Babylonian army knocking at the gates of Jerusalem, wanted to resort to tradition – Jeremiah stood to denounce superstition and point to moral integrity. Yes, Jeremiah paid for that with imprisonment; but Jeremiah had received the gift of holiness. He knew who he was.
Our issue is that we are afraid to be different. We are scared of standing out. We want nothing more than to fit in. We are children who have not yet unwrapped the gift of holiness. If the world around is spending as if there were no tomorrow, we say, “You’ve got to keep up with the Joneses”; we have to drive what they drive, live where they live, dress the way they dress, and smell the way they smell! We are afraid to stand on our own. We are still children, imitating everything we see. The Pharisee in Jesus’ parable stood and prayed, “Lord, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, or even as this publican.” But we pray just as wrongheaded a prayer, “Lord, I thank Thee that I am exactly as other men are, and that I don’t stand out in the crowd and don’t have any strong opinions.” We have stayed children. We have not unwrapped the gift of holiness and integrity.
How can I persuade you this morning just to be who you are? Just to receive your differentness as a gift of God? Holiness is moral integrity, doing what is right simply because it is right, not because it is popular. Holiness is placing obedience to God above personal comfort, above conventional wisdom, and above what everybody else expects. Holiness is knowing who God made you to be and then following it wherever it leads and whatever it costs. But too many of us are still children.
The good news today is that some are hearing the word of the Lord. Some are hearing that we must no longer be children. For years some of us have been praying that out of this congregation God would call somebody into missions and ministry. And to be honest, I have felt many times that the fundamental issue was not so much that people thought that ministry was too hard or that it didn’t pay enough, but that it was just bizarre! How do you go down to the schoolyard or the office and tell the guys you’re going to be a missionary? It just doesn’t compute in today’s world! But in just the last few months, praise God, four people in this congregation have told me that they are considering that call. The call may be faint, perhaps, but it is there, and it seems to be a call to ministry and to missions. I thank God for that – not because I want some little gold star on my pastoral record, but because these are signs of people who are able to stand on their own, no matter how the world might sneer at them, people who know their own identities, under God. People who are holy!
God is giving us the gift of holiness. God is giving us the gift of a distinct identity. We will no longer be children, imitating everybody else, tossed around by tricks and schemes.
II
But now one of the issues with the gift of holiness is that it sounds too good to be true. It feels like holiness is something that only a few people can aspire to. It feels as though it is not for the average, everyday person. We even have some slang phrases that point this up. We talk about somebody being “holier than thou.” We mean that, well, he is so good you can’t stand him. We mean she is so everlastingly correct you can’t abide being around her. “Holier than thou” leaves a bad taste behind.
Some speak –for obvious reasons, I don’t – some speak of “holy Joes”. A “holy Joe” is somebody who is always better than you are. You went to church last Sunday; but he went Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, and sat on the doorstep until we opened this morning. A “holy Joe” is somebody who is always more correct than you are. You say that the Bible teaches, “Love thy neighbor”, and “holy Joe” is ready to tell you that, yes, “Love thy neighbor” is in Luke 10:27, but it has roots in Leviticus 19:18, and of course you know how Paul expanded on it in Romans 13:10! Huh? A “holy Joe” is someone who, when you are in prayer meeting, and all you say is, “Lord, we’re so grateful to be alive, please help the sick and the bereaved,” but then she chimes in with, “O Thou ineffable ground of all being, who dwelleth between the cherubim and seraphim, to the glorious majesty of Thy august name we raise our cries of exaltation and supplication.” Oh, groan, don’t you feel put down? There’s something about holiness that feels like hostility and a putdown.
Rather like the cartoon in Peanuts where Charley Brown and Lucy are looking at the clouds traveling across the sky, and Lucy says, “Look at those clouds, Charley Brown. Over there those clouds look like the stoning of St. Stephen, and over here that cloud looks like Saul holding Stephen’s clothes.” Charley Brown puts his head down and mutters, “I was going to say I saw a horsey and a ducky, but somehow that doesn’t seem good enough now.”!
Sometimes we don’t unwrap the gift of holiness because some of the people who proclaim their own holiness are just plain insufferably arrogant and totally unlovable.
Or again, rather like the story my friend Father Jacques liked to tell about his bishop in France. Father Jacques was a chaplain at Georgetown University, a Catholic priest. He is French, and once served a parish in France. He says that one day his bishop came to visit, and spent the night in the rectory. The next morning, when breakfast was served, the bishop came down dressed, as you might expect, in pajamas, a bathrobe, and slippers – but with two other accessories. He wore his purple bishop’s shirt, and around his neck hung a huge crucifix. Father Jacques, surprised, asked his bishop, “Sir, did you wear all of that to bed?” The bishop answered, “My boy, suppose the Lord should return in the night. How else would He know that I am a bishop in His church?”!
Well, it just seems as though some of us wear bishops’ crosses even to bed. Some of us warble the holy jargon and trot out the pious palaver at every possible moment. Our idea of holiness is to be as sanctimonious as possible. But what does that communicate? What is the witness of that?
It communicates distance. It witnesses to a cold heart. It suggests to a heartbroken world a harsh, unfeeling, judgmental spirit. It says that the gift of holiness is a superiority complex. It ain’t real!
But hear the word of the Lord. About holiness, Paul says:
But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ …
Speaking the truth in love, we must grow up into Christ. Sharing what we know, but with compassion. Holiness is not only the gift of integrity. Holiness is the gift of love. It is the gift of compassion. It is the gift of not losing who you are at the same time that you are living in a sordid and godless world. But, because you know who you are, you can tell somebody else where they are wrong – and they like it! You can speak to someone’s flaws, and they love you for doing it. If you receive the gift of holiness, knowing who you are and sharing the truth in love, people will not only hear you, but they will come back and ask for more. In my experience, there is no greater gift than someone who will listen to your heart and tell you the truth, but you can hear it because you know they truly love you. That is the gift of holiness, and it is priceless. If you’ve got somebody like that in your life, hang on to them for dear life. They are holy.
Holiness is not a remote, cold goodness. Holiness is not “holier than thou”, anything you do I do better. Holiness is not “holy Joe”, trumping your feeble attempts at discipleship. Holiness is a warm commitment, not only to personal integrity, but also to a compassionate witness. Speaking the truth in love.
III
So how do we receive this gift of holiness? If God has given it to His church, how do we unwrap it? If you and I are given holiness, how do we receive it?
It’s really very simple. It is utterly clear. You receive holiness by receiving forgiveness. You receive holiness by receiving forgiveness. The gift of holiness comes when you understand that you got to who you are by being forgiven for who you have been. When somebody, talking with the old-time sex symbol Mae West, used the everyday phrase, “For goodness’ sake”, she replied, “Goodness has nothing to do with it.” In her own perverse way she was right.
My goodness and your goodness are not the way to holiness. I cannot get there on my own. You cannot manufacture your own holiness. Paul cries out,
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy…
Paul even shares his own story, about how he had all kinds of attainments:
… a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.
Holiness comes from receiving forgiveness. If we want to unwrap this gift of holiness, we will do so not by proclaiming how good we are, but by acknowledging how much sin there is in us. If you and I want to receive the gift of holiness, we will confess that we are not perfect, but we are forgiven; we will acknowledge that we are not whole, but we are healed; we will see our own hearts and know that we have not made ourselves, but it is He that has made us, and the only place to live is out of gratitude and grace. Out of gratitude for God’s mercy and out of grace for others who need mercy.
And this our church will receive the gift of holiness when we go beyond thinking of church as a place for nice people. When we open up to the lost, the least, and the last. When we discover that we are a hospital for sinners and not a rest home for saints. One member tells me that on the Sunday he joined this church, several years ago, I had preached on sexual faithfulness, and he worried a little bit about whether others would think that his responding to the invitation on that day was an admission of adultery. Well, he was not guilty of adultery, properly speaking; but at another level, all of us are guilty of adultery, all of us of idolatry, all of us of the lust of the eyes and the pride of the flesh, all of us of all sorts of things. And so it was right and proper that he should come. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God; all have trampled the name of the son of God in the dust; all have acted with arrogance and bitterness and hostility; all have broken the hearts and crushed the spirits of our brothers and sisters; all have stained our souls in the unholiness of the world.
Our brother who talked about how his workplace stained him was right. We do need to come to worship to feel holy again. Not because here we congratulate ourselves on how “holy Joe” we are, but because here we learn again how profoundly forgiven we are. The gift of holiness comes not from our achievements, but from receiving God’s forgiving mercy.
My closing story, again from a church member. This one, a few years ago, had gone through a crisis. She and her family had struggled with an issue. She had made a mistake. There was pain, embarrassment, struggle. But there was also a loving, caring, understanding church surrounding her and her family. There was a holy thing going on for her, speaking the truth in love. She came through. She went on with her life. Now things are coming full circle. Now holiness is showing up. This week she told me, “I want to be involved with young people. I want to do ministry with our youth. I remember what the church did for me, and I want to do the same thing for the youth today.” My heart sang! Did you hear it? My heart sang! Why? Because a child of God knows who she is, and wants to stand on it. Because a child of Christ knows she was not and is not perfect; but she is forgiven, and therefore she is holy. She is holy!
Great God, a church that receives gifts like that – why, the gates of hell will not prevail against such a church! Holiness.
“Lo! The hosts of evil round us
Scorn Thy Christ, assail His ways!
Fears and doubts too long have bound us,
Free our hearts to work and praise.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the living of these days.”
