"The Beauty of Holiness"
1 Pet. 3:1-7
1 Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. 4 Instead, it should be that of your inner self (KJV- let it be the hidden man of the heart), the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 5 For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, 6 like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.
(v:3-4 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment,... Instead,... let it be the hidden man of the heart.)
1 Ch. 16:29
ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness ( in (the) beauty of holiness).
2 Ch. 20:21
After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: "Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever."
Ps. 29:2
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness (in the beauty of holiness).
Ps. 96:9
Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness (in the beauty of holiness); tremble before him, all the earth.
Ex. 28:36
Make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it as on a seal: HOLY (KJV- HOLINESS) TO THE LORD.
Intro:
My sermon tonight revolves around a phrase that is found several times in the Bible. It is the phrase, The Beauty of Holiness.
Holiness is a beautiful thing.
It is used to describe the holiness of God. It is usually used in some connection with the praise and worship of the Lord. And frequently it is used as part of an encouragement to draw near to God in worship and praise.
1 Ch. 16:29 When the ark came to Jerusalem with David
II Ch. 20:21 Jehosaphat’s singers
(Ps. 29:2, 96:9)
Ex. 15:11 Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you-- majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? NIV
...who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? KJV "Holiness unto the Lord" was engraved on the headband of the hat of the high priest worn before the Lord. Ex 28:36
Hymn #385
An Inward Adorning – 1 Pe. 3:1-7
When Jesus described Himself as The Good Shepherd He used an expression that can be taken to mean the beautiful shepherd. He had other words that would describe inner excellence (agathos), and moral excellence (dikaios). But He used one that refers to what is beautiful as well as what is good. The word for good is the Greek word kalos which gives us calligraphy, beautiful writing, and callisthenics which is strength and beauty. "There (is) something attractive about Jesus’ goodness..." (Leon Morris, Expository Reflections on the Gospel of John p.377)
Describe a typical morning’s preparation for church. Use _____ (someone’s name) as an illustration.
- shave - and look in the mirror,
- shower,
- fix your hair- and look in the mirror,
- you chose an outfit - tried it on in front of the mirror,
- stand before the mirror to get your tie right (if a woman, the belt of a dress.) – you had to try 2-3 times before you had it right.
Then you took one last glance in the mirror before leaving.
It’s all good ...
But think if we spent the same amount of effort and time adorning our inner man - "The hidden man of the heart." (1 Pe. 3:4)
Putting on the garment of praise (Is. 61:1-3)
Putting on the whole armor of God (Eph. 6:11)
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to
Put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to
Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore each of you must
Put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. (Eph. 4:22-25)
"...you have taken off your old self with its practices 10
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator." (Col. 3:8-10)
Hating the garment spoiled by sin (Jud. 23)
Clothed w/ power from on high (Lk. 24:49)
Dressed in the righteousness of Christ/God
Do you know what holiness is? I know, I know – you’ve been raised in a church and you’ve heard it all your life. But try to define holiness for someone who is a stranger to the term. I have a few one-liners that I think say some of what it means to me. They might be a little fresher than text-book descriptions (Zondervan Pictoral Bible Dictionary, "separate (from evil), pure...")
"Frightening"
"scary"
"terrifying" the terror of the Lord we persuade
"terrible"
"horrifying"
"fearful" to fall into the hands of the living God
"dreadful"
"Threatening"
"consuming" He’s a consuming fire
- moral purity
- absolute good – with no shade of bad
- innocent of any guilt
- absence of impurity or flair or corruption
- an absolute cleanness and uprightness - righteousness- known only to, and found only in the person of God (but He shares it with and imputes it upon us).
Holiness is a beautiful thing. There is nothing more attractive, more becoming, or more beautiful than the expressions of holiness. Peter says, it is not the outward adorning which is only cosmetic, but the adorning of the inward man which makes us appealing to the Lord. (1 Pe. 3:3-4) It’s true that men get all caught up on the outer, physical appearance. That’s what the Lord told Samuel, "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." (1 Sam. 16:7) Look at the magazine covers, you don’t see many normal people. They want you to be attracted by sight and compelled to buy their $4 magazine. I have never been asked to let my picture be published on the front of GQ or People. They pay models and super-models to pose for their covers. If you see a normal person on the front page it is usually because they are the feature story. Even Christian publications, for the sake of sales, yield to the pressure of appearance.
The plainest person (male or female) when engaged with the presence of God is a wonderful sight. Outer beauty fades while there is something about an inner beauty that radiates to the surface and makes a beautiful transformation even in the physical appearance. Very common and ordinary looking people take on an appearance of beauty when they worship the Lord. That might be part of what is meant in the Psalms when it says, "... praise is comely for the upright."(33:1) The simplest act is appealing when wrapped in the glory of God. Changing diapers can be a beautiful thing to watch. (More beautiful to watch than do!) Changing a tire can be a thing of glory when done by a worshiper of God in an atmosphere of praise.
(There is a billboard against smoking that shows the pictures of two women, both with cigarettes. One is young, pretty and poised, the other an ugly old hag. The caption under the pretty woman reads, "This is how you see yourself." Under the ugly old hag it says, "This is how he sees you.")
Outward beauty is spoiled by unrighteous attitudes and behavior. The prettiest girls are sometimes made so un-attractive because they are such snobs. The most handsome guys can become the ugliest because they are such jerks. It gets to the point you don’t even think they look nice because their dispositions are so unattractive it actually detracts from their outward attractiveness.
So much so that their spirit (personality, character, heart) seems to actually affect their outer appearance (*see Gen. 4:6 "Why is your countenance fallen").
The Beauty of Holiness
out Steve Camp’s "Stranger to Holiness" for a few good lines.
"I call You Lord, Though I call You Lord I must confess I’m a stranger to Your holiness."
Big Tent Revival "The standard is perfection and we’re all short of it..."
I.e., Rom. 3:23, "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (The radiant beauty, the splendor... The holiness – the perfect holiness of God)
"Be ye holy even as I am holy" (1 Pet. 1:16) NIV- Be holy because I am holy.
