Make every effort to live in
peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no-one will see the Lord.
See to it that no-one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up
to cause trouble and defile many. (Hebrews 12:14, 15)
If I were to ask you to make a list of your ten favorite
Bible topics, ten things that you like to read about, study, or hear teaching
on, would holiness be on that list? If it was, I think you would be in the
minority among contemporary Christians. Holiness is simply not a popular
subject with most believers today. I believe that there are two primary reasons
for that. First, most believers have the mistaken idea that holiness is
something that God is expecting of you, and that our lack of holiness makes us
a continual disappointment to God, so we would rather just not think about it.
Second, I think that people equate holiness with some specific outward look, or
mannerisms, that they simply can’t relate to. Holiness does not always look
like the SNL “Church Lady.”
Most people, if asked, would prefer to hear about the grace
of God than holiness. A message on God’s grace usually reminds us that God is
forgiving, He is on our side, He has provided something for us that enables us
to have a great relationship with Him–and all of that is true. But what we fail
to understand is that the grace of God and holiness are inseparable partners,
not opposite sides of God’s personality.
The verses above show us that the Scripture prioritizes both
the grace of God and holiness. These New Testament, this side of the cross,
Christ centered, verses tell us that holiness is absolutely essential for
anyone to ever see the Lord. That makes holiness a pretty significant concept!
But in the next breath, the Holy Spirit reminds us not to miss the grace of
God. Why? Because the grace of God, entering into relationship with the Father
based on the free gift of salvation through Jesus, is what leads us to and
produces, holiness in us. Holiness is not something God is requiring us to do,
it is the expression of His nature through us as we live in relationship with
Him by grace.
Take a look at Titus 2:11-14:
For the grace of God that brings
salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and
worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this
present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our
great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from
all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager
to do what is good.
Let me explain something right here; holiness has two
components to it. Holiness first means to belong uniquely and exclusively to
God. It means you are His unique and prized possession. I know that being
someone’s “possession” can have a negative connotation in human terms, but
think about it in terms of love. We
might use that kind of poetic terminology when we think of a young man that
loves his bride so completely that “he must have her, possess her for himself”
so that he can love her forever – romantic huh? Well, God loves you so much
that He simply had to have you. He made a way for that to happen through the
cross of Christ. When you accept Christ of your own free will, you become His –
this is holiness, sanctification, separation from the world, the devil, and the
flesh, and separation to God.
The second aspect of holiness has to do with God-like
behavior, so yes, some behaviors are holy and others are not. But listen,
behavioral holiness is not something you achieve by trying to clean up your
act; it is the beauty of God’s nature expressed through your life. As we live
in grace, live in the love that God has for us, get a revelation of the
position of righteousness and acceptance that He has given us, His nature
begins to be seen in our lives–that’s holiness.
I’ll give you one example, and then leave it for today. In
teaching us about righteousness (which is a position of acceptance that every
believer has been given by God) my pastor used to use this illustration. He
said that when you understand what God has done for you, and see yourself as
God sees you, it is as if you have put on a new, clean, bright white suit. He
would make the point that when you see yourself wearing that clean white suit,
you don’t crawl under the car in those clothes and begin to change the oil (he
said “owe-l” because he is a Texan, nevertheless…). The point is, that when we know
WHO we are in Christ, we start to live differently. We don’t have to try not to
sin, it just isn’t in our nature to sin, so we progressively live a more holy
life.
Now, my wife would argue that I have many times come home
from work or church, not dressed in a white suit by any means, but dressed in
my nicer clothes, only to crawl under the car and begin to drain the oil. But
see, the reason I do that is because I know that I am so good, that I can get
away with it without getting a spot of oil on my good clothes. I just want to
get it draining, and then I can go in, change clothes, eat lunch, and come back
out to finish the job. Seriously, I convince myself of this over and over, and
invariably I get my good clothes dirty. It’s the same with Christians and sin.
Why do we tell ourselves over and over that just this once we can hold a grudge?
Or think we can watch that movie and the sex and violence won’t get into our
hearts? Or we can hang out with this group, in this place, and it won’t leave
any stain on our faith? Why do we think that?
We are God’s! We belong to Him. We live by grace and faith,
and His Spirit lives in us. Our nature is His nature, and therefore it is
unnatural for us to live in sin. It leaves a stain every time. It’s just not
who we are. So plunge into grace, ponder how much God loves you, think about
your position in Him, know that you are uniquely and wonderfully His, and let
the beauty of His nature shine through your life–that is holiness.
