June 17, 2007 message by Pastor Rich Doebler
"Holiness" is a concept that is not too common in society. We hear the Pope called "the holy Father"; we hear about "his holiness, the Dalai Lama"; we hear about a guru or sadhu—Hindu "holy man." But we don't hear much about ordinary, regular people being holy. But what does the Bible say?
- The Bible says we have been "sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy" (1 Cor 1:2)
- It tells us God "chose us...to be holy and blameless" (Eph 1:4)
- It says we should "make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy" (Heb 12:14)
- It warns us that "without holiness no one will see the Lord." (Heb 12:14)
- It urges us to "be holy in all you do" (1 Pet 1:15-16)
- God says: "I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy." (Lev 11:44-45)
Can we really be holy? Is it possible to be holy in this life? in this world? working at the mill? married?
At times in church history, people believed you could never really be holy unless you checked out of the world—so monastics and ascetics would hike out into the wilderness to avoid the sinful world. Some lived, isolated and alone, in caves or on mountains so they could avoid earthly temptations of everyday life—business, women, money, food.
Some went to great extremes in their attempt to be holy: sleeping on the floor, going barefoot, extreme fasting, no sexual intimacy between married couples, abstaining from wine. Some monks walked on hot coals or scorpions or snakes with their bare feet; others unshaven hair served as their clothes; still others grazed with the antelope for food. One famous ascetic was Simeon Stylites who, to escape all the people who came to him for prayer and advice, moved out into the desert and eventually to the top of a pillar 45 feet high. With the help of some devoted disciples he lived for 37 years on top of one pillar or another.
Is this what it takes to be holy? Do we need extreme measures to conquer the lusts of the flesh? to distance ourselves from the sins of the world? to be closer to God?
Some of us grew up with all kinds of religious rules intended to set us apart from the influences of the world so we would be spiritually safe. For example, I couldn't go to movies, go to dances, or play games with cards. In some places, I couldn't go bowling or to the roller rink, because you could buy beer there. There were also rules about how to dress—more for women than men. Rules weren't so severe in my time, but the previous generation had rules against cutting hair, wearing makeup, and wearing jewelry. When I enrolled in Bible school, the dean of men outlined the dress code: no beards, no pants with buttons on the fly...
Do extreme measures (whether sitting on a pillar or shaving off your beard) help? Maybe in some ways. But the sad truth is that monks in caves and women without makeup and teens who never go to movies can never escape their own human nature. The world follows us to our spiritual retreats! Last week, Fred reminded us that we have to deal all the time with the strong influences of a sinful culture.
All around us are influences pulling us away from God's holy standard. Culture is like a rip tide that pulls the swimmer away from the shoreline. How many have swum in the ocean? Have you ever found yourself caught in a rip tide? If you swim toward shore against the current, you'll wear yourself out and you'll never make it. You have to swim across the current to get out of it. In the same way, the rip tide of cultural influence pulls us out to sea, away from the shoreline of holiness. And you can wear yourself out trying to fight against that pull.
We know the world has a strong pull. Like the ancient monks, we know our human limitations. Two weeks ago we read that Paul said about temptation: Nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. (Rom 7:19)
Some might argue that holiness seems to contradict what Scripture says about us:
- There is no one who always does what is right, not even one. (Romans 3:10, NCV)
- We are all infected and impure with sin. When we proudly display our righteous deeds, we find they are but filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6, NLT)
- If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. (1 John 1:8, NLT)
How can sinful, human flesh be holy, like our heavenly Father? To answer that question, three other questions emerge:
First: Just exactly what does it mean to be holy? How can we define it?
Second: How do we become holy? What does it take?
Third: How can we stay holy? In a corrupt world, how can we remain pure?
First, what does holiness mean?
The biblical idea of holiness is about much more than being pure. It meant being separated for a special purpose.
2 Timothy 2:20-21 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
2 Timothy 2:20-21 (MSG) In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets— some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing.
Holiness means being prepared to be used by God. It means being separated away from common, secular purposes. It means being dedicated for the purpose of honoring and serving God.
You don't use a toilet bowl to serve punch to your party guests. You have a designated punch bowl designed specifically for that noble purpose.
So how do we become holy?
Remember the story of Moses in the OT? Moses was told: take off your sandals; you're standing on holy ground. (Exod 3:5) Why did he have to take off his shoes? Because he couldn't walk into the presence of a holy God wearing shoes contaminated with the dust and dirt of the earth. As a shepherd, Moses had to walk around a lot! And with all that walking, his shoes became dirty. They accumulated the filth of the world. (You can imagine: it was more than typical dirt and dust, Moses must have stepped in sheep dung several times a day. Then he had to walk through muddy watering holes. His sandals became worn and smelly. When he came home to his tent at night, I bet even his wife told him to take his shoes off.)
It's not that bare feet were much cleaner. It's just that taking off sandals became a cultural and religious symbol of reverence and respect. Taking off sandals meant putting aside the dirt from an impure world. Even today, many cultures carry on this same custom. In India I toured a mosque, a Hindu temple, and even an ancient shrine in a cave where you are not permitted to enter unless you take off your shoes. In one mosque I saw a large pool for the purpose of washing feet.
Moses learned he could not approach God's presence with his shoes on. You cannot come near to the Lord while carrying all the junk and dirt and sin of the world. For Moses, taking his shoes off was a sign that he was laying aside all the dirt so he could stand in the presence of a pure, holy, undefiled God.
We live in a world contaminated by sin. Walking around all day in this world, our souls become affected by the sin and the dirt of this world—with all its greed and power and lust.
But we don't become holy by taking off our shoes. That's just a symbolic act. We can't really remove the dirt of the world by taking off our shoes. We don't become holy by going barefoot.
We don't become holy by retreating to a cave or monastery to avoid the temptations of the world. Even if we could escape the world, we can't escape ourselves. Temptation lurks within each one of us. Our inner human nature entices us to do wrong. Sin is in our hearts, in our minds, in our nature. Jesus:
Mark 7:15 "Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.'"
Mark 7:15 (LB) "...you are defiled by what you say and do!"
The Bible tells us that there is only one way to be cleansed from sin. Only one way to remove guilt and shame. Only one way to escape our sinful nature and escape the pull of the world:
Hebrews 10:10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hebrews 13:12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.
Colossians 1:22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—
We can be made holy because Jesus took away our sin and guilt. His sacrifice removed our sin; his blood cleanses us and makes us holy.
In fact, the Bible says that if we are believers, having accepted the Christ's work on the cross for our own lives, then we are "holy"—maybe not yet completed or perfect, but we are already holy.
In fact, the Greek word for "holy" (232 times in NT) is translated as "saints" or "holy ones" 67 times to refer to believers—all those who have received Christ! We were sinners, but now we are saints. We were garbage pots, but now we are set aside, separated for noble purposes, containers God can use.
So how do we stay holy in a corrupt world?
1. Let God own you.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NLT) Or don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
A Haitian pastor illustrated to his congregation why we must let God own us completely. He told about a man who wanted to sell his house for $2,000. Another man wanted to buy it, but he couldn't afford the full price. After much bargaining, the owner agreed to sell the house for half the original price with just one stipulation: he would retain ownership of one small nail protruding from just over the door. After several years, the original owner wanted the house back, but the new owner was unwilling to sell. So first the owner went out, found the carcass of a dead dog, and hung it from the nail he still owned. Soon the house became unlivable, and the family was forced to sell to the owner of the nail. The Haitian pastor's conclusion: "If we leave the Devil with even one small peg in our life, he will return to hang his rotting garbage on it, making it unfit for Christ's habitation." [Leadership, Vol. 4, no. 2]
Ephesians 1:4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight...
2. Let God's strength empower you.
1Thessalonians 3:13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.
When you buy toys for your kids you'll often see on the package in fine print: "Batteries not included." That means you get the toy, but the power to make it work is not included. That's not the kind of gift God gives. Salvation includes the power and fullness of the Holy Spirit—the power to make it work.
3. Know and follow God's plan.
1 Thessalonians 4:7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.
Even if you know your destination, you still won't get there unless you follow the directions. Last weekend I attended 10 grad parties—and some of them were at addresses that were new to me. I needed to ask for directions or look on a map to find out where they were. But knowing where they were wasn't enough. I needed to follow those directions to get there. God has called us to be holy—that's the goal. But knowing the goal isn't enough. We need to move toward that goal by obeying God's directions. When he says "Turn left" or "Turn right" or "Watch for the fork in the road" we need to obey. Knowing God's plan does us no good unless we follow God's plan.
1 Peter 1:15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;
2 Peter 3:11 ...what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives.
4. Trust your sins to Jesus.
Hebrews 7:26 (NLT) He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has now been set apart from sinners, and he has been given the highest place of honor in heaven.
For eight years Sally had been the Romero family pet. When they got her, she was only one foot long. But Sally, a Burmese python, grew until eventually she reached eleven-and-a-half feet and weighed eighty pounds. Then on July 20, 1993 Sally turned on 15-year-old Derek, strangling the teenager until he died of suffocation. Associated Press Online (7/22/93) quoted the police as saying that the snake was "quite aggressive, hissing, and reacting" when they arrived to investigate. Sins may seem little and harmless—only one foot long. But unless we turn our sins over to Jesus, they will grow. If we tolerate or ignore sin, it will eventually lead to death (James 1:15). Leadership, Vol. 15, no. 4.
5. Choose to be clean. (It's your choice to discipline yourself.)
2 Timothy 2:21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
Hebrews 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
Mother Teresa: Our progress in holiness depends on God and ourselves—on God's grace and our will to be holy. We must have a real living determination to reach holiness. —in A Gift For God. Christianity Today, Vol. 31, no. 17.
How an instrument is used determines its value. If it is given a special, unique purpose, it becomes more valuable. Werner von Braun: [A knife by itself is neither good nor bad.] "If you give it to a surgeon or a murderer, each will use it differently." You're the knife—whose hand will you choose? Put yourself in God's hands, and you will be holy, useful to the Master.
Our Father in heaven takes us—with all our weaknesses, flaws, imperfections, and spiritual disabilities, and gives us the strength we need to be holy. With his help and our obedience, we can become what he has called us to.