Holiness and the Christian

Holiness. It’s the end object of our faith in Christ and Jesus Himself, calls us to seek it. Currently I am in 1 Peter in my morning time with God through His Word and again the theme of holiness has shown up.

1 Peter 1:14-16
As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.  But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

I didn’t write those words, Peter did. And he wrote them with the full authority of God. Not only does Peter speak as an Apostle, he is also quoting a direct word from God as found in Leviticus in four different verses. Jesus commands us to be perfect in Matthew 5:48, saying we should be perfect, just as our Father in heaven is perfect.

Perfect and holy. Those are lofty goals. Preach that around most churches and you will be labeled a legalist or a called a Pharisee. Some of you will consider me those things for even suggesting it here. But you are misunderstanding the idea of legalism.

I am not saying if you are not perfect you are not a Christian. The truth is though you cannot enter into the presence of God if even the smallest of sins stains you. That, my friends, is why we need the Gospel. The perfect, sinless righteousness of Christ is our only hope. And when we are Born Again and adopted into the family of God, the blood of Christ cloaks us in His righteousness and covers our stained and sinful being. Thus we can have a relationship with God. We can pray to Him and fellowship with God.

But we are still commanded to seek sanctification. This is the process by which we grow to be like Christ as we walk out this life. To be holy means to be set apart from the unsaved of the world. It means to be complete in Christ. We are to be different. This means as we grow we stop talking like others and start talking like Christians. Negativity, bitterness towards others and toward situations, and basic speech becomes positive. The things we say and do need to be centered on what brings glory to God. When we filter our speech, our behavior, and even our thoughts on the concept of letting the world see the glory of God in us, we will change the world we live in.

So the lesson God is showing today is this; before I act or speak I should ask myself if what I am about to do will bring glory to God. If there is even a doubt that it won’t then I should stop and not move forward.

This is hard. Actually it’s impossible in our own strength. But Jesus sent His Holy Spirit to actually dwell inside every single believer. The Holy Spirit is the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead. He can and will change us. But no one changes unless they accept that change needs to be made. It’s time we as the church made holiness our only acceptable method of behavior. This doesn’t mean we go around hitting people in the head with our Bibles. It means we join together in a united goal and seek and encourage holiness in our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Peter said this in 1 Peter 1:17-23
Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.  For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.  He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.  Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.  Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.  For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

We must purify ourselves by obeying the truth. The bible is the place to find that truth. The word of God must become like our breath sustaining our very life moment by moment.

Why?

1 Peter 1:24-25
For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to you.