Live up to what?
How is it that the good news that angels heralded as "good tidings of great joy" could be viewed as something to live up to? Maybe it's due to passages like:
1 Peter 1:16 because it is written, " Be holy, for I am holy."
God told us to be holy. And Peter himself recognized in a prior part of his first epistle that holiness is tied to good behavior:
1 Peter 1:13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
Paul does a masterful job of explaining in greater detail what holiness looks like, or what it doesn't:
Ephesians 4:17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20 But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another. 26 "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil. 28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. 29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Let me put that in a bulleted list so it's easier to grasp the DON'Ts of holiness:
- Don't live your life (walk) like unbelievers.
- Don't be lewd, unclean, or greedy.
- Do not identify with the corrupt, lying, lustful person you used to be.
- Do identify with the new person God created who is righteous and holy.
- Don't lie.
- Don't stay angry.
- Don't allow the devil to influence you in any way.
- Don't steal.
- Don't speak ill of anyone.
- Don't hurt Holy Spirit.
- Stay away from bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, and all intent to harm.
- Be kind, tender, and forgiving of each other just like God did to you with Jesus.
Granted, there are other places in the New Testament, let a lone the entire Bible, where do's and don'ts are expounded upon. But as they relate to holiness, you can't beat Ephesians 4's list of don'ts. And I believe that if you were to view the message of the church as a whole over the past 2,000 years, you'd find that this list pretty accurately shows part 2 of our conversion process. Part 1, of course, has always been "Jesus died for your sins. Say this prayer so you can be saved from hell." Essentially, the church boiled down the discipleship Jesus offered us and ended up with just another religion.
We ended up knowing that we needed to be holy because our God is holy but then found that we forgot how we were supposed to become holy. We missed the point. This is where probably the absolute most often criticism of the church by unbelievers comes in: hypocrisy. There was a point in time where the church preached holiness, fell short, and kept on preaching it anyway. The more we fell, the more we clutched the DO's and DON'Ts we found we had the power to actually achieve on our own while keeping completely silent about the ones we could not. What did we miss? Where did we go wrong?
Grace. Grace is the answer. Let me ask you this question: would a God who of necessity sacrificed His only Son to redeem us then turn around and expect us to be holy under the very strength that had failed us since the foundation of the world? That's ridiculous, right? Let me ask the same question another way: does grace end at the cross? Did God pour out all of His grace when Jesus died and then commanded us to be holy to pay Him back? Again, that sounds like nonsense. But isn't living by a set of DO's and DON'Ts exactly that kind of life?
Now, let me reiterate, we surly are called to be holy. There is no dispute there. While believing in the name of Jesus gets our names written in the Book of Life, holiness gets us closer to God. All the rich inheritance available to us in this realm, during this lifetime, can only be released by living a holy life. But again, every believer will come up against the exhortation of Ephesians 4:17 "that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk". They will read the rest of that chapter and perhaps end up afraid. Were they strong in the first place, they'd likely never have received Jesus. The Bible itself says that no man walked out the law perfectly, not one. Only Jesus did that. So...holiness.... how?
Paul sums it up nicely juuuuuust after the long list of DO's and DON'Ts:
Ephesians 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet- smelling aroma.
That "Therefore" is there for a very good reason. It means, "In summary". Imitate God, just as a dear child would. That's the aim. That's the goal. That's the focus. At some point God will ask you, "Do you believe love is powerful enough to inspire obedience?" Let me help you with the answer.
Consider a child who is loved dearly by his parents. They raised him with unconditional love, attention, instruction. The child was never harshly dealt with and always praised for doing good. Would you expect this child to obey his parents? Why? A child who is loved lavishly naturally wants to please his father. My son Dean was born just prior to my being born again. He has 2 much older brothers. I did not love them with Christ in my heart, as a result I sometimes struggle to get them to trust my judgement. With Dean it's not that way. I have loved him with Jesus inside me from the time he was 3 months old. This child, while spirited and courageous, lives to please his father. At almost 2 years old, he will respond to my "No" or my "Come here" sooner than he will anyone else in the house. It was not so with his older brothers. A revelation of a loving father inspired obedience in Dean.
The same is true of those who truly see God, The Father, and how He loves us. This is what Peter meant when he prefaced his exhortation to clean living in 1 Peter 1:13 "rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children". We are to hope we can be holy because of the grace we get when we see what Jesus revealed to us about The Father. Holiness does not come by being aware of what is right and what is wrong (although that's necessary) but from being sure of the fact that we are dear children of a holy and loving God. This is what Paul speaks of in Romans 7. No matter what a man does or how hard he tries he cannot be fully moral all the time. But with Christ he is able to attain holiness because Jesus reveals the love of a Father that inspires obedience in His dear children.
So we live in a world, and sometimes in a local church, where there appears to be a lack of holiness. We are indeed commanded to expose sin. We are indeed commanded to be holy and to hold each other accountable. And holiness is just as much a part of The Kingdom as grace. But the method by which we expose sin and the way in which we press the agenda of holiness will be the difference between winning and losing.
Paul hints at how we can address a lack of holiness in others and ourselves in Ephesians 4:18 where he says that the Gentiles act unholy because "having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart". People live poorly when they are ignorant and their heart is blind. But ignorant of what? Truth. Blind to what? Jesus. He's basically saying that they act that way because they have never encountered a Father who would inspire them to live as He lives. So perhaps the problem we have isn't a lack of holiness. Maybe the problem we have is a lack of understanding.
I submit to you that if you truly seek The Father, realizing that He already sees you as righteous and holy, you will be so overcome and so touched by His love for you and all the world that you would give up all rights to act as you please. You would be like my toddler son is with me: ready to do anything to make Daddy smile.
That "Therefore" is there for a very good reason. It means, "In summary". Imitate God, just as a dear child would. That's the aim. That's the goal. That's the focus. At some point God will ask you, "Do you believe love is powerful enough to inspire obedience?" Let me help you with the answer.
Consider a child who is loved dearly by his parents. They raised him with unconditional love, attention, instruction. The child was never harshly dealt with and always praised for doing good. Would you expect this child to obey his parents? Why? A child who is loved lavishly naturally wants to please his father. My son Dean was born just prior to my being born again. He has 2 much older brothers. I did not love them with Christ in my heart, as a result I sometimes struggle to get them to trust my judgement. With Dean it's not that way. I have loved him with Jesus inside me from the time he was 3 months old. This child, while spirited and courageous, lives to please his father. At almost 2 years old, he will respond to my "No" or my "Come here" sooner than he will anyone else in the house. It was not so with his older brothers. A revelation of a loving father inspired obedience in Dean.
The same is true of those who truly see God, The Father, and how He loves us. This is what Peter meant when he prefaced his exhortation to clean living in 1 Peter 1:13 "rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children". We are to hope we can be holy because of the grace we get when we see what Jesus revealed to us about The Father. Holiness does not come by being aware of what is right and what is wrong (although that's necessary) but from being sure of the fact that we are dear children of a holy and loving God. This is what Paul speaks of in Romans 7. No matter what a man does or how hard he tries he cannot be fully moral all the time. But with Christ he is able to attain holiness because Jesus reveals the love of a Father that inspires obedience in His dear children.
So we live in a world, and sometimes in a local church, where there appears to be a lack of holiness. We are indeed commanded to expose sin. We are indeed commanded to be holy and to hold each other accountable. And holiness is just as much a part of The Kingdom as grace. But the method by which we expose sin and the way in which we press the agenda of holiness will be the difference between winning and losing.
Paul hints at how we can address a lack of holiness in others and ourselves in Ephesians 4:18 where he says that the Gentiles act unholy because "having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart". People live poorly when they are ignorant and their heart is blind. But ignorant of what? Truth. Blind to what? Jesus. He's basically saying that they act that way because they have never encountered a Father who would inspire them to live as He lives. So perhaps the problem we have isn't a lack of holiness. Maybe the problem we have is a lack of understanding.
I submit to you that if you truly seek The Father, realizing that He already sees you as righteous and holy, you will be so overcome and so touched by His love for you and all the world that you would give up all rights to act as you please. You would be like my toddler son is with me: ready to do anything to make Daddy smile.
No comments:
Post a Comment