4-26-2020 Wholly Holy 1 Peter 1:16
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
We’ll begin a 4 part series on a subject that probably is not a popular subject today. And yet, one of the most necessary parts of understanding and living out the Christian life is the subject of holiness. We saw last week the command to be holy. And that's the title of this brief mini-series out of First Peter, chapter one, and I don't know how you initially respond to that. If someone came up and said to you, “be holy,” what would be your initial reaction to that? I think a lot of people tend to ignore it. It goes in one ear and out the other. Holiness is not relevant, not interesting, not exciting, not happy. A lot of people would categorize that as Old Testament.
for it is written, “You will be holy, because I am holy.”
And here we’re reading this out of the New Testament.
It's repeating what we find all through scripture. A lot of times we will want to jump into action, and someone says, “be holy.” You're ready to go do something— what do you do to go be holy? Well, I've been at Northland years ago watching students trying to live out what this means. I've seen 2 ditches on the side of the holiness road:
One ditch is to go and try and really work hard to live a good life. And to try my very best to be righteous. "Moralistic therapeutic Deism” it is really a religion without Christ but it's good morals, helping people out, believe in god but not really centered in Christ. It's very easy to become self righteous like the Pharisees did. In every one of u,s there's a little of Pharisee-ism of wanting to be righteous, and to want people to think well of us. A bit of people are wanting to just work so hard on the basics: I going to read my Bible, I’m praying right now, I’m going to do this to try to live a good life, and strive all I can to please YHWH.
Then there's another group of people up which I think is a lot larger today. They would respond to this, “be holy” with “well I'm under grace.” “I'm all covered by grace!” And basically that means, “I now have a license to do whatever I want to do.”
One ditch is the ditch of self-righteousness of patting myself on the back on how good I am. The other ditch is one of self indulgence where I will just feed my flesh and do whatever I want to do. And both of them are full of self--full of pride-- they are both wrong. And it's easy to try to miss going into one direction swerve and end up in the other. I think and seen churches live in a series of reactions to avoid these extremes--a legalistic church next to an anti-nomism— without law, without rule, without structure, without discipline.
Or what they call sloppy Agapei— people just doing whatever they want, but they say, “we need more discipline” but what they really mean is more discipline in everyone else’s life but their own.
It's hard to distinguish a real Christ-like authentic Christianity. And I think this is what this passage calls us back to-- it's easy to look at the world so full of people who don't have hope especially at a time like this--they don't have Christ. Then a tendency for us to be very critical of those people creep up rather than recognizing the problem is probably with the church.
John Stott said this he said if the house is dark when night comes don't blame the house. That's what happens when the sun sets. The question to ask is where is the light. If the meat goes bad and becomes rancid and edible don't blame the meat. That's what happens when bacteria are left alone to breed. The question to ask is: “where is the salt?” The society deteriorates and standards decline until it becomes like a dark night or a stinking fish in western culture, there is no sense in blaming society. For that is what happens when fallen men and women are left to themselves and human selfishness is unchecked. The question to ask is where is the church? Where are God's people? Why are the salt and light of Jesus Christ not permeating and changing the world around them? My prayer is then for a generation of people to rise up that will bear out authentic real visible Christianity—not Pharisee-ism, not paganism, not self-righteousness or self indulgence--it's all about me. But authentic, real Christianity. I believe that Christianity ought to be attractive--it should be attractive. They know us by the love that we have for one another--the joy that flows out of us. But that dwells in a context of holiness.
Transition:
Turn to first Peter chapter one verses 13 to 17 and if this will really be the text for the next couple weeks, I think, as we go together through this mini-series on living holy in today’s world.
Scripture Reading:
1 Peter 1:13-17
13 Therefore, when you have prepared your minds for action by being self-controlled, put your hope completely in the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former desires you used to conform to in your ignorance, 15 but as the one who called you is holy, you yourselves be holy in all your conduct, 16 for it is written, “You will be holy, because I am holy.” 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves with fear during the time of your temporary residence,
So today what I'd like to look at is just one part of this--verse 16 which I think is central to all of it. He says, Be Holy. Why? He tells us why, He says, “because I am holy.
So a command for what you are to do and to be, flows out of who YHWH is and what He says about Himself. Remember back to the moment of Moses at the burning bush in Exodus chapter 3 and YHWH reveals himself as the “I AM”. He says to Moses what he should tell the people: “Describe Me this way: I AM that I AM”. Really what He's saying is: “I am who I have always been, I am who I will be, I will be what I am, I will do what I always have been. I AM eternal, I am personal.”
Transition:
When I think of the attribute of holiness, my first thought is the significance of holiness.
I. The Significance of Holiness
I. The Significance of Holiness
When you think of the list of YHWH’s attributes, and I don't know if you've ever studied systematic theology, but I sometimes wonder: “which of all of God's attributes is most important?”. In a way, that's kind of like ants trying to figure out their creator. I don't know that you can rank God's attributes. I don't know if He would really want us to attempt to order one as less important than the other. When you look at the unity of all that YHWH is, I've come to a thought & A. W. Tozer agrees!
Tozer says this: “Your view of God is the most important thing about you.” Because how you view God is going to determine how you view yourself and how you view everything in life.”
That is profound. How you picture God in your mind, is the most important thing about you. I wonder if many of us have a have a flawed view of YHWH. One reason is it usually gets shaped by our own fleshly father on earth--which everyone of us has or had a less-than-perfect father. Some of us have grown up in homes where it's been traumatic, it's been difficult, it's been hard. And so those people might think of our heavenly Father and they don't get good thoughts, or good ideas about Him. Without a earthly Father, I’ve struggle with wondering if my heavenly father is even there. Now for me it's been a good experience as He is my only Father, but I would say for other people, it’s not always a good experience. So the personal experience with your earthly father, and then all the things that you have gone through in life help shape your personal view of God. And somehow it has to be re-formed, and the only way it gets re-formed is by getting an accurate picture of the face of God—which can only come through the Person and work of Jesus. Understand that no one can see the Father, no one understands YHWH, no one has relationship with YHWH apart from knowing Christ.
So, to see Him as He is can only come through an accurate picture of Jesus with an active relationship which is revealed to us by The Living Word—scripture. That's why I think that it's so crucial to be in the Word of God daily-- it reflects the face of Christ accurately. I have found that in every case when I have failed, or faltered along the way--I’m sure that's hard for you to imagine--A man of the cloth faltering along the way. You know I’m a perfect pastor here, but you haven’t seen me play golf. No, but when I falter, one of 2 things happens:
it's either that I am not seeing something about YHWH, OR
I'm not believing it.
When I doubt, or when I struggle, there's some things or some thing about God I'm not seeing, or I see but I refuse to believe—every single time. So that's why your view of God and what you do to shape you view of God for your children, and your grandchildren, is of utmost importance—that they can see Him as revealed by the scripture, because everything they see about themselves, and what they do in their surroundings--every action they take in life--is going to be from that reference point.
God is holy. He stated this here, it has been a theme throughout the scriptures, is not just Old Testament, it is New Testament and beyond. It is YHWH's character as being holy. Isaiah chapter 6 says
1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
"Your sins forgiven.” This to me is just a magnificent passage of scripture. Uzziah was a good King, he wasn’t a perfect king. It is possible to do well most your life and then toward the end, you can falter. And Uzziah did just that, he got careless with the things of God. He thought “I can worship YHWH in my own way” and our LORD struck him with leprosy. He dies after 52 years of King over Judah.
And Isaiah has this vision of the Lord. What he sees is: holy, holy, holy. The repeating is for emphasis, but think about this: that is the only attribute of YHWH that is ever mentioned 3 times repeating. Holy holy holy. When we stop to contemplate a right view of God, the Father, the person of Christ helps us to see us as we are. And he describes that as lost, undone, or ruined. Actually, the word literally means disintegrated. So in the presence of the Holiness of God who dwells in unapproachable light, Isaiah says “I am disintegrated,” coming completely apart. Isaiah is a mighty prophet of YHWH! He has everything together, he was probably the most together man of his time, but before God, he is disintegrated. He realizes that he has unclean lips.
Going back to our own holiness, we say, “well, I don’t make bad decisions, that’s why you don't do this, I don't do this, I don't do that.” but what person listening to me or in this whole sanctuary has not sinned with his or her lips? So there is this exposure of sinfulness and need, but immediately we see the grace of God. The burning coal is taken and touches the lips, fiery hot and cleanses from sin. This is God declaring His Holiness that as you stand in awe of who He is, in comparison, you recognize that you are destroyed, helpless, & needy, but immediately HE resolves that issue in redemption. So it is a significant doctrine, understanding the nature and the character of God, and if we miss out on that, everything else that we do in all of our ministry, and all of our child rearing is distorted.
Transition:
So the significance of holiness, second, the meaning of holiness--what is it mean to be holy.
II. The Meaning of Holiness
II. The Meaning of Holiness
Now my first thought would be righteousness-- your spotless, sinless, without fault, clean. And all that is true, but the word holy comes from the Greek hagia meaning to separate. To separate. This is what the Pharisees were, they called themselves “the separated ones,” and they of course distorted that a lot, but that that's what this comes from. To be separated from. To be separate in the sense of transcendence, God is above us, He is separate from us, He is far above us, it is not just that God is clean, spotless, and without sin, He is transcendent--or probably more literal translation would be “a cut above” He is a cut above everything. So the attribute of holiness is distinct in the list of all of His other attributes. His Self-existence, omnipotence--all power, His omniscience—all knowing, omnipresence is immutable-- those are things that we will never be. But there are attributes that YHWH wants us to be in our lives: justice, righteousness, love, Goodness, kindness, patience-- all these things God is and also wants us to be. But when it comes to mercy, we can be merciful; however, YHWH is far above us in mercy. In every attribute we should take on, God is transcendent above all of us. He is a cut above. So that's really the meaning: to be separate, above, to be transcendent.
So when YHWH commands us to be holy, he is actually saying: be separate. An initial response would be for us to go make a list of things we don't do. Typically, that's what the world uses to define and identify Christians — by what we don’t do: we don't smoke, we don't drink, we don’t swear, we don't dance, you know the list. But we do some things like we do go to church, we do tithe, we do read our Bibles, we are involved, we are faithful. When it comes down to being different from the world. What do you think about being different from the world? We might think, “well the Bible says do not be conformed to the world, so whatever they're doing or not doing, we are the opposite.” But that's not what Jesus did. In fact he bothered everyone, where He hung out, who He was with, what he did. If he was walking around on earth today, you know that He would probably be somewhere that would make you uncomfortable. That's just the way He was. But if you think, “what does Christianity not look like, and what does it look like?” it doesn't look anything like our lists. Where does it say, “don't smoke, don't drink, don't dance, don't go to movies, don't play cards-- where do you find that in scripture? Well, if you don't look real close, here's what it says... NO
Galatians chapter 5 talks about the works of the flesh and the works of the spirit— It does not look like these manmade lists. These lists are focused on self: what I'm doing and what you're doing. And we're all pretty good at being Pharisees. I love making a list of do's and don'ts because I have something to check off. Every time I check it off, I feel good about myself. We love lists like that. And and lot of kids really hate their parents list, so they will mock their parents lists until we get rid of them. Then the next thing they do on their own is make their own list. They repeat the same thing. It's not the way we live the Christian life. But what's really more fun than checking off a list of what I've done is judging you. Because then I can make a list and judge all of you by what you're doing and not doing—that is a lot of fun. It really makes you feel self-righteous. But it doesn't promote any kind of spirituality. It's still all trends to self.
Transition:
The meaning of holiness—we have to identify it in us:
III. The identification of Holiness
III. The identification of Holiness
God’s identification is holiness. Perfect holiness. Holiness in us begins by what you're separated to, not by what you're separated from. I can tell you all the bad things I don't do, but that doesn't really tell you what I believe. And I believe this that when you're separated to what is right and true, everything else falls by the wayside. I can be separated from all the wrong things yet not be separated to the right thing.
That is what the law does, you give a law, you give an occasion to sin. And it especially works well with teenagers, if you want your teenager to do something, you need to forbid them to do it. Perhaps that’s manipulation. But that's what the law does. And I think this that. To realize that true authentic holiness comes as we exalt the person of Christ and focus on him. Everything else is put into right perspective.
It is like marriage! I married Mary, my wife and in doing so I don’t define my marriage by what I can’t do, I dwell on what I can do. I committed myself to her, I don’t need to even think about any other woman (not that there is any other woman thinking about me)! That's why there's one relationship for you the need to be right — that's with Jesus. To love Him and to pursue Him and when you are separated to Jesus with your whole heart, your time, your life, your passion, your interest, your commitment—that takes care of all the temptations, and all the things that would turn you wrong. That's the way it works, separated to.
You're familiar with peripheral vision, you know when you look straight and the center is clear, you can barely see the edges of your vision. In other words, I'm looking at the center--maybe a circle is drawn or a dot--if the center is clear, the peripherals are fuzzy. But, if the peripherals are clear, than the center is fuzzy.
I think that's what the church has become. We define ourselves in our interests, by these other things, with their lists or distinctions. I want to be unique. And the center becomes fuzzy. And that's why I think Jesus was separated, not in just that he never sinned, but because His life was so full of kindness, and goodness, and patience, and love, and all these things. He was a cut above. The more we know Jesus through His Word, embrace His work in our life, the more we become distinctively holy—and incredibly attractive.
There are a lot of different kinds of churches, but 2 kinds exist:
True to the doctrine, very separated, and very committed, but they have no relevance to the world, no relationships with unbelievers. A holy huddle, a castle with a moat around it. There is nothing that connects with anyone outside of their church.
Then there are other kinds of churches that have lost any sense of who they are in Christ while trying to be attractive to the world--they try to win the world over by being cool. Yet when people come, there's nothing unique, nothing different, nothing special
When you live the life like Christ, conformed to His likeness, you become relevant. And you live in the world--you're in the places where Jesus was, and at the same time you are unique, you are separate.
So What?
So What?
Going back to Tozer, what you think of God is the most important thing about you. How do you see Him? You see Him through Christ, revealed in His word. It shapes your life. John McArthur has a great definition of true worship, he says, “True worship is when all that I am response rightly to all that He is.” just as in Isaiah 6
Every day through His words I’m seeing the face of Christ. Improving my concept and idea of the right view of YHWH. You will be blown away by His holiness, His beauty. And when everything in your heart affirms what you see--I affirm it, I believe it, I dwell on it, all those other things will take care of themselves. When kids are little, we give them a lot of do's and don'ts... laws and rules. That is appropriate when the kids are little. But when the lawyer asked Jesus, what's the greatest commandment-- what did Jesus say? You are to love the Lord with all your heart, your soul, your mind, & your strength. The second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. Maturity is that if you do that, all the other commandments take care of themselves. You don’t worry about stealing, committing adultery, or lying. A holy church is one that is fixed on the face of Christ and are separated. And what we focus on is not what we're separated from, its what were separated to.
In Conclusion:
So I'd like to ask you this morning, are you separated to Christ? Are you holy in that sense? What kind of engagement do you have of coming to know Him, to see Him, to dwell upon Him—His transcendence/His cut above. And how does it affect your life? My prayer is this that our holiness is not such that it's unapproachable by the unsaved world, but it's attractive to drawing people to show the face of Him. That's where it begins-- holiness begins with the exaltation of a Person-- I am separated to Jesus. Let’s bow together.
Father, we marvel and stand in awe of Your greatness, Your holiness. We pray that we would long to have that reflected in our lives as we gaze upon the beauty of who You are. Help us to see the face of Christ in Your Word. Help us to study it, to long for it, to pursue it with all of our hearts, and be holy because you are holy. In Jesus name we pray Amen.