Holiness
Notes
Transcript
But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.
Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits.
Let’s pray.
Today we are going to talk about holiness.
What
what do you think about when you hear the word “holiness?”
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Maybe,
you cringe.
The word brings bad memories.
It reminds you of a time when it felt that you had to act different just for the sake of being different.
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Maybe,
you get sad when you hear the word holiness.
You get sad because you remember hearing how God wants you to be holy,
and holiness meant that you had to dress in a certain,
your hair had to be a certain way,
and you would try and try,
and you would fail.
So you would get sad since you never achieved the level of holiness that others appeared to achieve.
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Maybe,
you have no idea what holiness is.
You hear it used in church,
in songs,
but you have no idea of where it comes from or what it means.
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The passage that we started off with tells us two things:
We are supposed to be holy,
and I included the other verse to reveal how that looked like for Peter’s audience.
But the second point is this,
be holy for I am holy.
Who is the I?
God is.
Peter is quoting a biblical idea.
And for right now,
don’t connect holiness with bad experiences.
Connect it to who God is.
God is holy.
The prophet Isaiah saw the angels in a temple,
and he saw them praising the Lord saying,
holy holy holy is the LORD of Armies.
When God revealed himself to Moses through the burning bush,
God told Moses to take off his shoes because the ground where he was standing was holy ground.
God was in the place,
therefore the ground became holy.
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God is holy.
The Bible makes that clear.
But what does this word “holy” even mean?
The first time we find the word “holy” in our English Bibles is in Genesis 2:3
God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it he rested from all his work of creation.
The seventh day was a holy day.
Why?
Because God rested on that day.
This day was different from the others.
Just like holidays are different from regular days.
Back in Genesis 1,
in the other days,
God did things.
Day 1: light
Day 2: seas
Day 3: land
Day 4: stars
Day 5: sky and sea creatures
Day 6: land creatures and humans
Day 7: rest...
The seventh day stands out.
Hence, God calls it holy.
The word “holy” conveys this idea of standing out,
of being different from the rest.
That’s why we say God is holy,
he stands out.
The Hebrew word for “holy” is קֹ֫דֶשׁ//write these
And in the standard Hebrew lexicon/dictionary,
it means
be set apart, consecrated
But Holiness is more than just that.
Like, holiness doesn’t just mean to stand out.
Sometimes,
somethings stand out, in a bad way.
Those things are not holy.
And if we say that holiness is just being set apart,
we could find problems when we are told to be holy.
The passage we read is telling us to be holy.
Amen to that.
But does that mean all we have to do is be different?
Is that all we have to do?
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I could think of many ways I could be different.
In a library, I would be holy by talking when everyone is quiet.
Is that what holiness is?
Or say I’m different by being annoying,
when no one else is being annoying.
Is that holiness?
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No, of course not.
So holiness means more than just set apart,
or standing out.
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One of my seminar professors recently pointed out that there is this sense that holiness means dedicated to.
In the NT,
the Greek word for holy is ἅγιος //write these
And in the lexicon,
this word pertains
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 53.46 ἅγιος, α, ον; ὅσιος, α, ον
to being dedicated or consecrated to the service of God—‘devout, godly, dedicated.’
Whatever is holy,
yes,
it’s different in a common world,
it stands apart,
but more than that,
it’s dedicated to God.
If your speech is holy,
yes it’s different,
but it’s primarily dedicated to God.
If your attire is holy,
then it’s dedicated to God.
If your body is holy,
then it’s dedicated to God.
If your life is holy,
then it’s dedicated to God.
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Earlier we saw in Genesis that the seventh day was holy;
therefore, that was a day that was explicitly dedicated to God.
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With this idea that holiness means dedication,
then we might see this phrase
“Be holy for I am holy”
in a new light.
My professor interpreted it this way.
Be holy for I am holy means
Be dedicated to me for I am dedicated to you.
God was so dedicated to you that he sent his one and only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him would not perish but have eternal life.
He is so committed to you that he did not send his son into this world to condemn but to save you.
God is so dedicated to you that if you believe in him,
you are saved from darkness and enter the light.
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God is dedicated to you,
so will you be dedicated to him?
God is holy,
so will you be holy?
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I like reading books from missionaries.
It really shows us a different perspective on life.
Missionaries go to different cultures,
with people who think differently.
And seeing different perspectives can help us think outside of what we are used to.
A missionary who traveled to Asia had an interesting story.
She developed a friendship with her next-door neighbor, Asmin.
They lived in an apartment complex.
And in that culture,
it was common for the girls to gather on the floor level in their building.
They sat on kitchen rugs or scattered cushions,
and they would drink tea,
gossip,
and get marital advice.
This missionary and Asmin, a local,
their relationship intensified because of a tragic event.
The missionary had collapsed in front of her neighbor’s house.
The missionary had health problems for several years.
But fortunately Asmin worked as a nurse and took her to urgent care.
The missionary came out healthy,
and she was thankful for Asmin.
Over the years,
their friendship grew
and their families became closer.
They did fun activities together.
On Muslim holidays,
the missionary family would visit Asmin.
Asmin was a Muslim.
Islam is prominent in Central Asia.
As they were spending time together,
the missionary would look for ways to speak to Asmin about her faith in Christ.
The missionary would reason with about the faith.
She also gave her a copy of the Bible in Asmin’s language.
And for a while,
Asmin even began to read it.
One December,
Asmin went to the missionary’s family to observe the family’s Christmas traditions.
She took pictures of the decorations.
She was fascinated,
and she wanted to show her photographs around the hospital to her workers.
The missionary kinda felt like she was made a spectacle.
Well,
one day,
the missionary had to go to the hospital for some tests.
Asmin was there.
Asmin invited the missionary to the break room.
In the small room,
there were nurses,
huddled around an old television,
smoking cigarettes.
These nurses were on break.
They were there for respite (respət) from their rounds.
Asmin introduced the missionary as her American neighbor,
friend,
and a Christian.
And then,
Asmin told her friends something that I find so interesting:
She said that her missionary friend was
“Not the kind of Christian you think.”
So these people had an idea of Christians,
but it turns out that the missionary wasn’t the typical Christian that they had in mind.
And then,
Asmin explained how the missionary and her family was honorable and kind.
How they dressed modestly.
How the missionary’s husband was faithful.
How they were clean and considerate.
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The natives thought that
The missionary and her family were Christian,
but (not therefore)
but
they were people of good character.
They were people they could trust.
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My friends,
there is a big difference from calling yourself a Christian
and being a Christian.
So many people who call themselves Christians,
don’t live out Christian lives.
And what happens?
These Christians make
People feel that Christians are rude,
disrespectful,
careless,
heartless,
mean,
violent,
hateful,
sexually immoral,
undisciplined.
All because there are Christians who falsely represent God.
That is what Asmin’s culture thought of Christians,
but then she met a missionary,
who didn’t just call herself a Christian
but was actually a Christian.
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God doesn’t call people to just put a label over them.
He didn’t call the Israelites out just so they could bear the name “Israel.”
He doesn’t call us out just so we could call ourselves “Christians.”
NO!
He calls us out so we could live a different type of life.
So that we could be holy.
So that we could be a visible demonstration of his holiness.
So that we could be a shining light in the world.
So that we could be an assembly of priests in God’s kingdom.
So that we could mediate God’s presence ad radiate his glory.
So that we could be like our King Jesus!
So that we could be who he is:
Holy as God is holy
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Today,
the mantra is:
Be who you are.
You do you.
I told Alyda when she went to the gym,
You do you boo.
The rise of this is due to self-help talk shows,
or Disney movies.
And the main idea with this mantra,
is that we remove the chains of what others think we should be,
we don’t strive to fulfill the expectations of others or their desires.
We don’t let them dictate who we are,
or what we do with our lives.
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You do you.
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Fulfillment and lasting happiness is only for those who follow their own path,
it’s only for those who are true to themselves.
And while the world distorts this truth,
this idea of you being you is actually biblical.
In the beginning,
we were designed to represent God on this earth.
That is us,
the true us.
When we become a Christian,
when we join the kingdom,
we become us.
We become more human.
Who we are supposed to be.
And...
We don’t care about the world’s expectations.
We are who God has made us to be as new creations in Christ.
We have a new nature.
And this nature wants to follow who God is.
And therefore,
we are to be holy as he is holy.
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God is light.
God is holy.
And when we have been born again,
when have decided to follow Christ,
when have the Spirit of God within us,
God has transferred us from the kingdom of darkness
to the kingdom of his Son.
This isn’t a physical relocation.
It’s not like moving from California to Texas.
This change is positional and changes our nature.
God transferred us,
and if you have been transferred,
you will want to shine God’s light to the world through your deeds.
You will fail, but you will strive.
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We want to preach the gospel.
We want to open the eyes of the blind so that they too might turn from darkness to light.
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Holiness is the effect and means of the gospel.
Holiness is not just the result of the gospel,
but holiness is also an argument about the veracity of the gospel.
If the gospel has power,
then there needs to be evidence of change.
If a holy God lives in you,
then you must strive to live a holy life.
Will we fail?
Yes.
But we get back up,
and strive,
because God lives within us,
and he loves us.
And then our lives become a witness to the world.
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We tell others about our faith through our holy lives.
The missionary demonstrated that God did something in her life,
by being kind,
loving,
gracious,
and trustworthy.
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People are watching us.
And the biggest criticism against us,
maybe you’ve heard it yourself,
the most common criticism of Christians is that we’re hypocrites.
We say one thing,
but do another.
We say the Bible is God’s Word,
but we don’t treat it as God’s Word.
They accuse us of our unholy selves which does not align to our holy book.
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This becomes even more true when we start telling people about Jesus.
When we preach the good news to others,
we’re basically welcoming their critical eye on God’s Word based on our own character.
And this is what we want.
We’re asking them to consider Christ in view of how we relate to others.
We’re giving them permission to examine our confession of faith — our life-- how we handle trials and difficulties.
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And we should want this.
Look,
our arguments will not convince people.
But our lives will.
Imagine this:
You are living your life.
Somebody comes to tell you about this wonderful book and God who changed her life.
You wouldn’t immediately jump on the boat.
You would see her life.
examine if her life really changed.
Mhmm has God really done something in her life?
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That’s the opportunity we have.
That is how we evangelize.
Let’s show the world that Christ lives through our lives.
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We want people to see that we are unashamed for our savior Jesus Christ.
But people are not just gonna look at our boldness for Christ.
They are also going to see whether we are greedy,
struggle with self-pity,
anger,
gluttony,
jealousy,
lust,
or disrespect.
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If God has changed our lives,
then we should want people to see how God has changed our lives in all areas.
Not just one.
Our lives need to be cleaned up.
It’s a process,
but we’re moving forward.
Sometimes we’ll fall, but we keep moving.
We keep swimming—just keep swimming. As Dorothy from Finding Nemo said.
We desire to be purified,
because we want people to know about the Purifier,
about Jesus Christ himself.
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It’s been often said,
and I agree with this wholeheartedly.
The church is a hospital for sinners,
not a hotel for saints.
That is true,
but it’s nuanced.
You want the hospital to be effective.
A good hospital provides medicine and a remedy.
There needs to be visible evidence of a cure.
We were plagued by sin,
in our deathbeds,
no hope,
but Jesus —he is our antidote.
He has changed our lives.
Our gospel yes it is for sick sinners,
but it heals them and turns them into healed saints.
And for sick sinners to believe us,
we must preach as people who have been changed.
People who have been healed.
People who have been delivered from our evil ways.
People who were unholy but are now holy.
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If you read Peter’s letter,
which we will do next year,
you will see what a holy life looks like.
He talks about wives of unbelieving husbands.
It’s not through nagging to their husbands about going to church that reveals the light of God,
but it’s by respecting their unbelieving husbands.
He also talks about modesty.
Modesty during Peter’s time was more about not dressing lavishly than not showing skin.
He says that instead of focusing on external adornments or lavish clothing, not that they’re bad,
but instead of focusing on that,
the wives were to adorn themselves with gentleness and holiness.
They were being their true selves instead of allowing the world to tell them what beauty is.
Peter believed that unbelieving husbands would believe if they saw their wives living holy lives.
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Now let me talk more about modesty.
Some of us have grown up with a distorted view of modesty.
We all should be modest.
Male and female.
But,
because expectations of acceptable clothing change from culture to culture,
from century to century,
we can’t have one standard and apply it everywhere.
No one today is wearing the robes that Jesus wore or the dresses Mary wore.
In fact, no man is regularly wearing the suits of the 1700s, some which included skirts.
We are modest in every culture,
but how modesty looks like in every culture is different.
The main thing with modesty is that we don’t want to draw undue attention to ourselves by what we wear or how we act.
Modesty doesn’t mean that we don’t care about how we dress.
It’s actually the opposite.
We care about how we dress so much so that we want to respect others by how we dress.
If it’s disrespectful to dress in a certain way, in a particular culture,
don’t dress that way.
Don’t dress in a way that would make people think that you have a lot of money.
No our dress should be considerate,
and help others think about God.
Our attire should not bring attention to ourselves,
but it should allow for our actions and words to help others see Jesus.
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And this means that we are to be different than others.
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We think,
that people are more likely to believe the Gospel if they think we’re just like them.
We have to do what is hip.
What is trendy.
We have to look like we’re broken or struggling like others.
The last thing we want to do is portray ourselves as either holy or healthy.
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This, my friends, is false modesty.
If God has healed us,
let’s stop pretending to be sick.
If God has healed us,
let’s show the world
that we were once lost,
but now we’re found.
we were blind,
but now we see.
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We’re different.
Christians are different.
And we’re different,
not just to be different.
I know of people who just want to be counter-culture for the sake of being counter-culture.
That’s not us.
We’re different because of our goal.
We have a goal that causes our deeds to be public,
We are different because we want the world to see God’s goodness.
We are windows that display of God’s nature.
Through us, people can see God’s glory.
God’s holiness.
Don’t be conformed.
Don’t stay in what is comfortable.
Break from the futile, vain ways of your past life.
Put away slander, envy, and deceit.
Leave drunkenness, pornography, and greed.
Instead,
demonstrate self-control,
live with a good conscience,
bless others with love,
walk in holiness,
and keep your conduct honorable.
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Living this way comes with a cost.
You can face harm for doing good.
People will mock you.
Tell you that you haven’t changed.
But show them the power of God.
Tell them,
watch and see what God does in my life.
You don’t disconnect from your past friends.
You might still go to their parties,
but you don’t party like they do.
You don’t go along with their wickedness.
They’ll scoff at you.
They’ll be like,
“C’mon, we know you want to.”
You could leave,
disconnect from them if you’re still struggling,
or your stay would unproductive,
but you could also demonstrate that God has done something in your life.
You won’t do drugs or get drunk.
When you know that it’s not the right thing,
then say no to a bachelor party.
But say yes to going out for food or hanging out.
People will see when you refute unethical business practices,
like if you cheat on your taxes.
Even if everybody does it,
they’ll see that you’re different.
You’re holy.
When you abstain from mocking leaders.
Everybody likes to bash on leaders—I get it.
But we show respect.
When you abstain from cheating on tests.
Everybody will do whatever is necessary to do the least amount of work and get good grades.
But we are holy.
We are people of integrity.
We want there to be honesty between the teachers and us.
We don’t want to deceive them.
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When you turn down drugs.
C’mon,
it gives you a high.
But you’re holy.
You want to be able to control your actions,
to be aware of your surroundings,
to be loving,
and productive.
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When you don’t sleep around.
You know,
I interviewed several pastors on ethics,
and this is one area that they kinda gave up on,
since basically everyone thinks sex before marriage is acceptable or even good.
I still believe the Bible.
I still believe that sex is more than a physical activity.
There is a real sense in which sex bonds you with a person that really should only exist in marriage.
You shouldn’t have the type of bond sex creates outside marriage.
And we see a lot of sadness, when we see the bond being destroyed.
Sex brings people together,
but people break that bond,
and degrade sex into just a physical activity.
Sex is beautiful.
But as holy people, we don’t sleep around.
Instead,
we make love as God intended.
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When you refuse to break the law,
we respect and honor the law.
That’s a way we evangelize.
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When you won’t join in endless gossip.
We don’t know the whole story.
We shouldn’t be tearing people down.
We are holy.
We build people up.
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When you miss the Sunday football game,
or another event,
to go to church.
You are holy,
and you value gathering together.
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When you live a holy life,
you will feel like an outsider.
And you do have the option to
bow to social pressures and lose your unique identity as a Christian.
You might think,
if I adapt to my surroundings,
I won’t feel like people are against me.
If I cave on this issue,
maybe gossiping is okay,
people will probably stop ridiculing me at work or at school.
If I act like them,
they'll accept me and our gospel.
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That’s a lie.
And many of us believe that lie.
We buy into the lie that Christianity will be more appealing the more it looks like the world.
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But the more we act like the world, the less Christian we become.
The more we are like the world, the more we lose what makes us unique.
Being holy is central to the Christian calling.
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We’re strangers in this world.
And that’s good news,
because much of this world leads to destruction,
sadness, depression,
and addiction.
We are not of this world.
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And if the people of this world don’t like us,
that’s okay.
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We are reminded that we are not of this world.
We are different.
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You want to know something interesting.
I’m going to put my dad on blast.
In a good way.
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My dad has lived in the States since the 70s.
So for over half of his life.
But still,
he considers himself more of a Mexican than an American.
Every morning, when I lived with my parents,
I saw him watching the president of Mexico, AMLO, give his daily press meetings.
And then,
I would think if people living in Mexico, like my grandpa,
who didn’t watch the daily press meetings.
Hmmmph.
Here’s my dad who has moved to the States and is more interested in Mexico and the politics thereof than a typical resident of Mexico.
Anthropologist have observed this truth:
immigrants and refugees sometimes have a greater love their national identity and a greater commitment to cultural preservation than those who remain in the homeland.
People who leave their home country to be in another are usually more patriotic than those who reside in the country.
Why?
Well it’s because when you have everything stripped away,
you cling to what makes you who you are.
My dad had his culture and his way of life stripped away from him,
so he did what he could to cling on things that reminded him of his home,
of who he is—a Mexican.
And that’s how it works with us.
We are not in our home.
We long for the day when we’ll be with the Lord.
And everyday when we have tension in this world,
we go to the Bible,
we go to prayer,
because we want that taste of heaven.
The foreignness of this world reminds us that this place is not our home,
that we belong to another kingdom.
We are foreigners in this world.
Exiles in this world.
And we will not be like this world.
But we will be holy.
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As I close,
I want to remind you.
We are not holy just so that the world could see.,.
We are holy because God has changed our lives.
And we want to glorify him.
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God used the missionary in Asia,
God could use you.
We must remember that our neighbors are watching.
They know whether our walk matches our talk.
Our extended family, friends, coworkers, and children can all see if your faith is real.
They need to see we’re different, that we’re like our Heavenly Father,
and that our deeds are good.
As we shine before others,
some of them will actually see the light.
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