Sunday, February 24, 2019

Becoming Holy

As you know, I have a thing about church words. It’s not that the words themselves are bad. No, they’re really good and helpful words. It’s just that, all too often, the words are not understood as well as they need to be. As a result, they are used thoughtlessly. And the power of the words is lost. And there is much power in words, the power to change lives.

Today, we’re going to look at a word that is included on my list of church words: holy. We’re going to take a look at what that word actually means and we’re going to use this bit of Scripture to help us do it.

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12.14


We start, of course, with a definition. Again, I do this because so much confusion and misunderstanding is simply a matter of unclear definitions. So, what’s a good definition for ‘holy’? What would it mean to be a holy person, the kind of person that this Scripture is calling for? What people usually think of here are words like ‘purity’ or ‘sinlessness’ and the like. And thinking in those terms is understandable. Those words do express something true about being holy. However, I’d like to offer something from a somewhat different perspective. And I want to do that to add some clarity. So, here’s the definition that I’m going to be using today. Being holy is simply a matter of being the kind of person that you were created to be.

So, consider Adam and Eve before the fall. Were they holy? Yes. Obviously, they were being the kind of people that they were created to be. And what about the saints in the age to come? Yes, we also will be holy, the kind of people we were created to be. We will be like Adam and Eve before the fall.

So, do you see what our Scripture text is calling for? It’s calling you to strive to become a certain kind of person, the kind of person that you were created to be. That’s one facet of what the call to become holy is about.

I think that you’d agree that you’re not as holy as this Scripture is calling for. You’re not the kind of people that you were created to be. For you to arrive at that goal there need to be some changes. There are certain Godly qualities that need to be added to your life. And, at the same time, there are other sinful qualities that need to be removed from your life.

Let’s spend a little time considering these qualities. First, the qualities that need to be added.

In a previous sermon, I referred to something Peter wrote, something that fits here.

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 2 Peter 1.5-7

As usual, there are lots of things going on here. Here’s one key thing that I would like you to notice. Peter calls you to add to your faith, to supplement it. That means that faith alone is not enough. Now, there are all sorts of qualifiers to add to what I just said, but that doesn’t change the basic point. Faith alone is not enough. And it’s sad to say but there are so many who think that it is. The Apostle Peter disagrees.

Peter provides a list of qualities that he wants to see added to the faith of the saints that he was writing to. There’s virtue. That means no cutting corners when it comes to the ethics of daily living. Then, knowledge. There’s always more to learn. Self-control is an especially interesting trait in light of where we are as a society. Next is a word that is fast becoming a favorite of mine when it comes to church words that need to be replaced: steadfastness. In normal English, that’s patient endurance. Please be aware of the assumption here. There are difficulties that Christians need to endure, work through, and not try to avoid. Then, there is godliness. This is not about religious habits. It’s about communion with God. And then, the last two: brotherly affection which is about community within the Church, and love which is about caring for the neighbor outside the Church.

That’s quite a list. But bear in mind that when it comes to lists in the Bible, they are almost always merely a sample of many items that could also be included. That means that there are actually many qualities that need to be added to your faith.

Now, why is it important for you to add these qualities, to supplement your faith? Does God want you to be an over-achiever? No. He wants you to become the kind of person that you were created to be. Peter’s list is a partial description of holiness. So, when the author of Hebrews calls for the pursuit of holiness, Peter’s list contains some of the qualities that he has in mind. These are some of the qualities that you need to add to your life. And as you work your way through other Scriptures you will find other qualities that you also need to add to your life. There is much work to be done.

There is, of course, the other side of the coin: the qualities that need to be removed from your life. These are qualities that interfere with you becoming holy, qualities that are by no means consistent with being the kind of person that you were created to be. And, as you can imagine, there are lists of these qualities in the Scriptures as well. Here’s one from Jesus.

For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. Mark 7.21-22

And again, we have quite a list. It contains some things that people can see you do. But it also contains some things that are hidden within, things that no one but God can see. But all of them, as well as all the other things that could be added to this list, undo holiness. They make you into someone very different from the person that you were created to be.

And Jesus really wants you to remove these qualities from your life. He was pretty clear that this needs to be a priority. Listen to what He said.

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. ​And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. Matthew 5.29-30

What’s a good word that describes this text? How about ‘violent’? Tear out your eye! Cut off your hand! Jesus actually said these things to some people. And He’s saying it to you right now. I think that it’s safe to say that He is very serious about you getting rid of certain qualities. I think that it’s safe to say that He is very serious about you working at holiness, at becoming the kind of person that you were created to be.

All of that is to give you a sense of what our text means by this word holiness. And it is something that the Spirit calls you to strive for.

That, of course, sets up this question. What if you don’t strive for holiness? What if you don’t supplement your faith? What if you don’t gouge out and cut off sinful qualities?

Our text is quite clear about such failures.

Strive … for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

No holiness means no heaven. Those who fail to work at this will not be saved. I realize that those are strong words. But how else can we understand ‘without which no one will see the Lord’? Strong words, yes; but, especially these days, words that need to be said more frequently.

But having said them, I also want to stress something about holiness that is too often forgotten. What is it that the Spirit, the one who calls for this striving - what does He want for you? He wants you to flourish as a whole person. That is why He tells you, ‘You really need to work on this. You really do.’ And He assures you that the effort will be worth it. That’s why He wrote this bit of Scripture. It’s not about being super-spiritual. It’s about being whole, being the person you were created to be.

To be sure, it is important to be aware of the consequences of failure. But it is at least as important to be aware of the consequences of success. Imagine becoming a whole person, someone who is truly and fully human. That’s what you should think about when you hear the Spirit’s call for holiness.

All of this leaves us with a necessary question. What are you to do now? I’ve explained something about the biblical notion of holiness and the call to strive for it. Now what?

If this were the days of my youth, the ending of a sermon like this would be obvious. And I suspect that some of you will remember hearing something like what I am about to describe. What we were told back then was that we need to have some sort of plan, some strategy to put into action, so that we could strive for holiness. There were different options for this. It might include things like spending time memorizing some Bible, with a stress on particular passages that spoke about holiness. It might include getting an accountability partner, someone to confess your failures to. It might even include spending time fasting.

Since I made use of Peter’s list, I could tell you to start by picking one of those qualities he mentioned and work on that. Then, when you have progressed enough with that one, choose another. And then, on the negative side, I could tell you to choose some nasty sin in your life and work on getting rid of it. And I might tell you to make use of the options that I’ve already mentioned, Bible memorization and the rest. But as you can tell, I’m not going to tell you to do any of those things.

And, of course, I have reasons why I won’t. For one thing, that strategy doesn’t work. Oh, there may well be some change, but it will be superficial change. But that’s not the same as becoming the kind of person that you were created to be. That requires deep change.

Secondly, when you boil it all down, those plans for change are ways for you to save yourself from your sin and make yourself holy. And this is how you would be able to tell that that’s what those kinds of plans are actually about. If you were to pursue that sort of plan, your hope would be in yourself. The promise of that way of living is this. If you work hard enough, you will succeed. Becoming holy is just a matter of trying hard enough. And that is a lie.

When people do that sort of thing, there are two possible results. Any success results in pride. ‘Look at what I did!’ Any failure results in shame. ‘I must be a terrible Christian.’ This kind of strategy is based on the lie that you can save yourself.

There is a third reason why I’m not going to tell you to put such a plan into effect. It isn’t how the Father instructs us to live. It doesn’t match His plan to become holy. And that, of course, is the most important reason I won’t preach that kind of plan.

So, there must be another way to work at this, to strive for holiness. And, of course, there is.

Here is the key. Success in becoming holy is not something that you can do. No amount of American can-do spirit will do the trick. It’s just beyond you. Instead, becoming the people you were created to be is a work of the Spirit. And while for some people saying that is just about trying to sound religious, for others it is something that gives hope.

Remember, Christian hope is waiting for God to keep a promise. Here is just one of His promises.

…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy…. Ephesians 5.25-27

The goal of the Gospel is for you, His Church, to become holy, to become the kind of people you were created to be. This is not something that you bring about. How could you? But it is something that the Father has promised. That’s why Jesus has come. That’s the goal. And He promises that He will do it in you, His Church.

So, once again I urge you: believe the Gospel, believe and relax. Those other methods simply add stress and anxiety. Don’t fall for that. Instead, believe the Gospel. When it comes to becoming holy, it really is a matter of grace.

But as I’ve said before, this does not mean that there is nothing for you to do.  But your hope is not placed in doing those things. Your hope is in the Spirit, that He will powerfully use the things that you do.

So, back to our practical question. What do you do now? Or to re-phrase it, what does believing the Gospel look like here? The answer isn’t complicated. First, you pray. It almost always starts with that.

I have a bias when it comes to what to pray. I like something David prayed. It seems so appropriate here. I offer it to you as a suggestion.

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! Psalms 139.23-24

When you pray this, you’re asking God to do the heavy lifting. Praying this is asking Him to lead the way. It’s depending on Him to answer the question, ‘What do I do next?’

So, when you pray,

see if there be any wicked way in me

you’re asking for the Spirit to point out your sin, your wicked ways of living.

When you pray,

lead me in the way everlasting

you’re asking the Spirit to guide you into the way you’re supposed to live: holy living.

So, the first request is about removing certain qualities and the second request is about adding certain qualities. You pray this in faith. That is, with the expectation that the Spirit will actually lead you into holiness.

So, prayer is the first thing you do. And if you don’t like to use David’s prayer, fine. Make up your own. But I will say that I offer up David’s words as a part of my daily prayers, and I find that so very helpful.

Then, there’s the second thing that you are to do. And that is wait. Wait for the Spirit to respond to your prayer. And He will. The Bible has too many promises confirming that. I find this such a comforting thought. He will respond. Growth in holiness will happen. So, after you pray, wait for Him to act.

Now, when He does respond, just do what He tells you. If He points out some sin that has got to go, deal with. If He points to some virtue that you need to add to your faith, do that. And, of course, the key to doing these things is more prayer. So, for the sin that is identified, ask for the grace to reject it and to reject the things that lead up to it. For the virtue to be added, ask for the grace to add it, to establish it as a new way of dealing with life.

You just might want to ask for some of the other saints here to pray for you in these things. And if you’re too embarrassed to mention the particular sin or virtue, just tell them that you’re wrestling with some sin or striving for some virtue, and you need their help in prayer. That will work.

I want you to know that what I’ve described to you isn’t something that I read in a book somewhere, and I’m just passing it on to you. This is what I do. And God has blessed me as a result. I am being changed. I want you to be changed also.

So, what have I done this morning? I’ve done what I always do. I’ve told you to believe the Gospel. I’ve told you to believe the part of the Gospel that talks about holiness, about becoming the kind of person that you were created to be. I’ve told you that doing this is really important and that refusing to strive for this holiness is fatal. And that, of course, makes sense because refusing to strive for holiness is refusing to believe the Gospel. I’ve also told you that when you believe the Gospel, God promises holiness. That’s why Jesus has come, and that’s what the Spirit is up to.

There will be nothing good where there is no believing. But where there is believing, there will be more than enough grace to take even the worst sinner and make him into the most glorious saint, someone who has become what he was created to be.