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Transformers

08/03/2008 - Holiness, Selected Scripture

In the book UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity … And Why It Matters, well known pastor John Stott says this, "If we belong to Jesus Christ, we have a double calling in relation to the world. On the one hand, we are to live, serve and witness in the world and not try to escape from it. On the other hand, we are to avoid being contaminated by the world.

"So we have no liberty to either preserve our holiness by escaping from the world or to sacrifice our holiness by conforming to the world. Escapism and conformism are both forbidden to us. This is one of the major themes of the whole Bible, namely that God is calling out a people for himself and is summoning us to be different from everybody else, 'Be holy,' he says to us, 'because I am holy.'"

This morning we continue our series called Transformers: changing us … changing the world with a teaching on holiness, because holy is what God is calling us to be. Holiness is the progressive result of God's transforming work in our lives.

The apostle Peter writes about it in 1 Peter 1:14-15, As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, ¹⁶for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

In other words, before you met Jesus you didn't understand what life was all about. You lived in ignorance not knowing the big picture, not knowing the true story of God's love and mercy, of God's grace and his salvation, his rescue mission for this world. And so you just lived for yourselves, doing your own thing. That's what Peter's been talking about in the previous verses.

But now you know the truth. Your minds are alert and fully sober he says in verse 13. So be holy in all you do for it is written, "Be holy, because I am holy."

But what does it mean to be holy? What in the world is holiness? Does being holy mean being religious or being weird? Does holiness mean being perfect? Well, I don't know about you, but I don't want to be religious or weird and I know I can't be perfect. So what is God asking me to be when he says, "Be holy, because I am holy?"

Well maybe this will help. We talk all the time about things that are holy. You may be holding something that is holy in your hand right now. This book is called "the Holy Bible." We teach from this holy book. The land that God gave to Israel, where Jesus walked and talked and did miracles is called "the Holy Land." You can take tours today and visit the Holy Land. The Lord's Table that we're going to observe in a little bit is often called "Holy Communion."

What do all those things have in common? What they have in common is the fact that they're different, they're unique, they're special. That's what the word "holy" means. This book is called the Holy Bible because it's a special book. We believe it's different from any other book that has ever been written. It's the book that God breathed. Its God's words communicated to us through human authors.

The Holy Land is different than any other piece of real estate on the face of the earth. Why? Because it's in the land that God gave to his people Israel. It's the Promised Land which is why the Jewish people don't want to give any of it up. It's special to them. It's unique. It's different.

This table, the Lord's Table, is called Holy Communion because it's a special meal. It's a different kind of meal because it's the meal by which we remember the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. The bread represents his body and the cup represents his blood. It's unique.

So when God says, "Be holy, because I am holy" he's commanding us to be different like he is different. When the Bible says that God is holy it means that God is distinct, he's unique, he's different from everyone and everything else. There is no one like God. As we just sung, "Holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is filled with his glory."

In fact, I think holiness is the defining attribute of God. There is no other God like our God. He is in a class all by himself. In the Bible, the opposite of being holy is being profane. To be profane means to be "common" or to be "ordinary." And God is not common or ordinary. God is different and he wants us to be different too, good different.

Unfortunately, one of the criticisms of Christians today is that we're a hypocritical bunch. We say one thing, but live something else and in that way we're really no different from the world. David Kinnaman, the author of UnChristian writes, "In virtually every study we conduct, representing thousands of interviews every year, born-again Christians fail to display much attitudinal or behavioral evidence of transformed lives. Most of the lifestyle activities of people who claim to be born-again Christians were statistically equivalent to those who claimed not to be born again.

"When asked to identify their activities over the last thirty days, born-again believers were just as likely to bet or gamble, to visit a pornographic website, to take something that did not belong to them, to consult a medium or psychic, to physically fight or abuse someone, to have consumed enough alcohol to be considered legally drunk, to have used an illegal, nonprescription drug, to have said something to someone that was not true, to have gotten back at someone for something he or she did, and to have said mean things behind another person's back. No difference …. Yet our passion for Jesus should result in God-honoring, moral lifestyles, not the other way around."

And he's right. God intends his people to live differently. That's the only way that we can be light in this dark world. But the good news is that we can live lives that are holy, that are unique, that are different in God honoring ways because of the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Easter gives us the ability to live holy lives.

If you have a Bible meet me at Romans 6. Listen to how the apostle Paul connects our lifestyle with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Romans 6:1-2, What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ²By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

Just a few sentences before, in Romans 5:20, Paul had said that where sin increased, grace increased all the more. And so some believers got to thinking, "Hey, if God loves to give grace to sinners let's have a sinfest so that God has the joy of giving us more grace! We get to do what we want to do and God gets the pleasure of forgiving us."

To which Paul says, "Are you crazy? No way! God's grace doesn't give us the license to sin. We don't go on sinning so that grace might increase. Instead, when we believed in Jesus our whole identity changed. We died to sin with Jesus so let's not live in it any longer."

Look at verse 3, Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

In some mysterious way which I don't understand, when we put our faith in Jesus Christ we are baptized or literally "immersed" into Christ's body and are somehow connected to his death and resurrection. We are "in Christ," identified with him. And because of that we are now dead to sin and alive in Christ. We don't have to serve sin anymore. Sin has no more power over us than it has over a dead person.

The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus are more than just historical events that we believe in or celebrate once a year at Easter. They're more than just holy week on our calendars. They are the means by which we have the power to live a new life, a transformed life, a holy life that is no longer dominated by sin.

Paul continues in verse 5, If we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—⁷because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. ⁸Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

One day, Paul says, we will be resurrected like Jesus and given a physical, glorified body like his. But until that day comes we have the power right now to live a new life. We are no longer to be slaves to sin. Our old identify, the old self, was crucified with Christ. So just like sin has no more power over Jesus so sin has no more power over us, no official hold on us anymore. Figuratively speaking, because we are "in Christ" we have been raised from the dead already to live a new life.

Look at verse 12,Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. ¹⁴For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

The power to live a holy life comes from our identity in Christ and our connection to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Let me sum it up for you like this. One day God is going to renew the whole world. He's going to deliver the entire universe from the effects of sin. But until that day comes he's delivering his people from the effects of sin. He's renewing human beings like you and me and transforming our lives from sin and death into a new life in Christ, a life that's holy because of our identification with him. I know that's a mouthful, but I believe it's true.

So what does a holy life look like? What kind of different life does God want us to lead? Well, let me show you one more passage this morning as we get ready for the Lord's Table.

It's found in Colossians 3:1-11 , Since, then, you have been raised with Christ (there's that identification again), set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God (there it is again!) ⁴When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

That's the big picture we're talking about. Christ is our life and one day we will appear with him in all his glory.

But until then look at verse 5,Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. ⁷You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ¹¹Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

In these verses Paul shoots straight about what living this new, holy life looks like. It has to do with our sexuality and how we control our minds and how we handle our bodies. We live in a sex saturated society that bombards us every single day with a profane, casual view of sex that has little or nothing to do with the intimacy and the sacredness for which it was created.

Sex is a wonderful thing. It's a beautiful thing. And I believe that sex was created by God to be the ultimate physical expression of intimacy between a husband and a wife in the context of a loving, marriage relationship. But the more sexual gratification we seek outside the context of that kind of relationship the more shame and alienation we feel and the less able we are ever to connect intimately with any one person in a deeply sexual way.

Some one has said, "Sex is like fire. Within the confines and safety of a fireplace it's a wonderful thing, bringing light and warmth into a home. But outside the boundaries of the fireplace, it can reduce that same home to a pile of ashes in a matter of minutes. It makes all the difference where the fire burns."

A holy life has to do with how we handle our sexuality. A holy life has to do with how we handle our anger. Verse 8 says,Rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices.

Our greatest resource in handling anger and rage is forgiveness, releasing people and ourselves from the need to strike back. We have the power to do that because of our identity with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We can put off the old life like an old piece of clothing and put on the new life like a new set of clothes. And forgiveness is a big part of that new wardrobe.

Look at verse 12, Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. ¹⁵Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

As we said last week, there are a lot of things in the world we can't do anything about except pray. But there is one part of the world that we can do something about, and that's the person called "myself." Personal holiness and global holiness go together. But the good news, the transforming news we have for the world must begin at home, with us.

We can't preserve our holiness from escaping the world and we can't sacrifice our holiness by conforming to the world. So, John Stott says, "We are faced with two cultures, two value systems, two standards, two lifestyles. Which shall we choose? If we are not to be like chameleons, changing color to suit our surroundings, what are we to be like? The answer is that we are to be like Christ. The eternal and ultimate purpose of God by his Spirit is to make us like Jesus Christ."

FOR MORE INFORMATION about Valley View Community Church, feel free to contact us at info@valleyviewseek.org or call 610.631.2707.