Talk given by the Revd Helen Wilkinson on 25 May 2008Reading: Ezekiel 36:22-28
There are nearly 600 references in the Bible to being holy. The overall theme of these references is that God is holy and that as his people we are called to be holy too. Here are a few examples: 'I am the Lord who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.' (Leviticus 11:45) 'Present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.' (Romans 12:1) 'Make every effort to live in peace with all and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.' (Hebrews 12:14) 'Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy because I am holy.'' (1 Peter 1:15)
584 references, and yet it's not a topic you hear much about these days. Maybe we don't hear much about holiness today because we don't understand what it's all about. And yet the Bible portrays holiness as a fundamental characteristic of the people of God.
What I have to say is a bit theoretical at first, but if you're not much of a theoretical learner, bear with me, as we'll be getting on to some practical stuff as well. So what does holiness mean?
The Meaning of Holiness
In the Bible holiness means being separate. It's about being so different, that you're distinctive; separate from everything else. So the holiness of God has to do with God's distinctiveness of character. He alone is perfect. He alone is majestic and sovereign; he alone has awesome power. God alone is holy love. In the OT he was so great that he could not be contained by one simple name. He had many names describing his great wealth of character. Overall he was known as the Lord.
In the Bible God's holy nature is gradually revealed in order to show his glory. In the OT, the people of Israel were called to be a holy people. They were set aside by a holy God to serve him exclusively. Their exclusive relationship with the Lord involved a separation from other nations, and consecration to the Lord. Their holiness was to be found in their relationship with the Lord, the Holy One. He sanctified them, made them holy, by rescuing them from the slavery of Egypt, bringing them to himself on Mount Sinai, and giving them his law. Exodus 19:5 tells us that God had singled them out as his 'treasured possession'. He says to them, 'Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.'
God's purpose was that, separated off, at God's disposal, they could demonstrate what it meant to live under the direct rule of God, the eventual biblical aim for all people everywhere. They were to be the means of fulfilling God's promise to Abram that all nations of the world would be blessed. They were called into this special relationship with him so that through them God's character of holy love should be made known. That's why they were told: 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'
Our Holiness Failure
The trouble is, they messed it up! The whole of the OT is a history of failure. It shows us that we can't live up to God's standards by our own efforts. Ezekiel's message spells this out clearly. Look at Ezekiel 36:22. The people of Israel had betrayed God. They had given his character a bad reputation, in the words of Ezekiel earlier on in this chapter, 'they defiled the land by their conduct and their actions.' They had let God down. In v22 God's heartfelt plea is the honour of his 'holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone.' 'I will show', he says, 'the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them.' God's people are intended to be living for his glory. But nothing the Israelites did was glorifying to him. Five times the word 'profaned' is used in this chapter.
Our Holiness Hope
Yet God doesn't give up. He continues to take the initiative to make himself known as the Holy One, taking possession of a people to be his own. 'I will show the holiness of my great name', he says, v23.
How's he going to do it? He does it by sending holiness in human nature that we might understand how we can inherit God's character. In Christ, God comes closer to us in holy love than ever he did at Sinai. When Mary hears from the angel that she is to conceive Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, she is told that 'the power of the Most High will overshadow you, so the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.' (Luke 1:35) Christ's people are called to be holy too, and to reflect his nature by the power of the Spirit. Look back at Ezekiel again - Ezekiel 36:25: 'I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.' In response to his self-revelation he is looking for a people who will live in the light of all that he is showing them of himself.
Our Journey in Holiness
We began to be holy when we joined the Christian ranks. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians (6:11) 'You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.' When that happened - if only for a few seconds - sin, the worship of anything that made us unholy, died to us in that moment. We were cleaned up, to use Ezekiel's analogy. But all too soon love of anything that separates us from God, returns. And we can find ourselves struggling to allow God full control of all that we would worship rather than him. 'Make every effort … to be holy',' says the writer to the Hebrews, 'without holiness no one will see the Lord.' (Hebrews 12:14) Seeing him, we become holier. Becoming holier we see him better. Gradually we learn to love what he loves, to see the world with his eyes, and we will be the people who will bring honour to God's name, to his reputation .
To quote Ezekiel, 'I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you' (36:25-26) We will be different. We will be holy. Ezekiel continues, 'I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. (36:27-28)
The Importance of Holiness
So why is this all so important? Being holy benefits us, and it benefits those around us. Firstly, for us, the more we are holy because he is holy, the closer we come to God. Being drawn into more of a love relationship with God, knowing him more deeply enables us to come closer to living life as it was meant to be lived - life in all its fullness.
Secondly, until we are holy, no one around us will see God. In Newbury today, unless we are living the holy life we're called to, no one will take any notice. Church becomes no more than a lifestyle choice - what I choose to do with my spare time. For anyone to take any notice of the Church today we have to be living holy lives. Because living holy lives is all about showing Christ to people. It's got to be all about him, and not about me.
What does it mean to be the people of God? Our call to be holy comes from the fact that God is holy. But unless I live a holy life anyone I know will have no inkling of what God is really like. But I can show them by my life. If you use the first of the set of five home group notes that come with as part of the SPEAR consultation, you'll be discussing mission and evangelism first. How are we connecting to people? We connect by living holy lives. That's pretty much the opposite of what you'd expect - we tend to think we have to blend in so that we can share the gospel. But Jesus prayer for his followers in John 17 was for us to be 'in' the world, not 'of the world'. (John 17:13-16)
Blockages to Holiness
So what might be preventing people being attracted to Jesus in me? What might be hindering your growth in holiness? In theory as a Christian we have new hearts of flesh. But stony bits can get lodged there, and if we don't take action to allow God to root them out, they can become boulders.
Like anyone else, I don't like going to the dentist. But I went this week, only because I believe that the comparatively minor pain of a check up is better than waiting until major problems have arisen and really painful root canal surgery is required. The dentist prodded around and took appropriate action. What needs to be attended to in our lives today? What stands in the way to your growth in holiness? Consider honestly in your heart some of the following possibilities.
Dabbling - being a spiritual dabbler. Maybe you have a casual or superficial interest in Christian things? Rather like paddling in the water at the seaside - splashing around on the edges instead of plunging right in. Maybe you're afraid of the challenges that being faithful to a holy God will bring? If you stand on the fringes of faith rather than being more consciously committed to Jesus, it's easy to become cynical. In the end, you're simply trying to keep God's holiness at arm's length. One day you will be held accountable for that.
Plateauing - this is when we've stopped growing; we've become comfortable. We don't think we need any more of God. It can be an arrogant to place to be - and remember God hates pride. It's not in his nature, it's not part of who he is. Plateauing means that you aren't going to be bringing glory to God. It's easy to plateau without realising that's where you are. It was the mistake of the Pharisees. They could no longer see the wood for the trees. They'd lost the plot. Is that where you are?
Material Security is another hindrance to growth in holiness. Are you are so wedded to all that this life has to offer on the material front that we can be passing up opportunities to share Christ with others. Sometimes we can be so taken up with our home, our garden looking so wonderful that it leaves us no time to help with someone else's home or garden - perhaps someone who can no longer manage things for themselves? Have you really spared a thought for the Hope 08 projects advertising for help on the notice board? I am not being a holy person when it's all about me, and my comfort, rather than all about him.
Bitterness can form a big stony patch on otherwise fleshy hearts. If life's been tough or full of disappointment then it's easy to think that God doesn't care. But if we allow God to come in and transform our attitude to troubles, we'll grow in holiness. And the resulting transformation will be for my good, as well as for his glory.
And, finally, The Pace of Modern Life results in us not having time for people. How does that reflect the holiness of God? Life is short. Maybe we need to be re-evaluating our priorities. Do we make time for what God wants to do in our lives, at all? Do you find time in the week to pray, to read the Bible, maybe to go for a walk and spend some time alone with God?
Our Response
How are you going to respond to God's offer to give you a heart of flesh rather than a heart of stone? He wants to cleanse us, to sprinkle us with clean water and revive us. He wants his Holy Spirit to transform us into holy people. A.W. Tozer, wrote a number of books in the mid twentieth century that were distinctive in their time because they were so God focused. He wrote this, 'It may said without qualification that every person is as holy and as full of the Spirit as they want to be. They may not be as full as they wish they were. But they are most certainly as full as they want to be.'
Are you going to treat God's offer to transform you, lightly? Remember God's word to you: 'I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.' (36:23)
Conclusion
Being Church is not about where you go, or what you do. Being Church is about who you are. As God's people we need to allow God to live his life in us. Only then will he be glorified. Only then will his name be magnified, only then will we grow in holy just as he is holy. Let's allow God to work in us by his Holy Spirit. Surrendering the stony places of our lives becomes not so much a case of 'what would Jesus do?', as how does God want to live his life through me today? That is what will bring glory to his name, because it's not about us, it's about him. He is holy, and he desires that I be holy too. Don't pass up this chance to re-examine the stony places and ask God to soften any areas that he's identifying. Ask God by his Holy Spirit to reshape your life in holiness for him.
Closing Prayer
We're going to close with this prayer by Charles Wesley:
'O for a heart to praise my God,
A heart from sin set free;
A heart that always feels thy blood
So freely shed for me.
A heart resigned, submissive meek,
My great redeemer's throne,
Where only Christ is heard to speak,
Where Jesus reigns alone;
A heart in every thought renewed
And full of love divine,
Perfect and right and pure and good:
A copy Lord of thine.'
© 2008 Helen Wilkinson
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