YOU ASKED FOR IT
STRAIGHT LIVING IN A CROOKED WORLD
Sunday May 28, 2006
Scripture Reference: 1 Thessalonians 5:23
Intro.
A. Last week we began our look at the subject of Holiness. This was another one of these topics that was simply to large for me to fully preach in just one message so I broke it down into two parts. As I also said last week this is one of those subjects that deserves a series of its own. Actually I did preach a series on Holiness about seven years ago but maybe this is God’s way of preparing us for another series down the road. Because this message is in two parts we need to take a few minutes and review what we learned last week. This review is not just for those who were absent last week but for those of us who were here as well. If I were to ask those of you who were here last week what the points of my message were I doubt that many of you could tell me and that is because we all struggle with our short term memories so let’s take a moment to review.
1. The first main point I made is that Holiness is not optional. I spoke to you about this issue of customizing our Christian faith and how detrimental this attitude is to our spiritual lives. Holiness cannot be considered an option in our spiritual lives that we can use or not use to customize our faith. We saw in the Bible where it tells us that without holiness we cannot see God, so holiness is not optional but essential.
2. We also learned that God commands us to be holy. The Bible says several times, “Be holy because I am holy.” This is not something that is up for discussion or debate. It is absolutely essential to us.
3. We also discovered that what God calls us to be He also enables us to be. We cannot be holy by our own personal efforts that would be impossible. But because this is something God wants in us it is also something that He has provided for us to obtain.
4. Then we learned that holiness is God’s will for our lives. We often wonder, “What is God’s will for me?” Well here is our answer at least in part. God wills that we be holy. Hebrews 13:12 tells us that Jesus suffered outside the city walls that he might make us holy through his blood or through his sacrifice on the cross. A tremendous price was paid so that God’s will could be fulfilled in your life.
B. The second main point I shared with you is the HOW? If holiness is not optional and it is God’s command and will for our lives then the next obvious question is how do we obtain this thing that God wants for us? I really did not answer that question last week but I will today. What I did last week was to share with you a very important point in understand why we need to seek this holiness or sanctification. Let me share this with you again because it is so critical in this whole discussion.
1. We believe that sin is twofold. There are the sins we commit and then there is the sin nature, the bent we have in our hearts towards disobedience to God. When we first come to Christ or as we might say, when we are “Born Again”. God forgives all the sins we have committed. All the things we did in disobedience to God’s will for our lives are totally wiped away. That is great news isn’t it? But there is still more good news because all of us who have experienced this forgiveness of sins know that there still remains this pull within us back towards those things we know are not what God wants for us. Some believe that this is simply our lot in life that we can never be free of this tendency towards sin everyday in word thought and deed. I believe the Bible teaches us clearly otherwise. That Jesus died to set us free not to give us temporary relief.
2. Now this is a topic that deserves a sermon all its own but I cannot do that today but what I want to do is answer that HOW question. How can we obtain the holiness of heart and life that God says is His will for my life?
II. HOW CAN WE OBTAIN HOLINESS?
Trans. I will offer to you today four necessary elements for obtaining this holiness God commands.
B. Four Necessary Elements For Obtaining Holiness.
Before I give you these four elements I want to point out an important point in my wording. Please notice that I said these are the four elements in “obtaining” holiness not “attaining” holiness. What is the difference? The difference is that attaining is something we work to receive where obtaining is something that is received. We can no more work or perform our way into holiness than we can work or perform our way into salvation or being Born Again. The holiness of heart that God desires for us is received much that same way as when we first came to Christ. So let me give you those four elements.
1. Step One: Desire Jesus said in Matthew 5:8 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. This is very basic and it certainly is not profound but if we do not desire to be holy then it is never going to happen. [] I told Sue the other day that I had finally had it with my weight. I injured my leg back before the marathon and since the marathon I have not been able to run on the street hardly at all and even running on a treadmill hurts so I have to stop until it fully heals. This means my weight has been going up and finally I said I can’t stand the way I look or feel so I have to take action. One of the concerns I have as a pastor is not so much that people will be out willfully committing great sins. My greatest concern is that as God’s people, as the church we will become comfortable with the status quo. That we will say in our hearts, “Pastor why do you push us to read our bibles and memorize scripture?” “We are not bad people; we are not out committing horrendous crimes.” “We go to church pretty regularly and we even go to small groups so why call us to more when things are comfortable where we are?” Let me share with you a quote from Eugene Peterson who gave us The Message translation of the Bible. In a book he wrote entitled “A Long Obedience In The Same Direction” he said, “It is not difficult in our world to get a person interested in the message of the Gospel; it is terrifically difficult to sustain the interest. Millions of people in our culture make decisions for Christ, but there is a dreadful attrition rate. Many claim to have been born again, but the evidence for mature Christian discipleship is slim. In our kind of culture anything, even news about God, can be sold if it is packaged freshly; but when it loses its novelty, it goes on the garbage heap. There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier Christians called holiness.” If we are OK with spiritual mediocrity and the status quo then we can never expect to see God’s will of holiness in our lives.
Trans. Here is step two.
2. Step Two: Choice You may have the desire to be holy but that will not be enough unless you are also willing and ready to make the choice to take the necessary steps. I said a moment ago that I desire to lose weight. That is a great desire but I am going to get fatter unless I make some necessary and important choices in my eating habits. You may desire a better marriage. You may desire a better job. You may desire a better retirement plan but what good will any of those desires get us unless we are willing as well to make some necessary choices to make these things happen? Do you desire to be holy? The will you chose to hear and accept what God is saying to you today about this through me?
Trans. Let me give you another necessary step.
3. Step Three: Consecration This is a big word that may not mean much to you now so let me see if I can help you understand what this step means. Remember that I told you earlier that there are two works of grace that God desires to perform in our lives. The first is the forgiveness of the sins we have committed. When to make this choice in our lives we say that we confessed our sins and repented of our sins. It means that we admitted that we were wrong and God was right and we said in repentance that we were sorry for what we had done. For God to do what He wants to do next in us there has to be this thing called consecration. Let me see if I can explain this in a way that even I can understand it. I figure that if I can understand it then anyone can.
a) When I repented of my sins and asked God to forgive me and come into my heart I was saying to God that I am sorry for the wrong things I have done. When I come to God in consecration what I am actually doing is giving up what is good. I am saying to God that I don’t just want forgiveness I want Him to have total control of my life, even of the good things in my life. When I consecrate my life I am saying to God, “God you can have my fishing poles.” My fishing poles are not evil, they are not sinful, but if they come between me and my relationship with God then they have to be sacrificed. This thing that I need to consecrate to God may not be a thing like my fishing pole. It very well could be an attitude.
b) [] Let me share with you my testimony of how God sanctified me and made me holy.
c) There is an old song that expresses this idea of consecration very well. It is called “Take My Life and Let It Be.” Let me read you the words.
Trans. I told you there were four steps to receiving this thing called sanctification. Here is step four.
4. Step Four: Faith Do I have the desire for Holiness? Am I ready to make the choices I need to for God to do this work in me? Am I really ready to consecrate my life totally to Him? If these things are true then all that is left for me is to accept by faith what God said He wants to do and wills to do in my heart, RIGHT NOW! How can I know God has sanctified me? Will a little bird fly down and land on my shoulder to confirm the work? Will tears fall from my eyes like rain from a thunderstorm? Will I get up from my knees to discover a halo hovering above my head? No, probably none of the above. Even though we may have intense feelings when God sanctifies us we dare not depend on how we feel to confirm God’s work in our hearts. If I had faith to believe that God could forgive me of the sins I committed then I can exercise that same faith to believe God can remove the sin nature from my heart as well. What I do believe is that there will be a witness in our hearts to what God has done. Listen to Hebrews 10:14-15 NLT For by that one offering he perfected forever all those whom he is making holy. And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so.
Trans. Now I am sure that you will still have some questions so here is what I am going to do. I am going to begin a new Sunday School class that will focus on this one topic, holiness and entire sanctification. If you would like to be a part of this class please let me know so I can buy the material you will need to be involved in this class. Now since I cannot go into more detail right now about what I have already shared I want to use my final minutes to talk about the effect that holiness will have on our lives.
III. WHAT WILL HOLINESS DO?
First of all let me say this.
A. Holiness Is Not Our Final Resting Place.
1. IN my opinion one of the greatest pitfalls in the holiness churches such as ourselves is that we look at holiness or entire sanctification as the final step in our spiritual lives. That once we are sanctified we have now arrived and it is a down hill ride from here. I can assure you that nothing can be further from the truth and nothing will be more damaging to your relationship with God either. Listen to what the apostle Paul had to say about his own life. Philippians 3:12-13 NLT I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,
Trans. Rather than holiness becoming the stopping point in our lives what it will actually do is enlarge our capacity to know God better.
B. Holiness Will Enlarge Our Spiritual Capacity.
1. If what I said before about holiness removing our desire for spiritual mediocrity then holiness of heart will increase our desire to be godly people. [] Let me illustrate this for you. How meaningful and enjoyable do you think my marriage to Sue would be if I was just 75% committed to the relationship? I mean 75% is a lot. What if I was 80% committed or 90% committed or even 95% committed. Not only is my marriage more enjoyable when the commitment is 100% but it is easier as well. It is hard to have a meaningful relationship when your commitment is not 100%. Which is easier, walking fully upright or walking bent over? This is a no brainier right? And yet we do this very thing in our spiritual lives. We try to live full and abundant lives for God when we are just 90% committed and it becomes nothing but frustrating and quite honestly it is a pain.
Trans. Here is something else you need to know.
C. Holiness Is Purity Not Maturity.
1. God can purify your heart in an instant but you will not be instantly mature. Let me use another illustration. [] On November 22, 1975 I married Sue Wooley. When our pastor said, “I now pronounce you husband and wife.” We could not have been more married than we were at that point. Now do you think that when we walked out of that wedding ceremony that we knew everything there was to know about being married and that our marriage was then all that it could be? Of course not! Our relationship then was nothing like it is today. But what my marriage to Sue did was allow me the opportunity to get to know her better and discover all the great things she could add to my dull dismal life at the time, (Ha-Ha).
Trans. Here is one more thing I want to share with you.
D. Holiness Will Produce An Ever increasing Christ likeness.
1. How do you think people see you now when they look at you? What are the words or thoughts that come to their minds when your name is brought up?
2. Friends there should be no dichotomy in our lives. What I mean by that is that what we are at church ought to be what we are at work or home or at play. We should never allow ourselves to say things like, “This is work and that is church.” One of the biggest complaints of those who do not go to church is that those who do are hypocrites. They are one way at church and another way when they leave church. IN case you didn’t know that is NOT HOLINESS! A holy heart is holy 24/7.
3. I love this story I heard about Billy Graham. Billy Graham was playing golf with jack Nicholas, Gerald Ford and another famous golfer. When the round was over another pro golfer asked this famous golfer what it was like to golf with Billy Graham. The golfer replied, “I don’t need Billy Graham stuffing religion down my throat.” So he asked him, “Was Billy a little rough on you out there?” To which the other golfer replied, “No, he didn’t even mention religion.” What happened, why was this golfer so offended by Billy Graham? Do you recall what I said in the very first message on Holiness? I told you that sin cannot stay in the presence of holiness. Either the sin will be destroyed or it will have to leave the presence of holiness.
LIFE APPLICATION
A. Today you and I stand right now in the presence of a Holy God. Can I ask how you feel right now in the presence of His holiness? Does your heart leap with joy or are you feeling like Adam and Eve that you need to hide yourself from Him because you know He will not be pleased with what He sees in you?
1. I believe I have good news for some of you today. You do not have to run and hide. You do not have to feel ashamed. You too can join those who are glad to be in the presence of His holiness. All that is required of you is taking four necessary steps. The same steps I told you about earlier. Desire-Choice-Consecration-Faith.
2. Would you be willing to take the first step and step out from where you are seated and come down here to this altar and ask God to do in your heart today what you now know he wants to do and is ready to do if you will ask him to? Why wait another minute? God is ready if you are.
