The Beauty Of Holiness

THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS

“Give to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”

I Chronicles 16:29.

As we begin a new year, one excellent resolution that every child of God needs to make is to make this year a year when we will "worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness."

As the priests would minister in beautiful priestly attire, David calls all Israel to “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”

Exodus 28 describes the beauty of the priestly garments worn in the service of the Tabernacle. Today’s text is from a psalm of David giving thanks to God for the return of the ark to the Tabernacle.

What constitutes the “beauty of holiness?” Holiness is defined as “that quality of life evidenced by godliness, purity and consecration to God.”

I. THE BEAUTY OF A HOLY LIFE

“That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy.” Colossians 1:10-11

II. THE BEAUTY OF HOLY SPEECH

“Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” Colossians 4:6

The psalmist stresses the importance of our speech in Psalm 19:14 when he wrote: "Let the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength [literally: Rock] and my Redeemer."

III. THE BEAUTY OF A HOLY DISPOSITION

We should pattern our ways after our Lord Jesus Christ. Consider:

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Philippians 2:5-8

Strive to be like Jesus. Jesus was:

Morally pure: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15.

Gentle and humble: “gentle and humble in heart.” (Matthew 11:29)

Compassionate: “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” Matthew 9:36

Forgiving: “When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, ‘Woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” John 8: 10-11

IV. THE HIGH PURPOSE OF THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS: THE WORSHIP OF GOD!

Without holiness, there can be no acceptable worship of the Lord. Worship of God is the purpose of our very existence.

True faith results in true worship. There can no more be true faith without holiness anymore than there can be fire without heat or water without hydrogen.