ABSENCE OF HOLINESS (Part II)

ABSENCE OF HOLINESS (Part II)

To anyone reading this I would like for you to answer this question: Do you see yourself as living as holy as God would have you to live? If we are honest with ourselves, I don’t think any of us could answer in the affirmative. I don’t say that to put a guilt trip on you. It’s been said that the largest room in the world is the room for improvement. The closer I get to Christ and the more I am in His Word, the more I’m inclined to cry out like Isaiah, “Woe is me…”. The closer I get to Christ, the unholier I feel. A good illustration of what I’m trying to convey is the example of being in a darkened room on a bright, sunshiny day. If you open the blinds, all of a sudden you will be aware of dust particles floating in the air. That’s what the Word of God does when we let its light shine into the deepest, darkest recesses of our heart. Things which we were unaware of that are not pleasing to God are exposed, causing us to cry out for His cleansing.

Before answering the question above it’s necessary to define what the word holiness means. I like this definition I found on the website mattayars.com: “…holiness first and foremost is “otherness.” The seventh day of creation is holy because it is different, set apart from the other six days. It is distinct. Furthermore, applied to both God and people, to be “holy” means to be set apart, or different. God is holy in that he is utterly different from the false gods of Israel’s neighbors, and his life is different from human life that is characterized by an ongoing cycle of conflict and death.”

I want to now build on something I mentioned in Holiness (Part I). I believe the pendulum has swung from an emphasis on “holiness” in the mid-20th century, which was inordinately focused on outward appearance and actions rather than the condition of the heart, to the preeminence of grace. So much so, that the idea is conveyed that it doesn’t really matter very much how we live - God will forgive. Couple that with a very common phrase heard in churches today, “When you receive Jesus as your Savior He forgives your past, present, and future sins, and there isn’t anyone or anything that can snatch you from His hand.” I’m convinced this is a recipe for disaster in the life of the church when it is not coupled with sound doctrinal teaching on living a holy life. It’s a perfect opening for Satan to quote Scripture just as he did to Christ when He was in the wilderness being tempted (tested) for 40 days and 40 nights. It is especially effective for him to quote Scripture out of context to new Christians, and sad to say, to a multitude of Biblically illiterate “mature” Christians who populate the pews. It then becomes easy for the enemy to suggest to the uninformed, “Don’t worry about it, you are already forgiven. Or don’t worry about it, you are saved by grace, not by works,” thus implying they have carte blanche to do as they please in their life in Christ.

You might accuse me of carrying this thought to the extreme but, it is now common in the church for “unmarried believers” to sleep with, or even live with their significant other, to drink like a fish and cuss like a sailor, without feeling any remorse or conviction of sin.

My response to those who would say that those who do such things were never truly saved is that the church is still guilty of neglecting to confront them with the truth. We need to be like Spurgeon who said it plainly: “Christ will be master of the heart, and sin must be mortified. If your life is unholy, then your heart is unchanged, and you are an unsaved person. The Savior will sanctify His people, renew them, give them a hatred of sin, and a love of holiness. The grace that does not make a man better than others is a worthless counterfeit. Christ saves His people, not IN their sins, but FROM their sins. Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.” I admonish those reading this if you do not have a hatred for sin, if you tend to treat sin lightly, to sincerely evaluate your walk with, and relationship with, Christ.

The flip side of this coin which says, “they were never truly saved” is “we have to give them time to grow up in Christ.” We cannot be like the church in Corinth to which Paul wrote these incredible words: “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife” (1 Corinthians 5:1). I believe we are on the cusp of Christ’s imminent return. If ever there was a time for teaching on holiness, it is now. Many churches have discipleship classes for new converts. What better teaching could there be to start their walk with Christ than to teach them that we are to be imitators of and participators in His life? If we do not walk in His steps and live the life He lived, then we will be on the broad path to destruction.

When’s the last time you heard this Scripture quoted in church? “Go in through the narrow gate. The gate that leads to destruction is broad and the road wide, so many people enter through it. But the gate that leads to life is narrow and the road difficult, so few people find it” (Matthew 17:13-13, CEB). Who said this? Jesus! Later on, in Matthew 24:37-39 Jesus said, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”

My impression is that many think we are going to waltz into heaven, no effort on our part really needed. Yes, we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone. Yes, it’s not by works of righteousness that we are saved. But it is imperative that we balance these truths with what Jesus said. The apostle Peter backed up the words of Jesus in 2 Peter 2:5, AMPC when he wrote, “And He spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven other persons, when He brought a flood upon the world of ungodly [people].” Peter Goeman on his website (petergoeman.com), gives a conservative estimate of the world’s population at the time of Noah at around 3.9 billion. Did you get that? Only 8 people survived the flood.

What was Noah? He was a preacher of righteousness, something which is also greatly lacking in the American church today. Many pastors’ messages are on felt-need topics, such as how to deal with anger, anxiety, depression, fear, stress, loss, addictions, etc. I think it would be far more beneficial for true believers to re-evaluate their understanding on righteousness, holiness, and coming judgement. “Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed [my suggestions], so now, not only [with the enthusiasm you would show] in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, [with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ)” (Philippians 2:12, AMPC).

Paul later wrote to the Galatians, in chapter 6:1: “Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path… ‘. There is a reluctance by many to speak to a brother or sister living in sin for fear of offending them. You can be sure that Satan will also use these situations to convince us that if we say something to them, they may leave the church, thus leaving them little or no chance of ever being brought into relationship with the Savior. He will also be quick to suggest that this is the responsibility of those in leadership in the church, but Paul makes it clear that it is the responsibility of every believer, as long as they are living a godly life themselves. Pastors, especially of larger congregations, cannot possibly know their parishioners as well their congregants who do life with them on a daily or weekly basis.

I realized I need a 3-sided coin because I have left out Satan’s favorite tactic. Here it is: “Judge not lest you be judged.” This is his go-to for Christians who feel led to gently confront another “believer” who is living in sin. “Who are you to say anything to them? You have your own issues. Don’t be a hypocrite!” Don’t fall for this lie. You will be in good company if you, relying on the Spirit of Christ within you, follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit. I say this because of what Paul says in verse 3: “For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this” (emphasis added). Evidently Paul must have misunderstood Jesus’ admonition to “judge not lest you be judged.” Lest you misunderstand me – I think not.

In part 3 on the topic of holiness I hope to begin the discussion on how to live out a life of holiness. I would like to leave you with these two Scripture verses to meditate on. “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price…” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, NIV).

“…this is the basic law of the Temple: absolute holiness!” (Ezekiel 43:12, NLT).