ABSENCE OF HOLINESS - Part VI

“THUS YOU ARE TO BE HOLY TO ME, FOR I THE LORD AM HOLY; AND I HAVE SET YOU APART FROM THE PEOPLES TO BE MINE.” (Leviticus 20:26)

For many, when we say someone is holy, they picture a person walking around with a halo over their head. For others, who desire to be holy, they are looking for a “feeling of purity within their spirit or a clean conscience.” The Oxford Languages Dictionary defines holy as: “dedicated or consecrated to God…”. Thus we could, without harming the meaning of the above verse, write: “So you are to be ‘dedicated’ to me…”. The adjective of dedicated is: “(of a person) devoted to a task or purpose; having single-minded loyalty or integrity.” So for us to be holy is not so much about how we appear (halo) or how we feel, but what we do. We should be unwaveringly loyal, faithfully true, dyed-in-the-wool, through and through, wholeheartedly single-minded, enthusiastically eager, keenly in earnest, zealously driven, ardently passionate, fanatically hard-working, blood bought children of King Jesus! And you know what? That’s exactly what He wants from us.

Now, here’s the really great news! He says the same thing to us in the above verse. “For I the Lord am ‘dedicated’ to you; and have set you apart from all other peoples to be mine” (Harris paraphrase). In other words, ‘He is unwaveringly loyal, passionately zealous, wholeheartedly committed…to us as his blood bought children.” He isn’t saying, “Do as I say, not as I do.” He is saying that everything I want from you I am going to give back to you in spades.

Holiness is not just appearance or feeling but action. Another way of saying it is, “How do you spell holiness? It is spelled A.C.T.I.O.N.” When we give our hearts (action) to the Lord we become followers (action) of Christ. We’ve all seen it on TV or in movies, especially when they show bloopers. A board that they snap before the scene is shown. It is called a clapperboard or a slate board, and among other things, it’s used to make syncing audio and film easier and to identify takes and scenes. Then the Director calls out “Action.”

When we give our hearts to Jesus, and make him Lord of our lives, there should be an immediate role reversal. From that point on our lives should sync up with our confession. The god(s)s we once served – Satan, self, money, lust, anger, pride, the love of this world, etc. – are replaced by the one and only true God. At that seminal moment, there comes a clarion call from the ramparts of heaven – “ACTION!” Just as I spelled “holiness” – “action” – I now spell “action” – “OBEDIENCE.” Holiness = acts of obedience.

Jesus said, “If you [really] love Me, you will keep and obey My commandments” (John 14:15, AMP). If you obey someone you either start doing something or stop doing something. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are called to stop living the way we used too and start living the way He did. In 1896 Charles M. Sheldon wrote one of the greatest Christian classics of all time, “In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do?”. He began writing the book for his Sunday night services, releasing one chapter a week. He challenged his congregation to not do anything for a whole year without first asking themselves the question, “What would Jesus do?” If all of us as Christians would ask ourselves the same question every day, not for just a year, but for the rest of our lives, Christianity would be a whole lot more appealing to those who are lost. Would Jesus say that? Would Jesus watch that? Would Jesus listen to that? Would Jesus participate in that? Would Jesus entertain those thoughts? Would Jesus give in to that desire? Would Jesus pray for that person that did him wrong? Would Jesus forgive that person? Would Jesus feed, clothe, give money, to help those people? Would Jesus visit that person in the hospital, nursing home, or in prison, to encourage them and pray for them?

Is that asking or demanding too much of us? Jesus didn’t think so. “Hence, when He [Christ] entered into the world, He said, Sacrifices and offerings You have not desired, but instead You have made ready a body for Me [to offer]; In burnt offerings and sin offerings You have taken no delight. Then I said, Behold, here I am, coming to do Your will, O God—[to fulfill] what is written of Me in the volume of the Book.” (Hebrews 10:5-7, AMPC) At the last supper, just before departing to Gethsemane, he told his disciples, “I’ll not be talking with you much more like this because the chief of this godless world is about to attack. But don’t worry—he has nothing on me, no claim on me. But so the world might know how thoroughly I love the Father, I am carrying out my Father’s instructions right down to the last detail.” (John 14:29-31, MSG) That’s how the world will know that we love Jesus – when we carry out his commandments down to the last detail. Someone once said that people today want to know God’s will, not in order to do it, but in order to consider it.

What is your initial reaction to the word “commandment?” Is it positive or negative? As humans, we tend to view commandments as something negative. We have to do something whether we like it or not. In the military soldiers have to follow orders, and if they don’t, they can be court martialed and thrown in the brig. That mentality can carry over to the commandments in God’s Word. Our attitude can be “we have to keep his commandments”, rather than viewing them as something positive. What we must realize is that God’s commandments are positive, and that they are accompanied by promises and blessings. God doesn’t want us to obey him because he’s the boss. He wants us to obey him so that he might bless us and give us his exceedingly great promises. The greatness of God’s commandments are not binding, but freeing.

Here are some examples of that truth. In John 15:9-10 Jesus promises us that if we obey his commands we will abide in his love, his joy will remain in us, and our joy will be full. In other words we will experience an intimacy that is like no other, with the one who created us, and we will be filled with what the apostle Peter describes “…as an inexpressible and glorious joy” (1 Peter 1:8). Nehemiah gives us another benefit, telling us that “the joy of the Lord is our strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). Obedience = intimacy, joy, and strength.

We are here today because Noah obeyed the Lord and built an ark, and in so doing he and all of his family were saved. If we obey him, we too can be the reason all of our family is saved.

Abraham is a great example of what can happen when we obey the Lord. "And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me." (Genesis 22:18, NLT) Obedience = exponential blessings.

Moses obeyed the Lord and as a result the Israelites were delivered from bondage. If we obey the Lord’s commandment to be his witnesses, many will be set free from slavery to sin.

Because Paul obeyed God, God used him to write almost a quarter of the New Testament.

Most of the commandments that Jesus gave in Matthew 6 in the Sermon on the Mount are immediately followed by promises or rewards. Beginning in verse 25, and then in verses 32-33, he tells us, “…do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear… For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

1 John 4:17-18 says, “This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” Here’s another definition. It applies to the word “perfect.” It means among other things, ‘whole,’ ‘full,’ ‘mature,’ ‘supreme,’ and perhaps ‘dedicated.’ If in this world “we are like Jesus,” then we have no fear of the future, no matter what it brings, and ultimately, we will live with him in heaven throughout eternity. Obedience to Christ does not come without a cost. We are called to de-throne self, crucify the flesh, take up our cross daily, and follow him. In return, he promises us rewards that are out of this world. “He whom the Son sets free is free indeed.” (John 8:36)