2016 Holiness Series #7: Two Kinds of Holiness

This is the last article in our series on holiness, so I would like to finish up by talking about the two different, and equally important, forms that holiness can take: Personal Holiness and Social Holiness.

These two kinds of holiness are based on the Great Commandment, or the Great Commandments, since Jesus said there were two of them: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39)

Personal holiness, also called by Wesley “works of piety,” is about loving God.  Personal holiness can be divided into two parts.  First, it is about practicing the spiritual disciplines like prayer, worship, and Bible Study.  We could summarize this with the word “piety.”  Second, it is about living in obedience to the moral demands of the Bible which includes, but is certainly not limited to, sexual purity, honesty, and healthy habits.  We could summarize this with the word “purity.”  (In the early days of Methodism Methodist were not allowed to drink alcohol and one had to sign a pledge of total abstinence in order to join a Methodist church.  Later, only clergy had to.  Now, unfortunately in my opinion, we do not seem to care about that anymore.  However, Methodists are still encouraged to practice moderation.)

Social holiness, called “works of mercy” by Wesley, is about loving our neighbor.  Like personal holiness, it is made up of two parts.  First, it is about giving money, resources, time, and effort to help those in need, like in Matthew 25, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, caring for the sick, visiting those in prison, the list could go on and on.  We could summarize this with the word “compassion.”  Second, it is about using our vote and our voice to advocate in society for what we believe is right.  We could summarize this with the word “justice.”  (We have to be careful with this last one, because it is very easy for the church to get tangled up in worldly politics and for one part of the church to start taking sides against another.)

Often all these parts work together.  Take for example the Temperance Movement which led to the Prohibition of alcohol in the 1920’s.  Methodists were a huge part of that movement.  The reason Methodists participated in that movement (justice) is because they believed that drinking alcohol was morally wrong (purity) and that it often caused poverty, sickness, and crime (compassion).  So, out of concern for purity and compassion, they used their votes and voices, to advocate for the justice issue of Prohibition.

Both types of holiness, and all four areas, are necessary to the Christian life and are necessary in the church if we are to accomplish the mission God has given us.  So, let us be holy people.  Let us practice personal and social holiness.  Let us all be people of piety, purity, compassion, and justice.

2016 Holiness Series #6: How to Get Holiness

By now you might be saying, “OK, Pastor Brian, how do I get holiness?”  Here’s some advice…

·         The first step is admitting that holiness is necessary.

We need to understand that a relationship with a holy God requires holiness on our part.  The Bible says that without holiness no one will see God. (Hebrews 12:14)

Also, in the midst of an evil world, we need to realize that simply “believing in God” or “going to church” is never going to change our lives or change the world.

·         The second step is admitting that holiness is possible.

God calls us to be holy and promises to make us holy.  If holiness is not possible, God would not do that.  God does not command us to do what he will not make possible for us.

·         The third step is to devote yourself to being holy and seeking holiness.

o   Sanctification (being made holy), like Salvation, is a gift of God by grace received through faith.

Sanctification is not something we do; it is something God does in us when we surrender ourselves to God in prayer.

Sanctification begins the moment we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  At that moment, we are forgiven of our past sins and, in a sense, we are already holy.  Remember from the first article, holy means set apart for God; that is what happens when we get saved.  If we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are already holy, we just don’t always act like it.

o   Sanctification begins in the heart.

Many people get hung up on the way to holiness by focusing on their outward behavior, things we shouldn’t do or words we shouldn’t say.  Holiness, however, begins in the heart.  We can have a pure heart, “our heart can be in the right place,” even if our words and actions don’t always come out perfect.  Over time, however, if our heart is right, our words and actions will follow.

o   Sanctification is both a crisis and a process.

As I said before, sanctification begins at salvation, but it grows over time.  Sometimes we have a big spiritual experience and we take a big step in holiness, other times we grow in holiness by little steps every day.

o   Sanctification is about what we do as much as what we don’t do.

Sometimes we think of holiness as a list of things not to do.  However, it is actually more about what we DO.  The spiritual disciplines of worship, prayer, Bible reading, giving and serving in the church and the community, are what helps us to grow in holiness.

I do not claim to be holy, at least not yet, but I am on my way.  I have never been to Dallas, but I can look at the map and tell you how to get there.  I just happen to be the guy holding the map of God’s Word.  I hope you will join me on a journey to holier and healthier and happier living.

2016 Holiness Series #5: John Wesley and Christian Perfection

            You may not remember, but we are in a series on holiness.  We have dealt with some other matters for the last several months, but now we are ready to take up again the issue of holiness.

            You may need to look back at previous posts, to remind yourself of what we have covered.  First, we defined holiness not as primarily being good, but being wholly devoted and completely set apart for God.  Then, talked about holiness in the Old Testament and how God created people to be holy, set apart for him, and how he called the nation of Israel to be holy.  Next, we looked at the call to holiness in the New Testament.  Finally, we saw how the early church maintained its holiness under pressure of persecution by the Roman Empire and how holiness was maintained by the monastic movement, monks and nuns, in the midst of the corruption of the church of the Middle Ages. 

Now, we turn our attention to John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, and his view of holiness.  Wesley took seriously the call to holiness found in the Bible and all the verses we have looked at in previous articles.

Never one to beat around the bush, Wesley wrote and preached a sermon with the provocative title: “Christian Perfection” which you can read at http://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/the-sermons-of-john-wesley-1872-edition/sermon-40-christian-perfection/.  Wesley, however defines Christian perfection very carefully. 

First, Wesley says that Christians are not so perfect as to be free from imperfections that arise from illness and disability, ignorance, error, or temptation.  As human beings, we will always be limited in these ways.  All of this is a result of what is called original sin, the sin and brokenness we are all born with and that is in the world we are born into.

Next, Wesley talks about how Christians are perfect.  According to Wesley, each and every individual Christian can, by the grace of God working in us and by the power of the Holy Spirit, avoid all willful sin.  To understand this, we need to understand Wesley’s definition of sin, which may be different than the one many of you are carrying around.  For Wesley, as sin is a willful violation of a known law of God.  In order to be a sin, an action has to both be known to be wrong and done on purpose. 

So, here is the good news: You cannot sin by accident.  The bad news is that this raises our level of responsibility and our need for God’s forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ.  We all have physical and mental limitations, but those limitations are not sins. We all make mistakes, but mistakes are not sins, and sins are not mistakes.  We all face temptations, but temptations are not sins, unless we give into them.

Next time we will talk about how to get to holiness, or at least begin the journey to it. 

2016 Holiness Series: #3 Holiness in the New Testament

            I know what you’re saying after the last article, “OK, Pastor Brian, I know that the Old Testament is all about God’s holiness and following all those rules about holiness and relating to God, but in the New Testament it’s different. The New Testament is all about grace, not holiness, right?”

            Right! And wrong!  The theme of God’s grace, God’s desire to forgive people when they mess up and admit it, is found in both testaments, but so is the theme of holiness.  If you stop and think about it, God’s grace doesn’t make sense without God’s holiness.  Without holiness, grace means that God forgives us for doing things that really weren’t that big of a deal in the first place.  That’s not very impressive.  But when we understand God’s holiness we realize what a big deal sin is and what a big deal grace is.

            In fact, if you are thinking that the pressure lets up a bit in the New Testament, check out these words from Jesus.

You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28

            Jesus said in Matthew 5:48, quoting the Old Testament passages I quoted in the last article, “Be perfect (holy) as your heavenly Father is perfect (holy.)”  In 1 Thessalonians 4:3 Paul says that it is the will of God that we should be sanctified (made holy.)

            Perhaps the following passage from 1 John gives us the best summary of the New Testament view of sin, forgiveness, and holiness.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 1 John 1:8-2:2; 3:9

What John is saying here is basic theology. 

1.    Everybody has sinned. 

2.    Nobody has to sin.

3.    Forgiveness is always available.

4.    The child of God will not continually, intentionally, and willfully sin because God is working their hearts. (NOTE: Do not miss the nuance here.  When we sin it does not mean the game is over; we simply go back to the top of the list.  Sanctification is a process of being changed by God from the inside out.)       

2016 Holiness Series: #4 Holiness in Early Church History

Once we get out of the New Testament holiness was not a difficult concept for early Christians to embrace.  This was because the Christians were under nearly constant persecution for the first three hundred years.

            Christianity was birthed in the Roman Empire.  The Romans did not much care what you believed as long as you participated in the civil religion of worshipping the Emperor.  Everywhere the Roman Empire spread conquered people would simply add worshipping the Emperor alongside worshipping whatever local gods they happened to have.  This worked fine, expect for the Jews, of course.  The Jews were eventually given a special exception from Emperor worship.  Since Christianity began as a sect of Judaism, it enjoyed this exception.  The very first Christians were persecuted by Jewish leaders and the Romans largely ignored, what was to them, a Jewish dispute.

            All that began to change with the Jewish revolt which culminated in the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 A.D.  After that, Jews, and by extension, Christians, no longer enjoyed the protection they had under Roman law.  Christianity became an illegal religion.  Those who were caught in the act of Christian worship, or suspected of being a Christian, would be brought in and told that if they would worship a statue of the Emperor they would be allowed to live, if not, they could have their property seized, and often they were tortured and usually killed.  Usually these executions took place in very painful and public ways, crucifixions, impalements, being burned alive, or being fed alive to wild animals.  However, all of this was a very good thing for holiness, because, as you can imagine, there were not many people in the church who were not taking it extremely seriously.

            Then the Emperor Constantine came to power. In 313 A.D. Constantine issued the Edict of Milan ensuring Christians the freedom to worship legally.  Eventually, Constantine would make Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire which would give rise to what we know as the Roman Catholic Church.  However, the influx of the rich and powerful into the church since it had now become “popular,” and the involvement of the church in the politics of the Empire, led to a lack of holiness within the church.

            In response to all this many Christians sought a purer and holier way of life away from the temptations of Roman world and monasticism was born.  The first monastics, or monks and nuns, were people like St. Anthony, who lives alone in the desert.  Soon these hermits, as they were called, and those who came to learn from them, formed themselves into little communities of holy living.  It would be the monastic movement, through later figures like St. Francis, that would keep the tradition of holiness in the church alive for over a thousand years through the fall of the Empire and the turmoil of the Dark Ages and the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church.

            Of course, in some ways monasticism itself became corrupt and legalistic, which led a monk named Martin Luther to lead a protest against the abuses and excesses of monasticism and the Roman Church.  This protest became the Protestant movement of which we are a part and which has its own rich history of holiness in many forms.

We will be taking a couple of months off from this series to have some articles in May, June, July, and August talking about General and Jurisdictional Conferences.  We will return to this series in September to discuss John Wesley and his unique contribution to the theology of holiness. 

2016 Holiness Series: #2 Holiness in the Old Testament

            In our second article in this series on holiness I would like to lift up some ideas about holiness from the Old Testament.

            If you have ever tried to read through the Bible beginning at Genesis, and if you are like most people, you probably got to the “begats” in Genesis chapter five and gave up.  However, if you pushed through Genesis 5 things got better and you got to read about Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.  But then you got to Exodus and Leviticus and had to read, in painstaking detail, about how the Tabernacle was to be constructed.  We all love our church buildings, but imagine sitting down in the morning with a cup of coffee and reading devotionally about how many bricks, of what color, went into each wall and how the mortar was mixed, and on and on.  If you get through that, you get to read how the priests were to sacrifice animals in details that rival your very worst memories from high school biology. (Hope your class was not right after lunch!)

            You may have found yourself wondering, and I have been asked as a pastor, “What is all of this stuff about?”  It is about God’s holiness.  You will remember from the first article that “holy” essentially means “different” or “set apart.”  The message that God is trying to send to the Israelites, and to us, is,

“I am holy. I am different from you. I love you and I want to be near you and I want you to worship me. But, just so you remember who I am there are going to be some rules about how you worship me. I am going to have you build a beautiful tabernacle and dress your priests in fine robes and I will give you beautiful ceremonies so that your worship of me will inspire awe and not ‘aww.’”

            In my opinion, the problem with the church today, and for a long time now, is that our ideas about God and our worship have been too much “aww” and not enough “awe.”

            The holiness of God is a major theme in the Old Testament, and in the whole Bible.  Another major theme is the holiness of God’s people.  God wants his people to be holy.  God says, in Leviticus 20:26, and other places, “Be holy because I am holy.”

            God says we should, and can, be holy. If you are one of the determined few who press though Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, at the very end of Deuteronomy, after reading through all the commandments and all the rules and regulations, you will find this, in Deuteronomy 30:11 & 15, “Now what I am commanding you today (everything in Exodus-Deuteronomy) is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach…  See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.”  God offers us a way of life called holiness. The choice is ours to choose life, God’s way of life.