Holiness is one of the unchangeable attributes of God and a part of the Christian life, but it is probably not what you think it is.
In God’s case, it refers to his absolute purity and separation from everything impure or defiled, which includes sin. According to Jesus, only the pure in heart, a characteristic of holiness, will see God.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8 (NASB)
Anyone who seriously follows the Lord understands that separating ourselves from that which defiles the heart, mind, and spirit is an important part of the discipleship journey.
Paul wrote…
Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God. 2 Corinthians 7:1 (NLT)
What exactly is holiness? If we fail to properly answer this, we may pursue the wrong thing.
Defining Holiness
Through the centuries, we Christians have wrestled with what it means to be holy, consecrated, pure in heart, or set apart to God. What does it look like? How do we achieve it?
Ideas about holiness can be broken into two main sub-categories: separation FROM and consecration TO.
The “Separate FROM” category is quite often what is understood about holiness. The Judaism of Jesus’ day largely focused on what not to do – foods to avoid, people and things not to touch, labor on the Sabbath that was prohibited, and sins to avoid. Surprisingly and provoking much anger among the Jewish leaders, Jesus taught that what goes on inside a person is more important than external observances. He taught that the foods we eat and ritual hand washing, for example, do not affect our relationship with God.
Then Peter said to Jesus, “Explain to us the parable that says people aren’t defiled by what they eat.” 16 “Don’t you understand yet?” Jesus asked. 17 “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. 18 But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. 19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. 20 These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.” Matthew 15:15-20 (NLT)
Here Jesus highlighted separation from that which breaks our communion with God, which is an important part of holiness. We are unable to properly serve two masters.
Being holy means we must leave behind that which detracts from our relationship with God and pursue that which enhances it. Jesus seemed to be more interested in what it means to be consecrated TO God and his will.
That is the only explanation of why he left heaven and came to earth to die for his enemies as God’s sacrificial Lamb. He certainly did not have any sin from which to separate himself.
Jesus’ challenge was to consecrate himself to God’s will, no matter what the personal cost.
During a particularly dark time in the history of the West, the monastic movement was a reaction to society’s and the organized church’s corruption. Adherents to the holiness FROM philosophy fled from the world to pursue their version of contemplative holiness in isolation. On the positive side, God used the monastic movement to preserve much of what was in danger of being lost, including the Bible, but the down side was that it was built upon a defensive “fortress” mentality.
Sadly, any time the church turns inward, the Great Commission tends to fall to the bottom of the priority list.
Thankfully there were exceptions to the rule. Some monastic orders were quite evangelistic.
Going farther down history’s road, members of the Methodist “Holy Clubs,” who were definitely evangelistic, were committed to asking one another rigorous questions that probed into what sins its members had struggled with during the week. On the surface this sounds like a very aggressive way to promote holiness through accountability, but I don’t recall Jesus ever doing this with his disciples. Do you? Although confession can be a good thing, it is decidedly focused on separation FROM, not consecration TO, and I find very little in the New Testament to indicate it was a common practice in the early church. The one place it’s mentioned is in reference to healing.
Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven. 16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. James 5:14–16 (NLT)
Just to be clear, holiness viewed as separation FROM sin and the evil world system is certainly a valid focus for holiness. Serious followers of Christ realize that Jesus holds his followers to a high standard of righteous living, one which only the Holy Spirit can accomplish in and through us.
However, this same Paul knew that focusing on separation FROM sin and all that defiles people lends itself to the bondage of becoming overly sin conscious. Instead of the victorious and joyful experience of living by grace, it tends to promote what some have called a joyless sort of “sin management” and legalism.
This is where some groups go off track by making all sorts rules for what is forbidden. Focusing on managing our sin will likely lead us into the gloom of despair, the coldness of cynicism, or nauseating hypocrisy, any of which demoralizes God’s people and repulses those whom we have been commissioned to reach with the gospel.
To reinforce this point, Paul wrote in Romans Chapter Seven:
And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. Romans 7:18-21 (NLT)
Been there. Done that. Got the T-shirt. No longer interested…
If our version of living for Christ is built around a quest to manage our sin, we likely will have little motivation to share this so called “good” news with others and invite them to join us in our miserable struggle.
People on the “outside” looking at our misguided way of pursuing Christ will likely decide that they simply are not interested. How many people have rejected the gospel because the church has demonstrated a joyless version of what it means to follow Christ?
The Gift of True Holiness
Legalistic sin management finds its cure in receiving what Jesus already accomplished for us.
There is only one perfect person who ever lived: his name is Jesus. He served his Father with perfect joyful obedience. His life was not a struggle to obey his Father. Jesus’ heart is reflected in these words by the psalmist.
Then I said, “Look, I have come. As is written about me in the Scriptures: 8 I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart.” Psalm 40:7-8 (NLT)
As the Second Adam and the progenitor of the rebirth of humanity, Jesus lived the way God originally intended, in complete reliance upon, partnership with, and obedience to the Creator of the universe.
He earned a glorious reward for his obedient life and sacrificial death. In doing so, our Lord paid the price for our sins and mistakes, our horrible failures at life the way God intended.
When Jesus rose again victoriously, he freely provided for us his perfect standing and relationship with God, which is based on his already having lived a perfect life, thus ending forever our need to strive for sinless, mistake free living.
The Bible calls this justification. Through faith in Christ, we have been given a right standing with God. We are perfect and without fault in his sight.
Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. Romans 5:1-2 (NLT)
If we lose sight of this, we easily descend into a graceless kind of living that is based on our own vain attempts to make ourselves holy. It’s not going to happen..
A big secret to victorious living is focusing every day on what Jesus did for us and who he is for us and in us. A great spiritual truth is that we are transformed into the image of what or whom upon which we focus our attention.
But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 (NLT)
We were never intended to focus on what is wrong with us in a misguided attempt to perfect ourselves.
All that does is strengthen what is wrong. (The strength of sin is the Law… 1 Corinthians 15:56)
God wants us to focus on our Savior and Lord, trusting in his finished work, his grace, and the indwelling Holy Spirit to transform us from the inside out into his likeness as we consecrate ourselves TO him and his mission.
Such a focus will move us from sin consciousness to God consciousness. It will move us from sin avoidance to the pursuit of God. It will produce an inner joy that is contagious and set the stage for an outward focus upon what is important to God.
Love, the Maturity of Holiness
Have you ever wrestled with these words from Jesus?
But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:48 (NLT)
We have already seen that he did not intend for us to become self-absorbed sin managers. His burden is easy, not the heavy weight of legalism.
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT)
What then did Jesus mean when he told his followers to be perfect?
The context of this saying was a teaching on loving our enemies.
You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:43-48 (NLT)
This teaching strikes a fatal blow at the fortress mentality. Allow me to reword what Jesus said: “If we only want to love and hang around other Christians, how do we reflect God’s love?”
Our English word “perfect” comes from the Greek word teleios, which literally means “having reached its end” or “complete” – in other words, “maturity.” We can think of this kind of perfection as fruit that has ripened and come to maturity. Such fruit is ready to be eaten and reproduce itself. When we are “ripe” or mature in the Spirit, we are ready for the Master’s use and attractive to those who are open to the gospel. We are capable of reproducing ourselves in new disciples, thus fulfilling the Great Commission.
The kind of perfection of holiness God wants from us can be summarized as a coming into a maturity of love, which is the result of God’s Spirit transforming us on the inside.
Pursuing love is even more challenging than trying to manage our sin, but without the demoralizing effect. Pursuing love is other focused, outward looking, and God’ glorifying. It motivates us to venture out of our Christian church fortresses into the world.
Here is my working definition of true holiness.
Holiness is a deep inner call from the Holy Spirit, drawing us toward worship of God and glorifying him through expressing his loving heart to the people of the world.
Separated to the Gospel
Listen to the Great Shepherd’s heart.
When he [Jesus] saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few.38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” Matthew 9:36-38 (NLT)
Love is what gave Jesus eyes to see people in their true condition. Love is what propelled him out of the comforts and glories of heaven into this sin wracked world to “seek and save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)
Love will open our eyes to the true condition of those around us. It will lead us to prioritize seeking first God’s kingdom and righteousness. It will prod us out of our lethargy to go after harassed and helpless sheep and spiritual orphans, many of whom live in our own neighborhoods.
Jesus specifically asked us to pray for more laborers to be sent into the harvest. He did not ask us to pray for more intercessors, leaders, teachers, or worshipers, as important as these ministries are. He commanded us to ask the Lord of the Harvest to raise up people with a shepherd’s heart who will leave the comforts of home to do the work of evangelists and disciple makers in their neighborhoods, cities, and even in the remotest parts of the earth. This is a big part of what it means to be consecrated to the gospel and to the Lord.
Are you willing join Jesus in this prayer? Are you willing to be the answer?
May we grow to be so in love with Jesus and so separated to the gospel that everything else comes up a distant second place in our hearts. This is the true meaning of holiness.
Prayer
Lord, forgive us and deliver us from the apathy and lukewarmness of casual, comfortable Christianity. Infuse and overwhelm us with your love for the lost, people who have not yet discovered the amazing love of the Good Shepherd. Prod and propel us out of our cozy cocoons into the adventure of sharing the good news with neighbors, coworkers, and even strangers. Amen.
