YOU SHALL BE HOLY (Part 5 of 7)

I. What is Holiness?
II. Holiness is a Behavior Not a Covering
III. Teaching Holiness Through the Laws of Cleanliness
IV. The Consequences of Not Being Holy
V. The Challenge for the 21st Century Church
VI. Living as a Holy Person
VII Do Not Wear Clothes of Wool and Linen Woven Together

THE CHALLENGE FOR THE 21st CENTURY CHURCH

“He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him,” (Eph 1:4)

If holiness involves being separate from the world, it becomes difficult to find holiness in many believers within the greater body of the church. Most believers are too assimilated into the world with few discernable differences from the world. If I asked the typical believer, “what makes you different from the world,” how would they respond?

Some believers might speak of their good deeds. While mitzvoth earn merit with the Father, there are many non-believers that perform good deeds for their fellow man. Even corporations perform their “civic duties” and movie actors and royalty are often depicted helping others in need. Theses acts alone do not make a person holy, especially if the balance of an individual’s life is worldly. Some people might say that they go to church or read scripture, but unless those actions are accompanied by a change in “behavior” (1 Pet 1:15), to quote Peter, even good deeds do not make a person holy.

The constant challenge among believers in the Church is to have an impact on the world, without the world having the greater impact on the Church. If the Church fails to maintain separation from the world, then the Church itself will ultimately assimilate into the world and cease to be a separate and unique entity. Therein lies the great danger. The present day Church is too much like the world. Believers too often go to the same places, laugh at the same jokes, watch the same worldly movies, maintain the same level of tolerance to drinking, accept immodest dress codes, and attend questionable social events.  Remember the warning of the apostle John, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world,” (1 John 2:15). What makes any believer different ?

Fifty years ago, the more conservative elements of the Church of Christ generally prohibited drinking, forms of dancing, immodest clothing, inappropriate social gatherings, and the like. The modern Church mocks that type of behavior as outmoded relics from an uptight generation. Laugh as we may at those “hedges,” as the Pharisees would call them, these restrictions kept the greater body of believers from quickly dissolving into the greater mass of humanity, assimilating believers into the body of non-believers. What can we point to today that we can call a hedge?

My brothers and sisters, the church is in great danger of disappearing by assimilating into the world. This process may reflect the beginning of the great apostasy spoken from the mouth of Paul, a time when the “man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship,” (2 Thess 2:3-4). The “man of lawlessness” is a descriptive name indicating that this man will not follow the law or the commandments, nor will he permit anyone to follow the commandments. The commandments separated the people of God from the rest of the world keeping the nation of Israel and the Church holy and unique, a distinct people for the LORD God. This man’s desire is to do away with the things that separate making all people the same. In this condition, NO ONE WILL BE HOLY.

Remember that “The Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good,” (Rom 7:12). In other words, the Law has the power to make us holy, in that, the obedience to the Law separates us from the people who are not obedient to the law, i.e., the lawless. For this reason, Paul warns that in the latter days many believers “will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires and will turn away their ears from the turn and will turn aside to myths,” (2 Tim 4:3).

A recent article from MarketWatch.com entitled, "10 Things Generation Y Won’t Tell You," lists the general beliefs of children born to baby boomers. Many of these beliefs are not conducive to holiness. For examples, Millennials are said to value “equality and diversity,” which means that all lifestyles and attitudes are acceptable. This blending of all lifestyles runs counter to a position calling for separation, or holiness, and accepts gay marriage, abortion, and other social positions that run counter to scripture. Millennials also tend to be a generation of people that dress and act any they want because, “This is me, and I will go out and represent me true to who I really am.” In other words, Millenials do not feel compelled to any higher standard than the one they personally establish. Many Millenials find the standards and teaching of the church at large, weak as it often is, as too restrictive and intolerant. The expectation of the apostles was for believers to maintain a lifestyle separate from the world. This is reflected in the words of Peter asking the rhetorical question,

“What sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God,” (2 Pet 3:11).

So what sort of people are we called to be?  People whose lives reflect “holy conduct and godliness.”

(to be continued - Scott)