TOPIC:‌"Whatever Happened to Holiness?"

 

TEXT:‌I Peter 1:3-16

 

‌‌"But, as He who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of life.

Because it is written, Be he holy; for I am holy" (I Peter 15-16)

 

‌It is my conviction, and I believe it is well-founded, that not much is mentioned in our churches today about the biblical subject of Christian holiness. Holy living is not one of our favorite themes when it comes to preaching. Today it seems that everybody wants to be happy, but very few people desire to be holy. And there is a difference! Happiness is what we are on the outside, but holiness is who we are on the inside.

 

‌Let's admit it: Holiness is a beautiful thing to observe. David the Psalmist declared that we are to "Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness" (Psalms 29:2). He not only declared it, but after his fall into terrible sin David passionately desired it. Listen to his prayerful cry: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalms 51:10). Now such beauty of holiness comes from Christ. And we as believers are to be progressively becoming Christlike in everything we do. The Apostle Paul speaks of it in these words: "And all of us...can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him and reflect His glory ever more" (II Corinthians 3:18, NLT).

 

‌May I therefore propose this question for a few moments of meditation: Whatever happened to holiness? Let us consider it in light of the words of Peter "be ye holy in all manner of life," ever realizing what Charles Erdman states in his commentary, "Holiness is the supreme theme in this particular paragraph."

 

I.

 

‌Consider, to begin with, the MEANING of holiness that must be UNDERSTOOD. Peter writes in verse 16: "Be ye holy." Holiness! I wonder how many of us really understand what this word means. What is even much worse, there are too many of us who really don't care whether we understand it or not.

 

‌But for those who do care, let me say this: We shall never begin to know the real meaning of holiness as used by the writers of the Word of God unless we come to grips with the fact that it has absolutely nothing to do with the doctrine of sinless perfection or the eradication of our old sinful nature. It has nothing to do with conforming to a code of religious deeds or the non-observance of worldly taboos. To be sure, there are the extremists who in the pursuit of this experience advocate absurd and fanatical ideas and practices in the name of holiness. They teach that it means freedom not only from the temptation to sin, but from the possibility . . .