 |
 I
started preaching a message last Sunday on Holiness, and will continue
that message tomorrow morning. We live in a day where the church by and
large has thrown holiness out the window. I feel that this is largely
because of false conceptions of what holiness is. In last weeks
message, I primarily dealt with what holiness is not. In short;
holiness is not a list of do's and don'ts. In the past, holiness was
basically things that man could measure to make himself feel that he
was measuring up to God's standard. The huge problem here is that it
was not "God Standard" but rather "man's standard." So we came up with
things like, "don't wear shorts, women don't wear pants, makeup,
jewelry, nylons... men could not wear a short sleeve shirt (could
someone please tell me what woman was turned on by a mans arms so much
that he could wear short sleeves?) could not grow facial hair, we did
not chew gum, drink Coke from a bottle, did not dance, did not go to
movies... yada, yada, yada.
This is NOT about holiness. This
was a list of rules or laws set up by people with a pharisitical
mindset, so that they could look down their collective noses at anyone
else who was not living as "holy" as they were. It's hogwash... and
that is being gentle!
Living a holy life, a life set apart
from God... according to scripture will draw others to God, not chase
them away. In all the years of "keeping the lists", how many times have
you ever seen someone look at a woman with her hair piled high, not
wearing make up or jewelry, and someone else look at them and say,
"yeah, I that looks like a great way to live, I want to become just
like them? But real holiness living should stir something in people to
the point that when they view our lives, they inwardly desire what we
have. THAT, my friends, only comes from a heart issue. Holiness is an
inward discipline that reflects itself on the outside. When people view
us, living in the world, but not of the world, in such a way that we
don't bend to temptations, we don't explode with anger, ... when our
life mirrors the nature of Jesus... THAT is holiess. This is what God
not only asks of us, He DEMANDS it.
6:02 PM
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