11.12.23 Willisburg Bulletin
Growing in Holiness
How important is holiness? Well, the word is used over 700 times in the Bible! It is defined as being sanctified, set apart, consecrated, saints, or devoted. Devoted further means having a loyal, enthuastic, passion for a dedicated purpose. This passion is a burning from within. The type of fire that is from the core/ heart. The type of burning fire that are hot coals and stays burning through the night. So how do we receive this holiness? We are called to be holy when we decide to follow Jesus (2 Timothy 1:8-9; Ephesians 1:3-5; 1 Peter 1:13-16; Colossians 3:12-14). Since He has called us and has our purpose laid out for us, we have to take deliberate action to connect to our calling. This involves our actions, attitude, speech, service, everything we do. Our purpose is to be holy as He is holy, but how do we do? That’s what you’re asking right? Well, Paul writes to the Ephesians explaining his why as he tells them about his faith declaration. Read Ephesians 1:3-14. His deep zeal for God is so evident in his service to God. He explains how he knows God loved us so much that He had a plan for Paul before the foundations of the world, which was to be holy. Paul further explains that he is faithful to God because He saved him from physical death and spiritual death. And to give us proof that He has a plan for the holy ones, He provided deity as a pledge for our inheritance. Reread that. Think about that. He gave us DEITY – the Holy Spirit, who works with us and right alongside us in our walk as a Christian. So, have you ever written your declaration of faith? Why do you serve God? (the core reason – the reason that gets you fired up to serve God – it should be a reminder of our purpose of being holy) If you think about Paul’s situation, did God build a bridge for Paul or a barrier? Paul was a killer of Christians and what did God do? So when we sin, what does God do for us? HE BUILDS THE BRIDGE!
Jesus’ Example
Jesus demonstrates His holiness – His dedicated purpose toward us – through His love (actively seeking the wellbeing of others), devotion (sincere dedication to purpose), steadfastness (unwavering in the holy calling), humility (emptying self), obedience (willfully giving up everything for the purpose), and contagiousness (safe vibe). Read Luke 7:36-50. In this scripture, we see Jesus actively seek this sinner out (who probably had not been noticed for the good she was doing. From this example, we can see that humility is required to grow in Christ and actively watching our brethren to notice them will lead to our steadfastness in being holy. Through our love and contagiousness, we will draw people ever near to our Lord. Being contagious is the key to evangelism and it must be because we are seeking Jesus ourselves and not just on a checklist rampage. We start to get spiritual arrogance when we try to check off our acts of service because we start looking at ourselves thinking we can’t be wrong and saying, “look at all I’ve done for the Lord”. We can also see how Simon (a Pharisee – who knew the law and customs, and had a religiously strong status) was too focused on his status, causing a barrier, rather than building the bridge between this woman (who everyone knew was a sinner) and Jesus who was there and able to save. So are we building a bridge with those even outside our normal circle or are we building that barrier by our arrogance and lack of diligently seeking others goodwill and growing in humility in Christ?
Guard Against Worldiness
We must let go of the “avoiding worldliness and I’ll be holy” mindset
and start working on holiness. We must reach out to Jesus with one hand and grab others with the other hand. We must BUILD THE BRIDGE! Let them reach Jesus through you! We have the touch of our Master’s hand, making us so valuable. Use it to touch others!
(read the poem handout)
So, in conclusion, holiness is
given by God (our calling), it’s demonstrated by Jesus, and it functions as a bridge or barrier with others. It’s up to us to either build the bridge between others and Christ or build a barrier between others and Christ.