Holiness

I have to wonder if we truly long for holiness in the way that accurately reflects what we profess to believe; to fervently go about living in a manner that is true to the both the promises of God and the profession of our own faith in those promises. Now, I make this statement knowing full well that many may begin to respond with claims of fundamentalism and maybe even legalism, but please hear me out. I am not saying that one must live out life in a holy way so that God can reward said person with grace, forgiveness, etc. etc. What I am hoping to discuss is the genuine reflection of the reality that is professed with the full understanding that we operate in a world not as it should be nor as it someday will be.

This discussion comes from a few issues that have been on my mind lately. First, a recent bible study on the resurrection and how this plays into the believers desire to live a life of holiness. Second, the observed tendency in the church to preach grace (as we had better) all the while often neglecting the teaching on true discipleship in response to that grace. And lastly, the observation and counseling of individuals (including at times myself) who are in repeated cycles of sin; those that long for release from sickness yet continue to belly up to the bar for another generous helping of the vomit they previously expelled.

To actually say something that might help bring this to some resolution I want to work backward from these observations to a conclusion grounded in the resurrection.

First, we must realize that we are sin sick people who are not as God intended us to be. Sin has had an effect on us that enslaves us and traps us in isolation away from God; separated from true community with him. Because of this we are prone to wander because sin has become part of who we are. Still, this is not as we were meant to be.

Next, the extension of grace and new life that is available in Jesus. Not just because of the atonement that took place on the cross but also because of the example of humanity as it was always intended to be. His life and death shows everyone what it truly means to be human in the manner that God always intended and how his way of living life is validated in the resurrection. Our connection to Jesus not only gives us forgiveness, it gives us a new understanding on how God views life and how emulating Jesus allows us to reflect our belief and trust in his faithfulness. Our freedom in Christ becomes the freedom to choose his way of living.

This is why discipleship is so important to the realization of grace and how it can be lived out consistently. Too often we are quick to preach grace toward the church and discipleship to the world thus setting up a system where those in the world need to get their act together, but those in the church can nuzzle up softly to the ever grace giving Jesus. I think this is backward. Don’t get me wrong, the church must preach grace that covers sin—that is what a dying world needs. But it must also be quick to point out the necessity to continue to follow Jesus in that grace so that the flesh will decrease its control on a person and so the spirit may increase and impact the decisions of the flesh. This is the point that Paul hammers on in Romans 6,7,and 8 and what the writer of Hebrews calls for in chapter 12.

Lastly, holiness must be seen in light of the resurrection and what that says about Jesus and those who would follow him. When Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life” he is not saying, “I am the means by which someone may be resurrected and have life.” Jesus is never the means to an end but the end itself. He isn’t what we need so we can get into heaven, he is what makes heaven, heaven. The resurrection not only validates all that Jesus said and did, but it gives us a glimpse of God and how he is in the business of restoring things to their rightful place—including life. All of the restorative promises of God are beginning in the act of Jesus’ resurrection and are now working forward to completion of the final restoration. But our life now is not in a wait and see mode. God, through Jesus, offers us a resurrection now, not based on what we have done, but on what Jesus has done. This is why Paul can say, “the old things have passed away, behold new things have come.” (2 Cor. 5:17) For those in Christ there is the very present reality of new life—not just to come—but NOW!!!

This is how the resurrection, and the full understanding of it, becomes the catalyst for living a life of holiness. When I say that Jesus is Lord and the resurrection proves it, I now have the opportunity to live that out so that the world may see the truth of it and so that I may experience the promised abundant (and eternal) life now.

My questions now are, do we really see the resurrection of Jesus as that which validates his teaching and all that God has done on the cross? Do we see that our connection to him in death also means connection to him in life? If we truly believe this, why do we struggle with sin and cheapen the grace and life that has been extended to us?

May we never see Jesus merely as a means to an end, but as the end itself. And may we see his resurrection as the very present hope of new life now; expressed and extended to us with the intention that we may have the willingness to live as God had always dreamed we would—like his son.