Maybe you can hear me now. There we go. I'm plugged in.
This movie came out in 1998 called The Holy Man, starred one of, I was going to say favorite.
He's not really. I do kind of like him.
An actor called Eddie Murphy, and as a modern day holy man who helped people.
And the only problem with this movie is that Eddie Murphy is usually a really fun, charismatic, excitable person.
But this movie robbed him of all of that and just made him boring.
Now what do you picture when you think of a holy person?
Is it the Eddie Murphy type who is somehow separated from real life?
Maybe you imagine Gandhi as the holy man. He's wearing robes.
He's withdrawn from life.
Maybe it's boring.
And maybe for us it's unattainable.
You know, that holy man living is not for us.
Maybe you've met a person who's got a holier-than-thou attitude.
You know, the person who looks down their nose on everybody else.
They seem to hold the moral high ground.
You know, we tend to pull back from people like this because they seem to like the sound of their own voice
and they don't see their own problems.
From an Eastern perspective, it might actually be the Confucian nobleman.
One, a person who has gone on a journey of enlightenment.
Who acts in proper conduct in public and to their family.
They're respectful to parents and they're superior.
And they're a person of great learning.
Now these are all different views of holy people.
And they can seem very distant from regular folk.
And being holy can seem very far away.
The Bible says that God calls us to be like Him.
To be holy.
To be like Jesus.
But pursuing holiness can seem like just something that is not for us.
I'm sure you know the feeling that you have when you get stuck in a cycle of sin.
You do the wrong thing.
You feel guilty.
You get convicted.
And so you try harder.
And you sin again.
And you feel guilty.
And you try harder.
And eventually you just give up because it's all too hard.
And so even the thought of pursuing some kind of view of holiness can feel very distant and far away.
And something for other people.
That's something for people who've chosen to put on robes.
To choose to live a life of that.
They're going to pursue that.
And that is for other people.
We are in the very middle of our vision series.
A series where we want to see what God is doing in us and through us.
And see what God is going to be doing in and through us over the next five years.
And we've been seeing who God is making us to be as disciples.
To be people who are following Jesus.
In the first week we saw that God has given us the resource of his word and prayer so we can be in relationship.
He's given us the Holy Spirit.
And last week we saw the value of church.
Brothers and sisters in arms following Jesus together.
And I must say it's been wonderful singing with you brothers and sisters today already.
Today we begin to see what followers of Jesus look like.
The characteristics of disciples.
Today we're going to see that a Christian is holy.
And we're going to seek to understand what it means to be holy.
Why we should be holy and how.
Now holiness is not just about the clothes we wear.
Whether it's robes.
Or whether we spout wisdom.
But holiness is a gift that we have now.
That we can pursue.
And the challenge for us today will be to see how God wants each of us to be pursuing holiness.
So as we jump into God's word and to see what he has to say for us today let me pray for us.
Dear Heavenly Father we thank you so much for who you are and for who you are making us to be.
Lord thinking about holiness can feel very far away.
Help us as we consider your plans for us today.
Amen.
So please have your Bibles open.
We're going to jump around a couple of different parts of the Bible.
Have your phones out.
They're nice and fast as well.
And we're going to be spending a little bit of time in Colossians 3 later.
But we're going to be jumping around.
Now if you don't have a Bible and would like one.
We would love you to have one.
There are Bibles on the sides.
Brown Bibles.
Take those.
Write your name in that.
Bring that back next week so you can highlight and underline things.
In Isaiah chapter 6 verse 3 it describes who our God is.
It says holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.
That description of holy is used three times.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty.
When a description is used three times it is an over the top description.
It's to express that something is phenomenally over the top.
And so God is holy, holy, holy.
God is holy and we are not.
And this is the central divide between us and him.
The word holy has a concept of being separate.
And so God is separate from us.
He is always good and perfect and just.
Yet we are not.
We are not good and we are not perfect and we are not just.
God is only good and because we are not, we can't even stand in his presence.
Because he is so good and we are so sinful.
And so in the Old Testament, when the high priest would enter into the temple and enter into a place called the Holy of Holies.
Which the high priest could only do once a year.
It was the place where God himself dwelt.
And so when the high priest entered into this place, he had to carry in an offering for his sin.
He had to carry in blood for himself and for the nation.
Otherwise he would be struck down because he was in the presence of a holy God.
God is so good and just that sinful man cannot even stand before him.
And so when Jesus comes, he is the holy God in flesh.
He comes so God would work out his plan to deal with this separation problem.
So that we would be like he is.
So that we would be holy.
In Leviticus it says, be holy like I am holy.
And Jesus calls us to do the same thing in Matthew 5.
Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.
And so God calls us to be like him.
He calls us to be perfect.
He calls us to be holy.
But the wonderful truth is, he has already made us holy.
In Colossians 3, 12 it says,
Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved.
God has chosen us and he has already made us holy.
He is making us holy, but he has already made us holy.
He has made us holy.
He has set us apart as his church.
And we are special to God.
This is a concept that always blows my mind.
That we, for some reason, are special to God.
He dearly loves us.
And he has made us holy.
And he does this in two ways.
The first is the work of justification.
Because of the death of Jesus in our place, we can stand before God.
When he looks at us now, he sees that we have been made clean by Jesus' blood.
Made pure and holy now.
So that's the first work.
God sees us pure because of the work of Jesus.
And that's called justification.
The second work I'd like to call holification.
But that's not a word.
So we'll go with the official word, which is sanctification.
It is the process of being made holy.
And so in 1 Thessalonians 4, it says that it is God's will that you would be sanctified.
It is this process of day by day making us like his son.
Shaping us in the image of Jesus.
So justification is God declaring that a sinner is righteous.
You are righteous because of the work of Jesus.
Sanctification is God's process of transforming a believer to be who they already are.
In mind, in will, in behavior, in affections, in loves.
Through the work of the Holy Spirit.
God's plan is to make us holy.
And he does that through justifying us and through the process of sanctifying us.
He is making us who we already are.
Now, if you don't know this, Jesus, this is really wonderful news.
Because this is not something that we do.
This is something that is done for us.
And that's something we get to do with God.
He justifies us.
And he is sanctifying us.
And we get to be part of that.
And so if you don't know this, Jesus, this is really wonderful news.
So Christians are holy but are also being made holy.
Holiness is being one mind with God.
Loving what he loves.
Hating what he hates.
Working to put off sin and to put on love of God and obedience of his commands.
It is giving sacrificially instead of hoarding for ourselves.
It is of humility.
Lowliness of mind.
Thinking others are better than ourselves.
I became a Christian about 20 years ago.
And when I first became a Christian, there was so much excitement.
I still remember the moment when I went and told my dad that I had become a Christian.
And I wanted with all of my energy, with all of my zeal, to live for God.
I wanted to obey him.
I wanted to act like Jesus.
I used to wear one of those what would Jesus do bracelets.
Does anybody remember those?
Yeah.
All of the people nodding are of similar vintage to me.
That's wonderful.
I would wear one of those.
WWJD.
What would Jesus do?
To remind me, what would Jesus do in this situation?
It was a Christian.
But over time, the call to pursue holiness feels like it turned from joy to drudgery.
Following God's command started to feel like a burden instead of a blessing.
Sometimes it started to feel like I've got a stark choice before me.
Do I obey God's command to pursue holiness?
Or do I choose my own happiness in this moment?
Do I do the thing that I think will make me happy?
Or do I do what God says, and I know that it will bring me happiness?
But do you know what?
I want to choose the thing that will give me the short-term happiness.
Sin feels like such a part of me, and I don't necessarily want to get rid of it.
I just want to make my life easier to deal with.
There's a quote from Charles Spurgeon.
He said that many are troubled because the gospel interferes with their sin.
And so as a Christian, I went through this journey of feeling burdened by obeying God.
God makes us holy.
He calls us to pursue holiness throughout our life, to be holy like he is.
But the challenge of our heart, of my heart, to pursue God and a life like Jesus' can feel burdened.
It can feel impossible.
Maybe we see those stereotypes of a holy person and think, I don't want to be like that person.
They're so separated from life.
Or even I can't be like that person.
I don't have the time to devote to that kind of pursuit of holiness.
The hole in our holiness is that we just don't care about it.
In the Christian world, I don't see too many people doing passionate calls to be holy.
We talk about sin, stop sinning, do these good things instead.
But holiness is not just about doing good things.
It's not being a better person.
It's about becoming God's version, God's person.
And so we can see this picture of God calling us to be holy.
But why?
Why should we pursue holiness?
This is the, I'm going to put it out there that pursuing holiness is God's plan for us for human flourishing.
Holiness is God's plan for us.
Now, I'm a pretty bad handyman when it comes to doing things around the house.
And if I need to go and get a screwdriver and I'm already in the kitchen,
can you guess what tool I'm going to use instead?
Instead, it's going to be a knife because it's pretty similar, right?
And I'll just get a knife from the drawer and make do.
But when I go to the effort of getting the tool that was designed for the task,
it just sings.
It's just like the screwdriver just drives that screw home so effortlessly
compared to stabbing at it with a knife and trying to get it.
But the reality is I end up blunting the knife.
And the screw was ruined.
We blunt ourselves pursuing the wrong things and living the wrong way.
Pursuing holiness is how God has made us to be, to be like him.
It is being who we are and who we are made to be.
We were damaged in the Garden of Eden, restored in the resurrection of Jesus.
And God has made us like Jesus and caused us to pursue being like him.
And it can feel like a burden.
In Leviticus chapter 9, God's people have come out of Egypt.
God has saved them.
And all of God's people are gathered to praise God.
It says in chapter 9, verse 23,
Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting.
When they came out, they blessed the people.
And the glory of the Lord appeared to all of the people.
Fire came out from the presence of the Lord
and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar.
And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell face down.
God's people have been saved.
And God has appeared in their midst.
He has accepted their sin offering.
Their sin has been taken away.
And they respond to God with joy.
Absolute joy.
Similarly, as Kel read for us in John,
when Jesus' disciples are locked up because Jesus has been killed,
they are fearful of the Jews coming to kill them as well.
Jesus appears to them, resurrected.
They see him and they respond with joy.
We seem to have to choose between the impossible, undesirable, boring pursuit of being holy
and happiness through depravity and chasing our own sin.
This is a lie.
If we believe the lie that says pursuing holiness means there is no happiness,
it's going to be an uphill battle.
The life of a Christian is going to be hard
because being made like Jesus is going to feel hard for us.
And there's going to be no amount of self-control
that can keep us from seeking happiness.
What's going to happen is we're going to fail.
We'll beat ourselves up.
We'll try harder.
We'll do things that we've been encouraging.
We'll try to read the Bible four or more times a week.
Do that anyway.
But when we fail, it's going to feel worse.
We'll have good accountability.
We'll walk closely with other Christians.
And we'll fail.
And we'll fall.
And we can become despondent, depressed.
Because often we are just using the lever of self-control.
Self-control is not the way we pursue holiness long-term.
It might work in the short-term.
If I'm trying to particularly change a sinful behavior,
holiness might work in the short-term.
But pursuing holiness and using the lever of self-control,
choosing to not do things, choosing not to be happy.
Maybe I'm going to separate myself from life.
I'm going to go and be that monastic monk.
And I'm going to live in a cave.
Then I can be like Jesus.
And then I can get rid of my sin.
That is not a path to pursuing holiness long-term.
It doesn't work.
Satan tries to rig the game by convincing us
that pursuing holiness, pursuing being like Christ,
Christ makes dull and boring Christians.
Pursuing holiness in life is not about saying no to things.
It's about saying yes to something that is better.
Pursuing holiness for us is a reorientation of our loves.
If you've ever tried to change what you eat
or read about dieting, it's the same kind of concept.
It's really hard to say no to all of the delicious foods
that you love and are unhealthy.
And for me, this is really hard because I've got a sweet tooth
and a savory tooth.
And is butter another type of tooth?
Is that another thing?
Carbs?
Like I've got all of the teeth.
All of the types of food teeth.
I've got them all.
I love them all.
But it doesn't work to just say no to the things
that you want to pursue.
From what I've read, a diet is much more likely to work
if you say no to some things but also say yes,
have a clear yes.
I'm going to eat these things instead.
Pursuing holiness is similar.
It's not just about saying no to sin
and saying no to the things, the parts of us
that are sinful and that we think will make us happy.
It's not just about saying no to those things.
We must say yes to the true happiness that God has for us.
So our mouths might be tempted to spread gossip,
to feel important and valued.
We have to say no to that.
But we also have to say yes to reminding ourselves
that we are valued by someone greater.
We are valued by God himself.
We need to say no to lies that protect ourselves for a moment
and say yes to loving people with truthful words.
Does retail therapy bring a measure of happiness?
Say no to a temporary happiness that leaves us feeling flat
and yes to pursuing a God
who has given us every blessing in Jesus.
Lust and chasing someone for a couple of extra seconds
as they walk past as a little taste of happiness.
Say no to that little taste
and yes to pursuing a God who has made our bodies
and he has made beauty
and honor him with our whole body.
Pursuing holiness doesn't mean ignoring joy and happiness
but following the God who made joy and happiness
because we've been created to treasure Jesus
with our hearts
and to see the blessings that God has given us.
Lust is the love of beauty
and desire for sexual intimacy in the wrong place.
Impatience is the love of order and timeliness
over people.
Consumerism is the love of the created thing over the creator.
Gossip and slander are the love of self
over the love of other people.
And so we have an option.
Do we say no to the things
that will give us a temporary sinful burst of happiness
or do we say yes to the God
who offers us a greater happiness?
Over the last week,
I've been thinking about my own pursuit of holiness.
One of my challenges
is my desire for control.
And I get frustrated and impatient
when people don't do what I want them to do.
Particularly my kids.
I get frustrated when they don't do what I expect them to do.
And so happiness in this concept is very sinful.
Do what I want.
But true happiness for me
is to remember that I am not in control.
That there is a God
who is in control of all things.
And for him,
I definitely take too long
to do what he wants me to do.
And yet he is quick to patience
and quick to forgive.
And I am slow to patience
and slow to forgive.
And so for me,
the path to holiness that I am pursuing
is to acknowledge that God is in control.
And it's not just saying to myself,
oh, you know,
these kids are doing the wrong thing
and I need to go harder at them.
No, no, no.
It is saying yes
to a greater love for my kids.
Knowing who God has,
what God has done for me
and who he is making me to be.
Lastly today,
how do we pursue this holiness?
God has justified us.
He has made us holy
and he is making us holy.
He is sanctifying us.
And so Paul in Colossians 3,
which was read for us,
has two lists.
Things to say no to
and things to say yes to.
Things to put off
and things to put on.
Just another reminder,
we pursue holiness
because God has already made us holy.
So have a look at Colossians 3,
verse 5.
There's one of these lists for us.
Put to death,
therefore,
whatever belongs to your earthly nature,
sexual immorality,
impurity,
lust,
evil desires,
and greed,
which is idolatry.
Put them to death.
Don't allow them to continue.
The list continues in verse 8.
But now you must also
read yourself
of all such things as these.
Anger,
rage,
malice,
slander,
filthy language from your lips.
Kill them dead.
I've been trying to put to death
the clover in my front yard
for a couple of years now.
It requires persistence,
hard work,
and if I slack off,
it comes back very quickly
and aggressively.
Sin is much more deeply rooted
in my heart
and your hearts
than any plant.
And we're called
not to just prune it,
but to make it look acceptable
to people
so that we can survive
doing what we want to do.
But we are called
to kill our sin.
And to do this,
I really appreciate
John Piper.
He has a really helpful acrostic
to help us kill our sin dead.
So imagine for me
a sin you've been struggling with.
I've got a whole list of mine.
Have a look at that list
in Colossians 3.
Pick a sin
that you're struggling with.
If you can't think of one,
ask the person sitting next to you,
what's a sin I need to work on?
And as you picture that,
John Piper has a helpful
acronym for us.
It is ANTHEM.
Anthem.
A-N-T-H-E-M.
First of all,
avoid.
Don't put yourself
in a situation
that will encourage you to sin.
Secondly,
say no.
Say no in the first five seconds.
I know when I'm faced
with a temptation,
whether it's to sin
or to eat a donut,
if I dwell on it longer,
I am more likely to do it.
Say no in the first five seconds.
Turn.
Turn away
from the sinful,
fallen thing
and turn to what God's plan
is for you
in that moment.
Turn away
from the no
to the yes
of God's purpose
for true happiness.
H,
hold.
Just hold
on to that yes
for a moment
and then enjoy
God's promises.
Finally,
move.
Actually,
move away.
Do something else.
Put a song on.
Praise God.
Pray.
Do something to move.
And so,
for me,
my sin of frustration
which comes out
of my kids,
well,
first of all,
I can't avoid them.
That one's a bit hard.
But I can do
the right thing
to be more patient
in the moment.
So,
for me,
that means going to bed
earlier than the night before.
To be a dad
who slept well.
And then,
in those first five seconds
when there's a moment
of, you know,
the kids being kids
and I feel my frustrations
boiling up like a kettle,
I say no to that.
And not just clamp the lid on
and so the kettle
will burst later
at the dog
or at my wife
or whatever it is.
Instead of just putting
that frustration
to one side,
turn and put on patience.
Remind myself
of how patient
God has been
in my frustration.
Put on
true happiness
in that moment.
Turn.
For me,
that turn
looks like
changing my tone
of voice.
And hold
onto that.
This happened to me
the other day.
And in the moment
of frustration,
I,
this,
this word came to mind.
I turned
from the frustration.
I held
onto it.
And in that moment,
I realized,
oh God,
you are so good.
And I just had
a very brief moment
of praising God
because he had given me
patience and love
where moments before
I was frustrated
and frustration
and anger
was about to boil
out of me.
Enjoy that moment.
Thanks be to God
for his love
and patience for me.
And then get moving.
Change that situation.
Praise God.
I think anthem
is a very helpful
reminder
and a helpful
practice for us
to put on
holiness
in the moment.
To not put on
sin,
but to put on
holiness.
Because verse 12
reminds us of
Colossians 3
that we are already
dearly loved.
This is who we are
to be.
And it's the motivation
for putting on
these things.
So first,
from Colossians 3
chapter 12,
these are the yeses.
Clothe yourselves
with compassion,
kindness,
humility,
gentleness,
and patience.
Bear with each other
and forgive one another
if any of you
has a grievance
against someone.
Forgive as the Lord
forgave you.
And over all these
virtues,
put on love,
which binds them
all together
in perfect unity.
That acronym
anthem is really
helpful in a moment
of temptation
to help us
to put off
and to put
on
these things
which Paul
has said,
God's plan
for us
for true
happiness.
Kevin DeYoung
is a pastor
and author
from the US
and he has
a wonderful
process of
working through
holiness
for his whole
self.
He also has
seven children,
so I want to
listen to what
this guy
has to say.
When he does
this,
he regularly
brings himself
before God
and he's
got a practice
of checking
where his
holiness is at.
He works
through his
whole body.
And so he
starts with
his mind.
Is it filled
with the knowledge
of God
or am I
filling my
mind with
other things?
His eyes,
our eyes,
do our eyes
turn away
from lust
and evil acts?
Do they turn
away from bullying
or are they
dragged towards
them?
Our mouths,
do our mouths
speak out of love
or out of
slander and
gossip?
Our souls,
are they resting
and trusting
in God
or are they
full of
anxiety?
Our shoulders,
are they
burdened with
the world
or are they
living each
day knowing
that God
is in
control?
Our hearts,
are they
joyfully
treasuring
Jesus or
are they
full of
pride and
envy?
Our sexual
organs,
are they
pure and
reserved for
marriage
between a
man and
a woman?
Our hands,
are they
quick to
help and
quick to
fold in
prayer?
And our
feet,
do our
feet quickly
move towards
people in
love or
are they
moving towards
people in
senseless
conflict?
This body,
again,
two practices,
use anthem
in the
moment to
put on
love and
patience and
forgiveness
and the
concept of
thinking about
ourselves as
a whole
person.
Work through
yourself to
bring yourself
before God,
to ask him,
God, how do I
need to be
pursuing holiness
today?
The reason we
exist as a
church is to
be treasuring our
Jesus together
for God's glory
and the joy of
all people.
We treasure
Jesus.
He's the
ultimate treasure
and he shows
us how to
have a life
that is full
of joy.
Pursuing
holiness and
treasuring Jesus
is the key to
who we want to
be as a
church, who
we want to be
becoming over
the next five
years.
In your
follow 25
booklets, if
you don't have
one of these,
if you had one
and don't know
where it is,
grab another
one there on
the table
outside.
In the
center of
this is the
key to who
we want to
be as a
church, right
here, which
says that we
want to see
65% of our
church identifying
much growth in
faith.
The vast
majority, 65%
of us, growing
much in faith
through the work
of this church.
Growing in
faith and
holiness are
inextricably
linked.
Faith is
trusting in
God's plan for
us and
pursuing holiness
holiness is
trusting that
God has a
plan for
us, that
he knows
better for
our lives
than what
I choose.
Because that's
all holiness
is.
Doing what
God has set
out for me
because it is
the best
thing.
Pursuing
holiness and
God's design
is a big
step of
faith.
When we do
that, our
faith and our
trust in God
will grow
moment by
moment, day
by day.
Pursuing
holiness is
something that
each of us
can do
because God
has already
made us
holy.
And we
should do it
because it is
the way we
can have
greatest
happiness.
It is the
way that God
has designed
us as his
people.
Let me
pray.
Amen.
Heavenly
Father, I
thank you so
much for how
much you
love us.
That not
only have
you made
us holy
through the
blood of
Jesus, but
you are
making us
holy.
You are
making us
like you
bit by
bit and
day by
day.
Lord,
pursuing
holiness can
feel hard
and distant.
Lord,
remind us
of its
goodness.
Thank you
for practical
helps to do
it.
But Lord,
this week,
as we
head out
into weeks
full of
busyness,
challenges at
work and
challenges at
home, kids,
colleagues, all
of these things,
Lord, a life
that is full of
problems before
us.
Help us to
put off sin
and to put on
love for
others and
love for you
as you have
designed us,
Lord.
We ask this in
Jesus' name and
all for your
glory.
Amen.