This week, through my encounters with some individuals, I have been thinking a lot about the whole issues of holiness, especially as it relates to the question of who can be in the ministry.
Hebrews 12:14 says "Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord." (NIV)
I have heard preaching from this verse that in order to make it to heaven (or even to be 'qualified' to serve) I have to achieve certain level of holiness. This strikes me as odd for a few reasons:
- Who decides how holy is holy enough? (for heaven or for ministry)
- God promises salvation to all who simply recognise their sinfulness and believe in Jesus Christ as their Saviour (John 3:16);
- Failure is not only possible but a certainty in our walk as a Christian (1John 1:8-10)
How can this be? When I stop putting my trust in my good works and put my trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, the holiness of Jesus Christ becomes mine (Romans 5:19). So, in God's sight, He sees me as holy because of the holiness of Christ in me. However, in real life, we are still oh sooooo very far from being holy. The writer of Hebrews is simply encouraging us to pursue holiness because that's who we are in God's sight now and that's what we will be when we see the Lord.
1John 3:2 says it best. "Yes, dear friends, we are already God’s children, and we can’t even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But we do know that when he comes we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is." (NLT)
There's hope yet for a messy pastor like me. :-)
6 comments:
There IS hope for all of us! THIS is the answer to the question I was asking you some weeks back regarding the salvation of the Gay community. I have been trying to get my friend (who's gay) to come to Church with me for some time now. When he finally agreed to come along, I was so happy. As the days grew closer to Sunday he would come up with an excuse and 'chicken-out'. The last time I asked him, he finally said to me that he doesn't think that he's suited to go to church because he doesn't think he could ever be 'straight' and that he knows that being gay is 'unacceptable' in Christianity. I said to him earlier that all he had to do was confess his sins to God and let God do the rest. As long as he persevered in his DECISION to follow God, God will work a miracle in his life and 'change' him. He continued to say that he does'nt think that he could 'stick' to going to church regularly because he cannot live a 'holy' lifestyle and that it would be of no use.
I felt defeated, like I had run out of 'ammo'. There was some truth ( I thought at the time) to what he said. What IS the point for someone to go to church on Sunday and go back to the ONLY lifestyle that he knows on Mondays to Saturdays? Aren't we supposed to try to the hardest of our ability to not do the things that are not pleasing to God? Isn't that OUR RESPONSIBILITY as christians? Aren't we supposed to be Christ like? to be 'HOLY'?
So, basically , Daniel, what I understand from reading your post is this: All that God expects of us is that we do OUR best to live right on OUR standards and put our trust and faith in Jesus to do the rest . God RECOGNISES our efforts and will bless us because of it. He doesn't expect us to be like Christ because we simply AREN"T Christ. We will ONLY achieve Christ's holiness WHEN he comes because only THEN will we be like him in all fullness.
If what I understand from your post is true, then living a life of a Christian isn't as difficult or as daunting as we believe it to be. Did I understand correctly Daniel? I think everyone needs to know and understand this. Someone needs to write a book entitled 'Christianity Simplified'. Thanks Daniel!
Daniel, your blog is looking better and better every time I look at it! This is great, your blog is my on-line Bible Study!
Carol, you're exactly right. The Bible says that we are basically messed up people, all of us (Romans 3:23) and had it not by God's grace, all of us would be in deep water (Romans 6:23). Christianity is basically recognising our messy condition and expressing our gratitude to God for his undeserving grace. We try to do good not to earn brownie point from Him (we already got the brownie) but we do good as a way to say "thank you Lord." One of my favourite verses is Romans 8:1 "So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus." (NLT). Notice it says "now there is no condemnation.." not later when we go to heaven. But even now, in our imperfection, God doesn't condemn us because Jesus has alredy been condemned on our behalf. Thank God for that huh? :-)
wow, thts wht i call a daring inspiration from God. the holiness tht not comes from our good works but from God. awesome.
your blog looks awesome, and its actually got insightful things to read. keep it goin pst D
"2.God promises salvation to all who simply recognise their sinfulness and believe in Jesus Christ as their Saviour (John 3:16);"
Wrong !
So if I am a thief and recognise this, then, according to you, I can be a thief all my life and still be safe if I simply believe that Jesus is my Saviour. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
"God so loved the world that he gave up His only-begotten Son, so that those who believe in Him may not perish". May not perish..... Not, will not perish, but may not.
this also means that you may still perish.
To make it, you must cleans yourself as best you can, by Confession and penance, you must reject all sin and avoid it to the best of your ability. a confession is a covenant between you and God, made by you, that you will turn from these errors.
If you intend to continue on your sinful way then you are not confessing to God but rather, you are insulting Him.
You need to understand that Holiness takes great strength and fortitude on you part. you need to reject worldly ways and accept that you can be Holy whilst on earth. this is a cross you must bare for love of God. It is also the hardest thing to do whilst living in this modern world.
Pray for the Holy Souls stuck in Purgatory. it might be you one day.
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