Holiness

The big thing for the Church of the Nazarene is holiness. We are a holiness denomination. It's called by many different names, sanctification, Christlikeness, Christian perfection, to name a few. But it all comes down to the same thing, growth in grace to become more like Christ and go deeper in our relationship with God. Holiness is about life transformation.

Holiness is essential. Leviticus 11.44a, "For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy." God commands us to be holy. We are God's people, we reflect Him, and so we need to be like Him, to look like Him and act like Him. We must be Holy because our Father and Master is holy.

Look at Exodus to Deuteronomy, these books are filled with God telling His people that they, and all they own, build, and work on, is Holy because it is God's and that they are His people. Holiness is essential for those who belong to God. Hebrews 12.14, "Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord." The NIV says, "Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord." In order to see God we must be holy.

Holiness is not absolute perfection. Sanctification is not the inability to sin. Though there are some who will claim that it is. Sanctification is being set aside for God's use. It is being cleansed from a desire to sin, not the ability, and that desire for sin is replaced by a desire for God. It comes after salvation, where we are cleansed of the stain and guilt of sin. Holiness takes us deeper and makes us more like Christ. It transforms us into the image of Jesus, Romans 8.29-30, "For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified."

God created us to be holy, and many feel that they can't be. I think part of this is due to a false understanding of holiness. And I think part of it is failing to realize that we don't make ourselves holy. Leviticus 21.8b, says, "for I the LORD, who sanctifies you, am holy." God is the one who sanctifies us. The blood of Christ washes us from sin, and the life that Jesus lived is our example of holiness, He is the model we are to imitate. The Holy Spirit works in our lives to help us become more like Christ.

Holiness is not an option, it is essential, because without it we will not see God. If our lives are not transformed into the image of Christ, we cannot see God because if we don't look like Christ we look like us, a sinful human being. Holiness is life transformation, and that is what Jesus came to accomplish. He talks all through the Gospel of John about giving eternal life. Eternal life is not something that must wait for heaven, it is available now, because it is holiness. It is a life transformation that God has made possible. God is holy. Jesus serves as our example of holiness, He shows us what God is like, and the Holy Spirit works in our lives to make us holy.

That is the point of Christmas. God loved the world that He sent His only Son to save the world as John 3.16 tells us. Jesus came to earth to show us what God is like, and to pay for sin. Jesus came to die and rise again so that we could be cleansed from sin and begin this journey of holiness. And He sent the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, so that we could become a holy people.

This whole post started with me talking to myself about how every sermon needs to be a holiness sermon. And when we see that holiness is about life transformation to mold us into the image of Christ, we see that holiness is the reason we preach. It is all about holiness.

Peace be with you