Holy – holier – holiest
Series: Holy – Holy – Holy | Bible text: Ephesians 1:4
Holiness is a God-given virtue that does not originate in me or my actions!
Man wants to optimise himself
Nowadays we live in an atmosphere of self-improvement in our society! What is good should become better and what is better should become the best! We don’t just want to be fit, we strive to become even fitter! Healthy living, that was once! Now we strive for the healthiest. The current chairs at the dining table are already more comfortable than the last ones; but now you have discovered the absolute nonplus, the most comfortable chair during a visit to friends!
Good – better – best!
What about our holiness? Holy – holier – holiest! How would we rank ourselves on a ladder from 1 – 10? Yes but wait, how do you measure that? By church attendance? Whether you read the Bible every day? How long your prayer time is? Whether or not you use your gifts here in the church?
Practical sanctification does not start with doing, but with being! People can never become holy on their own, by doing good and so on. In order to become holy, we have to present ourselves to Jesus. He laid down his life for us on the cross so that we can obtain forgiveness of guilt and sin. Those who come to him, claim his grace and give their lives to Jesus are sanctified by God. Jesus moves in his holiness into our hearts and so now sanctifies our lives from within. This is the start of a holy life. Paul writes it like this in the Letter to the Romans: «[…] now you have been set free from the service of sin and serve God. What comes out of this is a way of life by which you prove yourselves to be God’s holy people, and in the end eternal life awaits you» (Romans 6:22 GNB).
Jesus did this for us out of love. His immeasurably great, divine love is behind it. As a counter-reaction, this awakens our love for him. We want to hear more from him. We want to talk to him. We pay attention to his words in the Bible. Jesus said to one of his disciples: «If anyone loves me, he will act according to my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and dwell with him». (John 14:23 NGÜ).
Whoever opens his heart and his life to God becomes holy. Then God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit will dwell in us. So God in me is what makes me holy. I want to state that already now: Although you can increase the adjective in and of itself, you cannot increase this being holy in faith in God! Otherwise, it would only lead us to compare and judge one another. In the whole Bible you will not find a form of increase of holy. The term «holy», for example, is very close to the term «pregnant». No woman can be more pregnant than pregnant! No Christian can be holier than holy! If you are a born-again Christian, then you can say: «I am canonised by Jesus Christ and there is no one in the whole world who is holier than canonised by Jesus».
Jesus our Faith Pacemaker
When a woman is confirmed to be pregnant, it has far-reaching consequences for her: A lot changes in her body and also in her everyday life – the longer, the more! Soon something will live and stir in her belly. When Christ lives in our hearts – something happens. Something stirs and changes in our lives! Then Jesus is in you, similar to the heart pacemaker, he is the «faith pacemaker» in your life of faith.
How does this being completely different show itself in practical life? It actually affects everything in your life: your relationships, your work, your studies, your dealings with the media, your handling of finances, suddenly you experience how you are being changed step by step, inspired by your «faith pacemaker» Jesus. In summary, you could say that everything that belongs to your natural life as a man and a woman is newly shaped and influenced by your holy relationship with God. That sounds nice, but I have to be honest, sometimes it’s a struggle. A struggle between my will and God’s will! A struggle between different powers! And we quickly realise that we are still temptable human beings. We must not forget that! The Bible also speaks of this. Leading men and women among God’s people have failed: lying, idolatry, adultery, impatience, envy, hatred. No different in the NT!
Also in the first churches in the NT there is talk of: Strife, sin, immoral behaviour.… But then we notice that the apostle Paul, the diligent letter writer, writes to the churches in six letters like this: «… to the saints in Ephesus who believe in Christ Jesus! …to all the saints in Christ Jesus in Philippi! …to the saints in Colosse, brothers and sisters who believe in Christ. How does this fit together?
The apostle John writes to his congregation: «I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if you do, there is someone who will intercede for you before the Father: Jesus Christ, who is righteous before God in all things. He is the sacrifice for our sins. He takes away not only our sins, but the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1–2 NLB).
You are not perfect, but thanks to the grace in Jesus Christ, you have the possibility to renew your relationship with Him again and again. God is continually renewing you until we reach the goal of our faith together! And we meet here in worship and in small groups so that we can support each other in faith. That means I care about how my friends are doing in their walk with Jesus. I care about how those with whom I share my faith are doing. And I accept it when others care about me. We absolutely need this togetherness. There must be no individualists in the style of: «You believe what you want, I believe what and how I want, so please let us leave each other as we are!» A soloist is in danger of self-righteously closing himself off from the others. He will probably never ask: «Jesus, how are you actually doing in me?
The writer of Hebrews says: «Rather, exhort and encourage one another day by day […] so that no one among you may be deceived by sin and thereby close himself off from the work of God». (Hebrews 3:13 NCC). Martin Luther, the reformer, once preached the following in the town church of St. Peter and Paul in Weimar: «The Christian life is not being pious but becoming pious, not being healthy but becoming healthy, not rest but practice. It is not the end, but the way. Not everything is shining yet, but everything is improving!» (Martin Luther).
Change through Jesus Christ
The well-known American writer Lew Wallace experienced change through Christ in this way: He was surprised one day how an officer in the military made fun of God, faith and Christians. He could not stop mocking him. Wallace, who was not a believer at the time, decided to investigate and critically examine everything that had to do with the Bible, Jesus Christ and faith. The officer encouraged him to write a book to prove the falsehoods of the Christian faith. Wallace rummaged through countless old writings until he finally believed he had gathered enough evidence. He started writing, wrote the first chapter, then the second and also the third. He stopped at the fourth chapter. He was astonished to find that through his intensive research of old scriptures he became more and more convinced that Jesus really lived and performed many miracles. For days he struggled with his doubts and one night, Wallace fell on his knees in front of his bed and asked God to reveal Himself in his life. Towards morning he felt a deep peace and a sense of relief. He told his wife about it and she confessed to having prayed intensely for him. What should happen now with this material he had collected? His wife recommended that he write a whole new book in which he presents Jesus as the Saviour of the world. So Wallace set to work and wrote a whole new book. Its title was «Ben Hur»! Wallace later wrote that his encounter with the mocking officer had two consequences: first, his turning to God and Jesus Christ; and second, the book «Ben Hur», which was published in 1880. The book became a bestseller. It is still known today through its film adaptations.
I conclude the sermon with two quotations. First, I give the floor to the recently deceased Pope Benedict XVI; from his book «Jesus of Nazareth»: «The saints are the true interpreters of the Scriptures. What a word means becomes most intelligible in those people who have been completely taken by it and have lived it.» (Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, p. 108).
Finally, a word from the Apostle Peter. He proclaimed in one of his letters a call to a life of holiness that is still relevant today: «Therefore, strive for clear, sober thinking and self-control. Place all your hope in the grace that awaits you at the return of Jesus Christ. Obey God because you are his children. Don’t fall back into your old, bad habits. You did not know better then. But now you are to be holy in everything you do, just as God, who called you, is holy. For he himself has said, «You shall be holy because I am holy!» » (1 Peter 1:13–16 NLB).
Amen
Possible questions for the small group
- Bear witness to one another of what has changed in you through your encounter with Jesus!
- Being holy cannot be increased, but what can be improved?
- How can I better bring Jesus in me to the fore in everyday life?
- Jesus in me – comparison with a pregnancy! What more does this comparison give? Or do you have an idea of another comparison?
- Help each other to understand the Luther quote even better!
- Recall once again the moving quote from Pope Benedict XVI!
