Good for What?

God calls us to be holy:
"I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy." Leviticus 11:44a (NIV)

"But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'" 1 Peter 1:15-16 (NIV)
It is not that he calls us to be better than any one else. He calls us to be like him: holy. Some Christians have decided that this impossible, and believe that God meant this as hyperbole, and that he doesn’t really expect us to be holy. Consequently, the lives of these Christians are no different than those of the non-Christian society that surrounds them.

Others have accepted the challenge and do their best to be seen as holy. However, their brand of holiness often gets hung up on superficial things. They tend to equate looking holy with being holy. Their attempts at this kind of holiness drive them to concentrate on the way their lives appear to others. A few demonstrate this in the way they dress; others show it in the forms of entertainment they choose, or by their selection of food and drink. These people have a list of activities that they have labeled sinful and, for them, the essence of being holy is abstaining from the things on their list. When I was young, some preachers were determined to make us holy by keeping us from using tobacco, drinking, dancing, gambling, and playing cards. Some went farther and prohibited the watching of television, and the wearing of jewelry. These preachers left me with the impression that if I kept myself from doing these things, I would automatically be holy. Then I would be a real Christian, and I would be fit for heaven. This quest to become holy started on the outside of life, with the hope that the inside, my soul, would somehow follow.

Now please don’t get me wrong. I do not want to argue the merits of any of the actions on the list that was labeled as the big sins. My point is that, when it comes to holiness, these actions are largely beside the point. At worst they are a symptom of sin within, and prohibiting them does not make a person holy, any more than putting a band-aid on a laceration makes it heal. The healing of the laceration must come from the inside out. It is the same with the healing, or sanctification, of the soul. (Sanctification literally means to become holy.)

The most dangerous aspect of this outside-in attempt at holiness is that it relies on the individual to force himself to conform to the image that the preachers set forth as holy. Most of the preachers probably didn’t mean for it to come out this way, but it did. A lot of folks who heard them thought they could earn heaven by quitting bad habits and staying away from certain “dens of iniquity.” Many stumbled and fell, and thereby thought they missed their chance for heaven. They began to believe that following Christ could never be for them. Again, I am not advocating bad habits, or iniquity dens. It is just that heaven is not something we can earn or deserve, it a free gift of God, given to us by his incredible grace, at the price of Jesus’ blood.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast."
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV) >God gives us heaven, not because we are so good, but because He is so good.

So then, where does holiness come in? It comes in as we submit to the Holy Spirit and allow him to remake us from within. (See Romans 12:1-2 & Galatians 5:22.) Biblical holiness is an inside-out proposition. As the Christ-follower continually submits his life to the Lord, he takes on the characteristics of Christ, and, in effect; becomes holy as He is holy. Part of becoming holy is being a person of integrity, with high morals and ethics, but there is more to it.

How does anyone know that another person is holy? The often ignored next verse in the Ephesians passage tells us that God has good works he wants us to do.
"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10.
It’s not a list of works we can check off, but it is a way of living, a life emphasis that pours from the work the Holy Spirit is doing inside us. Please carefully note: the works themselves don’t earn us the saving love of God. We do the works because we have received the saving love of God.

Too often people who call themselves “Christian” don’t do these works. They refrain from doing bad things, but that is not enough. They are being good, but what are they good for? Who is helped by their lives? Are they sharing the salvation they have found with people who need it, or are they so afraid of being contaminated by the fallen society around them that they have no affect at all? Too many of them hole up inside the walls of the church. Non-Christians see them as rigid judgmental people, their only friends are Christians. Some spend most of their lives sheltered from sinners, when it is sinners Jesus came to save, and sent us to bring to him. These “Christians” may be good, but they are good for nothing. Strong words? Yes, but what else can you say about people who are under orders that they refuse to carry out those orders.

What are these orders? What are the works God has for us to do? There is no mystery here. Jesus made it very plain: we are to love God, love others, be witnesses of the love and salvation we have received, and make disciples. These are broad concepts and he equips each of us to do specific things to get this work accomplished. This is where we can start looking for the work he has for each of us in particular to do. Whatever your assignment is, it will come under these overarching orders.

What kind of holiness are you seeking? Outside in? Or inside out? Are you trying to impress non-Christians with what you don’t do, or with what you do? Are you known first for the standards you hold, or first for the love you give? Are you good for something?

The challenge is to be holy as God is holy.