Holiness

I started preaching a message last Sunday on Holiness, and will continue that message tomorrow morning. We live in a day where the church by and large has thrown holiness out the window. I feel that this is largely because of false conceptions of what holiness is. In last weeks message, I primarily dealt with what holiness is not. In short; holiness is not a list of do's and don'ts. In the past, holiness was basically things that man could measure to make himself feel that he was measuring up to God's standard. The huge problem here is that it was not "God Standard" but rather "man's standard." So we came up with things like, "don't wear shorts, women don't wear pants, makeup, jewelry, nylons... men could not wear a short sleeve shirt (could someone please tell me what woman was turned on by a mans arms so much that he could wear short sleeves?) could not grow facial hair, we did not chew gum, drink Coke from a bottle, did not dance, did not go to movies... yada, yada, yada.

This is NOT about holiness. This was a list of rules or laws set up by people with a pharisitical mindset, so that they could look down their collective noses at anyone else who was not living as "holy" as they were. It's hogwash... and that is being gentle!

Living a holy life, a life set apart from God... according to scripture will draw others to God, not chase them away. In all the years of "keeping the lists", how many times have you ever seen someone look at a woman with her hair piled high, not wearing make up or jewelry, and someone else look at them and say, "yeah, I that looks like a great way to live, I want to become just like them? But real holiness living should stir something in people to the point that when they view our lives, they inwardly desire what we have. THAT, my friends, only comes from a heart issue. Holiness is an inward discipline that reflects itself on the outside. When people view us, living in the world, but not of the world, in such a way that we don't bend to temptations, we don't explode with anger, ... when our life mirrors the nature of Jesus... THAT is holiess. This is what God not only asks of us, He DEMANDS it.