II. John 13:6-11     Holiness

Introduction: In the forests of northern Europe and Asia lives little animal called the ermine, known for his snow-white fur in winter. He instinctively protects his white coat against anything that would soil it. Fur hunters take advantage of this unusual trait of the ermine. They don’t set a snare to catch him, but instead they find his home, which is usually a cleft in a rock or a hollow in an old tree. They smear the entrance and interior with grime. Then the hunters set their dogs loose to find and chase the ermine. The frightened animal flees toward home but doesn’t enter because of the filth. Rather than soil his white coat, he is trapped by the dogs and captured while preserving his purity. For the ermine, purity is more precious than life. (HGB-Our Daily Bread, April 21, 1997)

Explanation: Once again, here’s a practical example of what Jesus meant in Luke 19:39-40…you remember during Jesus’ triumphal entry the children and disciples were shouting praise to God for Jesus…a little too loudly and enthusiastically for the religious leaders liking. Here’s the text. ‘Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples! I tell you, Jesus replied, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.’
 
When Christians refuse to live holy lives…the stones cry out, or in this case the ermines teach us about purity, what it means to be holy.

Holiness is a word that doesn’t get used very often outside the church. Inside the church there are so many different expectations of what holiness is and how it should be lived out that we are often confused about it.

Why would we be confused? Because holiness, your and my holiness before God, has most often been taught to us as a list of do’s and don’ts…am I right?
    •    Men don’t wear shorts, or sneakers to church. They do wear suits and ties.
    •    Women don’t wear slacks, or excessive make-up to church. They do wear dresses and hats.
    •    Christians don’t go to the movies, plays cards,  smoke, drink, dances…
    •    Christians  don’t play sports, watch TV or work on Sundays. They do attend Sunday school, morning and evening worship, read their bibles and pray.
For many, that’s the picture of holiness they were taught.

One of the problems with this, is that whatever was on the list of do’s and don’ts that you were taught, it’s often that list that you use to judge, yes, judge the maturity, or holiness of other Christians.

    •    That person isn’t truly spiritual because he smokes.
    •    The pastor isn’t truly spiritual because he never wears a suit to church.
    •    That person can’t be a mature Christian because I saw them dancing at a wedding reception.

We often judge another persons level of Christian maturity based on the Do’s and Don’t’s list we were taught to believe was the measure of holiness.

Another huge problem with basing our standard of holiness on our Do’s and Don’t’s list is because there are so many different versions of the list depending on where you live and what kind of church you attend.

Please understand that I am not saying that the things on these lists are necessarily wrong. But I am saying that they are not a true measure of holiness.

Transition: Well then, what is a true measure of holiness you may be thinking? Open your Bibles to John 13:6 (pg. 823 in the church bible under the seat in front of you). For here we will see Jesus teach us that holiness is surrendering to God’s authority over your life.

John 13:6-8a        Pride blocks Holiness
Read: John 13:6-8a

It’s obvious that Peter had a very high regard for Jesus. He believed it was beneath Jesus to wash the disciple feet. While this may sound good Peter even felt it was beneath him to wash the dirty feet of those in the room…or he would have offered to do it before Jesus began.

    •    Remember even a Hebrew slave couldn’t be forced to wash any ones dirty feet, that job was give to the Gentile slaves.

Peter’s words may appear to be humble but they display the sin of pride. Why?
    1.    Peter thinks washing dirty feet is beneath Jesus’ level of social status…and beneath his too. That’s Pride.
    2.    By saying what he did, Peter is presuming to know better than Jesus. Peter is so bold as to correct Jesus and thought he was wrong for what he was doing.
           That’s Pride.

Pride is a sin we all struggle with. But truth be told, some of us don’t struggle with it enough.

    •    Like Peter, it’s because of our pride that we often refuse God’s grace because we feel we are handing things well on our own.
    •    It’s because of our pride that we often look the other way when Jesus offers cleansing, because we fail to recognize and acknowledge our sin.

Transition: Pride blocks our holiness, our ability to live holy lives before one another and before our God. What then, develops holiness in us?

John 13:8b-10    Surrender leads to Holiness
Read: John 13:8b-10

ILL: There was a man who always had trouble getting his son to clean his room. The boy would always agree to clean the room but then would get distracted and fail to get it done. After High School, the boy joined the Marines. When he came home after boot camp his dad asked him what he learned in basic training. Dad, he said, I have learned what NOW means.’ (Richard Tow)

What this boy learned and what Peter came to understand was obedience… ‘now’ obedience. Peter learned to simply obey Jesus rather than offer his own personal alternatives.

    •    Holiness is developed when we surrender to God’s authority over our lives.

Peter, I just love him. He gets all excited and tells Jesus, well, don’t just wash my feet, pour that whole basin of water on me! While I believe he was sincere and passionate, he also didn’t understand what Jesus was trying to teach. And Jesus said as much. So Jesus begins to explain it so even Peter can understand it.

First let me tell you what Jesus is not talking about.
    •    When Jesus uses the word ‘bath’ he’s not referencing Baptism. Jesus is not saying that you must be baptized in order to be clean.

Sidebar: To be clean means to be saved, to have your sins forgiven, to have been given eternal life.

    •    When Jesus uses the word ‘bath’ he is talking about coming under his shed blood when he gives his life on the cross.
    •    He is saying that once you have accepted his shed blood poured out for you on Calvary, your sin is forgiven and you are clean…you are sanctified, you are
         HOLY.
    •    It’s a done deal and it doesn’t need to be done over again.

The writer of the book of Hebrews reinforces this when he says  Heb. 7:26-27 ‘Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.’

Holiness first is developed when we are bathed in the blood of Christ by faith, our sin is forgiven, we are saved, we are forever clean before God and therefore in a right relationship with Him.

When Jesus tells Peter ‘Unless I wash your feet, you have no part with me.’ He wasn’t saying that Peter could lose his right relationship with Jesus, his salvation. Peter was already clean, forgiven, saved, his relationship was secure, Jesus said that.

    •    But there is a difference between being in ‘relationship’ with Jesus and being in ‘fellowship’ with Jesus.

    1. Relationship with Jesus has to do with Positional Holiness. Our relationship with Jesus gives us access to God’s presence. It happened at a particular point in
        time when you asked Jesus into your heart and he forgave your sins and gave you eternal life.

Read: 1 Cor. 6:11b ‘But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God’

You were, at the moment you asked Jesus into your life, sanctified, made holy.

    2. Fellowship with Jesus has to do with Practical Holiness. We sin and that sin breaks our fellowship with Jesus.

Read: Psalm 66:18 ‘If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened’

Practical holiness is confessing our sin and asking for forgiveness on a continual basis because we still sin, we still get our feet dirty as we walk through life.

Unconfessed sin makes us feel as if Jesus is somehow distant and we’re not as close as we ought to be…broken fellowship.

Read: 1 Thess 4:3 ‘It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality’

Surrendering  to God and His Word, regular confession of our sins work to make us sanctified…in a practical, day to day way.

    •    Positional holiness establishes our access to God through our relationship with Jesus Christ.
    •    Practical holiness nourishes our fellowship with Jesus.

Does that make sense?

Transition: But, the text reminds us, not everyone in that Upper Room was clean, was saved, was holy.

John 13:11    Rejection makes us sin-full
Read: John 11

Judas never placed his trust, his faith in Jesus as the Messiah. He never asked God to forgive his sin. Outwardly Judas was a disciple, but inwardly he wasn’t one of Jesus’ own.

    •    Judas’ feet were washed by Jesus as an offering of what could be.
    •    The other disciples feet were washed by Jesus as a declaration of what already was.

Conclusion
What is Personal Holiness and why is it important to the Christian life?

    •    We don’t have a dress code here at CBC…and I’m glad.
    •    We don’t have a code of Christian conduct we all are required to sign here at CBC…and I’m glad.

We don’t have them because keeping to a code other than Scripture won’t make us holy. We could keep every do and don’t on the list and still end up like Judas…a disciple of Jesus Christ on the outside but heading for Hell on the inside.

Instead let me ask…have you surrendered to God’s authority over your life?
    •    Have you been to Jesus and asked him to cleanse you of your sin?
    •    Are you submitting to the Word and Will of God?

Another aspect of practical holiness is consecration, that’s separation or being set apart from sin in the world and being set apart to God for His good works.
    •    Are you consecrated to God, set apart for Him?

Challenge
I stand before you as one who struggles with  holiness.

But I also stand before you as one who is willing to renew my desire to be holy. While I know the struggle ahead, I know God is bigger than anything I will face.

I don’t do this often, but this morning, right now, I invite you to come and kneel at the steps to the platform for a special time of prayer, of confession of sin and declaration of your intent to surrender to the authority of God over your life.

Friends, you are not alone…I am already here.
And as we pray, we will not be lifting up just ourselves in prayer, but those beside us as well.
Don’t come forward to impress anyone or because you think someone expects you to. Come because God is nudging you to be holy.