Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Statement Of Faith

The Church Part 9

Intro: If someone were to call you 'holy' would you consider it a compliment? It would probably depend on two things...are there any other words attached like...'holy roller' or 'holier than thou'?  It would also depend on how you defined holiness. If holiness to you means sour, narrow-minded, uptight, or judgmental than it would not be a compliment.

     Of all the attributes of God, holiness seems to be central to His divine nature. And we see from Scripture that God is not just holy...He is  holy, holy, holy. In Hebrew when something is to be emphasized it is repeated. The holiness of God is the only attribute repeated in this way.

     As Christians we know of the complete holiness of God. And when we come into the presence of God we are made painfully aware of our lack of holiness..of our fullness of sin. To avoid that painful and humbling experience, we often take our eyes off God's holiness and look at the holiness of others. And you know what? We will always find others less holy than we are to make us feel good about ourselves.

    But when we compare our lives to the standard of God's holiness, delusions come tumbling down and like the prophet Isaiah, we become undone. And the reality is we must become undone before we can become redone..remade into the image of Christ.

EXP: In the 4th chapter of Ephesians we have seen that  the church is to reach out to those who attend and teach them how to walk as Christians...
     First, to Walk in the manner of your calling.
             To Walk in the manner of your gifting.
             To Walk in the manner of your maturity.
    And finally, this week
             To Walk in the manner of your holiness.

     I believe Paul has saved the best...and perhaps the hardest for last. It is best because as we walk in holiness others will see Christ in us and God will be glorified. It is hardest because we fight it all the way.

ILL: Chuck Colson has said that holiness is the everyday business of every Christian. It evidences itself in the decisions we make and the things we do, hour by hour, day by day.

     The road to holiness is a road to change and the Christian who desires to walk in holiness is one who will be changed. If you are not pursuing holiness as a Christian, there is a good chance you are not a child of God..no matter how churched you may be. These are not my words...Paul in Eph. 5:1-7 says this.

Read: Eph. 5:1-7

     If we are going to be true disciples of Christ, we must walk in the manner of our holiness.

Trans: How do we do that? How do we walk in holiness? Open your bibles to Eph. 4:17 where Paul gives us three practical ways to be holy.

IV. Walk in the manner of your holiness. (Eph. 4:17-32)
   A. Do not walk in the ways of the unbeliever. (17-19)
Read: Eph. 4:17-19

     Paul says that we are no longer to walk as the Gentiles or unbelievers do. Though you will live among them, do not live like them. Well just what is it about their lifestyles that is so bad and potentially harmful to Christians? Paul gets more specific...

1. Their minds are futile.
     Their thinking and actions are useless because they will not lead them where they want to go...peace, security. They lack the understanding that will bring them to true peace and security, which is the knowledge of salvation in Christ.

2. They hearts are hardened toward God.
     They remain in darkness and love it because they believe it hides the guilt of their sinful lives. By their continual denial of Christ they alienate themselves from the life of and in God. They have a dislike of and aversion to holy living which is the life God requires. As this continues their hearts become more and more hard and cold...until

3. Their hearts are callous.
     Callous here means 'past feeling' or 'numb'. They get so hardened that they no longer have a sense of their own sinfulness. In their callous heart and lives, they give themselves over to increased sinfulness, hungering after more and more of self-things.

     In Leviticus 20:26 God says 'Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.'  There is nothing holy about the world. There is nothing holy about or in the lives of unbelievers. Paul is not saying have nothing to do with them, just don't have their mind set. Because if you do, then having their actions and behaviors will follow.

Trans: We walk in the manner of our holiness when we do not walk in the ways of unbelievers.
             That's the negative, in verses 20-24 Paul gives us the positive.

    B. Do walk in the ways of Christ. (Eph. 4:20-24)
Read: Eph. 4:20-24

     How many parents have said similar words to their children when they act up in public? 'You know better...I taught you better than that'. That is what Paul is telling his Christian family. You Know Christ and You Know His Ways, I and others have taught you what life in Christ is all about...and how you are living is not it...Holiness is the life you have learned...holiness is the life you are to live.

     Well, if you have strayed from the path of holiness, how do you return? Paul uses one of his favorite metaphors....wax off...wax on ...not really, he says put off and put on. Put off the old life of sin and put on your new life in Christ.

     To Put Off means to recognize and then rid yourself of that which is worldly...dirty and sinful.

ILL: When I used to work as a Psychiatric Social Social worker for the Phila. Prison System, I had to walk and sit in the cells of the prisoners. Since much of my time was spent in the psychiatric block of the prison,  I would experience many things I wouldn't want to repeat and most of them had an associated smell. Often the smell was so bad that the moment I got home from work, I would take off my clothes, put them right in the washer and then take a shower. I had to divest or put off the horrible smell of the job or I would not be able to function well with others in my home.

     This is the same idea. We are to put off sinful attitudes, and actions because before our holy God they are filthy, they stink and are unbecoming a follower of Jesus Christ. Paul describes these as 'lusts of deceit'.  'Urges' is a better word than lust because the context here is not just sexual. You see, our old life tells us that these urges must be met if we are to find happiness and security in life. So we try to satisfy these urges. What urges?

 The urge to use others for our advantage.
 The urge to always be right, even when you aren't
 The urge to lie or cheat to gain advantage.
 The urge to criticize others.
 The urge to be impatient with others.
 The urge to fight those who do not think as we do.

     These are just a few of the urges Paul is talking about. Urges that were probably present in the Church at Ephesus and in the Church today. Paul says, Put Off these urges, deny them any power or influence in your life. Put off the old life.

     The reality is, following these urges will not lead you to peace and security. There is only one thing that will...Paul tells us to Put On Christ.  To reject the appeal of the old life and put on, act instead on the wonderful possibilities and promises that are yours in Christ.

     To put on Christ means to trust in the Word of God enough to act upon it in each decision you make. It means to be like Christ. Since we are to walk in holiness, we must recognize that this new life in Christ has as it's purpose to make us more into the image of God which is true holiness and righteousness according to our text.

    Before we go on, we must recognize to whom Paul is speaking. Paul is speaking to believers, Christians, those who have placed their faith in Christ as their only means of forgiveness for their sins and hope of eternal life. This means that if you are here and you haven't accepted Christ as your Savior, then you can not put off or put on anything. You are stuck with what you have. There is no old life of sin, it IS your life, you have no other.

     And you can't put on your new life because that is the life given to those who have accepted Christ death on the cross as payment for their sin and have personally asked Him to lead them in life. You have no new life. So you too have a choice to make...life as you know it ( burdened by sin and guilt) or life in Christ (free and forgiven by Christ). If God is speaking to your heart, listen. Reach out by faith, trust that Christ's death on the cross paid the payment for your sin debt to God.

     Tell God you are sorry for your sin and unbelief and ask Him to forgive you. Ask Christ to make Himself real to you so that you can know Him and His ways. God's Word says that whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  True peace and security in this life and in the life to come depends on the relationship you have with Christ. Don't let this moment pass you by.

Trans: Up to this point Paul still has been pretty general in what he has told us. He spoke about putting off the old life of sin but what does putting on Christ look like..how are we to do it? He answers this by getting into the specifics of walking in the manner of your holiness. Lets examine briefly vs 25-32.

   C. Do walk  rightly with one another. (Eph. 25-32)
Read: Eph. 4:25-32

     It is amazing that so much of personal holiness is related to how we treat others.  It has been said that the test of true holiness is not what others see you do but what God sees you do in private.

     While I agree we must not be tricked to believe that what we do in public is unimportant. Chapter 4-6 of Ephesians deals with our public lives and the holiness or lack of it shown there. And Paul gets very specific.

     I could spend a series of messages on this text alone.  However, I would like to finish this series on the Inreach Mission of the church this week. So I hope you will allow me the freedom to keep you a little longer than usual. I believe this is important.

What are the specifics to practical holiness?
1. No lying, speak the truth
     The Greeks used to say 'A profitable lie is better than a harmful truth' This is part of the old man , the mindset of the unbelieving world, and it must be put off.  Since we are part of the one body in Christ, it is totally unreasonable for us to desire to lie to one another. Since we are to love one another, love detests falsehood and so should we.

2. Be angry but do not sin
     'Be angry' is not the problem. We all do that pretty well. Yet, we often forget the rest of the phrase...'but do not sin'. To be angry and not sin means that we are angry at nothing but sin and not the one who sins.

NOTE: 'don't let the sun go down on your anger.' This doesn't mean that if your husband does something before he leaves for work in the morning that makes you angry, you can milk it and let it stew until the time you go to bed just so he knows you are angry. Deal with it immediately. Then put it off.

3. Do not steal, but work
     Paul is not speaking only to professional thieves but to the amateur as well. It includes shoplifting, borrowing w/o returning, and whatever else it means to deprive someone of their property w/o giving true value in return.  It also means not working so that you will be a burden to others. We are told to work...all of us who are physically and mentally able. Why, so that we can help those who can't. We are to put off laziness and thievery of all kinds and put on Christ.

4. Watch your tongue
ILL: A guy came to his pastor and said, "Reverend, I only have one talent." The pastor asked, "What's your talent? The man said, "I have the gift of criticism." The pastor was wise and replied, "The Bible says that the guy who had only one talent went out and buried it. Maybe that's what you ought to do with yours."

     The tongue gets more people in trouble than any other part of the body. We just can't control it and some give up trying. They say, 'Well I know I have a bad temper, I have had it for years so you will just have to make allowances for it.' No, I don't and neither do you. Put it off and put on Christ.

     Listen folks, this is real. We have problems with our tongues. We are perhaps all guilty of saying that which  is unholy, not edifying, and empty of grace. And we ought to be ashamed, I know I am.

     How should we be  talking to one another...look at the text. 'let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment that it may give grace to those who hear.'

     I gotta tell you, what I hear directed to others...and to me, is often not edifying, not timely or not grace-ful. Instead it satisfies whatever urge is pressuring to be met. And the result is that the Spirit is grieved because of a lack of love for another member of the body of Christ that He, the Spirit is working to unite and make one.

     Listen, if it is not going to build another up in their faith, if it is not going to encourage them, if it is not said in a timely fashion, if it is not going to be a means of grace in theie lives...DON'T SAY IT! Put it off and Put On Christ.

5. Put off bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, malice.
     What are some of the attitudes and actions that are caused by an unbridled and ungrace-ful tongue? Bitterness, anger, clamor, slander and malice. All of which are evil and they are making us weak  and are keeping us from walking in the manner of our holiness which is characterized when we...

6. Put on kindness and forgiveness
     Even when hurt, even when left out, even when you are not recognized, even when others talk in an ungraceful manner to and about you, even when others don't forgive you for your offenses against them...

    Show kindness and grant forgiveness, because they are the mark of true Christian fellowship and it is  practical, personal holiness.

Conclusion
     The local church is the place to learn to walk in the manner of your holiness because we are all supposed to be on the same journey. It is be easier to practice holiness when others are doing the same thing. But again, we need everyone to participate.
The road to holiness is much more difficult when there are those in the church hindering it progress by harboring bitterness, by lying, stealing, or speaking in an unkind or ungraceful way.  We must begin to take responsibility for the ungodly use of our tongue and our  unkind and unforgiving attitudes and behaviors. We must nail them to the cross and leave them there.

All of that behavior must be PUT OFF and Christ be PUT ON as we walk in the manner of our holiness. The choice is yours to make. Choose wisely as not one of us here will be left unaffected by your decision.