Can holiness make an impact in our community? Wouldn’t marketing a cool image or offering tons of exciting programs or preaching positive thinking make more of an impact? Holiness is not a very popular attribute in our day-in-age is it? Often when people in our culture think of holiness they usually picture such divergent things as incense, candles and church buildings, maybe puritans in stark churches, or monks or hermits or perhaps some mystical/spiritual place. Or, if they don’t think of things, they think of a ‘holier than thou’ attitude or legalism. Holiness to them seems incoherent and inaccessible at best and oppressive at worst. What about us? What do we think of holiness? Often don’t we think of it as some unattainable goal; something we need to be but we find impossible to pull off; something for super-Christians (who are way more spiritual than we are); or something that will define us in heaven, but not here on earth?
What is holiness? To be holy is to be set apart to God and therefore to be characterized by God. Holiness then, in the context of a fallen world – a world corrupted by sin - could be described as being radically different. And we learn about holiness and the impact it can make in our passage for today: 1 Peter 2:9-12.
I want us to look at this passage backwards, because that will allow us to look at the impact we are to have first and then discover how we are to make that impact.
That they may see your good deeds and glorify God
What is holiness? To be holy is to be set apart to God and therefore to be characterized by God. Holiness then, in the context of a fallen world – a world corrupted by sin - could be described as being radically different. And we learn about holiness and the impact it can make in our passage for today: 1 Peter 2:9-12.
I want us to look at this passage backwards, because that will allow us to look at the impact we are to have first and then discover how we are to make that impact.
That they may see your good deeds and glorify God
Live such good live among unbelievers
abstain from sinful passions
as sojourners and exiles in the world
Beloved
So, what is the impact? We find it in v.12: “that they may see you good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.” In our context, “they” are the unbelievers all around us – people we know and like; people we work with and live by. It is those people whom we want to see our good deeds (i.e. our Christian faith lived out genuinely, humbly and fervently) so that they might glorify God by believing and trusting in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Could our impact be to so glorify God through our lives that others come to glorify Him as well?
I believe so. For what precedes this impact? Peter instructs us to live good lives. Now, this is not living the “good life” (the American dream), but rather living lives that make a difference; lives that make an impact. And what sort of lives make an impact? Lives that have been impacted by Jesus; lives that take His teaching and example seriously. In his book, The Living Church, John Stott describes this kind of life as one characterized by Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount: a life of greater righteousness, wider love and nobler ambition.
And if we are to live such good lives – lives characterized by Christ – we must let go of certain things. The apostle Paul says it this way: “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24). We must take off what we were apart from Christ so that we can put on Christ. That involves abstaining from sinful desires. If you have remodeled a house, you know that destruction precedes construction. There is stuff to get rid of (clutter to remove, carpets to pull up, walls to knock down). The same is true in us. Before we can be rebuilt, things have to get torn down and removed. And to do that we must fight against the sinful desires which war against our souls. And that is not easy. That is why Peter refers to it as a war. Sin comes naturally to us. We’re all really good at it. Pride, selfishness, conceit, anger, hatred, jealousy etc. all come naturally and easily to us, but we must fight against those things. We must abstain (hold back, keep ourselves from) those sinful desires. And we must do that constantly. “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance,” wrote Thomas Jefferson. That is true of us. Sinful desires war against our soul and we must battle against them continuously.
But how do we do that in a world that preys upon our sinful passions; that encourages them; advertises to them; celebrates them? How do we do that in our Las Vegas culture? We must live as “aliens and strangers” or as it is also translated, “sojourners and exiles”. To sojourn is to stay someplace temporarily; to be a temporary resident. To be an exile is to be separated from one’s native land. When we live as sojourners and exiles, we recognize that this broken world is not our home and the way of this broken world is not our way. This world does not define us because we were meant to live for more. We are in it, but not of it. We live in the midst of it, but it is not our life. How do we abstain from sinful passions and live good lives in the midst of our Las Vegas culture? We change our loyalties and alter our priorities. We strive for something greater, higher, wider and nobler. Or as the writer of Hebrews says, we “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” When surrounded and accosted and tempted by the glitz and glamour, the propaganda and propositions, the easy money and cheap thrills of our Vegas culture, we must train our eyes to see through it (to see it for what it is: empty, base, fleeting); to see beyond it (to what is good, true and beautiful); and to see Christ (to look to and through Christ).
But what makes us want to live as sojourners and exiles in this world? Most people don’t generally choose exile or a life of sojourning. What would cause us to want that? The answer is found in one word: “Beloved”. We are God’s Beloved. And that makes all the difference. It makes all the difference because as Paul says, “Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Cor 5:14-15). People will do almost anything for human love, how much more the perfect love of God? And so, because we are loved we are willing and able to live no longer for ourselves but for the One who loves us; who died and rose again for us.
To be ‘beloved’ is to belong to the Father by being in the Son, Jesus Christ, and being filled with the Holy Spirit. To belong to the Father is to be reconciled. To be in Christ is to be redeemed. To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be made holy. And so, to be ‘beloved’ is to be set apart and made right, or in other words, to be holy. As God’s beloved, we are made holy and as those who are made holy, we are beloved. As we read in vv.9-10, to be holy and beloved means we have received mercy; we are God’s people; we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation; a people belonging to God. And notice that even in that description we are pointed toward the impact we are to have. We read at the end of v. 9: “(so) that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
How do we make an impact that causes unbelievers to come to Christ and glorify God? By living good lives in front of them and abstaining from sinful passions as those who choose to live as sojourners and exiles because they are the beloved of God (declared and being made holy). Or in other words, by living radically different lives out of our love for God.
But does that really work? Does living radically different lives (holy lives) make a difference? Yes.
For one reason, if we are no different from the world, what do we have to offer it? Why would people want more of the same? Without holiness (radical distinctiveness) that comes from belonging to God, all we have to offer is gimmicks and games. And our world doesn’t need any more gimmicks. It doesn’t need any more propaganda or platitudes. It needs integrity, confidence, strength and love. And so, holiness is compelling because love is compelling. Our good deeds, our lives of love cause people to glorify God. And holiness is compelling because integrity is compelling. When we live good lives; when our conduct is honorable and Christlike, people take notice. Personal strength is compelling because in a world of license, of indecisiveness and lack of commitment; a culture with the mantra of “if it feels good, do it” personal strength and self-control are rare and therefore striking. And confidence is compelling. Knowing who we are and being confident and comfortable in our identity as sojourners and exiles is somewhat refreshing in a world of identity confusion and identity fraud; of living vicariously and of people constantly trying to find themselves.
A second reason that holiness makes an impact is because holiness is a reflection of God. And when people see God, they are never the same. When people see a reflection of God’s character in us, they are astounded by it and attracted to it.
A third reason that holiness makes an impact is because holiness is personal. Holiness cannot be advertised or marketed or printed on a church letter-board sign, or glued to a billboard or made into a movie; it cannot be communicated through a bumper sticker, a t-shirt, a tract or any other impersonal means. Holiness makes an impact because the only way to see it is personally – we see it in the another person’s life; we see it lived out. You can ignore church letter-board signs. You can throw out a flyer. But it is difficult to ignore someone’s life. When Mother Theresa spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast in 1994 (in front of the President and other leaders) what made her compelling was not what she looked like (a small, Albanian woman dressed as a nun), not her performance (she read from a paper held close to her face), but the truth of her words backed up by the holiness of her life. You could ignore her appearance and performance, but you could not ignore her life. Holiness makes an impact because it allows the truth of our words to be backed up by the love and integrity of our lives.
So, what is the impact? We find it in v.12: “that they may see you good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.” In our context, “they” are the unbelievers all around us – people we know and like; people we work with and live by. It is those people whom we want to see our good deeds (i.e. our Christian faith lived out genuinely, humbly and fervently) so that they might glorify God by believing and trusting in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Could our impact be to so glorify God through our lives that others come to glorify Him as well?
I believe so. For what precedes this impact? Peter instructs us to live good lives. Now, this is not living the “good life” (the American dream), but rather living lives that make a difference; lives that make an impact. And what sort of lives make an impact? Lives that have been impacted by Jesus; lives that take His teaching and example seriously. In his book, The Living Church, John Stott describes this kind of life as one characterized by Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount: a life of greater righteousness, wider love and nobler ambition.
And if we are to live such good lives – lives characterized by Christ – we must let go of certain things. The apostle Paul says it this way: “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24). We must take off what we were apart from Christ so that we can put on Christ. That involves abstaining from sinful desires. If you have remodeled a house, you know that destruction precedes construction. There is stuff to get rid of (clutter to remove, carpets to pull up, walls to knock down). The same is true in us. Before we can be rebuilt, things have to get torn down and removed. And to do that we must fight against the sinful desires which war against our souls. And that is not easy. That is why Peter refers to it as a war. Sin comes naturally to us. We’re all really good at it. Pride, selfishness, conceit, anger, hatred, jealousy etc. all come naturally and easily to us, but we must fight against those things. We must abstain (hold back, keep ourselves from) those sinful desires. And we must do that constantly. “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance,” wrote Thomas Jefferson. That is true of us. Sinful desires war against our soul and we must battle against them continuously.
But how do we do that in a world that preys upon our sinful passions; that encourages them; advertises to them; celebrates them? How do we do that in our Las Vegas culture? We must live as “aliens and strangers” or as it is also translated, “sojourners and exiles”. To sojourn is to stay someplace temporarily; to be a temporary resident. To be an exile is to be separated from one’s native land. When we live as sojourners and exiles, we recognize that this broken world is not our home and the way of this broken world is not our way. This world does not define us because we were meant to live for more. We are in it, but not of it. We live in the midst of it, but it is not our life. How do we abstain from sinful passions and live good lives in the midst of our Las Vegas culture? We change our loyalties and alter our priorities. We strive for something greater, higher, wider and nobler. Or as the writer of Hebrews says, we “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” When surrounded and accosted and tempted by the glitz and glamour, the propaganda and propositions, the easy money and cheap thrills of our Vegas culture, we must train our eyes to see through it (to see it for what it is: empty, base, fleeting); to see beyond it (to what is good, true and beautiful); and to see Christ (to look to and through Christ).
But what makes us want to live as sojourners and exiles in this world? Most people don’t generally choose exile or a life of sojourning. What would cause us to want that? The answer is found in one word: “Beloved”. We are God’s Beloved. And that makes all the difference. It makes all the difference because as Paul says, “Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Cor 5:14-15). People will do almost anything for human love, how much more the perfect love of God? And so, because we are loved we are willing and able to live no longer for ourselves but for the One who loves us; who died and rose again for us.
To be ‘beloved’ is to belong to the Father by being in the Son, Jesus Christ, and being filled with the Holy Spirit. To belong to the Father is to be reconciled. To be in Christ is to be redeemed. To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be made holy. And so, to be ‘beloved’ is to be set apart and made right, or in other words, to be holy. As God’s beloved, we are made holy and as those who are made holy, we are beloved. As we read in vv.9-10, to be holy and beloved means we have received mercy; we are God’s people; we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation; a people belonging to God. And notice that even in that description we are pointed toward the impact we are to have. We read at the end of v. 9: “(so) that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
How do we make an impact that causes unbelievers to come to Christ and glorify God? By living good lives in front of them and abstaining from sinful passions as those who choose to live as sojourners and exiles because they are the beloved of God (declared and being made holy). Or in other words, by living radically different lives out of our love for God.
But does that really work? Does living radically different lives (holy lives) make a difference? Yes.
For one reason, if we are no different from the world, what do we have to offer it? Why would people want more of the same? Without holiness (radical distinctiveness) that comes from belonging to God, all we have to offer is gimmicks and games. And our world doesn’t need any more gimmicks. It doesn’t need any more propaganda or platitudes. It needs integrity, confidence, strength and love. And so, holiness is compelling because love is compelling. Our good deeds, our lives of love cause people to glorify God. And holiness is compelling because integrity is compelling. When we live good lives; when our conduct is honorable and Christlike, people take notice. Personal strength is compelling because in a world of license, of indecisiveness and lack of commitment; a culture with the mantra of “if it feels good, do it” personal strength and self-control are rare and therefore striking. And confidence is compelling. Knowing who we are and being confident and comfortable in our identity as sojourners and exiles is somewhat refreshing in a world of identity confusion and identity fraud; of living vicariously and of people constantly trying to find themselves.
A second reason that holiness makes an impact is because holiness is a reflection of God. And when people see God, they are never the same. When people see a reflection of God’s character in us, they are astounded by it and attracted to it.
A third reason that holiness makes an impact is because holiness is personal. Holiness cannot be advertised or marketed or printed on a church letter-board sign, or glued to a billboard or made into a movie; it cannot be communicated through a bumper sticker, a t-shirt, a tract or any other impersonal means. Holiness makes an impact because the only way to see it is personally – we see it in the another person’s life; we see it lived out. You can ignore church letter-board signs. You can throw out a flyer. But it is difficult to ignore someone’s life. When Mother Theresa spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast in 1994 (in front of the President and other leaders) what made her compelling was not what she looked like (a small, Albanian woman dressed as a nun), not her performance (she read from a paper held close to her face), but the truth of her words backed up by the holiness of her life. You could ignore her appearance and performance, but you could not ignore her life. Holiness makes an impact because it allows the truth of our words to be backed up by the love and integrity of our lives.
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