Being Holy: Biblical Perspective, Final

Reason number three, because of His son’s sacrifice on the cross. Paul in I Cor 6: 19 and 20 says, ‘Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.’ For you were bought with a price. You do not belong to yourself. You do not own yourself. You are a slave to Christ. You cannot do what you want to do.

Do you realize how difficult it is to go out in the streets, knocking doors as a salesman? As a salesman, I have done door to door sales and I know how difficult it is to make yourself get out of your room, shed your ego and shame and go knocking. I have stood in the malls and exhibitions approaching people, we call it prospecting. Do you realize how difficult it is? All salesmen do whatever it takes to procrastinate, postpone the prospect of going out and making cold calls. And Jesus having shed His glory and honor endured the shame and humiliation of being beaten and spit upon. If that was not enough, he was made to walk all the way to the Calvary, making himself a spectacle in front of the whole crowd who had gathered to see this event. If people didn’t know Him, it would have been easier for Him to go unrecognized as just another criminal being punished for his crime. But here He was, among the same people whom He taught daily in the synagogue, whom He healed, spoke great monologues. They knew Him and that’s why they mocked Him. He faced treachery from His own people, falsely convicted, humiliated and mocked by soldiers, endured pain due to the beatings and crown of thorns, isolated at the cross, died the death of a criminal. He did it because He chose to suffer for our sake. Jesus said in Jn 10:17b-18, ‘I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.’ II Cor 5:15, ‘And He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.’ Peter in I Pet 1:18 and 19 says this, ‘Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver and gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.’

Reason number four, because you are saved. God demands holiness because He is holy. God demands holiness because He hates sin. God demands holiness because of His son's sacrifice on the cross. God demands holiness because you are saved, transformed, redeemed, new creation. So, do not conform yourselves to the former lusts. II Pet 1:14. Conduct (behave) yourselves throughout the time of your stay in fear. I Pet 1:17. Fear means reverence.

God demands holiness from people who do not know Him for even though they may not know the True and Living God, they have a conscience which either accuses them or excuses them. Rom 1:19, 2:14, 15. How much more pertinent it is for those who are God's children to yield to this demand of their God.

Being Holy: Biblical Perspective, Part 5

Reason number two, because God hates sin. Why you should pursue holiness? Because God hates sin. Sin is an affront to God’s holiness. God hates sin. Sin is an insult to God. Sin demeans God’s holiness and His authority. How much does He hate it? Listen to what God says of his anointed cherub, an angelic being in Ezekiel 28: 11-17, ‘Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. “By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground…”

This is the origin of Satan. He was perfect in all sense: being, wisdom and beauty. He was in the Garden of Eden, he walked on the holy mountain of God, he had many responsibilities, he was the anointed one, yet the moment he sinned, God threw him out of heaven. God hates sin in its entirety. As far as east is from the west, so far away is our God from sin. Sin has no place in heaven and no one who is tainted with sin can or will ever be able to make his/her way to heaven. God is serious about sin and does not push it under the carpet.

Being Holy: Biblical Perspective, Part 4

We will begin our discussion with the question on, 'why holiness is important'? Why holiness is an absolute must? Then, we will seek to find as to how to be holy. Let’s begin our study with the question, why holiness…why holiness?

Reason number one, because He is holy. Holiness is one of the central themes of the Bible. It is the thread which runs through the fabric of the Bible. You cannot separate God of the Bible from holiness. He is holy and demands that they who approach Him, approach Him in holiness. He is so holy that even the Seraphims, the angelic beings referred to in Isaiah 6:2,3 cover their faces with two of their wings, feet with another two of their wings and with another two they flew saying one to another, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory. In I Timothy 6:16 Paul says, ‘ Who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.’ His dwelling place is unapproachable light, which speaks of symbolically of His absolute holiness. http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/1Tim/Timothy-Man-God.

Look at Exodus chapter 19 and starting from verse 11, ‘And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Verse 12, ‘You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.’ In I Jn 1:5, Apostle John says, ‘…that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.’ Darkness refers to sin. God is holy and He does not want anyone to undermine His holiness.

This is the reason He demands holiness from His people. If we have to approach this God, we will have to do it by conforming to His standard. You think that ‘now that I am saved, it doesn’t matter how I live, I will anyways end up in heaven’, listen to what God says in Hebrews 12: 14, ‘Pursue peace with all people and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.’ If you have an unholy lifestyle and still consider yourself as saved, you need to reconsider your standing. If there is an unbroken pattern of sin in your life, that is an alarm screaming at you about your unredeemed status. A holy life is a proof of your redeemed status. In Matt 5:48, Jesus said, ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.’ (KJV) in I Peter 1:15, Peter says, ‘But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.’ This is not some kind of suggestion. It is a command. God wants you to be holy. Period.

Being Holy: Biblical Perspective, Part 3

Part 2 deleted, accidentally. My apology.

you choose to continue to sin, will it be easy to bring you back, listen to what God says through the author of Hebrews in chapter 6 and verses 4-6, ‘For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.’

Has He not called us by grace. Yes, indeed He called us by grace but to what? Let’s read I Thess 4:7, where Paul says, ‘For God did not call us to uncleanness but to holiness.’ Verse 8, ‘Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.’ This is not teaching of a man but is from God. You reject God when you choose to live an unholy, sinful life.

This call to holiness is obvious when you become a Christian or when you gave your life to Jesus, repenting of all your sins. It is obvious for a Christian to be holy. We came to Jesus because we wanted freedom from the bondage of our sins. Did we not? Sin held a sway over our lives. Did it not? Far from overcoming it, we were not even able to deal with it in an effective manner. Then, we heard the good news of Jesus Christ and his wondrous work on the cross, shattering the power of sin and delivering us from our sins. God gave us the same power through which He raised Jesus from the dead. Now having received the forgiveness of their sins and power over sin, these disobedient believers have turned back to fulfill their own lustful passions and fleshly desires. Did not Peter refer to these believers as dogs and pigs in II Peter 2: 22? II Peter 2:22, 'But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: "A dog returns to his own vomit," and, "a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire." Revealing that these people were never saved in the first place? 

Does Bible brand dogs and pigs as unclean animals? No, not at all. Listen to what Paul says in I Tim 4:4, 'For every creature of good, and nothing is to be refused...' Dogs and pigs have an inherent quality. That is, a dog will vomit and eat the same and a pig, though it has been washed and cleaned will return to filth. Unless that inherent quality, attribute is changed, dogs and pigs will continue to revel in that kind of behavior. Salvation or born again means that you have been transformed completely. The inherent nature to wallow in sins has been removed. Listen to what God says in Ezekiel 36 and verse 26 and 27, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them." II Cor 5: 17, 'Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.'

Were we saved to fulfill our own lusts and sinful passions? Paul in I Thess 1:9 says, ‘….you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God…’ We have turned from idols, from sin, to God, to serve Him, to obey Him, if indeed we have turned.

Others argue that the call to holiness is just a talk and there aren't any examples of Christians in the real world who live or have lived a holy life. Let's confront this argument by referring to Hebrews 12:1,2, 'Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith...' The word, therefore, is used to make a conclusion on the basis of what has been said earlier. In chapter 11, the author refers to a great list of stalwarts of faith. In verse 2, he asks us to look to Jesus, stay focussed on Jesus cos He is the author of our salvation, He is the one who will complete our salvation. So, rather than demanding an example to follow, the author asks us to look to Jesus.

Being Holy: Biblical Perspective, Part 1

We once again open our Bibles to see God’s perspective in the matter of holiness in the lives of Christians. Holiness and the lack of it, has always been and continues to be a matter of grave concern to me as well as to our Lord. My heart aches when I see and hear God’s people indulging in sin and being open about it. It saddens me when the church condones these acts and behavior. It is a continuing sorrow to me to see the lack or absence of reactive and proactive measures taken by the church in confronting, reprimanding, correcting, and ultimately banning the erring believer from being a part of the church. Because the church does not want to deal with these issues head-on, for whatever reasons, young men and women in faith continue to indulge, wallow and take pleasure in sin, lacking an understanding of God’s Word and God’s take in the matter of holiness. These believers continue to pander to their fleshly desires, impulses and emotions by distorting God’s Word and by taking refuge in Romans 7. These believers refuse to study God’s Word. Without having a full understanding of God’s Word, to their own hurt and destruction, they continue to indulge in sin and despise holiness in their personal lives. These unholy, sinful, disobedient believers, both young and old, then get involved in the activities of the church, are given prominent positions, duties, and recognition to the utter disregard of God’s call to holiness. These believers then exercise their influence over other immature believers and believers who are new to the faith, thereby dragging them too in their net. To address these issues, we’ll open our Bibles to see God’s perspective in this matter of Holiness in our lives.

Let me clarify at the very beginning that this call to holiness is only for the saved, redeemed. Only a saved, regenerated, transformed person has the source and the capability to be holy. Only a person who is saved, redeemed, regenerated, transformed by the blood of Jesus Christ will have a desire, longing to live a holy life, pleasing to God. It is due to the indwelling Holy Spirit that God is able to initiate the desire in the saved person to be holy. It is God who initiates a desire in us to shun evil, to pursue holiness. In Phil 2: 12-13, Paul commands the believers at Philippi, 'to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.' Paul in this verse is not saying that we need to do ‘works’ to achieve salvation. How do I know? In Phil 1:1, Paul refers the letter to 'all the saints in Christ Jesus.' You do not become a saint unless you are a saved, right? So, what does fear and trembling means? I looked up few commentaries to understand what Paul meant when he used the words, fear and tremble. Pastor John MacArthur says, 'it is to live a life in full surrender and dependence of the Holy Spirit as Christ lived and live daily, moment by moment yield to the control of the Spirit, a process which we must carry out the remainder of our life on earth.'

The question Christians ask is how to live a holy life? That is a wrong question. That is a self-centric question. That question seeks personal achievement. The question should be how should I live a life that pleases God? That is a God-centric question, which focuses attention on God rather than us. We need to get our priorities right. It is to please God that we lead a holy life. An unsaved person may have a longing to do good works, would do good works also, take part in good works also, but in the words of Pastor John MacArthur, ‘His tongue is deceitful, his lips are poisonous. His throat is an open grave; his eyes are full of adultery. His ears are deaf to God's voice and truth. His hands do evil. His feet run to shed blood. His mind is depraved and reprobate. His heart is desperately wicked. His will is hard and unrepentant. He resists God. He refuses life. His conscience is evil. In and out he is polluted.’

For part 2 in the series, please click, 

Being Childless: Bible's Perspective, Part 5

For part 4 in the series, please click, Being Childless, Part 4

Does it mean that all the other barren women in history are sinful? Of course not. Does it mean that all the other barren women in history failed to have the divine intervention in their life? We do not know. God while executing his wonderful plan of bringing glory to His name in the lives of these five barren women, He also revealed that a barren woman is not cursed. I talk to the believing women and not to the unbelievers. If you have not repented of your sins and have not given your life to Jesus Christ, God’s wrath is on you. You are cursed, whether you have a child or you do not have a child. Will you be able to bear a child, once you repent? I do not have the authority to say that. You may, you may not. You don’t come to Christ because your needs are met, you come to Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

God’s redemptive work is complete. Through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and His resurrection on the third day, God has completed the redemptive work. God’s Word is complete. We cannot add to it, neither can we subtract from it. All the examples of the Old Testament are for our exhortation and not to increase our suffering. That is why He commanded in Matt 28: 19, ‘to go and make disciples.’ You do not make disciples by continuing to wait for the Lord to help you conceive. You do not fulfill the command by wasting the best years of life wallowing in self-pity, medication, suffering, humiliation, loneliness and pain.

Were we not saved by grace? Are we not adopted ones? After the redemptive work was complete, only then did He adopt us to His family. Right? Originally, we are not a part of his family but because of the work on the cross, we can call Him, ‘Abba’, ‘Father’. Don’t we? Then, how is it that you refuse to adopt a child into your family and provide a child with parents? How is it that you do not want to give a child the opportunity to call you ‘Dad’, ‘Mom’? Do you want to start in grace and finish with the work of the flesh? Is the work of Christ in vain? Did you not receive grace that you refuse to be gracious? Have you not receive mercy that you refuse to be merciful?

We spend our whole lives preaching and proclaiming the gospel of Christ. And after all the effort, the soul of an unrepentant sinner is not in our hands. God gives repentance. He opens the heart of individuals to repent and turn away from their sins and come to the saving knowledge of Christ. I am yet to claim even one individual as my child in Christ as a result of my preaching.

Is it not wonderful, that God has made you barren and given an opportunity to save an orphan from this wicked world, rescue him from hell, provide him/her with godly parents, raise him/her in the fear of the Lord? Are you so ignorant that you do not know, understand the purposes of God? You who have children, are not excused, refuse to adopt children, when you have sufficient resources to provide and care for the child. I talk to Indian Christian parents.

You decide. Is it not easy for a child to be rescued from hell than a man with all the knowledge, sinful experiences and influences that pull and drive him? Will not the child spend the first eighteen years of life under your care and influence? Will you not be able to impact his/her life through your prayer, study of the Word and love?

We live in a period of grace. Miracles were designed to happen along with the preaching of the gospel, to enable the world to see the hand of God behind the preaching of the Word. God is not in the business of opening wombs but in the redeeming of sinners from hell. He is not in the business of performing physical miracles but spiritual miracles. He died and rose again to change people’s heart.

God wants you to be happy. He wants you to be satisfied. His command is that you be content. You have a choice to be on His side or your own. You are not ‘incidentally childless, you are not ‘unfortunately childless’. God designed your family life that way. He is in control. He has occasioned that you be happy and content by adopting in your family a child and bring glory to his name by helping the child to see, know and experience God’s love, redemptive power, and grace. At the same time, fill your life with joy, thrill, excitement, energy, love and desire for each other.

My joy is complete when I know that you obey God’s Word. Continue in grace.

Abusive Marriage: Biblical Perspective, Part 3

For part 2 in the series, please click, Abusive Marriage, Part 2

So, how do you deal with an abusive spouse in an abusive marriage?

Purpose

Number one is by knowing that marriage is not all that there is to the life of a Christian. You have not been created and saved to suffer in an abusive marriage. You have been created to serve God. Col 3:24b says, ‘for you serve the Lord Christ.’ Eph 2:10 says, ‘For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.’ See, we have been created by God to serve Him by doing good deeds/works. Also, we have been saved to serve God. II Tim 1:9, ‘Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling.’

Understand this folks, you have been bought with the precious blood of Christ, which means through Christ’s death, we’ve been bought. I Pet 1:19. You are not your own. I Cor 6:19b.

You are not your own

You are God’s property. Your identity and being is in God. You were and are married with the purpose of serving God through the help and support of your spouse. You live for Christ as Paul said in Phil 1:21, ‘For to me, to live is Christ.’

Do not remain stuck in an abusive marriage for the sake of retaining your marital status. Run the race like an athlete laying aside every weight with endurance the race that is set before us. Heb 12:1

Position

Suffering in futility

Husband and wife are co-heirs of the grace of life I Pet 3:7. ‘Grace’ simply means a ‘gift’, and one of the best gifts life has to offer is marriage. Thus, Bible gives equal status to both the man and the woman. A woman is not a slave to her husband and a husband is not a master to her. You do not have to suffer mental and physical abuse, humiliation, assault, harassment, and be neglected. Do not consider such abuse as suffering for Christ. Don’t pat yourself on the back that you are enduring suffering for the sake of Christ.

Pain

The more you suffer and endure it, the more you will accumulate hurt feelings, harbor grudge, bitterness, hatred, and anger against your spouse and the more difficult will it be for you to forgive and move on or reconcile with your spouse in the future. Talk to your spouse of the pain that He/she is inflicting on you. If he/she accepts her/his sin, you’ve gained your spouse. If he/she does not, confront your spouse with few members of the church. If he/she accepts, great! But if he/she does not, take the matter to the church. If he/she still does not accept his/her sin, then let the church consider such as sinner and throw him/her out of the church. Matt 18:15-20.

Peace

In I Cor 7:15 Paul says, ‘But God has called us to peace.’ Again, he says in verse 5, ‘Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.’ What a beautiful advice for a Christian couple in conflict! Separate for a while, with mutual consent for the purpose of giving yourself to fasting and prayer (for seeking God's grace and guidance) and come back together so that due to the lack of your spouse, you fall into temptation and commit sexual sin. As Peter said in I Pet 3:7b, ‘that your prayers may not be hindered.’

Our Lord Jesus Christ abhors the concept of divorce except on the ground of infidelity. Even in the matter of sexual immorality, a Christian spouse may forgive his/her erring partner in grace and love. ‘Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.’ Matt 6:12

For part 4 in the series, please click,