THE HEART OF
HOLINESS—TO BE LIKE JESUS
Ephesians
4:13-16; 2 Corinthians 3:18
Why is it that in each one of us there
is something way down deep that does not really want to grow up? Whether we long for carefree days with no
responsibility, or the days with no social restraints on our exuberance, or the
leisurely luxury of playing without guilt—sometimes we wish we did not have to
grow up and face the real world.
The classic
children’s story, Peter Pan, explores
our resistance to leave our childhood behind and move on, to grow up. In J. M. Barrie’s book, the Peter twice
makes the statement, “I just want always to be a little boy and to have
fun.” The modern film version, Hook, twists the focus somewhat to point
out the dangers of overshooting maturity and ending up as an obsessive adult
just as consumed with childish pursuits, but now playing absorbingly
competitive business games instead of make-believe games.
Our culture has
for some time been taking steps to postpone adulthood, to resist growing
up. One writer observes that “the
greatest social problem of the modern world is extreme emotional immaturity
masquerading as an adult lifestyle.” (Packer, p. 198) Fashions are designed for
a youth market and then marketed to adults trying to look and act young. College graduates are looking to find ways
to put off entering the working world and marriage and family because many
state point blank that they are “not ready to grow up yet.”
Al Mohler
pointed out at a recent pastors’ conference here that there is an emerging “boy
culture” composed of young professionals whose days are filled with high
finance and intense business deals and whose nights are spent trying to relive
dorm life, traveling in packs, living off junk food, working hard at playing,
driven to find excitement. There
appears to be little value attached to growing up.
Unfortunately,
the body of Christ finds itself facing the same dilemma—significant proportions
of our number who have not become convinced of the value of growing up in their
relationship with Jesus Christ. The
idea we explored a few weeks ago of “increasing in holiness” does not capture
our hearts and inflame our passions.
THESIS: Today as we conclude this series on holiness, we want to make it clear that at the very heart of holiness is the calling to grow up to be like Jesus.
What is biblical
justification for this appeal to the body of Christ to grow up? Some might argue that child-like faith is
lauded by Jesus and we should remain immature to be obedient! No, to have child-lie faith is to be
committed to grow up! Listen to several
passages that point out the need to become like Christ in all His ways:
Eph 4:15 but speaking the
truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head,
even Christ,
1 Pet. 2:2 like newborn babes, long for the pure milk
of the word, that by it you may grow
in respect to salvation,
2 Pet. 3:18 but grow
in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…
Col. 1:10 And we pray this in order that you may live
a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in
every good work, growing in the
knowledge of God,
Col. 2:19 He has lost connection with the Head, from
whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
Rom. 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to
become conformed to the image of His
Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren;
1 John 3:2-3 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it
has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall
see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone
who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Any
questions? Can we allow ourselves to
think for one moment that God is satisfied with us if we are reluctant to grow,
or actually are resistant to His means to grow us up?
Let’s explore
this subject as grownups who are not as spiritually mature as we could be but
who are not afraid to grow up… because when we grow up, we will be like Jesus!
I. A HOLY
LIFE IS SPIRITUALLY HEALTHY AND GROWING
--Those whose lives are focused on Christ and rooted in His
Word will grow in their spiritual health to be men and women of holiness.
--There is a spiritual soundness about them that is vigorous
and strong, full of life and well-being.
In the New Testament, the word usually translated “sound”
(as in “sound doctrine, sound words, sound teaching”) actually means “healthy.”
A. BALANCED,
HEALTHY GROWTH
--When our growth in holiness is consistent with Scripture,
it will be sound and healthy, demonstrating in all aspects the mature character
of Jesus Christ.
J. I. Packer,
in the book Rediscovering Holiness, compared a balanced life of growing in
holiness to the legs of a three-legged stool, holiness must stand on equal
footing on three legs:
1. Doctrine–Truth
taken into the mind and heart to live by
2. Experience—conscientious pursuit and conscious enjoyment of fellowship
with the Father and the Son
3. Practice—specific and habitual response of obedience to the doctrinal
truth one has received
--In other words, to be like Jesus requires that we become
like Him…
·
doctrinally
(believing what He believed
·
relationally
(loving the way He loved), and
·
practically
(always conducting Himself according God’s will)
…then we will be balanced and healthy like Him, holy in all things!
B.
DISTORTED, UNHEALTHY GROWTH
--The problem is that many Christians do not have a healthy
perspective on what it means to follow Christ in all things.
--They tend to approach holiness piecemeal as if they were
selecting a major for a course of study in college.
I had a hard time deciding on a major because I did
not know what I wanted to do when I grew up…assuming that I actually really
wanted to grow up. But one of the tough
things about college is that eventually you have to choose a major and focus
your efforts in one area (of course some pursue more than one).
In God’s curriculum for holiness, you are expected
to excel in all three areas and are not allowed to pick one to overshadow the
rest…that results in a distorted, not a holy, life.
1. Doctrine
Only – A Craving for Information
--There are some who believe that if they get enough
information, that will qualify them as holy.
--They crave more knowledge (which can be a good thing!),
but their only interest is to be right in what they believe, to make sure that
they never have to say “I don’t know” because they plan always to know!
Packer – “You know the sort
of person I mean—one who is always reading, always exploring questions of
truth, poking half the time into esoteric aspects of typology, unfulfilled
prophecy, the millennium, the symbolic chapters of Revelation, and the problems
of Bible harmony.
He
or she is not concerned much about experience, not very active in obedience and
service to others, and not distinguished for a radically changed life.” (p. 168)
--Loving truth can be a good thing, a great thing—as long as
it does not push aside the balancing emphases of experience and practice!
2.
Experience Only – A Need for Feelings
--Those who fall into this category think that doctrine gets
in the way of the warm fuzzies of the Christian life, the feelings of moving
experiences, inspirational moments, hugs and tears.
--Studying and reading are too academic and not
“touchy-feely” enough for them and so they avoid truths which might divide and
doctrines that might cause disagreement and focus instead on their experiences of faith in order to feel
holy.
--They are not too concerned with plotting a course of
action to put their faith into practice either…just give them another goose
bump experience and they feel fulfilled and well on their way to holiness.
3. Practice
Only – A Demand for Action
--These might be called the Green Beret approach to holiness
because they have little patience with discussions of what is true and right,
or do not really care how others are feeling.
--For this group, becoming like Jesus Christ means rolling
up your sleeves and jumping into the fray to change the world FOR Him.
--Learning to love His truth and care graciously for His
people seem like sad wastes of time to those who see the Christian life in
terms only other activists could ever understand!
--Do each of these groups of folks love Christ and want to
be holy?
--Of course they do, but they are trying to do it without
reference to who He is and the balanced spiritual health He requires of those
who are to be like Him in holiness!
Do you recognize yourself, or
your tendencies in one of these areas more than the others? Are you willing to yield that to Christ, or
have you already tried to justify being that way? If we want to grow up, we have to be willing to grow up in all
those areas!
1.
Doctrine–Truth taken
into the mind and heart to live by
2.
Experience—conscientious
pursuit and conscious enjoyment of fellowship with the Father and the Son
3.
Practice—specific and
habitual response of obedience to the doctrinal truth one has received
2 Cor. 7:1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved,
let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
--We cannot allow ourselves to settle for anything less than
complete holiness, holiness that has been perfected instead of distorted.
Col. 1:28 And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man
and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ.
II. A HOLY
LIFE IS DISTINCTIVELY DIFFERENT AND GENUINE
--To be like Jesus Christ stamps His mark on us and shines
His light through every available opening.
2 Cor. 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face beholding as
in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image
from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
--God’s glory in Christ will be apparent in our lives,
sometimes in small degrees, sometimes greater.
--God has designed us for growth and expects to see the
increase of Christ-likeness and holiness in our lives.
As we saw in the list of
verses at the beginning, growth and increase (translations of the Greek
word auxano) are an essential part of
our new life in Christ.
A.
DISTINCTIVES OF A HOLY LIFE
--God brings about the increase in His own ways but wants to
see us demonstrating the fruit of that growth.
1 Cor. 3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was
causing the growth. 7 So then neither
the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.
1. The Life
that is Holy Increases
--When something increases, it does so specifically so that
when we grow in holiness, the impact shows up in specific areas.
--J. C. Ryle, in his classic book, Holiness, points out six
clear indications that God is reproducing and increasing, or growing, the
holiness of Christ in you.
a. Increased
Humility
--When we become more holy, we will develop a deeper sense
of our own unworthiness and become aware of sin in our lives we never saw until
the light of Christ shines brighter in us.
--The more holy, the more humble a person is!
b. Increased
Faith and Love toward Christ
--As holiness increases, so will our perspective on all that
is satisfying and fulfilling in Christ Himself.
--The closer we grow toward Him, the more we find that is
awesome and wonderful in Him which increases of willingness to trust Him and
our desire to love Him!
c. Increased
Holiness in Life and Conduct
--As we enjoy increased spiritual health and holiness, we
become more aware of and careful about what we say and do.
--We are more inclined to guard our hearts and set a watch
over our eyes and ears and a bridle on our tongues when holiness is growing in
us.
d. Increased Interest in and Hunger for
Spiritual Things
--The hymn says “All the vain things that charm me most, I
sacrifice them to His blood.”
--When we grow in holiness, we begin to notice that the
things that once held us captive, that enflamed our passions, give way to a
greater interest in spiritual things with each passing year.
--Most of those things are not necessarily sinful, but like
Mary instead of Martha, we find that we are making better choices in how we
invest our interest in eternal things.
e. Increased
Sensitivity to and Love for Others
--I will let J. C. Ryle’s words explain this one:
“His love will
show itself actively in a growing disposition to do kindnesses, to take trouble
for others, to be good-natured to everybody, to be generous, sympathizing,
thoughtful, tender-hearted, and considerate…to put the best construction on
other people’s conduct, and to believe all things and hope all things, even to
the end. There is no surer mark of
backsliding and falling off in grace than an increasing disposition to find
fault, to pick holes, and see weak points in others.” (p. 90)
f. Increased Zeal and Diligence in Seeking
Souls
--Once a heart is growing in holiness, it longs to see
others introduced to the glory of God through the grace of Jesus Christ.
--Therefore, there is an increase in interest in seeing
others come to know Christ, both at home and abroad, as our interest in evangelism
and missions grow as our souls grow more like Jesus Christ.
·
The Question: Are you growing in holiness?
·
The Answer: Are these six marks growing
or declining in you?
2. The Life
that is Holy Bears Fruit
--The fruit of the Spirit, as listed in Galatians 5:22-23,
address the development of Christ-likeness, beginning with holy habits that
become holy character.
--Again, Packer offers a concise summary of how the fruit
shapes the character in real life situations so that our doctrine, experience
and practice coincide in personal holiness.
·
Love as the
Christ-like reaction to people’s malice
·
Joy as the
Christ-like reaction to depressing circumstances
·
Peace as the
Christ-like reaction to troubles, threats and invitations to anxiety
·
Patience as the Christ-like
reaction to all that is maddening
·
Kindness as the
Christ-like reaction to all who are unkind
·
Goodness as the
Christ-like reaction to bad people and bad behavior
·
Faithfulness and Gentleness as the Christ-like reaction
to lies and fury
·
Self-control as the
Christ-like reaction to every situation that goads you to lose your cool and
hit out. (p. 174)
--If Christ is growing you up, maturing you, He is shaping
your character, not just your outward behavior, not just your knowledge—but the
way you really are, inside and out.
B. THE
GENUINENESS OF A HOLY LIFE
--When you grow up in Christ, your maturity will be genuine
through and through.
I love summer melons – and unlike my wife Cathy, I can never select
ripe fruit. But she knows what to look
for somehow, and every melon she selects is sweet and juicy.
When fruit ripens and matures, it does so throughout so that when you
taste it, you are not shocked to discover that it is bitter on the inside, hard
at the core. The inside and outside are
alike.
--God is looking for and working in those who are willing to
enjoy the increase of holiness in a genuine, thorough manner.
--What about you?
Taking life seriously does not mean
that we become somber, lifeless blobs who find no joy in anything, no fun in
life. What God wants to do is transform
us at our core so that we begin to see the beauty and joy in His world and find
our greatest delight in things that we would be honored to share with Jesus Christ.
No one asks a
newborn if he would like to grow up…it is expected and understood as essential
to his existence. His purpose in being
born is to increase in wisdom and stature and gain favor with both God and man,
just as His maker did (Luke 2:52).
When people wake
up to the reality that they are trapped in adolescents, and figure out that
they need to grow up, what we are finding is that they are hungry to find out a
meaningful purpose in their lives.
Peter Pan says, “I just want always to be a little boy and to have
fun.” People are beginning to see the
shallowness of such an existence and starting to show signs that they do want
to grow up.
The popularity
of Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose-Driven
Life, indicates that there is a new desire among many to break free and
begin to discover God’s plan for their lives.
As we conclude
this series on holiness, we who are followers of Jesus Christ know that we were
created to be holy. We did not start
out that way, but through the grace of Jesus Christ we were cleansed of our
unholiness and called to live out His holiness.
Hear God’s own
words about His purpose for our lives:
1 Pet. 2:9 But you
are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the
excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous
light…
1 Pet 1:16 …You shall be
holy, for I am holy!