9 Jan 2024

We have looked at what holiness is, and is not, in the previous sharing. We now consider why holiness matters.

Holiness is the goal of our redemption. Christ died in order that we may be justified; we are justified in order that we may be sanctified and made holy. In other words, holiness is the object or goal of our new creation in Christ; we are born again so that we may grow up into Christlikeness.

We need to take a step back: whether we are conscious of it or not, holiness (in terms of ‘repentance’) should be part and parcel in the message and communication of the gospel. While we may lay great emphasis on coming to Christ as we are, believing in Him and His promises in the presentation of the gospel, we touch very lightly on repentance ( which includes binding one’s conscience to God’s moral law, confessing and forsaking our sins, making restitution of past wrongs, grieving before God at the dishonor one’s sins have done Him, and forming a determination to turn around and pursue holy living). When we explain the gospel to others, do we emphasise repentance, and the holiness by which repentance is expressed as a spiritual necessity?

If we desire to be fruitful in evangelism, we need not only to communicate repentance and holiness in the message of the gospel, we ourselves must cultivate holiness of life. As the late John Stott wrote in “The Radical Disciple”, the messenger must look like the message he proclaims. Holiness gives credibility to witness. I recall in my medical practice in the hospital as a young doctor, one fellow colleague was truly put off by the sharing of the gospel and his reason was that if becoming a Christian resulted in him becoming like another doctor who claims to be a Christian whose character was so negative and ‘atrocious’, he would rather remain an atheist.
Our worldly ways will undermine our witness – those listening to us hardly notice any semblance to ‘You are the light of the world..let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds’ – what they notice is that our lives are worse off than those who claim to be non-believers.

Holiness is in fact commanded; God wills it, Christ requires it, and all the Scriptures – the Law, the Gospels, the prophets, the wisdom writings, the Epistles, the history books that tell of judgment past, and the Book of Revelation that tells of judgment to come – call for it.
“Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15,16 NIV)

We may not realise it but holiness is actually the true health of the person. Anything else is ugliness and deformity at character level, a malfunctioning of the individual, a crippled state of soul. The various forms of bodily sickness and impairment that Jesus healed are so many illustrations of this deeper inward deformity. Why do believers concentrate so much on bodily healing (as if they are going to live forever on earth) but ignore the more important ‘health’ of the character and state of the soul of the individual (which will be eternal and forever before God). Why do we believers fret so much about our ill-health, our bodily weakness, and not realise that when Christ comes again, He would make all things new and whole.?

Righteousness, meaning holy integrity and uprightness, is the breastplate of the armour of God that Christians are called to wear to counter the devil’s attacks in spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:14). Holiness effectively thwarts Satan in his design on our lives. By contrast, unconcern about holiness and failure to practice the purity and righteousness to which we are called play into his hands all the time.

Finally and truly, holiness is the substance of which happiness is the spin-off. Those who chase happiness miss it, while to those who pursue holiness through the grace of Christ, happiness of spirit comes unasked.
Ever wonder why the psalmist declared the following:
“You made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” ({Psalm 16:11). The psalmist knew that true joy, pleasures and happiness, true meaningful life – all these are in the presence and person of God – and only the holy in heart shall see God and dwell with Him, and in Him!!