06/24/2018
Do you feel like you aren’t working hard enough at becoming holy? Do you believe that by your efforts you can become sanctified? Well as much as we might like to think this is possible, it is not. If we depend solely on our own efforts to win holiness then we are certainly lost. So let’s look at how sanctification is possible. How am I ever to become Holy?
“And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,”
1 Corinthians 1:30 ESV
This is a very straightforward and direct verse of scripture in which Paul tells the Corinthians how to achieve holiness (sanctification), and He says that it is by the indwelling of Jesus within us. Without this inoculation of Christ’s divinity, we can never experience righteousness or holiness. Oh, we can do many good things, but sanctification will elude us... we can be nothing more than moral and good, even in our finest hour.
In reading Andrew Murray, I came across his description and restatement of this very idea. Listen to his affirmation of Paul’s words in this excerpt from his writing...
“There is no other way for us to become Holy but by becoming partakers of the holiness of Christ. And there is no other way of this taking place than by our personal spiritual union with Him, so that through His Holy Spirit His holy life flows into us.” - Andrew Murray
So here is what I propose to you... God alone is holy, and by Jesus dwelling in Him, He too takes on holiness, and by our dwelling in Christ, and He in us, we too become holy. This is made possible to us through our accepting the Holy Spirit within us, and then allowing Him to work God’s will through, and in, us. We begin to understand this proposition by realizing that God alone is Holy...
“Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed."”
Revelation 15:4 ESV
Then we know that God shared his holiness by his willingness to dwell in those who are humble and contrite:
“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
Isaiah 57:15 ESV
We know also that, by continuing this thought, Jesus is holy because Paul tells us that God’s fullness dwells within Jesus Christ...
“For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,”
Colossians 2:9 ESV
And Paul goes on to say that Jesus dwells in us...
“and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.”
Colossians 2:10 ESV
And that by knowing the love of Christ, we too are filled with that selfsame fullness of God...
“and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Ephesians 3:19 ESV
This is accomplished in our being filled with the Holy Spirit...
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV
Thus, we achieve holiness as evidenced by scripture, even as we read the words of Peter who tells us that He who calls us makes us holy because He is holy...
“but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."”
1 Peter 1:15-16 ESV
So our works alone do not sanctify us, and we are not made Holy by our own doing, but by association with God and Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. This should come as a relief because even as our salvation is a gift of grace, so our holiness becomes a gift as well.
“And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"”
Isaiah 6:3 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the holiness of your nature, and for your willingness to share it with me. I thank you for your Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit through which you lovingly reach out to me in forgiveness, righteousness, and sanctification. You hold nothing back from me Father, even as you hold nothing back from Jesus... your fullness comes to reside in us both, and this overwhelms me because I am unworthy indeed. From sinner, to saved, to saint, and then righteous and holiness... your blessings abound, and I am led ever closer to you. What is it that you see in me Holy Father that makes me worthy of your love; let alone your attention. I fall at your feet, and am caught in the arms of Jesus... Holy, Holy, Holy are you my God, and the fount of Holiness at which all of creation quenches its thirst. Praised be your Holy Name my God.
Rich Forbes