The Hole In Our Holiness
The Hole In Our Holiness
By Kevin DeYoung
By Kevin DeYoung
"There is a gap between our love for the gospel and our love for godliness."
Christians today are not concerned with the pursuit of holiness.
Heaven is holy. Do you desire heaven?
The Great Commission commands the pursuit of holiness through obedience. Mission is the pursuit of holiness.
Holiness is not simply abstaining from gross sins.
Holiness is not legalism.
Holiness is hard work.
Holiness is an equally important pursuit as all other virtues.
You have been saved SO THAT you would be holy.
Holiness is a necessary product of our redemption.
Holiness is about Jesus' Lordship.
"It's plain on almost every page of the Bible: we are commanded to be holy, saved to be holy, and, in fact, we must be holy if we are to inherit eternal life."
Holiness means separation.
God is separated and calls us to be separated or set apart.
Definitive sanctification and progressive sanctification in the life of the Christian.
Holiness is not:
Mere rule keeping
Generational imitation
Generic spirituality
"Finding your true self"
The way of the world
Holiness is:
The renewal of God's image in us
A life marked by virtue instead of vice
A clean conscience
Obedience to God's commands
Christ-likeness
The Law of God is good and for our good because God loves us.
What is the role of the Law in the life of the believer?
What the Bible commands, we should do.
The Law leads to the Gospel, and the Gospel leads us to the Law.
Love and Law are not opposed. In fact, they are inseparable.
Love drives obedience. Love loves Law.
The Bible gives numerous reasons to pursue holiness (see pp. 57-60).
My own holiness and righteousness may not be perfect, but it is possible.
I must believe that my own personal holiness is possible. It is commanded of me!
Holiness/obedience is not perfection.
God is please by my obedience and my desire for holiness.
Some sins are more gross than others. You can reduce the grossness of the sin in your life, even though you will never be perfect.
When I do sin in deeply offends God and the Lord Jesus Christ. I hate to offend the God I love.
I must look for and strive for progress in holiness in my life.
How does the pursuit of holiness work? What is the part of our own effort, faith, Holy Spirit and the gospel?
The Holy Spirit has an obvious and significant role
In definitive sanctification and progressive sanctification
Regeneration and new birth - new nature by the HS
The Holy Spirit bring change through illuminating sin and bringing conviction
The illumination of God's Word
He helps us behold the glory of Christ in great degrees
Good deeds fueled by good news
Living with a sense of gratitude
The Gospel tells us who we are --> how we live
Faith in the promises of God
Central to justification and life after justification as well
Hope is build on belief that promises will be fulfilled, therefore we persist and endure in faith
God promises blessing to those who obey and walk in righteousness
Faith that the word of God is true
Effort
My effort is required
My effort is not anti-gospel, it's para-gospel
Knowing our position in Jesus is the reason we can live like Jesus.
Our union with Christ is a central truth to all Christian doctrine.
Our union with Christ is a participation in the divine nature and a new identity and trajectory as we share in the life, death and resurrection of Christ.
Union with Christ guides our growth in godliness in these ways:
Pursuit of holiness is the pursuit of Christ, not a moral standard. Holiness is living out our union with Him.
Justification and sanctification are inseparably linked in Christ and our union with Him. We cannot be united with Christ and not have both justification and sanctification.
Growing in godliness is making the reality of our union with Christ more and more real. We are living out what God has already accomplished as we are "dead to sin and alive to God" in Christ. So in a sense we are simply called to "be who we are".
Union with Christ simply, inexorably does not allow for license. Our relationship to sin is fundamentally and irrevocably changed due to our union with Christ.
Scripture is not unrealistic about our pursuit of holiness, but clearly states that in Christ, we have every reason and all the means to be holy.
DeYoung looks at two major passages of Scripture and defines their implications. 1 Cor. 6:12-20 and Eph. 5:3-13.
Sexual immorality is a huge problem. It's a huge problem in the world, but it's a huge problem in the church as well. The church has conformed to the world in more ways than are obvious. What does Scripture say about the Christian's fight with sexual immorality?
What exactly is sexual immorality? The Greek word pornea is the word used to describe the broadest category of sexual sin. DeYoung describes pornea as anything that would make you furious if you found out is was done to your spouse. Kissing, touching are obvious if you think about it. But also fantasizing and flirting, etc. How often am I guilty of this? More often that I want to admit. This also includes sexual perversions like homosexuality, orgies, bestiality, etc.
The command is to "FLEE". Don't reason with sexual immorality.
"All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are permissible, but not all things edify..." Understand that while you are able to indulge in sexual sin, it is not edifying or profitable. You could easily ask the question, "Is this beneficial to my walk with Christ? Does it propel me to glorify God more?"
We are members of Christ and our bodies do not belong to us, they belong to God. Our union with Christ helps us understand how we desire to live according to God's commands, our moral responsibility, and the sin we commit against Christ by uniting our body with another in sexual acts.
"How far is too far?" is not the question to be asking. The ultimate goal in all relationships is to glorify God. There is also the command not to "stir up love before its time" (Song 2:7...), and to treat Christian women as sisters. Dating should glorify God (by also propelling each other toward godliness), not stir up love inappropriately, and demonstrate the respect that you would have for a family member.
Sexual immorality is incompatible with "kingdom life". "Not even a hint" is the language of Scripture. This applies to all categories of life. "Brothers and sisters, we must be more vigilant."
Sexual immorality or pornea is simply not fit for a Christian. It is not who the Christian is. We should not be so comfortable with it.
The pursuit of holiness is not so much about the pursuit of a standard as much as it is a pursuit of a person, Jesus Christ.
Union and Communion: I am united with Christ in justification, but my communion (fellowship) with Christ may vary based on sin, lack of repentance, unresponsiveness to grace. Obedience to Christ and fellowship with Christ are directly and inseparably related. Abide and obey.
DeYoung offers four practices to draw nearer to God:
Prayer
God's word
Fellowship with other Christians
The Lord's Supper/Communion
The means of growing in communion with Christ are not extraordinary. Rather, they might seem mundane. However, they are the means of grace that God has prescribed for us. Am I aware that I can have fellowship with the one and only infinite being who reigns over all the universe, loves me and governs my life, and who is the only source of eternal and unending fullness of joy? Why don't I crave this more??
Progress is a key element in the pursuit of holiness that all Christians must understand. We certainly have not "arrived" at a place of complete holiness, and there will be days/seasons where we're struggling. However, the general trend over the course of your life toward greater holiness is the most important factor. God expects this and empowers this. It is also something we must work hard at.
Realizing that I will continually fall short of the perfect holiness of God, I must embrace the ongoing practice of repentance. It must be a constant part of my life. The difference between godly grief and worldly grief is ultimately that godly grief is God-centered, while worldly grief if me-centered. Godly grief realizes the offense that sin is to God and how disgusting and destructive it is to our relationship with God. Worldly grief is embarrassed, upset that we broke our streak, upset that our reputation was harmed. Godly grief runs to God with a posture of self-abandonment, and empowers us to forsake sin to a greater degree than we did before.
"We think relevance and relate-ability are the secrets to spiritual success. And yet, in truth, a dying world needs you to be with God more than it needs you to be 'with it'" (p.144). Holiness is not only best for me, it is best for my people. My strongest witness and encouragement to others is my closeness to God. The practice and the evidence of holiness is not in great feats of heroic obedience, but in the regular and consistent routine of life and relationships. Holiness is worked out moment-by-moment. This is a life that pleases God and wins others. Holiness is true beauty.