Resurrection of the Body; I Corinthians 15:12-24, 35-58

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Christ's Kingdom Will Have No End; Daniel 7:9-14; Revelation 1:4-8

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The Church is Holy; Leviticus 20:7-8, I Peter 1:14-2:9

     "Be holy as I am holy,” says the Lord.  This is a command of God, given repeatedly throughout the Law and beyond.  Our Old Testament reading this morning is one iteration of that command.  As Moses was relaying the Law to the people and giving instructions, there would be periodic pauses after a list of instructions with the command to be holy.  The command for God’s people to be holy is carried through the New Testament and today.  In fact, Peter quotes these very words from other parts places in Leviticus.  If we are to be holy, we need to know what holiness is.

     God is described by the angels as “holy, holy, holy.”  This is what they have and will be crying out and singing before God’s throne forever.  This threefold use of the word holy tells us that of all that is holy, God is holiest.  God is far more holy than the next closest being, person, or thing that is holy.  What does it mean to be holy?  To be holy is to be set apart.  God is unique.  There is no one and nothing like our God.  God’s character, attributes, and abilities mark the holiness of God.  If we are to be holy, then it would rightly seem that we are to be like God, but be like God in what ways? 

    It was in my childhood AWANA days that I learned that to be holy was to be set apart, but in our case, it is to be set apart for God’s purposes.  This is also true for objects and places we call “holy”.  Sacred and holy are interchangeable.  Back when we looked at the church being one, I talked about saints.  The word saint means a holy person.  I shared with you the definition of a saint is “one whose will completely aligns with the will of God.”  When we are living in and carrying out the will of God, we are being holy.  We are doing holy work. 

    In our New Testament passage, Peter describes for us what personal and corporate holiness should look like.  It means not looking like the rest of the world.  If we are truly set apart, we will seem different to the larger culture around us.  We aren’t supposed to look or act like the ways we did before we knew Jesus.  Many of us came to know Jesus in childhood, so we might not have much of a past with which to compare ourselves as those of us who came to know Jesus later in life do.  But Peter still helps us all out.  He says don’t be conformed to lusts.  I John lists two lusts—the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh.  We desire things that we shouldn’t have.  This is similar 10^th commandment forbids: “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.”  We aren’t supposed to be fixated with stuff that isn’t ours, especially things that already belong to someone else.  Peter goes on to say that holiness is what we mentioned last week—loving our brothers and sisters in Christ.  In chapter 2:1, he continues that  we are supposed to get rid of all malice (doing things with ill intent toward someone), guile that is fakeness, hypocrisy (saying one thing and doing another), envy (jealousy), and all slander (saying things that aren’t true about someone or saying things that would harm the reputation of another person).  The things listed in this verse go right along with commandment number 9, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” 

    Growing in holiness also means growing in God’s word.  Peter tells us we ought to desire God’s work like an infant desires milk, so that we can grow in our salvation.  Do you desire to read God’s word?  Are you seeking to grow in love and knowledge of the Lord?  Or is Bible reading something you do to check off a list?  Does you Bible remain largely unopened and unread?  God doesn’t want us to stay spiritual babies.  Since being a saint means being in the center of God’s will, we need to know what God’s will is.  The Scriptures reveal the will of God.  All that God desires and commands is the will of God.  All that Jesus commanded is the will of God.  All that the apostles taught regarding how we should live is the will of God.  As we focus on God’s revealed will in Scripture and strive to live it, God in the Holy Spirit will reveal God’s specific will for our lives. 

    Sanctification is the process by which we are made holy, by which we are called and commissioned by God for special service.  Sanctification is not a one-time event.  Notice that in our Leviticus passage, God says, “I am Yahweh who sanctifies you.” We can’t even begin to follow God’s command to be holy if it weren’t for God first working in us to make us holy, to sanctify us.  In our New Testament reading Peter tells us that we weren’t redeemed with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Christ.  This blood also purifies us.  Because of the work of Christ and because we have placed our faith in Christ, we are sanctified and are being sanctified, and so we are called to live into holiness.  As Thomas Torrance says, the church’s “holiness does not derive from any moral goodness or purity of its members, but from the holiness of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  The holiness of the Church is thus objectively grounded in the utterly transcendent holiness, glory, and purity of God’s being. 

    Notice that the command to be holy is to a people.  In the time the Law was given, the command to be holy was given to the Israelites as God’s chosen people.  In the New Testament, the command to be holy is given to the church, also God’s chosen people.  As a people, the Israelites failed miserably in the command to be holy.  Small groups and individuals did live well.  These are the Old Testament saints.  Just like we heard from Paul last week, Peter tells us that we are being built into a spiritual house with Jesus as the Chief Cornerstone.  We are the living stones.  One of the doctrines we emphasize as Christians in the Reformed tradition is “the priesthood of all believers.”  I Peter 2:5 is one of those verses that supports this doctrine.  Peter tells us that we are a holy priesthood offering up spiritual sacrifices through Jesus Christ that are pleasing to God.  What are these spiritual sacrifices?  Our praise, our prayers—particularly prayers of confession, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise—kindness, and love.  Later on in verse 9, Peter calls us a royal priesthood. Because Jesus is both priest and king and we are His offspring.  In the same verse, he calls us a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession.  It’s no longer the Israelites.  God’s purpose in making us a holy nation is that “we may proclaim God’s excellencies”, that we might tell of the great things that God has done!  How is the church doing with the command to be holy?  How is Trinity Presbyterian Church living out the command to be holy?  How are you living out this command?  We are called, as Jan Lochman puts it, “to move in the direction indicated by Christ’s work of salvation.”  We are called to live in holiness both as individuals and as the church.  May we live into the holiness to which God commands us.  May we look more and more like Jesus every day as we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us. 

The Catholicity of the Church; Ephesians 2:13-22

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Who has Spoken through the Prophets; Ezekiel 2:1-5, I Peter 1:10-12

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