Why Live Holy?

The entire New Covenant speaks against trying to “live holy” in our own strength and be justified though our own efforts. God does not relate to us according to our own level of obedience anymore, but according to the perfect obedience of the One Man, Jesus Christ.

[Rom 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law].
[Rom 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience (first Adam) many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience (Christ) many will be made righteous].

Yet we see many verses in the New Covenant that still advocate a holy lifestyle. What would be the purpose of this? Well if we look at the 2 verses above, it talks about our standing before God. In God’s eyes, once we put our faith in His Son Jesus, we will always be justified and righteous before Him because when the Father looks at us, He sees Christ. We are IN Christ and nothing can ever take us out of Christ. [1 Cor 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him]. However, often we try and separate ourselves from Christ when we mess up and we feel that our actions are being scrutinized by God under a magnifying glass, but this is not the case. The Father sees the perfect obedience of Jesus on our behalf!

On the contrary, when it comes to PEOPLE, we are constantly stirred to “love one another”, “keep the bond of peace”, “forgive one another” etc. People are not as gracious as God and we need to maintain “good works” when it comes to relating to people, but NOT TO GOD. Note that we are not saying that people should live disobedient to God. But you will see that the context of most scriptures in the New Covenant that talks about holy living and good works, pertain to maintaining our relationships with other people. Let’s look at 3 examples:

[Eph 4:25 Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbour,” for we are members of one another]. If you keep lying to people you will get into trouble sooner or later.
[26“Be angry, and do not sin”. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil]. When you stay angry with someone for an extended period of time, you give the devil a foothold in your relationship with that person.
[28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labour, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need]. When we steal from others, this is bound to have a detrimental effect on our relationship with them when they find out.
[29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers]. Once again it talks about PEOPLE, because it says our words should edify the hearers.

[Col 3:9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. 12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do].

[Gal 6:8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life]. When you follow after the desires of your flesh (which means your unrenewed mind with its carnal desires), you are bound to run into trouble with people if you lie, defraud, cheat or trick them. You might even be prosecuted by the law if you steal or commit other crimes. This is the “corruption” that this verse talks about – the NIV says “destruction”.

There are many other examples, but I think we get the point: God doesn’t love us less when we mess up, but people do – unless they are mature Christians that understand Grace & know that nobody’s behaviour is perfect.

Finally, a second reason for living holy is this: If we have died to sin (because our sinful nature was “cut” out of us through the circumcision of Christ (Col 2:11)), why would we want to live in it any longer? Why would we still want to run after the desires of our old sinful nature as though it wasn’t removed from us?

[Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace].

And here is how we do it: The more we try to sin less, the more we will fail. Our victory over the lusts of the flesh is to have our minds renewed, to have our thoughts transformed to discern the truth of God’s Word and spend time in His presence, allowing Him romance and woo us. When we begin to see how deeply His love runs for us, we will not be able to resist flowing in the fruit of the Spirit inside us, showing love and compassion to a world that needs to see Jesus!

In Grace
Andre van der Merwe

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Previous Messages. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.