Sermon Tone Analysis

I would like to ask you a couple of questions this morning:

* /"How is your holiness coming along?"

/

* /"How well are you wearing your sainthood in the secular society of our day?"

/

We live in an era and a culture where the church has lost much of its ability to be on the cutting edge of societal change.

We simply do not have the influence upon our culture that we once did.

If you look at American history, the church has almost always been in the vanguard of significant social change:

* Without Christianity and the Church there would have been no government of the people, for the people and by the people.

* Without Christianity and the Church there would have no Bill of Rights or Civil Rights.

* Without Christianity and the Church there would have been no Abolition movement and the abolishment of slavery.

* Without Christianity and the Church there would be no modern Scientific method.

* Without Christianity and the Church there would be no hospitals and companionate care of the sick.

* Without Christianity and the Church there would have been no prison reform and just treatment of the incarcerated.

* Without Christianity and the Church the worlds of art and music, and architecture would be greatly diminished.

In this first half of the 21st century, however, the institutionalized church is looked down upon.

A secularized cultural elite—the power brokers of our society—insist that we would be better off altogether without Christianity and the Church period—or at least we’d be better off without all those conservative, God-loving, gun-toting, bible-believing evangelical Christians.

If the church of the early 21st century has one great sin it’s this: We have forsaken our God-given responsibility to be ‘salt and light’ in a perverse culture.

We have forgotten that we are the light of the world.

We must shine out in this world of darkness and demonstrate to it a better way to live.

We have neglected to be the salt of the earth.

We must preserve the Christian traditions of our forefathers and give our community a Godly flavor.

God's people must accept the responsibility of being the conscience of a sick society.

We have been told that one's religion or faith has no place in the public sectors of society and that religion should be—must be—a personal matter.

To a large degree many of God's people have swallowed that line.

Never in the Scriptures do we see that our faith is to be a strictly personal matter.

Every area of life and culture falls under Christ’s Lordship.

God calls us to be light, and salt and soldiers willing to bear the banner of the cross.

God has called us to live holy lives not only here in the sanctuary, but also in the open market of society.

Holy men and holy women are needed not only in the worship of the church, but in the market places of the community.

Holy men and holy women are needed not only in the Sunday School room, but in the public class rooms of our schools and universities.

Holy men and women are needed not only in the fellowship of the Body of Christ.

They are also needed in the fraternities and clubs of our communities.

When God says, /"Be ye holy, because I am holy,"/ He doesn't mean just be holy in church, but be holy in all the activities of life.

The most important activity in church is not how you responded in a worship service, or what you think about the preaching or singing.

The most important Christian event that takes place in your life is after the benediction.

The bible says, /"Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God."/

If there is one thing that all of us should be deeply concerned about this morning it is our practical holiness of heart and life and our sanctification of character and conduct.

Other things may have their due and relative importance, but according to the repeated word of Scripture this is priority #1 for the believer.

God has called us to and insists upon holiness.

!

I. WHY SHOULD WE BE HOLY?

* ILLUS.

To some, any "Holiness talk" sounds archaic.

The very word "Holiness" brings graphic images of being old fashioned, back ward and fossilized.

To others, the idea is associated with a bigotry-like "holier than thou" attitude.

Yet Holiness is very much a Scriptural demand upon the people of God.

But what is Holiness?

Why should we pursue it anyway?

* /“Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”/

(Hebrews 12:14, NIV84)

#. why should we strive to be holy?

#. because it was for this cause that God chose us in Christ

* /“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

In love”/(Ephesians 1:4, NIV84)

#. long before God’s Spirit began to move over the face of the Earth in His creative work God chose us in His Son

#.

He then irresistibly drew us to Himself through the Spirit

#.

He gave us the gifts of repentance and faith and caused to be born again

#.

He did all this that we might be holy in His sight

#. simply put, holiness is demonstrating the character of God in your life

#.

over the next ten weeks we will examine together the 10 pillars of Christian Character

#. if we are the Children of God, then it behooves us to ...

#. talk like our Heavenly Father

#. walk like our Heavenly Father

#. act like our Heavenly Father

#. others ought to be able to look at you and know that God is your Father—there ought to be a resemblance

!! A. HOLINESS IS A WAY OF LIFE

#. the word essentially mean to be separate and has a two-fold meaning in the believer’s life

#.

1st, it means the God has set us aside for His exclusive use

#. the theological term for this is positional holiness

#.

God the Father sees us as holy because of Christ in us

#.

He has consecrated us for His exclusive use in this world

#. this idea is seen at the dedication of the Temple when God consecrated the Temple in Jerusalem for His worship

* /“For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there forever.”/

(2 Chron.

7:16, NIV)

* ILLUS.

Wives, suppose you called your husband from work and you told him that you would be getting home late.

You ask him to feed the kids and the dog.

Your loving husband agrees to do so.

You come home and discover that you forgot to run the dishwasher that morning before you left for work, and you husband has fed the kids and even the dog off of the good china.

After he regains conscienceless, you carefully explain to him that the China is for exclusive use for only very special occasions.

#. the apostle Paul refers to this specialness of certain dishes

* /“In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble.

If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.”/

(2 Timothy 2:20–21, NIV84)

#. being holy means that God has a special and exclusive use for your life

#.

2nd, it means that we are to be separated from the ways of this world—God’s people are to be different

* /“Abstain from all appearance of evil and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”/

(1 Thess.

5:22-23, KJV)

* /“For God did not call us to be impure, but to be holy.”/

(1 Thess.

4:7)

#. the theological term for this is practical holiness

#. in Christ, we are a new creation and as such we ought not to be the same today as we were this time last year

* ILLUS.

An old Negro spiritual goes: I went to the valley, but didn’t go to stay, but my soul got happy and I stayed all day.

I looked at my feet and they were new, looked at my hands and they were, too.”

#.

I’m not talking about a physical change, but a spiritual reformation

* ILLUS.

I got saved one day.

I looked at my hands and they were still white—I looked at my feet and they were still the same—but I was changed because now I had Jesus in my heart.

My heart doesn’t let my feet take me to the places I used to go and my soul won’t let my hands do some of the things they used to do.