Holiness Series pt 4: Called to a Holy Life
Well, over the last few weeks we have been on a journey together talking about holiness—the reality that God is holy and that He has designed His people to be holy as well, to reflect Him in everything we do. My hope today is that each of us would take a kind of personal inventory and ask ourselves: Is my life a reflection of Jesus in every way? That really is the goal of the Christian life—that day by day we would look more and more like Jesus and that our lives would reflect Him.
This morning we find ourselves in 1 Peter 1:15–16, which will serve as the foundation for what we talk about today. We’ll move through several other passages as well, but this is our starting point. In this opening section of the letter, Peter is encouraging the believers he is writing to live holy lives—to be different, to be set apart, to be unlike the world around them and instead reflect the character of God in everything they do. Peter writes, “But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”
There was a father who once told his young son it was time to get ready for Sunday school because they would be leaving soon. Like many little boys, the child was curious and asked his dad, “Did you go to Sunday school when you were a boy?” The father gladly said that he did. The boy looked a little disappointed and replied, “Well, it probably won’t do me any good either.” One of the greatest problems we face in Christianity today is that many people acknowledge Jesus outwardly. We say we are Christians. We might wear a cross or talk about our faith. But many times our lives look completely different from what we claim to believe.
The world sees that inconsistency, and that is one of the reasons people often say the church is full of hypocrites. In many ways, everyone claims to be a Christian, yet we deny Him by the way we live. That is why this idea of congruence is so important in the Christian life. Even though I’m not much of a math person, that mathematical concept of congruence helps us understand something important: what we say we believe should line up exactly with how we live our lives.
Again, Peter writes, “Just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all that you do, for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’” He is reflecting back to the Old Testament where God calls His people to holiness. The question for us this morning is simple: How has your life reflected the holiness of God this past week? Are you living the holy life that God has called us to live?
Sometimes people are hesitant to answer that question because they aren’t really sure what it means to live a holy life. Over the years we have heard a lot of confusing messages and sometimes even conflicting ideas about holiness. My hope today is to clear some of that up—though I admit it may still raise some questions for some of us.
The Church of the Nazarene is a holiness church. That means we preach and teach holiness. We believe that Scripture clearly shows that holiness is God’s design and desire for His people. Over the past several weeks we have talked about this not as an abstract idea or academic discussion, but as something meant to be lived and experienced. We serve a holy God who calls us to be holy—not by our own effort, but by His work within us.
The Bible speaks very clearly about this calling. In 2 Peter 3:11, Peter asks, “What kind of people ought you to be?” and then answers the question: “You ought to live holy and godly lives.” Hebrews 12:14 tells us to “make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” And 1 Thessalonians 4:7 says, “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” It seems clear that God calls His people to holy living.
Yet one of the challenges we face in a holiness church is that sometimes we misunderstand what holiness actually means. Over the years there have been some unfortunate explanations of holiness. For example, some people taught that holiness meant things like not wearing shorts, not having long hair, not wearing jewelry, or avoiding certain kinds of entertainment. Some even believed holiness meant not going to the movies, not watching television, not dancing, not gambling, not playing pool, not smoking, and not drinking. For some, holiness even meant refusing to wear a wedding ring.
If you grew up in certain church traditions, you may remember hearing lists like these. Often the expectations were different for women than for men. Women were told not to wear makeup, not to cut their hair, and not to wear jewelry. Over time holiness became associated mostly with a list of things Christians should not do.
While there were also some “do’s” mentioned—like reading the Bible, praying, and worshiping together—the focus was usually much heavier on the “don’ts.” In many ways holiness was interpreted as a long list of rules: don’t do this, don’t do that, and avoid this other thing.
But I don’t believe that is how God defines holiness. God does not simply give us a list of things to avoid and then declare us holy if we keep them. Holiness is not about appearances, clothing, or outward behavior alone. It can be an emotional topic for many people, but my goal today is simply to stay grounded in Scripture rather than opinion, tradition, or personal preference. Truth must always be our goal.
Sometimes traditions can become so familiar that we begin to value them more than the truth of Scripture itself. That can lead us into the same kind of legalism we see in the Pharisees. They tried to live by more than 600 rules and regulations. That kind of life becomes exhausting, and it leaves no room for joy.
The Word of God makes it clear that holiness is not about a long list of regulations. Instead, it is about a changed heart. Holiness is an inside-out transformation. Jesus doesn’t simply clean up the outside of our lives. He changes us from the inside, and that change eventually affects everything about us—our thoughts, our attitudes, our actions, and our relationships.
For many years people were told that if they followed the do’s and avoided the don’ts, then they were holy. But we often saw people who looked the part on the outside while their lives did not reflect the character of Christ.
Jesus actually gave us a very clear indicator of what it means to be His disciple. In John 13:35 He said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Notice that Jesus did not point to clothing, hairstyles, jewelry, or any other outward standard. He pointed to love.
Love is foundational to Christian living—love for God and love for people. When the Spirit of God transforms our hearts, He purifies us so that we can love and serve others. In Matthew 22, when Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, He said to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself.
Many believers quietly live this out every day. They love others, serve others, and demonstrate genuine Christian compassion. I thank God for people like that. But the true evidence of a Spirit-filled life always begins in the heart.
Think about an apple tree. The only unmistakable evidence that an apple tree is truly an apple tree is that it produces apples. The fruit is the evidence. In the same way, Jesus said in Matthew 7, “By their fruit you will know them.”
The fruit of the Spirit is described in Galatians 5:22–23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These qualities are the evidence of authentic Christian holiness. They are not something we can manufacture on our own. They are produced by the Spirit of God working in us.
Jesus also taught this in John 15 when He told His disciples to remain in Him. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays connected to the vine, we cannot produce spiritual fruit unless we remain connected to Christ.
At its most basic level, holiness can simply be described as Christlikeness. God’s will for each of us is that we would become more like His Son. That can feel overwhelming, but it is not something we accomplish through human effort. Galatians 3:3 asks, “After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?”
We cannot live a holy life on our own strength. The good news is that God has given us everything we need. He has given us the Holy Spirit to guide and convict us. He has given us His Word to instruct us. He has given us forgiveness when we stumble. And He has given us one another as the body of Christ to encourage and support us.
Leonard Ravenhill once wrote that the greatest miracle God could perform today would be to take an unholy man out of an unholy world, make him holy, and then put him back into that world and keep him holy in it. That is exactly the kind of transformation God desires to do in our lives.
Scripture reminds us that we are now the temple of the living God. God’s presence dwells within us through the Holy Spirit. When He comes into our lives, He desires full access—not just certain parts of our lives while other areas remain closed off to Him. Holiness means allowing God into every room of our hearts—our past, our present, and even our future.
Ultimately, holiness means being set apart for God’s purposes. We become living temples where His presence dwells. As we submit our lives to Him, the Spirit enables us to live in a way we never could on our own.
As we close this series on holiness, my prayer is simple: Lord, make me holy. It may feel like an uncomfortable prayer, but it is exactly what God desires to do in us. Day by day, He wants to shape us into the image of His Son so that our lives reflect Him to the world.
