I am not sure exactly when it happened. I think I may know how it happened. I am sure it should never have happened. And now that it has happened, I wonder what will happen to the generation of believers that allowed it to happen. You are asking, "What is he talking about? What has happened?" I am talking about when Christianity began to be offered without holiness.
Let's face it. The Christianity of today has undergone a major disconnect from the Bible's teaching concerning holiness. Not only have we lost sight of the importance of true holiness, we actually in many ways disdain it. Holiness has become a bad word amongst modern evangelicals. We bristle at the words "holy" and "holiness" in the same that we used to bristle at profanity.
Where did this disdain come from? It is possible that the word holiness stirs up images of women dressed like pilgrims, and men on oatmeal containers, of women who have deliberately "uglified" themselves standing by their morose, austere, pitchfork-wielding husbands. Or possibly the word holiness brings up the ideas of rigid regulations and countless practices of "don't do this," and "don't do that." And probably, "holiness" reminds us of those who in the name of Christ have attempted to legislate their own peculiar convictions and or cultures as the moral law of God.
But regardless of the many errors that may have occurred in the name of holiness, one thing remains certain: without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Did you get that? Neither you, nor I, nor anyone else, will actually enter the kingdom of heaven apart from holiness. You can claim promises, rejoice in imputed righteousness, jump up and down over justification by faith, glory over who you may think you are in Christ, but if the attribute of holiness or moral purity is lacking in you, you will not see God in the next life.
This is where today's evangelicals are disconnected from truth. This is the area of greatest deception. If you listen to the majority of professing Christians, it is evident that they do not really believe that holiness is essential to eternal life. The prevailing theology (I use the term loosely) is this: If you believe in Jesus, you're saved- period.
And here is the great deception. We really do not think that any sinful practice can affect our eternity with God. Some are even bold (dumb) enough to actually say it. Consider for a moment: Have we not become accepting of immoral conduct in our churches, youth groups, and even in our ministers? We may not entirely condone these practices, but we have accepted them. We do not think for a moment that those who profess Christ yet practice these things are in any real eternal danger. Likewise, drunkenness, partying, loose living, corruption in the ministry, and overall worldliness- none of these things really trouble us. And if by chance any would dare suggest that those Christians who continue in these things will not inherit the kingdom of God, he will be scoffed at, branded a legalist, considered judgmental, and ultimately will be ostracized. Thus Christianity, which was always understood to be a faith which begat moral excellence and holiness in its adherents, has now become a religion where these attributes are despised- it has become a faith without holiness.
Now having mentioned various errors associated with holiness, it is fitting to give some clarity as to what holiness is, and what it is not. I will begin with what holiness is not.
Holiness is not an outward conformity to a set of rules or an imposed set of convictions, or to a certain code of conduct regarding dress, diet, religious observances, etc.. It cannot consist in any mere outward observance of any principle- even a right and noble principle. It does not consist in any religious work or effort. It should be the motive in every religious work, but it does not consist in the work itself. In other words, there are no outward acts that a man can perform that will in themselves make him holy.
On the other hand, holiness does consist in, and is an inward conformity to a divine principle- the moral law of God. As sin is defined in Scripture as a "transgression of the law" (1John3:4), the opposite of sin, holiness, may be defined as a conformity to, or harmony with the moral law.
But what is the moral law of God? Jesus defined the moral law as consisting in two parts: supreme love for God, and love for one's neighbor. The Jews had received the law from Moses, the glory of which was the Ten Commandments. But when Jesus was asked as to what the greatest commandment in the law was, He did not refer to any of these ten commandments. Instead, He said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40)
Do you see this? All of the law and the prophets hang upon these two commands. These two commandments are the foundation upon which the Levitical law was established. They both precede and supersede the Old Covenant. These two commandments are the moral law. The law of Moses could be abolished in Christ, but the moral law of God can never be abolished, for the duty and moral obligation of every creature in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, is summed up in these commandments. We are to love God supremely and we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Thus, holiness may be defined as whole-hearted love for God, and that love for our neighbor, which considers his happiness and welfare as of equal value to our own.
It should be evident that wherever this love for God and neighbor exists, there will of necessity be a purity of conduct as well. If a man loves God supremely, he will not be an idolater, nor take the name of God in vain, nor have any other gods in his place, etc.. Likewise, he who loves his neighbor as himself will not steal from him, commit adultery with his wife, lie to him or against him, covet and lust after his belongings, and certainly not kill him. He who is guided by this principle will be careful to keep himself from all that is unclean and offensive to God, as well as that which is harmful to his fellow man. Thus it is written that "love is the fulfilling of the law." (Rom. 13:10)
According to Paul, this love that is the fulfillment of the moral law must bear this attribute: it must "seek not its own." (1Cor. 13:5) In other words, we are to love God- not for what we can get from him- but because it is in itself right to love him. Our love for God must ultimately be concerned with his feelings, his happiness, and his welfare. Likewise, we are to love our neighbor in truth, being mindful that his well-being is as important as our own.
Now without this holiness, this love that seeks not its own, no man shall see the Lord. Therefore, those professing believers who yet manifest an overall selfish nature are deficient, and consequently are on dangerous ground. To suggest then, that the gospel of Jesus Christ promises eternal life without requiring a conformity to the moral law is absurd. It flies in the face of our consciousness of what justice is. A gospel without holiness amounts to this: God, on the one hand, honors the moral law by sending his Son as an offering on behalf of that broken law, while on the other hand, He dishonors that same law by granting forgiveness of sins and eternal life to believers who are yet in rebellion to it! Absurd? It is worse than absurd, it is wicked- for it makes God a transgressor of his own law- and thus by definition, a sinner!
We can therefore be confident that any rendition of the gospel that does not have for its aim the moral purity of its hearers is fundamentally flawed. If our gospel is without holiness, it is no gospel at all. It is no "good news" if in the end we do not see the Lord. The true gospel is good news in that it begets a love for God and our neighbor, which brings about a purity of life that prepares us for the world to come.
Take heed therefore, that you do not embrace a form of Christianity that makes light of holiness, lest the words of the apostle be fulfilled in you: "In the last days perilous times shall come. FOR men shall be lovers of their own selves... having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." (2Tim. 3:1-5) In other words, in the last days, men shall hold to the Christian faith, yet reject and deny the need for personal godliness- they shall be without holiness.
Will the same be true of us?
All these things I have done from my youth.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to note that the young man did not say that he had loved God from his youth. On the contrary, when he was confronted with discipleship- love for God in practice- he balked, and went away sad. He trusted in riches more than in God. Isn't this a violation of the spirit of the first of the Ten Commandents? Thus, only in his own mind had he really "done all these things from his youth." Therefore, he was a sinner like the rest of us, and thus could not be justified by the works of the law, but rather needed to be justified by faith in Jesus Christ.
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