Transcription:
God is awesome. So blessed in this Kingdom Gold Series…
Lya: Jesus as the realization of the Father on earth
Ashok: Faith
Jade: Freedom
Carlo: Don’t worry
Mike: Grace of God
Don’t worry, you have freedom from sin and death and have been granted the grace of God through faith in Jesus, who is the very image of God the Father.
As I was practicing Being with God, asked what He wanted to share.
True Jesus fashion, answered with a ?? He asked me what I felt He was teaching me.
Without a doubt: How to constantly fail at being holy.
Not struggling with my identity as a holy son from head knowledge, but an active experiential knowledge of holiness and walking in it daily.
Who feels holy? I don’t ever feel holy. My son challenges ability to walk in holiness daily.
I’m realizing: ever increasing sensitivity to His holiness in my life and deepening desire to live holy as he has empowered me through relationship with Jesus.
But feel holy? Not so much. The only Holy I feel is Holy failure.
Title of message is: Set Free To Be Holy: How to live out our holy identity.
Let’s define some words:
Definitions:
Holiness
the state or quality of being holy
Sacred or set apart;
Dedicated to the service or worship of God
Identity: noun
the condition of being oneself, and not another:
condition or character as to who a person is; the qualities, beliefs, etc., that distinguish or identify a person
Holiness is the unique identity of God - He alone is holy. Get that straight! Separate from God we are all just helpless piles of sin.
We through Christ and the power of His Holy Spirit now have access to His holiness.
As I approach Jesus’s perfection/holiness,
magnifying glass on my personal imperfection.
more I approach His holiness = more magnified my own sin
“As we approach holiness, seriously - we see that His moral perfection and infinite hatred of sin leaves us with utter dismay because of our lack of holiness.” Jerry Bridges
To be holy: expectant command, way of the Christian’s life. “Be holy, for I the Lord am holy”.
Christians to live out holiness, conspicuous
3 identities
To start to understand holiness as our identity, look at the 3 identities of a believer: picture of the gospel, then look at a biblical principle for walking in our identity of holiness.
First Identity
Who we were created to be: Designed Holy Identity
Gen 1:26 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Our original designed identity was to be fully with God, in perfect communion, united, and perfect. We were originally created to walk with him in wonderful relationship. It was an identity of holiness.
Second Identity
2. What we were born into: Fallen Sinful Identity
Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned
Adam sinned and broke that communion which transferred a fallen, skewed identity to the rest of mankind. Now man is born into a sinful reality. Broken and separated from God with no opportunity in himself to reconcile.
Third identity
3. Who Christ redeems us to be: Redeemed Holy Identity
Romans 8:16-17 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
God destined Jesus from the beginning to come down from heaven and redeem us back to our rightful place through baptism into his death on the cross. Through his blood we are cleansed, we are made holy, we are redeemed back to our rightful place in His Kingdom. Holiness is who we are and what we are to pursue.
Jesus’ life in both an example for us to follow and an opportunity for us to live out. Jesus knew the father, in knowing the father, he knew how to be and what to do. If we know Jesus, then we should know: Being Holy is not just our position, it’s our pursuit.
The Be-Do is this:
BEing in Jesus, BEing with Jesus, and BEing who Jesus declares us to be is the essence of holiness. It’s the transformative pursuit of God’s holiness in our lives. BEcause BEing who God created us to BE and calls us into BEing is an invitation to live out our true identity as holy sons and daughters of the one true God.
Being with Jesus reveals my example of holiness
Being with Jesus strengthens me to battle against my sinful flesh, and walk in holiness
Being who Jesus has created me to be, through His blood, is to actively be holy
Holiness, because of salvation, is my life’s pursuit. - “Be holy, for I am holy.”
The degree of God’s holiness I access and reveal through my life is up to me.
Holiness is decreed over me, but is also a table set before me. I can choose to eat and strengthen myself in order to live out his holiness, or I can starve and struggle.
Without active pursuit of holiness: Redeemed but languishing. Empowered yet emaciated.
BUT SINCE I am (holy, righteous, redeemed, his son) then I am to comport my life in such a way that reflects and reveals His holiness, which I have open access to. Set free to be holy.
Now the DO, Out of all of that BEing I am drawn to do: The principle to live holy lives is this:
OWN -> DENY -> OBEY -> TRAIN -> REPEAT
[say it with me]
Take Ownership: Holy Responsibility [OWN SLIDE]
Leviticus 11:45 (ESV): For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
Romans 6:8-11 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
I need to take responsibility for the holiness I have access to. I need to take full ownership/responsibility for the state of my heart and emotions daily, I need to seek his heart, I need to draw near to Him, I need to make Him, and being with Him, the priority in my life. My personal holiness is reflected in the amount of focus I have on Jesus.
A.W. Tozer: “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”
When I take ownership of the amount of holiness I reflect in my life, I actively pursue the heart of Jesus to work in and through all of me.
2. Deny: Holy Rejection [DENY SLIDE]
Ephesians 4:22 (ESV): …put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,
Matthew 16:24 (ESV):
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Jesus himself tells us that denial is part of our walk.
Romans 6:12-14
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
“The consistent teaching of Christ Himself and of His apostles is that when self is denied Christ ascends the throne, assumes the responsibility, and by His own in dwelling through the Holy Spirit communicates all the power necessary to obedience.” G. Campbell Morgan
In our self denial, we give up any ownership to self and yield everything to Jesus. In denial I abandon my ego, my will, my strength, in all ways, at all times to the Son, Jesus Christ.
With my everything in denial, Jesus is able to fill the center of my being with his Spirit, directing me in all ways at all times towards holiness.
Denial makes less of me, and more of Jesus. It prioritizes Jesus over my affections of self. Unless I first deny, I can’t obey.
3. Obey: Holy Surrender [OBEY SLIDE]
Ephesians 4:23-24 (ESV): 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness
Romans 6:17-19
17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. KJV: holiness.
Jesus calls us to obedience
John 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”
And models it for us in the garden:
Mark 14:36 (ESV): “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
It’s summarized in the greatest commandment:
“Love God with all your heart mind soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.” To obey God is to love God. If we say we love, without obedience, we lie to God and ourselves.
A life of DISobedience is a life of self-centeredness and a declaration of war to God.
A life of obeDIEnce is a life reflective of Jesus and empowered with the Holy Spirit in all holiness.
4. Train: Holy Discipline [TRAIN SLIDE]
Hebrews 12:11 (ESV):
For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Philippians 2:12-13
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Greek word there for “work out” means is katergazomai which means “to continually work to bring something to completion or fruition.” Train. Discipline.
A disciple has discipline in holiness. We must discipline ourselves to be obedient daily. Train to be holy. Train to be righteous. Train for all God calls us to in His word. Training is a mindset of doing through being. He empowers us to do! And when we train ourselves to be holy, we desire more of him.
OWN DENY OBEY TRAIN REPEAT: When I take Ownership that Jesus has made me holy through his shed blood that leads me to Deny my self, flesh, and affections of anything unholy which allows me to Obey God’s word, will and way which activates my Training in holiness through obedience to walk out the holiness of God in my life, which increases my ability to take even more ownership, and so on.
Holiness is not just our position, it is our pursuit. It is how we become the fullness of who God has intended us to be.
We have been set free, to be holy.
Romans 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification (holiness) and its end, eternal life.
Activation Questions:
What is God telling you about your identity of holiness?
Where in your life is God inviting you to own, deny, obey, and or train your holiness?
