If God won the War, Why isn't It Over?
The Role of a Pure
People
in the Judgment
"Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God! ... Therefore, beloved, since you wait for these, be zealous to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace." (1)
And so Peter echoes a familiar theme: a pure and holy people are somehow related to these final events. And since these final eventa are close at hand, spare no effort to be ready for them.
But why? Is God suddenly "elevating HIs standard" of salvation for those unlucky enough to be living in the ast days? Hardly! Look at it this way:
What Does Holiness Mean?
It doesn't mean arriving at some level of goodness beyond which there is no more room for growth. (2) Indeed, since growth into Jesus' image will occupy the redeemed throughout eternity, He wants us ready and eager for that growth even now. Some have described this as "perfect teachableness," or as constant willingness to say Yes to whatever God offers to us. It means being all done with our rebellion, that He might teach us ever more fully HIs ways eternally. Holiness, as one author expresses it, is wholeness for God.
Holiness in Not to Impress God ...
The Christian seeks holiness, not so that God will think better of him; for he knows that ge is already "accepted in the beloved," (3) God's opinion of the Christian is identical to His opinion of His beloved Son, and there is absolutely nothing man can do to improve upon that!
But to Inform the World ...
The Christian seeks holiness of life, not so God will think better of Him, but so that the world will think better of the God they see through him. The Christian detests sin in his life, not because he fears that God will think less of him, but because he fears that his friends will think less of God because of his sins. He knows that some people will actually decide whether or not to glorify the Father based on how he lets his light shine. (4) He joins Paul in admitting (soberly, yet joyously) that "we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us." (5)
John's Gospel, in recording Jesus' prayer for His disciples, contains a compelling line of logic. At the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus gratefully reports that He has "accomplished the work which thou gavest me to do." (6) And what was that work? "I have manifested thy name to the men thou gavest me." (7) In fact He even says, "I am glorified in them." (8) But now comes a transition: "Now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world." (9) Since He is leaving, He forwards to them (as HIs corporate body) the continuation of HIs same mission: "As thou didst sned me into the world, so I have sent them into the world." (10)
For this very reason, the Christian consecrates himself to live the truth, just as Jesus consecrated Himself in truth. (11) And for this very reason, Paul prays that the believers might "be filled with all the fulness of God." (12) Because Paul know that "through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be mad known to the principalities and power in heavenly places." (13)
And to demonstrate God's Restoration Powers
Christians sing, "There is power, power, wonder-working power ... in the precious blood of the lamb." And Satan taunts darkly from his corner, "There's no power in the blood! Look at the way they live!"
Who is telling the truth? Could you decide by doing a survey among professed Christian?
Satan taunts Jesus with our sins. The enemy taunts the One we love! The angel promised that Jesus would save us from our sins. (14) But the old snake laughs and says, "If He saves you at all, it will have to be in your sins." And some Christians slink sadly to their corners, sighing, "Oh well, I guess forgiveness is about all I could expect, anyway."
For reasons known best in His heart of infinite love, God has been willing to be embarassed by His people's unwillingness to live the Christ life. He longs for a people who will get their attention off themselves and recognize that they are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that [they] may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called [them] out of darkness into his marvelous light." (15)
The Motives of a Holy People
"For the love of Jesus controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all ... that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him." (16) This is a turn-around verse! But so few Christians turn around. Let me explain.
A life of love is a life moved by unselfishness. Yet sin has made us all desperately self-centered. We are incapable of living unselfishly until our own needs are met first. We cannot love until we know that we are loved. And so, in the death of Christ, God sends an enormous love-message to us. On the cross, He says, "That's how valuable you are to me!"
God intends that the cross-message should heal my self-centeredness -- that it should so thoroughly meet my needs that it sets me free to live no longer for myself but for Him.
But even "Christians" can continue to live for themselves -- for their own blessings, their own secure spot in heaven, their freedom from trials. A key identifying mark of God's final grneration, however, will be that they are so sure of God's opinion of them that they are set free to live entirely for Him. Their consuming desire is that their wonderful God be made known to the world. With paul, they will be able to endure all manner of persecution and trial "so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies." (17)
For, you see, only the unselfish motive will lead one to be trule unselfish. Only the one who, for Christ's sake, wishes to be like Jesus will reflect His character to others. Those who wish to turn Christlikeness of character into a selfish grasping for God's approval, will -- by the very selfishness of the motive -- fail to experience the unselfishness they seek. Those who would use Christian growth as a selfish means to earn God's approval will never understand the Unselfish One who has already given His approval.
A Christian who does not "turn around" and live for God's glory will never understand the place of good works in the life of the believer. Every time he hears about victory, overcomeing, perfection of character, sanctification, or any other growth-related term, he will turn it inward and see it as a basis for achieving standing or approval with God. Seeing his inadequacies in this department, he will then doubt God's forgiveness and acceptance. This will only reinforce his selfish insecurities, thus giving rise to even more sinful behavior. Thus he will know only failure. He will then either scrap Christianity altogether or will settle for a "forgiveness only" form of it, since that's all he has been seeking anyway.
In brief, motives are profoundly important for God's last-days people.
Groundless Fears About Holiness
Speaking about a holy people always seems to raise the fears of some people. For example, "Isn't this the heresy of 'sinless perfectionism'?" There's nothing unbiblical about being sinless, so long as we understand it. It doesn't (at least it shouldn't) mean "incapable of sinning." Rather, it describes a people who have turned decidedly from the delusions of Satan, who are all done rebelling, and who find sin to be repulsive because Jesus has given them a new set of values.
The word perfectionism, as often referred to in a scornful sense, implies man's perfection inplace of, or added to, the perfection of Jesus Christ as the basis for acceptance by the Father. such a view deserves to be scorned. And some may actually believe that way. But the holy people described above would not find that to be a problem.
Other worry that to speak of a holy people is to open the door to that old heresy of "holy flesh." (We might observe that if we avoided every Biblical teaching which someone earlier had used as a springboard for error, there wouldn't be much left to talk about!) The "holy flesh" problem grows out of the belief that sin has its primary focus in the flesh and that Jesus can only solve the sin problem by doing something miraculous to the flesh. Once He has done it, then, sin is no longer possible.
But remember our development of the sin problem in Chapter 2, in which we emphasized that sin is a function of the mind and loyalties, not of the physical body. In fact, Paul often stressed that "the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh." (18)
Still other worry that to speak positively of a holy people will produce an arrogant group of self-acclaimed, self-satisfaied snobs. They quote passages such as this in support of their concern: "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves." (19) And it's a valid concern. But as you think about the holy people described in thei chaper, keep this thought in mind: there is a big difference between a people focused on their own performance -- for their own sakes -- and a people so captivated by the lovely Jesus that they are lost in Him. God has always named His people; they never name themselves. Job would not have suggested himself as ready for the trial, but God named him because he was indeed ready. (So also Isaiah and John the Baptist. (20))
The beauty of holiness is its utter selflessness. Oh, the privilege of being thus transformed by our selfless Lord!
-----------
1. 2Peter 3:11-14
2. Philippians 3:12,13
3. Ephesians 1:6
4. Matthew 5:16
5. 2 Corinthians 5:20
6. John 17:4
7. v. 6
8. v. 10
9. v. 11
10. v. 18
11. v. 17
12. Ephesians 3:19
13. v. 10
14. Matthew 1:21
15. 1 Peter 2:9
16. 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15
17. 2 Corinthians 4:10
18. v. 11 also Glatians 2:20
19. 1 John 1:8
20. Isaiah 6:1-9; John 1:26-34