HOLINESS

I have recently begun reading Jerry Bridges' classic THE PURSUIT OF HOLINESS after putting it off for almost two years. The title scared me, and in a way, I was trying to close my eyes to God's call to ALL Christians to walk in holiness.

Here are some things from the book:

"No one can attain any degree of holiness without God working in his life, but as surely as no one will attain it without effort on his own part. God has made it possible for us to walk in holiness. But He has given us the responsibility of doing the walking; He does not do that for us." -Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, p. 14

He lists two reasons why we do not readily talk of our responsibility:

1. We are simply reluctant to face up to our responsibility. We prefer to leave that to God. We pray for victory when we know we should be acting in obedience.

2. We do not understand the proper distinction between God's provision and our own responsibility for holiness.

"God expects every Christian to live a holy life. But holiness is not only expected; it is the promised birthright of every Christian. Paul's statement is true. Sin will not be our master" - ibid., p. 18

To be holy is to be morally blameless. - Strong's Exhaustive Concordance

The word signifies "separation to God, and the conduct befitting those so separated." - W.E. Vine, An Expositionary Dictionary of New Testament Words

To live a holy life, then, is to live a life in conformity to the moral precepts of the Bible and in contrast to the sinful ways of the world. - Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, p.20


If holiness, then, is so basic to the Christian life, why do we not experience it more in daily living?

Bridges also notes 3 basic problem areas in the struggle with sin:

1. Our attitude toward sin is more self-centered than God-centered. We are concerned about our own "victory" over sin than we are about the fact that our sins grieve the heart of God.

"God wants us to walk in obedience - not victory. Obedience is oriented toward God; victory is oriented toward self. This is not to say that God doesn't want us to experience victory, but rather to emphasize that victory is a by-product of obedience." - ibid., p. 21

2. We have a misunderstood "living by faith" (Galatians 2:20) to mean that no effort at holiness is required on our part.

3. We do not take some sin seriously. We have mentally categorized sins into that which is unacceptable and that which may be tolerated a bit.

God has called every Christian to a holy life. There are no exceptions to this call... Because God is holy, He requires that we be holy. - ibid., p. 25

See the implications of that?

The "comfort zone" we prefer is to be a slight notch above everyone else, but this is not God's standard. We are only fooling ourselves that way.

"Many Christians have what we call "cultural holiness." They adapt to the character and behavior pattern of Christians around them. As the Christian culture around them is more or less holy, so these Christians are more or less holy. But God has not called us to be like those around us. He has called us to be like Himself. Holiness is nothing less than conformity to the character of God." -ibid., pp. 26-27

"But sometimes, even when we know what is right there is a reluctance on our part to do it. The right action may involve sacrifice, or a blow to our pride (for example, when we know we should confess a sin to someone), or some other obstacle." - ibid, p. 26

In chapter 2, Bridges studies holiness as God's indispensable attribute. He writes:

"Holiness is one of his attributes; that is, holiness is an essential part of the nature of God. His holiness is as necessary, for example, as His wisdom or His omniscience. Just as He cannot but know what is right, so he cannot but do what is right....God's holiness then is perfect freedom from all evil..The holiness of God includes His perfect conformity to His own divine character." (ibid., pp. 26-27)

”Because God is holy, He can never excuse or overlook any sin we commit, however small it may be.

“Sometimes we try to justify to God some action which our own conscience calls into question. But if we truly grasp the significance of God's perfect holiness, both in Himself and in His demands of us, we will readily see we can never justify before Him the slightest deviation from His perfect will. God does not accept the excuse, "Well, that's just the way I am," or even the more hopeful statement, "Well, I'm still growing in that area of my life."

“No, God's holiness does not make allowances for minor flaws or shortcomings in our personal character…

“Because God is holy, He cannot ever tempt us to sin…Probably none pf us ever imagines that God is actively soliciting us to do evil, but we may feel that God has put us in a situation where we have no choice.”- ibid., p. 30

”Because God is holy, He hates sin. Hate is such a strong word we dislike using it. We reprove our children for saying they hate someone. Yet when it comes to God’s attitude toward sin, only a strong word such as hate conveys the adequate depth of meaning. Hatred is a legitimate emotion when it comes to sin. In fact, the more we see ourselves grow in holiness, the more we hate sin…As we grow in holiness, we grow in hatred of sin; and God, being infinitely holy, has an infinite hatred of sin.

“We often say. “God hates the sin but loves the sinner.” This is blessedly true, but too often we quickly rush over the first half of the statement to get to the second. We cannot escape the fact that God hates our sins. We may trifle with our sins or excuse them, but God hates them.

“Therefore every time we sin, we are doing something God hates. He hates our lustful thoughts, our pride and jealousy, our outbursts of temper, and our rationalization that the end justifies the means. We need to be gripped by the fact that god hates all these things. We become so accustomed to our sins we sometimes lapse into a state of peaceful coexistence with them, but God never ceases to hate them.

“We need to cultivate in our hearts the same hatred of sin God has. Hatred of sin as sin, not just as something disquieting or defeating to ourselves, but displeasing to God, lies at the root of all true holiness. We must cultivate the attitude of Joseph, who said when he was tempted, ‘How then could I do this great evil, and sin against God?’ (Genesis 39:9)

“In the deceitfulness of our hearts, we sometimes play with temptations by entertaining the thought that we can always confess and later ask forgiveness. Such thinking is exceedingly dangerous. God’s judgment is without partiality. He never overlooks our sin. He never decides not to bother, since the sin is only as small one. No, God hates sin intensely whenever and wherever he finds it.” ” - ibid., pp. 31-33

All these lead to a question: what are the implications for claiming to be a follower of a holy God who hates sin? We profess to be Christians: does this show in our lives? Frankly, the questions that crop up scare me...and shame me.