Holiness

Posted bySteve

“You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy” (Lev 19:2b, ESV).

The concept of personal holiness has become blasé for many contemporary believers even while it remains a central precept of spiritual formation. This loss of personal holiness has also infiltrated the church. I believe a lack of holiness is the greatest barrier to spiritual awakening in our nation.

In my quiet time on 1 Samuel 5-6, I was reminded of how seriously God takes holiness. People were judged in tangible ways for their rejection of God’s call to holiness. Yahweh is holy and he calls his people to holiness. Biblically, the term normally means “to be set apart.” It is used widely in the Bible but ultimately points to God as the one who is qualitatively different or set apart from creation. In the New Testament, holiness takes on the sense of ethical purity or freedom from sin resulting in godly living.[1]

Action Plan

  1. Personal holiness begins with me. I need to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal my sins to me. I will write down each one of them, confessing and repenting of my sin, asking God in his mercy to forgive me and cleanse me. I will read Psalm 51, asking God to create a new heart in me and to restore the joy of his salvation.
  2. I will refuse to allow sin to reign in my mortal body (Rom 6:12-14). Sin has no dominion over me since I am in Christ Jesus and he has set me free from the bondage of sin.
  3. I will work with the Holy Spirit to live a godly life. Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for our sake so that in him we could become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21). God imputed the righteous of Christ to us, making us holy through his salvific work. However, while we have been delivered from the dominion of sin, we still find sin at work in our lives attempting to retake the territory the enemy lost through salvation. Jerry Bridges refers to this conflict as “The Battle for Holiness.”[2] I will resolve to be obedient to God’s revealed truth rather than my sinful flesh in this battle.
  4. I will pray consistently for spiritual awakening on our campus and in our nation. As I examined the details of spiritual awakenings in the biblical text and in more recent history, I discovered that God moved his people to pray for spiritual awakening, the evangelization of the lost, and the growth of disciples and the local church before God sent awakening.
  5. I will share my faith regularly with unbelievers. It is easy for us who work in a Christian context to become isolated from building relationships with unbelievers. I will find ways to enter the world of those who do not know Jesus. It could be in a relationship with a neighbor, a student here at NGU, other scholars in my field, parents whose children play sports or instruments with my children, etc. The “Who’s Your One” emphasis begins with praying regularly for an unbeliever that you know and to have gospel conversations for the purpose of leading this person to faith in Christ. When a person receives Christ, the disciple making process begins. Who’s your one?

Holiness is not optional for those who follow Christ. Hebrews 12:14 states, “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (ESV). God takes holiness seriously. Do you?

[1]S. Grenz, D. Guretzki, & C. F. Nordling C. F. in Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 60.

[2]Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1978, 1996, 2006), 59.

Published by Steve

NORTH GREENVILLE UNIVERSITY Senior Campus Pastor/Chief Spiritual Formation Officer/Professor of Evangelism, Spiritual Formation, and Ministry EDUCATION The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary 2014 Doctor of Philosophy at the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism, and Ministry; dissertation title “A Missiological Evaluation of Southern Baptist Multiethnic Churches in the United States.” FAMILY Wife: Martha, Married in 1989 Children: Stephen Joshua, born August 6, 1995 Married to Shelby with two children and one on the way. Caleb Daniel, born January 9, 1999 Moriah Jordan, born April 11, 2003 1995 Doctor of Ministry; dissertation title “Discipleship through Small Groups at North Greenville College with a functional major in campus ministry. Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary 1992 Master of Divinity Gardner-Webb University 1976 Batchelor of Science in Psychology with a double major in Religion graduating magna cum laude. WORK EXPERIENCE North Greenville University Senior Campus Pastor, Chief Spiritual Formation Officer, Professor of Evangelism, Spiritual Formation, and Ministry 2019-Present Reports directly to the University President, serves on the Executive Leadership Team, functions as a member of the Denominational Relations Committee, provides pastoral care for the university family, and seeks to cultivating a vibrant spiritual foundation to the university’s culture and practices. North Greenville University Vice President for Campus Ministries 1991–2019 Planned, recruited leadership, led, managed, and evaluated all phases of campus ministries, reporting directly to the University President Ministry in Local Churches Youth Pastor, Minister of Music, Worship Leader, and Interim Pastor 1973–Present Serves through local churches to expand God’s global mission, evangelizing the lost and discipling believers who will share the gospel, and disciple others, equipping transformational leaders for church and society.