Holiness Means What?

In my reading a while back, I came across this great story.

St. Michael’s had always been a very wealthy church. Its 300 members usually gave a combined annual offering of over one million dollars—because they could afford to.

Over the years, however, the neighborhood around the beautiful old church began to change. Immigrants flocked to the area, changing the complexion of the community. Steel bars replaced welcome signs in store windows. Homeless people could be found wandering the sidewalks and streets. The changes made some members of St. Michael’s very uncomfortable. They usually tried to avoid that part of town except on Sundays.

One Sunday, shortly after a young associate priest had joined the church staff, the church members were gathered after the morning service for coffee and pastries. In the spring months they loved to gather in the flower garden outside the church, among its gazebos, fountains, and vine-covered arches.

As the elegantly dressed worshipers sipped coffee and chatted in the garden, a homeless man shuffled in off the street. He entered through the garden gate without looking at anyone. But all eyes were certainly on him. He quietly walked over to the table where a spread of expensive pastries were displayed on silver trays. He picked up one of the pastries and bit into it, keeping his eyes closed.

Then he reached for a second pastry and placed it into his coat pocket. Moving slowly and trying not to be noticed, he placed another into the same pocket.

The garden buzzed with whispers. Finally one of the women walked over to the new priest and said, “Well, do something!”

Still feeling a little awkward in his new position, the young priest handed his coffee cup to the woman, walked over to the table, and stood next to the homeless man. He reached under the table, where the empty pastry boxes had been stored. Then he picked up one of the silver trays loaded with pastries and emptied them into a box. He did the same with a second tray of expensive goodies. Then he closed the lids on the boxes and held them out to the homeless man.

“We’re here every Sunday,” the priest said.

The man smiled at the priest, cradled the boxes in his arms, and shuffled quietly out of the garden and down the street.

The priest returned to his coffee cup, smiled at the woman holding it, and said, “That’s what you meant when you said, ‘Do something,’ wasn’t it?”

Grace.

We have been looking at what the Bible teaches about how we as Christians are supposed to relate to the Law. First we learned that God’s grace frees us to live a life of love. We are not supposed to obey the Law out of fear of punishment, or out of duty, but out of love. In my last three posts, we learned that the goal of having the freedom to live a life of love is to free us to pursue personal holiness. This week I am going to conclude this series by looking at the fruit of personal holiness, and you might be surprised at what it is: grace.

The passage I want to look at in today’s post (and for the next two) is from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. The first three chapters of this letter Paul shares with them the plan of God to bring salvation not only to the Jews, to whom it was clearly promised, but to the Gentiles as well. Paul reminds them of the love, and kindness, and grace of God in bringing the Good News to the Ephesians.

Then Paul switches modes and begins exhorting his readers as to how they should respond to God’s grace. Ephesians 4:17-32, joins Paul in his discussion on how to go about pursuing personal holiness.

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

The pursuit of personal holiness is here described as being committed to the following eight things:

1. Speaking the truth. Don’t lie about your neighbors, especially about your Christian brothers and sisters. We are all members of Christ’s body.
2. Don’t sin in your anger. It is easy to take anger too far and thus give the devil a foothold in your life.
3. Do not steal. Rather make an honest living doing honest work so we can be generous to those in need.
4. Speak only encouragement. What we say to others should be to help build them up.
5. We need to control our emotions and not let them dictate how we act and what we say.
   We need to get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Those things must not drive us anymore.
6. Be kind to one another.
7. Be compassionate to one another.
8. Be forgiving to one another. As forgiving as Christ has been to us.

Notice there are two categories of behaviors here. One group of these is aimed at setting our own personal standards of behavior: Speaking the truth. Don’t sin in your anger. Do not steal. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.

The second set of behaviors describes what our response should be to the behavior of others: Speak only encouragement. Be kind. Be compassionate. Be forgiving.

Holiness is shows itself in being righteous in our own behavior. And holiness shows itself by being gracious towards others. Holiness teaches us to be gracious.