SEEKING HOLINESS REQUIRES TEAMWORK
By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.
© God’s Breath Publications

 

Hebrews 12:14-15
“Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”

 

Christians are commanded to be holy as God is holy, but we are often confused over the process of becoming holy. The confusion arises over understanding the necessary teamwork between God and us as we work together in this process.

 

I remember in college I once shared an apartment with a roommate. He was also named Mike and we shared the rent, phone bill and utility costs. I thought we would also share in the job of taking out the garbage, but apparently this other Mike had different ideas. I remember after a few months I began to notice that I was the only one taking out the garbage. So, I devised a plan to see if my roommate Mike would breakdown and share this dirty task with me. I resolved to not take out the garbage no matter what and wait for the other Mike to take out the garbage. I watched the trashcan fill up that week. It rose to the top and then grew to a huge pyramid mound. It gradually began to take on complex architectural parameters as both myself and my roommate devised how we could stack one more piece of garbage on top without having to take it to the dumpster. No words were spoken but I was amazed each morning as I walked into the kitchen and saw a Tuna fish can precariously balanced on the edge, a box of cereal leaning against the wall on top of some papers or the rind of a melon looped over a pile of paper napkins. Finally I could stand it no longer and I took out the garbage. In this situation we had failed to communicate properly that teamwork was required in all aspects of sharing our apartment. My subtle method of confrontation did not work so I finally confronted him and he was better from that day onward. Teamwork is always necessary in shared responsibilities.

 

The process of being made holy as a Christian requires teamwork as well. It is confusing to us as Christians sometimes because we consider ourselves as individuals that have the responsibility to live our own spiritual life. Christians are often divided on who is responsible for becoming holy or what theologians call sanctification. Some Christians claim grace and that becoming holy is all up to God. They use the following scriptures as guidelines for their interpretation as to who is responsible for sanctifying the Christian.

 

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”

 

Hebrews 13:20-21
“May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

 

These Christians feel if we attempt to do anything in the sanctification process we are into works and legalism. But we can’t take this approach because there are too many scriptures that speak of our responsibility in how we live and seek to be holy as God is holy.

 

There are other Christians who are into the Rambo approach. They are often “list doers.” They have a checklist to check off on their way to holiness. These individuals have their own group of verses to support their position.

 

1 Peter 1:15-16
“But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written:
‘Be holy , because I am holy.’”

 

1 John 3:2-3
“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”

 

There’s a verse in Philippians that tells us that the Christian and their Heavenly Father work together in this process of becoming holy or sanctified. This verse and others helps us understand how to blend these different scriptures and interpretations into a correct one.

 

Philippians 2:12-13

“Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

 

This verse demonstrates the mutual responsibility of both God and us in this process of becoming holy, of being sanctified. We need to become what we have been declared to be. While God provides the power we supply the obedience. We are justified and sanctified by faith, but when we are justified we bring nothing to the process. When we are sanctified we do bring something to the process. The phrase “with fear and trembling” was a stock phrase in Paul’s day. It meant “to do the addressed task with an attitude of humble dependence.” God works in us to develop our holiness as we cooperate with Him through obedience. Without our obedience God cannot bring us to holiness and without Him we cannot achieve it in our own efforts.

 

Possibly if I use another illustration it will help us understand this. If you’ve watched people sail a boat from the shore of a lake you notice that in order to turn and move they must be active. They’re pulling ropes, adjusting sails and participating in the act of sailing. But there’s a crucial invisible force at work in the whole process, the wind. Without the wind they are literally dead in the water. No amount of self-effort or motivation will make the boat move if there isn’t any wind. When sailing you have a role to play but you are dependent on the wind for power. There’s teamwork between the sailor and the wind to enable the boat to continue to sail.

 

We have a role to play in seeking holiness and becoming sanctified but we are dependent on the Holy Spirit for the power. Charles Haddon Spurgeon put it this way;

 

“While we do not believe that any man actually purifies himself, yet the text (1 John 3:2-3) states that ‘every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself.’ We believe that the Holy Ghost purifies sinners by applying to them the precious blood of Jesus. We look to God for all purity, believing that He is the Creator of it. Still, the text also states that God the Holy Spirit so works in every man who has a true hope, that he labors to become purified and uses all possible means to overcome sin and to walk in righteousness. When a man has a true hope in Christ, he begins to purify himself by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

 

Another great quote from Spurgeon on this is;

 

“Albeit sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit, yet it is equally true that the Holy Spirit makes us active agents in our own sanctification. In the first work of regeneration, doubtless the soul is passive because it is dead, and the dead cannot contribute to their own quickening; but, being made alive, He ‘worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure’ (Philippians 2:13). God’s good pleasure is answered by us when we are constrained to will and to do; hence the apostle’s argument, ‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you’ (Philippians 2:12-13). He works it in, you work it out; you have to bring out in the outward life what He works in the inner springs of your spiritual being. You are to work it out because He works it in.”

 

An important point for us to understand as Christians is that becoming holy as a believer is not just expected of us; it is commanded by God because it is His will for our lives.

 

1 Thessalonians 4:3
“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified.”

 

Sanctification, the process of becoming more and more holy and like our Heavenly Father is normative for the Christian. Sanctification is not optional.

 

Romans 12:1-2 tells us;

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

 

How do we seek holiness? We seek it by understanding who we are as Believer’s and how God desires for us to become who we are meant to be. H.A. Ironside shares some crucial insight into what guides us in our seeking holiness. He states;

 

“Christ Jesus has borne my sins, and lives in glory to be my heart’s loved Object. The Spirit dwells in my body, to be the power of the new life and to guide me into all truth. The word is the medium through which I am enlightened, directed, and cleansed.”

 

We seek holiness by understanding we are new creatures in Christ through Christ’s death and resurrection. We seek holiness by understanding that through the power of the Holy Spirit we can accomplish it. We seek holiness by studying, meditating and obeying God’s Word.

 

May you be encouraged and challenged to seek to be holy as God is holy. God will supply the power. You supply obedience and discipline.