Sermon Snippet: Unpacking Holiness

Leviticus 11:44 tells us something the Lord said to the Israelites and is repeated in various other places throughout scripture: “I, the Lord, am your God. You must be holy because I am holy.”

So what exactly is Holiness? The Biblical concept of Holiness implies separation. Now, I have known and understood this for quite some time. College professors beat this into my head, I’ve read books… I’ve done biblical studies. And I’ve heard over and over again this concept of Holiness as being separate or set apart.

But it wasn’t until recently when I was reading a book called ‘Be Holy’ that this concept changed a little bit for me. Before this book, I had the concept that Holiness was about being separate FROM something. Holiness means separation from culture. To be separate FROM something immediately implies a set of DO NOT rules. Don’t associate with them. Don’t watch movies. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. If we don’t do enough things… then maybe we’ll finally separate ourselves enough to be holy.

But then I read a chapter on the Old Testament foundations of Holiness written by Joseph Coleson and he said something that resonated with me and freed me from thinking about Holiness in a limited way. He wrote this: ‘Biblical holiness is about separation – but separation as a positive concept, not a negative one. With respect to God’s people, biblical Christian holiness means we are separate TO God.’

In other words, our holiness should be thought of in positive terms. That we are separate TO the Living God… we are set apart for relationship with God Most High. And it’s only through that relationship that we can hope to be changed and renewed and freed to be the men and women that God created us to be.

At General Conference this past summer, I listened to a talk on personal holiness that was given by Dr. Chris Bounds… who is a theology professor at Indiana Wesleyan University. He said something that echoes this concept… He said: ‘The end of holiness is not the death of sin… the end of holiness is love.’

The end game of holiness is not to be separated FROM something. That will happen and should happen… we SHOULD want to separate ourselves from sin and those things that cause it. But that’s not the end game of holiness. Ultimately, the end game is to be separated FOR or TO God! Holiness is about choosing to engage in a love relationship with God that would change the core of our being. Once our core is changed… everything else in our lives starts to fall into place.

“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)