Be Holy (Part Five)

Good day

In the last message we discussed one reason why we want to be holy – so we can see God and have a relationship with Him in His presence.

Philippians 2:12-16: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing (these are the things the Lord prompts us to do in order to change), that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life...”

Now that we know why we are working out our salvation as per the passage above, we are going to look at how we are to do it. We find the answer in the next verse: “... for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” How do we understand this then? We are told to work, but in the very next verse we are told that it is God doing the work. Are we then back to passive Christianity where we live as we like, believing that God will change us at His leisure, only to discover years later that nothing has changed?

This is a team effort. The next sentence in the passage above tells us to “do all things without complaining and disputing.” I have added a sentence in there that you have read a few times by now. When we accept Jesus and are born again, our spirit is saved from damnation and renewed, but we have a lot of carnal behaviour that need to be dealt with. The Holy Spirit then starts working at the purification process of our soul and Satan starts counteracting this work. Our flesh (sinful nature or carnal man) kicks back in rebellion, and the spiritual man supposedly works with the Holy Spirit at renewing ourselves. This whole process takes place in our mind and is based on decisions which are executed by actions. Romans 12:1-2 summarises it well: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service (we are encouraged to present ourselves so God so He could work in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure – Philippians 2 above). And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” 

We see from a number of passages that our relationship with the Lord is compared to that of the potter to the clay, for example in Isaiah 64:8: “But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter;
And all we are the work of Your hand.”

At the day of our salvation, the Potter has bought this lump of clay and therefore delivered it from getting lost into purposelessness. Then He starts working at it to change it into something useful. The problem with human clay or a living sacrifice is that we have our own will. The Potter cannot just form us at His good pleasure - He has to work with us. We have to work along with Him. He will for example see some impatience that needs to be removed and will then create circumstances to test our patience so we can see what we are like. Unless we are in relationship with the Holy Spirit we will sense the test, but will not respond to it appropriately, because we have not heard the Holy Spirit telling us where He is going with our life.

The Holy Spirit may tell you: “We need to get rid of that impatience in your life, since I am love and can therefore not abide with impatience, which actually is lovelessness, since love is patient (1 Corinthians 13:4).” Can you imagine you getting impatient with those around you, or with God, in the throne room of heaven? If you are prepared to work with the Holy Spirit, He will allow circumstances to test your unacceptable behaviour, and it is up to you whether you are going to work with Him to get rid of that behaviour.

I have had a serious challenge the past couple of weeks. My love, in reaction to people’s behaviour, was tested. The way I responded left me less than proud of myself, and I came to the conclusion I had to deal with that lack of love in my heart. This is not going to come by itself, for the Holy Spirit is going to lead me in dealing with it, but I will have to make a decision as to how I will exercise love in future. During this difficult time Julia, my wife, was worth a pot of gold to me.

Sanctification (becoming holy) is a process that the Lord works in us with our permission and cooperation, and we need our Christian family to support us as we go along, and at the same time we need to support others.

Holy Spirit, please help me to follow your guidance.