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Jun 21, 2020

(How to) be holy

(How to) be holy

Passage: 1 Peter 1:13-21

Speaker: Andrew Kerhoulas

Series: Strange Faith

Keywords: holiness, mercy, grace, obedience, sanctification through the gospel

God in his holiness has made us in his own image, designed to be and live holy, pure, loving, obedient lives. Sin (“anti-holiness”) has wrecked this image, but the holy sacrifice of Jesus has re-made us into the Father’s holy image and now calls and empowers us to live out our new image rather than the “futile” ways of our broken-image.

6.21.20 GMR Online Service from Graceworks Media on Vimeo.

Order of Worship

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 86:8-10
RECEIVING OF GRACE: Micah 7:18-20
OT READING: Leviticus 18:2-4, 19:1-2
CENTRAL TEXT: 1 Peter 1:13-21
MESSAGE: (How to) Be Holy
BENEDICTION: Hebrews 13:20-21

Children's Lesson

Readings & Scripture

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 86:8-10
LEADER: There is none like you, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.
ALL: All the nations you have made shall come and bow down before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things, you alone are God.

CONFESSION OF SIN

ALL: Almighty and merciful God,
we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep.
We have followed too much
the devices and desires of our own hearts.
We have offended against your holy laws.
We have left undone those things which we ought to have done;
and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.
O Lord, have mercy upon us.
Spare those who confess their faults.
Restore those who are penitent,
according to your promises declared to the world
in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
And grant, O merciful God, for his sake,
that we may live a holy, just, and humble life
to the glory of your holy name. Amen.

RECEIVING OF GRACE: Micah 7:18-20

LEADER: Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing
over the transgression of the remnant of your possession?

ALL: He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in showing clemency. He will again have compassion upon us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
You will show faithfulness to Jacob and unswerving loyalty to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our ancestors from the days of old.

OT READING: Leviticus 18:2-4, 19:1-2

LEADER: And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God. 3 You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. 4 You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. 5 You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord...And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

CENTRAL TEXT: 1 Peter 1:13-21
13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

BENEDICTION: Hebrews 13:20-21
LEADER: 20 Now 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, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will,

ALL: and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURES:

Exodus 3:5
Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

Leviticus 11:44-45
I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. 45 I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.

Isaiah 6:3
And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Ezekiel 36:27-28
And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

2 Corinthians 5:6-10
So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

2 Titus 2:21
Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

Hebrews 7:25-26
Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. 26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

Hebrews 10:14
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified (“made holy”).

Revelation 4:8
And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. What were some highlights of the sermon for you?
  2. What does it mean to be holy according to Peter?
  3. Who we resemble shows where our allegiance lies. How does God enable us to image him?
  4. Change happens in relationships. In what specific ways do you want God to change you? In what ways can your Christian relationships be a catalyst for holiness?

QUOTES:

  • “It is the reality of sin in the heart of everyone that patterns the evil and oppression of the world. Holiness means the pattern is broken, that the sinner is transformed.” Edmund Clowney
  • “Christians ask, ‘Which beliefs and practices of the culture that is ours must we reject now that our self has been reconstituted by new birth? Which can we retain? What must we reshape to reflect better the values of God's new creation?’ What does it mean to be holy?” Miroslav Volf
  • “It might be appropriate to call the missionary distance that 1 Peter stresses soft difference. I do not mean a weak difference, for in 1 Peter the difference is anything but weak. It is strong, but it is not hard. Fear for oneself and one's identity creates hardness. The difference that joins itself with hardness always presents the other with a choice: either submit or be rejected, either "become like me or get away from me." In the mission to the world, hard difference operates with open or hidden pressures, manipulation, and threats. A decision for a soft difference, on the other hand, presupposes a fearlessness which 1 Peter repeatedly encourages his readers to assume (3:14; 3:6). People who are secure in themselves—more accurately, who are secure in their God—are able to live the soft difference without fear. They have no need either to subordinate or damn others, but can allow others space to be themselves. For people who live the soft difference, mission fundamentally takes the form of witness and invitation. They seek to win others without pressure or manipulation, sometimes even ‘without a word.’" Miroslav Volf