God has called us to a life of holiness. Yet in an age condoning
impurity, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the spiritual leader
to guide his flock into the Lord's way of righteousness.
Nevertheless, our call remains the same. We are commissioned by Christ to
remain faithful to our divine mandate. In judgment we will answer as to
our sensitivity to the biblical challenge. How, then, can we as pastors
see this obligation through successfully?
1) We can start by no longer shying away from biblical holiness.
Because the world's mind-set has become so willing to live with sin, we
have become gun-shy. We as preachers have lowered the standard in order
to maintain a kind of peaceful coexistence with the opposition.
Yet we understand that our calling explicitly sets us apart unto God's
commandments, regardless of what the world may think. Therefore we must
revive a conscientiousness about holiness--practical purity--in order to
truly remain loyal to Christ's expectation of us.
2) We must enrich our own souls with the biblical material concerning
holiness.
Devotionally meditating on such passages as the following will enliven
our love for righteousness:
Exodus 19:6: "You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation."
Exodus 39:30: "The plate of the sacred diadem was made of pure gold, and
inscribed, as on a seal engraving: 'Sacred to the Lord."'
Leviticus 11:44: "For I the Lord am your God; and you shall make and keep
yourselves holy, because I am holy."
Leviticus 20:26: ". . .to me, therefore, you shall be sacred, I who have
set you apart from the other nations to be my own."
Deuteronomy 14:2: "For you are a people sacred to the Lord your God, who
has chosen you from all the nations on the face of the earth to be a
people peculiarly his own."
Psalm 32:2: "Happy the man to whom the Lord imputes not guilt, in whose
spirit there is no guile."
Psalm 97:10: "The Lord loves those that hate evil; he guards the lives of
his faithful ones."
Psalm 119:1: "Happy are they whose way is blameless, who walk in the law
of the Lord."
1 Corinthians 3:1~17: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's
temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you
are, is holy."
James 3:17: "But the wisdom from above is first of all pure."
3) We must pray for our own holiness.
A pastor must be an example of purity for his people. Therefore, we must
seek the Lord's holy face increasingly in order to assure our own right
relationship with the Savior.
This may mean cutting out some of our administrative runnings-about or
sacrificing some of our recreational hours. Yet, whatever the cost, we
must see to it that our own houses are in order. Our own souls are clean
through the Holy Spirit's empowerment.
4) We need to preach holiness more frequently through our weekly sermons.
This is particularly difficult. In that we have yielded to the temptation
to slacken off when it comes to lifting high the standard of daily
Christian living for our parishioners. We have subtly let down the bars;
it shows in our pulpit messages for they do not have the biblical cutting
edge which they are supposed to have.
In a spirit of repentance before God we should return to the clear
expectations of Scripture, announcing them unashamedly to our
congregations. We should use holiness-focused texts for our sermons. We
must not blur their impact, but simply and honestly dissect their
meanings, praying for the Spirit's illumination to be upon our people's
hearts.
5) Let us teach God's call to holiness in basic terms.
How many times have we ourselves put aside a book on holiness because we
felt threatened? We thought we would be under attack with the book
exposing our integrity lapses, so we slid the hardback onto a high shelf
for a more inspired season.
If we have sensed that unwillingness to grapple with God's high
expectations, what must be the shortcomings within the laity? They, too,
want to be content with their status quo rather than growing into the
stature of Christ.
To offset this, we spiritual teachers must then set forth the holy life
in Its fundamental, stark simplicity rather than priding ourselves on
complications. Jesus spoke so that children could understand Him. The
multitudes took in His preaching. Our Lord has pointed the way; let us
follow Him by being more childlike In our expositions.
6) Let us return time and again to the biblical definition of holiness.
God calls us to be more like Jesus. That is scriptural holiness in a
nutshell. Then let us make this clear to our listeners. After all, they
know the Gospels, the pictures of Jesus, the word images of the church
related to the Savior. Then keep calling back their memories to those
aids in instruction.
Lift up Jesus to the congregation. Show His kindness, patience,
obedience, and wisdom. Point to Christ as our illustration for right
living. See Him with the elderly, children, and the outcast, the
forgotten, the sick; cause them to hear His words of challenge and
commission.
7) Use numerous illustrations from real life to support preaching on
holiness.
Gleaned from our reading concerning the saints, we can gather material
for bringing to life the practice of holiness lifestyles. Furthermore, if
we keep our eyes and ears open in dealing with the parishioners, we will
come upon plenty of examples of "street holiness" in their lives as well.
There are many kind deeds, unselfish hearts and committed individuals at
work daily in the doings of the Father. Let us use these to bring home
the call to holiness.
8) Accent holiness more and more in pastoral prayers.
What weekly opportunities we have to focus upon heaven's holiness
reflected in our own lives! Let us take advantage of public prayers to
remind our congregations of the highway of holiness.
These petitions emphasize a primary thought before God. See to it that
more of those thoughts stress our purity in everyday living. This will,
over time, instill more and more the biblical witness upon our hearers.
9) We can refer congregational life to God's expectations of holiness.
Planning and work sessions will provide the workshops for carving out a
holiness doctrine which is related to life. The church will see the
pastor in action, deciphering, thinking through, talking out and then
moving upon decision-making which is gauged by the holiness standard.
10) We must humble ourselves as a congregation--pastor and people--in
beseeching heaven's continued blessing In holiness, confessing that we
have "never arrived" fully.
The holiness quest is ongoing. It Is a willingness to admit that we are
still but mortals in search of more from God. With such a position of the
heart, the Lord will lavish upon us His presence to teach us how to
become like our Savior.
This article has appeared in PULPIT HELPS, August l997
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