Thursday in Holy Week – March 31, 2016
The Jamaica Church Missionary Society (JCMS)
Synod Theme: The Church; called to be a holy people.
1 Peter 1:14-16 & 2:9
14Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. 15Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; 16for it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’
9 . . . you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
Someone wrote:
Holiness without mission is not holiness, Mission without holiness is not mission.
Peter’s call for Christians to be a holy people was not new. They echoed the ancient call to the people of God to be a holy people, through Moses, enshrined in the Ten Commandments and in the priestly code of the book of Leviticus.
The Lord said to Moses, ‘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’. Leviticus 19:1-2
Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount called his disciples to be perfect. 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48) Jesus calls us to a life that transcends the law, to a life of love. A holy God is a God of love.
The Apostle Peter writes to the church at a time when Christians were scattered because of persecution to various parts of northern Asia Minor; in that area we now know as Turkey. His purpose in writing is to encourage his fellow Christians in the midst of suffering to live faithful lives, bearing in mind the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’ You are a chosen race, a holy nation, God’s own people, called out of darkness into his marvellous light.
God alone is holy. Holiness belongs to God. Basically, the word holy, when referring to humans and objects. means that which is consecrated; set apart. We are holy because of God’s call. This is a call into relationship, into union, with God in Christ. “We believe in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic church.” The church is holy because it belongs to God. It is God’s own possession.
There is no holiness outside of a relationship with God. We can only live a holy life through the grace of God, not in our own strength. The holy life is lived by the transforming Spirit of God. God’s grace is made available to us chiefly through word and Sacrament. By our baptism and confirmation, we are called to a life of holiness, righteousness. To live a holy life is to live a life set apart by and for God.
Jesus lived a life in union with the Father. Jesus lived a holy life, a life that was consecrated to God. In his earthly ministry, we see Jesus making time to be with the Father, in public and private prayer. He could be found in the synagogue, the temple and, before day or at the close of day, we read that he would withdraw to be still with His Heavenly Father. The life of holiness requires time with God. This is time to be still in God’s presence to listen, to study the word, to be in fellowship with other Christians, and time for public and private prayer. In the words of Andrew Murray:
‘Nowhere can we get to know the holiness of God, and come under His influence and power, except in the inner chamber. It has been well said: “No man can expect to make progress in holiness who is not often and long alone with God.”’
By his life and resurrection Christ summons us to holiness of living. Jesus’ victory over sin, the forces of evil and death calls us to live in conformity to the will of God. A holy life is a life in the Spirit, that will bear the fruit of the Spirit.
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5: 21-22)
These are characteristics of holiness. God is holy and as God’s people we are called to holiness, to be holy.
. . . you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
Israel was called to be a holy people and to proclaim God in a context of new found freedom. Those to whom Peter wrote were undergoing persecution.
God has called us that we might proclaim his mighty acts. Or as we pray in the Eucharistic prayer form ‘A’,
You have gathered a people to yourself to make known in every place [Jesus] perfect offering which he made to the glory of your name. . . [Eucharistic payer A, Book of Common Prayer – page 13]
There is no holiness without mission. Whom God calls, God sends out into the world in mission. God is a God of mission. God raised up Moses with a mission to the Israelites to lead them from bondage to freedom. In turn, Israel was to be a light to the nations. They were to declare Yahweh as the one and only God by their life together, a life of holiness. God raised up prophets throughout Israel’s history to constantly remind them that God disapproved of injustice and corruption in state and religion. They were chosen by God for a purpose, to be a light shining forth to God’s glory.
God came in Christ that we might be a holy people. Jesus was sent in mission to the world that we might be saved and live in union with God. John 3:16. God so loved the world that he sent his only son. The nature of that mission Jesus states, in the words of Isiah 61:1-3, in the Synagogue on the Sabbath day. Luke 4:18f:
‘to bring good news to the poor.
to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’
The risen Lord appears to his disciples and sends them forth:
1‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ [John 20:21]
Holiness and mission are inextricably linked. There really is no separation. We have to ‘be’ before doing. Holiness involves accomplishing the will of God in our lives and, by extension, the world. ‘Our Father in heaven Hallowed be your name; Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.’ Christians are consecrated to God’s service. Every member of the church, the body of Christ, is called to holiness, and called to mission. To make the world a place where God reigns in the lives of all men and women as Lord and King.
The church exists for mission. That mission, however, begins with our union in Christ, a holy life. Only if we are in union with Christ as branches and vine can we produce good fruit. (John 15:5). For we cannot proclaim what we do not know. We may be involved in a lot of activity, but not mission. Mission without holiness is not mission. The mission of the church is informed by a life under the Lordship of God in Christ.
The holiness of God is missional. God sends. Holiness without mission is not holiness, Mission without holiness is not mission.
Why is holiness important to mission? Because we, friends, are the best advertisement. As the late Bishop Neville deSouza would often remind us, “We cannot lead where we are not going.” It is first and foremost through the witness of a holy life that every Christian participates in the mission of God. I put it to you, that this is what the Apostle Peter was calling for in a context of persecution, in which they could not have had street meetings, evangelistic services. Their lives would have “to proclaim the mighty acts of God who called them out of darkness into his marvellous light.”
Transformed lives are what declare the mighty acts of God. We must be the good news, the miracle, for people to see. The early disciples gave witness to the risen Lord by their lives. By the witness of the early disciples the Church grew, the numbers multiplied. The inner Light of Christ that was transforming individuals shone through and drew others into a relationship with the living Lord Jesus Christ.
This is what Peter hoped for when he wrote later in verse 11-12 of chapter two:
. 11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. 12Conduct yourselves honourably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honourable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge. (1 Peter 2:11-12)
Holy lives are seen in ethical behaviour in government, business, workplace, school, community and the church. It is this kind of holiness that is a vehicle of mission.
Jamaica is filled with churches and preachers and crusades, but corruption, crime, violence and injustice remain high statistics. We are suffering from too many words; we need a gospel without words. A gospel that all can see in our daily living. I believe, Duncan Campbell was right when he said that what we need is;
A baptism of holiness, a demonstration of godly living is the crying need of our day.
We are the best advertisement there can be for the gospel we proclaim by truly being Christ’s energetic disciples.
Conclusion:
When the church begins to live the gospel, through holy lives conforming to the will of God, then, through the grace of God, we will make a difference in our communities and the wider society.
as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; 16for it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’
9 . . . you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
The Church: called to be a holy people.
Holiness without mission is not holiness, Mission without holiness is not mission.
God grant us grace to live holy lives, that in us and through us God’s will may be done, that the world may believe. Amen.
