Towards Holy and Living Churches
“And unto the angel of the church at Sardis write: These things say he that has the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars:
I know your works, that you have a name that you live, and you are dead .” – Revelation 3:1
“Follow after peace with all men, and the holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.” – Hebrews 12:14
All of the books of the New Testament were written within seventy years of the cross. It is significant that the Spirit expressed thru both
John and Paul a turning from Christ by those who professed him. This was not a new phenomena for those who claimed the God of
Abraham. Matthew records Jesus quoting Isaiah about the people of Judah honoring God with their lips, but with hearts far from him.
Five of the seven churches of Asia had serious flaws. Paul's descriptions of the unholy are vivid: “enemies of the cross of Christ…
the hypocrisy of men that speak lies…lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty…ever learning, and never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth.” The news of forgiveness of sins through trust in Jesus calls out both those who will seek God's face –
and those who will continue to conceal sin.
For churches to move towards holiness we must develop the ability to apply scripture to our lives. The Spirit will reveal the application of
scripture if we do not resist Him. (see Acts 7:51) A sample of resisting the Spirit is found in John 9, where the Pharisees sought to avoid
crediting Jesus for giving sight to the man born blind. They attacked the newly-sighted man: ” You were altogether born in sins, and do you
teach us?”- vs.34 They resisted the truth that the Spirit had made clear to others. All of us are subject to doing the same thing.
It is lack of faith in Christ crucified that makes pride seem precious. Cherishing the world's values keeps us from seeing deceitfulness.
Unwillingness to confront sin leads us further into entanglement. All of us have compromised at some time. We need saving more than we
realize. It is our pride that keeps us from the joy of a heart set free. It is our lying that leads us further into shame. It is our refusal to hear
the Lord's word that severs us from him.
Assemblies were never intended to be gatherings for self-congratulation. Yet church-after-church have announcements that make us sound
good to ourselves. Such words do not reflect the self-emptying Jesus. We do not deny ourselves by self-congratulation. Visitors hear our
self-applause easier than we think -- and the Lord hears it before we speak.
Sin is not just a problem of our distant past, but our recent past. Yet times of confession are not a part of our assemblies. Those alive unto
God become willing to confess sins. It is the lack of confession that keeps lives chained, and makes the cross appear powerless to unchain
anyone. May we embrace these words : “Far be it from me to boast, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world is
crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” – Galatians 6:14 May they become indelible in our hearts and temper every word we speak.
Holiness comes from looking unto Jesus, rather than others. Looking at others tempts us to hypocrisy, like Peter at Antioch, Galatians 2:11f.
Paul wrote that “even Barnabas” was carried away with that hypocrisy. None of us are above being tempted to compromise in some way.
Each of us may flatter ourselves in the way we hold a mirror. But the Spirit leads us further into confession, closer to Jesus.
There is no other way to draw near .
“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” – James 4:6