What in the world is holiness?

2 Tim 1:9 – God saved us and called us to a holy life…

  1. What is holiness?
  2. What is a holy life?
  3. Why would anyone want a holy life?
  4. How would a person get a holy life?

1. What is holiness?

  1. Ontological – only God is holy
  2. Consecration – set apart for sacred use
  3. Moral purity – “godly,” holy love

2. What is a holy life?

  • A consecrated life that is taking on the characteristics of God’s own heart.

3. Why would anyone want a holy life?

  • Is holiness a restrictive moral straight jacket?
  • Is God a cosmic killjoy? A stern lawgiver?
  • Wrong views of pleasure and happiness keep us in the dark
  • Saved from what, and for what? From sin and death for life and immortality.
  • Holiness and happiness are inextricably linked
  • How life works best
  • Your deepest longings are actually longings for holiness, you just never knew it.

4. How would a person get a holy life?

  • Holiness is a matter of the heart
  • Holiness is a relational reality
  • Holiness is about finding out what pleases and displeases God, and WHY – in direct relationship
  • Stick very close to the Holy Spirit and let him re-teach you how life is meant to be
  • Keep short accounts with God
  • Go after joy wholeheartedly
  • Don’t tolerate known sin in your life, like Pharoah (one more night with the frogs)
  • Grace and love create holy desire and life, law and judgment create fake plastic religion and death