Authenticity is about being the same on the inside as we are on the outside; it’s a genuineness; it’s a goodness in our hearts; it’s a clean cup on the inside.

People Who Stand Out

It seems some days that we are living in a world where everybody wants to stand out from the crowd. Ask just about any teenager and they want to be famous; a famous something; a tennis player or a singer or an actor or whatever so long as they’re famous. And you know, it‘s not just the young folk – it seems that we are only really significant if we are noticed.

You know, millions of people have their own blogs on the internet. So many people want recognition for what they do at work and at home and everybody seems to be clambering for attention. And you know the more TV channels and web sites and movies and the more of that stuff there is, the less the average person like you and me gets noticed.

There seems to be this growing gap between our desire to stand out from the crowd and the reality that we are just one of the masses. You don’t believe me? I don’t know if you caught up with it – a few months ago celebrity billionaire in the U.S. Paris Hilton, of the Hilton Hotels Empire, was locked up for, I think it was drink driving. It was only a few weeks she was in jail but there was this massive media frenzy.

There was a whole genre of media, of press and celebrity magazines that still put Princess Diana on their cover. Magazines that exist to feed the insatiable hunger that people have for the sordid details of the lives of these so called celebrities. I mean, the way they play game shows on television and our hunger after famous sporting men and sporting women.

We have a hunger somehow to stand out from the crowd; to be recognised. But you look at the lives of some of these people and, I don’t know about you, but I think to myself, ‘If that’s what it means, I don’t think I want to stand out from the crowd.’ And at the same time the whole world is becoming so much more and more transaction oriented.

You think about when you go to the supermarket checkout – do we ever really engage with the person at the checkout? Or in a lot of local neighbourhoods, kids don’t go and kick the football around in the afternoon much anymore. Neighbours barely know each other; we spend more and more time working and being entertained and less time living.

Interactions have become short and transactional yet we all still want to be recognised. We all want to stand out and succeed and make it; however you want to put it. And of course, there’s nothing new in any of that – it’s actually an age old issue. We want significance, we want to be noticed. The question is, is it for the right reason?

Jesus had exactly this same problem with His twelve disciples. Have a listen to this story; it comes, if you have a Bible, go and grab it, open it up at Mark, chapter 9 – I’m starting at verse 33. “They came to Capernaum. When He was in the house, He asked them, “What is it that you were arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet because on the way they had been arguing about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the twelve and He said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last and be the servant of all.”

He took a little child and had the child stand among them. Taking him in His arms, He said to them, “Whoever welcomes on of these little children in My name, welcomes Me and whoever welcomes Me doesn’t just welcome Me but the One who sent Me.” “Teacher,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in Your name and we told him to stop it because he wasn’t one of us.” “Don’t stop him,” said Jesus, “no one who does a miracle in My name can in the next moment say a bad thing about me. For whoever is not against us is for us. For I tell you the truth, any one who gives you a cup of water in My name because you belong to Christ, will certainly not lose his reward.”

Do you see the extreme opposites – the disciples think it’s a competition. They’ve been arguing on the road, whose going to be the greatest? And then they see someone else doing miracles in Jesus’ name and they want to stop them because he’s not one of the ‘in’ crowd. I mean, they’re just like us in so many ways – lets face it, we’re all like that sometimes.

But Jesus is saying, ‘Hang on, I want you to stand out for a different reason – for the right reason. I want you to be the first by being the very last and the servant of all. I want you to be noticed by welcoming just this little child. I want you to be noticed for giving someone a cup of water in My name.’

Just a few pages over it happens again. Flick over, if you have a Bible, to Mark, chapter 10, verse 35. “Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him and said, “Teacher,” they said, “We want you to do for us whatever we ask.” “What do you want Me to do for you?” Jesus asks. They replied, “Let one of us sit at Your right hand and the other at Your left hand in Your glory.” “You don’t know what you are asking for,” Jesus said, “Can you drink the cup that I’m going to drink or be baptised with the baptism that I’m going to be baptised with?” “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with, but to sit at My right hand or left is not for Me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

When the other ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John and Jesus called them all together and He said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles, lord it over them and they’re high officials exercise authority over them. It’s not so with you, instead whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all, for even the Son of Man didn’t come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

Are these guys thick or slow or something? I mean, why is it that they have to go through this teaching with Jesus over and over again? It’s an age old problem – we want to stand out from the crowd. We want to win; we want to be successful; we want to be first and above and recognised and leaders and noticed.

But look at the contrast between our perspective and His. “All these other rulers lord it over the people but it’s not like that with you. Instead, if you want to become great become the servant, if you want to be first, be the slave. I didn’t come to be served but to serve and to give My life as a ransom for the many.” Jesus was prepared to lay down His life for you and me. Prepared to lose in the world’s eyes but He became and still is the most significant person who ever walked planet earth.

We all have a desire for significance; to make a difference; to impact lives; to improve; to change.But Jesus did that at His cost and that’s what Jesus is talking about. Nobody has impacted as many lives for all eternity as Jesus has. And this is so different from the desire to win; to be recognised; to be on top of the heap; to be praised; to be successful.

Let me ask you a question. In life are you looking for significance or success, recognition or respect? People who stand out from the crowd ….. Well, let me ask you, the people who stand out from the crowd in your life, which one were they into – significance or success?

Clean the Cup on the Inside

Imagine for a minute, you go into a coffee shop. You know, you just feel like a good cup of coffee, and you sit down and order the coffee, grab a magazine and eventually it comes out and you think ‘it looks good and it smells good, I’m really going to enjoy this coffee’.And just as you are about to take you first sip, you watch a waiter pick up an empty cup from the next table and without washing it he takes it over to the coffee machine fills it with a cappuccino and serves it to a customer at another table.

Now just think about it! What does that say about the coffee they just put down in front of you? I mean, you look around the coffee shop and everything looks good and the waiters are friendly and it all appears to be fine but they don’t wash the inside of the cups. So let me ask you, are you going to drink this cup of coffee they just served you?

Today on the programme we are talking about standing out from the crowd. We all need a sense of significance; a sense of ‘well, we are having an impact on the world; we’re making a difference.’ But somehow that has become so twisted in today’s world. Maybe it’s the mass media thing or the entertainment culture – I’m not sure, but people somehow warp that ‘significance’ thing into success and they are two entirely different things -.significance and success.

And you know, we are so focused on outward appearances and what other people think of us and how we look. There’s a TV show, don’t know if you have ever heard of it – comes out of the U.K. It’s called “What Not to Wear” and it’s about, mostly women, who want to change their look and dress more nicely and do their hair better. There’s nothing wrong with any of that, that’s great, but what you notice is with so many of them, their deepest hurts and their deepest emotions are tied up with how they look on the outside. They somehow think that if they can look better on the outside that that will heal all their problems on the inside. Outward appearances are the most important thing if what we are after is success, rather that significance.

People want to win – they want everyone else to think the most of them. We want to put our best foot forward and dress for success and for that to happen you have to look good. It’s all about what’s happening on the outside. You look good and you speak well and you have lots of money and you’re successful so you’re going to stand out from the crowd – you’re going to get noticed; you’re going to make it.

You see it everywhere; in business, in social or sporting clubs, in families and in churches too. In fact, there’s a great record of Jesus tearing into the religious leaders of His day for exactly this issue. The issue was the gap between what they presented to be on the outside and who they were on the inside. We’re going to read this – it comes from Matthew, chapter 23, because so many people can think of Jesus as some religious icon but it’s awesome to see what He thinks of this hypocrisy of being different on the outside than we are on the inside.

Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples, “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees (that’s the religious leaders), sit in Moses’ seat so you must obey them and do everything they tell you but don’t do what they do because they don’t practice what they preach. They put heavy loads on your shoulders and they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for others to see. They make their phylacteries wide and their tassels on their garments long and they love the place of honour at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues.

They love to be greeted in the marketplace and have men call them ‘Rabbi’ but you are not to be called ‘Rabbi’ for you only have one Master and you are all brothers. And you are not to call anyone on earth ‘Father’ for you only have one Father and He is in heaven. Nor are you to be called ‘teacher’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant for whoever exalts himself will be humbled but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You travel over land and sea to win a single convert and when he becomes one you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. Woe to you, you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You give a tenth of your spices – the mint, the dill, the cumin, but you have neglected the more import matters of the law – justice and mercy and faithfulness – you should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.

You blind guides. You strain out the gnat that swallowed a camel. Woe to you, you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You clean the outside of the cup and dish but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and then the outside will also be clean. You snakes; you brood of vipers, how will you escape being condemned to hell?”

Jesus is not mincing words here and you and I both know He is right. He is pointing to hypocrisy – He’s pointing to people who focus on who they are on the outside instead of cleaning the cup on the inside. They want people to think well of them and give them seats of honour at functions but what‘s going on in their hearts is rotten – the things they’re thinking about; the things they’re brooding over; what they are plotting and scheming.

The gap between the inside and outside is called ‘hypocrisy.’ And we all hate hypocrites, yet so often that’s us and we don’t even realise it. Let me ask you something. If you were going to be stranded on a desert island with someone would you want it to be a person who looks good on the outside or someone who is good on the inside? So why are we slaves to outward appearances? Why do we think it’s what we say and do and how we dress on the outside that makes us stand out from the crowd?

Looking Like Jesus

Today’s programme is the first in the series that I’ve called “Standing Out from the Crowd.” And I guess the ‘sub-plot’ to that is ‘standing out for the right reasons, not the wrong reasons.’ One of the words in the lexicon of Christian jargon is ‘holy’ or ‘holiness’ and it’s a word that is most commonly is used to apply to God but it’s meant to apply to you and me as well. Peter, the Apostle, writes this – he says, “Be holy because the Lord your God is holy.”

Over the next few weeks we are going to unpack what that means. What is this ‘holiness’, what does it mean for you and me to wake up in the morning and life a holy life? What exactly does that mean? I’m going to kind of scratch the surface of that today by suggesting simply that it means walking and talking and looking and being like Jesus.

How do I make that leap? Well, it’s simple. If you go to Hebrews – a book in the New Testament – chapter 1, verse 3, it says this, “Jesus is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being.” Now the Greek word that is used there for ‘exact imprint’ means this – it means when you created a coin in those days, what you had was a die, and you then put the die and you banged it onto the metal and what it caused was a perfect imprint on the metal of what was on the die.

So Jesus is the exact imprint of God and if God is holy, therefore, Jesus is holy because He is the exact imprint of God Himself. Holy means to be clean and pure and set apart for God’s purposes and my hunch is if we want to be clean and pure and set apart for God’s purposes, we are going to need to look like Jesus. Paul writes that we are ambassadors of Christ.

You may have heard me say this before but if you met the Indian Ambassador to your country, would you believe that he was the Indian Ambassador if he looked like a Swede or sounded like an Italian? No! You’d expect him to walk and talk and look and be Indian.

Well, if you and I are ambassadors of Christ shouldn‘t we be like Jesus? I mean, look at Jesus – He had this incredible authenticity in Him. What we just saw before the break was He hated hypocrisy – I love that – especially, He hated religious hypocrisy. He hated the fact that these people were presenting to be good and holy and wonderful and respectable on the outside but on the inside they were greedy and rotten.

Authenticity is about being the same on the inside as we are on the outside – it’s a genuineness; it’s a goodness in our hearts; it’s a clean cup on the inside. We looked at that cup of coffee thing a little bit earlier in the programme. I mean, it’s horrifying to think that we could walk into a coffee shopand buy a cup of coffee and discover that they never wash the inside of the cups. I mean, who would drink a cup of coffee under those circumstances?

And it’s kind of the same with us. We can run around and say ‘well, I believe in Jesus’ but people look at us and go, ‘well, they claim to be one thing but they do something else. That person claims to be a Christian and goes to church on Sunday morning but look at how they live their lives.’

You know what I love about God? He made us all to be individuals – we are all wired so differently. If you are married, husband and wife will know that their spouse is just so different from who they are – we have different personality types; we have different abilities; we have different strengths and weaknesses; we have different likes and dislikes; we love different colours; we like different decors. I love that – God is a God of variety. What I’ve noticed with people who have this deep relationship with Jesus on the inside is that His light; His holiness; His goodness; His love; His mercy, shines out through their uniqueness.

Paul wrote that we have this treasure; the glory and the love and the wonder and the power of God. He said we have this treasure in jars of clay – each jar is different. My jar isn’t that perfect and you’re probably isn’t either but when someone who loves Jesus on the inside does something, the love and the glory and the holiness of Jesus shines out through them. Someone who’s gifted to care for people, when they have Jesus on the inside, their caring is so special; their touch is so precious. Someone who’s gifted to preach and teach, when they have Jesus on the inside, their words, well, it’s like Jesus Himself is speaking. When someone who’s gifted to lead, when they have Jesus on the inside, their leadership is so powerful and so anointed and so wise and yet so gentle; so Christlike.

The mistake that we make is we think we can change the things that we say and do and how we dress and look on the outside without changing what’s happening on the inside. But you and I know, the outside is a reflection of who we are on the inside; it’s out of the overflow of our heart that we speak. Murder and adultery – they begin in the heart.

We know we are supposed to look like Jesus. Paul writes in Romans, chapter 8 and verse 29, “Those whom God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son.” Let me say that again. “Those whom God foreknew,” that is those whom God had chosen, “He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son.”

What Paul’s saying there is it’s not just about being believing in Jesus and being saved, it’s about God changing us; we are predestined to look like Jesus. And that only starts, it only starts when we start having a deep and intimate and profound relationship with Him on the inside.

I encourage you today, if you want to make some changes to the outside, to start with that relationship with Jesus Christ on the inside, because we are destined to go out there in the world and with all our unique gifts and skills and abilities, to be Jesus to a hurting and lost world.

That’s what it means to stand out from the crowd.

There is blessing in holiness – God’s going to bless that and just in the natural there is blessing in that. Giving up that stuff actually makes our lives better.

Why be Holy?

Last week we began a series called ‘Standing out from the Crowd’. We live in an age of celebrities – people want to be noticed, they have blogs, they have pages on myspace.com, they’re into self-publishing – it’s the spirit of the times – to stand out from the crowd. Even let me say, in Christian circles.

I was talking to a Christian publisher about a book that I’m writing and you know what he told me? When you write a book you have to be a shameless, self-promoter and then he added with a smile, “in a Christian sort of a way’.

Really? I guess if your aim is to get your name out there, maybe you have to be a shameless, self-promoter, but I’ve always seen myself as that little donkey carrying Jesus down past the people with them all seeing Him and not the donkey.

But all this besotted-ness with celebrities turns out to be skin deep. If I were to ask you who are the people in your life who stand out from the crowd? I’m pretty sure you’d answer some with names of people who’ve blessed you, who’ve really touched you; who’ve served you; who’ve stood by you in difficult times, right? So in this series we are talking about standing out for the right reasons.

In a world where everybody seems to be so heavily into themselves, the people who really stand out are the ones who sacrifice and serve. God has a word that sums all of that up; it’s called ‘holiness’. The truth be known that’s really what this series is about, being holy. But you know, ‘holiness’, it’s not an easy subject to talk about.

If you spend any time reading the New Testament, the Apostle Paul and the other writers, what you see is that they decry the legalism of their contemporaries. See, a lot of the religious leaders of the day took God’s law from the Old Testament and turned it into an endless bunch of rules. And those rules became a heavy burden that no one could carry around – no one could live up to them.

And sadly you see it in the church today. People make religious rules that have got nothing to do with what God’s Word actually says. So let’s not talk about making religious rules because that’s not where I’m going. When I talk about ‘holiness’ I’m not talking about something man-made; I’m not talking about a formula that I have to live up to – I’m talking about responding to the wonder of a relationship with Jesus Christ and wanting to be like Him.

If you have a Bible, open it up at First Peter, chapter 1, verse 13 – this is what it says. He says, “Prepare your minds for action, be self controlled, set you hope fully on the grace that you are given through Jesus Christ when He is revealed. As obedient children, don’t conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance, but just as He who called you is holy, so you also be holy in all that you do. For it is written, “Be holy because I am holy.”

I love this passage. It says ‘don’t conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.’ In fact, ‘don’t conform to the rest of the world’, – don‘t be like everybody else. Stand out – be different! Be like God! And Peter takes this on in his second letter; he unpacks that a bit more. Just flick over a page or two – in Second Peter, chapter 1, verse 3. He writes this, “God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these, He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

See, for Peter here, holiness – he’s talking about ‘holiness’ in both of these passages – ‘holiness’ is about not conforming to what everyone else does; not being dragged down to their lowest common denominator. But being like God and participating in the divine nature – having a deep and wonderful relationship. And it’s not just Peter who writes that.

The Apostle Paul says this in Romans, chapter 8, verse 29, “For those whom God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed (there’s that word again) to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that Jesus may be the first born among many. For those whom He predestined, He also called and those whom He called, He justified and those whom He justified, He also glorified.”

See, Paul is saying it too. Peter said ‘don’t be conformed to the world’s pattern and the world’s ways’ and Paul is saying, ‘no, you don’t want to be conformed to the world’s ways because God knew you before you were born and He destined you to be conformed to the likeness of His Son.’ You see the picture that’s emerging here? Don’t conform to the evil desires of the world; the aim is you end up looking and being like Jesus and all that not for the sake of a bunch of rules but to participate in the divine nature – to have a deep and wondrous relationship with God.

He is holy. You want to get in there and have a relationship with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit – we have to be holy too. And all this goes back to God’s original plan. If you have a Bible, flick back right to be beginning – Genesis, chapter 1, verse 27. It says, “So God created man in His own mage. In the image of God He created them, male and female, He created them.”

See we were created in God’s image to start with but then sin came in. Adam and Eve rebelled against God – you and I have rejected God and God decided to open up a door to have a relationship with Him through the cross of Christ; through what Jesus did for us. But once we accept that through faith, He wants us to live that out. We’ve been transferred, as it were, from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of light and if we are not living out that salvation, it doesn’t ring true; it doesn’t work. Being holy is being like God – it’s participating in the divine nature.

You know for me, the more I do that the more I get to know God. The more I pray and have a relationship with Him, I go deeper. The more I realise how much I fall short but by having that relationship, it’s He who deals with those things in me. The more we hang around God the more He changes us and cleans us and purifies us and makes us holy from the inside. The more we become like Him – holy – in our ways and the more we become like Him, the deeper the relationship gets. It’s kind of this reinforcing thing between the relationship and then who we are and how we live.

We can’t accept His forgiveness and then head off in our own ways again and expect to have a deep relationship. A man can’t marry a woman and they get married and all of a sudden, he goes out dating other women and wonders why their relationship falls apart. Holiness in godliness and the point of holiness in our lives is to honour God’s plan, right from the beginning – that we are made in His image and we come through the cross of forgiveness to the here and now.

Holiness makes us stand out from the crowd for the right reasons – not self-promoting but self-denying. Saying, ‘you know something, what I want more that anything else is God’s plan to be realised in me – in my life. And those evil desires, when they rear their ugly heads, I’m not going to conform to them anymore because my destiny is to be holy like God.’

Holy, Godly, to participate in His nature, to have a deep relationship with Him, I think that’s holiness – being clean and pure and set apart for His divine purpose.

Cleans Hands and a Pure Heart

There’s a passage in the Old Testament that sums up this whole ‘holiness’ thing so really well. It’s Psalm 24 – so, if you’ve got a Bible, open it up, look at Psalm 24. It’s a Psalm or a song that they would sing when Israel was going up to the temple into where God dwelt amongst Israel. Have a listen to what it says. “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it, for He founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. Who may ascend to the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who doesn’t lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. That person will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God our Saviour.”

I love how this Psalm starts because it begins by acknowledging the sovereignty of God. What a starting place for holiness – it’s all about who God is. The earth we wander around belongs to Him – everything that’s in it – everyone that’s in it because God created the heavens and the earth. God is above all things and that’s the starting place for holiness – the fear of the Lord – a right fear; a respect. Getting the position in the relationship between God and us sorted out.

But now look at verse 3: “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord; who may stand in this holy place?” Now that’s a good question because back then, the way it worked was that God was in the temple and there was a number of chambers in the temple, but where God was, was in the centre – was a small chamber. It was called the Holy of Holies and only one person; the High Priest could go in there once a year.

And so the Psalmist, David, writes, “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord, who may stand in His holy presence?” Good question, David. And he answered it, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart. He who doesn’t lift up his soul to an idol and doesn’t swear by what is false, that one will receive the blessing from our Lord and vindication from God his Saviour.”

Our entry point to a holy life is the cross of Christ. It’s when we accept in faith the fact that even though we were created in God’s image, that image has been marred by our sin; our rejection of God and we need forgiveness and that forgiveness comes because Jesus took our punishment on the cross. And right at the moment when He died, the curtain which sealed off the Holy of Holies was torn open. Remember, people couldn’t go in there but the moment Jesus died – not when He rose again – the moment that He died, the curtain was torn apart – the door was flung open to a relationship with God.

We can now look on God with the eyes of our soul; we can go into that Holy of Holies; we can have a relationship. You can’t be changed by that but then to go back to those evil ways; it’s just not going to work so well. That’s why the Psalmist writes, “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who doesn’t lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.”

Now we look back at that through the cross of Christ; through mercy and through grace because, I don’t know about you, but each day I make mistakes; each day I fall short and that’s what the cross is about. Jesus died to forgive every sin, past, present and future, for each person who puts their faith in what Jesus did for them on the cross.

And so when I make mistakes, I keep short accounts. I go and say ‘Lord, I’ve blown this and I need Your forgiveness’, and I go on. And so we have forgiveness every moment of every day. And the Spirit of God is now in my life and in yours too if you believe in Jesus and our bodies are His temple now. Paul writes that in First Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 19. “Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You aren’t your own – you were bought at a price, therefore, honour God with your body.” (Be holy!)

See, standing in His holy presence is meant to make us holy. What is ‘holy’? Holy is what we do with our bodies and our hearts and our minds – our temple – as Paul calls us, that makes us conform to the image of Jesus – participants in the divine nature. Holy is living out the nature or the image of God. Or as David here puts it, it’s about having clean hands and a pure heart – holy inside and holy outside. A pure heart means our thought life and our emotional life.

We have angry thoughts, we have evil thoughts, we have thoughts and feelings that are destructive and revengeful and hateful and all that stuff goes on in our hearts. And having a pure heart is laying that down for Jesus, saying ‘I’m not going there anymore. I know I want to think bad things about this person, who hurt me, but You know something Lord, I am going to pray for them instead. I want my heart to be pure for You.’ Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure of heart for they will see God.”

See how this all ties together? Who can stand in God’s holy presence? Those with clean hands and a pure heart. And when that happens in our hearts it works its way out to what we do and that’s where David talks about having clean hands. Doing and saying and living out our inner holy life. Holiness is a response of being clean – inside and out. It’s a response that comes only through the transforming power of the presence of God as we stand in the Holy of Holies with Him.

He’s the one, through His Spirit who changes us from glory to glory; from little bit and little bit. And all the time the cross of Christ is there so that we have forgiveness during that process as we stumble. It’s a beautiful and it’s a wondrous plan. A plan for you and me to participate in the divine nature; to be holy as He is holy, transformed back into what He always intended – His image.

Blessed in the Word of God

Some people will equate ‘holiness’ with their worst fear about religion – a bunch of rules, who needs that? Rules are a burden; a relationship on the other hand is a joy. When thinking about ‘holiness’ I often use the example of marriage.

When I was a single man, I was a free agent, I could go out with whoever I wanted to, I could come and go as I pleased but the day I married Jacqui, well, that was the day I had to stop dating other women. I can’t come and go as I please. Is this a burden? No! It’s a joy! It’s my response to our relationship and as I respond and as Jacqui responds we go deeper and deeper.

My wedding vow said that I would set myself apart completely for her and it’s a delight. If it was a burden, well, it wouldn’t be much of a marriage would it? It’s not a burden, it’s a blessing. Now I’m not a perfect husband and I’m learning and growing and going deeper and richer with Jacqui every day. But isn’t that a picture of holiness and it’s meant to be a blessing?

Have a listen to how Jesus put it. “Jesus was talking and a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave birth to you and nursed you”, and Jesus replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and obey it.” See God’s Word is about who He is and who we are and how we can respond.

I used to think Christianity was a bunch of rules. I thought I’d have to give up everything and become a missionary in Burundi or Botswana or Brazil or Bangladesh. But the more I read God’s Word the more I let it sink in and become a part of who I am, I discover two things. Firstly, He only ever asks me to give up the bad stuff. I mean, have a listen. “Let us behave decently as in day time – not in orgies and drunkenness or sexual immorality or debauchery, not in dissension or jealousy rather clothe yourself with Jesus Christ. And don’t think about how to gratify the desires of your sinful nature.” Or another one. “Get rid of all bitterness and rage and anger and brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as Christ forgave you. Be imitators of God as beloved children.”

Now, do any of those sound outrageous? I mean, it’s pretty obvious when you read the stuff that God says, ‘Look, don’t do sexual immorality, don’t do jealousy, don’t do bitterness or rage or anger or brawling or slander.” You look at that and go ‘well, it is obvious’. And Jesus was right when this woman looked at Him and said, ‘man (obviously her maternal instincts) man, imagine being Your mother. It would have been such a blessing to be the mother of this man who is doing such wonderful miracles and Jesus said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

Isn’t that powerful? See, Jesus is saying there is blessing in holiness. When we give up that stuff that God asks us to give up, the second thing you discover is giving it up actually makes your life better. There’s a blessing in that. When I go around angry with people all day, am I going to enjoy my day? Is it good for my heart, my health, my blood pressure and my well-being? Of course it isn’t.

But when I bite my lip and say, ‘Lord, I’m going to be holy. I’m not going to go round that anger thing again, I’m going to forgive them and pray for them and love them,’ all of a sudden there’s blessing in that. God’s going to bless that and just in the natural there’s blessing in that. Giving up that stuff actually makes our lives better. Holiness is about having clean hands and a pure heart.

None of it is outrageous – none of it is so far out there that you think ‘that‘s wacky!’ It’s just commonsense. It’s just saying, ‘you know, I want to be the person I was meant to me and God made me in His image. God wants me to be holy and to enjoy my life and to be blessed in my life because He’s holy and He’s a God of blessing.

If Jesus wasn’t holy, He wouldn’t have had the relationship that He had with His Father. See Jesus came and lay all His glory aside and walked around here as a man, as a person, just like you and me and had to deal with all the issues of life. And He lay down His life on that cross for you and me.

Holiness is when we look God back in the eye and say, “Lord, I see what You did for me on the cross, now I want to lay my life down for You. I want to sacrifice all this rubbish and just be like You and be Jesus out there in a hurting world.” And Jesus turns round and says, “Well, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and actually do what it says.”

Holiness is about having clean hands and a pure heart. It’s a product of our relationship with God. It deepens our relationship with Him and eventually, we end up standing out from the crowd because eventually we start looking a lot like Jesus.

I don’t believe in our relationship with God, holiness can ever be an optional extra. No more that me setting myself apart for my wife is an optional extra of marriage.

God’s plan from the beginning is that we would go back to being who He made us to be – men and women made in the image of God.

God’s Word ultimately changes our perspective. It transforms us to the point where we are prepared to give it all up. See, what an amazing concept; to be a living sacrifice.

A Life of Integrity

Well, this is the third programme in a series that I’ve called “Standing Out from the Crowd”. We live in a celebrity world; a world that idolises people, larger than life; whether they be TV stars or movie stars or sports men and women; whatever – we kind of want to make celebrities of them and we want to hang off everything that happens in their lives.

And there’s a kind of brand promise in that; that anybody can do this, anybody can standout, anybody can be famous. And it seems that everybody does want to stand out from the crowd and sometimes for all the wrong reasons.

Over these last couple of weeks we have been looking at what it means to stand out for the right reasons. And really what this series, “Standing Out from the Crowd” is all about, is ‘holiness’ – reflecting God‘s image. Grab a Bible – we are going to spend a bit of time coasting around the New Testament today. The Apostle Paul writes this in Second Corinthians, chapter 3 and verse 8, and he says, “We are meant to reflect God’s image and His glory and as we do that He transforms us from glory to glory.”

See, we’re supposed to look like Jesus. And you see, nowhere is God‘s image sharper or more focused or more evident than in the person of Jesus Christ. Hebrews, chapter 1 and verse 3, says this, “Jesus is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being.” Now you can’t argue against this. Jesus certainly stood out from the crowd. Here’s this Carpenter from Nowheresville, from Nazareth and the whole of history pivots around Him – BC and AD. Jesus changed the world – He changed it back then – He’s changed it over the last two thousand years and He continues to change the world.

A couple of weeks ago we looked at the fact that if we wanted to stand out from the crowd for the right reasons, well, we’d better look like Jesus. Ok, that’s nice! What did Jesus look like? What is it that attracted the crowds? Why did He stand out from the crowd? And why has that lasted now, almost two thousand years? We are going to look at that on the programme today, as the basis for saying ‘well, if I in my own way am going to look like Him and reflect His glory into this world, well, what exactly does that look like?’

The first time I read one of the Gospels from beginning to end – it was Mark’s Gospel which is the second Book in the New Testament and is the shortest of the four historical accounts of Jesus life and ministry – the thing that struck me about Jesus, probably above anything else, when you just read plainly, about whom He is and what He does and how He interacts with people, the thing that really stood out for me was His authenticity – a kind of gritty integrity. With Jesus what you see is what you get.

So many people these days wear masks – pretending to be someone that they’re not; wanting to put their best foot forward; wanting others to think well of them; wanting to promote themselves. We talked about this a bit a couple of weeks ago – people want to be one thing on the outside but someone else on the inside. Maybe, have a look around the people that you know, in your workplace or amongst your friends or acquaintances or family. This veil of pretence is cast over so many lives – people want to impress; they want to stand out; they want to be famous; but not Jesus. Jesus was plain and simple, ‘what you see is what you get’.

I like that – it says something about how Jesus sees Himself – not there to impress; not there to win; not there to look better than everybody else. See, Jesus knew that other people’s perceptions are so fickle. The crowds were there one day they were gone the next and the day after they were shouting “crucify Him, we want Barabbas”, and Jesus knew that.

Turn your Bible over to John, chapter 2, verse 23. “Now while He was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs He was doing and believed in His name, but Jesus would not entrust Himself to them for He knew all men.” See, Jesus wasn’t into vested interests or performances or growing His ministry or adulation. So many people wander around with vested interests. Back then there were religious leaders, there was the Roman occupation and He didn’t become part of any of that. He stood deliberately apart from it with a gritty integrity and authenticity and you see that made Him ring true – it gave Him authority.

See, the crowds were astounded to hear His teaching because He taught them as one having authority and not as their current religious leaders. And it wasn’t just in what He said; it was in what He did. He healed on the Sabbath – it was against the law. He touched lepers – it was against the law. He had dinner with tax collectors and prostitutes and people criticised Him for that. The religious leaders tackled Him and what did He say? He said, “I didn’t come to heal those who are well, I came to heal the sick.”

That sort of integrity and authenticity, sad to say, is all too rare these days. People are looking after their own vested interests. And when we meet someone who is not only true to themselves but like Jesus, true to the truth, it is so refreshing. Jesus rings true. Maybe we should be like that.

You know what underlies this integrity? For Jesus, wasn’t about Him – He came to serve and not to be served. He came to tell people the truth even when it hurt – He didn’t tickle people’s ears with what they wanted to hear. He said really popular things like, “Take up you cross and follow Me”, “Not everyone who callsl Me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, only those who do the will of My Father in heaven.”

See, it’s so easy for you and me to have a vested interest; a hidden agenda. I mean, here at Christianityworks, as we have seen tremendous growth in the ministry over the last few years. It would be so tempting to start thinking, ‘well, it’s about us; it’s about our recognition and our promotion and our growth.’ Get a revelation! It’s not! This ministry is for you. Think about it – at work or down at the local football club or amongst your friends – think of the people who are driven and motivated by the ‘what’s in it for me philosophy?’

For Jesus, He said, “It’s not about Me, it’s about you. I am the Son of God, I am the truth, but I’ve come to serve you and ultimately, in love and honesty and integrity, to die for you.” Wouldn’t it be an awesome thing if the Kingdom of God, if God’s church was full of people with this overriding influence in their hearts that’s ‘it‘s not about me. It’s not about my interests. It’s not about what other people are going to think about me.’

I’ve seen in churches over the years, politics and power plays and vested interests. Can I tell you something? That is a stench in the nostrils of God! Jesus was and is a man in the very image; the exact imprint of God – a man of integrity; a man who said ‘it’s not about Me, it’s about you’; a man of authenticity – what you see is what you get. What would church be like or what would the Kingdom be like if we were all like that? What a royal priesthood; what a holy nation we would be. How we would stand out from the crowd, reflecting His glory, into a world that’s full of grubby self-interest.

The Blessing of Insight

Ok, so there’s integrity and authenticity that we looked at before the break. That was so important in the impact that Jesus had, not only in His day but right down through the centuries to here and now. The other thing that struck me about Jesus as I read the account of His life for the first time was His insight.

See, we all look at the world through a set of glasses – our own agenda. Let me give you an example at work. Let’s say you have been working hard on something; you are implementing something new and changing things and it’s something that will make things a whole bunch better in the organisation at work. And all of a sudden you have a meeting with your colleagues and someone comes up with a fresh idea – maybe it’s better than yours, maybe it’s not. Perhaps it can work with and enhance what you are doing, perhaps not.

But under those circumstances, what’s the first reaction that most people will have? It’s defensive – I’m threatened; I try and push away the idea and limit that other person’s influence and undermine their suggestion and maybe even attack them personally.

That’s what happens because people have invested so much in their own agendas they don’t want to let anyone else in. The world is full of hidden agendas. The world is full of personal plans for advancement and promotion. The world is full of people who are only interested in themselves and the problem with that is that the world ends up being an ugly, ugly place to live in, doesn’t it?

How can we stand out from the crowd; how can we be different? Come with me to a story – Mark chapter 1 – if you have a Bible, flick there, to verse 40. This story shines some real light into that question. It’s one of many, many stories I could have chosen about Jesus but I particularly love this one. Read it with me – Mark chapter 1 and verse 40.

“A man with leprosy came to Jesus and begged Him on his knees, he said, “If you are willing you can make me clean.” Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out His hand and touched the leper. “I am willing,” He said, “be clean,” and immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured. Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning, “See that you don’t tell this to anyone but go and show yourself to the priest and offer a sacrifice that Moses commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to them.” Instead, he went out and began talking freely and spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter the town openly, but stayed outside in lonely places, yet, the people still came to Him from everywhere.”

The Jewish Law said that lepers were unclean – this was God’s Law and so the people took that to a new level and ostracised lepers – they became outcasts. When a leper came into town, if anyone came towards him, he would have to cry out “unclean, unclean’. He couldn’t go to the synagogue with the other people – the leper was an outcast. And Jesus – Jesus instead of applying the letter of the law, is filled with compassion, He reaches out and touches the man. Mark’s account, in Mark, chapter 8, verse 1, tells us that this was in front of a crowd.

See, Jesus was communicating something through this action – it was an insight. He cut through the law with love. His compassionate touch was an insight that spoke to the crowd. What Jesus was saying was, “This man is made in God’s image and God’s love is to be poured out on men just like him.”

Did Jesus want to make a big deal and big-note Himself and expand His ministry and get kudos for this healing? No, He said to the man, ‘just play it low key; go to the priest, do the offering that you are commanded to when you are healed from leprosy in the Law of Moses and be done.’ But instead, the man goes and tells everyone and of course, Jesus becomes like a rock star and He gets mobbed because of all the healings that He is doing.

With word and deed, Jesus sliced through the hypocrisy of men and women – men and women who would use God’s law to ostracise lepers and prostitutes and tax collectors.

The story of the woman caught in adultery in John, chapter 9, where Jesus stood between her and an angry mob that wanted to stone her. Or feeding the hungry or healing the lame on the Sabbath. All these were against the law – they were actions that spoke louder than words – they sliced through the vested interests of the religious leaders. They threatened the repugnant, religious rules; the God’s Law that had been take and disfigured through man’s religiosity and didn’t they criticise Him for it? Didn’t they go after Him for it?

Matthew, chapter 11, verse 18: “And the Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard and a friend of tax collectors and sinners, yet, wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” Isn’t that great? You see, Jesus slices through conventional wisdom – conventional human wisdom – that oppresses people, that is based on selfish, self-interest and He turns it on its head. They tested Him – they tried to trick Him but He had nothing to hide; there was no self-interest and I think that is what insight of Christ is – to slice through all these vested interests and just go to the heart of the Gospel which is that God loves us; God came for us through Jesus Christ and wants to pull us back to Him through what Jesus did on the cross.

The Pharisees and the Sadducees wanted to heap rules and regulations on people, yet Jesus turns around – you can read it in Matthew, chapter 13, verse 44 – and instead of rules and regulations, He says, “The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that was hidden in the field which someone found. And then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has to buy this field”. Jesus was talking about abundant joy, not rules and regulations. Do you get it?

The insight was to look at the world from a totally different perspective – not through the glasses of vested human interests, but from God’s perspective. And that insight is so valuable because it’s God’s wisdom and it speaks to the human heart. It’s not judgmental or critical in the main, although Jesus did serve it up to the religious hypocrites; to the people in power who were pressing ordinary common folk like you and me.

But for the rest of us, His words and His insights and His actions were redemptive; they were empowering; they were embracing; they were there to set the heart free. I don’t know, I see so many people in pain around the world and when I get to draw along side some of them and feel their pain and share some of the warmth and joy of the Lord’s wisdom and insight and love and compassion and mercy, which is such a wonderful thing.

When we dare to speak with the love and compassion of Christ; when we dare to reach out and touch the leper; when we dare to be a friend to sinners and prostitutes and outcasts, like Jesus was; when we dare to be criticised by the religious hypocrites of today; when we dare to be Christ to a lost, and fallen and hurting world, no matter the price, we are bringing the insight of God into the world – the redemptive love, the compassion, the grace and the mercy of God into this world.

I think that’s what the integrity and authenticity and insight of Jesus is all about in word and deed. Well, let’s say we do that; we are really starting to look like Jesus now, but there’s just one more thing.

No Greater Gift

Alright, we have looked at the integrity and the authenticity and the insight and the actions of Jesus. I mean, Jesus was and is a man in the very image of God, standing out from the crowd for the right reasons. But there’s one more thing – it’s something that is so important that if I didn’t share this bit with you today, none of the rest of the message would make sense.

Matthew, chapter 12, beginning at verse 9, says this: “Going on from that place, Jesus went into their synagogue and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked Him, “Is it lawful to heal this man on the Sabbath?” And Jesus said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, won’t you take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is this man than a sheep, therefore, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand,” so he stretched it out and it was completely healed and restored, just as sound as the other. But the religious leaders went about and plotted how they might kill Jesus.”

See, Jesus’ kind of integrity and insight was this thing that sliced through the vested interests of these hypocritical religious leaders. They were more interested in lording it over the people than worshipping God. And His authenticity and actions screamed out for all to hear: ‘See these guys, these guys are hypocrites.’

Now the nature of Jesus will always provoke a reaction. The crowds didn’t really get who He was and what He was on about until after His resurrection. People who got it were the Pharisees and the Sadducees; the religious leaders, because they were threatened and they were the ones that plotted and ultimately had Him crucified.

The bottom line is, His authenticity, His integrity, His insight, His love for the common people cost Him His life. All His reputation, the crowd adulation, the fame, the fortune, everything – it cost Him everything! Conventional human wisdom is He should have been out there building His ministry. Man, He could have been going for years. It wasn’t God’s plan and if it was true back then, it’s true today.

In Matthew, chapter 10, verse 22 says this, “Jesus says to His disciples, “You will be hated by all because of My name.” I mean, He said, “If they have called Me, the master of the house, Beelzebub, how much more will they malign those of His household. But have no fear of them for though they can kill your body, they cannot kill your soul; rather, fear God who can destroy both your body and soul in hell.”

What Jesus was talking about is there is a price to pay for being like Him. There is a price to pay for holiness. We pay with our lives. Question! What’s more important to you, the Kingdom of God or your own agenda? His will or your will? His reputation or your reputation? His glory or your comfort? Come on, which is more important to you today?

God’s Word ultimately changes our perspective – it transforms us to the point where we are prepared to give it all up. Paul writes in Romans, chapter 12, beginning at verse 1. “I urge you brothers and sisters, because of God’s mercy, offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship and service.”

What an amazing concept, to be a living sacrifice. That’s what you and I are called to be. That’s the ‘Jesus’ way for standing out from the crowd.

Jesus said, “No greater love has any man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” You want to look like Jesus? Do you want to stand out from the crowd like Jesus? You want to be Christ to a hurting world? You want to have His integrity and insight and authenticity and action? Then it’s going to cost you – it costs us our lives, our reputations, our time, our everything.

Ever seen how politicians seem to want to hang onto power at all costs? We are all the same, essentially. But the people who ring true; the people who stand out from the crowd are the ones who touch us and move us and heal us, no matter what the cost – the ones without their own agendas. And when people misunderstand them and throw insults in their face, they humble themselves at the cross and whisper, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

It is a awesome thing to stand out from the crowd because we look like Jesus and that one quality, if I can sum it up all in one word, is ‘holiness’ – being set apart for God’s use, clean and pure and wonderful, like Jesus.

Jesus was and is a man who stands out from the crowd and He calls us to be His disciples, His students, His followers and to be just like Him – to stand out from the crowd but it will cost us our lives!

As we set our minds on the things of the Spirit; as we yield our lives to the Spirit of God, He changes us on the inside – day by day, changing us, giving us life.

The Internal Conflict

Well, here we are! This is the last message in a series of four teaching programmes that I’ve called “Standing Out from the Crowd”. You know, in this world of communications and entertainment clutter, our whole sense of community is starting to break down. I mean, people spend so much time in front of the internet and television and cable television and they’re working longer hours, I mean, the end result of that is that we’re just not having the sense of community and we aren’t connecting in the ways that we used to, at least when I was growing up and I guess a whole bunch before that as well.

And in the middle of all that people kind of want to stand out from the crowd. I mean, we have this ’celebrity’ mentality and the underlying message of all these celebrities prancing around on television is that anybody can be like this. You can be like this too and so people are trying to stand out from the crowd, I guess, for all the wrong reasons. I mean, you look at the way footballers behave often and the cheap entertainment celebrities and getting locked up for drink driving and all that stuff.

We’ve been looking over the last three weeks at what it means to stand out from the crowd for the right reasons – being salt to a tasteless world – being light to a dark world, as Jesus said. And what we say really, standing out from the crowd, for somebody who’s a Christ follower, means looking like Jesus. I don’t mean exactly like Jesus. You have certain gifts that I don’t have and I have certain gifts and abilities that you don’t have. But when we take those and we deploy them for Jesus; when we are prepared to suffer to turn the world upside down – this genuine edgy, Christ-like love – each in our own way, then we begin to stand out from the crowd for the right reasons.

When we’re clean on the inside, in our hearts and our souls and our minds; when what people see on the outside is what they get on the inside; when we are transparent and open and real; when we are reflecting God’s glory, then we are standing out from the crowd for the right reasons.

Today we are going to finish up this series by looking at how – how can I be holy? How can I be like God? How can I be like Jesus? It’s something that so many people struggle with. ‘I know I should be; I know I should do better; I know I’m not good enough ….’ and it becomes a guilt trip. ‘I can never be good enough.’ You know what I am talking about.

One of the things I love about God’s Word, the Bible, is that it’s not some dry, theological text book. It’s a real Book, about real life. And the Apostle Paul, it turns out, has exactly the same problem as you and me. He talks about his own personal experience with this ‘holiness’ dilemma.

Now, if you have a Bible, grab it. We are going to open up at Romans, chapter 7, verse 14 and this is what Paul, the Apostle writes,

“We know that the law is spiritual but I am un-spiritual; I’m sold as a slave into sin. I don’t understand what I do because what I want to do, I don’t do, but what I hate to do is what I end up doing. And if I do what I don’t want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is it is no longer I myself who do those things but it is sin that is living in me. I know that nothing good lives is me – that’s in my sinful nature or my flesh – for I have the desire to do what’s good but I can’t seem to carry it out. For what I do is not the good that I want to do. No! It’s the evil that I don’t want to do – this is what I keep doing.

“Now if I do what I don’t want to do, it’s no longer I who do it, but it’s sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work – when I want to do good, evil is right here beside me because in my inner being I delight in God’s Law but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man that I am? Who will rescue me from this body of sin and death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

See, this inner struggle that Paul has is an inner struggle that every Christ follower has – you do and I do. Over the last few weeks on the programme, what we have seen from God’s Word is that it’s clear that if we are going to stand out from the crowd for the right reasons on the outside, we need to get cleaned up on the inside. What we say and what we do is directly linked to who we are on the inside.

Paul has this struggle – he calls it sin. He loves Jesus, I mean, the man was so powerfully working to share the good news around the known world, through sacrifice and there was power in his ministry and there was fruit in his ministry. He wrote almost half the Books of the New Testament and we are still reading them and talking about them today.

But he has the same problem as you and me. In his heart he delights in God’s ways, but somehow, no matter how hard he tries for himself, he can’t get it right. In fact the more he wants to do the right thing, the more he struggles to do it.

Isn’t this so real? I mean, I can relate to this and I’m sure you can too. This is a common problem. Everybody who wants to follow Jesus goes through this and it leads so often to guilt and condemnation. ‘Man I’m just not good enough, I just can’t do this.’ And Paul really nails the problem. The problem is not in my heart of hearts and in my spirit; it’s not that I don’t want to live like Jesus and be holy; the problem is that there’s this thing called sin in my flesh.

See, the spirit is the deepest part of who we are and we have a soul; our mind, our will, our emotions and then we have a body. And Paul talks about the flesh, he’s talking about the body and the soul. In his body and his soul, he somehow can’t seem to obey God. See, in his spirit he gets it, but his flesh is struggling. It’s the same as us. And he has this cry of desperation, “Who will rescue me from my body of sin and death?”

See, the picture here – a Roman torture was to strap a dead body to someone and let it rot on them and ultimately the toxins and the poisons of that dead body – you were strapped face to face with this dead body – ultimately that dead body would end up killing you. And that’s what this cry of desperation points to -”Who will rescue me from this body of death?” The answer is Jesus Christ.

See, when we struggle, we end up carrying around guilt and condemnation. But the point of the cross is that we have forgiveness anyway. And so Paul rolls right on in Romans 8, verse 1 and he says, “Therefore – because of Jesus, because of what He did on the cross – therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

This is so important because this draws the line between the Gospel of grace and some rule-based religion. It’s so real and down to earth and where we are. Paul is in the middle of the reality of life and he outlines the problem we all face in such a human way. We can take comfort in that – we are not alone. We can take comfort in the fact that God thought that this was so important that He had Paul put it in the Bible for you and me, here and now.

We can take comfort in the fact that this is the whole point of God’s grace for you and me through Jesus Christ. The point is we can’t do it on our own and when we just rest in the knowledge that God has provided, we have a solid foundation; we have a starting point, we can get rid of the guilt. Our starting point is forgiveness – God understands! Ok, so now what? How are we going to deal with this problem of sin?

The Mind Matters

Ok, well, how? How can I live a holy life? How can I be clean on the inside and the outside? Well, as we just saw, certainly not on our own strength. The Apostle Paul couldn‘t and you and I can’t. So how? Well, let’s read on – let’s start again at Romans, chapter 8, verse 1. Some theologians have called this the ‘Himalayas’ of the New Testament and it is a wonderful passage. We are going to look at Romans chapter 8 right now. So if you have a Bible, grab it, let’s read it together.

“Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ the law of the Spirit of life sets me free from the law of sin and death. Because what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by our sinful nature, God in fact did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful people, to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in sinful man in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us who don’t live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit, they have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. The sinful mind is hostile to God – it doesn’t submit to God’s law and in fact it can’t.

“Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, you are controlled, not by the sinful nature, but by the Holy Spirit, if the Spirit of God indeed lives in you. And if anyone doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he doesn’t belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of His righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who lives in you.”

Well, here Paul makes the point in Romans, chapter 8, verse 3, “What the law was powerless to do; God did by sending His own Son.” You can’t do this by following a bunch of rules – we just never can live up to who God is, so stop trying to be a rule-based Christ follower. It doesn’t work! It didn’t work for Paul, it doesn’t work in theory; it doesn’t work in practice; it doesn’t work for you or me, here or now.

Some Christians might be offended at this; maybe you are but have a look at it again. Let’s read chapter 8, verse 3 of Romans. “What the law was powerless to do, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering and so He condemned sin in sinful man in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us who don’t live according to the sinful nature, but according to the Spirit.”

The law – following a bunch of rules – can’t give us right standing before God, is what the Bible says. That’s not it! Well, ok, if that’s not it then how? Well, Paul gives us that answer in Romans chapter 8, verse 5. “The mind matters. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires, but those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of the sinful man is death but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.”

Now I don’t like stealing other people’s material but I’ve got to tell you, the way that Joyce Meyer puts this, well I have never heard it put any better. This is what she says, “Where the mind goes, the man follows,” and that has stuck with me for years.

We have a certain amount of time every day to think. The thoughts that we have influence our actions. That’s exactly what Jesus said, “Out of the over-flow of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Murder and adultery, they begin in the heart. That’s why Paul writes in Philippians, chapter 4 and verse 8, “Brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.”

If we set our minds on the things of the flesh; we think about lustful desires or wealth or getting even or killing someone or ….., if we think about those things; it’s like baking a cake, you put in bad ingredients you are going to get a bad cake. Bad thoughts give you a bad life. Every time – one hundred percent guaranteed – where the mind goes the man follows. If we set our minds on things that are above however; on heavenly things; on God’s Word – that’s why God’s Word is so important – I mean the more time we spend in God’s Word – He changes us and transforms us and His Spirit and His Word are one in the same. I mean the Holy Spirit is one of the Persons of the God Head and He inspired God’s Word the Bible. You can’t separate God from His Word. We try and read the Bible without His Spirit, it’s dead and meaningless but if we give His Spirit free reign in our thoughts – God’s Word is light and food and life and freedom.

Look at what He says about how we move from a life of sin to a life of holiness. Our part; what we do with our mind, that’s what opens us up to the work of the Spirit. But look at what He says the Holy Spirit does in verse 11. “And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who lives in you.”

In other words when we set our minds and our hearts and our will on the things of the Spirit and on God’s Word and who He is, His grace and mercy and love and teaching and He’s the one who brings our flesh, our body, our soul from death in sin to life in Christ – He does it – He transforms us. The theologians talk about this process of transformation – they call it sanctification. I’m a simple man; I love to think of it as ‘rehabilitation.’

I mean, we accepted our new life in Christ; our salvation, our eternal life by faith, didn’t we? Not by what we did but by faith and it’s the same in this process of rehabilitation – we have to accept it by faith. Jesus is the one who sets the captives free. He never meant for us to be able to do this on our own. It was only ever going to happen when He did it. I mean, Halleluiah! Stop feeling guilty; stop carrying on and set our minds on the things of God, draw close to Him and let Him do the rest.

What I love is Galatians, chapter 5, verse 22 talks about the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control – all the stuff we can’t do ourselves. And that’s why it’s called ‘the fruit of the Spirit’. It’s the fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit in us. Do you get it?

Standing Out from the Crowd

For me, it’s such an encouragement to hear God’s Word through the Apostle Paul here in Romans chapter 7 and 8. Paul is my favourite New Testament writer – I relate a lot to this guy and there’s a gritty reality about how he shares the heart of God with us. The problem; the struggle of wanting to do God’s will but not being able to and the ‘how’; the solution – taking our mind and setting our mind on the things of the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of God and letting Him transform us from the inside out as we think and contemplate and pray and read.

But what’s the result? What is it that everybody else notices about us when we let the Spirit of God have free reign in our lives? Well, Paul kind of paints that picture for us in the rest of Romans, chapter 8. I’m going to start reading – grab a Bible – at verse 12.

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation – not to the sinful nature, to live according to that, for if you live according to the sinful nature, you’ll die. But by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body and you live because those who are lead by the Spirit of God are children of God. You didn’t receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear but you received a Spirit of adoption and by Him we cry, “Abba, Father, Dad.” The Spirit Himself testifies to our spirit that we are God’s kids and if we are His children we are His heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share with His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.”

One of the things that we know is that good parents have a huge impact on their children. Good parents provide love and security and boundaries and instruction and the children grow up into adults with a right balance between self-esteem and responsibility to others.

I had a young man in one of the classes that I teach at Bible College and I was teaching about the nature of Father God and he came up to me afterwards and he said, “You know, I really understand what you are on about.” He said, “I had the most wonderful dad and so I really understand what Father God is like.” Well, there are a lot of people who can’t say that – a lot of people who didn’t have a fantastic dad.

But here’s what Paul is saying – as we set our minds on the things of the Spirit; as we yield our lives to the Spirit of God, He changes us on the inside. He takes our body of death; dead in sin and just the way He raised Jesus from the cross to life again, He take us, day by day, changing us, giving us life, raising us and that’s why we have to trust in the Holy Spirit to do that work in us.

As He changes us, the point is not that we have some spirit of fear; that we are going through guilt and condemnation. See, we’ve got to get rid of this guilt and condemnation – you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear but you received a Spirit of adoption by which you cried, “Dad”.

And if we know that God is our Father, then we know that we are heirs; joint heirs with Christ. We have an eternity of glory waiting for us when we go to be with Him. In a sense, we are back where we are meant to be. When Adam and Eve committed that first sin and rejected God, they broke the relationship. We are all made in the image of God and God calls us back to Him into a secure and safe and wonderful relationship through what Jesus did – a right relationship, day by day, walking down the path of a good life.

The changes the Spirit is working on our inside, being reflected into who we are on the outside. Inside, we get this quiet, confident joy; a peace. We see the changes happening and we can look at them and we know that it’s God doing this stuff, not us. We have this deep sense of security and anticipation, peace and joy and we know what’s coming – we are joint heirs with Christ.

All of this from accepting His forgiveness through Jesus, setting our minds on the things of the Spirit and then letting the Holy Spirit change us as we give Him free reign in our lives, day by day. And you know what happens – this security, this joy, this transformation, it shows on the outside; it shines out of us, people notice. They can’t help but see, it’s something wonderful. ‘Something is different about this person. Man, what has he got; what has she got, because I want some of this stuff.’

Jesus put it this way in John, chapter 7, verse 38. He said, “Out of your belly will flow rivers of living water; a flood tide of blessing to those around you. He was talking about the Holy Spirit. The plan that God has for us is not to pedal and struggle and try to fix ourselves – Christianity is not some self-help programme – not that at all.

The plan is for us to be prepared to lose our lives; to yield our lives on the inside and the outside to Him and then for His Spirit to do inside us the things that we can’t do. For His Spirit to take away the sin; for His Spirit to give us a pure heart and clean hands; for His Spirit to transform us to look more and more like Jesus, now that’s standing out from the crowd, isn’t it?