02-03-08 #Disciple Bible Study titled: "To Live A Holy Life"

[Disciple]

‘Compelled By Love’
#3 – ‘To Live A Holy Life’
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 and 1 Peter 1:13-16
Intro.
How compelling is the love of Christ for you really? What kind of purpose and direction does the fact that Jesus died for you have in the way you live your life? We are to be holy in the way we live our lives. Is the love of Christ for you a compelling, controlling factor in how you live today?
Have you noticed it is easier to be a Christian and live a holy life in church? The difficulty kicks in when we leave the church on Sunday mornings and go out there into the world, doesn’t it? Have you ever thought that it would be much better for us if Jesus saved us and then within a matter of a few moments, Jesus took us right to heaven?
That would eliminate the possibility that we would mess up here after we become Christians. That would eliminate any temptations. But we know that God has left us here for a purpose. He has chosen not to take us out of this world immediately for whatever reason.
How difficult it is in our society today to keep ourselves holy. Each year the television and movie industries are putting out more and more garbage. As wonderful and helpful as the internet is, it is filled with danger as the ****ographers are filling it daily.
Consider one of the purposes for which we are here:
Phil 2:15
We are to be the light that is shining in a ‘generation of crooks and perverts.’ It is because of the love of Jesus Christ for us that we are compelled to live our lives in holiness.
I. Christ’s Love Compels Us To Live Holy

We can see the compelling, motivating factor to live out holiness. We are to be holy because God is holy.
1 Peter 1:15
Our holiness is to reflect the holiness of God. The overriding motivating factor for us to be holy is in the fact that God is holy. God has called us through the gospel to follow him and belong to him. Therefore, because he is holy, we too, are to be holy in all our way of living.
You can see in Peter’s writing here, that he expects his readers to know they are holy.
1 Peter 1:2
Note the word ‘sanctification’. It is through the sanctifying work of the Spirit that we have been chosen by God. Sanctifying is from the same word from which we get the word ‘holy’. God has chosen us. The Holy Spirit now is making us holy. You can note the words and phrases that Peter uses elsewhere to refer to his readers as being holy- 1 Peter 2:4-10
We are being built into a ‘spiritual house’- 1 Peter 2:5- We are a ‘holy temple’ to the Lord.
We are a ‘holy priesthood’- 1 Peter 2:5,9- This is describing the fact that we are holy servants in ministry to God and each other.
We are a ‘holy nation’- 1 Peter 2:9- we are holy people who belong to a holy God.
The KJV translates this as ‘a peculiar people’ and we understand the word ‘peculiar’ being used not in the sense of strange or odd. Rather the word ‘peculiar’ here has the idea of exclusivity. We belong to God to be exclusion of all others.
Romans 12:1
It is because of the mercy of God that we are compelled to offer up our bodies as living sacrifices to God. Bodies that are holy.
II. Our Bodies Are Holy Sacrifices To God
Romans 12:1
I want you to see here that we give up our bodies. That is what sacrifice is about. We give up being what we are in order that we can become what we are not. We stop being unholy so that we can become holy. Remember, when you give your body to Christ as a living sacrifice you are giving up all control or claim to it.
Gal. 2:20
What is it that makes us holy? We very often associate holiness with something that we do or do not do. We judge a person’s holiness by the activities of their lives. Understand something about holiness, being holy is not something you do. Being holy is something that you are. What we do does not determine our holiness, but our holiness determines what we do.
The simple fact that you may or may not do certain things does not make you holy. But because you are holy there are some things you just will not do. The fact that God is living in me and my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit compels me to live my life in a way that reflects His presence there.
1 Cor. 6:19-20
III. With Holy Living We Worship
If you will again consider that passage of Romans 12:1, you will note that Paul says that offering our bodies as living sacrifices to God is our ‘spiritual act of worship’. In view of God’s mercy toward us, in view of Christ’s love for us, serving God and worshipping God is the most reasonable, logical thing for us to do. Peter and Paul are in agreement on this aspect
Romans 12:2
1 Peter 1:14
Both Peter and Paul are telling us that to live our lives in holiness we cannot continue to live in the way of the old life. We cannot continue to pattern our lives according to what the world is doing. We have a new mind and a new life. So live like it.
A holy life is the opposite of being conformed to the evil desires. Do you understand that if you are still giving in to those evil desires of the flesh, you are not holy? That is what Peter is saying, ‘do not conform’. Conforming to the evil desires is the opposite of being holy.
Conc.
Doesn’t the love of Christ for you compel you to live a holy life?
If you’ve done this before, you know exactly what I’m talking about. You can chop an onion on your counter top and then cut some fruit or bread right after that. The onion defiles the taste of the fruit of the bread. To avoid the taste of the onion in everything else, it probably is best to keep separate cutting boards. Or at least wash the counter top before cutting other things after the onion.
So, too, we need to keep ourselves separate from the world. If we allow the world’s influence to impact our lives, we lost our distinctiveness and our purpose in being called out by God.
God has called us to be holy because He is holy. Doesn’t the love of Christ for you, compel you to live your life in holiness before God?