An Uncompromised Holiness

Pastor Allwin Johnson

One day, I was traveling in an electric train. One group of people sitting over there were talking about the increasing sexual immorality in Tamil Nadu. In the middle of their conversation, one among them uttered a statement which irked my mind painfully. He said, “Christians are meant to be the good people, but now a days they have become the famous criminals in our society.” Is it not shameful for us Christians? Recently, as we heard through media a “Bishop” was caught by the police department for mishandling of money and cheating people. When he was investigated further, news came out as they had immoral relationships with some actresses. Aren’t they who preach the Blood of Jesus Christ and forgiveness of sins? Look how Satan has deceived even the leaders of Christianity. Also, I heard that this so called Bishop was a very devoted minister of God in his young age. And what happened now, everything changed to the worst. He has spoiled the name of Jesus among the unbelievers. This is a bit of example from the whole lot of tainted Christianity.

We call our Bible as the Holy Bible, Communion as the Holy Communion, and marriage as the Holy Matrimony. All our church activities are Holy but the lives of the people inside the church are unholy. Look back the early Pentecostal churches, people of God were longing to be holy unto the Lord. Many dedications, many vows, many prayers and many other efforts, not for money or wealth but for Holiness. They wanted to be like Jesus in everything.

Where are they today? Where is the Holiness that God seeks forth from us? We have made so many compromises in our lives. Many unholy activities entered our church or our lives, even with out our attention. Many times we say the following phrases to hide ourselves, “There is nothing wrong in doing this,” “We have to go with the cultural advancement of this world,” and “If we don’t do this, we can’t survive in this world.” By saying these words, we can’t justify some of our actions before the most holy God Almighty.

Can our God compromise in his Holiness? No, absolutely not. God says, “Be holy, because I am holy.” God can not compromise in Holiness and He expects the same from us. A Christian must be holy, because his calling and vocation are holy. Paul says that God has “saved us and called us to a holy life” (2 Timothy 1:9). Again, he says “He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” (Ephesians 1:4). “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called” (Ephesians 4:1; KJV). To walk worthily of such a calling means putting off all that is not godly and pure. The way of the gospel is, spiritually speaking, holy ground consecrated by the Lord Jesus' example. When God called Moses through the burning bush, He said, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5). It is irreverent to God to stand on this holy ground of gospel grace with our feet (walk of life) still wearing the shoes of fleshly spirits and works (Isaiah 35:8).

It is very clear in the teachings of the Scripture that no Christian is sinless (1 John 1:8-10), but it is also clear that God expects the true believer to not sin habitually. “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in Him, and he cannot practice sin because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9; NET).

Wil Pounds considers, “To ‘practice’ sin is to sin as a way of life. An unsaved person lives a life of habitual sin. The sin of unbelief is a normal thing for the lost person. A true believer does not live in habitual sin. He may commit occasional sins but he will not make it a habitual practice.”
Likewise, Gladwin Koehn says, “There is a “behavior (that) becometh holiness.” We, who are living in the last days, are especially enjoined to this manner of behavior before the world: “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness” (2 Peter 3:11 KJV). There is no alternative to holiness, for if one does not lead a holy life, what then is it?

The word “holy,” “holiness,” “saint” and “sanctify” comes from a Greek root meaning, “to set apart to God.” The believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is set apart for God by the Holy Spirit. The “saint” is a person set apart for God, enjoying a holy standing before God in Christ Jesus, with the obligation of living a holy life (1 Peter 1:15-16; NET).

So, I urge you brothers and sisters, take conscious effort every day, every moment of your life to be holy, to be like Jesus regardless of the results. Whatever the results may be, take bold steps to be holy.

Today, God is keeping the responsibility in our hands. We are responsible for the holiness of our lives and our church. Bible says, When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw an Israelite sinning, “he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear through both of them--through the Israelite and into the woman's body. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped” (Numbers 25: 7-8).

The Scriptures leave us clear warnings against defiling the temple of God by unholy behavior and spirits. “If any man defiles the temple of God, him shall God destroy: for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye (the corporate body of believers) are” (1 Corinthians 3:17 KJV).

At last I want to emphasize the importance that Jesus gave for Holiness. “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” (Matthew 5:29-30)

Sacrifice any thing, even your eyes and hands, to be holy. Absolutely no compromise to be holy. God says, “Be holy, because I am holy.”