Unity and Holiness – The Importance for the Church

Unity and holiness are essential to the church for the sanctification of believers and outreach and evangelism to unbelievers. God’s pattern throughout man’s history is to have an inside and outside, including during the Church Age. Holiness creates a boundary so that the church doesn’t resemble the world. In the Old Testament, the Mosaic Law contained commands that allowed Israel to be holy and set apart from the surrounding nations. In the New Testament, believers are still called to be holy, but holiness in the church means avoiding worldliness, or separation from the world. Unity is essential because unbelievers observe both our love for one another and our conflicts. https://youtu.be/jsodwaBJ0AM Unity and holiness in the church is important for believers' sanctification and evangelism. Holiness means avoiding worldliness. Table of ContentsGod’s pattern is to have an “inside” and an “outside.”Holiness creates the boundary between the inside and outside.Holiness in the church means avoiding worldliness.Those outside observe our (part 1) unity.Those outside observe our (part 2) conflict. God’s pattern is to have an “inside” and an “outside.” If you take an elevated view of Scripture, you’ll see this. I’d say the devil – and the demons w/ him – were the first ones to learn God establishes an inside and outside. Lucifer was inside heaven, but when he sinned he was cast outside…and the third of angels who joined him were as well. Who are the next people to learn there’s an inside and outside? I’ll give you a hint: they’re the first people! Adam and Eve were inside Eden, but they sinned and were put outside. A few chapters later it started raining and what did everyone learn? There’s inside the ark and outside the ark. As you move through the OT, you actually see every historical book deals w/ an “inside” and “outside”: In Exodus, God unleashed the plagues on Egypt, and everyone learned there was: Inside Goshen where the Israelites weren’t affected. Outside Goshen were the Egyptians were affected. Then God delivered Israel from Egypt and it was clear there was inside Egypt and outside Egypt. In Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy there was inside the camp and outside the camp. In Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings and Chronicles there was inside the Promised Land and outside the Promised Land. If we leave the OT and move into the NT, we reach the Gospels and the pattern continues… What did Jesus bring w/ Him when He came from heaven to earth? The Kingdom of God, and there was an inside and outside: Matthew 21:31b Jesus said to [the religious leaders], “The tax collectors and prostitutes go INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD BEFORE YOU.” Mark 4:11 [Jesus said], “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but FOR THOSE OUTSIDE everything is in parables. Luke 16:16 [Jesus said], “The kingdom of God is preached, and everyone FORCES HIS WAY INTO IT.” You reach Acts, and now there’s inside the church and outside the church: Colossians 4:5 Walk in wisdom TOWARD OUTSIDERS. 1 Thessalonians 4:12 Walk properly BEFORE OUTSIDERS. When Paul described the qualifications for elders in 1 Tim 3:7 he said [elders] must be well thought of BY OUTSIDERS. 1 Corinthians 5:12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? (Paul says we don’t have to worry about judging – or confronting the sin of – those outside the church) Is it not those INSIDE THE CHURCH whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. The pattern even continues for eternity… Revelation 22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that THEY MAY ENTER THE CITY BY THE GATES. 15 OUTSIDE are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. Believers are inside. Unbelievers are outside. Now let me ask you to think about something… In the OT the boundaries were physical. There was physically inside and outside: Eden The ark Goshen The camp in the wilderness The Promised Land But when you reach the NT, there’s no physical boundaries. The church is spiritual. We are the church. The church IS where we go! So let me ask you this… What creates the boundary for us between the inside and outside? The answer brings us to Lesson 2… Holiness creates the boundary between the inside and outside. This is one reason holiness is so important! Without holiness: You can’t tell the difference between the church and the world. The inside looks like the outside. Regarding holiness, I think we often misunderstand what it means… If something is holy we’ll think it’s good or moral or righteous. If something is unholy we’ll think it’s bad or immoral or sinful. But it’s better to think about holiness meaning set apart. For example: When Moses approached the burning bush, God told him he was standing on holy ground: It didn’t mean that ground was more righteous than other ground. It didn’t mean that other was more sinful than the ground he was on. Instead, it meant this ground was set apart for God’s use. Canaan – or the Promised Land – is the Holy Land: It doesn’t mean that it’s more righteous or less sinful than other land. It simply means that out of all the land on the face of the earth, this is the land God specially set apart for His use. If you had two identical vessels, but one was used in the temple and one wasn’t, the one used in the temple was holy and the other wasn’t. It doesn’t mean one is good and the other is evil. It simply means one is set apart for God and the other isn’t. In the OT, God gave ceremonial commands that were amoral to help His people be holy. These are the commands we typically think are weird: The commands associated w/ clothing: Tassels they had to wear Fabrics they weren’t supposed to mix together The commands associated w/ farming certain ways. Leviticus 19:27 You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard. Some of you are so unholy you don’t even have beards…Pastor Cary. Now here are two questions you could ask… First, you could say: What’s the big deal about mixing fabrics together? Why did they have to wear tassels on their clothes? Why did God care how they gardened, or trimmed their beards? How does that make Israel good or moral? It didn’t make Israel good or moral…but it did make them holy! All these commands helped them be set apart from the surrounding nations. Now let’s talk about the application for us… Just like God called Israel to be holy in the Old Testament, He has called us – the church – to be holy in the New Testament: 1 Peter 1:15 As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” Hebrews 12:14 Without holiness no one will see the Lord. Now here’s the question… If Israel was holy by keeping those weird commands, does that mean we’re holy by keeping these weird commands? Do we need to put on tassels? Do we need to avoid certain foods? Do we need to get rid of our clothing that mixes fabrics? This brings us to Lesson 3… Holiness in the church means avoiding worldliness. Holy still means separate or set-apart…but from the world: Just like Israel was holy by being separate from the surrounding nations, the church is to be holy by being separate from the world around us. There are a lot of verses I could give you, but here are just three: Romans 12:2 DO NOT BE CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. James 4:4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. I don’t have to try to make these verses sound stronger. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. That’s strong language! If you want to be holy: Don’t worry about tassels, and foods, and fabrics. But worry about worldliness! The only way the church can be separate from the world is if there’s a division between the two…and holiness creates that division. If you think of the examples we discussed, God always made boundaries between His people and the world. It was never blurred: People in the Israelite camp never said, “Hey, let’s make sure the inside of the camp is just like outside the camp.” People in the Promised Land never said, “Hey, let’s make sure being inside the Promised Land is just like being outside the Promised Land.” Jesus never said, “I don’t want to be exclusive, so let’s make sure people can’t tell if they’re inside the Kingdom of God or they’re outside Kingdom of God.” Hopefully you notice the application for the church… There must be a clear division. When people come into the church they should recognize they’re leaving the world. A number of things should make this clear: Our music… Our language… Our actions… Our clothing… This is why it’s important to understand the difference between morality and holiness, b/c when we see the difference… The question isn’t just: What is right and wrong? What is good and bad? The question is also does this look like the world? Sadly, sometimes when churches engage in outreach they try to blur the line between the church and the world. They say, “We’ll look like the world to reach the world.” But if you’ve been listening up to this point, you know that’s not God’s plan....