Holiness:: Radley Chapel 24.02.08

Text: 1 Pet 1:13-16

Present Cheese to unsuspecting first year.

"what is this?"

“what adjectives could you use to describe it?”

"what are these? (holes)"
What adjective would you use to describe it therefore ("holy")
I'll give you a clue this is a characteristic which according to popular
opinion this cheese probably shares with the pope.
That was, I admit, a painfully cheesy joke, but at least I have your
attention.

I want to talk to you about holiness.

In the desert after they had escaped from Egypt, God told his people the following:

he said, “Be holy, because I am holy”. Be holy, because I am holy

Now there is a problem. Whilst I hope only a limited number still think I am talking about cheese, many, I would suggest, are nevertheless confused about holiness. You see, I think holiness, just like Britney Spears, gets a bad press. We are going to conduct a quick social experiment in chapel to see if that is true here.

I would like everyone to think of someone, one person in particular, who they think is holy. You have 10 seconds to think of someone holy.

Now, in order to conduct my quick social experiment, I need everyone to raise their right hand in the air.

Put your hand down, if the person you thought of was the pope.Now put your hand down, if the person you thought of was over 25 years of age.

So that’s pretty bad news. Basically no one here thinks of young people when they think of ‘holy’ people, and a whole load of you think immediately of the pope – who indeed seems very holy, but he’s not exactly an easy role model to relate to. But God said to all his people Be Holy. And that includes people like you and me under 25.

To clear up the confusion, let me tell you what holiness is not:

It is not religiosity,It is not being dreadfully solemn

It is not being boring, It is not wearing white robes, holding your hands constantly pressed together in the prayer position and taking ridiculously small steps so that it looks like you’re actually floating along, Holiness is not being old. It is not being ‘holier than thou’, you know, one of those people who walks around looking down on everyone else telling them with every glance how desperately immoral they are. It is not reserved for monks, nuns, vicars, popes nor indeed for cheeses.

Holiness means simply this:

It means being set apart. holiness means being set apart.

In fact, pretty much every one of you is wearing an illustration for me. We’re all in our Sunday suits. That’s one piece of clothing that’s set apart from the rest. It’s different and it stands out.

So being holy means just the same. It means being set apart. It means being different. Standing out from the crowd.

And holiness is what God wants. He said to his people “Be Holy, because I am Holy”

But, JFA, I hear the Radleian remonstrate. Why are you telling a bunch of adolescents to stand out from the crowd. If that’s what holiness is all about what kind of public school boy would be interested. I spend my life trying to fit in, trying to wear the right piece of clothing, say the right thing, not say the wrong thing, listen to the music that’s makes me cool, and go to the same holiday destination as everyone else. My life is about blending in, not standing out.

I’m a teenager, man, why do I want to be ‘holy’, ‘set apart’, that's social suicide?

In many ways, no one likes to stand out, to be different.

And you know, I’m pretty sure that’s why many people don’t want to follow Jesus. They associate Jesus with all sorts of weird things. They think becoming a follower of Jesus, becoming holy is going to mean obligatory sandal and white sock wearing. They think it means being boring, and having no fun. And quite frankly if that’s the kind of holiness God is suggesting I wouldn’t be interested either.

But being holy is more than just being different for the sake of it, it’s certainly not about being odd. Holiness means being set apart, yes but it means set apart for a special purpose. In fact just like your Sunday suit. It’s different but in a good way. It’s smarter than everything else in the wardrobe. It has a special purpose.

God said to his people “Be holy, because I am holy”. In other words, be set apart, be different, yes, but for a special purpose. That special purpose is to be like him, like God. Be holy, because I am holy.

Sure we often don’t like to stand out. But standing out for something special is everyone’s dream. Imagine your name gets read out by the warden in warden’s assembly for successfully getting into Oxford or Cambridge. You’re standing out for a special purpose. There’s no shame in that. And so it is with those who want to follow Jesus. God calls us to stand out for a special purpose, namely to be like him. What nobler purpose could there be than that?

To see what that looks like, we only need to look at Jesus. He was totally different from all those around him. In a culture of retribution he said love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. To those who treat sex casually he said sex is sacred and should be kept within marriage. To those who think money is all we need, he said that love of money is likely to exclude us from his kingdom. Finally, for all those who rejected him, scorned and mocked him in life, he, God’s chosen King, went to die on a cruel Roman cross so that whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life. That is the kind of special purpose Jesus proposes for his followers.

Let me give you a few more recent examples of radically different Christian living.

Jackie Pullinger is a remarkable Christian lady, with an upbringing perhaps not too dissimilar to ours. She had a vision in which she felt God was calling her to help those in the walled city of Hongkong. Against all the advice of those around her she left with little money and only a single ticket. Hongkong was nothing like the wealthy metropolis it is now. A part of the town, the walled city, was effectively out of police jurisdiction and ruled by the triad gangs. There were enormous problems of Heroine addiction and prostitution. When she arrived she got a job as a primary school teacher and started a youth club for the local kids. She earnt very little money and was in constant danger. Some of the Triad gang members came to her youth club. As many accepted Jesus, they found that he set them free from their addictions. The work has continued to grow in scope to this day. Jesus reached out to people with the Good news of forgiveness and a relationship with God. Jackie did the same.

That is a holy life, a life set apart for a special purpose, God’s purpose. Wouldn’t it be great if the world had more holy people like that?

Or take William Wilberforce. Brought up in the second half of the 18^th century in a privileged family in the North and educated at Cambridge. He lived in at a time where slavery was still upheld as morally acceptable, but when he began to follow Jesus, he became convicted that he should use his political power to fight it. After his conversion he channeled every part of his energies into campaigning for the abolition of slavery, which indeed he did see through.

He certainly stood out, indeed was ridiculed by some. Just like Jesus he believed all men had equal value irrespective of their race or upbringing. He was a holy man, living with the priorities of God, not of man.

Finally, an example closer to home. When I was thirteen and had just started public school, I went to the equivalent of Christian forum. A chap called Henry in the lower Sixth came up to me, welcomed me, asked my name and generally set me at ease.

I couldn’t believe it. You didn’t do that. You never talked with lower years, it would undermine your status. Where would your respect be. But this one boy decided that it was better to stand out, and obey God’s command to love his neighbour, than to follow the crowd. That is holiness too.

Who could say, whether Christian or not, that we wouldn’t be better off with more Holy people. More people who have set their lives apart for a special purpose: to love the outcast, campaign for justice, welcome strangers?

In each case they obeyed the call to “be holy, because I am holy”. I wonder what purpose you have determined for your life at the moment. It might be Olympic athlete, property magnate, banker, or simply a comfortable existence with a nice car and a nice house.God says “be holy, because I am holy”. I wonder, will your life stand out?