BOTH SINNER AND SAINT!

 

Sunday, December 3, 2023

 

BOTH SINNER AND SAINT!

 

1 Peter 1:15-16

15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

 

          Erik Thoennes, professor of biblical and theological studies at Biola University, sees the authenticity trend in the undergrads he teaches. At the beginning of each class, he asks his students to write down two things they love and two things they hate. Consistently, one of the things they say they hate is “fake people.” But the Christian life involves a whole lot of “faking it” on the path to being integrated” Thoennes says.

 

Peter would not be my first choice for someone who would articulate God’s command to be holy. On second thought, all of God’s choice servants had horrible pasts to overcome. Moses was a murderer, yet God used him to lead the Israelites across the Red Sea. In fact, he was so near God that his face glowed after receiving the Ten Commandments.

 

Paul hated Christ and Christians. He persecuted the church and was complicit in the martyrdom of Stephen. His seventh chapter of Romans gives us insight into his tortured dual nature. Only in Romans chapter eight does he find release in the mercy and grace of the Christ he persecuted.

 

Most of us have broken wings! We have besetting sins. We live inconsistent lives. How then can we obey God’s command of holiness? Paul said it required a personal reckoning. Look at what he said.

 

Rom 6:11-12

11 Likewise reckon [logizomai “to take an inventory”] ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

 

“There's this idea that to live out of conformity with how I feel is hypocrisy; but that's a wrong definition of hypocrisy,” Thoennes said. “To live out of conformity to what I believe is hypocrisy. To live in conformity with what I believe, in spite of what I feel, isn't hypocrisy; it's integrity.”

 

2 Cor 4:6-7

6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

 

Dear Lord, let the light of Your glorious treasure shine through my dirty and broken earthen vessel today. AMEN