The Goal is Whole: Live it Out L1: Manifesting the holiness of Jesus

True Holiness is not something we achieve, but something we manifest. It is the holiness of Jesus manifested through the new creation nature. Holiness is a personal and community expression of the presence of Jesus. It emerges as we live in union with Him together, revealing the fullness of who He is.

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FULL STUDY:

“But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16).

Jesus said:

“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven…. Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:20 and 48)

Holy means pure and blameless. So, what are we to make of these calls to holiness and perfection? How does this equate with our daily lives? How do we handle the reality of falling short?

The fallen humanity has no way of reaching anywhere near this. Everyone falls short. But the truth that brings light and hope to this is the revelation that holiness is embedded in the new creation.

“Put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” (Ephesians 4:24).

Holiness is our present and eternal identity, because of who we have become in the new creation. When Christ enters and creates the new spirit-being within us, that new nature is holy. The “identity” component is fulfilled. There is nothing we can add. But it doesn’t stop there. Our goal is to move from this new place of strength to actually live out this holiness from within.

True Holiness is not something we achieve, but something we manifest. It is the holiness of Jesus manifested through the new creation nature. Holiness is a personal and community expression of the presence of Jesus. It emerges as we live in union with Him together, revealing the fullness of who He is.

In Unit 1 we saw that the foundation for our new identity in the new creation is the revelation of us being “IN CHRIST”. All that we are is in Him. This is also where we find our eternal destiny (unit 2).

Now we must move on to engaging with the new creation inner nature, to manifest it in a holy life. In close parallel to the reality that we are in Christ, is the revelation that CHRIST IS IN US. This is a complete game-changer! In the fallen race all we have is a corrupt nature, dominated by self. In the new creation we have Christ Himself, dominated by love. This is the key to a Holy life:

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

Not surprisingly, the Holy Spirit is a huge key in this. He is our helper, and the one that first brings us the holy nature in the new birth, but then energizes its outworking from that place of purity within.

Jesus said, "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” (John 12:32)

When Jesus died, by a miracle of God, He included each and every one of us. He drew every one of us to Himself there. The cross is where we first meet Jesus! Our limited minds can struggle to grasp this, but it is a spiritual and eternal fact that when He died, we died. This is true for every human being that has, and ever will live, including us! Entry into the new creation is now freely available for all, because everyone was included with Jesus when He paid the price for salvation.

Knowing that we are crucified with Christ is not just the opening into the new creation, but also the path to a holy life.  How does this work practically?

As Galatians 2:20 above says, “It is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me”. How glorious! All that He is, in me! He doesn’t just exist in me, He LIVES in me! Holiness is the life of Jesus pulsating in and through us! Paul expounds further, “and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith IN the Son".

This is the reality of union with Christ. It is His life, but My faculties, my mind, my emotions, my will, my words, my personality, but all aligned with Him. It is Him, but it is also me! This is UNION.

This is exactly the life Jesus Himself modeled, as our example. Jesus lived His life in union with the Father:

“The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.” (John 14:10)

And verse 9, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

Verse 30: “I and the Father are one.”

In that context, Jesus could have easily said, “It is no longer I who live, but the Father that lives in Me.” Can you see how this is the key for us in the pursuit of holiness?

Let’s continue with the Galatians passage. "The life which I now live in the flesh (the here and now), I live by faith." This is such an important key. Holiness is a faith walk. If we want to live a holy life, we need to learn to live by faith.

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1).

The truth that we died with Christ when He died is an “unseen” truth. Faith takes hold of that. Faith is applied trust. Activated trust. Faith is to do with agreement, alignment, and engagement. It is agreeing with a truth in the realm of the unseen, and choosing to align with it.

Faith works by believing in our heart, and speaking with our mouth:

“But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” (Romans 10:8-10)

To activate this, we must speak the answer. We believe in our heart (this is a choice), but must then speak with our mouth. Our words are completely transformational. We cannot live out the holy life by talking the way we used to. If we do, we will quench the flow of life from within. Those old words are words of the old fallen nature. They are words of death. Proverbs 18:21 tells us:

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue"

James reveals this remarkable truth about the importance of our words:

"If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. ³ Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. ⁴ Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. ⁵ So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things" (James 3:2-5).

James goes on to describe how the tongue (our words) unleashes the worst of the old, fallen nature. In that state, we cannot master the tongue. It rules us:

"For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. ⁸ But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison" (James 3:7-8)

But in the new creation our tongue has been captured into liberty. This is so marvellously demonstrated by the manifestation of the baptism in the Holy Spirit - speaking in tongues:

"the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. ⁴⁶ For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God." (Acts 10:45-46)

Using the gift of tongues is a direct way to engage the spirit man (new creation) within us. This is a God-given way to by-pass the mind, which is extremely helpful when we are trying to change how we are speaking:

"For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful" (1 Corinthians 14:14)

Tongues are pure words of life! This is a great tool to help us. But the goal also must be to bring all our words into line with the truth of the new man. As Paul stated:

"But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak" (2 Corinthians 4:13)

Let us consider one simple example in this. Imagine we are struggling with hate. Perhaps someone has hurt us badly. Of course, we need to choose to forgive, and that in itself will help. But going beyond, we overcome the hate, and live out the holiness of Jesus, by aligning the truth of our union with Him. We activate faith by believing in our heart that He is the solution, and directing our actions by our words:

First, speak briefly in tongues to engage the spirit, and then say something like this:

“I am crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live in hate. Instead, Christ lives in me, living His love-way. The way I will live now, is by engaging His life in me by faith. I don’t hate, I love.”

At that second, because of alignment with living truth, we experience His presence well up from within. Our thoughts are impacted, our feelings change, and we choose life. We can then act in love, through His power and strength within us. This is living by faith! Not just words, but our words steer the way so that we are empowered from within to act accordingly. This is very different to striving to live right. Rather, it is engaging the reality of the holiness already embedded in the new creation spirit. That is the path to true holiness.