HOLY AND BLAMELESS
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 NLT
[23] “Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. [24] God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.”
What a benediction for a happy church! After commending them for their faith, hope, and love, and encouraging them to do what they were doing even more, Paul prays for them to be holy and to be preserved blameless for the entire course of their lives until Jesus returns.
A few words in this prayer need clarification.
Paul, first, calls on ‘the God of peace’. Three attitudes pervade the atmosphere of God’s presence… love, joy, and peace. This is who He is. In a sin-soaked world of chaos and confusion, God’s peace is an oasis of tranquility and serenity, a priceless gift to those who trust Him, not only His peace but His presence soaked in His peace.
Philippians 4:6-7, 9 NLT
[6] “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. [7] Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus….
[9] Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”
It’s this God to whom we entrust everything about our lives that will escort us to the heavenly haven of rest in His eternal presence. It’s this God who promises to keep us safe in every storm and deliver us from every threat and danger until we leave ‘down here ‘ for ‘up there’.
What could be more secure than this, especially when Paul assures us that
“God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.”
So, what will God do while we are here?
- He will make you holy.
Since God demands holiness as the qualification for seeing Him, and seeing how impossible it is for us to be holy without Him, we need this assurance that, just as salvation is His work in us, so is holiness.
Hebrews 9:12 NLT
[12] “With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.”
Hebrews 10:14 NLT
[14] “For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.”
What is holiness? Holiness is God’s attitude to sin. God is holy. He is utterly separate from sin. He cannot sin; He hates sin; He calls for the judgment and death of the sinner but.. He also dealt with sin by punishing His own Son in our place.
For us, holiness has two parts…
Simply put, we are to be separate from sin and separated to God.
Part one – belonging
The essence of this separation is belonging. Holiness does not mean we must be morally as perfect as God is. In this life, we are still plagued by our old sin nature. Holiness means that we must live according to the one to whom we belong. He bought us. We belong to Him. He wants us to show that belongingness by the way we live… not perfectly but purposefully, remembering that we have an Advocate who represents us when we mess up.
1 John 2:1-2 NLT
[1] “My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. [2] He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NLT
[19] “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, [20] for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”
God bought us from the slave-market and dominion of sin,
1 Peter 1:18-19 NLT
[18]” For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. [19] It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.”
We belong to Him, body, soul, and spirit. We are called to live out that belongingness by being separate from everything that contradicts who He is.
Part two – living
1 Peter 1:14-16 NLT
[14]” So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. [15] But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. [16] For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
So, living by the standards of the one to whom we belong is an important part of being holy.
How is this possible?
- He will preserve you blameless.
We have another Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who lives in us. He provides the power, by God’s grace, to obey God’s Word when we trust and obey Him.
Romans 8:11-14 NLT
[11] “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. [12] Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. [13] For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. [14] For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”
The Holy Spirit in us guarantees that we belong to God and that He will finish what He started.
Ephesians 1:14 NLT
[14]” The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.”
Since we belong to God and since He is working in us by His Spirit to separate us from sin and to Himself, will God answer Paul’s prayer?
A resounding” YES!” because God is faithful and He will make it happen!