SPEAKER_02: You know how some houses have the good towels?
SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm talking about, right?
SPEAKER_02: It's uh the towels you don't actually use.
SPEAKER_02: Those are apparently different towels from the ones that you use to dry off with or have to at your disposal when you're done washing your hands.
SPEAKER_02: No, apparently these good towels, right, they don't actually dry anything.
SPEAKER_02: They're set apart.
SPEAKER_02: They're they're chosen for a specific role to sit neatly hanging on the towel rack.
SPEAKER_02: We had those in my house growing up, and everybody in the house knew you don't touch those towels.
SPEAKER_02: And then anytime we had company come over, obviously we would set out another towel next to the sink because you don't use the ones that are hanging up.
SPEAKER_02: Those are designated, those are set apart.
SPEAKER_02: And the reason I mentioned that this morning, it may sound a little silly to be talking about towels that are designated as the ones that sit there and look pretty.
SPEAKER_02: But it kind of relates to our sermon this morning because it's actually a pretty close idea to what it means to be holy, to be set apart, to be used by God.
SPEAKER_02: But here is where the illustration breaks down because God hasn't set us apart just to sit up on a shelf.
SPEAKER_02: God hasn't set us apart just to hang there and look pretty.
SPEAKER_02: No, you've been chosen to be used by him.
SPEAKER_02: God set us apart to be used by him.
SPEAKER_02: In 1 Peter 1 in verse 15, it says, As he called you is as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.
SPEAKER_02: And I think that holiness has developed kind of an image problem when it comes to Christianity in a lot of ways.
SPEAKER_02: Because when we hear the word holy, I think the first thing we picture is maybe someone that is a little weird.
SPEAKER_02: Is that fair to say?
SPEAKER_02: We hear the word holy, we think, well, because they're holy, they don't go where everybody else goes.
SPEAKER_02: They don't watch what everybody else watches, they don't wear what everybody else wears, and they certainly don't say the same words that everybody else speaks.
SPEAKER_02: And I think maybe somewhere along the way, we started to believe that being holy meant becoming the kind of person that nobody wants to sit next to at the dinner table.
SPEAKER_02: Is that fair?
SPEAKER_02: But holiness doesn't mean weird, and that's what I want you to realize this morning.
SPEAKER_02: That's what I want us to lean into this morning.
SPEAKER_02: This idea of holiness isn't about becoming weird, it's about being different.
SPEAKER_02: And different because you belong to someone, different because you've been set apart for a specific task, different because your life is being increasingly shaped by a holy God.
SPEAKER_02: And I think when we think about this idea of holiness, our first thought is to look at him, and it should be to recognize the one who is holy.
SPEAKER_02: And as we begin this journey of growing in favor with God, I think one of the ways that we grow in favor with him is to become more like him.
SPEAKER_02: And one of the ways we do that is to encounter his holiness and begin to put it into practice in our own lives.
SPEAKER_02: We look at him and who he is, and then we remember we've been set apart to be his, set apart to live in a certain way, to respond to the love that he has for us.
SPEAKER_02: Be set apart for good works.
SPEAKER_02: So, what does this look like?
SPEAKER_02: If we take it to a practical level, we have four quick points this morning.
SPEAKER_02: The first one says holiness begins with identity, if you're using your outlines this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Before Peter ever tells them to be holy, notice what he has already told them.
SPEAKER_02: And if you're following along this morning, I encourage you to open up your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 1.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna be focused on primarily on verses 13 through 16.
SPEAKER_02: But as we take a look at this text, notice he begins with this idea of identity.
SPEAKER_02: They've been born again, they have this living hope.
SPEAKER_02: They have an inheritance that cannot perish, it cannot spoil or fade.
SPEAKER_02: They're being guarded by God's power.
SPEAKER_02: And in this, their faith is more precious than gold.
SPEAKER_02: Their salvation was anticipated by the prophets.
SPEAKER_02: And then Peter says, therefore, and I think that's important, we get to verse 13, therefore, holiness is a response to what God has already done.
SPEAKER_02: And that's the reason that word is in there.
SPEAKER_02: Because of who you are, because of what God has done for you.
SPEAKER_02: Notice your identity, notice who you are, and because of who you are, this is how we respond.
SPEAKER_02: So our holiness begins with our identity.
SPEAKER_02: Christianity doesn't say, live differently so God will love you.
SPEAKER_02: That's not the point.
SPEAKER_02: Christianity says, God has loved you, he has already redeemed you, he has called you his own.
SPEAKER_02: So now go live like you belong to him.
SPEAKER_02: So we respond in what he has done for us.
SPEAKER_02: I think that's an entirely different motivation.
SPEAKER_02: We aren't trying to earn some type of identity, we're learning to live out the identity that's already been handed to us.
SPEAKER_02: And that's where holiness starts.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine a child that's being adopted into a family.
SPEAKER_02: The parents don't sit down with the child and say, okay, here's the deal.
SPEAKER_02: You're on a six-month probationary period.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna watch how you behave.
SPEAKER_02: And if you're good enough, if you follow the rules, if you act enough like us, then maybe we'll give you our name.
SPEAKER_02: And maybe we're gonna make you part of our family.
SPEAKER_02: No, it doesn't work that way.
SPEAKER_02: That's backwards to the process of adoption.
SPEAKER_02: First, the child is made part of the family.
SPEAKER_02: The child is given the name, given a home, given a place at the table because in this moment they now belong to that family.
SPEAKER_02: And then over time, something happens.
SPEAKER_02: And what happens is they begin learning.
SPEAKER_02: This is what it means to live in this family.
SPEAKER_02: This is what it means to be called one of theirs, this is what it means to carry this family name.
SPEAKER_02: And I think this is exactly what Peter is trying to share with us.
SPEAKER_02: We respond in a certain way because we already belong.
SPEAKER_02: Because we've already been given that name.
SPEAKER_02: Because we've encountered his holiness, and we're called to reflect that into the world.
SPEAKER_02: Before Peter ever says, be holy, he spends the first part of the chapter telling Christians who you already are, who you belong to, what's your identity in this world.
SPEAKER_02: You've been born again, you've been giving a living hope, you have an inheritance, you're being guarded by God's power.
SPEAKER_02: You have been redeemed.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, you belong to Him.
SPEAKER_02: And then comes the therefore.
SPEAKER_02: Therefore, be holy.
SPEAKER_02: And that's the gospel order.
SPEAKER_02: First is identity, and then comes behavior.
SPEAKER_02: We don't become holy enough that God finally says, okay, you can be mine.
SPEAKER_02: No, God says, you are mine.
SPEAKER_02: Now live like you belong to me.
SPEAKER_02: Learn to live like you belong to me.
SPEAKER_02: That's a lifelong journey.
SPEAKER_02: It's not something that happens overnight, but as we begin to dedicate our lives to Him, as we begin to seek Him, we grow in holiness.
SPEAKER_02: We grow towards that identity that has already been given to us.
SPEAKER_02: And I might even add this holiness isn't an audition for the family of God.
SPEAKER_02: It's what happens when people who are already in the family begin to resemble the Father.
SPEAKER_02: As much as it is growing in our holiness.
SPEAKER_02: And if holiness begins with who we are, the next question becomes what does someone who belongs to God actually look like?
SPEAKER_02: Because Peter doesn't leave holiness as some abstract theological idea.
SPEAKER_02: He breaks it down for us.
SPEAKER_02: Look at verse 13.
SPEAKER_02: Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded.
SPEAKER_02: Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.
SPEAKER_02: Peter says, don't just fit in.
SPEAKER_02: Don't be conformed.
SPEAKER_02: If you're using your outlines, number two, holiness means we don't just fit in.
SPEAKER_02: Don't let the world around you determine the shape of your life.
SPEAKER_02: And it's easy to say on a Sunday morning, but it's harder to live out once we encounter that world, once we live in that world.
SPEAKER_02: Because most of us don't wake up in the morning and decide, today I'm going to go against God.
SPEAKER_02: No, it's something that wears on us, it's something that we begin to blend into if we're not careful.
SPEAKER_02: It usually happens much more subtle.
SPEAKER_02: We just start accepting what everybody else accepts, laughing at what everybody else laughs at.
SPEAKER_02: It happens when we begin to want everything that everybody else wants.
SPEAKER_02: We begin watching what everybody else watches and we start talking like everybody else talks.
SPEAKER_02: We define success the way everybody else defines success.
SPEAKER_02: And before we know it, instead of seeking after him, we're pursuing the things that our culture tells us are important.
SPEAKER_02: And the things of God begin to take a back seat, begin to be reinterpreted by what our world is telling us should be our identity.
SPEAKER_02: Eventually, without even realizing it, we start looking exactly like the culture around us.
SPEAKER_02: Have you seen that in the church?
SPEAKER_01: Have you seen that in God's people before the culture around them begins having more of an influence than the church has?
SPEAKER_01: That's what he is addressing here.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he's pointing to.
SPEAKER_01: Because of who you are, change should be everything.
SPEAKER_02: Because of who you are, we no longer conform to the patterns of this world.
SPEAKER_02: Instead, we seek him.
SPEAKER_02: And I think that's the danger of conformity.
SPEAKER_02: You don't have to intentionally walk away from God and just simply drift towards everyone else.
SPEAKER_02: And then Peter reminds these Christians that was your old life.
SPEAKER_02: You used to be shaped by those desires.
SPEAKER_02: But now something has changed.
SPEAKER_02: And what has changed?
SPEAKER_02: Well, you now belong to God.
SPEAKER_02: Your identity is now found in him.
SPEAKER_02: So holiness will inevitably make you different.
SPEAKER_02: Think about this.
SPEAKER_02: You ever notice when someone moves to a new place that they begin to act like, sound like maybe someone from up north that moves down to Florence, Alabama.
SPEAKER_02: You notice at first how different they sound than everybody else, but as the years pass, now all of a sudden the you guys is swapped for the y'all.
SPEAKER_02: And so now their language begins to blend in to the culture around them.
SPEAKER_02: Notice that?
SPEAKER_02: There's a reason that happens.
SPEAKER_02: They're being influenced.
SPEAKER_02: Their speech patterns.
SPEAKER_02: And now you can't quite tell the difference between who moved here a decade ago and who's been here the whole time.
SPEAKER_02: Because their accent has changed.
SPEAKER_02: They don't just wake up one morning and say, you know what, today I'm gonna start saying y'all.
SPEAKER_02: They begin hearing it and it gradually seeps in and they probably will tell you, I don't say that, but they do.
SPEAKER_01: It happens because the people around them were shaping them before they even realized it.
SPEAKER_02: I think that's exactly what Peter is warning us about.
SPEAKER_02: He says, as obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.
SPEAKER_02: I think the danger isn't always that we consciously decide I'm going to stop following God.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we simply spend enough time surrounded by the values, priorities, desires, and attitudes of the world that we start picking up its accent.
SPEAKER_02: Those little things that we say, oh, it's not a big deal, they begin to seep into our minds and our behaviors and the way we talk.
SPEAKER_01: And the accent around us becomes a part of who we are.
SPEAKER_01: That's the danger.
SPEAKER_01: That's where holiness is meant.
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna set us apart.
SPEAKER_01: Not to dive into it.
SPEAKER_01: We start talking like it.
SPEAKER_01: We start thinking like it.
SPEAKER_02: We begin wanting what it wants.
SPEAKER_02: We begin getting angry about what it gets angry about, and again we start defining success the way our culture defines success.
SPEAKER_02: And eventually, without ever making a conscious decision to leave God behind, we begin sounding like everybody else.
SPEAKER_01: Have you seen that in the church?
SPEAKER_01: Seen that in people who claim to belong to God.
SPEAKER_01: I think that's our challenge.
SPEAKER_01: But here's where your identity point.
SPEAKER_01: We talk about what this identity is all about.
SPEAKER_01: Here's where it blends in to who we are.
SPEAKER_01: We belong somewhere else.
SPEAKER_02: The truth is, if we belong to God, we ought to increasingly pick up his accent, his compassion, his patience, his purity, his generosity, his forgiveness, his love.
SPEAKER_02: And so holiness isn't about trying really hard to be the weird person who doesn't fit in.
SPEAKER_02: No, it's about spending so much of your life being shaped by God that eventually you start sounding more like you belong to Him.
SPEAKER_01: Holiness means we don't just fit in.
SPEAKER_01: Be careful to accent your be careful who we belong to.
SPEAKER_01: I think that leads us to something important.
SPEAKER_02: If holiness means that our lives are being shaped by God instead of the world around us, then holiness cannot just be something we talk about.
SPEAKER_02: It has to show up somewhere in our lives.
SPEAKER_02: And Peter says, as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your show up.
SPEAKER_02: What does it look like?
SPEAKER_02: Well, in everything you do, in your conduct, it should be evident that you belong to him.
SPEAKER_02: Not just a church, not just when people are watching, not just in the area of your life where holiness comes in.
SPEAKER_01: Holiness touches everything.
SPEAKER_02: It should be a part of who we are.
SPEAKER_02: I think sometimes, and this isn't a new concept, but it's one we need to consider often.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we have this tendency to compartmentalize our lives.
SPEAKER_02: There's my church life, and then there's my work life.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, and then there's my family life and social life.
SPEAKER_02: Also of my private life and my online life as well.
SPEAKER_02: We have all these different parts of who we are.
SPEAKER_02: And I think without realizing it, we can begin to have different standards for each one.
SPEAKER_02: But Peter says, just don't give that an option.
SPEAKER_02: It's not who you are.
SPEAKER_02: He says, be holy in all your conduct.
SPEAKER_02: Holiness isn't something we turn on on Sunday morning and then on Monday we say, Oh, we've had enough of that.
SPEAKER_02: Let's move on to the next part of who we are.
SPEAKER_02: No, your holiness defines who you are as a whole, not just in moments of your life.
SPEAKER_02: So if I belong to God, then every part of me belongs to Him.
SPEAKER_02: I think last week we talked about how sometimes we begin to prioritize our lives and we're saying, I'm gonna make God number one and my family number two, and then everything else.
SPEAKER_02: And that's a good idea, but it doesn't capture the essence of who we are as Christians.
SPEAKER_02: It's not about making God number one, it's about making God everything.
SPEAKER_02: And his influence permeates through all of those other priorities.
SPEAKER_02: We love him first and foremost, but we also love him in our families.
SPEAKER_02: We also love him, and he becomes a part of who we are at work in our private time and our recreational time.
SPEAKER_02: So it's not about God number one, and then I do all these other things.
SPEAKER_02: It's about God everywhere and throughout and in each part of who I am.
SPEAKER_02: That's what holiness is all about.
SPEAKER_02: It's about choosing him each and every day.
SPEAKER_02: It's about seeking him in every aspect of my life.
SPEAKER_02: My words belong to him.
SPEAKER_02: My relationships belong to him.
SPEAKER_02: My sexuality belongs to him.
SPEAKER_02: My money belongs to him, my entertainment belongs to him, my anger belongs to him.
SPEAKER_02: So, what do I do when nobody else is looking?
SPEAKER_02: Well, guess what?
SPEAKER_01: That belongs to him as well.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to see it's all about him.
SPEAKER_02: He's calling us to change, he's calling us to live a life that's separate from the world.
SPEAKER_02: So often our our question is, well, can I do this and still belong to God?
SPEAKER_02: I think we're asking the completely wrong question.
SPEAKER_02: Is this bringing glory and honor to him?
SPEAKER_02: Is this bringing me closer to him?
SPEAKER_02: It's not about what I can get away with, but what I can do to seek him more fully in my life.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's a bigger question.
SPEAKER_02: Because sometimes we're looking for the line.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we say things like, How close can I get without crossing the line?
SPEAKER_02: How much can I do and still technically be okay?
SPEAKER_02: But holiness isn't interested in finding the line.
SPEAKER_02: Holiness is interested in becoming more like Him, becoming more holy.
SPEAKER_02: That's why Peter's standard is so challenging.
SPEAKER_02: He says, Be holy.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: For I am holy.
SPEAKER_02: God is holy.
SPEAKER_02: That should impact who we are.
SPEAKER_02: The goal isn't simply to become a slightly better person than the people around us.
SPEAKER_02: The goal is to increasingly reflect the character of our Heavenly Father.
SPEAKER_02: And again, that doesn't happen overnight.
SPEAKER_02: You don't dip in that water and there's something magical about it, and all of a sudden you're a perfect person.
SPEAKER_02: No, it happens gradually as we seek Him, as we choose Him, as we fix our eyes on Jesus and model His behavior in this world.
SPEAKER_02: And slowly begin to develop those characteristics in our life.
SPEAKER_02: We become more holy.
SPEAKER_02: I think it's a lifelong journey.
SPEAKER_02: It's something we're never gonna get exactly right on this side of heaven.
SPEAKER_02: But it's something we seek, it's something we want to grow in fish and every day.
SPEAKER_02: Holiness is interested in becoming more like God, his goodness, his purity, his compassion, his truthfulness, his faithfulness, his love.
SPEAKER_01: How many of us today have a little work to do almost?
SPEAKER_01: But we're all seeking that abundance.
SPEAKER_02: We're all seeking that truth.
SPEAKER_02: We're all seeking that holiness in our lives, and that means there is.
SPEAKER_02: An area of our lives where Jesus gets told, You can have everything else, but this part of me I'm gonna keep.
SPEAKER_02: It's not biblical.
SPEAKER_02: That's not who we are when we declare ourselves Christians.
SPEAKER_02: You remember the illustration?
SPEAKER_02: Take the word Christian and you remove Christ.
SPEAKER_02: What are you left with?
SPEAKER_02: I am.
SPEAKER_02: What does that stand for?
SPEAKER_02: Somebody tell me.
SPEAKER_02: I ain't nothing.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't mean I take away Christ and I still have my private life.
SPEAKER_02: I take away Christ and I still have that time on the internet when I'm by myself.
SPEAKER_02: I still have Christ, except when I'm running in these social circles that don't follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: I still have Christ on Sunday, but my work life doesn't belong.
SPEAKER_02: That's not what it says.
SPEAKER_02: It says when you take away Christ, you are left with nothing.
SPEAKER_02: And that's who you are declaring yourself as when you become a Christian.
SPEAKER_02: Because it's all about Him.
SPEAKER_02: And our holiness is all about Him as we seek Him with every part of our being.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about making Him the first priority.
SPEAKER_01: Everything.
SPEAKER_01: If holiness touches everything, eventually we have to deal with the part that makes us uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_02: Because if we're honest, there are places in our lives that don't look like God very much.
SPEAKER_02: Isn't that fair?
SPEAKER_02: I think all of us have a little bit of work to do.
SPEAKER_02: And it's probably not the same place for each of us.
SPEAKER_02: Whatever part it is for you, it's important for us to recognize that.
SPEAKER_02: Open that part up to Him and seek Him more fully.
SPEAKER_02: Peter isn't writing to people who have already arrived.
SPEAKER_02: He's writing to people who are becoming.
SPEAKER_02: And that brings us to four.
SPEAKER_02: Holiness requires transformation.
SPEAKER_02: Our holiness means we are changing.
SPEAKER_02: It means we've left the old self behind.
SPEAKER_02: Peter says, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.
SPEAKER_02: Notice that word former in there.
SPEAKER_02: There's an old way of living, an old way of thinking.
SPEAKER_02: There are old desires and old habits and old priorities.
SPEAKER_02: And Peter says, in essence, that doesn't have to be who you are anymore.
SPEAKER_02: You've left those things behind.
SPEAKER_02: And that's why we're crucified with him.
SPEAKER_02: That's why we're buried in that watery grave of baptism and raised up to walk in what?
SPEAKER_02: In newness of life.
SPEAKER_02: That means we've left the old self behind.
SPEAKER_01: And all those old things are our former self.
SPEAKER_02: And I think that's one of the beautiful things about the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Because we don't come to him having figured it all out.
SPEAKER_02: We don't come to him having turned our lives around.
SPEAKER_02: We come to him broken.
SPEAKER_02: And in that illustration, we come to him and say, I am nothing and I need you.
SPEAKER_02: It's the fundamental position for us as Christians to recognize our need for a savior.
SPEAKER_02: I come broken, I come empty.
SPEAKER_02: I rely on him to change me.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus doesn't simply forgive the person you used to be, he also transforms you into someone new.
SPEAKER_02: But transformation means some things have to change.
SPEAKER_02: Do you get that?
SPEAKER_02: God made me this way and he makes us perfect.
SPEAKER_02: No, God calls us to transformation.
SPEAKER_02: God calls us to a new standard, despite what our culture tries to tell us.
SPEAKER_02: We want Jesus to give us peace, right?
SPEAKER_02: Amen to that.
SPEAKER_02: We want him to give us hope.
SPEAKER_02: Anyone gonna disagree with that?
SPEAKER_02: We want Jesus to heal what's broken.
SPEAKER_02: We want him to forgive our sins.
SPEAKER_02: But holiness says Jesus gets to change me too.
SPEAKER_02: He gets to change my attitudes and my habits.
SPEAKER_02: He changes my relationships, my priorities.
SPEAKER_02: He changes my desires.
SPEAKER_02: Even the things I've spent years defending.
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes we excuse those things by saying, Oh, that's just who I am.
SPEAKER_02: I've always had a temper.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's okay.
SPEAKER_02: I've always talked like that.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I've always struggled with that.
SPEAKER_02: That's just my personality.
SPEAKER_02: But the gospel never says, come to Jesus and stay like you are.
SPEAKER_02: Stay exactly how you are.
SPEAKER_02: No, it says, come to him and then let him make you more like him.
SPEAKER_01: Let him assist you in growing into holiness.
SPEAKER_01: Peter isn't saying that holy people never struggle.
SPEAKER_02: He's talking about the direction of our lives.
SPEAKER_02: Am I becoming more like Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: Is there anything different about me today than it was a year ago?
SPEAKER_02: Are there things God has convinced me about that I'm actually surrendering to Him?
SPEAKER_02: Because holiness isn't a trophy that we receive when we've finally gotten everything right.
SPEAKER_02: No, holiness is a lifelong work of God reshaping his people who belong to him into the image of the one who called them.
SPEAKER_02: It's a journey.
SPEAKER_02: So maybe the question isn't, am I holy enough?
SPEAKER_02: Maybe is it, Am I allowing God to change me?
SPEAKER_02: Is transformation actually happening in my life?
SPEAKER_02: So when Peter says, Be holy, for I am holy, he's not calling you to be weird.
SPEAKER_02: He's not calling you to be self-righteous.
SPEAKER_02: He's not calling you to walk around looking down on everybody else who doesn't live like we do just yet.
SPEAKER_02: No, he's calling you to be different.
SPEAKER_02: Different because we belong to God, different because we're no longer allowing the world around us to shape our lives, different because every part of our life is now being surrendered to him.
SPEAKER_02: Different because little by little, transformation is happening.
SPEAKER_02: He's changing us one step at a time.
SPEAKER_02: And I think maybe that's the question we need to leave here with today.
SPEAKER_02: Does my life look any different because I belong to Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: That question is not: do I go to church?
SPEAKER_02: Do I believe the right things?
SPEAKER_02: Do I know all the right answers?
SPEAKER_02: But when someone watches the way I live, when they watch my day-to-day interactions, the way I treat people, the way I speak, the way I handle disappointment, the way I respond when I'm hurt, or when somebody cuts me off in traffic, the things I pursue, or the things that I refuse.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's the way I love.
SPEAKER_02: Because that is our goal as Christians.
SPEAKER_02: See, holiness isn't about proving that we're better than everybody else.
SPEAKER_02: Holiness is about showing the world who we belong to.
SPEAKER_02: There's a block of marble that eventually became David.
SPEAKER_02: It had been sitting around Florence for decades.
SPEAKER_02: And you may have heard this story, but other artists had commissioned to work with it.
SPEAKER_02: One began even cutting into the project, but he abandoned it.
SPEAKER_02: And so this enormous piece of marble sat exposed for years.
SPEAKER_02: And then in 1501, Michelangelo was commissioned to do something with it.
SPEAKER_02: Michelangelo was only 26 years old at the time.
SPEAKER_02: And for more than two years, he worked on that damaged, neglected block of stone.
SPEAKER_02: And then eventually, what emerged was David, one of the most recognizable sculptures in the world.
SPEAKER_02: And I think that's a pretty beautiful picture of what we've been talking about here this morning.
SPEAKER_02: See, holiness requires transformation.
SPEAKER_02: God finds us with places that are rough.
SPEAKER_02: God comes to us, and maybe he finds places somebody else may have given up on.
SPEAKER_02: He finds things in our lives that don't make much sense, places where we might have given up on ourselves.
SPEAKER_02: And he doesn't simply say, try harder to look holy.
SPEAKER_02: No, he goes to work, and the truth is sometimes it's painful.
SPEAKER_02: He goes to work in our lives, removing, shaping, changing, forming.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes it's with a chisel and a hammer.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes he's removing huge blocks.
SPEAKER_02: Process isn't always comfortable because there are things that don't resemble Jesus that need to go.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the important part.
SPEAKER_02: The goal isn't merely to remove the bad parts, the goal is to reveal more and more of Christ in us.
SPEAKER_02: Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3.18 that we are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.
SPEAKER_02: I think that is holiness.
SPEAKER_02: Not instant perfection, but transformation.
SPEAKER_02: And I think maybe some of us look at our lives and mostly see the unfinished marble.
SPEAKER_02: But God looks at us and says, guess what?
SPEAKER_02: You're not finished.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not finished with you just yet.
SPEAKER_02: He sang his kids, right?
SPEAKER_01: He's still working on me.
SPEAKER_01: Make me what I ought to be.
SPEAKER_01: He's still working on God.
SPEAKER_01: Holiness is a project.
SPEAKER_01: He's still transforming you.
SPEAKER_02: And I think we need to continually ask this question what is God trying to shape me into?
SPEAKER_02: Because holiness isn't God making you weird.
SPEAKER_02: It's God making you look more like Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And if we're going to grow in favor with God, and I think that's what we're asking him.
SPEAKER_02: Keep shaping me, keep changing me, keep removing what doesn't look like you until more and more see Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: What is God working on?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've never submitted to him as your Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_02: Let me just say He's calling you to something new.
SPEAKER_02: He's calling you to something better.
SPEAKER_02: All those ways that we have fallen apart, God has a way to bring us back into fellowship with Him.
SPEAKER_02: If you've never given Him your life, if you've never been baptized for remission of your sins, encourage you to do that this morning before we leave this place.
SPEAKER_02: Name Him, your Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_02: Perhaps you made that choice, but it's time to come back to Him as you've wandered away.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you made that initial decision, but the world has been pulling you away from Him.
SPEAKER_02: Come back to Him.
SPEAKER_02: If you need the prayers of the church, if you need to rededicate your life, if you need to be baptized, please come.
SPEAKER_02: As together we stand and sing.