What is Holiness

In Hebrews 12.14, we see the importance of living a holy life unto God, for our very salvation hangs in the balance. For holiness, without, no man shall see the Lord. I once knew a Greek Orthodox monk with a long beard atop his long face and who lived in total privation in a monastery on top of one of the Greek isles.

I used to think that that was the definition of holiness—a life of self-denial that was somber and grave, living the life of an aesthetic, through an austere religion, drained of all joy and comforts of this world. But that's what holiness is, friends. George Whitefield tried to live that kind of austere life before he was converted.

At the time, he was a member of John Wesley's Holy Club at Oxford. He denied himself warm clothing in the winter. He ate poor food.

He thought religion was bound up in the life of an aesthetic. But those things he did drew him no nearer to heaven. Eventually, his good friend Charles Wesley loaned Whitefield a little book, written by the Scotsman Henry Scougal, entitled The Life of God in the Soul of Man.

Upon reading the book, Whitefield realized his brand of religion had no life of heaven in it, and that it was through the new birth where the union of God and the soul commenced, and that true religion was in a vital union with the living Lord, the life of God in the soul of man. So we must ask ourselves today, friends, what is our definition of holiness and how does it line up with the one found in our Bible? I believe a definition of holiness can be found in Colossians chapter 1 and verse 10, which states that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. I believe, friends, we can use the following three aspects of the Christian life to help us better understand what a life of holiness is.

1. Yieldedness I believe, to be a follower of Christ Jesus, one must be yielded to his lordship, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. Our text says Lord. He is Lord.

If we take him as our Savior, then we must take him as our Prince. A life of yieldedness to him is a life of discipleship, following him. This is not a life of penalty and austerity, but a life of joy and happiness, for it is an abundant life.

Christ said, I am come, that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. The abiding life is the abundant life, where we gladly follow our Lord in a life pleasing to him. There is great excitement and adventure in the life of a Christian, friends, for it is a supernatural life, the life of God and the soul of man.

I believe this idea of yieldedness fits very nicely into our definition of holiness. 2. Fruitfulness Our text in Colossians reads, Being fruitful in every good work. This is best illustrated by John chapter 15, which portrays the Christian life where Jesus is the true vine and the Father is the husbandman.

Listen to this aspect of fruit production, as explained by John 15 and verses 4 and 5. Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine. No more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches.

He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing. Notice, friends, that fruit production is in fruit bearing. A believer is merely a branch, a fruit bearer, for it is God who produces his fruit through us by a life of abiding in him, which results in holiness unto him.

This aspect of fruitfulness in the Christian life is central in a life of holiness, for we cannot be remotely fruitful apart from living in him. It is the life of God in the soul of man through regeneration that produces the fruit of the Holy Spirit in the Christian life. So we have these two aspects of yieldedness and fruitfulness, which depend one upon the other.

We must be yielded to God to be fruitful for God. Jesus declares, for without me ye can do nothing. So far, friends, we have not strayed away from our Bible here, as it describes the Christian life.

Now let's look at the third aspect of holiness, number three, usefulness. For to be fruitful is to be useful to God. Look at the last wording of verse 10 from our text today in Colossians, an increase in the knowledge of God.

The more we spend time on our knees and in our Bibles, the more we will know our God. The intimacy of a close walk with God will result in a life of holiness. Look at how this is all brought together, friends, as seen in John 15, 7. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

A life lived unto God by the Word of God and the Spirit of God. I'll never forget this aspect of making the Word of God a reality in our life through a story I once read about F.B. Meyer and C.T. Studd. They were rooming together at a conference, and F.B. Meyer asked C.T. Studd why he spent so much time pouring over one verse of Scripture in his daily quiet time.

Studd replied, I have been asking God to make this verse a reality in my life. Well, that story always impacted me, friends, and so one day, several years ago, as I was going deeper with God, I asked God to make Colossians 1, 10 a reality in my life, or text today, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. Through that time of going deeper with God, I was brought off all my false impressions of what I thought holiness was, and I was brought to see it was living this verse of Scripture in my life, according to His glorious power, in a life of yieldedness, fruitfulness, and usefulness to God.

I will always remember a little plaque that hung on the wall of Stephen Offord's study. It was a framed prayer of Robert Murray McChain, and it read, Lord, make me as holy as a safe center can be. Let us pray.