FROM PASTOR TIM:
This will arrive one day late with my apologies. Sunday’s message on protecting the Church
from those who would undermine its core purposes and goals is also a call to
both individual and corporate holiness. Removing sin and protecting the church
are pursuits of holiness. They are synonymous.
One saint mentioned after church that holiness is an important goal for
each individual and the church. Amen.
But as we talked it became clear to both of us that the “effect” of
holiness is to draw others to Jesus.
Again, I say, Amen.
As we saw before Advent in 2 Timothy 2:21: “Therefore, if anyone
cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable
use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good
work.”
As Paul instructs us to protect the church and mortify sin in our own
lives, he wants us to see that that effort is, in fact, the pursuit of
holiness. And, the effect of that holiness is that we will be fashioned to
fulfill His good works, chief of which is to tell the world about Jesus.
Thus, holiness and the Great Commission go hand in hand.
From one of the great teachers of
holiness comes this prescription for all of us:
“Tell the young, tell the
poor, tell the aged, tell the ignorant, tell the sick, tell the dying — tell
them all about Christ. Tell them of His power, and tell them of His love; tell
them of His doings, and tell them of His feelings; tell them what He has done
for the chief of sinners; tell them what He is willing to do until the last day
of time; tell it to them over and over again. Never
be tired of speaking of Christ. Say to them broadly and fully, freely and
unconditionally, unreservedly and undoubtingly, ‘Come unto Christ, as the
penitent thief did; come unto Christ, and you shall be saved.'” – J.C.
Ryle (underline added)
Rescued by Christ,
Pastor Tim