The Beauty of Holiness - Part 4

Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; 

worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

Psalms 29:2

This is the last in the series on the beauty of holiness. We approached the beauty of holiness through the back door, so to speak, because those things that mar that beauty were introduced first. We should know that it doesn't matter that we say we love God, there is a standard to be upheld in those that proclaim to be a child of God. By now, we should be able to see that worship is far more than church attendance. Worshiping God is not merely the formality of bowing down before God. We worship God through: 

                                a lifestyle that is pleasing to Him, 

                                by following His statutes, 

                                by being submissive to His purpose and His will for our lives.  

We observe His nature and character and we mirror them.  The  strength we need to meet our needs is found in none other than God; thus when we submit to Him, we worship Him; give Him honor and glory.

Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.  1 Chronicles 16:29

During this dispensation, our sacrifice is not animals, but we present ourselves to God; a living sacrifice!

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  Romans 12:1

We have looked at areas of improper sex, tattoos, and lying/cursing.  The final in this series discusses drugs and sowing discord.
  

Drugs, alcoholism, nicotine, marijuana

First is the addictive nature of all. The intent of Scripture is that any habit (even of coffee or some other "legal" drug) that has mastered us puts us outside of the control and freedom of Christ. In short, if we live at the level of "carnal instincts", we put ourselves under condemnation rather than grace. The battle is between the carnal nature and God, and when we decide to cave to the lower nature we are spiritually rejecting the grace of Jesus Christ who came to "set us free" from all such bondage.

Secondly, and more to the point of marijuana and alcohol, is using drugs to change our moods, alter our personality or seemingly improve our lives. Drugs are not sin in general, but using drugs and alcohol to solve, forget or lessen our feelings concerning our problems instead of turning to Christ is not only forsaking the grace of God, but ignoring the faith that God is the only real sustainer. 

God offers all that we could desire in the Gospel: love, joy, peace, strength, power, fellowship, relaxation and rest, peaceful sleep, and tranquility.  In the Gospel we lay our lives down and wait for His resurrection power in us; we don’t pop a pill, have a drink or smoke something and "cheat" to get it.

Scriptures to consider:

Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean;  Leviticus 10:9-10,

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.  Ephesians 2:1-3,

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.  Romans 8:5-8,

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.  Galatians 5:16-17,

And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.  Galatians 5:24-25  

Whispering/backbiting

WHISPERER:   A tattler; one who tells secrets; a conveyer of intelligence secretly. A backbiter; one who slanders secretly.

BACKBITING:   The act of slandering the absent;

The primary source of such talk is a lack of fellowship with Jesus Christ. The Bible says that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks: 

O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.  Matthew 12:34

If a man or woman is not hiding God’s word in their heart, seeking the face of God in prayer, and continuing in a healthy fellowship with God, these actions will be common.

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.   I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.   For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?   1 Corinthian 3:1-3

Everybody wants to belong to something and associate with others. We must be certain, however, that within the household of faith, the common ground that we share is Biblical. 

And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.  Galatians 2:13

The seriousness of whispering and backbiting is this:  While we are prone to think of sins of the tongues as minor transgressions, the scripture paints a very different picture.  

Paul describes the depth of ungodliness that man has stooped to upon forsaking the knowledge of God, and he provides a list of sins.

Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,  Romans 1:29-30

In the center of that list you see “whisperers” and “backbiters” tucked between “murderers” and “haters of God”.    These sins serve only to sow discord and never to edify and because of this, the perpetrators are said to be the special object of God’s own hatred

Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy. These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.  Proverbs 6:15-19

These sinful acts are not of God and discount a lifestyle of holiness. God not only instructs us to be holy, but tells us to separate ourselves; to come out from among them. Who are ‘them’? Those who are not holy; those who have lent themselves to the works of the flesh. 

Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God.  Leviticus 20:7

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.  2 Corinthians 6:17

Develop a lifestyle that is not marred by sin; one where we worship God with out interference due to the caving in of our flesh or self nature.  Pray the prayer that King David prayed and ask for God's help

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.  

Psalms 51:10

(Biblical Study)

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