Holiness: The Heart God Purifies - Week #5 [Epilogue]

And from the throne came a voice saying, "Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great." Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure"-- for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true words of God."  (Revelation 19:5-9)

At the conclusion of her book, DeMoss brings to remembrance the glorious future of the bride of Christ,  individuals from throughout the ages who have been spiritually united to Christ through faith. As believers, we are being prepared for this blessed future event, we are being transformed into the image of the beloved. (2Cor.3:18; Romans 8:29)  And God calls us to participate in this preparation, i.e. our sanctification.  Paul gives a clear picture of the process in the opening verses of Romans 12. 

• "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." (Rom.12:1)

Worship isn't just what you do in church for a few hours on Sunday morning and evening.  It's how you live out your entire life in submission to God.  A believer's body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1Cor.6:19-20).  In contrast to OT sacrifices, we are to be LIVING sacrifices.  Day by day, moment by moment yielding every area of our lives and all of our activities to God's use.  Is that how you view your life?  When you awake in the morning, do you acknowledge God's presence in your life and take a few moments to communicate with Him before arising?  Do you spend time in His Word in the morning, giving your mind a biblical perspective for facing the day?  All of this service is based upon the mercies God has poured out upon us (Romans, Chapters 1-11).

• "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Rom.12:2)

There is both a "stop" and a "go" in this verse, a "put off" and a "put on".  Notice how Scripture never tells us to "put off" an unrighteous behavior without telling us to "put on" a specific righteous behavior in its place.  We are to "stop" living according to the pattern of this evil age, out of which God saved us! (Gal.1:4)   Over time, believers are to increasingly be "putting off" conformity to the thinking of the world system, which is in stark opposition to God, and by means of renewing their minds with God's Word,  they are to be "putting on" God-centered thinking, making them able to discern the will of God as revealed in His Word.

• "For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned." (Rom.12:3)

Walk humbly before God.  Having a spirit of humility means you think soberly about yourself, shining the light of God's truth ever deeper into the recesses of your mind, the way you think, your expectations, the way you view others, they way you look at the world.  It means slowly taking on God's view as yours, not in order to raise yourself up above others, but in order to be God's servant to all.

• "For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another." (Rom.12:4-5)

The Christian does not live out his life as the "Lone Ranger," but is placed by God into a body of believers who are intended to function together as a unit.  God has chosen to work through local assemblies of believers in this age.  We are each just a small piece of a group that must function in coordination with one another in order to accomplish the work assigned us. That's why fostering unity within the local body is such an important biblical concept, stressed repeatedly in the New Testament (Eph.4:3, 13; Phil.2:1-5; 1Pet.3:8).

DeMoss closes her book by reminding us "there's a Wedding coming ...The bridegroom is a holy Bridegroom, and he must have a holy bride.  And our Savior will have a holy bride. That's why He loved the church and gave Himself up for her.  That's why He took all those stains and blots on Himself."  DeMoss invites us to share in a God-centered world-view of life, "My goal in life is not that I would be free from problems or pain ... not that I would have great relationships or be healthy and financially secure.  My deepest desire is that I would be a holy woman and that the church of Jesus Christ would be holy."  Amen?

[Based upon the book Holiness: The Heart God Purifies, Nancy Leigh DeMoss
Week #1; Week #2; Week #3; Week #4]