Holiness – A Call to Concern
Holiness – or wholeness – is far more than just avoiding lists of sin. But holiness, as Donald Shafer argues in his sermon, is expressed through genuine concern for the needy.
He tells a story about his visit to Philadelphia in which he jumped off a plane, took a limousine to the city, then boarded a bus to the college campus at which he was going to speak, and he says this: “I stood on a rooftop and surveyed the obvious poverty and absentee landlordism. I heard unbelievable reports of police brutality and saw it happen on the streets. I was forced to ask, ‘where does holy concern begin?’”
Holiness Through Compassion
And then he quotes Paul’s words in Galatians 5:13-14: “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.””
You see, holiness is not about portraying a clean image to the world. Holiness is about caring. It’s about loving. It’s about compassion for those in need. And so often we miss this – so often we place a great emphasis on the inner Christian life where our hearts are cleansed by God and captured by his love, but perhaps our faith never moves to the outer realities of the world around us.
John Wesley, a great man of God in the 1700s, had a great passion for holiness. His self-proclaimed mission was to ‘spread Scriptural holiness through the land’. But Wesley’s view of holiness always included care for neighbours, and alleviation of social problems as far as he could help.
Christlike Compassionate Living
So ask yourself: is your pursuit of holiness, of Christlikeness, rooted in care for others? Do you long to be more like Jesus, by caring for the struggling, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned? Do you see your resources as gifts to share with those who don’t have? Do we give willingly to our neighbours, with a holy love?
Shafer says “the Scriptures are clear in teaching that the very core of holy love is to care for one another. To be whole is to serve each other in love.”
Let’s live holy lives today, by our Christlike concern and care for those in need around us.
