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    Converge Bible Studies: Being Holy
    Converge Bible Studies: Being Holy
    Converge Bible Studies: Being Holy
    Ebook59 pages43 minutes

    Converge Bible Studies: Being Holy

    By Shane Raynor

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    About this ebook

    What does it mean to be holy? The author of Hebrews tells us we’ve already been made holy through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. But in the same letter, we’re also told to pursue holiness. What are we to make of this apparent paradox? Are there multiple types of holiness, or just multiple levels of the same attribute? In Being Holy, you’ll explore the meaning of biblical holiness and how it relates to justification, sanctification, and Christian perfection.

    Converge Bible Studies is a series of topical Bible studies based on the Common English Bible. Each title in the series consists of four studies on a common topic or theme. Converge can be used by small groups, classes, or individuals. Primary Scripture passages are included for ease of study, as are questions designed to encourage both personal reflection and group conversation. The topics and Scriptures in Converge come together to transform readers’ relationships with others, themselves, and God.


    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAbingdon Press
    Release dateApr 15, 2014
    ISBN9781426795572
    Converge Bible Studies: Being Holy
    Author

    Shane Raynor

    Shane Raynor is an editor and blogger at MinistryMatters.com and the series editor for Converge Bible Studies. He has contributed to Circuit Rider, Good News, and Outreach magazines. Before Shane moved to Nashville, he lived in Austin, Texas, where he was a volunteer youth worker in an urban multicultural United Methodist congregation. Shane is a Bible geek, news junkie, social media addict, and serious coffee drinker.

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      Book preview

      Converge Bible Studies - Shane Raynor

      INTRODUCTION

      What do you picture when you hear the word holiness? Some Christians think of behavior-based religion. How is a Christian supposed to act? What would Jesus do? What are the dos and don’ts of the Christian faith? Where are the boundaries?

      The big problem, however, with focusing on behavior is that it misses the point of living faith. In Western culture, where we’re heavily influenced by the business world, we tend to focus on performance; and performance has to measurable. A strangely warmed heart isn’t measurable—neither is the infilling of the Holy Spirit—but the number of sins we commit and the amount of time we spend in prayer and Bible study are.

      So we gravitate toward focusing on the things we can mentally track on our spiritual scorecards. Unfortunately, we can do everything right (although odds are we won’t) and not make an ounce of progress in our walk with Christ. When I was a church youth worker, I struggled to find that magical middle ground between cheap grace and legalism. And I discovered that if I focused too much on behavior and not enough on Jesus, students would follow my lead and do the same. Unfortunately, rather than making disciples who had freedom in Christ and lived to please God, I sometimes felt like I was giving them rules for not disappointing me and for fitting into the Christian world better.

      If a desire for holiness starts with performance and behavior and doesn’t come from a place of grace and relationship, then living a holy life isn’t about becoming more like Christ; it’s an existence that lives at the extremes of never being good enough or looking for loopholes in the Law. Our behavior has then become the basis for our faith (or lack of it) rather than the fruit of it. That’s a depressing (and theologically dangerous) place to be.

      Jesus had some strong words to those who focused on the external first instead of the internal:

      "How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and plate, but inside they are full of violence and pleasure seeking. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup so that the outside of the cup will be clean too.

      "How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs. They look beautiful on the outside. But inside they are full of dead bones and all kinds of filth. In the same way you look righteous to people. But inside you are full of pretense and rebellion. (Matthew 23:25-28)

      I’m a bit weird when it comes to washing dishes. I rinse everything before placing it in the dishwasher, but I insist on the dishes being visibly spotless before I put them through the wash cycle. I suppose I figure that if I take care of all the stuff I can see, the dishwasher will take care of the stuff I can’t see.

      But what if we had no other criteria for a clean dish than visible cleanliness? Suppose we were to rinse dishes with cold water only until we didn’t see any more food on them. No hot water, no detergent, no scrubbing. Would they be clean? Well, we might not experience any problems most of the time; but when it comes to eating and drinking, the things you can’t see (for example, bacteria) are more dangerous than many of the things you can see.

      Would you eat in a restaurant that you knew wasn’t sanitizing its plates and silverware? What about going to a dentist who didn’t sterilize dental instruments?

      Consider

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