Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah and may the grace of our Master Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) be with us all as we assemble in His Name.

We continue with our series on seeking for unity with others in the Body of Christ by looking at six key areas where I firmly believe that unity can not only be found but must be found. We have completed our study of the New Birth and Baptism, the Master's (Lord's) Supper, Prayer, and the Scriptures and today we are going to look closely at Holiness.

My health took a sharp downwards turn during the preparation of this sermon as the result of a heavy fall following my heart operation (which only 9 days afterwards we discovered was caused by a broken rib) which set my recovery back by weeks. In the aftermath of this accident, in a moment of lapsed concentration, I accidentally deleted all that I had prepared for today even though, like a well-trained IT man, I had made three backup copies! Yes, I overwrote all three copies, believe it or not, showing that even the best laid plans can sometimes go wrong. So what I have to share with you is my 2.0 updated version which I decided to approach in a completely different way. So, who knows, maybe both the loss date and health were providential after all.

Why, you might ask, is holiness so important to unity? Holiness is, I would like to suggest, important in all relationship-building, starting with Yahweh Himself and including every single living soul we ever have contact with, but especially those we live close to. A problem we're going to encounter, which we must deal with right at the start, is what our English word 'holiness' actually means as it's one of those dense theological words that needs to be carefully unpacked because Christian and Messianic traditions mean different things by it. So we need to get that suitcase out that we spoke about two weeks ago (this time the one labelled 'holiness'), blow the dust off it, unlock it, and carefully unfold its contents so that we can lay it out, inspect it, and finally use it.

'Holy'. 'Holiness'. There's surprisingly not a lot of disagreement amongst the Bible teachers and theologians of the various denominations as to what the words actually mean. All the contention seems to be over how one becomes 'holy', how one acquires 'holiness'. But let us first be agreed what English-speakers mean by the word 'holy' and then we can consider the biblical Hebrew and Greek meanings. I think most would agree that to be 'holy' in our language and culture means to be consecrated, set-apart or made sacred; to be morally perfect, belonging to, empowered by, and devoted to Elohim (God); to be of high moral excellence. That's a lot wrapped up in one word!

Before the messianic paganism hunter-general rides into town with his ready-to-draw six-shooter hanging low from his leather Torah holster, may I say categorically that our English word has nothing whatsoever to do with the colourful Hindu festival called Holi, just so we're clear about that. You'll find an article on that particular subject on the web site if you're interested to learn more.

The Hebrew words qadosh or qodesh, which we translate as 'holy', come from a root word meaning 'to be bright' or 'to be new or fresh, untarnished or clean' in both a physical and a moral or spiritual sense. So qadosh (or qodesh) means cleanness, purity, sacredness and set-apartness which collectively refers to being 'set-apart to the service of Elohim (God)'. The Greek equivalent, hagios, means pretty much the same thing. However, in addition, to be qadosh also refers to a quality of Elohim (God) and the purity or perfection in one's conduct.

So holiness means to be completely dedicated and devoted to Yahweh, distinct and separate from the world's way of living. It means to be committed to right living and purity. Holiness is the absence of sin, evil, and wrongdoing. It is being spotlessly free from blemish. But at the same time, holiness is much more than the absence of sin. It is the presence of righteousness, purity, and godliness. It is the presence of something greater and more wonderful than ourselves.

This is actually a huge word, so big, in fact, that as we shall see, it is closely linked to two others. So what we're dealing with is not one suitcase but three, or perhaps a better analogy would be a very large trunk with three compartments which with some justification might be called The Christian/Messianic Life. These three synonyms, these three identical existential experiences, coextensive in sense and usage with each other, even if they may have different emphases, with their densely-wrapped contents, we may call (in English at any rate):

• 1. Holiness;
• 2. Perfection; and
• 3. Sanctification

Next to Father, Son and Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit), a greater 'tri-unity' or 'trinity' cannot be named:

• 1. Perfection - a state of purity, an endowment of complete excellent and ideal faultlessness;
• 2. Sanctification, the state of being sanctified or made holy, especially by the act of Elohim's (God's) grace, His undeserved loving kindness, His unmerited favour, by which the minds and hearts of men are purified, alienated from sin, and exalted to a supreme love for Yahweh;
• 3. Consecration, being set-apart for a sacred purpose, being made free from sin, cleansed from moral corruption, made efficient in the cause of the Master.

So, yes, in a general sense, this second tri-unity comprehends the whole of the Christian/Messianic life! I will not fault our language for its use of these terms for it seems to me that it has perfectly grasped the scriptural sense of what holiness is. The pagan hunter-general is not needed in this neck of the woods. These are all high, noble and godly, biblical concepts even if different Christian and Messianic traditions tend to emphasise this or that aspect at the expense of others. And some, sadly, pay little regard to holiness at all. One of the greatest mediaeval Latin-speaking exponents of holiness was the Catholic monk, Thomas von Kempen, better known to us as Thomas à Kempis, who wrote the most excellent of books, which we highly recommend, called The Imitation of Christ.

So we are going to be carrying a lot of material on this journey. I won't deny that the responsibility of unpacking and conveying all the elements of this accurately to you fills me with a lot of fear. Many great Bible Teachers have attempted to do so over the centuries, and have written a large number of books in the process but have usually ended up creating denominations in the process, which is what we're not only trying to halt but reverse! Martin Luther, Jean Calvin, and John Wesley in particular, to name but three from the Reformation, struggled to understand these huge theological suitcases, and came to different conclusions. There are others, of course, from the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions too - I have already named Thomas von Kempen. So I will do my best to keep it simple because it's so easy to get lost in the dense theological forest laced with high-faluting, complicated academic words. Before long your head can be sent spinning, causing you to easily lose all sense of direction.

By way of a warning: our own English language, rich and wonderful though it is in one way, with such a huge vocabulary and rich in contrasts - perfect and unsurpassed for poetry and literature - is a hybrid of many other languages and can be a nightmare for students of the Bible. We often hear half-a-dozen different words for which there is only one in the Bible. To speak this language of ours you have to think like a Saxon-German, a Scandinavian-Dane or -Norwegian, a Gælic-Celt (whose language has a lot in common with Semitic, by the way), a Roman, a Greek and a Frenchman all rolled into one...to name the main contributors! That's a smörgåsbord of seven languages!! No wonder foreign students throw up their hands sometimes! I know, I used to teach English as a Foreign Language at one time and I can still remember the perplexed expression on the faces of my Japanese and Iranian students! Here's my point: we and our confounded language, a legacy of the Tower of Babel imposed on us because of rebellion and sin, are half the cause of the theological and denomination confusion that reigns. Just take the words 'holiness', 'perfection' and 'sanctification' - the first of those is Germanic and the other two are Latin - two totally different mindsets with separate cultural histories!

There are two essential truths about holiness which we must understand correctly if we are to find unity that may appear on the surface to be contradictory but which are, in fact, complimentary. These may be stated as follows:

• 1. When we become regenerated, born-again believers, Elohim (God) makes us qadosh (holy) by forgiving our sins on account of our trusting in the atoning work of His Son, Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ). In a word, when we become authentically 'saved', the Father then looks at us like a Judge in a Court of Law as though we had never sinned because all He sees is the Son in us - His Son has paid the price for our sins or spiritual crimes. We do absolutely nothing to obtain the sentence of death lifted from us except to accept Yah'shua (Jesus) acting as a Substitute for our punishment. We are rendered 'holy' in the legal or forensic sense.

• 2. However, whilst we are jurisdictionally or legally rendered 'holy' by the Heavenly Court, with Yahweh as Judge and Yah'shua (Jesus) as the Substitute, it is perfectly obvious that we have not ourselves perfected holiness because of all the 'unholy', impure, sinful things we still do. We must still strive each day to be more like Yah'shua (Jesus), more qadosh (holy), more set-apart, purer in thoughts, feelings and deeds. The traditional argument goes, 'only when we get to heaven will we be completely holy' but in the meantime we have a lot to do. That needs some explanation.

There are obvious tensions between these two ideas, in the way we have stated them, which is the classical Protestant one. On the one hand, there is nothing whatsoever we can do to be 'holy' ourselves for only Messiah is perfectly holy; and on the other hand, holiness is something we clearly have to work at, to actualise in our lives, to make manifest in our living. It doesn't 'do' itself. It requires action on our part. On the one hand, we are brought into a state of legal, forensic, or jurisdictional holiness not by what we do, but by what Yah'shua (Jesus) has done for us on the cross, cleansing us from sin through forgiveness (1 Cor.1:2,30; 6:11; Eph.1:4).

To be holy then means that Yahweh looks at us as though we never sinned (Eph.5:25-27), like a Judge. But at the same time, in addition to the acquisition of this 'legal holiness' through emunah (faith) and repentance, we organically or practically grow in holiness by constantly learning and applying biblical Torah truths (Jn.17:17) which means that we have to work hard to keep sin out of our lives (2 Cor.7:1). Our 'legal holiness', maintained by continuing to trust in the finished work Yah'shua (Jesus), will, after death, gain us entrance to Heaven and the Resurrection provided we didn't turn away from, and finally exhaust, His grace in mortality by denying Him and becoming utterly reprobate; but we will be judged as to what what kind of heaven we shall inherit, what rewards we shall receive in the eternities, based on what we do...only the idea that we have to do anything conflicts with some of the teachings of various churches and denominations, a major cause of disunity, for whom obeying the Torah in any form is 'strictly verboten' because they are terrified that any kind of 'doing' mocks and undermines the cross and denies grace.

Many of the denominational divisions that persist do so over disagreements concerning the relationship between what Yahweh has already done through Yah'shua (Jesus) and what we as believers must ourselves must do to maintain and grow in that holiness in ourselves. No-one, I am pretty sure, disagrees over the truth that the source of all holiness is Elohim (God) Himself - we neither naturally possess it nor can we manufacture it from scratch from within ourselves. It has only one origin - Heaven.

If the two concepts were to be likened to Mathematics, then the human 'doing' part could best be compared to Calculus which most of us didn't start learning until we were around the mid-teens because it requires a certain intellectual development before it can be grasped. Here is where the highly legal Western, Roman mindsets crashes - it cannot grasp what appears to be two contradictory propositions when, in fact, it is the difference between what I call '3D globe-earth' vs. '2D flat-earth'-type theology. They're both looking at the same reality but interpreting it totally differently, one of which (globism) is based on a lot of knowledge about the universe and the other (flat-earthism) is based on practically none. Why are the flat-earthers so blind? Because they either reject science (because they think it's fake or because their interpretation of the Bible conflicts with known, testable and repeatable scientific data) or they can't do science because they're not mature enough yet or just don't have the aptitude or gifting to be a scientist. Just try explaining what 'gravity' is to a flat-earther and you'll see what I mean.

It is no different in the domain of theology. There are those who refuse to accept any of the findings of scholarship (in linguistics, history, textual criticism, etc.) and there are those who just don't have the gifting or aptitude to be scholars in one or more of these fields, or they may just not be mature enough yet and will become scholars later, or they may think scholars are part of some giant worldwide conspiracy (as flat-earthers do) who are deliberately befuddling our understanding of the Bible. And there are for sure atheists and liberals who do create confusion with their complicated yet predictably self-contradictory 'explanations' because they have no belief in the supernatural.

Now in all of this, to exercise a certain amount of trust and faith in people who are skilled is obviously required, people who are more skilled than we are. Society, like the Messianic Community (Church), is a body consisting of people with different giftings and skills on whom we must learn to depend to a certain degree. And whilst we should never surrender all our thinking to anyone, by not giving a scholar carte blanche or unreserved trust, you cannot get anywhere in this life with not doing this up to a point. The computer I am broadcasting on today requires that I trust the electronic and software engineers who created it and the Internet on which it works. Were I do dismiss them as conspiratorial fakes, for example, I would neither be able to compile, broadcast, nor place on web sites all that I do. I rely on the technical expertise of a lot of people but I do not give them unconditional trust. Software engineers get it wrong sometimes and so do theologians. I have had doctors misdiagnose my illnesses.

In the preparation of this sermon I read material by both Jean Calvin and John Wesley who have opposite ideas in lots of things. I read conservative and liberal scholars to try to understand how they have arrived at their conclusions because each tends to spot the weaknesses of the other which they and their own kind tend to be blind to. That's why I read both conservative and socialist authors for my information on politics even if I myself am a 'conservative'. And though, like I discussed last week and the week before, we can all claim that we are 'Spirit-led' in our world views and theological houses, not only is this subjective approach ultimately untestable but manifestly not always true. We do grope around in the dark a lot and rely on our collective experience and wisdom in so many areas. I have never met a living soul who was led entirely by 100 per cent pure revelation and anyone who claims he or she is, is truly deluded.

But I disgress somewhat, though to underline a point since this is such an important subject and the theologies of many are riding on getting this correct. In our hurry to create neat theological systems we can often take very dangerous shortcuts by relying too much on those we should not be relying on, like unbelievers when it comes to theology or on those whose theology is notoriously unreliable in other areas. No man should become your exclusive theological guru.

Yet emet (truth) can at times come from the most unexpected places. At different times in my ministry I have relied too much on Protestant or Messianic scholars because they respectively claimed to know better Greek or Hebrew than I (which they usually, though not always, did) only to discover that in spite of their great reservoir of linguistic knowledge they were as fallible as the next man when it came to understanding truth principles. Typically they will have Achilles' heels such as Neo-Platonism (traditional Christians) or Kabbalism (Messianics) that totally distort their thinking in important areas (like the Elohimhead/Godhead). I have had pet theories blown wide open by both Catholics and Eastern Orthodox who, though they are wrong about so many things, are nevertheless very right about others, as you would expect in any theological body of knowledge and wisdom. That's why, in recent times, I have been seeking fresh avenues of understanding, to deal with those apparent contradictions. And usually the solutions are ludicrously simple.

Let's try to condense down what we've covered today as that's all we the time we have. For those of you who would would like to dig deeper, we have a Holiness website with many articles you can study. In a nutshell, having unpacked the suitcase, we may unfold Holiness as a great sheet that has two sides, and each of these contains these two summaries. In them I use another one of those densely packed theological words - Grace - which we will unpack next time, hopefully. So here are the two sides of the same piece of theological linen:

• 1. Holiness is the gift of Elohim (God) through the mediation of Messiah. In other words, everything dedicated to Elohim (God), partakes, in a certain manner, of His holiness. But we have to do the dedicating - we have to make the decision. I dedicated my life to searching for Yahweh at the altar of the Anglican Martyrs' Memorial Church in Oxford, England, where the Protestant martyrs were condemned by Catholics to be burned at the stake at a place called Martyrs' Memorial which I used to cycle past most days. It was an all-or-nothing dedication I made, and though I didn't at the time use the world 'holiness', it was that that was implied. Holiness signifies that every thought of man, every emotion, every act, every deed, indeed, all that combines to make up ones life, is determined by the will of Elohim (God). In so doing, in so actualising (it isn't easy, and it can take a lifetime to do), the "old man" (Col.3:9, KJV), who has been burned by worldly lust and shackled with the chains of the flesh, is cast off, and the "new man" (Col.3:10, KJV) is fully put on. This is both the work or action of Elohim (God) and man. This divine grace comes from Elohim (God) through Messiah, and man must seize this proffered hand of Yahweh, using this sanctifying means of grace with the assistance of Elohim (God) for perfecting his state of purity. Man must consciously and willingly - by daily acts of volition - put off this "old man" and put on the "new man" to be a true believer- Elohim (God) will make a person new if he will first, by Elohim's (God's) grace, put off the "old" ;

• 2. Believers are called qodeshim, 'saints' or 'holy' because they have chosen to consecrate themselves to Yahweh's service [1] though trusting obedience. Moreover, they are called or described as 'holy', by Yahweh, in so far as they are habitually good, not sinning, thinking and acting in a godlike manner, and conforming their innermost being to the will of Elohim (God), with outward manifestations of blameless conduct, living the life of "the pure in heart" [2]. The question is - and this is what theologians have quarrelled over and sometimes split into denominations over - are saved people totally unable not to do righteousness because they are overpowered by so-called 'irresistable grace', having no objective free agency of their own (as Calvin taught) so that (as is claimed in hyper-humility) all credit goes to Yahweh and man cannot therefore be rewarded for his choosing to do good? Or do we have genuine free choice to be holy or unholy by tapping the power of Messiah within us, received through salvational trusting (as we and many others teach)?

For those who would like to do a private scriptural study on the subject of holiness during the coming week I have left some detailed footnotes on the website [3][4][5] as I don't want to extend this sermon into a second week.

Holiness, in particular, is a subject that Paul hammers away at in the early chapters of 1 Corinthians which makes it particularly interesting for us this morning. Do we know, for instance, why the Corinthians in particular were having problems with this subject? Why were the Methodist and the Welsh Revivals (of the 18th and early 20th centuries, respectively) so successful? Why did 'revival' seem to skirt by those Corinthians? What went wrong with them? Having living apostles amongst them didn't seem to tip the balance to their advantage.

The reason things wernt went wrong at Corinth (which is an early congregation that particularly interests me) is that they didn't understand the resurrection. What they didn't get - and this is true of a lot of Christians today too - is that what you do with your physical body in the present - the way you treat it - actually matters. Why? Because Yahweh physically raised Yah'shua (Jesus) and will also one day physically raise us by His power.

These believers really didn't have a good background. They were severely disadvantaged when compared to those raised in the Hebrew Torah lifestyle. According to Paul these converts had been sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexual offenders, thieves, greedy, drunkards, slanderers and swindlers (1 Cor.6:9-10). That was pretty typical of the people of Corinth just as such behaviour is typical today. Modern Christians and Messianics come from a similar background! Worse, there were believers who still had problems in these areas, just as there are today! And they weren't dealing with these issues. Why? What was their handicap? BECAUSE THEIR THEOLOGY OF THE RESURRECTION WAS WRONG. And remember there were two false schools of thought about the physical body in those days, both of which are extreme:

• 1. Gnosticism - which taught physical matter, and therefore the body, was evil and should be suppressed, which is the belief of many religions including Buddhism and Roman Catholicism; and
• 2. Libertinism (also called Nicolaitianism) - which taught that only the spirit mattered and that it really didn't matter how you treated the body, so they believed in letting the fleshy nature have its own evil way. One of the lies they taught was that the more sinful you were, the more abundantly grace would flow, and that was surely, they reasoned, a desirable thing. It was a form of antinomianism or lawlessness taken to an extreme and made out to be religious and holy. Paul's response to that mindset was blunt:

  "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" (Rom.6:1-3, NKJV).

Both these attitides - Gnosticism and Libertinism - created major spiritual dysfunctions in the ancient world. You see, doctrine does matter because of the way it impacts moral and spiritual life in general. Libertinism, as elsewhere in the Greco-Roman world, was a major problem. And it still is today. It's a global problem. It is unholiness. And when it gets a hold of society, it's extremely difficult to dislodge without the Gospel message followed by repentance and spiritual regeneration.

What I want to convey to you this morning as we finish is not so much the importance of a correct understanding of the doctrine of the resurrection because that will affect our whole emunah (faith) life - which is undoubtedly true - nor because the social cohesion and echadness (oneness) of a local congregation or the Body as a whole depends on Torah morality - which is also true - but because I want to emphasise, underline and embolden a third equally important truth which is this: we must glorify Elohim (God) in our bodies because one day He will glorify the body itself. What is true in the future must begin to be true in the present or it will later be called into question whether you were really on track in the first place.

So how does the resurrection make a difference in all of this? What were the Corinthians missing? What I am trying to say is this - and this connects back to everything else I have been saying this morning - propositional or 'brain' theology alone is neither enough to save you nor to equip you to be prepared for the New Life which will one day come in its fullness in the resurrection. It is not enough to have theology 'correctly done' in your head which you can then tap, and feed off, even though that's a start. The importance of right-thinking - of having a "renewed mind" - is indeed everywhere stressed in Scripture, for we are called to have "the mind of Messiah" (1 Cor.2:16, NIV). However, in order to partake of the promised New Creation...to actually get our hands on it - in part in this life but in its fullness in the next - there has to be a change of heart too, a repentance from sin, which, coupled with trusting in the finished work of Messiah, alone opens the door up to spiritual rebirth, which alone brings a sample of that New Life from Yahweh's future into our present.

This is the thing that the Ruach (Spirit) has been laying heavily on me and which I am trying to share. We won't recognise Yahweh's future 'resurrection reality', if I can call it that, nor will we identify with it let alone be drawn to it, if we haven't started taking it 'on board' now in our bodies as well as in our spirits! The 'spiritual life', experienced in the flesh and reflected in outward behaviour and physical action in the here-and-now, is 'prepping' or preparation for what is to come. And it's not just the spiritual man that has to be prepared. Yes, our physical bodies will die and turn to dust (unless we are of the blessed few who are alive when the Master returns) but our spirits will remember the physical lives to which we were accustomed and be marked to receive back, in perfected form, that which we laid down in the grave.

Once you have grasped that, you will better understand what Paul is talking about in Romans 6 and Colossians 3 - that's what he means when he says we must become part of Elohim's (God's) New Creation in the here-and-now. We are familiarising ourself for the life-to-come. And if we're not attracted to the life-to-come and won't make the adjustments physically and morally to that world now, by living it out even though the old Creation opposes us at every turn, what on earth makes us think we will either be attracted to the New Creation when it comes in its fullness let alone be counted worthy for it?

This is just another way of saying that the way you live now will determine the kind of life you get then. And if it's just in your head - and if it's just an 'inside dream' that you have no intention of actually 'living out' in the outside world, how can you expect to receive anything different from what you have chosen now - today - when the New Creation comes in all its glory? Am I making sense?

In other words, to give an extreme example, if you believe in Yah'shua (Jesus), the resurrection, and the New Creation-to-come but insist on living the lifestyle of a libertine or a Nicolaitian, you don't actually 'believe in Yah'shua (Jesus), the resurrection, and the New Creation-to-come' in the sense that the Bible uses the word "believe" - it's only in your head, flying around in some neuronal network, but it's not actually in your life and living. You are yet 'untouched' - unregenerated, unbirthed - by the Besorah (Gospel), by Messiah. You're just a reprobate philosopher, an ancient Greek, and not too smart at that either. Reason? You haven't died to self. Reason? You don't want to die to self. Reason? You love yourself more than you love Elohim (God). What does that make you? An idolater...basically.

Here, I have to say, that as a rule, holiness Pentecostals have a better grasp of what I am trying to say than cessationist Baptists and others. It is Paul's Epistle to the Romans that provides the key to so much of this, the key which seems to have been thrown away by so many denominations. This is a letter, as I have mentioned before, that I have beeen reading over and over again this last six months or so, a letter that works in a complex but coherent symphonic development. It isn't simply a string of points, one after another, as expository students of the Bible might go in search of, with some doctrines here and some ethics there.

In particular, the analysis of the human plight in Romans 1:18 to 2:16, starting with the ominous words, "But Elohim (God) shows His anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the emet (truth) away from themselves. For the emet (truth) of Elohim (God) is known to them instinctively. Elohim (God) has put this knowledge in their hearts" (Rom.1:18-19, NLT), is a reminder that we are not walking around completely blind, that we have an in-built conscience placed in us at birth (Jn.1:9), so in in the old Creation we have not been left without a moral compass.

Furthermore, these aren't words that Paul randomly threw into this letter. All of this is a carefully callibrated, integral flow of the letter. So when the apostle started reflecting on the kind of immoral behaviour that had become standard among pagans, as it has in our own 21st century society, he speaks of Yahweh 'giving them up' to an unfit mind, and the worst thing he can say about pagan immorality in chapter 1 is the last verse, that "they are fully aware of Elohim's (God's) death penalty for those who do these things, yet they go right ahead and do them anyway. And, worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too" (Rom.1:32, NLT).

It's one thing to be lured into sin, but quite another to change the moral compass and call good evil, and evil good. And this cast of the mind links directly to the major command in chapter 12:

"I appeal to you, therefore, brothers [and sisters], by the mercies of Elohim (God), to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, qadosh (holy, set-apart) and acceptable to Elohim (God), which is your spiritual (reasonable) worship. Do not be conformed to this world (æon, age), but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of Elohim (God) - what is [the] good and acceptable and perfect [will of Elohim (God)]" (Rom.12:1-2, NRSV).

This is what theologians call 'inaugurated eschatology'. In other words, this is what resurrection life looks like when it comes forward in time from Yahweh's future to our present and into the moral life of the person of emunah (faith). For Paul, holiness is never a matter of simply finding out the way you seem to be made and trusting that that's the way Elohim (God) intends you to be. Nor is it a matter of blind obedience to a set of rules, likely viewed by most moderns as 'arbitrary' and 'out-of-date', yet totally relevant and necessary. It's a matter of TRANSFORMATION, starting with the mind, working into the heart, and then then into the body life and thence outwardly into one's surroundings as you interact with other people to catalyse change in them.

This is why, to return to 1 Corinthians, it is the resurrection - both that of Yah'shua (Jesus) and of ourselves - which provides, in passages like chapters 5 & 6, the ultimate rationale for Christian/Messianic behaviour. Now listen carefully: it isn't the case that 'Christian ethics' consist of a few odd regulations, like avoiding sexual immorality or eating kashrut, which believers are supposed to follow while living in exactly the same world as everyone else, just as it isn't the case that the resurrection of Yah'shua (Jesus) was simply a very strange 'miracle' within the world of the old Creation. Get this: the resurrection was the full bursting into this fallen world of the chayim (life) of Yahweh's New Creation. And so 'Christian' or 'New Covenant Torah ethics' is the lifestyle that celebrates and embodies that New Creation. When we live this way - spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically, we are like malakim or angels - messengers - from another world, a yet-to-be world - Yahweh's Resurrection world - to those in this old world who have never seen it, who know nothing about it, who have never been shown an alternative reality. We are here to show them something wonderful and desirable, as Yahweh's ambassadors, our lives becoming a kind of 'Resurrection Expo[sition]', a demonstration (in part) of what is yet to be in full which is being offered to them too. And it follows, if you don't have this New Life, then how can you demonstrate this New World to anyone?

Please hold onto this picture while it's fresh because there's a tiny bit more I need to add and then I am finished for this week. We are called to live out a way of life which is wholly unnatural to old, fallen Creation, which means we cannot obtain our spiritual nourishment from that old world in the least, and to try to do so is fatal to our spirituality. Living out a life of New Covenant Torah holiness makes perfect sense only within the context, experience and chayim (life) of Elohim's (God's) New World - His New Creation - which is like a space capsule from the future, strange and mysterious to the inhabitants of the Old World - the Old Creation.

Now for some this is frightening, because it threatens them with change, and that can provoke hostility. But for others it engenders fascination, desire and hope. This world we are called to bring - this spiritual reality that is the removal from old life to new - is the new world brought into existence by a spiritual 'stargate' called baptism in which we are nourished by an other-wordly 'elixir' called the Master's (Lord's) Supper (Communion, Eucharist). If you try to live this Christian/Messianic life outside the symbol and substance - this lifestyle, this framework - which is Baptism (death to self and new life) and the Master's Supper (the flesh and blood of Deity), you will find it as difficult and nonsensical, as it would be for an orchestral performer to play his or her part, separated from the rest of the players, amid the crashes and metalic screaching of an automobile factory - such is the contrast between the new and old worlds, the New and Old Creations.

None of this means, of course, that we aren't supposed to play our part as talmidim (disciples) in the hard outside world of the Old Creation, earning a living and making a home, a decaying world which rumbles on regardless, as though the Resurrection had never happened, as though the New Creation were a complete fairy tale. But if we are true to our risen Master we will need, again and again to retune our orchestral instruments and practice once more alongside our fellow musicians. We are to be in the old world, but not of it; but unlike the old, we are to be of the new world - the future resurrection world, the eternal world - so that it is completely natural to us, our exclusive desire. The unity of believers can only take place here.

In the fifth and last part of this series, we shall be looking at ahavah (love) and chesed (mercy), commonly called grace or 'undeserved loving kindness'. By way of preparation, I would like to invite you to carefully study 1 Corinthians 13 & 15. In this I hope to present the ongoing vision of this work to which Yahweh has called us so it will be a kind of encapsulation and summary of all we stand for and how, we believe, this can be a beacon for Christian and Messianic unity. May Yahweh bless you and keep you until then and unfold the vision to you in your own revelation is my prayer in Yah'shua's (Jesus') Name. Amen.

Endnotes

[1] Romans 8:27; 12.13; 1 Corinthians 6:2; Ephesians 2:19; 5:3; 6:18; Colossians 1:12; 3:12; 2 Peter 1:21; Jude 14; Revelation 13:10
[2] Matthew 5:8; Romans 6:19,22; Ephesians 1:4; Titus 1:18; 1 Peter 1:15; Revelation 20:6
[3] Scriptural Study I: (topical) Holiness enjoined (Mt.5:48, Rom.12:1), Davar Elohim (Word of God) means of holiness (Jn.17:17), a holy man tested (Job); holiness in life and service (Acts); a timely message to holy people (Jude); instructions in holiness (Phil.2:15), must be pure in heart (Mt.5:8), conduct in the holy life (1 Thes.4:1-8), purpose of holiness (Phil.2:15), holiness is the will of Yahweh (1 Thes.4:3), wisdom and holiness (Jas.3:17), holiness fits one for heaven (Rev.7:14), worship should be in the beauty of holiness (Ps.29:2), as self-denial (1 Cor.9:27), as being filled with the fruits of righteousness (Phil.1:11), with the water of life (Jn.7:38; cp.4:14), as the love of Elohim (God) in the heart (Rom.5:5), as baptism into Messiah (Rom.6:3; Eph.1:10; 2:5; Rev.14:1), Elohim, Messiah and the Ruach (Spirit) dwelling in us (Jn.14:17,20; Gal.2:20; 2 Cor.5:15; 1 Jn.2:24; 4:4,12-15; Eph.4:6), as a birth to Elohim (God) and Messiah (1 Jn.2:29; 3:9-10; 4:4-7; 5:18-19), partaker of the divine nature (2 Pet.1:4), children of Elohim (God) (Rom.8:14; Jn.1:12; 1 Jn.3:1-2), as being echad (one) with Messiah and one another (Jn.17:22,26)
[4] Scriptural Study II: (supplement) - Tanakh (OT): Genesis 17:1; Exodus 39:30; Leviticus 11:44; Deuteronomy 18:13; 28:9; Joshua 7:13; Job 5:24; Psalm 4:4; 32:2; 97:10; 119:1; Isaiah 35:8; Messianic Scriptures (NT): Romans 8:4; 12:1; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 10:21; 15:34; 2 Corinthians 6:14; 7:1; Philippians 4:8; Colossians 1:22; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Timothy 1:5; 4:8; 6:6; 2 Timothy 3:17; 1 John 3:3; 5:18
[5] Is sanctification (being made holy) an instant act (as some Christians insist) or a lifelong process (as others like ourselves do)? The following illustration is from the Epirstle to the Hebrews: "Every cohen (priest) stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But when Messiah (lit. 'this one', 'this cohen/priest') had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, 'He sat down at the right hand of Elohim (God)' (Ps.110:1), and since then has been waiting 'until His enemies would be made a footstool for His feet'. For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified" (Heb.10:11-14, NRSV), "...for with one offering he completed those who were sanctified by Him forever" (v.14, HRV), "For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified" (v.14, NKJV), "...by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy" (Heb.10:14, NIV, NIRV), "those whom He is making holy" (NLT), "them that are being set-apart" (RSTNE), "those who are thus consecrated" (NEB), "those who are sanctified" (NASU, NASB), "them that are sanctified" (KJV, ASV), "everyone whom He makes holy" (JBP), "those who are being sanctified" (ESV), "those who are consecrated and made holy" (AmpV), "who are sanctified by Him" (AENT), "those who are purified from sin" (GNB), "set free from sin the people" (CEV), "all those whom He is making holy" (LB), "those who are sanctified" (HCSB), "those who are hallowed" (CLNT), "those who are being set apart for Elohim (God) and made holy" (JNT), "those who are being set apart" (ISRV), "the ones being set apart as Kadoshim" (OJB), "all whom He is sanctifying" (JB), "those who are being consecrated" (RNAB), "those who are being made holy" (Berkley), "those who are purified from sin" (S&G), "them that are sanctified" (Coverdale)
[6] Condemned in the Book of Revelation specifically - it was a problem at Ephesus and Pergamum (Rev.2:1,6; 2:12,15-16) and was linked to the pratices of Balaam (Rev.2:14-15) so the issue was almost certainly one of sexual immorality.

Acknowledgements

[1] Tom Wright, Surprised by Hope (SPCK, London: 2007), 'Reshaping the Church for Mission', pp.245-303