One of the classes currently being offered on Sunday mornings is "Holiness by Grace." The title for this class is lifted from Bryan Chapell's book, though I'm trying to draw the material primarily from 1 Peter - a portion of Scripture that well summarizes the motives for, nature of, and results of true holiness:
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for [God's] own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)
Notice how much is tightly packed into these verses! Drawn from phrases in the Old(er) Testament, we are given a rich statement of identity and purpose. Our daily purpose is to "proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light." We do this through praise, offered to God, and through witnessing to others through evangelism and mercy.
But our purpose cannot be separated from its root: our identity in Christ. Without grasping what it means to be God's chosen, royal, holy, purchased, forgiven people, we cannot live out the glorious purpose described here. We cannot proclaim joyfully what we feel only faintly.
This is another way of saying that our holiness is indeed "by grace"!
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These are excellent truths. And isn't it true that the more we realize our identity in Christ and our union with Him, the more we delight in following Him and declaring His excellencies?
It sure is a privilege to declare those excellencies to all!
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