Our Motivation for Holy Living

I have been guilty.

Most other preachers are as well.

We often teach God’s commandments and desires for our lives in this manner:

This benefit is why you should obey this command.  It may be an avoided consequence or a blessing gained.

For example:

We tell young people not to be sexually active because of STDs, pregnancy, and emotional consequences.

We encourage our couples to meet one another’s needs so they can have a happy marriage.

We preach that drugs and alcohol should be avoided because they will ruin your life.

We share the emotional and physical benefits of forgiveness.

The problem:

This is not how God motivates us to holy behavior.  The avoided consequences and received blessings should be secondary motivations.

The primary motivation that God gives for us living holy lives is because He is holy.

This is the message of God to the Israelite people.

“For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.”  (Lev. 11:44)

“You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.”  (Lev. 20:26)

This message is given throughout the Old Testament.  Their behavior was to be holy and different from other nations because of who their God was!

This is the message of the New Testament.

Peter makes this exact thought in 1 Peter.

“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”  (1 Peter 1:14–16)

Consider how Paul teaches in his letters.  He spends the first portion of the book dealing with theology involving who God is and what God has done in Christ.  Then he moves to applying this to how we should live because of these truths.  Often we find the term “therefore.”  Paul says based upon what God has done in Christ you are to live in a certain way.  (See Romans, Ephesians, Colossians, etc.).

So what does this look like in our teaching:

We teach our young people not to be sexually active, first and foremost, because they are representing God.  They have been “bought with a price” and are to “glorify God in their body” (1 Cor. 6:13-20).

We teach couples to treat each other properly because they are a reflection of Christ and the church (Eph. 5:22-33).

We call people to abstain from drugs and alcohol because their body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:20).

We challenge people to forgive because God forgives and calls us to do likewise (Mat. 6:14-15).

Jesus said, “You therefore must be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect” (Mat. 5:48).

The avoided consequences and received blessings are secondary motivations for holy living, our primary and foremost motivation is to be like God. 

This is a much more powerful and enduring motivation!