While the snow stopped us from meeting in person, it doesn't stop us from spending time with Jesus.

Take a few moments to read these words shared from Pastor Serena for today. We look forward to our gathering next week as we finish our series and talk about Church Health.

Pastor Serena – February 16, 2025

1 Peter 1:13-25

Over the last six weeks we’ve been talking about what it means to live in wholeness – to live into the abundant, flourishing life that we were created for. Mildred Wynkoop writes: “Holiness is wholeness and health, and everything God requires of the person from the first stirrings of conviction to the last act of life is in the interest of that wholeness.” God desires for us to live whole and holy lives. This is more than just a doctrinal statement – this is what we were created for. We were created for wholeness; we were created to live in holiness.

This is what we’ve been talking about since January 5th. On the very first Sunday in this series we talked about how healing and wholeness begin when we accept Christ – that if we wanted to live an abundant, flourishing life that comes when we seek to live a life that is devoted to Christ. We also talked about the ways the Holy Spirit helps us to live into the wholeness and healing – that an abundant, flourishing life is a life that is filled with the Spirit. Over the next weeks we talked about how God desires for us to live in wholeness in every area of our lives – that God desires to make us whole in all areas: mentally, emotionally, physically, relationally, and in community. Next week, as we close out this series, we will look at what it means for the Church to live in wholeness and flourishing…

But, what do we do now? What are the next steps? If we desire to live lives devoted to Christ, filled with the Spirit – lives of wholeness and flourishing, how do we move this beyond desire to reality?

First, EMBRACE THE GIFT! In thinking about living in wholeness and holiness we need to start here. Holiness is a gift from God. It is not something we earn or something we achieve. It is not something we acquire or something we obtain. It is a gift from God, and it is through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us that makes it possible for us to grow in holiness! Holiness is a gift and this life of holiness and wholeness is what we were created for – it is not only God’s gift, but also God’s design. We hear this throughout Scripture – Leviticus 19:2, 1 Thessalonians 4:7, Ephesians 1:4.

This gift of holiness sets us free because this gift of holiness draws us closer to God and the transformative work God wants to do in the hearts and minds of His people!

Next, EMBRACE THE TRANSFORMATION! We know that when sin entered the world there was a shattering of God’s intentions for God’s creation. Brokenness made its way into every aspect of life – from that moment until now, God has been working to restore God’s broken creation. Through Jesus Christ the path to healing and wholeness and restoration and redemption was made – through Christ, it is possible for God’s children to live the abundant, flourishing, life God created us for. What I’m describing is the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. We cannot get there on our own. We cannot make ourselves holy. We cannot make ourselves whole. We cannot find the way to eternal life on our own – we need the help and the work of the Holy Spirit – if we want to live in wholeness and health and experience the abundant, flourishing life that we were created for, we need the transformational work of the Holy Spirit in us! In Ephesians 4:17-24, Paul writes about this work.

The work of holiness is the work of transformation. The work of holiness is for our good and God’s glory. The work of holiness requires us to be a willing participant in the process of transformation. If Christ is Lord of your life, then there should be a change that has happened in your life – there should be some distinct shift, distinct turning that has happened – that is the work of the Holy Spirit, working to make you more like Jesus…

I love how the Psalmist puts it in Psalm 139:23-24 – “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” This is the daily prayer for those who desire the transformational work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This should be OUR daily prayer – God, show me today how to be more like you. God, show me where I need your grace and mercy to make me new. God, show me today how to love like you love. God – search me, mold me, shape me, transform me – make me more like Jesus.

Next, MAKE THE TIME - If we want to grow in wholeness and health, if we want to experience and enjoy the abundant, flourishing life that we were created for – then we must make the time to be with Jesus. We cannot grow in holiness and wholeness if we are not spending time with the One who is holy!

Holiness is an invitation to draw near to Jesus. It is an invitation to a deeper relationship – a deeper love – you see, we can sometimes become so good at knowing “about” Jesus that we don’t even realize we have stopped growing closer “TO” Jesus. If we are serious about becoming more like Jesus, then we need to get serious about being WITH Jesus – if we want to be holy, if we want to be set apart for God – then we need to commune with God – we need to be in God’s presence…

Making the time means we put Christ first – what does that mean. We align our lives with the will and purposes of Christ – everything we have, everything we are is devoted to him – there is no part of our lives that we hold back – it means we are seeking to live in wholeness and holiness in every aspect of our lives…

Making the time also means we shift our priorities – we make time for all kinds of things and at times, its church and Bible reading and prayer that are the first to get bumped… We must seek to follow Christ – to imitate Christ in all that we do – seeking live and love like Jesus.

Finally, LIVE IN LOVE -- Mildred Wynkoop said, “Holiness is wholeness; love is sharing that wholeness…Love is the essential inner character of holiness and holiness does not exist apart from love.”

Peter puts it this way in 1 Peter 1:22 “You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.”  We are called to love one another deeply – this is part of holiness; this is part of wholeness. The work of Christ in us as he works to make us holy – to make us more and more like him is also a work of love. This work helps us to not only love God more, to love God fully with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength – but this work helps us to love others – to love others without condition, to love others the way we love ourselves – to love others with a love that will go to any length to ensure they too can come to know the Good News of this amazing, abundant, flourishing life of wholeness and health that we were created to experience and enjoy!

It's what Mildred Wynkoop was talking about when she said, “To love which we call Christian love…is a quality of the entire person as it is centered in Christ…this person is brought wholeness by the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. And in this relationship, all other relationships of life and enhanced and beautified and made holy.” As we are living in the love of God – the love of God gives us the ability and desire to love - to love God more, to love others more…

If we truly desire to live in wholeness and health – if we truly desire to live in the abundance and flourishing of God it starts when we embrace the gift – embracing this gift from God to wholeness. But, we also must embrace the transformation. This life of wholeness and holiness requires transformation – it requires us to all the Holy Spirit to do the work in us that needs to be done to help us live and love like Jesus – we can’t do it on our own. It also requires us to make the time – we cannot grow in holiness if we are not spending time with the One who is holy. So, how are we doing at that – are we really putting Christ first in our lives? Living the life we were created for is living a life of love – we cannot experience the fullness of God, the abundance and flourishing of God without love. Holiness and the invitation to living a holy life flows from God’s heart – it flows from God’s love for us. This love is poured out into our lives to make us holy, but it is also poured out into our lives to be shared with others…we love because He first loved us.

The question we need to answer today is – do we want to experience the abundant, flourishing life God created us for – right now? Do we want to live – each and every day in wholeness and health?? God wants to do a new, good work in you. God wants nothing more than for you to experience and live into the wholeness and health and abundance and flourishing God created you for. Let’s make room for God to do what God wants to do in us and through us so that we can live in wholeness. This abundant, flourishing life is available – we can live in wholeness and health – when we accept God’s invitation “But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.”

 

My prayer for you today: Philippians 1:2-11

Pastor Serena