We are called to be holy (part 2), that is, set apart from the world. (Levitcus 20:26)



Read Levitcus 20:26 and John 17: 6-19


Our text tells us that to be holy is to be set apart from the world. John 15:18-19 says, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belong to the world, it would love you as its own, but I have chosen you out of the world, that is why it hates you." If we are set apart from the world, there should be an obvious difference between how the world behaves and how we behave. That difference will cause the world to hate us. To be holy is then to be different from the world; we are to be in the world but not of the world. Jesus prays about this in John 17 when He prays for His disciples. Several times throughout the passage, Jesus reminds us that we are in the world but not of the world, and the world will hate us for this. It is not our doing, but God who sets us apart and makes us holy. In fact, we were set apart from the world long before we even existed. We can see this in Jeremiah 1:5 where it says, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as prophet to the nations." 

It is God's grace in Jesus Christ that we are set apart. Why are we set apart? Deuteronomy 14:2 says, "For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be His treasured possession." So, we can see that to be holy, we must be different from the world because God, in His grace, has chosen us to be His treasured possession. While we are in the world, we are to be prophets, and even though the world will hate us, God treasures us. 

God calls us to be holy and has set us apart as prophets. This means we are to be different from the world. The world will hate us for this, but God has chosen us and treasures us. So live as one that has been chosen by God!

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