Standards...what about obedience? (long post)

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Regarding 'standards' of holiness...

** Warning: following is an exhortation.  Though it may be 
construed as a rebuke, it is intended to be a message to 
the dear saints, written in love, to engender love.

Sis. Jan Lareau wrote:
> << I'm saddened to see these discussions on "standards" and that those of
us
> that have a "higher standard of holiness" are condemned by those with a
> "lessor standard of holiness".
[snip]

Pardon me, but, who is to decide what is a 'lessor' standard 
and what is a 'higher' standard?  Quite frankly, there has not 
been much that has offended me in the time that I have 
spent on H-F, but this does.  Please note, I do not mean that 
I have ANY negative or adverse feelings about Sister Lareau, 
regardless of the fact that she penned the above verse.  What 
I take offence to is that there are those who have defined 
conforming to a particular outward mode of dress and 
appearance as a 'higher' standard of holiness.  Broader, maybe, 
but higher?  Higher than what?

Before one questions my convictions, check out the archives.  I 
have before stated my practices concerning mode of dress and 
hair styles etc.

What is the 'higher' standard of holiness, IMHO?  It is that which 
is set down in scripture under the topic of LOVE.

(Romans 12:9 KJV)  "Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor 
that which is evil; cleave to that which is good."

How is holiness connected to LOVE? 

(1 John 4:8 KJV)  "He that loveth not knoweth not God; 
for God is love."

(Psalms 99:9 KJV)  "Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at 
his holy hill; for the LORD our God is holy."

(1 Corinthians 3:17 KJV)  "If any man defile the temple of God, 
him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which 
temple ye are."

God is Holy - God is Love - q.e.d.  Holiness is Love/Love is Holiness.

I don't mean to be flippant, but true holiness (separation) is a 
separation from evil.  If one is evil, one does not love; conversely, 
if one loves (in TRUTH), one will not be evil, for 

(Romans 13:10 KJV)  "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: 
therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."

---------------------
Some 'higher' holiness standards:

(Matthew 5:44-48 KJV)  "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, 
bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and 
pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 
{45} That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: 
for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and 
sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. {46} For if ye love 
them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the 
publicans the same? {47} And if ye salute your brethren only, 
what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
 {48} Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in 
heaven is perfect."

(Matthew 15:19-20 KJV)  "For out of the heart proceed evil 
thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, 
blasphemies: {20} These are the things which defile a man: 
but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man."

-------------
Notice that these evil things are all perpetrated against 
others (or against God).  Evil, by its nature is an outward 
expression, just as love is an outward expression.
-------------

(Mark 7:23 KJV)  "All these evil things come from within, and defile the
man."

-----------------
It is evil that comes from within that defiles the man, 
therefore, to eschew evil is to cultivate holiness.
----------------

(Luke 6:45 KJV)  "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth
forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his
heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart
his mouth speaketh."

---------------------
How does one define God's Holiness?  Is it not in 
the purity of His actions and in the purity of His 
motivations?  Is it in the purity of His appearance?
---------------

(Luke 11:34-35 KJV)  "The light of the body is the eye: therefore when
thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine
eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. {35} Take heed therefore
that the light which is in thee be not darkness."

-----------------
The darkness of ** unholiness ** is the darkness which 
comes from within the man.  Will it transfer its expression 
outwardly?  Most definitely.  How so?  Only in one's mode 
of dress or appearance?   Is that the 'higher' standard?  
Or is one's expression of love for one's neighbor the 
'higher' standard?  One ought to do the one and not to leave 
the other undone (as Jesus said to the Pharisees).
-----------------

(Romans 12:10 KJV)  "Be kindly affectioned one to another 
with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;"

(1 Corinthians 13:4-7 KJV)  "Charity suffereth long, and is 
kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not 
puffed up, {5} Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not 
her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; {6} Rejoiceth 
not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; {7} Beareth all things, 
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."

(Ephesians 4:30-32 KJV)  "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, 
whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. {31} Let 
all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil 
speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: {32} And be 
ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, 
even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

(Ephesians 5:3-9 KJV)  "But fornication, and all uncleanness, 
or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as 
becometh saints; {4} Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor 
jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. 
{5} For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, 
nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in 
the kingdom of Christ and of God. {6} Let no man deceive you 
with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath 
of God upon the children of disobedience. {7} Be not ye 
therefore partakers with them. {8} For ye were sometimes 
darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children 
of light: {9} (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and 
righteousness and truth;)"

(Colossians 3:5 KJV)  "Mortify therefore your members 
which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate 
affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which 
is idolatry:"

(Colossians 3:8-10 KJV)  "But now ye also put off all these; 
anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out 
of your mouth. {9} Lie not one to another, seeing that ye 
have put off the old man with his deeds; {10} And have put 
on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the 
image of him that created him:"

(Colossians 3:12-16 KJV)  "Put on therefore, as the elect 
of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, 
humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; {13} Forbearing 
one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a 
quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also 
do ye. {14} And above all these things put on charity, which 
is the bond of perfectness. {15} And let the peace of God 
rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one 
body; and be ye thankful. 

(1 Peter 2:11-13 KJV)  "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as 
strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which 
war against the soul; {12} Having your conversation honest 
among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you 
as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they 
shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

(1 Peter 3:4-5 KJV)  "But let it be the hidden man of the heart, 
in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek 
and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. 
{5} For after this manner in the old time the holy women also,
 who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection 
unto their own husbands:"

-----------------
[Were these women called 'holy' because of their standard 
of dress, or was it because of their chast conversation and 
obedience?]
---------------------

(1 Corinthians 3:18-23 KJV)  "Let no man deceive himself. 
If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, 
let him become a fool, that he may be wise. {19} For the 
wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, 
He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. {20} And again, 
The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. 
{21} Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; 
{22} Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, 
or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; 
{23} And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's."

----------------
If one is wont to glory in their 'standards of holiness', one is 
in effect glorying in oneself.  If one is glorying in the 
standard preached by one's organization, on is glorying in 
the works of man.  Let us glory in the works of righteousness 
which God has done for us -- in Him alone we are holy, not 
in any works which we have done (and not by any outward 
show).  True holiness is an inward work which the Spirit 
performs; it is the fruit of the SPIRIT not the fruit of the man. 
Our outward appearance may separate us from the culture 
of the world, but our piety separates us from the evil that 
is in the world.
------------------------

(1 Corinthians 4:1-4 KJV)  "Let a man so account of us, as of 
the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. 
{2} Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found 
faithful. {3} But with me it is a very small thing that I should 
be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine 
own self. {4} For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby 
justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord."

-----------------
It offends me that some have professed to have judged their 
standard as 'higher' than another's.  This is not love, for true 
love does not think of itself more highly than it ought.
------------------

(Romans 12:3 KJV)  "For I say, through the grace given 
unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think 
of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think 
soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the 
measure of faith."

---------------
To profess that one's standard is higher than that of his 
brother is dangerously approaching pride.  I would not 
have my brethren fall into that quagmire of destruction. 

Sincerely, 

Kathy Dimick
Falkville, Alabama
kdimick@colsa.com
kedimick@hotmail.com
http://members.tripod.com/~coffeepleaz/index.html

"For to me to live is Christ"