Called to Holiness

August 26, 2026

Scripture referenced

• 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
• Romans 6:12-14
• 2 Timothy 2:20-21
• Luke 14

This message, preached by Pastor Brian, worked through one verse in 1 Thessalonians 4: “God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives.” He focused on two words from that verse, holy and called, and built the whole conversation around what those words actually mean in the Greek rather than what we assume they mean in English.

What was said

Before getting into the text, Pastor Brian drew a line between churchgoers and Christians. Going to church does not make someone a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. A person meets Jesus as savior when they are honest that they have broken God’s law, bring that burden to the cross, and receive the forgiveness Jesus offers. Out of gratitude for a debt paid that they could never pay themselves, the only reasonable response is to offer their whole life back.

The word holy, in the Greek, means to consecrate, to purify, to set apart and dedicate entirely to the Lord. Pastor Brian held up two identical batteries to make the point. Both batteries are the same. Nothing about them is physically different. But the moment you separate one and mark it for a single purpose, that one is holy and the other is common.

He then pulled in Romans 6 to let the congregation see that contrast in a full passage. Color-coding the verses on the screen, blue for the common and gold for the set apart, made visible what Paul was doing: naming the pull back toward the ordinary and calling believers to offer themselves completely to God instead. The danger he pointed to is getting consecrated and then drifting back into the common pile, becoming indistinguishable again.

A passage from 2 Timothy added another layer. Paul compares people to utensils in a wealthy home, some gold and silver for special use, some wood and clay for everyday use. The point Pastor Brian drew out was that unlike a fork, which cannot change its substance, a person can. When Jesus changes someone from the inside, the enemy will still try to convince them they are wood and clay and have disqualified themselves from being used for anything higher.

The second word, called, is where the message turned. The Greek includes the sense of an invitation, not just a command or a demand. Pastor Brian used the parable from Luke 14, where the king sends servants out to the highways and byways and under bridges to invite people who never expected to be asked. God calling us to holiness carries that same tone: you are invited.

He pressed on what that distinction actually changes. If God demands holiness but does nothing to equip it, he is like a host who invites people over to watch a game and then expects the guests to cook the food, clean the dishes, and turn on the television themselves. The line Pastor Brian came back to was this: religion demands outward adherence, but Jesus invites us into a relationship that evokes inward holiness. The holiness is not manufactured by the person trying hard enough. It comes from the one doing the inviting, who also does the equipping.

Lissa closed the teaching portion by tying it to the Emancipation Proclamation. Slaves who did not know a document had been signed setting them free would go on living as slaves. Prisoners released from prison often keep prisoner habits. The invitation is not just to know that Jesus died and freedom is possible, but to actually change habits, renew the mind, and walk in that freedom day to day.

Touch points

• Read Romans 6:12-14 slowly this week and mark which phrases describe common living and which describe set-apart living, the way Brian color-coded them in the sermon.
• Pick one area of your life where you have been grinding on a treadmill of trying to be good in your own strength, and ask the Holy Spirit to show you what it would look like to receive his holiness as an invitation rather than manufacture it yourself.
• Memorize or write down this line from the sermon and sit with it: ‘Religion demands outward adherence. Jesus invites us into relationship that evokes inward holiness.’
• Read 2 Timothy 2:20-21 on your own and walk through it the same way Brian walked through the Romans passage, looking for what Paul contrasts as common versus set apart.
• Fill out a connect card and hand it in, especially if there is something you need the Tribe staff to pray over with you this week.

Doing a Bible study?

1. Brian talked about the difference between a churchgoer and a Christian, saying that going to church does not make you a Christian any more than going into a garage makes you a car. How would you describe that distinction in your own words, and where do you think you land?
2. Brian used two identical batteries to illustrate holiness, setting one apart from the other to show what consecration means. What is an area of your everyday life where you find it hard to stay ‘set apart’ rather than getting mixed back in with what he called the common?
3. Phil connected the battery illustration to how he manages his camera batteries as a photographer, and Brian said the Holy Spirit makes those personal connections when we slow down and wrestle with scripture. Has a passage you have read many times ever landed differently because of something from your own life or work? What happened?
4. Brian said that many people read the word ‘called’ in verse seven as a demand, but that the Greek word also means to invite. How does hearing it as an invitation rather than a demand change the way you think about living a holy life?
5. Brian drew a contrast between religion demanding outward adherence and Jesus inviting us into a relationship that evokes inward holiness. Where have you experienced that treadmill of trying to manufacture holiness in your own effort, and what did it feel like?
6. Lissa brought up the Emancipation Proclamation and said that some enslaved people kept living as slaves because they did not know they had been set free, and that even released prisoners often keep prisoner habits. What habits or ways of thinking in your own life might still reflect the old ‘common’ self rather than the freedom you have been invited into?

Resumen en español

Topics

Called By God Forgiveness Holiness Religious Vs Christian Sexual Purity

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