The great Scottish pastor Robert Murray McCheyne has been quoted as saying, “The greatest need of my people is my personal holiness.” Preaching? No. Leadership ability? No. Persuasiveness? No. The most charismatic preacher can have these gifts and more, but without a personal holiness, the preacher’s best intentions will fall short.
Defining Holiness
What is holiness? Biblically speaking, to be holy is to be set apart. Sort of like how you might have specific dinnerware that you pull out only for special occasions, holiness means something that is distinct. In the Bible, holiness is derived from God. When the prophet Isaiah saw a vision of God in the throne room, the creatures around the throne respond that God is “Holy, holy, holy” (Isa 6:3). God alone is worthy of this kind of praise.
Isaiah would go on to record that the Lord’s ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts (Isa 55:8). Holiness is who God is, and holiness describes his very essence. A. W. Tozer says this well, “Holy is the way God is. To be holy He does not conform to a standard. He is that standard…. Because He is holy, all His attributes are holy; that is, whatever we think of as belonging to God must be thought of as holy.”[1] God’s love is holy. God’s mercy and God’s grace are holy. But so is his wrath. So is his judgment. Everything about God is holy, holy, holy, because that is who he is.
A Preacher with Unclean Lips
How does Isaiah, a preacher, respond to the holiness of God? “Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips…” (Isa 6:5). Isaiah has spent the first five chapters pronouncing woe on others and now he is woeful. He even uses the word ruined. The idea is that of something unraveled, something coming apart at the seams, cut off or made silent. Isaiah felt like he was falling apart in response to a holy God.
Isaiah addresses his speech first, the very instrument of his prophetic ministry. His lips are not like those of the seraphim, pouring out praise to God. Instead, this prophet and preacher became convicted over his speech before a holy God. Pastor, we are not immune to unholy speech or thoughts. Before Isaiah committed to obeying the Lord and being sent (Isa 6:8), he first made a commitment to personal holiness.
Commit to Personal Holiness
Pastors, will you commit to personal holiness? We should be willing to live out the commands of Scripture in our own lives even more than we are calling our people to do so. No matter what season of ministry you are in, commit to finishing the race well with personal holiness. Doing so gives practical application to the truths we proclaim and a consistency in our lives that will be an encouragement to our people.
What if there is an area of your life that is not holy? Would you be like Isaiah and confess that? Isaiah is a preacher, yet he confesses that he has unholy lips. Perhaps it is your speech, your thoughts, or your actions that need refining. Preachers are still being sanctified into the image of their Savior as well. Run to the One who is holy, holy, holy, for He is the One who will continue to set you apart in His image.
[1] Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy, 112–13.
MDiv Preaching and Pastoral Ministry
The Preaching and Pastoral Ministry track prepares students for pastoral ministry in the local church with a special emphasis on expository preaching.
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