They made the plate, the sacred diadem, out of pure gold and engraved on it, like an inscription on a seal: HOLY TO THE LORD. (Exodus 39:30—NIV)

There is a difference between righteousness and holiness although the two often overlap.

Righteousness is our behavior with respect to people.

Holiness is our behavior with respect to God.

The commandments of the Lord are righteous and lead us to behave righteously toward people. Peter tells us we are looking for a new world in which will dwells righteousness. God will not accept unrighteous behavior on the part of any person.

Righteousness has to do with doing to others as we would have them do to us. We are not to lie, steal, covet, or commit adultery. These are unrighteous acts and hurtful to the people around us.

When we come to the Church we have to consider not only righteousness but holiness as well. The term "church" means called out. Each member of the Church of Jesus Christ was called from the foundation of the world to be a firstfruits of mankind, to be the Seed of Abraham through Jesus Christ, to be a member of the royal priesthood whose role throughout the ages will be to worship God and to govern and bless the saved nations of the earth.

The standards of righteousness are the same for all people. God will accept nothing less than kindness and love on the part of everyone. Every saved person must be scrupulously honest and truthful with his or her neighbor.

But the standards of holiness are not the same for all people.

We may think of holiness as concentric circles emanating from God. The closer the circle is to God the holier it is.

We see this in the Tabernacle of the Congregation where the Holy Place was more holy than the Courtyard and the Most Holy Place was more holy than the Holy Place. (We would not speak of the Tabernacle as being righteous!)

We see the same pattern in the tribes of Israel. The Israelites were by their election more holy than the rest of the nations. The Levites were more holy than the other Israelites. The sons of Aaron were more holy than the Levites.

The Nazirites were more holy than the other Israelites and were prohibited from partaking of anything of the vine from wine to raisins.

If you are a Christian you cannot do all the things the people of the world are permitted to do. You have been called to be holy to the Lord. You are not to love this present world but to cleave to God, offering praise to Him continually.

Other people may smoke, drink, curse, go to moving pictures where these behaviors are demonstrated, if they are willing to live with the consequences of destructive practices. But you cannot! You must be holy if you would abide in Christ and expect to be raised from the dead to meet Him when He appears.

Everyone must behave righteously or he or she will come under the judgment of God. But Christians must live in a special manner, as was true of the Nazirite. We cannot live like the world or be part of the world. We have been called to be part of the Body of Christ, and the Body of Christ is HOLY TO THE LORD.