Absolute Truth for a Relative World
Number 7 - Sanctification
There is Life after Birth!
I Thessalonians 5:23-24
[Show series of baby photos]
Aren’t little kids darling? They are sweet, cuddly and wonderful. We observe them in wonder as their tiny fingers grasp ours. We marvel at their tiny toenails, and soft, silky hair. Bring a baby into a room, and a crowd gathers. Sour people smile, everyone’s voice goes up an octave, and everyone begins to speak some strange language.
But as wonderful as a baby is, no one ever would want their child to remain at that immature level. In fact, if we don’t see the baby responding within a few weeks to our voice, or our face over their bassinette, we get concerned. We expect them to gain weight, learn to push themselves over, and eventually to crawl, stand and walk. As amazing and wonderful as a new born is, I’ve seen the hurt in the eyes of parents whose child does not develop properly – the love is still there, and it is very strong, but the pain is very real.
Last week we talked about the human condition. We are all sinful people. A holy God cannot allow sin in His presence, and so we are under a penalty of death – that is the just wage for the lives we live, but God offers us a new life in Jesus Christ – abundant life now, and eternal life to come – through Jesus Christ. The theological term for that is salvation. When the work of Jesus Christ on the cross is applied to the human condition, “salvation” is the result. We are not saved because of the good deeds we do, or the religious rites we have completed. We are saved because of the work Jesus has done!
Now when God looks upon us, He sees us as His child, forgiven of sins, made right before Him. We have been what Jesus called, “Born Again.” Our life of sin has been put to death, and we have been born of the Spirit.
Salvation is both a spontaneous event and an ongoing process. When I come to the point in my life where I realize that I can never find peace with God through my own efforts, and ask Jesus to forgive me of my sins and make me a child of God, I am born again. That is salvation as a spontaneous event. In that moment, I am a child of God, seen by Him as legally sin-free. I am no longer under the penalty of sin and death. Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus…” That instantaneous occurrence is called Justification. Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God…”
In that instant, we are born anew. A new creation, “the old has passed, the new has come.” And just as a physical baby is never intended to remain an infant, so a spiritual newborn is not intended to remain in their infancy. All through the New Testament we find this truth – while our status before God is instantly changed from death to life, our status in Christ is to be one of constant and continual growth and maturing. That process of growth and maturation is called sanctification. The word sanctify means “to be made or set apart as ‘holy.’” When the temple was dedicated to God, in the Old Testament, the Hebrews used the same word. It was “set apart as a holy place.” The Bible is called “holy” because it consists of writings that have been set apart from all other writings. Sanctification means that something has been set apart for God’s purposes. It is the ongoing process that takes us from being worldly to being holy. Millard Erickson, in his book, Christian Theology, states, “Sanctification is a process by which my moral [day to day] condition is brought into conformity with my legal status before God.”[1]
Many here this morning have just recently come to that point of salvation. Others have, like the prodigal son, just recently come back to the Father after years of rebellion and living only for self. Still others know that they are part of God’s family, but there is little joy, peace and victory. Each one may be sincerely asking, “What next? – I’ve come to Jesus, I’ve realized I can’t make it alone, what do I do now?” For each one the answer is the same – it is found in a prayer that Paul prayed for a group of believers who were in the same place, and were asking the same question.
Take your Bible, or pick up one on the chair around you, and turn to I Thessalonians 5:23. In the Bibles on the chairs, it is found on page 796. “Thessalonians” is one of those books of the Bible that people have trouble with – it’s toward the end of the Bible, in a section of letters that all begin with the letter “T” I and II Thessalonians, I & II Timothy, and Titus. It is a letter that was written by Paul to a church in the Greek city of Thessalonica. Paul had come to Thessalonica to begin a new church that would serve as a launching pad for the Gospel to travel all through the area of Macedonia and Greece. He was there for three services, and had a lot of people who believed on Jesus, but then was forced to move on to another town. He was concerned about them. He hadn’t been there for long, so he wrote this letter to help anchor them, and encourage them.
Let me read for you Paul’s prayer for them,
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it.
I want you to notice a couple of things about this prayer that I think are very vital to our experiencing the kind of growth and maturity that is to be a part of our Christian life.
First, let’s look at the extent of Sanctification.
Paul says, “May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely…” The Greek word Paul used when he wrote this means, “completely, entirely, perfectly or wholly.” He went on to say, “may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless…” It is obvious that every aspect of our being is to be set apart to God as holy. Such a process does not happen over night. As I said before, salvation is both an event and a process – we are saved when we place our faith in Jesus, and we are continuing in that salvation through the process of sanctification. When we come to that first faith in Christ, we are set apart as God’s child, as we grow in our faith, we become set apart for God’s purposes.
God wants every part of our lives to reflect the light of His presence. A couple of weeks ago Roy mentioned the reflected light of the moon in the night sky. The past couple of nights we have had a crystal clear sky and full or nearly full moon. The light from the moon has been bright enough to drive your car by on a country road – (though of course, I would never do such a thing!) But that light in the darkness is on the light of the moon, it is the light of the sun being reflected to us by the moon. Every part of our lives is to be the same – we are to be a light in the dark by which people can navigate their way to the Savior – but it is not our light, it is the reflected light of the Son shining in a dark world. Sanctification is the process by which every part of our lives is more and more marked by that reflective glory of God. “What would Jesus do?” becomes more than a slogan, it becomes a way of life. “Would Jesus watch this program? Would he go to this place? Would he live this way?” Over time, each part of our lives are surrendered to Him.
Now notice the second truth that I want to point out to you. The work of sanctification.
As we talk about becoming more and more like Christ, and growing in our faith and service to Him, it seems like a great goal, but a lot of work, doesn’t it? How does God expect us to do this? How can it be done? Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news.
The good news is this – sanctification is the work of God. Just as we were not initially saved by what we did “for by grace are you saved, through faith, not by works…” – in that same way, the continuation of our salvation is not done by works either. What does Paul say here? He says, “May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely…” It is God who does the work of sanctification! That is good news, isn’t it?! It is a supernatural work of God in us, not something we do ourselves. Paul told the Philippian church that he was “sure that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” That work of salvation that was begun on the day we trusted Jesus will be a continuous work of God in us until the day we stand complete and perfect before Him.
This work of God is accomplished by the Holy Spirit living within us. Paul tells us in Galatians 5 that we should “Walk in the Spirit, and not gratify the desires of the flesh,” and, “if we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” We are called as believers to be daily, moment by moment filled with the Spirit, controlled by Him, “under the influence” of Him, as we discussed a few weeks ago.
It would be easy to sit back, then, and say to ourselves, “OK, Holy Spirit, sanctify me!” and wait for the transformation to begin – but there is both good news and bad news – the bad news is that God will limit His work in our lives if we are unwilling to cooperate with Him in that work. God will not force Himself on us. He will not go where He is now wanted. The Bible teaches that we can grieve the Holy Spirit, and quench the Holy Spirit, which implies that we can slow or even stop the process of sanctification, and thereby remain spiritual babies – immature in our faith.
Look again at our text. If you look at the context, you will get an idea of what I mean. Go back to verse 16 of chapter 5 in I Thessalonians.
Look at our part of the equation:
Rejoice always
Pray without ceasing
In everything give thanks
Do not quench the Spirit
Do not despise prophecies
Test all things
Abstain from every form of evil
Then Paul follows with his prayer that God will do his part:
“May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely…”
As a child of God, either a new believer, or a returning child who has wandered away and been rebellious, it is up to us to do our part, and to allow God to do His. We need to be people who practice spiritual disciplines of prayer, Bible study, attend church and small groups, confess our sins and turn from them in repentance and obey the Word and will of God. Chuck Colson said these words in his book Loving God,
“Christianity is not just a high-sounding ritual we perform on Sundays. Christianity is abiding by Biblical standards of personal holiness and in turn seeking to bring holiness into the society in which we live.”
Does that sound like our lives? Is Christianity for us a life of conforming to the Word of God, or is it just a Sunday morning exercise? If it’s the latter, then you are missing the real joy of your salvation – you need to be sanctified completely by the God of peace Himself. May we do our part, and allow Him to do His perfect work in our lives and bring us to the place of sanctification – totally set apart for His purpose.
Prayer:
Oh God our Father, how we desire to have you do your complete work in our lives today and every day. May you find us willing vessels, willing to allow You to do Your work in us, making us holy, and then taking that holiness into our world. Holy Spirit of God, work in each heart, we pray. If there are those here who have never taken that first step of faith, convict of sin, and draw them to the cross. For those who need to continue that process of salvation, encourage us to allow You to do that work of making our entire spirit, soul and body blameless until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.