Tag: sanctified

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1 Peter

Who we are. Who we are called to be.

Path through the wilderness

I don’t always take so much time looking at the greeting section of these letters in the New Testament. But as much as any letter in the New Testament, and perhaps more, this greeting connects to everything else that is written in this letter.

Peter starts by identifying himself and who he is writing to, saying

Peter, and apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. (1 Peter 1:1)

Here we see two things about who we are and who we are called to be in this one verse.

Peter calls us, “God’s elect.” Not that we are somehow in ourselves more “elect” or special than others. But that God in his grace chose to save us and make us his own. Not because of who we are, but because of who he is.

He also calls us “strangers in the world.” That can also be translated, “exiles of the Dispersion.”

The “Dispersion” usually referred to the Jews who were scattered throughout the world, far away from their homeland.

But here Peter uses the word figuratively of all Christians. We are all citizens of a heavenly country, and yet we are scattered all over this world, like strangers in a foreign land. And this is a theme that comes up more than once in this letter.

Peter then says of us that we have been

…chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood. (2)

Here again, we see how God in love chose us and through Christ’s blood purified us from all sin. But not only has he chosen us and purified us, he is constantly working in us. Day by day he is sanctifying us, and making us more like his Son.

And we were chosen not to live for ourselves, but for obedience to Jesus Christ. He is to be the Lord and King of our hearts, and we his servants.

That’s who we are and who we are called to be. And if you want to understand the rest of this letter, you need to understand these things.

But so often we don’t. Even many Christians fail to grasp this. They think of their Christianity as an upgrade to their lives in this world.

What they don’t understand is that God is not interested in upgrading our lives. He is interested in making us entirely new people. People who reflect his Son. People who no longer live as if this world is their home, but who remember that their true citizenship is in heaven.

And for this  purpose, he sent his Son into the world to suffer and die to take the punishment for our sins. And for this purpose, Jesus sent his Spirit into the hearts of all who believe in him to transform us into his likeness.

How about you? Do you understand who you are and who you are called to be?

Or do you still live as a citizen of this world, acting as if you truly belong here?

If you’re a Christian, you don’t belong to this world.

You were created by God and for him. You were chosen by him and sanctified by the Holy Spirit for obedience to Christ. And until you understand that and live that way, you will never truly understand who you are and who you are called to be.

Do you understand this?

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1 Thessalonians

To be sexually pure

sexual purity

We live in a world much like the times of the New Testament, a world in which sexual impurity is rampant. We see it in TV shows, movies, commercials, the internet; wherever you look, it’s there.

But in buying into the times, we take a cheap imitation of what God intended for us. Instead of lasting relationships where two people truly become one, we take temporary thrills which ultimately leave us broken and empty.

The numbers of people that have been devastated by sexual sin are innumerable. We see divorce, children without fathers (or mothers), unwanted pregnancies and abortions, STDs, and people torn emotionally apart because of it.

In short, we are far from the whole people that God intends us to be.

And so Paul tells the Thessalonians and us,

Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. 

For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 

It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him.

The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. (1 Thessalonians 4:1-6)

“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified.”

What does that mean? It means that we are to be set apart for him. To be his temple that he can dwell in. Paul says in 1 Corinthians that our bodies are his temple. (1 Corinthians 6:19)

But in order for our bodies to be set apart for him, we need to be sexually pure. For when we sin sexually, Paul tells us that we sin against our own body. (1 Corinthians 6:18)

Put another way, when we sin sexually, we defile the very temple of God.

So right after Paul tells us that it’s God’s will we be sanctified, he adds, “that you should avoid sexually immorality.” That means any kind of sexual activity outside of marriage.

Paul tells us that we are not mere animals that simply give into their “instincts.”

Nor are we like those who don’t know God and his will. God has revealed himself and his will to us. And he has given us the ability to make choices.

More, he will hold us responsible for those choices.

When we sin sexually, we wrong the brother or sister that we sleep with.

Not only that, if they are married, we wrong the one they are married to. And if we are married, we wrong the one that we are married to. Paul says we will be judged for that.

For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. (1 Thessalonians 4:7)

Just as God called the Israelites from all the nations to be a holy people, he calls us to be holy as well. The question is, are you?

Paul is very strong about sexual purity, saying,

He who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. (8)

In other words, Paul is saying, “I’m not just giving you my opinions. This is what God is saying. And if you reject what I’m saying, you’re rejecting God.”

Are you rejecting God by the way that you’re living? By violating a gift that he has given to bind two people in marriage?

Remember Paul’s words when he says,

You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

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1 Corinthians

Sanctified and called to be holy

Sanctified and Holy

The church in Corinth, as we will see throughout this book, had its share of problems, many of them serious.

That said, it’s really amazing the things Paul said about the church. He called them “sanctified in Christ” and called to be holy.

Considering their problems, it’s hard to see the former, and while they were called to be holy, set apart for Christ, they certainly weren’t living that way.

But it’s a reminder to me that God does not merely see where we are now, but where we will be. And we are to look on other brothers and sisters in Christ the same way.

We are not to see them simply where they are at now in their Christian walk. But we are to see them as people Christ has already set apart for himself. They are now his.

And so as Paul did with the Corinthians, we are to remind our brothers and sisters that they are called to live that way. To no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and rose again.

Just as importantly, we need to see ourselves the same way.

It’s easy to look at ourselves as Christians and get discouraged. We see our sins and how we struggle, and we wonder how God could accept us.

But let us remember that we have already been accepted. God has already set ourselves apart for himself. So now, let’s live that way.

But remember too that we don’t need to do this on our own strength. For Paul tells us,

He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. (1 Corinthians 1:8-9)

We may not always be faithful. But God is. And he will never stop working in us until the day we stand before Christ, holy and blameless in his sight.

How about you? How do you see your brothers and sisters in Christ? How do you see yourself?

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John John 17

Sanctified, being sanctified

John

Sanctification.

It’s one of those words that could best be described as “Christianese.” A word that has meaning in the church, and very little outside of it.

It’s a word you often see in scripture, and one that you might hear thrown around in Sunday messages.

But what does it mean? Essentially, it has two meanings. It means “to be made separate for God’s purposes.” And it means “to be made pure.”

We see both of these ideas here. Jesus prayed for his disciples,

They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. (John 17:16–19)

Let’s take a look at verse 19 first. Jesus said that he sanctified himself that his disciples (and us, for that matter) would be sanctified too.

In other words, he set himself apart for the Father’s purposes by coming to this earth and going to the cross.

By doing so, he has sanctified us, both in the sense of purifying us of our sins, and also of making it possible for us to become truly his.

Now we are no longer truly of this world, though we are in it. Our way of thinking, the way that we live is completely different from the way the world thinks and lives.

That’s why they can no longer understand us, and some even hate us.

But each day, we are being sanctified.

Through God’s word, he shows us what is sinful in his sight, and he causes us to hate such things. And when we sin, his Word causes us to mourn over our sins and repent. In that way, he is constantly purifying us.

But through his Word, he also shows us day by day what he wants of us. He shows us how we are to live our lives and fulfill the purposes of his kingdom. And as we read and live these things, we become set apart for his purposes each day.

So in one sense we have been sanctified, having our sins cleansed because of the blood Jesus shed on the cross. And in another, we are constantly being sanctified day by day.

And since Jesus prays for this in our lives, let it be our prayer too.

Lord Jesus, please sanctify me through and through each day. Make me more like you, hating sin, and seeking to join the Father in his work every day.

Lord, where I fall, please forgive me and pick me up. Purify me, and make me yours each day. Amen.