An Empowered Church

Introduction

Well, good morning!

Listen, I hope you have your Bibles, something to take notes with, to take notes on…if you don’t have a journal or a bulletin this morning, you can actually download our app…we have an outline on that for you and you actually take notes there and save them straight to your phone. But regardless of how you do it, I encourage you to take some notes so that you can go back and study and dig in deeper. That’s what we want you to do. We want you to dig in deeper. Which…if you haven’t been attending one of our Sunday school classes, you’re missing out. We actually have one that digs deeper into our sermon from the prior week…Ken Hale teaches that. And we have another that’s walking through Dr. Jeremiah’s new book…Josh Mumau, he teaches that. But guys, be in your Bibles, digging into. Amen?

Alright…before we finish up Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians this morning, let’s recite our mission verse together. If you’re visiting with us, it’s Matthew chapter 28, verses 19 and 20…you can turn there and join us as we recite it together. We’ve been challenging ourselves to memorize it and put it on our hearts so that we can be the people and the church God’s called us to be. And so, if you’re ready, I’ll get us started:

Matthew 28:19–20 (ESV)

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

[Prayer]

Alrighty…if you’d take your Bible and open ‘em up with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. We’re gonna finish up this letter this morning and move into his second letter next week…which’ll get us all the way to Christmas. But if you remember, the reason we’ve been looking at this letter, the major theme throughout, it’s been showing us how we can have faith in uncertain times. Guys, these Thessalonians, they were absolutely a model church…they weren’t perfect, but they were certainly doing the things Jesus commanded. They were prioritizing each other and they were reaching people all for the glory of Christ. And while they were doing that, they faced some very uncertain times. They were facing persecution…they were facing a culture that was completely and entirely contrary to their new beliefs and their new life in Christ. And yet, through that, we see that they advanced God’s kingdom.

As we look around and examine our culture today. While we might not be experiencing the level of persecution this Thessalonian church was, we’re certainly being pushed in all kinds areas and we’re being told what it is we should believe and how we should respond to people in our culture and how we should respect and accept those peoples’ beliefs, right? And when we go against the culture’s expectations, we’re labeled as bigots, religious zealots…we’re placed in the minority.

But you know, that’s okay…because Jesus, He told us what to expect. He said the world would hate us…not because it actually hates us, but because it hates Him…and when we belong to Him, we’re naturally included in that. But listen, the thing about this Christian life, while we know what to expect and while we know this world’s gonna hate us and push against everything we stand for, here’s the comfort Jesus gives us…not only do we have hope for the future…but we have hope in the present…because when God transforms us…when He gives us new life…the Bible tells us that God’s the only one that can empower us to live a life that honors Him as we anticipate His return. In fact, at salvation, He does empower us…He gives His Spirit…and through His Spirit, He gives us the means to be sanctified.

Now before we talk about sanctification (because that’s gonna be our topic today), let me explain the other side of our Christian life. Many of you guys have flown on a plane…we even have a pilot in our congregation. But the thing about planes, outside of the take off and the landing, planes can virtually fly themselves. I’m not sure if you know this…but once you take off, the pilot, he sets the appropriate heading, the altitude, the airspeed and he just sits back until it’s time to land. Technology has allowed us to put things like this on autopilot. We even see this with newer cars being made.

But guys, the Christian life, there is no autopilot. Following Jesus, its not as simple as saying your prayers and reading a few Scripture verses, maybe memorizing them from time to time, it’s not as simple as coming to church every week only to sit back and watch your faith fly itself.

Jesus, He made no secret of the level of commitment required for us to take this journey with Him. He said in Luke 14:26-33:

Luke 14:26–33 (ESV)

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Jesus, He demands nothing less than for us to be “all in” in our relationship with Him.

Paul’s, he’s been addressing this in his letter…talking about the Thessalonians’ commitment to Jesus. And what he’s been saying, “If you’re all in for Jesus, then your life, it’s gonna show it.” And he’s covered a ton of territory with this…moral purity, brotherly love, grief, death, our relationships, basic Christian virtues.

And listen, as you read all that…looking at what it takes to walk this Christian life…it can be overwhelming…its a lot. There’s a lot expected from us, right? But I love this last part of his letter…yes, we’re called to live different…yes, it’s gonna be hard…but when God saved you, He became invested in your spiritual success…and He promises to be eternally involved until it’s completion. And guys, that’s what allows us to face our culture, its knowing that God Himself will complete us and restore us and bring us to perfection.

And so listen, there’s four things I want you to see here this morning…number 1, God completely sanctifies His people…number 2, God sovereignly sanctifies His people…number 3, God mutually sanctifies His people…and then finally, number 4, God graciously sanctifies His people.

Let’s look at each of these together.

I. God Completely Sanctifies His People (v. 23)

Number 1…God completely sanctifies His people.

Look back at verse 23 with me again. Paul says, “23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

And so, first and foremost…what does it mean for God to sanctify us…what does sanctification mean? Now again, to understand this…you have to understand, the Christian life, it’s not on autopilot, right? Before our passage today, Paul just gave a list of things Christians should be doing. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, don’t quench the Spirit, don’t despise prophecies, test everything. Right? We’re to do some things…we have some responsibilities.

But being a Christian, it’s also understanding God’s part. And it’s understanding that God’s much more engaged and much more involved in our growth than we are. Even if you’re a serious, Bible-believing, Bible-studying, prayerful Christian who does everything perfectly as presented in Scripture, God’s still more committed and more invested in your sanctification than you. After all, He created us and as reborn believers, we’re created in Jesus for the purpose of good works. God’s will, therefore, it’s our sanctification. He chose us with the purpose of setting us apart and making us holy. Sanctification, its just a churchy word, but it describes our growth spiritually. It’s about the work God does in us to make us holy. As a Christian, you should be closer to Jesus today than you were yesterday. Our life, it’s all about sanctification. Part of the promise Jesus gave you when you received salvation, it wasn’t just eternal life…that’s part of it, but in order to be in the presence of Jesus forever, you have to be perfected…you have to get rid of your sin nature entirely, which God says He’ll do for you. That’s part of the promise we receive when we repent and believe…when we turn to Him. He purges the junk from our life and He cleanses us…He makes us righteous because of Jesus’s work on the cross. And guys, the reason God wants holiness for us, its because that’s where real joy and satisfaction’s found. Satan and culture, they tell us that holiness, its a drag on our happiness…that somehow its a negative thing that we want nothing to do with, but as we’re sanctified and as He makes us holier. We see that we’re more joyful and that we’re more fulfilled in His in presence.

Sanctification is something we want, because it allows us to experience more of Christ. We want to grow as believers.

Look at what Paul says here. Not only is God gonna sanctify you, but He’s gonna do it completely…your whole spirit, your whole soul, your whole body. It’s what scholars call “entire sanctification.” While we’ll never be without sin in this earthly life, in the end, God will make us perfect. On the last day, the day we should anticipate as believers, we’ll be perfected. And on that day, God’ll remove sin for good. Paul’s describing here God’s work in totally and entirely sanctifying His people. And he says God’s gonna do that for your body, your soul and spirit…it’s giving the idea of completion. Nothing about you will be left to sin. You’ll be perfected entirely. This means your thoughts, your desires, your actions…everything!

And look at the last thing he says in this verse…may your whole spirit and soul and body be “kept” blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That word “kept” it’s emphasizing God’s part in our sanctification…God keeps us. But “blameless” it means “faultless” or “without blemish”…and so, in the end, Paul’s saying that God will sanctify us, completely…and keep us faultless and without blemish during our lifetime so that this process of sanctification can happen entirely as He promised. And guys, us being “blameless,” “faultless,” “without blemish,” in other words, we’re righteous…we’re only those things because of Jesus’s righteousness, its imputed on us. We receive Jesus’s righteousness as God cleans us up to make us completely sanctified. But we receive that now, so that even now, we can stand in God’s presence through Jesus…even while we’re not perfect. And He does that for us now, because He wants us to have confidence and hope in what He’s doing in us and what He’ll complete in us.

When we’ve been completely sanctified, at the resurrection of our physical bodies, and when we receive our glorified bodies, bodies that’ll be united with our glorified souls…it’s then we’ll experience everything God meant for us from the start. But until then, He’ll keep us blameless…He’ll keep us blameless throughout our life…and He’ll keep us blameless during and after final judgement. And He’ll do that because He wants you to have hope in this complete sanctification that He promises. It’s a big deal.

And so, what’s that mean for us? Go back to last week, strive to do the things Paul commanded…depend on God and don’t quench the Spirit…cling to His Word, be driven by it. We have to understand the work of God in us and live in that empowerment. God has empowered us with His Spirit. And so, let’s step aside from self and let God do the work He’s promised to complete in us. And let’s let Him do it without resistance.

And so, that’s the first thing.

II. God Sovereignly Sanctifies His People (v. 24)

The second thing…God sovereignly sanctifies His people.

Listen, for us as believers, we have to understand that the only thing we deserve, the only thing we inherit, the only thing I’m good at, it’s sin and death. And guys, we have to understand…we have to find confidence not just in the work Jesus did…but we have to find confidence in the work God’s doing now, in us…we have to believe that He will sovereignly complete the work He starts in us, as Paul says in Philippians 1:6.

Listen, I’ve lived 20 years with Jesus…and though I’ve failed Him many times…listen guys, I’ve done nothing that could weaken His arm on me. I’ve done nothing. No sin of mine’s been greater than His love for me…Because you see, His work of salvation in me, its not yet complete. He’s purchased me with His life…He’s paid the penalty of my sin…but if the mess in me isn’t cleaned up, He still doesn’t get what He desires most, which is a relationship. He’s completing me, yes of course for my good…but also because He desires to walk with me. And so, when I chose to follow Him, I chose to give Him every aspect of my life…which is exactly what Jesus tells His disciples must happen in Luke 14, right? And by doing that, I gave Him everything…my desires, my passions, my will. And guys, for that reason, He will get what He desires. He’s in control. He leads me. He’s shaping me. He’s molding me, even despite who I am.

Look at what Paul says. Verse 24, “24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”

What will He do?…Sanctify you!

Guys, I chose to follow Jesus because when I look back on my life, I realized that everything I touched…everything I did, it all turned out for the bad. And I turned to Jesus, because I believed He was the only One that could actually turn that around for me…that He was the only One capable. I don’t follow Jesus because I think He might change me. I follow Jesus because I understand my heart…I understand the sin nature there…I understand that if it’s left up to me, I’ll receive the death and separation I deserve. I follow Jesus, knowing that nothing I do, no decision, no issue, no problem, nothing is greater than His love for me…and I follow because I truly believe that even despite who I am at my core, Jesus is far greater and far more powerful than the flesh that tempts me even now. And guys, He will change me. He will. If I had no hope of my sin being eradicated, I’d have no hope to carry on.

Guys, that’s exactly what Paul’s saying here. Because God’s faithful, He’ll do what I can’t and what He promised. He’ll bring you into His presence…which means, in order to do that, He’s got to clean you up. He’s got to sanctify you.

And so, while we should be beyond grateful for the forgiveness of our sins, we should be even more grateful for the work God’s continuing in us, despite even who we are now. God is faithful…and He alone, He will keep His people in the palm of His hand. And that’s what empowers us even now…knowing that it’s all dependent on God…it will happen. And so, of course I can overcome those temptations I struggle with now. Of course I can grow. God’s on my side…I have His Spirit who’s mission is my sanctification, all for the glory of Christ.

And listen, what this reminds us of…the whole Christian life, its all dependent on God’s grace. It’s all dependent on God’s promise and His power and His faithfulness. God’s sovereign over all of it, our salvation and our sanctification. And so, when you feel that you’re losing the fight against sin…be encouraged…God’s working in your life and He will win.

That’s the second thing…God sovereignly sanctifies His people.

III. God Mutually Sanctifies His People (vv. 25-27)

The third thing…God mutually sanctifies His people.

Listen, while God’s completely sovereign over our sanctification, it doesn’t remove our responsibility.

And so, what is our responsibility? Well, first, God gives us His Holy Spirit…and through Him, we have the ability to obey His commands and do things that do honor Him. But secondly, He gives us each other. He gives us a new family…He gives us our local church.

Now, I wanna say this before we get into this point. There were some questions from some of you concerning comments I made last week about church membership.

Guys, you should be praying about where God wants you to worship if you’re not a member of FBC…you should follow His will in that area of your life…and when it’s made clear to you, you should join and fully come alongside of whatever church that is. And listen, not because somehow church membership saves you…it certainly doesn’t. It’s really no different than baptism. Baptism doesn’t save a person, right? But we do it because ultimately Jesus said this is what’s best for us and we want to walk in obedience with him…Well, it’s the same with church membership. Yes, when you become a believer you enter into the larger family of God. But guys, God will always call you to a local church and He will do so with the intentions of you fully committing to each other. And you might be sitting there thinking, “Well, I don’t need to be a member to be committed to the people here.” But guys, the reality is, you can’t do the things you’re called to do for each other without being a member here. For example, what happens if we were to present some kind of false doctrine to begin implementing in our church. As someone not a member, you can’t vote…you have no say. And it matters because its impossible for you to love the people in this room when you can’t even hold them accountable or build them up in God’s Word. And that’s just one example. You can’t do what Paul tells us to do in Ephesians 4 without fully committing to the people of FBC. It’s the same with me being your pastor. While I might be able to pastor you or shepherd you to the best of my ability…again, my first and primary calling is to the people of FBC. This is my flock…this is my calling. When we look at the New Testament, letters were written to congregations…and leaders, they were appointed over local bodies. And in those letters, we see evidence of church membership. Again, we don’t have enough time to talk about this this morning but I do encourage you to go and study this for yourselves. We even have a short book that discusses this topic at our sign up table. Feel free to take one of these with you…study it. But guys, I say all this because of what Paul says next concerning our sanctification.

Look at verse 25 me again. Paul says, “25 Brothers, pray for us. 26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. 27 I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.”

Guys, I love this. Paul just told us about the certainty we have in God’s promise of sanctification…and then, he says, “Pray for us!” Why do they need to pray for them if God’s gonna take care of everything anyway? Well, because part of God taking care of our sanctification, it’s through us…in partnership with His Spirit, we’re His means.

It kind of reminds me of the story in Acts chapter 12 where you have these believers praying for Peter in prison, right? And if you know the story, God acts by sending an angel to release Peter…it was all God. But guys, it was God working through His peoples’ prayer. It was prayer that fetched God’s angel…In the same ways, it’s through our prayers that God moves in each other’s lives this morning. I need your prayers as I preach the Word. You need each other’s prayers as you serve and use your gifting. God gave us each other so that we’d build each other up…and part of that’s through prayer. We help sanctify each other by asking God to do that in each other.

Secondly, Paul says, “Greet each other with a holy kiss.” Now, I get it, that’s kind of weird…but listen, where’s Paul getting at here? Well personally, I think he’s describing the intimate fellowship we’re called to among each other. In fact, in early writings from the first and second century, the holy kiss it was mentioned a lot to express the loving brotherhood we’re called to. One commentator wrote, “By this kiss the early Christians expressed the intimate fellowship of the reconciled community.”

Guys, if you dig in deeper to this comment that Paul makes. Church, its not just about a worship service. It’s about the people God’s called you to. Church, it’s about us entering into relationships that are so much stronger than any other relationship we can possibly have on earth…relationships that literally last forever…it’s about relationships that allow us to personally minister to one another. And guys, without commitment to each other…unconditional commitment…understanding that this body, it’s a marriage…and in marriage, we have to make vows to each other…it’s only through that kind of commitment can we have this kind of intimacy. And so, I’m just telling you, it’s impossible to get out of church what God wants you to get without fully committing to each other.

And then lastly in this section, Paul emphasizes the ministry of God’s Word. Listen, God gives us each other and He gives us His word…all so that we can use His word to help build each other up. Paul says, “I put you under oath to read this letter to everyone in the church.” He wants God’s Word to encourage his brothers and sisters because he understands that ultimately that’s what God’s Word was intended to do.

And listen, I do believe that Paul and others knew that his letters were inspired. Peter even affirms that in his own letter…2 Peter 3. He said:

2 Peter 3:15–16 (ESV)

And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

And so, Paul’s words, him and the other apostles, they affirmed those letters as coming from God. And he wanted His words, words given to him by God, to be used in the church, to encourage them…to sanctify them…to build them up. He wanted them to be sanctified in truth. Where does truth come from? From God’s Word! And so, part of our responsibility to each other, it’s to sanctify each other in truth, through God’s Word. We should be discipling each other, we should be teaching each other. It’s another reason church membership’s so important.

And so, that’s the third thing…God uses us each to sanctify each other.

IV. God Graciously Sanctifies His People (v. 28)

And then last but not least…God graciously sanctifies His people.

Look at verse 28 with me again. Paul writes, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

Paul starts with grace and peace and he ends with grace and peace. If we’re gonna understand what God’s given us in salvation, in fellowship with one another, in our sanctification…we have to understand that its all because of God’s grace. I don’t get any of these because some how I deserve it…I get these things despite that…I get these things because God’s gracious and He alone gives me the complete opposite of what I do deserve.

Listen, concerning sanctification…perseverance in the faith…our part in salvation, our walk…I think a lot of us twist and distort what we see laid out in Scripture because at the end of the day, we lose sight of God’s grace in our lives. The reality is, it’s very humbling to have to say that I get something I don’t deserve…and it’s humbling for us to have to say I continue to grow because of Him and I’m held securely in God’s hands, not because of me but because God loves me. It’s grace! And when we say we can change what God’s promised us or take away what God’s given us, we’re actually devaluing God’s grace.

And so, concerning our salvation…concerning our sanctification…we have keep grace at the forefront of our thought. It’s through grace and grace alone that God does those things in my life…and its always despite who I was and who I am today. It’s always and it’ll always be about who He is. And He does these things so that we can be empowered to face today.

Closing

And so, in closing…as you reflect on these final verses from Paul this morning…would you bow your head and close your eyes?

Guys, I’m gonna keep it very short this morning. If you’re a believer, a member of FBC…are you keeping God’s involvement and God’s grace at the center of everything He’s doing in your life today? I mean do you understand the work He’s promised to do in you and in the others around you? And listen, thinking about those things…do you understand your responsibility to the people of FBC? Their growth, God’s chosen you to build them up. And so, if you look around and see immaturity…how are you helping to disciple and encourage and build up believers at FBC? Trust me when I say this, there are plenty of opportunities to do this in this church.

And so, you take time to reflect on those things. Ask God to show you where you’re falling short…ask Him to open your eyes to the areas where He can use you to do that work in your brothers and sisters around you.

If you’re here…a believer but not a member. Again, I urge to seek God’s direction on where He’s leading you. The church, it was designed to grow you, to edify you, to build you up…but it was also designed for you to exercise your gifts and responsibilities. And the reality is, you can’t do those things fully to each other without coming alongside of us. And so, you pray and ask God to give you clarity in that area. And if He gives you that clarity…come talk to me or another leader about membership, what that looks like here at FBC.

But listen, if you’re here and you’re not a believer…then the Bible says you need to repent and believe. You need to see that you’re a sinner and that your sin, it will cause death and separation. And without something saving you from that reality, that’s what you’ll experience. Guys, Jesus came so that you wouldn’t have to experience the consequences of your sin. He died on the cross in place of you. He wore the weight of your sin…He took on your punishment. And if you repent, if you turn to Him…and believe in Him…He’ll save you and fill you with His Spirit. And so listen, if that’s you this morning, ask God to forgive you, to lead you, to fill you.

And so, whoever you are this morning…whatever you’re struggling with…whatever the Spirit’s placing on your heart…you take these next several minutes and just respond to whatever that is…and we’ll close in just a moment.

[Prayer]