The Gospel IRL Sanctification: - A Call to Holiness Pt 1
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Why Sanctification?
Why Sanctification?
As we continue our theme of the Gospel IRL I feel it is important to turn our attention this week to the topic of sanctification.
Sanctification means concentration or setting apart for a holy purpose.
Sanctification is not an academic exercise but it helps us understand the call to holy living.
Additionally then, brothers and sisters, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received instruction from us on how you should live and please God—as you are doing—do this even more.
For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you keep away from sexual immorality,
that each of you knows how to control his own body in holiness and honor,
not with lustful passions, like the Gentiles, who don’t know God.
This means one must not transgress against and take advantage of a brother or sister in this manner, because the Lord is an avenger of all these offenses, as we also previously told and warned you.
For God has not called us to impurity but to live in holiness.
God’s will for us is our sanctification.
For this is God’s will, your sanctification
We often ask for God’s will, we desire God’s will, we seek His will. There are only a handful of times in the Bible where were are clearly told His will and this is one of them.
God’s will for us is our sanctification.
We are called to holiness. This is done when we come to Christ and it is an on going process. We are positionally holy in Christ. No if ands or buts about it.
So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When my wife and I signed the closing papers on the house it was ours. Even before we drove over there and walked in it was ours. All that was needed now was for us to walk in to what was already done.
Justification and sanctification do not happen apart from the Father, the Spirit, and from Christ.
The Father calls us, Christ saves us, and then the Spirit seals and indwells us to allow us to accomplish the will of God.
God has justified us in Christ.
If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
If this is you, you are saved. That is it.
You cannot earn it, you cannot deserve it, you cannot revoke it. You can only accept it and walk in it by faith.
A young girl told her mother she wanted some cookies. The mom said we don’t have any cookies but we can make some. The little girl had never made cookies and was confused because he thought they just came from the store. Her mom pulled out all the ingredients and placed them on the counter.
The young girl was obviously confused and said she did not understand. Her mother proceeded to guide the little girl through the steps knowing the girl did not understand. She could not see how these random things and a hot oven would make give her the chocolate chip cookies she so desperately desired. She did not understand but she was obedient. When they were done she received the cookies and now had faith.
Faith is obedience. God did all the work we just follow along and we are justified. We are made righteous. We are sanctified. We are made holy. It’s all done on His end. Either He said and it’s true or it’s not. It comes down to Him not us.
It is of the utmost importance to start here when looking at sanctification because if not we can easily fall into some form of legalism. We can become a person who insists that someone, including ourselves, must do something to receive salvation from God. That is not true. You are saved and justified when receive Christ.
and yet because we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified.
We are justified and sanctified.
If we stop at justification by faith alone we think there is nothing to be done. Not to earn anything but to work out what has been done.
This is also a process where are being sanctified now. There is now an ongoing process by which we are being sanctified. Where were are being renewed.
Why sanctification?
Why sanctification?
If God has already set us apart and made us Holy in the heavenlies then why sanctify us here on earth? Why does God want to sanctify us? Why does He want to make us new?
Three reasons that we will unpack in just a moment:
Sanctification is a call to be like God.
God wants us to be holy like Him. The holiness of God is the most important thing in the world.
God wants the church to be holy.
He wants to make us like Jesus.
We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.
He wants to make us like Jesus because it’s for our good. To be made into the image of Christ is the ultimate good.
Sanctification is a call to be like God
Sanctification is a call to be like God
God is holy! The holiness of God is the most important thing there is because it means He is set apart. He is as Karl Barth said “wholly other.”
This means He is completely different. Nothing on earth or in heaven is exactly like God. He is completely different. What sets Him apart is His holiness. Nothing impure can enter His presence.
He is like the sun. We can see it, we can receive from it, we can be warmed by it, but we cannot touch it.
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him.
There is no shadow, no turning with thee. He is perfect and nothing imperfect can enter His presence. This is why He must made us holy and perfect and praise God in Jesus we are.
Right now, in this very moment the angles sing in heaven holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty. For eternity we will sing that song too.
God is Holy!
God wants the church to be holy.
God wants the church to be holy.
for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.
This is a call to individual holiness but it is also and primarily a call to corporate holiness.
God wants His church, His people to be different and He will not tolerate less than.
One of my favorite stories in all of the Bible that shows how God feels about His holiness is found in Leviticus 10:1-3.. Aaron was just consecrated as priest, his sons were consecrated as priest. They were sanctified or set apart. They were meant to lead Israel in worship. They were to be examples in how to worship a holy and pure God. They chose to worship in their own way. In a way less than what God commanded. God killed them and said.
Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has spoken: I will demonstrate my holiness to those who are near me, and I will reveal my glory before all the people.” And Aaron remained silent.
God says, I will demonstrate my holiness. AKA do not test me. He does this in the New Testament with Ananias and Sapphira. God wants His people to be holy.
Be careful not to personalize these stories too much. Instead take the point for what it is.
We are supposed to be different. The church is meant to be a light and a witness to the holiness and glory of God. We cannot do that if we are running around doing the same thing the world does.
“People only leave something for something better.”
God wants us to be holy and to be different so that when people look at us they desire it.
He wants to make us like Jesus.
He wants to make us like Jesus.
We are called to be the church people who belong to the Kingdom of God. People who are different.
If God calls us and we stay just like we are the world would look at the church and say “ehh, whats the point?”
So God makes us like Jesus. God gets to do this because he owns us. We belong to Him.
for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.
but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb.
There are only two options:
We belong to the world
We belong to God
Bob Dylan summed it up well
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the Devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody
We serve either God or the devil.
The kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of the earth.
We are in Christ or in Adam.
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to the many.
There are only two options.
So yes that means when you come to Christ there are things you will need to get rid of. This is good and for our good. He does not strip away things to punish but to invite us into something better.
The removal of things, sometimes things we like or enjoy, is for our good so that we can be like Him.
Sometimes God calls us to leave something that is not necessarily bad because something better is available.
It is not always about removing sin it is about trading our will for His. It is about renewing our minds to conform to His will.
I have a friend who wanted to be a missionary. He desired nothing more than to be a missionary. This was a good call He figured so He pursued it. He was rejected from the missions organization. Eventually he planted a church that grew to over 2,000 people and they have sent out missionaries and supported missionaries all over the globe. He wanted something good but God said I have better.
That is also sanctification. Trading our desires and dreams for Gods.
Now yes, God is removing sin from your life. He is removing things that you should not do. But here is the thing.
“Sin is less about what you do and more about the motives of your heart.”
We get so fixated on what we do, what other people do, what happened. That is important but what is more important is why we did it. Sin is more about the position of our hearts and that is what God wants to change. He is not looking to behavioral modification. He is looking for heart transformation.
Don’t smoke, don’t chew, and don’t go with those who do.
That is not the problem. The problem is a heart issue. It is our desire to seek self and place self above all else and all others.
We can not do wrong things all the time and still want to. God is looking to change our want to.
Our desire should be for holiness. When we as God’s people seek His holiness and desire to made like Him everything changes for us. God looks at us and says, “yes they get it!”
I wanna be holy like You are
Even if it means I’m set apart
Make my life to look just like Your heart
If You’re holy I wanna be holy
Oil and Offering | SEU Worship
I want to be holy. I believe a pursuit of holiness is the most important pursuit we can have in life. Here is why.
Our identity is bound up in the resurrected Christ.
Before you are a spouse you are a child of God.
Before you are a parent you are a child of God.
Before you are an employee you are a child of God.
Before you are a pastor you are a child of God.
Before you are a musician you are a child of God.
Before you are a child you are a child of God.
Before you are anything else you are a child of God.
That is what you take with you into eternity so the call and desire for holiness is the most important thing you can have. You want to be a better anything on this earth then pursue holiness.
We will talk more about this next week but yes you will fail. Yes you will sin. Yes you will make mistakes. The grace and blood of Christ covers that. He has grace and mercy for you so you should too.
The things that God calls us are so big and so overwhelming sometimes that we need to desire His holiness and to be like Him in order to accomplish it.
Have you submitted to Christ and received His holiness? You cannot earn it on your own. You must receive it as a free gift!
