Saved: Sanctification

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READ 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

Introduction

What is sanctification? If you’re familiar with the word, you might respond, “it’s being made holy or like God.” And you’d be right. But that’s just the goal. That’s where it points. Where it’s headed.

So, what is this process of sanctification? What does it look like? Who makes it happen? How far does it reach?

When people think of sanctification, or holiness, they often think of behavior. They have a list of dos and do nots in their mind, and the holy person is he who does the right dos and doesn’t do the right do nots. If this is what I believe, then I’ll think that being made holy is essentially about modifying my behavior.

There are lots of people out there who’ve fallen into this mistaken belief. In their minds, this is what the Christian life looks like:

The gospel is proclaimed. Someone hears the good news that God has sent his son to live the perfect life we could never live and to die the death that we deserve. And he did it so that we might be redeemed, saved from our guilt, from our sin, and from death itself. And when we hear, we feel our hearts pricked. Conviction over our sin comes. And we realize that our only hope is throwing ourselves on the mercy of a good, loving almighty God. So, we believe. And God sends his Spirit to regenerate and justify us. We’re born again and adopted into God’s family. We receive his spiritual DNA. And we’re made heirs of all God’s promises.

But then, we’re told that God desires for us to grow in holiness. And how do we do it? Well, we listen to the rules - to the list of dos and do nots - and we try our hardest to follow them.

Don’t get drunk. Don’t lie. Don’t steal. Don’t lust or look at pornography. Don’t gossip.

Do go to church. Do get along. Do read your Bible.

You get the picture. And we start to think that if we’ll just get all of our behavioral ducks in a row, we’ll become truly holy.

But there are a handful of problems with this way of approaching holiness and sanctification.

First, it reduces our ongoing walk with God down to a list of unacceptable and encouraged behaviors. But that’s not how Jesus or the early Christians talked about the spiritual life.

When Paul describes the Christian life, he says things like “walk by the Spirit”. And when Jesus confronted people, he didn’t just hand them a list of things to do or avoid. He dug down into their motivation - into the deepest parts of who they were - and he called them to a whole-life, moment-by-moment pursuit of God and his ways. Just think of how he interacts with the rich young ruler.

The problem with lists is that they’re finite, so it’s easy to leave off things. And on top of that, they’re impersonal and don’t require any kind of connection with God. Anyone can check off a list of behaviors. But Christianity calls us to live our lives as if God is right here, directing us to act moment by moment. Because he is.

If holiness is nothing more than getting on board with a new set of mandated behaviors, then it’s no different from a secular self-help book or a 12-step program. There’s no real spiritual power needed. And that leads us to the second problem with looking at the spiritual life this way - as if it’s a list of dos and do nots.

It cultivates a sense of pride about our spirituality. If holiness is primarily about doing and saying the “right” things, then I can start to boast that I’m doing and saying the “right” things better than you. I can begin to look down on those who haven’t made the right decisions like I have. And I can begin to think that my good works are the result of my good choices and strong will.

But this was the attitude of the Pharisees - those religious leaders Jesus rebuked again and again. They looked at the woman caught in adultery and were ready to stone her because they thought the difference between them and her came down to the fact that they were better. But that’s not all.

This way of understanding holiness is also the highway that leads directly into legalism. If holiness is about saying, doing, and wearing the right things, then it becomes easy to tell who is holy and who isn’t. And rather than looking at the heart - as God does - I start to look at the easiest, most obvious place: the outward appearance. This can lead us to believe that if we just get people looking right, they’ll be acceptable to God.

But legalism is really like how I used to clean my room. I’d push everything into the closet and under the beds. It sure did look clean if you were just taking a quick glance. But on closer inspection, you’d realize that nothing had really changed. I’d just hidden the problem.

Sanctification doesn’t start on the outside and work its way in. It starts on the inside, in the heart, and works its way out. We must learn how to order our lives moment-by-moment, through the leading of God’s Spirit - so our rooms never get so messy that we have to shove stuff under the bed.

And so, we must be careful not to turn God’s work of sanctification into merely a checklist of dos and do nots. But then that leads us to an important question: What is sanctification, really? When a person is born again and adopted into God’s family, what happens then?

What is this process of sanctification - or growth in holiness - supposed to really look like? Paul offers us a couple of important thoughts here in 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24.

Sanctification is a Work of God

The first thing that should be apparent as we read these two verses is that God is the one who sanctifies us. Notice what Paul says here:

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely...”

Paul wants to be absolutely clear about who performs the work of sanctification. That’s why he throws in the word “himself.” You know, he could have just said, “May the God of peace sanctify you...” But he adds stress by writing, “May the God of peace HIMSELF...” In other words, Paul wants us to realize that we are not capable of sanctifying ourselves.

If sanctification were merely a list of rules to follow, then we could do it. And Paul could write, “Sanctify yourself by doing this, avoiding that, etc.” But Paul understood that our own efforts can only bring us so far.

If God is not transforming us, then we have no hope of genuine, long-term transformation. This is why holiness is consistently described as the fruit of God’s Spirit at work in our lives.

For example...

In the 15th chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that he is the vine and we are the branches. He says that the only way we can bear spiritual fruit - the holiness God desires for us - is by remaining connected to him. And how do we remain connected to him? Through the presence of his Spirit at work in our lives.

Or think of what Paul tells us in Galatians 5 where he says, “if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law… but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.”

And in his first letter, Peter explicitly tells us that sanctification is a work of the Spirit.

God’s Spirit sets us apart for God’s work. Then, he prepares us by removing the things that shouldn’t be there - bad attitudes, hurtful speech, sinful actions - and he replaces them with what should be there - love, humility, faith, and the rest. But this is the work of God.

Now, admitting that this is the work of God - and living as if it’s the work of God - makes it a far more challenging way of life. Because we have to acknowledge that we can’t sanctify ourselves. We’re not in control. We have to lean on him to provide what we need, moment by moment. And on top of that, we can’t sanctify anyone else. I can’t make you holy. And while I might offer some guidance, I can’t give you the perfect list of dos and do nots. God’s Spirit must lead you moment by moment.

But how do we know he will? Isn’t that a volatile, messy, uncertain way to pursue holiness?

Perhaps on the surface of it. But for the believer - the one who truly trusts God - it isn’t at all. Notice what Paul says in verse 24: “Faithful is he who calls you, and he also will bring it to pass.”

Paul doesn’t just tell the Thessalonian Christians that they must trust God to sanctify them. He also reminds them that God is faithful to his word. And so, since God has promised us his sanctifying Spirit, he will sanctify us through that Spirit.

He will bring it to pass. But we must trust him to do it. Both in our lives and in the lives of others. And we must be patient with him, allowing him to work in his way and in his time.

I once knew a young woman who had started attending a church and she was on fire. She was excited about what God was doing and ready to serve however she could. She joined the choir and showed up at every practice and service, brimming with enthusiasm. But she wasn’t dressed quite like what some in the congregation expected of a “saint.” So, something was said during one of the choir practices that was obviously directed at her even if her name wasn’t used. It so hurt her that she left the church and never returned.

This approach to sanctification reminds me of one time when I was incubating some chicken eggs. One little chick seemed to be struggling, so I tried to help it by pulling some of the shell off where it had made its efforts. When I got back home after work, the chick was dead.

Our efforts at sanctifying others can often lead to more spiritual damage than help.

As Paul says here, “Faithful is he who calls us, and he also will bring it to pass.” But we’ve got to trust him to do so.

Sanctification Changes Everything

There’s another important reality about sanctification that Paul brings out here. He says, “May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely...” Then, he goes on to write, “and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Both of these statements make it clear that partial sanctification is unacceptable. God wants to transform every aspect of our lives - from our attitudes and thoughts to our words and actions.

God will leave no stone unturned in our lives. There is no sin too small that God does not want to root it out.

This first word - “entirely” - has the connotation that we have “reached the full end or goal” of something. In other words, we are being fully transformed into the image of our Savior, Jesus.

Sanctification isn’t just about not cussing, not having sex outside of heterosexual marriage, and going to church.

We need to be sanctified in our...

Marriages.

Parenting.

Work.

Friendships.

Mission.

Et cetera.

The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament ὁλοτελής

A strengthened form of ὅλος, “wholly and utterly,” “through and through.” The basic meaning is “having reached the full end or goal (τέλος)” or “having fully met the taxes (τέλος).”

Sanctification Requires Submission

Romans 6:19; Romans 12:1; 2 Timothy 2:21-22; Hebrews 12:14

Gardening.