"It is God’s will that you should be sanctified." - 1 Thessalonians 4:3a (NIV)
In the Bible, to sanctify something means to set it apart for special use by God. Likewise, to sanctify a person means the same thing - to make them set apart for special use by God. The fact is that God has a plan for each of our lives. We have been saved to serve God's purpose.
The secret to our seeing God's purpose for our lives fulfilled is our willingness to be sanctified, set apart for His use. The process of sanctification has to do with our becoming more and more like Jesus in our daily lives, as Paul makes clear in our text. (READ TEXT)
There are two thoughts that Paul shares with us about how God's grace works in our lives to make us more like Jesus, and thus set apart to be used for His purpose.
1. Being like Christ is our eternal destiny - vs. 29-30
From the beginning, God's plan has been to make us like Jesus. This is our destiny. God announced this intention at creation.
"Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.'" - Genesis 1:26a (NIV)
In all of creation, only human beings, are made "in God's image." This is a great privilege and gives us dignity. Being made in God's image means that man is a spiritual being. Like God, man thinks, feels, and chooses. When man was walking with God before the entrance of sin into this world, he was spiritually alive, and instructed by God as to how to think clearly, feel appropriately, and choose correctly. But with the entrance of sin into this world, the image of God in man became corrupted. Man became spiritually dead, which meant that without God's guidance in his life, his thoughts became inappropriate, as did his feelings and choices. The image of God in man was corrupted.
Which is why God came to rescue us in Christ. He came on a mission to restore the full image we have lost. What does the full "image and likeness" of God look like? It looks like Jesus Christ! The Bible says Jesus is "the image of God" (2 Corinthians 4:4); "the visible image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15); & "the exact representation of his being"(Hebrews 1:3). Paul says being like Jesus is the eternal destiny of everyone who has placed their faith in Christ.
When we are saved by the grace of God, we are brought to spiritual life and God begins the work of making us like Jesus in our spirit. And that work of making us like Jesus will be completed the day Christ returns, when we will receive our glorified, resurrection body. Before that, every believer who dies, upon entering the Lord's presence, is made to be like Christ in our thinking, our affections and our choices.
"Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." - 1 John 3:2 (NIV)
Everyone in heaven thinks, loves, and chooses like Jesus. They are like Jesus intellectually, emotionally, and volitionally. Now they're waiting for the day of His return, when they'll receive a resurrection body and will be like Jesus physically. Christ is the first to receive a glorified, resurrection body. That's why Paul says He's "the firstborn among many brothers" (v. 29). When Jesus returns and eternity is ushered in, every believer will be like Him in their spirit, soul, and body.
"But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed." - 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 (NLT)
"Better days are coming, child of God. Let this thought encourage you in your long journey home. God has determined to make you like Jesus. Because you are his child, you will one day be like his Son. That family resemblance, which is today so faint as to sometimes be almost invisible, will in that happy day be so clear that no one in the universe could miss it. Think of it! All the sin and evil and inner turmoil, all the memories that keep us chained to the past, in one shining moment the burden is lifted, the chains are broken, and we are set free. Lust gone forever. Anger and bitterness finally banished. Pride removed. Greed replaced by love. Sorrow gives way to joy. Addictions gone, their place taken by a fervent love for God. Hurtful memories healed. The fires of worldly ambition replaced with holy zeal for righteousness. Foul speech gives way to praise. Evil habits extinguished. Violent temper replaced with a gentle spirit. Lying lips now speak the truth. All that we wanted, all that we dreamed but could never attain, the people we knew we could be and should be, in one shining moment when we see Jesus, it all comes true for us." - Ray Pritchard, Keep Believing Ministries
By God's grace, He's predetermined I will one day be like Jesus and made into His image in every way. This is the basis of our confidence that once God has saved me, I am saved eternally. That's why Paul says in verse 30, that our glorification is as good as done, for God has decreed it. God will never give up on or abandon His children.
"I am sure that the good work God began in you will continue until he completes it on the day when Jesus Christ comes again." - Philippians 1:6 (Easy to Read)
The idea that those who are saved, are saved eternally is firmly planted in God's eternal decree that all who trust Christ will become like Christ. In fact, God's acceptance of us is based on the fact He is not subject to time, which is Paul's emphasis in verse 30. God accepts me as His child, because He sees me as already glorified, He sees me as already having been made to be just like Jesus. God has decreed that I will one day be like Jesus; and no one or nothing can cancel God's decree.
"May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it." - 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (NIV)
“I know that You can do all things; no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.” - Job 42:2 (NIV)
Through faith in Christ, I've been justified. I've been saved from sin's penalty because I've accepted Christ's sacrifice for my sin. And because of my faith in Christ, God has predetermined that when eternity arrives and all things are made new, I'll be glorified - I'll be just like Jesus. But what's supposed to take place between justification and glorification; between the time I place my faith in Christ and when I'm made to be like Him? Well, not only is being like Christ our eternal destiny, but:
2. Becoming like Christ is our earthly duty - v. 28
Paul says that God is working, by His grace, through every experience of life for our greatest good. And what is that? Christ likeness.
"Western Christians - especially American Christians - are prone to pervert texts such as Romans 8:28. If our lives are comfortable, if we have wealth, good health, that is fine and well. But it is not the good that Paul had in mind, and it is not the goal of the Christian life. The good is not our comfort, wealth, or health. It is conformity to Christ!" - Dr. Daniel B. Wallace
God is committed to use, by His grace, every experience in our lives to make us more like Christ, if we are committed to a growing love relationship with God and seeing His purpose for our lives fulfilled, He will use every experience to make us more like Jesus.
"God's ultimate goal for your life on earth is not comfort, but character development. He wants you to grow up spiritually and become like Christ." - Rick Warren
Why is this? Because our salvation isn't about God taking us to be in heaven one day; it is about God bringing heaven to us on earth today. And what is it that'll make heaven, heaven? We will be with Jesus and we will be like Jesus! Therefore, the degree to which I can become more like Jesus today, will determine the degree to which I experience the blessings of heaven today. And while I'm not in the Lord's presence in heaven right now, the Lord is present on earth with me; and as I grow in my love relationship with Him so He might use me for His purpose, He' is free to all things in my life to bring this blessing about.
In his book, "Habits of Grace," David Mathis makes the point that God has provided three resources to help me along my journey toward Christ-likeness in this life:
A. I need to rely on God's promises in His Word;
B. I need to rest in God's presence through prayer; and
C. I need to relate to God's people through His church.
Mathis says as we participate in these grace provisions for our growth, we place ourselves on the path of grace. Just like Zacchaeus put himself along the path where grace was coming (Luke 19:1-10); and blind Bartimaeus (Luke 18:35-43) stationed himself along the route of grace where he might encounter Jesus as he passed by; when we avail ourselves of God's grace provisions for our growth, we will grow in our love relationship with God and be used for His purpose as uses every circumstance of life to bring about our greatest good.
Conclusion: "I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV)
Are you taking hold of that for which Christ took hold of you?
