SANCTIFICATION: A DAILY OCCURRENCE…A LIFELONG PROCESS
Colossians 3:1-17
The Greek word translated "sanctification" (hagiasmos [aJgiasmov"]) means "holiness."
Before reading today’s scripture I would like to lay a small foundation and give you some background on the writing itself. Paul’s letter in Colossians is written to a group of people who had "already" been saved and accepted Jesus Christ. However, there were some who were trying to teach that there was a "higher" level of spirituality that was obtainable beyond Jesus. Paul wanted to assure them that nothing beyond Jesus Christ was necessary for their spiritual growth and maturity.
As I read the scripture, I had two emotions: Comfort and Concern. I found Comfort, because it is clear that even after we accept Jesus Christ into our hearts, we will still have struggles, so this scripture gave me some assurance that it was at least normal to have struggles.
However, the second emotion, concern, was the more dominate emotion. I felt concerned that by our lack of understanding what it is to be saved, sanctified, holy, then we leave the door is swung wide open for failure in obtaining our birthright. When we feel as though there is something "lacking" in our Christian experience we begin to ask questions like:
Why do I feel depressed so often?
Why does my life seem to be no better now than before I was saved?
Why does that person seem so Christian…we were saved at the same time?
How can that person claim to be saved and still do or say the things they do?
Or we may find ourselves thinking less about God and more about this world. Or maybe being a little less Christlike than we used to be. Letting our guard down, becoming complacent, less "focused on Heaven" and eternity.
Misunderstanding or ignorance of something as important as our salvation can be just as damaging as outright "false teachings". The words Paul uses to address the people in Colossians are just as applicable today as when he wrote them. The warnings and reminders are just as valid today and need to be periodically refreshed in our minds and more importantly…hearts.
As I read today’s scripture and give you God’s message, each one of us should be listening with an open heart. Set aside your prejudices, your angers, your hurts, your worldly thoughts, and listen to what God, through His Holy Spirit has for you today. There is something for each one of us individually and the desired result will be something collectively for all of us.
Each one of us has an area (maybe more than one) in our life, right now, today, that needs improvement in the area of Holiness. I do not say this to chastise or judge; I say it to encourage us to be realistic with ourselves and God. There are some who have been fooled by Satan into thinking that those areas in our lives that need work are of little consequence; are small sins by comparison to others, are hidden sins that affect no one but the sinner (or so they think), or worse yet, convinced they aren’t sins all.
God wants to lovingly remind each of us today that our souls will be judged based on our own words, our own deeds, our own thoughts, and our own heart. Satan works on the saved to get them to give up their salvation. That’s right…to get you to sell your birthright for "one morsel of meat" or a little pornography, or little idle gossip, or little back biting, or a little drunkenness…and Satan is succeeding on a daily.
Colossians 3: 1-17; 24-25 (The New Living Translation)
1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God’s right hand in the place of honor and power. 2 Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. 3 For you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your real life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.
5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual sin, impurity, lust, and shameful desires. Don’t be greedy for the good things of this life, for that is idolatry. 6 God’s terrible anger will come upon those who do such things. 7 You used to do them when your life was still part of this world.
8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old evil nature and all its wicked deeds. 10 In its place you have clothed yourselves with a brand-new nature that is continually being renewed as you learn more and more about Christ, who created this new nature within you.
11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.
12 Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 You must make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
14 And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are all called to live in peace. And always be thankful. 16 Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the Father.
24 Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and the Master you are serving is Christ. 25 But if you do what is wrong, you will be paid back for the wrong you have done. For God has no favorites who can get away with evil. AMEN
I would like to take you back in time for a moment. It is around 6:00 am on a clear morning in November 1998. I honestly do not remember the day of the month, or the day of the week. But it is a workday. My routine consisted of stopping at the Robins Campground on Eglin AFB and praying each morning before going to work. This is when I have my quality time with the Lord. I parked near the water, and watched the sunrise. The birds were beginning to move about, a squirrel was busy looking for breakfast and two deer were grazing in a small field behind me. There was no other human in sight. I found this to be an ideal place to pray.
I love being near the water…it has a "calming" affect on my soul. I had been having a particularly difficult period of time in my life, and as I prayed that day, the Holy Spirit came upon me in a way that I had never experienced…I felt God’s presence like a bright light inside me. I had been praying for guidance on my call to ministry, on how to overcome some of the bad habits in my life that I knew must be eliminated and I was still struggling with. I had been praying for forgiveness for some things I had said and done to someone I love very much. I was at that point in my life that some of us have to reach before we give God our "undivided attention". I suddenly became very aware of God’s presence.
My face became extremely hot and flush and I began to sob tears that burned my cheeks. The presence was so full of love I cannot begin to describe it. As I acknowledged His presence He asked me simply if I would give my life to Him. I knew what He meant, I knew that up to that point in my life I had not fully turned my life over to Him. I had only given that part of me I was willing to give up and still remain comfortable.
In essence…He asked me to die that day...and I did. What I experienced that day was Sanctification. And even though I am now saved, sanctified and have given my life completely over to the Lord, I continue to struggle (Grow) in varying degrees with my walk with Jesus.
My daily life consists of striving to eradicate the "old man completely" and to "put the new man on". I have discovered that this is going to be a "Daily Occurrence…A Lifelong Process".
As I began to grow with our Lord, I became concerned about what I knew of sanctification…what it is and is not. People began asking me if I was "Sanctified". And I was hearing others say they were "Sanctified". The word itself confused me. It implied something in the past tense, like it is a "done deal". I was concerned that some people are talking like they have a "Certificate of Completion" on their wall at home.
Being new, I was concerned that I had missed something in the translation. First, I looked the word up in a dictionary. The 1976 version of Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary says it this way: SANCTIFIED…"made free from sin or free from the bondage of sin". This blew my mind. "MADE FREE"…past tense…a done deal! I thought, WOW, are you telling me that there are people in this sanctuary that have attained this level of perfection? I was having real difficulty believing that anyone could be THAT perfect…let alone how bad I felt that I wasn’t that perfect.
With the Holy Spirit at my side, I began taking a closer look at what the Bible, the Nazarene Manual and yes, even Mr. Webster’s dictionary, had to say about sanctification.
Here is what the Nazarene Manual says in Title 10, paragraph 13/14 of our Church Constitution:
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION:
(13) We believe that entire sanctification is that act of God, subsequent to regeneration, by which believers are made free from original sin, or depravity, and brought into a state of entire devotement to God, and the holy obedience of love made perfect.
(14) We believe that the grace of entire sanctification includes the impulse to grow in grace. However, this impulse must be consciously nurtured, and careful attention given to the requisites and processes of spiritual development and improvement in Christlikeness of character and personality. Without such purposeful endeavor one’s witness may be impaired and the grace itself frustrated and ultimately lost.
A closer look at Webster’s also shed a different light. It still said the same thing, but this time, the Holy Spirit led me in a different direction and that direction made more sense. It DOES NOT say, "you are sinless"…it says you are "made free from sin…free from the bondage of sin". What this means is, through Jesus Christ, with the aid of the Holy Spirit you are "enabled" or "given the ability" to live a Holy life (Holiness), you are no longer "bound" by sin.
J. I. Packer writes: Sanctification is not sin being totally eradicated (that is to claim too much) or merely counteracted (that is to say too little), but a divinely wrought character change freeing us from sinful habits and forming in us Christlike affections, dispositions, and virtues" [Concise Theology, 169].
When we begin the Sanctification Process the Holy Spirit "enables" us to overcome temptation, and to grow in grace on a daily basis. The Church of the Nazarene even goes so far, and I think rightly so, to say that "the grace of entire sanctification includes the "impulse" to grow in grace. This can happen because we are no longer in the bondage of sin. Now that I am not a "slave" to sin, I use this new freedom and "learn" to be Holy.
For those who claim to be sanctified you made a promise, a commitment to God, that you would give yourself over to the Holy Spirit in order to become Holy, and to become Holy requires work on your part each and every day for the rest of your life, and in fact, should have the "impulse" to do so!
Listen to what Easton’s Dictionary says about Sanctification:
"Sanctification involves more than a mere moral reformation of character, brought about by the power of the truth: it is the work of the Holy Spirit bringing the whole nature more and more under the influences of the new gracious principles implanted in the soul in regeneration".
He continues, "In other words, sanctification is the carrying on to perfection the work begun in regeneration, and it extends to the whole man. It is the special office of the Holy Spirit in the plan of redemption to carry this out. Faith is instrumental in securing sanctification, inasmuch as it (1) secures union to Christ, and (2) brings the believer into living contact with the truth, whereby he is led to yield obedience "to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come."
I was saved in 1970 when I ask Jesus into my heart and asked Him to forgive me of my sins. That salvation provided a way or means for me to reach Heaven, but that saving grace did not guarantee me a place at the supper table of our Lord. My salvation experience did not end when I was justified, nor should it have. But even my sanctification experience in November 1998 did NOT guarantee me a place in Heaven. The two acts of Grace TOGETHER do not guarantee me a place in Heaven. But they are vital to a lifelong journey towards Holiness.
Being Saved and Sanctified are not guarantees of a place in Heaven, but with them you are "enabled and empowered" to avail yourself to all of God’s Grace, Mercy and Power to be victorious over temptations until the end of your life. It is a lifelong journey towards.
There should be growth from the day we commitment our lives to Jesus Chris until the day we go to meet Him! "Sanctification"…it is giving up of oneself to God completely…you die to self! You give up your own desires and lusts. You become a tool of God". Your desires are buried. Your focus shifts to "higher things"…God’s things, Heavenly things, things of Eternity, things of lasting value.
Be careful with what "Saved" means to you. Make sure you understand you can loose your salvation. I can be drowning in a lake today and you pull me to shore and save me. But that is no guarantee that I will not fall in the lake tomorrow and drowned. We have been given a precious gift…a treasure if you will, the Holy Spirit. When we receive the Holy Spirit, His only purpose is to guide and direct us in order to make us Holy in God’s eyes.
When "Sanctification" occurs in our life we are turning our lives over completely to allow the Holy Spirit total freedom to make us "Holy". God demands that we be "Holy"…and Satan will try his best, for the rest of your life, to try and kept you from being "Holy".
Make no mistake about it…Satan is not interested in you as an individual. He’s not choosing you to have a grand time with Him for eternity in Hell. NO, he could care less about you or your well being. Satan only has one desire…to take from God the one thing God desires most…YOU, your soul!
In some cases we may not even realize it is happening. I am not a lamp unto myself…Christ is the eternal light. Jesus can light the candle within my soul, but if I am not vigilant to Satan’s attempts to steal my eternal light…Satan will snuff that candle! If we continue to sin after salvation, our hearts will begin to slowly "blacken" and the "light" that was placed there will grow dimmer and dimmer, until finally only darkness is left...the same darkness we were in when Jesus found us!
Do not be fooled by the word "saved". It implies some kind of permanency or lifetime guarantee, but it is not. If being saved guarantees my entry into Heaven, then why does Satan continue to tempt me? What purpose does he hope to serve? Is it so a non-Christian can see me sin and decide that Christianity is a bunch of hypocrites and give up their quest for salvation!? Is it because Satan wants me to commit enough sins so I get the cheapest mansion in Heaven? No, my dear friends, we can loose our salvation and blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is not the only way to do it. Satan knows that none of you would commit such a "Blatant" sin.
Satan is smarter than that. So, like using a dimmer switch, He will dim the light of your soul…a little at a time. Like an embezzler, He will steal your treasure…a little at a time. Are you listening?
Do not be fooled by the word "Sanctified". It is also not a word of permanency as it implies.
Are you growing in Grace? Do you understand what that means? Have you reached a plateau in your walk and no longer growing? Can you see the danger in that? Do you see how if it remains unchecked that your soul is in danger? I am not saying your going to Hell, I’m saying that if we are not vigilant Satan will slowly, a little at a time, steal your light. He has the power while we are here on this earth to tempt you to try and get you to give up your birthright, either knowingly with a blatant denial of the Holy Spirit, or a little at a time by getting you to stop growing. What does it mean when a tree stops growing?…it means it is dying, and unless it is nourished and watered again, it will die completely.
Do you hear me today? Are listening to the Holy Spirit this morning? He is speaking to you and He wants you to come home. Will you do that today? Will you do as the Spirit asks and recommit yourself to growing in Grace? If you have never given your life to the Lord, will you do that today? Say "YES" to the Lord today and He will begin a daily walk with you on a lifelong journey.
