In the Army we did nothing without an operations order. The operations order defines important things like who is responsible for what, what the objective of the mission is, when and where the operations will take place and supplies that will be needed.
When I say we did nothing without one, I mean we did nothing… we couldn’t have a battalion picnic without an oporder—supply annex and the whole 9 yards.
As I was reading verses 23 and 24 of our text it occurred to me that it read a lot like an oporder for Operation Sanctification. Sanctification simply refers to the process that is supposed to happen in our lives once we trust in Jesus, it is this process that causes us to become more like Jesus and helps us become what the Lord means for us to be.
Since these verses read like an OPORDER I thought I’d present them that way. So I decided to go through it with you in that way.
Command and Control
23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you
Before you can talk about what the mission objectives are, you’ve got to know who the operatives are and especially who is in charge.
With regard to our becoming followers of Jesus, the oporder makes it clear that the prime mover is God Himself.
So what about all of the things we usually associate with being a follower of Jesus Christ? What about church attendance, Bible reading, prayer, avoiding sin, giving, and serving? Aren’t these the things that Christians do?
Yes, they are. Here’s the difference. All of these things are nothing more than an empty performance if we do them to try to make ourselves acceptable to God. Or if we do them for the purpose of making others think that we are spiritual. This is pretending. This is play-acting. This is nothing more than doing spiritual things outwardly to impress God and/or other people. So why should we do these things?
We do them in response to what His Spirit is doing in us—to give Him opportunity to recreate the life of Christ in us. Our sanctification occurs as we submit command and control to Jesus.
Commander’s Intent
The most important part of any oporder is the commander’s intent. This is what if all else fails the commander intends to have accomplished when the day is done. This is the bottom line and in typical army fashion an oporder puts the BLUF. What is the commanders intent in Operation sanctification.
sanctify you through and through.
God’s plan to sanctify us is a take no prisoners approach.
When a person becomes a Christian, he usually undergoes some radical life changes, especially if he has had an immoral background. Through the first steps of spiritual growth and self-denial, he gets rid of the large, obvious sins. But sad to say, many believers stop there. They don’t go on to allow the Holy Spirit toeliminate the little sins that clutter the landscape of their lives.
Gordon MacDonald, in his book Ordering Your Private World, told of an experience in his own life that illustrates this truth. "Some years ago, when Gail and I bought the old abandoned New Hampshire farm we now call Peace Ledge, we found the site where we wished to build our country home strewn with rocks and boulders. It was going to take a lot of hard work to clear it all out....The first phase of the clearing process was easy. The big boulders went fast. And when they were gone, we began to see that there were a lot of smaller rocks that had to go too. But when we had cleared the site of the boulders and the rocks, we noticed all of the stones and pebbles we had not seen before. This was much harder, more tedious work. But we stuck to it, and there came the day when the soil was ready for planting grass." Our Daily Bread.
The Commander’s intent is that not just the boulders but the pebbles go. Not just the drunkenness but the gossip. Not just the sexual immorality, but the envy as well. Not just the sins of commission, but the sins of omission.
The commander’s intent is that you be sanctified through and through. Next let’s look at the target area for this operation.
Target area
May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless
The military uses the term “battle space” to refer to the entire battlefield land air and sea. The battlespace for Operation sancitification is your whole spirit, soul and body.
This is a biblical way of speaking about the whole self. Soul when it’s used in this way means your mind. So the target for the Lord’s cleansing work is your entire spirit mind and body.
C.S. Lewis. When I was a child, I often had a toothache, and I knew that if I went to my mother, she would give me something which would deaden the pain for that night and let me get to sleep. But I did not go to my mother--at least not till the pain became very bad. And the reason I did not go was this: I did not doubt she would give me the aspirin; but I knew she would also do something else. I knew she would take me to the dentist the next morning. I could not get what I wanted out of her without getting soemthing more, which I did not want. I wanted immediate relief from my pain; but I could not get it without having my teeth set permanently right. And I knew those dentists; I knew they would start fiddling about with all sorts of other teeth which had not yet begun to ache.
Our Lord is like the dentists. Dozens of people go to him to be cured of some particular problem. Well, he will cure it all right, but he will not stop there. That may be all you asked; but if you once call him in, he will give you the full treatment.
The Lord wants to fiddle with your whole self. Not just what you do but what you think and feel as well. He wishes to transform you from the inside out. And when the work of salvation is done it will apply to your body as well.. Which brings us to the next section of the OPORDER…
D-Day
When will this ongoing operation be complete?
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Remember this has been the overarching concern of 1 Thessalonians—the Lord’s return and our preparedness for it .
Paul’s prayer is that this Sanctification Operation be effective with an eye toward that day. I think clearly that means certainly that we be “ready” in the broadest sense, but beyond that I think it means there is value in being further along in the process—the goal is not that we be subsistence level Christians but living a victorious life as we yield to the Lord’s control.
And I believe that ultimately it will be that day that completes Operation Sanctification—the day that we’ve been studying about in which the dead will rise in perfected bodies and the day on which we who are alive and remain will also be issued our new bodies.
On that day our salvation is made complete and on that day Operation Sanctification will end in victory.
Which brings us to the final point
Predicted Outcome
In the preparation of an Oporder as a commander examines different options to accomplish his intent, the staff does wargaming and predicts the chance of success of various plans. Well this OPORDER has a prediction as well:
24The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
Because Sanctification is God’s work and not man’s, we can safely say there is 100% chance of success. Even though in the heat of battle there may be question at time, for those who continue to trust in Christ it is a certainty that on that day the work of sanctification will be completed
A man once bought a home with a tree in the backyard. It was winter, and nothing marked this tree as different from any other tree. When spring came, the tree grew leaves and tiny pink buds. "How wonderful," thought the man. "A flower tree! I will enjoy its beauty all summer." But before he had time to enjoy the flowers, the wind began to blow and soon all the petals were strewn in the yard. "What a mess," he thought. "This tree isn’t any use after all." The summer passed, and one day the man noticed the tree was full of green fruit the size of large nuts. He picked one and took a bite. "Bleagh!" he cried and threw it to the ground. "What a horrible taste! This tree is worthless. Its flowers are so fragile the wind blows them away, and its fruit is terrible and bitter. When winter comes, I’m cutting it down. But the tree took no notice of the man and continued to draw water from the ground and warmth from the sun and in late fall produced crisp red apples.
Some of us see Christians with their early blossoms of happiness and think they should be that way forever. Or we see bitterness in their lives, and we’re sure they will never bear the better fruit of joy. Could it be that we forget some of the best fruit ripens late?
As surely as the sun rises and sets, the Lord will accomplish His plan.
For us we must understand that it is His work—he is in control, we must present ourself for duty and allow him to transform us from the inside out.
We need to know that He intends for this to be a complete work and that his area of operation is our entire being.
And on D-Day He will certainly accomplish all that he has promised.
