The Lord Who Sanctifies

I’ve been using the parallel between Israel leaving Egypt, to our departure from the UMC, and their entrance into the Promised Land, as our joining the GMC. Not to identify the UMC with the Egyptian slavery, or the GMC with the Promised land, but as a means of comparing our Way Forward between the two. Like Israel, having taken their first steps into the Promised Land after their commitment by crossing the River Jordan, we are now looking ahead to our new denomination. We can say we’re followers of our Lord Jesus, but like the Twelve apostles, we have so much to learn and understand about what God wants us to know. It’s about more than just getting to heaven, it’s about building our relationship with God on our journey through life to get to our Promised Land. So, this is an opportunity to honestly examine our faith and our beliefs, on our Way Forward to identify who we are… and whose we are… as we begin this next phase of our Way Forward.

God could have taken the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land via the northern route in just a few months. They wouldn’t have had to cross the Red Sea or face the hardships of crossing the desert. But neither would they have seen God’s power to open a path through the Red Sea for them, and close it on their enemies. Seen the fiery cloud lead them by day, and the pillar of fire guard them at night. God’s visible presence. They wouldn’t have known God could feed them with manna, a food that had never been seen or tasted before. They wouldn’t have experienced a water shortage resolved by getting enough water from a rock to satisfy the cooking and drinking needs of several million people for days.

But God had set Israel apart from other nations as His chosen people. He wanted them to experience Him, to know they could trust Him as their God. They had been chosen to be the nation where the Savior would be born, where He would be crucified to pay for humankind’s sins, and be resurrected to triumph over death. And that Israel had been set apart as God’s witness to the world for His plan of salvation. The church word for being set apart is sanctified, or made holy for God’s purposes. The Hebrew name M-Kaddesh, the Lord Who Sanctifies, was used to recognize this nature of God.

As Israel began its way into the Promised Land, God commanded them in Leviticus 20:7-8, “Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. And you shall keep My statutes, and perform them: I am the LORD who sanctifies you.” Consecration is the transfer of a person or a thing to the sacred sphere for a special purpose or service. The word consecration literally means "association with the sacred". Israel was to prepare itself for God’s holy purpose in the Promised Land. But God, M’Kaddesh, the Lord Who Sanctifies, was the One who would sanctify them when they were ready to trust and obey Him on their Way Forward. .

We can prepare ourselves to be holy, consecrate ourselves, when we honestly repent, and ask for our sins to be forgiven to receive Christ. Then God forgives our sins and sees us as holy, setting us apart for His use, on His path of Sanctification. John Wesley called it the “path to perfection”. We know that we, as humans, can never be perfect, but God continues to perfect us on our Way Forward. When Jesus leads us through the doors of heaven by grace, His grace, not our own merits, we will have reached perfection. But the road of sanctification on the way to perfection, continues throughout our lifetime. But Jesus also tells us in Matthew 7:14, that “small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Some may start on the road of sanctification, but wander from the narrow road and miss the gate of heaven. We might then wonder what it takes to miss Jesus’ road. It’s not a guaranteed destination unless Jesus is leading us on it.

Our Gospel Lesson shows Peter’s wandering from the road of sanctification. Peter had been commended for his emphatic declaration of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus tells him flesh and blood hadn’t revealed that truth, that His Father in heaven had. But then Peter tries to prevent Jesus from going to the Cross. Jesus calls him Satan, telling him to get out of His way. Despite this lapse, Peter is the natural leader of the Twelve and had been very close to Jesus. At least until the night before the Crucifixion, when Peter denied Jesus three times. Peter has wandered from being set apart as a beloved disciple to feeling guilt and fear in hiding. Alone.