The Sanctification Mirror Series

MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK SERIES

THE SANCTIFICATION MIRROR

JAMES 1:21-27

#JAMESatCCC

THE HUGE IDEA: SANCTIFICATION

We use certain words in church that sometimes we don’t necessarily use anywhere else. For example:

AMEN

“Amen” is used 57 times in the Old and New Testament. It happens to be the last word in the Bible (Revelation 22:21). Other than referencing an old TV show from the 1970s, “amen” is not a word used outside of church circles. What does it mean? Why is it at the end of a prayer all the time?

Amen, like “aloha” in Hawaii can mean two different things depending where it is used in a sentence. At the beginning of a statement, amen means “Truly” or “I am saying the truth.” At the end of a sentence or statement, the phrase means “so be it” or “may it be fulfilled.” For Battlestar Galactica fans, it means “so say we all!”

So, at the end of a public prayer, saying amen means you agree with the person who is praying… you agree with the sentiments expressed and requests made. At the end of a private prayer, saying amen means something a little different I think. At the end of a personal prayer (just you and God talking), it is a way for you to say “so be it” according to what God wants. It is the same thing as saying “not my will, but what You want God.” Saying amen means we offer our prayers, but take His answer no matter the answer. We accept God’s answer (“so be it”) no matter the answer.

That is one churchy word. Another one is a phrase…

BODY OF CHRIST

I can imagine that people who do not go to church or have not grown up in church think that when Christians say “the Body of Christ” we are talking about a mummy somewhere or a relic from the old days that people identify as Jesus’ hand or something. There are a few times in Scripture (example: Romans 7:4) when someone writes “body of Christ” that they actually mean His physical body. Most of the time, however, this phrase is used from passages in 1 Corinthians 12 and others: 1 Corinthians 12:12 “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.” plus 1 Corinthians 12:27 “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”

The “body of Christ” then refers to believers… us! It refers to the church... us! It refers to the people who hold that Jesus is the “head” (in charge) and we are His workers doing good works and obeying Him (His hands and feet, etc). It is a metaphor and quite a good one. It explains that Christians should take their leadership cues from Christ because He is the nerve center of the church. We should also be about doing His will or we will suffer atrophy. And everyone knows what happens when limbs atrophy (Matthew 7:19; Luke 3:9; John 15:6).

Another word that is a church word that we pretty much just use in Christianity is…

APOSTLE

The word “Apostle” should be one of the easiest words to define. It is definitely not a word used outside of church. The correct usage of the word “apostle” is for those people who walked and talked with Jesus in the first generation of Christians that Jesus chose. Jesus personally chose these men to spread His message after the Ascension (there is another church-ese word). There are no apostles today. You may see folks on different church channels applying that label to themselves, but I personally believe they do so in error. Apostles were those special ambassadors chosen by Jesus Christ and whose names can be found in the Gospels.

SANCTIFICATION

Why do I mention these church-ese words? The idea behind our passage today is definitely a word we only use in church. The word is not present in the passage, but it is the big idea behind the passage or the theological idea presented. The word is “Sanctification.”

The Greek word translated "sanctification" means "holiness." To sanctify something means "to make holy." We human beings ultimately cannot sanctify ourselves. It is the Holy Almighty God who sanctifies us. The Father sanctifies us (1 Corinthians 1:30) by the Holy Spirit (2 Thessalonians 2:13) and in the Name of Christ (1 Corinthians 6:11) by way of His Grace. Sanctification is not a one-time thing, but a continual process in the life of a believer.

Each day we are called to be more faithful and more holy.

Each day we are called to be more Christ-like.

Each day we are called to follow God more than we did yesterday.