&
Every
Such Thing
whatever happened to the doctrine of
sanctification & god’s answer to the real lord’s prayer?
-1-
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most counter-cultural
message on the face of the globe today. There’s nothing
like it. Love your enemies. Turn the other cheek. Forgive those who sin against
you. Do not kick the cat. It is a mark of the New Creation that those of us who
have received Christ as Saviour & Lord, begin to take on & develop His nature & character. This is a process, not a gift of The Holy Spirit.
Yet, without Him & His impetus, our sanctification cannot be realised.
As well as this is the reality that some believers do not want to be sanctified, because of their skewed perception.
Others have absolutely no idea what sanctification is. In this, I’m reminded of
the words of a Hymn that I sang as a boy; There
Is A Green Hill Far Away. The composer wrote, ‘He died that we might
be forgiven, he died to make us good; that we might go at last to Heaven, saved
by his precious blood.’. In broad terms this is true. But The Lord Jesus
Christ accomplished so much more
than simply dying to make us good.
We cannot skip past this point, as some do, like ecstatic children who have
been taken out for ice creams & sweets by their favourite uncle. Neither
can we downplay the vital aspects of being called to a particular lifestyle,
for a particular purpose. Peter says, ‘But ye are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people..’ (1st
Peter 2:9a). The Lord Jesus prayed for His disciples & us by
extension, to this end. But our sanctification
is not an instant or automatic event. It is the lifelong outworking of our justification
by faith & our imputed righteousness. It is active, not passive. We must embrace our sanctification. This will bring us to a right view of God’s absolute holiness
& our liberty in Him, among
other things. We cannot pursue
one, while forgoing the other. The Lord Jesus has plans for His Church, but many of us
are too busy carving out something else, by & for ourselves. What is the
point of The Lord being The Lord, if He cannot be The Lord? It is from Him, that we are supposed to take our
cues.
The Lord wants His Church to be sanctified, set apart & holy,
because He is. It is only because of Him & what
He has done, that we are able to come near to God. Hebrews
says, ‘For the law made nothing
perfect, but the bringing in
of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.’
(Hebrews 7:19). James says, ‘Draw
nigh to God, and he will draw
nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners;
and purify your hearts, ye double minded.’ (James 4:8).
13 But now in Christ Jesus
ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the
middle wall of partition between us; 15 Having
abolished in his flesh the enmity,
even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16 And
that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17 And
came and preached peace to you
which were afar off, and to them
that were nigh. 18 For through him we both have
access by one Spirit unto the Father (Ephesians 2:13-18).
The doctrine of sanctification isn’t new. It stretches throughout The
Scriptures. Separation from & to, are consistent themes from Genesis
to Revelation. The term may sound antiquated & obsolete, but
it isn’t. It may not be as exciting, attractive or alluring as
healing, revival or prosperity. But it is vital that we understand what
Scripture teaches about it. Sanctification is not a spiritual force.
Sanctification is not a secret to power. Neither is it the strict
legalism that some have taught it to be. Sanctification
is the most precious part of our fellowship with & discipleship
by The Lord. ‘Follow peace with all men..’ Hebrews
says, ‘..and holiness, without
which no man shall see the Lord.’
(Hebrews 12:14). This is in the broader context of God
dealing with us as sons, not bastards. Paul says, ‘Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting
holiness in the fear of God’ (2nd
Corinthians 7:1).
I remember old time, hard line Pentecostal & Charismatic leaders being
very good at laying down the law when it came to defining sanctification. Some
had taken their pointers from the Wesleyan Holiness movement & produced
their own version of sinless perfection. We will come back to this in our next
meeting. Looking back, it’s clear that they were simply towing a denominational
line, without actually reading The Bible. They taught a unique type of behavioural
modification, without also showing us how these things sprang from an inner
change. Sanctification is not an automatic event. Scripture is quite clear
about that which we are to avoid; ‘For God hath not called us unto uncleanness,
but unto holiness’. (1st Thessalonians
4:7). Yet, some organisers felt that it was needful to add unnecessarily
burdensome caveats to believers’ lives. This reminds me of something, but I
can’t quite put my finger on it. I’m rubbing my chin. I’m scratching my head.
Ah yes, I have it; phariseeism (Matthew
23:1-7). By comparison, Jesus offers us His rest (Matthew
11:28-30).
To this day, there are some who still think that holiness & the
degree of sanctification in an individuals life can be measured by the length
of a skirt or the fit of a shirt. No makeup; no jewellery; no cinema; no pop
music; no facial hair; sanctified. Tithing faithfully; head
covering; fasting; time in prayer; sanctified. All of these things are
on the outside,
with little or no emphasis on the heart. If these external rules were
met, we were told that we could expect higher heights & deeper depths in
our experience as believers. If only that had been true.
In & of themselves, these efforts were not useless or futile. But
the implied benefits were emphasised above
the benefactor.
It is He
who sanctifies
us. ‘For both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.’
(Hebrews 2:11). Any questions or denunciation of these
measures was seen as worldly, unholy & of
course, unsanctified.
Strangely enough though, despite the availability of The Bible & a twenty-four-carat-gold
promise that The Holy Spirit would guide us into all truth (John
16:13); for the most part, we missed it.
Parts of The Church at large threw off its restraints. Free
at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, we’re free at last. The
denominational rule books, with their unbiblical requirements, were
unceremoniously incinerated. Any & everything that we wanted to say, do or
enjoy, as
long as it was not in any direct violation of Scripture, was ours.
We spread our libertarian picnic out & gorged ourselves. We were free
in Christ & we knew it. Of course, what we had really
done was trade sanctity for sanctimony.
The Lord is not blind or stupid, so why do we
act as if He is? To our tiny minds, if there was nothing in The Bible forbidding
it, there was nothing to stop us doing
it. Playing The National Lottery was viewed as a fast track to
prosperity. Where was the prohibition? Charles Spurgeon smoked cigars & if
it was good enough for the old man, then why not? Where was the prohibition? A little
wine for our stomach’s sake, even though there was absolutely nothing wrong
with us. Where was the prohibition? Many of us really, actually,
honestly
thought that we’d found a technicality that we could exploit, but there are two
important points to be made here. First, don’t ever think that there is
something God & His Word cannot cover or address. Second, refer to my first
point. In this, I’m reminded of the words of Paul, which we largely ignored to
our detriment.
12 All things are lawful
unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any (1st Corinthians 6:12).
23 All things are lawful for
me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not (1st Corinthians
10:23).
13 For, brethren, ye have been
called unto liberty; only use not
liberty for an occasion to the
flesh, but by love serve one
another (Galatians 5:13).
If the truth were to be told, neither group had sought any balance
whatsoever. Legalists thought that the end justified the means &
libertarians
thought that… well, they didn’t actually think at all. Both parties
were too busy tending to their relative extremes, to notice what they had foolishly
neglected.
To be completely honest with you brethren, I now wonder what the point was. Both
camps claimed
The Lord was working in their respective midst & yet neither embraced
the very thing that would have guaranteed that. Our sanctification will never
be accomplished by our doing or not doing. Again, our Sanctification is the most precious
part of our fellowship with & discipleship
by The Lord.
10 By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And
every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away
sins: 12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever,
sat down on the right hand of God; 13 From
henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14 For
by one offering he hath perfected for
ever them that are sanctified (Hebrews 10:10-14).
We want The Holy Spirit to move in our presence, but we spend little or
no time in His. We want The Lord to speak to us, but we don’t even bother with
His word. The Lord has waited patiently for His Church to submit to Him, ‘That
he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. That
he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle,
or any such thing; but that it
should be holy and without blemish.’ (Ephesians 5:26). Think about
that. Think about that the next time you kneel to pray. Think about that the
next time you ask The Lord for something. Think about that the next time you
enter into worship. The Lord will not hurt or harm us; He will help
us. He isn’t trying to stop us enjoying ourselves. He is trying to
show us how to enjoy Him.
Paul says, ‘But we all, with
open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory
to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord.’. (2nd Corinthians 3:18) & again,
‘My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you (Galatians
4:19) & also, ‘Being confident
of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.’. (Philippians
1:6). In our next meeting we’ll look at the great prayer Jesus prayed in John
17, & its implications & bearing on our sanctification. This is the
real
Lord’s Prayer. Matthew 6 contains the disciple’s prayer. Please do
not email me in order to split this particular hair.
The Lord Jesus has plans for His Church, but many
of us are too busy carving out something else, by & for ourselves. What is
the point of The Lord being The Lord, if He cannot be The Lord? It is from Him, that we are supposed to take our
cues.
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