To the Sanctified

Read 1 Corinthians 1

Acts 18

We are sticking close to the start of this letter in this service.  We won’t venture far from the salutation.

To whom is Paul writing?

It’s to believers whom he might call the church of God or the Saints. Those are some fine titles. Paul also calls his target audience the sanctified—those who had been sanctified.

Sometimes, we get caught up in our church words. Sanctified is a good title. It’s not sanctimonious—holier than thou.

Sanctified is simply growing in grace. We are to develop, struggle, learn, and grow, knowing that God will never abandon us.

The church is composed of those whom God has called out of the world, set apart for his holy purposes, and sent back into the world with a mission. Yes, you are on a mission from God.

For now, let’s focus on the sanctified part. For the believer, everything that we experience is grist for the mill. God will use it in some way for the good.

So, I can see working on patience while I’m stuck in traffic, but illness, injury, and death are a little harder to make the connection.

We are sanctified. That doesn’t mean we have reached our destination. It means our destination is assured, and we are free to be who God made us to be and live this life to the full.

We are sanctified, not indemnified from trouble. We will still have trouble in the world but we are not confined to the sentences imposed by the world. We are growing in God’s grace.

We are growing. We are not who we were before we knew Christ. We are already complete—perfect—in Christ, but we are just not there yet.

Today, I ask—I challenge you—to grow in God’s grace. Live this life fully in a spirit of love. Learn from our Master and put his words into practice.

Take this sanctification business seriously. Jesus is ready for us to truly follow him. That means take his yoke and learn from him. That means put his words into practice. That means to be known as a disciple of Jesus by our love.

What do you get in return?

Typically, you will receive peace and hope. You will know joy and fellowship with other believers. You will live in the blessed assurance that you belong to the Lord.

And one more. You will know growth, growth in God’s grace.

You will know what it’s like to be sanctified.

And when we say sanctified, we mean a work in progress assured of completion.

When we say sanctified, we mean on your journey to holiness, knowing that God will get you to your destination.

When we say sanctified, we mean set apart for God’s purpose and sent back into the world to fulfill that purpose.

What’s the best thing we can do to be sanctified? Take his yoke, learn from him, and put his words into practice.

Amen.

Matthew 23 - Part 7

 

Read Matthew 23

The seventh of the woes—you guessed it: hypocrites.

Have you ever thought if you were in Adam’s or Eve’s place, that I would not have done that?  That tree would still have all of its fruit.  I would have chosen differently.

And the world would be a better place…

You betcha!

Then we realize that we have only been awake for 10 minutes and need to confess to God for 15 minutes.  It is human nature to think that we would have done a better job.

The Pharisees had this sanctimonious—holier than thou—nature about them.  They didn’t really live according to God’s desire, but they wouldn’t tell you that.  If they made an error, it wasn’t really an error.

If you are the guys with all of the penalty flags, you know you can’t waste them on yourself.  You will surely need them before marking off 15 yards for some petty offense for those who are not sporting the pretty big boxes on their foreheads.

The Pharisees can’t divorce themselves from the sinful world that they live in.  Like their ancestors, they have grown accustomed to some of the comforts of the godless.  While they are sanctimonious, they are not sanctified.

They were not growing closer to God.  They made up their own rules so they didn’t need to be.

Here is the short version-hypocrites.

How do we apply this to ourselves?  Stay humble.  Let the word of God judge the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Amen.

Matthew 23 - Part 2

 

Read Matthew 23

The first of the woes—the kingdom of heaven.

You Pharisees don’t want people to live in the kingdom of heaven; yet, you don’t live there yourself.  What’s up with that?

If anyone truly entered the kingdom of heaven, the rules of the world and the secular demands of the religious hypocrites would have no hold on anyone.

The Pharisees enjoyed their high standing.  They didn’t want anyone cutting into that.  They wanted to use God’s word to control and not to empower the people who sought after him.

Did they not understand how much greater it would be to live among people empowered by God to do God’s will? 

Do we understand that making someone less does not make us more?  We know many people like this.  They want to bring down, discredit, gossip about someone else so they feel better than those they have disparaged.

This section is a protracted monologue by our Lord about the Pharisees and other religious hypocrites.  It is one chastising after another without counsel to us.

So, here is our counsel from the full biblical witness.

Love one another.

Pride leads us to shame.  Humility keeps company with wisdom.

He who despises his neighbor lacks sense.

Do nothing out of vain ambition or selfish deceit.

Seek justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God.

We are not in competition with others.  We serve God by serving others.  We should celebrate when the lost come home.  We should rejoice as others seek to follow the Lord.

We only have to think back a few verses in this chapter.

Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

Amen.