GOD'S WISH FOR SANCTIFICATION

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister.

The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you His Holy Spirit.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-8

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Sanctification is a big word often discussed when it comes to godly living but many people don’t understand its meaning.

Simply put, sanctification - or the act of being sanctified – means to live a life that is set apart from the ways of the world, a life that reflects the holiness of the God who demanded that we be holy as He is (Leviticus 11:44 and 20:7, 1 Peter 1:15-16).

Note these words from Paul as he writes to the Thessalonian believers in verse 3 of our passage for today from 1 Thessalonians 4:

It is God’s will that you should be sanctified.

The Apostle didn’t want the Christians in Thessalonica to think they needed to be holy because he said so. Rather, the Thessalonians were to be set apart from the world because this was God’s will for them.

And it’s still His will for believers today.

Next, Paul could have just said don’t sin if you want to be holy but he doesn’t. Rather, we find him giving specific examples of behavior that would not meet God’s standard of sanctification and we can assume that these are targeted actions that were happening within the church in Thessalonica.

First, Paul touches on the transgression of “sexual immorality”, warning the believers to avoid it through learning how to control their bodies so not to fall into “passionate lust like the pagans” who didn’t “know God”. The call was (and still is) to use the body in a “way that is holy and honorable.

The other matter Paul addresses, albeit not with as many words, was an outflow of not controlling lust and this was the matter of adulterous behavior. God commanded that His people were not to engage in adultery and the Apostle reinforces this to the Thessalonians, telling them to not “wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister” by being sexually immoral with their mate.

Now, Paul could have left this here without saying anything else, hoping his advice would simply be followed by his Thessalonian brothers and sisters in Christ. But as we see, he didn’t and instead made sure the Christians in Thessalonica knew the consequences for violating God’s wish for sanctification. Look at these words, starting in the second half of verse 6 through verse 8:

The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you His Holy Spirit.

God will bring judgment on anyone who willfully violates His expectations and as we see today, one such expectation is to live a pure and holy life. This is one of the main reasons we found God come to earth through divine incarnation, being born in the way of Jesus. For thirty three years, He walked the earth and His human life was captured and preserved through the Gospels in the New Testament which revealed the way He lived so we too could live the same.

God didn’t just tell us to be sanctified but He showed us what a sanctified life looks like. All we need to do as Christians is to be Christ-like in the way we go through every day we are blessed with, Christ-like in every thought and word and deed.

Friends, a commitment to live as Jesus did is the pathway to showing we are truly set apart from this world that is not our home. The Holy Spirit has been given to us as a guide and all we need to do is be obedience to His guidance.

If we do, holiness will follow, a holiness that will bless others and be pleasing in the Lord’s sight.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com