1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
~19 min read
SERMON OUTLINE
- I. Sanctification Is An Expression Of Our Love
- II. Sanctification Is A Supernatural Work
- III. God Involves People To Help In The Sanctification
- IV. Sanctification Is A Thorough Work
- V. Sanctification Is A Preserving Work
- VI. Our Great Responsibility In Our Own Sanctification
- VII. Our Sanctification Is Certain
TRANSCRIPT
I prayerfully decided to pause in our study on the book of Colossians because since we would be having our 40th anniversary, I would like to preach some messages pertaining to the church.
So today we want to consider the last part of the first epistle to the Thessalonians. When we write secular letters, we often end with greetings like, please send my warmest regards to your family or I wish you all the best. In a divinely inspired letter like this, it was typical for the Apostle Paul to end this letter with a prayer.
That was why Paul prayed in 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, which would be our text for today's message. 1 Thessalonians 5:23. “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” The Lord bless the reading of His holy and sacred word.
The way Paul prayed for the Thessalonians should also be the same way we ought to pray for our church. That is why I've titled the message as, ‘Praying for our church Part 2.’
Do you realise that the things we used to think of most of the time, the things that are always on our minds, they are the things that are of greatest concern to us. The things that we often pray for are the things that are of great importance to us. Things like our physical good health and strength, our jobs and financial securities, our families, our children's education or our marital relationships etc.
But what about sanctification? What about holiness? Do we ever pray that our children be godly or the people in the church be holy or we ourselves be more and more like Christ? Sadly, very seldom we pray for sanctification.
The word sanctification is a wonderful word. It is a theological and biblical word. Sadly, many churches try to shy away from some of these theological words because they would simplify these words so that the people could understand. Words like sovereignty, providence, justification, sanctification, glorification, and so forth. We must realise that you and I cannot improve on the words in the holy scriptures. But instead of avoiding such words, we need to study them so that we can better understand the word of God.
Today we want to learn something about sanctification which is also the theme for our home care group messages.
To sanctify means to be made holy, be consecrated, be separated from what is sinful, to be devoted to the Lord and to be set apart unto Him. So it involves the idea of separation. It involves dedication and it involves purity.
Sanctification is connected to our salvation. If you are a believer, an elect of God, who has chosen you even before the foundation of the world, then He will perform His sanctifying work in your life.
Allow me to explain this. At the point of our conversions, when we first embraced Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, we have been justified in our sins. God sanctified us by setting us apart from sin onto Himself. He separated us from darkness and unto His marvellous light. He set us apart from unbelief onto faith. That is our positional sanctification whereby God declared us to be righteous by virtue of what our Lord Jesus has done for us on the cross at Calvary.
One day we would be perfectly free from sin. We would be in perfect fellowship with God. And that day awaits us in the future. The day of glorification, the day of resurrection, the day when we see our Saviour face to face, we will be perfectly sanctified. That is our ultimate glorification.
So what is in between? What is in between our justification and our glorification? Sanctification. As long as we live our lives on this earth in this mortal body, we do not change overnight. We are constantly being sanctified if we are true believers. We are transformed and changed progressively and that is our progressive sanctification. So positionally we are sanctified. Ultimately we would be sanctified but in the meantime we are being sanctified progressively every day of our lives.
So here Paul was praying about a present work that needed to be done at this present moment while the Thessalonians were living their lives in this world. When the word sanctify is being used in the present tense, it always refers to a progressive work, something that is still ongoing. It is not yet finished and complete.
So if you are a believer, you have been justified, saved, and declared righteous because of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. But there's still work to be done in your life. There is no such thing as someone who has been justified and not being sanctified. Everyone who is a believer is being sanctified.
Therefore, Paul was praying for the believers at Thessalonica, not for their positional sanctification because they were already believers. He was praying for their progressive sanctification all the way until their ultimate sanctification.
How do we know? Because of the phrase, “unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ”. That is about the rapture and that is in the future. So Paul was praying for their progressive sanctification and he said, “And the very God of peace sanctify you holy.”
Paul could have used the phrase the God of love or the God of grace or the God of mercy. But interestingly, he used the phrase the God of peace. Why did he do that? Peace has to do with our salvation. You see, without peace, we would be enemies of God. Because of our sins, we are not naturally at peace with God. We are at war with God. We are at war with each other and we are always at war with ourselves. That is why we experience much misery and there's so much unrest and chaos in this world.
It is Christ who has broken down the enmity between God and men through His death and the shedding of his precious blood. So God is the source of true peace and that is why he is called the God of peace.
Dear friend, if you are an unbeliever, you are not at peace with God. You may think that you have peace, but you are not at peace with God. In fact, you are an enemy of God. But He can give you this peace if you will come to Him through Jesus Christ for salvation. Apart from Christ there is no peace. One day you will die and you will die as an enemy of God. You will stand before him in the horror of your sins on judgment day and be sent to eternal damnation.
As believers, we not only have the God of peace, but we also experience the peace of God. Though life is filled with trials and troubles, at times we may be overwhelmed by worries and anxieties, we need to trust completely in what God has done for our salvation and we need to continuously trust in him. If we do that, Philippians 4:7 said, “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
There may be troubles and afflictions and troubles of all sorts, but you will have the peace of God guarding and keeping your hearts and your minds through our Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessed promise.
I. Sanctification Is An Expression Of Our Love
Let us learn some valuable lessons about sanctification from this passage because this is how we ought to pray for our church. ““And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly.”
Firstly, sanctification is an expression of our love. The apostle Paul loved the people and he had already expressed his love for the Thessalonians throughout his letters.
What does a pastor want for his people? What does a parent want for his or her child? What does a Sunday school teacher want for the little ones? If we truly have this love for our brothers and sisters in Christ, then this must be our main concern. That they may be sanctified.
Do you realise that sometimes we can be so concerned about the number of spiritual activities we have been attending? We can be so bogged down by the routines of attending those fellowship meetings and ministries. So much so that we do not even know why we are doing what we are doing. We are just going through the motion. We forget our main concern and our main goal.
If you are a parent, what is the goal and aim of your parenting? As parents, often times we will get so frustrated with the behaviour of our children that we will discipline them and even lose our temple and shout at them. But behind the screaming, what do we really want? Is it just about our children behaving themselves and doing what we think is right?
If you are a Sunday school teacher, what is the goal and aim of you preparing the Sunday school lessons? Is it just because of filling in the slot because it happens that you are the one assigned to do the Sunday school for that week. Is that all that is to it? If you are a preacher, what is your goal and aim? Is it just to fill the pull pit and then finish the one hour of preaching?
Our goal and aim is always about this, that souls will be saved and the people will be sanctified. The people whom God has placed under our cares are growing in sanctification, in holiness and becoming more and more like Christ. If this is your main aim and goal, then you should pray, right?
II. Sanctification Is A Supernatural Work
Sanctification is a supernatural work. Notice the phrase says, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly,” which means God Himself is the one who can and will sanctify you.
I want you to consider this statement very seriously. God is personally involved in the development of you as a spiritual person. He is personally involved in your sanctification in you being holy. Can you fathom that? God himself is working in your life to make you into the person He wants you to be, into the person that pleases Him. God is the one who produces sanctification.
You can have the most theologically trained pastor or you can have the most knowledgeable parent or you can have the most qualified Sunday school teacher. But if God is not sanctifying the person you are ministering to, that person would not be sanctified. We can spend all our time and efforts creating the best programs in the church, but you and I can never create spiritual growth. Only God alone creates the growth. This will teach us whom we ought to depend on.
So as we pray for sanctification, we ask ourselves, who is going to sanctify us? How are we going to be sanctified? The God of peace is the one who will sanctify us. God alone produces fruit. He may bless some in the church with spiritual gifts to teach others about discipleship and sanctification, but they are at best His instruments. Only He alone produces sanctification.
How does God sanctify us? Primarily God sanctifies us through the wonderworking of His holy spirit. And the instrument in which the Holy Spirit uses to sanctify us is through the Bible, the word of God. Ephesians 5:26 said, “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.”
That is why you and I must never neglect the word of God and then expect to grow. We cannot neglect the reading of the Bible, the study, meditation and memorising of the word, hearing the word and then expect ourselves to grow in sanctification. That will never happen.
God is the author of the Bible. He's the one who teaches the word of God. He's the one who uses the word of God and empowers us to walk in His truth in sanctification, in holiness.
III. God Involves People To Help In The Sanctification
Next, God involves people to help in the sanctification. Do you realise that God has gifted certain people in the church with spiritual gifts to help others in their sanctification, in their spiritual growth? God wants us to grow in the context of the church family. We are a spiritual family. That is why we have pastors, teachers, elders, and deacons.
Take a moment and think of our natural family. We have our fathers, our mothers and children. The father is the one who leads. The mother is the one who submits and assist as the helper and the children obey the parents. As the children grow and have their own families, they in turn will lead and teach their own families. And this cycle is repeated as long as our Lord Jesus would tarry in His return.
In a similar fashion, that is how God deals with the church family. God has blessed us with evangelists, pastors and teachers. They have lived and they have died. And God raised up other evangelists, pastors and teachers. They continued to live and died. And then God will raise others.
For what purpose? Well, Ephesians 4:12 said, “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”
And for how long? “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13.)
Perfect does not mean sinless. It means a complete spiritually mature person. And none of us can ever reach the level of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can only reach certain measures of His stature. We will grow to be more and more like Him. But we can never be Him.
The pastors and teachers are to teach and disciple the people so that they may grow in the knowledge of Christ. Be sanctified and mature spiritually.
When we look around ourselves, we can see people within the church of different levels of spiritual maturity. Some people are so good at considering others. This person is not spiritual. That person is spiritual. This person does not behave like a Christian. That person surely is a Christian.
People are very good at looking at others. But what about themselves? Have we ever asked ourselves how am I growing as a Christian? Am I living a sanctified life?
Some people will gauge spiritual maturity by ascertaining how much the believer knows the Bible or how prayerful he is or how he's serving the Lord, how much time he spends in the fellowship group meetings etc.
While all these spiritual activities are good, the best answer is we measure our lives against the life of Jesus Christ, the perfect God man. We can never be like Christ as I mentioned before but we can grow to become more and more like him and that is what you and I should live our lives.
IV. Sanctification Is A Thorough Work
Sanctification is a thorough work. Look at the phrase “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly.” The word “wholly” means entirely or completely.
“And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Allow me to say this. This is a verse that the dichotomy and trichotomy controversy would surface and often quoted and debated.
Basically those who believe in trichotomy would argue that man is made up of three parts body, soul and spirit. Those who believe in dichotomy say that man is made up of only two parts. Body, soul and spirit are one. Soul and spirit are used interchangeably.
We believe in dichotomy. Man is made up of only two parts. Body, soul or spirit. One is material, the body, the other is non-material, the soul or spirit.
That is why 2 Corinthians 5:8 said, “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” Take note what is absent from the body and what is present with the Lord - the soul or the spirit.
If we are going to embrace trichotomy which means man is made up of three parts simply based on 1 Thessalonians 5:23 then what are we going to do when we come to verses like, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength”? (Mark 12:30) Does it mean that man has four parts? Most certainly not.
So what Paul meant here is completely, thoroughly, entirely, every facet of our inner man and our physical man be set apart unto God. In other words, you be set apart unto God. Be sanctified. So may God change your thinking. May God change your attitude. May God change your motives and choices so that in every way your life will not reflect the way of the world but will reflect the way of Jesus Christ. May the Lord sanctify you completely, wholly. That is what it means. Wherever we are lacking, that is where God would do his sanctifying work in us.
Take a moment and think about this. Our thinking needs to improve, right? Our attitudes needs to improve. Our minds need to change. Can anyone say that his or her motives are always true and sincere? No man can. Which means God will continue to do His sanctifying work in our lives. He is not finished with us yet. He is still working in us.
V. Sanctification Is A Preserving Work
Next sanctification is a persevering work - “your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless.”
To preserve is to guard and keep. We have been commanded to guard our hearts because out of it comes the issues of life. We are commanded to guard our tongues because it is like a fire. It will destroy us. We have been commanded to guard our thoughts because out of it will be manifested into our actions and behaviours.
God is the only one who is able to preserve, guard and keep us. If God were to withdraw His preserving grace from us, even for the brief moment, we are finished. The God who has saved us will continue to save us and preserve us. The way we are preserved and kept in the Christian life is through sanctification.
Since the day of your conversion, when you embrace Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, God has already begun this sanctifying work in you. And where there is sanctification, there must be this transformed life. There must be this radical change in your life.
A story was told of a young girl who accepted Christ as her Saviour and she applied for membership in the local church.
The pastor asked her, “Were you a sinner before you received the Lord Jesus into your life?”
“Yes,” she replied.
“Well, are you still a sinner?” The pastor asked.
The girl replied. “To tell you the truth, I feel I am a greater sinner than before.”
“Then what real change have you experienced?”
“I don't quite know how to explain it,” she said, “Except I used to be a sinner running after sin, but now that I'm saved, I'm a sinner running away from sin.”
How true. There must be this radical change in our lives if God is doing His sanctifying work in us.
VI. Our Great Responsibility In Our Own Sanctification
Next, our great responsibility in our own sanctification.
Indeed, God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Everything that pertains to life and godliness, He has given to us through our Lord Jesus Christ. We always have needs. We are always lacking. That is why we depend on the Lord Jesus moment by moment, day by day. There will never come a time whereby we do not need him.
But that does not mean that we do not need to do anything when it comes to our sanctification. Just sit and do nothing and let God do his work. We have a great responsibility in our own sanctification, in our own holiness and godliness, in our commitment to live a righteous life.
Listen to the words of 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4. “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour.”
It is our responsibility to abstain from sin and fornication. It is our responsibility to know how to control our vessel or our body to exercise self-control to say no when it comes to sin. If we allow this body to commit adultery, if we allow this tongue to gossip and slander, if we allow this mind to be filled with immoral thoughts and wicked things, if we allow these hands to steal, then we are not living a sanctified life, but a sinful life.
We have a responsibility. There is God's sovereignty and human responsibility in play in our sanctification. Rather than yielding to temptation through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and His word, we seek to live a blameless life. And God will preserve us blameless until when? Until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, until the rapture of the church, until Jesus comes in the clouds for us.
To be blameless does not mean that we are sinless, for no man is perfect. To be blameless means to be above reproach. In other words, our Christian testimony should not be in question. There should be nothing which people can accuse us of. Yes, we may have sinned, but we repent. We do not remain in sin. We should always maintain a good and upright reputation, never to give the enemies of the gospel reasons to attack our Christian faith.
What about you, my friend? Have you lived such a life? Have you been endeavouring to live such a life?
VII. Our Sanctification Is Certain
Finally, our sanctification is certain.
Look at the last phrase, “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” As believers, we have been called. We have been justified. Our sins have been forgiven and washed by the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are being sanctified on the daily basis. And one day we will be sanctified perfectly, completely.
God will not send someone else to complete it. He will not send an angel to complete it. He Himself will complete it personally in and through our lives by His spirit.
Philippians 1:6 said, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you” - saving you - “will perform it” - which means will complete it - “until the day of Jesus Christ.” This is God's pledge to every believer. Every one of us.
The God who has sanctified us at our conversions will continue to sanctify us every day of our lives and ultimately He will perfectly sanctify us at our glorification. He will perform it, complete it by Himself.
When a person claimed to be a Christian, there would be some changes in his life, especially when he came from an immoral background or a background of unbelievers. If he was a drug addict, he might stop taking drugs, if he was an alcoholic, he might give up alcohol. If he was a gambler, he might give up gambling. If he was an adulterer, he might turn away from his immoral lifestyle. We all have heard some of these life-changing testimonies, but sad to say, many professed believers just stop there.
What do we mean by that? They do not go on to live a sanctified life. They do not deal with the other sins in their lives which may not be that obvious. Sins like pride, bitterness, anger, envy, jealousy, etc. All they focused on were the obvious sins like drug taking, alcohol, drinking, living an adulterous life. But what about the other sins?
Wholly means completely every aspects of our lives, not just one. So if you and I truly understand the meaning of sanctification in our lives, then we ought to know that it is a supernatural work. God is personally involved in our spiritual development as a Christian. We also have a responsibility to respond to it. Then the question is, how then can we not change? God forbids.
Are you a believer? How can you be assured of your salvation? How can you be assured of the salvation of your children? Just simply by the profession of their faith? We are assured of our salvation when we see God's spirit and God's work working in our lives sanctifying us on a daily basis.
And the Bible tells us, it is “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD.” (Zechariah 4:6). So it is the wonderworking of God's spirit and His work in our lives sanctifying us.
So this is what you and I must pray for our church that Bethel BP church will be sanctified. The pastor cannot do it. The elders and deacons cannot do it. Nor can the members do it. Only God alone creates sanctification and we simply responds to His supernatural work in obedience and then we will be able to see His sanctifying work in our lives.
Once we see that happening in our lives and we are growing from day to day from strength to strength from faith to faith, then we are assured in our hearts that we are truly the children of God. What a blessing.
Let us pray.
Our Father in heaven, we give thanks for this opportunity for us to learn how we ought to pray for our church. As we have begun last week, we continue to learn how we ought to pray. And this morning, Thou has taught us the way the Apostle Paul prayed for the Thessalonians in regards to their sanctification. This ought to be the same way we pray for our church. That Bethel BP church be sanctified. That the members, the regular worshippers who desire to live this sanctified life.
And Thou has taught us all the valuable lessons about what is the true meaning of sanctification. Help us to apply all this truth into our lives. For we have only one life to live. And we want to live this one life in sanctification, in holiness, in righteousness, and godliness, all to the glory of Thee.
And Thou who has begun this good work in us by saving us at our conversions will continue to do Thy good work in us in sanctifying us and Thou has pledged this promise that Thou will perform it, complete it, bring it to the ultimate sanctification which is our glorification at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this is something that we cling on to a blessed hope, a most wonderful hope. So help us as believers that we will all desire to live such a life to the glory of Thee.
We give Thee thanks and we pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
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Wherefore Comfort One Another With These WordsWherefore Comfort One Another With These Words1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
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Morning Devotion 1Morning Devotion 11 Thessalonians 5:16-18
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Morning Devotion 3Morning Devotion 31 Thessalonians 5:20-22
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A Prayer for the Fellow BelieversA Prayer for the Fellow Believers1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
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