I THESSALONIANS SERIES
A Time For Concentration on Our Sanctification
Our purpose for going through I Thessalonians together is to place a concentration on our sanctification. As a church, we have been asking the Lord to make us a people who, not only desire, but hunger and thirst for righteousness, that we may be filled! To be righteous is for us, submissively, to share in heart-agreement with the Lord - that His desires would be our desires.
As the Holy Spirit convicts, those who repent turn from sin! The repentant know and declare Jesus as Lord, receiving the Holy Spirit; who then renews our desires, our thought-life, causing us to share in heart-agreement with the Lord. This is how the Bible characterizes Salvation - that moment we encounter Jesus as Lord, then being reborn through the Holy Spirit of God, receiving new life.
Now, Highland, the Bible goes beyond receiving new life and also explains walking in new life. The Bible calls walking in this newness of life: sanctification. In this letter, Paul tells believers at Thessalonica that “their sanctification is God’s will.”
Let’s define sanctification to help us better understand - if you look up sanctification, it means to declare something to be holy. So, for those of us who have repented, who know Jesus as Lord, we have received the Holy Spirit - by way of what Jesus has done by paying for our sin on the cross. When we submit to His Lordship, we receive salvation in His name and the Holy Spirit seals our salvation. This results in us being declared holy, as our heavenly father is holy. So, that means that if we are declared to be holy because Jesus paid for our sin-debt, satisfying God’s wrath toward us, then out of a joy over what Jesus has done for us, we will become uncomfortable with unholy living and will recoil at the very notion of sin!
To quote the Apostle Peter, who offers us an “under the hood” look at the outworking of our sanctification: “Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be serious and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. But as the One who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.”
In this series, we are going to turn our attention to our sanctification. We are going to hunger for holiness together, Highland. For this is the roadway to our sanctification.
Grateful for you, Highland,
Rob