What Does It Mean To Be Sanctified?
Growing up in church I heard the word sanctified used in sermons, Sunday School, and sometimes I noticed that word when I was reading the Bible. The word means set apart for a special purpose or sacred purpose. In the Old Testament they would set aside certain objects in the temple and consecrate them. Something consecrated was considered holy and set apart for the purposes of God.
The first time the word shows up in scripture Jesus is praying what is commonly referred to as the high priestly prayer. In this prayer he is praying for his disciples and future disciples shortly before his crucifixion. John 17:16-19 (NIV) They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. As you can see Jesus is making a clear distinction between his followers and the people of the world who do not yet know him.
In 1 Corinthians 1:2b (NLT) the apostle Paul writing to the church in Corinth says this; to those sanctified in Jesus Christ and called to be his holy people, together with those everywhere who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ–their Lord and ours… And finally in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NLT) May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Hopefully you get the main idea. God desires to have a special people to represent him in this world and it’s important for those people to be sanctified. In other words our lives are supposed to look different and be different than those who do not know Jesus. There are some churches that believe in instant sanctification but I see no evidence of it in the Bible.
What I do see is a process, let’s call it progressive sanctification. What this means is that throughout our life we should be growing in our relationship with Jesus and that should translate into us living a more sanctified life. It sounds easy, but believe me it’s not. In my own life there have been difficult seasons when I became less sanctified.
As I mentioned earlier, I grew up in the church. I loved Jesus and followed him the best I could until about age 16. At that point I decided to sow some wild oats and see what the world had to offer. By age 19 I knew the world was not for me. I lived wild and crazy for a while but it didn’t satisfy me. I recommitted my life to Jesus and thus began my journey towards living the sanctified life. At the beginning of my journey it was easy to identify my sins. Remember, sanctification is separating ourselves from sin. However this requires some serious help from the Holy Spirit. If we try to white knuckle it and change ourselves through sheer will power we are doomed to fail.
My first foray into becoming sanctified went pretty well. I quit being a party animal and basically dealt with sins of the flesh like lust, drunkenness, using drugs, having a potty mouth and stuff like that. I would sometimes slip up but overall I was making progress. The real challenge of living a sanctified life began after I got married. Suddenly I was responsible for loving my wife as much as I loved myself according to Ephesians 5:25-33. It wasn’t long before I started running into my sinful nature in the way of choosing me over my wife. Drunkenness was easy to identify but pride was embedded deeply in my personality. Some of the seven deadly sins made brief appearances in my life.
Here is the thing, before surrendering my life to God I was aware of some of my shortcomings but I compared myself to other people and generally felt pretty good about myself. However now that the Holy Spirit was running loose in my life I was suddenly aware of things I gave no thought to just a few years earlier. For instance judging people. Now that I had cleaned up my life from the obvious sins it was easy for me to look down on others. Another sin the Holy Spirit pointed out to me was my tendency to make myself look good in the eyes of others. As the years rolled on I became more aware of the sins I hadn’t paid too much attention to as a young Christian. Sins like envy, pride, bitterness, gossip, narcissism, and greed just to name a few. It’s not like I’m graveling in guilt, I have Romans 8:1, (There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus), tattooed on my right bicep for a reason.
As we move towards living the sanctified life the Holy Spirit works in us and through us, gently guiding us towards living a life that sets us apart from the world. Interestingly enough, I am more aware of my sins than at any other time in my life and yet I feel more freedom and joy than ever! I hope this short teaching on sanctification helps you to better understand what it means to live the sanctified life.
Stay close to Jesus,
Steve