07/31/2019
Once we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord we are no longer of this world. This realization can, at once, be joyous, and at the same time... terrifying. Leaving the world behind, this place which is all we have known, is not an easy thing to do, but if we lean on the Word of God we will find His joy in our sanctification, and His truth. So how is it that we can become this new person, and find joy in our separation from all we have known?
“They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”
John 17:16-18 ESV
This one verse can serve as a roadmap for our faith. It is not the only one in the Bible which serves this purpose, but it is a good one for us to explore today. However, before we begin we need a better understanding of sanctity and sanctification...
Sanctification, the freedom from sin, goes hand in hand with our being set apart for the use of God. By becoming sanctified we are set aside, consecrated, and made holy. In this way we are altered from the being what we once were, that person who took pleasure in worldliness and the sins of the flesh, and made pure and clean through Christ. Once we believe in Jesus we immediately begin to relish in the peace and joy that only God can offer. But does our sanctification come at this same time? How are we made pure? How do we begin this journey? Let’s venture into our scripture verse...
Our scripture verse this morning is so rich, and full of revelation, and guidance. We are told that we are already set apart from the world by our association with Jesus...
“They are not of the world”
Through our faith in Jesus we are at once brought out of the world, and made inhabitants of another place, and we know that we have joined Jesus there because He tells us so. Then He tells us something that links us to Him when He says...
“just as I am not of the world”
Jesus is telling us that we have begun the process of change that will, in the end, allow us to enter into the presence of God just as He does, because we have already taken the first step in becoming as He is. We are already like him in our having been removed from the world.
So, having begun the journey, we listen as Jesus asks God the Father to sanctify us, and by this He means for us to be shown the truth, which is voluminous...
“sanctify them in the truth”
Our natural next question becomes “what is the truth?” This is a natural and logical question for us to ask, but in our ignorance, how do we answer it? Well, the answer to our natural question regarding what the truth might be is given to us... Jesus reveals the answer to us...
“Your Word is truth”
The Word of God bears the truth, and is the truth. We begin to learn and understand truth by reading, and studying the Holy Bible, God’s Word. It is here that we understand such things as the truth of His character, the truth regarding His love for us, and how to know His true will for us. God’s Word reveals to us the incredible depth and breadth of His truth, and in so doing transforms us into new creatures. This is the meat of this verse; being sanctified by the truth... the Word of God.
Then in the final two thoughts in this verse we are told first that Jesus was sent into the world by God...
“As you sent me into the world”
And then, our purpose, which is to be like Him. We are being sent back into the world from which we were just extracted...
“so I have sent them into the world.”
We are like refurbished parts. We were taken from the world, cleaned and purified by the blood sacrifice of Jesus, repurposed in the truth, set apart for a new use by the Holy Spirit as He makes us aware of our likeness to Jesus, then we are and placed back into the machine, the world, to begin this selfsame process, to reveal the truth, to others. Jesus tells us that this is His purpose, and what He has been doing in our lives... then we see that it is our purpose too; just as He was sent, so we are sent!
Where are we in our journey of faith today? Are we making a decision as to whether we can actually accept Jesus as our Lord, and let go of the world? Perhaps we have already been brought out of the world? Maybe we are in the process of being sanctified in the truth? Or, have we been sent into the world? The interesting part of this journey is that it isn’t altogether linear. We don’t step across as hard and fast border between worldliness and holiness in a single stride. We don’t receive God’s truth in a single reading if the Bible, we aren’t sanctified as an event, but in a lifelong process, and when we are sent into the world we aren’t the completed image of Jesus. All of these things are occurring at once, and we are at different degrees of perfection in each of them. Each new truth we discover about God can change everything we once thought we knew about Him, and it can alter our perception of not only our sanctity and holiness, but of what it means to be these things. And the moment when we first believed? that defining event that is so dear to us? Well even there we find that we slip back and forth into the world, and that our faith faces challenges that make that moment seem less well defined. We are on a journey along parallel, and even adjacent roads in our faith. So don’t get disillusioned when you find you are taking a step back on one of them because of a step you took forward on another... let the Holy Spirit guide you, and keep seeking out your faith in fear and trembling. God’s truth is vast... it is wide, and deep, and high, and so is the journey we are on as we walk the way. The first truth is given to us in the first three words of Genesis 1:1... “in the beginning”... so begin.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your Word which is your Truth. Thank you for revealing yourself to us in so many ways, and teaching us truths about yourself that at times are so perplexing to us. Thank you for your Son Jesus Christ who shuffled us across the border between the world and your divine kingdom. Thank you for His blood sacrifice that washes us clean, and then cleaner, as we understand the truth of what sin is. Thank you LORD for your Holy Spirit that not only helps us pray when we are lost for words, but who brings understanding beyond our ability. Guide me Father as I walk the many paths at once which bring me ultimately before you. Give me patience, joy, fear, grief, peace, comfort, pain, suffering, and relief; all of this and more in what seems to be a stew of faith, a mish-mash of life, but which in fact is the complicated understanding of you, and will only become clear to me with my last breath, or the first sound of the trumpet as it announces the return of Christ. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God, who, like your peace, surpasses all understanding. Praised be your name as you reveal your truth to us through your Word, and continuously remold and transform us as we are able to receive that truth. All glory is yours Holy Father, because by your grace you have insured that we are washed clean, and cleaner, with each step we take in our journey towards you. Your mercy, your love, and your patience is poured out over us like oil, and we worship you as it flows. Help us to love you always, and to do so with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength... then, hear us as we pray that our all has been enough, and our faith sufficient! Let us not be weighed and found wanting, but pleasing in your sight.
Rich Forbes