{"id":813,"date":"2015-12-08T17:58:12","date_gmt":"2015-12-08T23:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedisciplemaker.org\/?p=813"},"modified":"2015-12-08T17:58:12","modified_gmt":"2015-12-08T23:58:12","slug":"pure-and-set-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/pure-and-set-apart\/","title":{"rendered":"Pure and Set Apart"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div><p>Sanctification is God\u2019s gift and God\u2019s will for His children.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/FirmFoundation-sized3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-824 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/FirmFoundation-sized3-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"FirmFoundation-sized\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>by Clinton E. Arnold,<em> Discipleship Journal, July-Aug. 2006.<\/em><br \/>\nMy wife and I felt a pang of fear when we noticed that a mole on our son\u2019s head had changed color and shape. We immediately took him to a dermatologist for testing. The lab report confirmed our fears: He would need immediate surgery. But as the malignant cells had not yet spread, it was not as bad as it might have been. Left unattended, the spot would have become melanoma.<br \/>\nSomething just as dangerous is present in our souls. It\u2019s called sin. Left unattended, sin can spread like a cancer and destroy our lives. Because\u00a0 of Christ\u2019s work on the cross, sin cannot snatch away our eternal life with God. But it can subvert our effectiveness for the kingdom, ruin relationships, turn us into bitter people, and grieve the God who loves us and gave us so much.<br \/>\nThe good news for those of us who have been reborn is that God has established a means for replacing the sin in our lives with the virtues of Christ. The biblical word for this is sanctification, and there are two important nuances in its definition. In one sense, sanctification refers to the reality that we have been set apart for God\u2019s possession and use (like the utensils of the tabernacle in the Old Testament). In another sense, sanctification refers to the process of becoming holy and pure, reflecting the character of our Father. The first refers to a gift from God; the second refers to a calling from God.<br \/>\nA Fact and a Process<br \/>\nThe gift of sanctification. When the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth (a group of people not known for their purity), he referred to them as \u201cthose sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy\u201d (1 Cor. 1:2). Even though it\u2019s clear from the rest of the letter that the Corinthians still sinned, Paul said they were already \u201csanctified.\u201d He could say this because sanctification has its roots in the cross and not in our efforts to improve ourselves so we\u2019ll be more pleasing to God. The moment we experience new birth through Christ, we are purified from our sins by His blood. Paul described the process this way: \u201cHe saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy . . . through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit\u201d (Titus 3:5). This rebirth and washing sets us apart from sin and sets us apart for relationship with a pure and holy God.<br \/>\nThe calling to sanctification. Not only had the Corinthians been set apart, they were \u201ccalled to be holy.\u201d In the Bible, the words sanctification (hagiasmos) and holy (hagios) share the same root word.<br \/>\nFrom the beginning of time, God has called His people to be holy. He told Israel to \u201cbe holy, because I am holy\u201d (Lev. 11:44). This calling is repeated in the New Testament: \u201cBut just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do\u201d (1 Pet. 1:15).<br \/>\nWhen Paul told the Thessalonian Christians, \u201cIt is God\u2019s will that you should be sanctified\u201d (1 Thess. 4:3), he wanted them to know that because they now belonged to God, they had a calling to become like Him, namely, holy. This is God\u2019s will for us as well.<br \/>\nThe call to be holy does not negate the fact that our sancti\ufb01cation was purchased on the cross. We are sancti\ufb01ed; this is a spiritual reality. But we are also called to live out this sancti\ufb01cation in our daily lives. God wants our established status to become a visible reality.<br \/>\nPower Source<br \/>\nIf you\u2019ve\u00a0 been a Christian for any length of time, you have discovered that this process of becoming holy\u00a0 is hard.\u00a0 That\u2019s\u00a0 because the evil in\ufb02uences that originally kept us apart from God (the world, the \ufb02esh, and the devil) have not disappeared. Because we are in Christ, however, their irresistible pull has\u00a0 been broken. We now have the ability to say no to them through the supernatural power of the Holy\u00a0 Spirit.<br \/>\nThe Spirit of God living in us does two important things for us related to sancti\ufb01cation. First, this Holy Spirit implants within us the desire to be like God in His holiness. Thus, Paul says\u00a0 that \u201cit is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose\u201d (Phil. 2:13).\u00a0 Second, the\u00a0 Spirit empowers us to defeat sin and put on the virtues of Christ: \u201cThrough the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature\u201d (Ro. 8:13, NLT, emphasis mine).<br \/>\nSancti\ufb01cation becomes,\u00a0 then, a divine\/in Christ. But we\u2019ve also seen the good news. First, we are already sancti\ufb01ed and declared saints\u2014\u201choly ones\u201d\u2014because of the cross of Christ. We are set apart for God; we\u00a0 belong to Him. Furthermore, God has\u00a0 ordained\u00a0 a process by which we are being sancti\ufb01ed as sin\u2019s\u00a0 hold\u00a0 on\u00a0 us becomes weaker and the desire to live a life of purity becomes stronger. This process is guaranteed not because of our own ability to resist sin, but because of the power of the Spirit of God living in us.<br \/>\nFinally,\u00a0 there is a remaining piece of good news. We will be sancti\ufb01ed. That is, a day is coming when \u201cwe shall be like him\u201d (1 Jn. 3:2). Our Christlikeness will be complete, as will our freedom from sin, and we will be in the presence of our Savior and Sancti\ufb01er for eternity. In 1 Thess. 5:23-24 we \ufb01nd the calling and the promise of sancti\ufb01cation:<br \/>\nMay 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. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.<br \/>\nUsed by permission of Discipleship Journal. Copyright \u00a9 July\/August 2006, Issue 154, The Navigators. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. www.navpress.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sanctification is God\u2019s gift and God\u2019s will for His children. by Clinton E. Arnold, Discipleship Journal, July-Aug. 2006. My wife and I felt a pang of fear when we noticed that a mole on our son\u2019s head had changed color &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"Pure and Set Apart\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/pure-and-set-apart\/#more-813\">Read more<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Pure and Set Apart<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pure and Set Apart - The Disciplemaker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/pure-and-set-apart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pure and Set Apart - The Disciplemaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sanctification is God\u2019s gift and God\u2019s will for His children. by Clinton E. 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