Sanctification

Founded back in 1908, the Church of the Nazarene has over 2 million members around the globe. Over 60% of all Nazarenes and over 80% of the church’s 439 districts reside outside of the United States. Across six different continents you will find 53 educational institutions in 35 different countries. The Church of the Nazarene’s rich history spans back even before its founding, but even more important than how the was started is the question of why it was started.

During the 18th century, John Wesley, along with his brother Charles, journeyed to the American colonies as a missionary for the Church of England. Both men were disheartened by the state of the church and sought to renew the church through the focus on personal faith and holiness. Wesley’s emphasis on sanctification and being conformed to the image of Christ spawned a movement that founded the Episcopal Methodist Church as well as many others including the Wesleyan Church, the Salvation Army church, the Church of God, and the Church of the Nazarene.

This concept of holiness and sanctification is foundational to the Church of the Nazarene. Some of our doctrines are universally held by all Christian churches, but this one is what sets us apart from the Lutherans or the Baptists. If there was one word to describe the doctrine of the Church of the Nazarene, it would have to be holiness.

The doctrine of Christian Holiness or Entire Sanctification is covered in article of faith #10 in the Nazarene manual. It’s quite lengthy, so I’m not going to quote all of it. However, I want to take some time to discuss what it means and the scriptural foundation for this doctrine.

It starts by stating, “We believe that sanctification is the work of God which transforms believers into the likeness of Christ.” As we read through scripture we are told, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) and “be holy, because I am holy” (Lev. 11:44). We read in Ephesians 1:4 that we are to be holy and blameless. Colossians 1:22 again says that we are to be presented to God as holy, without blemish. The theme runs throughout scripture, we are to be holy. But how do we get there?

Before we go any further, we must establish a few basic concepts. We are all fallen creatures. We established that when we discussed the topic of sin. Each of us has a sinful nature, or original sin, that causes us to have an inclination away from God and towards or own selfish motives. This original sin leads us to commit personal sins, lying, stealing, adultery, etc. Clearly we are not the holy creatures that breathed life into in the garden. We have this dirty, sinful nature that keeps pulling us away from God.

Another thing that we need to establish is the fact that Jesus was fully God and fully man. We established this when we spoke of the trinity. Jesus was God and was therefore perfect. Jesus was man, yet he was not the sinful, fallen man that we are today. Jesus was created as perfect, just as Adam was before him. He did not have this sinful nature, this inclination away from God. This is how he was able to live a perfect life.

Jesus came to earth for two reasons. The first was to shed his blood as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. He did this by giving up his life on the cross. He also came to be our example and to show us the love of God. Jesus is the standard of perfection and holiness that we are to live up to. This is why he told his followers to be perfect just like him, but we have a problem. We aren’t perfect.

Jesus was perfect and lived a perfect life. He has called us to do the same, but we are burdened and weighed down by this sinful nature that keeps us from doing God’s will. We may want to do His will, but something within us keeps pulling us away. Jesus himself said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” (Mark 7:20-23). How can we follow Jesus’ command to be perfect and holy if what’s inside of us is anything but perfect and holy?

John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, tells us in his first epistle, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9). Jesus’ blood is sufficient to purify us. Not only does it bring forgiveness, but it will also purify us from all unrighteousness. To clarify it further, 1 John 1:7 states, “the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” All sin, not some sin. Not just personal sin, but all sin, original sin and personal sin. God’s sanctifying grace purifies all of it. All of this happens in an instant when we realize our need and ask God to cleanse us, but it doesn’t stop there.

While we typically focus on the cleansing of the sinful nature when speaking of entire sanctification, there is more to it. God has called us to live a life pure and holy, and there’s really only one way to do that. We’ve established that we are not holy; we are impure. The only way that we can be made holy is through the power of God.

I remember sitting through a revival service as a teenager and hearing an evangelist speak on this topic. He explained that all we needed to do was to ask God to sanctify us and he would do it. This idea of being free from the sinful nature was quite appealing. All I had to do was go up front and say a prayer and I’d never sin again. After going to the altar that night I truly felt that things had changed in my life. However, the next day I found myself faced with the same temptations I had faced before, and I fell into the same sin that I had gotten caught up in before. I was frustrated that entire sanctification hadn’t done what the evangelist had said it would do, but the truth is, I was missing something.

The other part of sanctification, the part that I was missing, can be found in Romans 12:1, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” Notice that we are to be holy and pleasing to God. This is the same holiness and purity that we’ve been talking about with sanctification. Also notice how it is that we come to this point, by offering our bodies as a living sacrifice.

This is what I failed to realize as a teen. While I give myself credit for wanting to rid my life of sin, I fell into the same trap that many of us do in our modern, microwave society. I wanted an instant fix that would take care of my problem. I wanted a magic bullet that would cure me of all life’s problems. What I didn’t realize is that while sanctification helps to take care of the sin problem, its true power lies in complete surrender.

As Paul points out in Romans, this complete surrender occurs when we offer our lives to God. After I went to the altar during that revival service, I wrestled with God. I had told him that my life was his, but the truth is that I still wanted to be in control.

In our lives there is a throne, and the person in charge of our lives, the person calling the shots, sits on the throne. Before we come to know Christ, we are sitting high and mighty on that throne and God is nowhere to be seen. When we accept Christ as our savior, we allow him into that throne room. We are still in control, but we’ll go to him for counsel and ask his opinion from time to time. We like it this way because we don’t have to do anything uncomfortable. We can still do the things we want and Jesus is there to forgive us. However, this is not the life that God has called us to. He has called us to be perfect and holy, and we can’t do that with an imperfect and unholy person on the throne.

The thing that I didn’t realize about sanctification was that I needed to step down from that throne and allow God to take his rightful place in my life. When the sinful, unholy man steps down and allow a holy and righteous God to take the throne, that’s when things can really begin to change. We are no longer bound by the sinful nature because it is God that is in control and not ourselves. When we offer our bodies as living sacrifices, we allow him to sit in that throne and call the shots. If he tells us to give our tithes to the church, we give our tithes. If he tells us to move across the country to the land he will show you, we move. If he tells us to talk to your neighbor or cashier about Jesus, you better believe that’s what we’re going to do.

However, the problem with a living sacrifice is that it keeps getting off the altar. When that happens we push God off of the throne and begin calling the shots again. Once again the sinful, unholy person is in control. This is why, in the Church of the Nazarene, we refer to sanctification as both instantaneous and continuous. Each one of us come to a place in our lives where we realize that no matter how much we try we keep making a mess of things. This crisis moment, this moment of decision, brings us to the place where we allow God to finally take control of our lives. We then must continually offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to him, taking care lest we reclaim that throne for ourselves.

For me it was on the back roads in Moline, IL. God had been wrestling with me for ten years. For ten years he had been asking me to allow him on the throne of my life. For ten years he had been telling me that he had a plan for my life. I was scared. I liked my life and I was afraid God would take away everything in my life that I enjoyed, but that day I told him yes. I allowed him to sit on that throne and call the shots. I won’t pretend that I haven’t faced temptations and difficult times, but every day I have to remember to offer my life as a living sacrifice to him.

In the Church of the Nazarene, we are Bible believing people, and that has led us to be holiness people. Regardless of the names used, we believe that God is more powerful than Satan and that he is able to do what he says. He is able to transform us into the people he has called us to be, and he has called us to be holy. He has called us to surrender ourselves daily.

In the summer of 2011 I finally surrendered it all to God. I came to understand that if I truly loved him, if I truly trusted him, I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t continue to live life as a half-hearted Christian. I couldn’t put on a fun face on Sunday mornings and pretend that I was pleasing God. I also couldn’t walk away and abandon everything. There was no doubt in my mind that the God of the Bible was real and that he was calling me to fully surrender my life to him. I made the only choice possible. I offered my body as a living sacrifice to him.

I made that commitment that day and I’ve had to renew it every day since then. God has called us to be holy and blameless. Are you living that way today? Have you offered yourself as a living sacrifice to him and allowed him to take the throne in your life?