“Be Sanctified”
Easter 7 May 28, 2006
Christ has risen!
Alleluia!
He has risen indeed!
During this season of Easter we proclaim and celebrate the glorious fact that Christ has risen.
Christ has risen!
Alleluia!
He has risen indeed!
Indeed.
Christ has risen!
Our lives can be changed!
Christ has risen!
Our relationship with God can be changed!
Christ has risen!
Our world can be changed!
Christ has risen!
Our Church can be changed!
Christ has risen!
Nothing has to stay the same – everything can be changed – because:
Christ has risen!
Alleluia!
He has risen indeed!
We can have a life-changing relationship with Christ — we can let Him change our lives with His love — then — we can go into the world and work to show His love to the world — changing the world around us with the life-changing love of the risen Christ.
One of the ways the resurrection of Christ can change our lives is that we can be sanctified.
Sanctified
Set apart – different – with different actions – words – thoughts – and attitudes than everyone else.
We don’t have to act like everyone else – we can be sanctified.
We can be sanctified – because
Christ has risen!
Alleluia!
He has risen indeed!
Our scripture passages for today give us 2 pictures of what it means to be sanctified.
In our Gospel passage Jesus prays for His disciples to be sanctified.
In our passage from Acts the disciples wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit by praying for God to sanctify them –- – – and waiting for God to bring the results.
And what results they get because they devoted themselves to praying for God to sanctify them!
Take a look at our Gospel passage.
Here we have Jesus and the disciples gathered for the last time before He would be crucified. Jesus knew that He would soon die.
He knew that He was leaving His disciples behind to carry on His work.
Maybe when He thought about this He was more than just a little concerned about them.
He knew that their lives would not be easy.
When they followed Jesus' teachings, people would hate them just as they had hated Him.
Of course, not everyone hated Jesus and not everyone would hate His disciples.
Many people loved Jesus. They came in great numbers to hear Him. They crowded around Him, hoping for miracles. They brought their children so that He might touch them. They welcomed Him into Jerusalem with palm branches and Hosannas.
But some people did hate Jesus.
The scribes and Pharisees hated Jesus. They were well-established — powerful. They were used to people catering to them — standing aside as they came down the sidewalk — reserving the best seats for them. They were religious men — holy men — but they had come to enjoy too much the perks of their office. They had forgotten that God had called them, not for honor, but for service.
Jesus didn't honor the scribes and Pharisees.
He insulted them. He exposed their sins. He called them hypocrites. He told them that they were whitewashed tombs — beautiful on the outside but full of dead men's bones on the inside.
It is no wonder that they didn't like Jesus.
It is no wonder that they sought to kill him.
Given their power and wealth, it is no wonder that they succeeded.
Well — Jesus knew that these same men and others like them would bring their power and wealth against the disciples, just as they were bringing their power against Him.
So – what did He do?
Jesus prayed for the disciples.
First he prayed,
"Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one" (v. 11).
"Protect them!" He prayed!
Jesus wasn't praying that the disciples have an easy life. He wasn't praying that they become rich and famous. He was praying that God would protect them.
"Protect them…so that they may be one."
We need God's help, don't we! We Christians are often our own worst enemies.
We have divided ourselves into denominations.
We have divided ourselves by theological persuasion — liberal versus conservative.
We have divided ourselves by race — someone has observed that eleven o'clock on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of the week.
And some Churches are even divided into those who want red carpet versus those who want green carpet.
The devil must be licking his chops!
We Christians need to learn to work and play nicely together. We need to learn to respect each other, even in our differences. We need to love one another, which is often difficult. We need to do those things so that we can be effective witnesses for Christ — so that we can draw people to him.
We certainly need help with that — so Jesus prays, "Protect them…so that they may be one."
Then Jesus prays, "I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one" (v. 15).
The New Testament was written originally in Greek, and the Greek word for world is kosmos.
In this prayer, Jesus says that Christians "do not belong to the kosmos" but "are in the kosmos." He doesn't ask God to take us out of the kosmos, but instead asks God to protect us from the evil one.
When Jesus talks about the kosmos, he isn't talking about planet Earth. When Jesus talks about the kosmos, he is talking about the forces of evil opposed to God.
What are those?
We don't have to look far to see them.
There are so many kosmos-forces all around us.
The church exists as an island in a kosmos-sea — and it's our job to clean up the sea.
I think that you know what I mean, but I'll give some examples anyway.
We live in a kosmos-world where motion pictures and television are saturated with sex, violence, and coarseness — where the Internet is saturated with pornography and gambling — where our streets and schools are saturated with drugs.
It is a kosmos-world — a world where the forces of evil are always in opposition to God — and Jesus left us here to set the world right. He left us here to be a bit of leaven that would leaven the whole loaf.
It is a huge job, and we have a long way to go.
So Jesus prayed, "Protect them from the evil one."
Boy – do we ever need that prayer.
We need it for our children, but we also need it for ourselves.
Our children are at risk, but we are at risk too. I have known Christians who let themselves become addicted to alcohol or drugs or gambling or pornography or violent entertainments. Every once in a while the newspapers run articles of respected members of the community who lose their job and family because of an addiction to Internet pornography.
W live in a kosmos-world.
Jesus prayed, "Protect them from the evil one!"
We need God's protection.
We also need to use our heads!
We need to avoid the things that would drag us down — the things that threaten to destroy us. We need God's help, but we also need to cooperate with God when he tries to help us.
So — Jesus prays, "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth" (v. 17).
This word "sanctify" is interesting.
It means "make them holy" — "make them into saints."
Some of you are probably sitting there right now rolling your eyes.
"Fat chance!" is what you are thinking.
But we serve a mighty God!
Everything is possible!
Sanctify them!
Make them holy!
Make them more like you, God!
We need God to make us holy — for our sake — for the sake of our families — for the sake of those with whom we work — for the sake of our community — for the sake of our nation — for the sake of the world.
That is the only way that we can make things better — by first becoming better ourselves.
We cannot become better by ourselves.
We need God's help.
"Sanctify them!" Jesus says.
Make them holy.
Holiness has power to make things better.
Holiness has power to change people's lives.
Holiness has power to change the world.
I read not long ago about NBA Star A C Green.
Some of you probably recognize that name.
Green is retired from basketball now, but he was a member of the LA Lakers team when they won three NBA championships. He holds the NBA record for the most consecutive games played (1192). They called him "Iron Man."
Wouldn't that be great — to play in the NBA – win 3 titles — and to have your teammates call you "Iron Man"!
But Green is more than a great basketball player.
He is also a great Christian.
He is a man who determined to use his fame and fortune to make a difference for Jesus.
He determined to use his fame and fortune to help kids — to help his teammates — to help his community — to make this a better world.
Sports heroes are exposed to more temptations than most of us — money temptations — sexual temptations – drugs – both recreational and performance enhancing.
Green determined to let God make him holy so that he could help others.
The thing that got him the most press was his determination to abstain from sex until marriage. Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly called Green "The NBA Player Who Has Never Scored."
Green didn't try to do it by himself.
He found other Christians who shared his values, and he invited them to hold him accountable.
Hear that!
We can't become holy people in isolation. We need the help of holy friends. Green says of his friends, "They keep me in line so much that I'm sure there have been temptations around the corner that thankfully I've never known about."
That's possible, you know.
Each time you avoid temptation you strengthen yourself against future temptation.
It's like working out in the gym.
Strength begets strength!
Green maintained his convictions through thick and thin. He said, "I promised God this, and I'm not going to break it. I love myself and my future wife too much to waste it."
Green finally married in 2002, so he no longer has to practice abstinence – but He does continue to practice his faith.
He has established the A. C. Green Youth Foundation to promote abstinence until marriage. He is continuing to do good things through the Christ who strengthens him.
I was struck in particular by something that one of Green's teammates once said about him. Anthony Mason, a young man who had lots of off-court troubles, found himself drawn to Green. Like lots of troubled people, he was looking for someone solid — someone trustworthy — and he found that person in A. C. Green.
Mason was quoted as saying, "You would think of Green as a goody-two-shoes, but to see (his convictions) up close, you realize that's the way you're supposed to live."
It might seem like a small thing that Green did — keeping himself sexually pure until marriage — but it didn't turn out to be a small thing. By the grace of God, it became a way of changing lives for the better — of changing the world for the better.
"Sanctify them!" Jesus prays.
Make them holy.
Make them part of the solution instead of part of the problem.
Help them to make a difference in their family — in their church — in their community — in their world.
"Sanctify us!" needs to be our prayer.
Make us holy.
Help us to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.
Help us to make a difference in our family — in our church — in our community — in the world.
Sanctify them!
That was Jesus’ prayer for the disciples – and for us!
Sanctify them!
Make them holy!
Make them different!
Give them different actions – different thoughts – different words!
Sanctify them!
The passage I read from Acts 1 before the sermon is an illustration of how to be sanctified – how to be different – with different actions – different thoughts – different words!
When Jesus went back to heaven, the disciples may not have known what to do next.
They may have remembered that Jesus had prayed for them to be sanctified – but they may have not felt very sanctified – very different.
What did they do?
They prayed.
They prayed for God to sanctify them.
They prayed for God to help them be different in thoughts – words – and actions.
Like us today – the disciples know that if they were going to be different from everyone else – they were going to have to have help and strength.
So they prayed for help.
They prayed for strength.
And – even though our passage from Acts does not include it – I’ll give you a “sneak peak” into what we will see next week – when the disciples prayed to be made different – to be sanctified – God answered – in a powerful way!
The Spirit filled them.
They were strengthened.
They were sanctified – to where they became strong to carry on Christ’s work in the world.
Sanctify them!
Jesus prayed.
Sanctify us!
The disciples prayed.
Sanctify me!
AC Green prayed.
When they prayed that prayer – the disciples were blessed – sanctified – strengthened – so they could live the different lives God called them to live.
When AC Green prayed that prayer he was blessed – sanctified – strengthened – so he could make a difference – and live the different life God called him to live.
When we pray that prayer we can be blessed – sanctified – strengthened – so we can make a difference – and live the different life God calls us to live!
Sanctify us, O God!
Sanctify me, O God!
On your bulletin cover is a prayer for sanctification.
Turn to that now – and let’s pray that together –
Sanctify me, O Lord.
Make me holy.
Help me to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.
Help me to make a difference in my family — in my church — in my community – and in my world. In Your name I pray, Amen.
I invite you to keep that prayer. Put it somewhere you can see it every day.
Pray it daily. Ask God to help you — and you can be sure that He will.
Like AC Green you may need someone to hold you accountable – if so, find that person.
Pray that God will sanctify you – protect you from the devil and the temptations of the world – make you different – a part of the solutions instead of the problems – making a difference in your family – your church – your community – and in the world.
Let’s pray that prayer together one more time:
Sanctify me, O Lord.
Make me holy.
Help me to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.
Help me to make a difference in my family — in my church — in my community – and in my world. In Your name I pray, Amen.
Indeed friends:
Christ has risen!
Alleluia!
He has risen indeed!
And we can be sanctified!
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