2025: Sanctified Unto God
“For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thess. 4:3)
The Christian life has been defined in many ways – as a battle, as a fight, as an upward slog through the muck of life, as sanctifying. This last term encompasses them all, for we believe in progressive sanctification – a work of God’s grace whereby we wrestle and wage war against sin and Satan as we grow in greater conformity to Christ. Sweat, blood, tears, long nights of prayer, and intense seasons of suffering come with sanctification, along with faith, hope, and the deep, deep love of Jesus. Sanctification is hard work; sanctification is God’s work.
How does one grow in sanctification? As Andrew Bonar notes: “It is not smiting your own breast that will make you grow holy, but by looking unto Him who was smitten for you.” Or, “It is breathing in the atmosphere of the love of Christ.” A hatred of sin and a love for righteousness comes by loving Him who is our Righteousness (Jer. 23:6). Sanctification comes through shaping our priorities and purposes, our identity and our image around the Person of Christ. This work calls for God’s Spirit in our lives as individuals, but it also calls for our lives as members of the body of Christ.
For this reason, our theme for 2025 will be sanctified unto God. As a church, our prayers, our preaching, our praise will all be directed toward God’s work of sanctification in our lives. To facilitate this shared looking unto Christ, our Church has provided some key resources. One, bookmarks will be available which three prayer points revolving around the theme of sanctification. Two, copies of Maturity by Sinclair Ferguson will be available for each family. In the month of January, our Wednesday night prayer meeting will spend four weeks discussing the book. Three, the sermon series for the year will all involve this topic, for we will work through 1 Peter, the Doctrine of Christ, and Hebrews 11. Fourth, our Sunday School classes for the year will all touch on this topic as appropriate. Expect to hear about sanctification as we teach through Judges (Wayne), Daniel (Robert), 1-2 Thessalonians (John), and The Gospel of Mark (Wayne). Lastly, our Wednesday nights will spend the remainder of the year discussing the Book of Hebrews – a letter written to a church being sanctified through suffering.
Church, sanctification is a hard work; sanctification is God’s work, and He uses many tools to sanctify His people – His Word, His Spirit, prayer, sacraments, suffering, and one another. As we pursue holiness, I encourage us all to pursue it together. Whether it be through Sunday School, Wednesday night, or any other avenue available, let us not forsake the assembling together; instead, let us be sanctified together. If, as Owen said, “Nothing renders us so like unto God as our love unto Jesus Christ,” then let us fan one another’s flame and be sanctified by the sweet love of Jesus.
