“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor; “ (1 Thessalonians 4:3-4)

A vessel without Sanctification and in Dishonor

Imagine you possess a canteen. You put the canteen into a pot of boiling water and sterilize it for an hour. Once it\’s sterile, you take it out of the boiling water and carry it with you until you find pool of infected and diseased sewage, at which time you fill it. You take the canteen with you on a journey. At some point in the journey, you become thirsty. However, you can\’t drink from the canteen. Even though you spent an hour sterilizing it, the canteen and it\’s contents are unusable because of the environment it has been exposed to. You must now find more water, another pot, create more fire and spend more time cleansing the canteen in order to make it useful for the purpose to which it was intended. And, you must go thirsty until you have rectified the situation. In addition to that, you are in a very precarious situation: you could, at some point, be overcome by thirst and die. In the least, your journey has been extended and you might not receive the blessings that were due to you because of the necessary delay.

This is an illustration of how dishonoring the work, time and effort one has cleansing a vessel can affect you in the future. It is an example of how not to possess a vessel in sanctification and honor.

A vessel in Sanctification and Honor

Imagine you possess a canteen. You put the canteen into a pot of boiling water and sterilize it for an hour. You then find some pure, distilled water and fill the canteen. You take the canteen with you on a journey. At a certain point in the journey, you become thirsty. Since you know the canteen was sterilized and you know that the water came from a pure source, you open and drink from the canteen. The canteen was available for the use to which it was intended because you employed the time and effort necessary to maintain the cleanliness of the canteen, and you made the effort to find a clean and pure source of water in which to fill the canteen. Furthermore, your thirst has been quenched and your strength renewed. You can complete the journey and receive the blessings that are due to you at journey\’s end.

This is an illustration of how honoring the work, time and effort one has cleansing a vessel can affect you in the future. It is an example of how to possess a vessel in sanctification and honor.

Living in dishonor

You will reap what you sow

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.” (Galatians 6:7-10)

Who is in control of your life? This is an important question because God did not design our soul to function as master.¹ Selfishness is about being in control, it\’s about adding some type of perceived value to yourself. Therefore, as Jesus said, you are either severing wealth or you are serving God.²

So what does this look like? The deeds of the flesh are evident:

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)

This is certainly strong language and as such, it must be taken in context of the original intent and audience, other wise one could be lead into false doctrine regarding the eternal security of the believer. However, the core principles remain the same whether you are a saint or a sinner. These things enumerated are not of the spirit of God, they are not pure, and they defile the spirit of man that God works to sanctify.

These actions, when committed by a saint, serve to destroy the work that God has wrought in your life. Satan is a destroyer, a deceiver and a lier. He will use what ever means possible to tear you down and thus hinder the sanctification process:

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. (Ephesians 6:12-13)

As a saint, we must constantly be on guard and review our actions and responses to those things that are set before us (regardless if they are of God or of the enemy), and we must evaluate our motives for our actions and responses. We must evaluate whether or not our actions and responses are of the flesh or of the spirit of God.

The deeds of the flesh are the fruit of sin. If you resist the sanctification process and instead continue in sin, you will bear the fruits of the flesh. One of the hardest things for a man to break himself free of is an addiction to sex or pornography. These addictions are very similar to alcoholism in that they are both consumption addictions. In the beginning, the feed a desire, but in the end, they create more desires that seemingly need to be fed with the very same activities that created them. All addictive behaviors begin in selfishness. A person feels a certain way and participates in a given action that, for the moment, makes them feel better. The only problem is that the activity breeds more desires to participate in the same or similar activities.

This is why the world says, “once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic.” For the saint, this does not have to be true. God can so break the bonds of addiction that the substance will never again hold the power of bondage over them again. Obviously, one can choose to participate in the thing they have been delivered from, but that is clearly resisting the process of sanctification. Participating in the process of sanctification however is relying upon the power of the Holy Spirit to die to the flesh and live to the spirit.

Living in honor

You will reap what you sow

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith. (Galatians 6:7-10)

Our other option is living in the spirit. Living in the spirit is participating in the sanctification process that God is working in all of His saints. By living in the spirit, we bear the fruits of the spirit:

\”For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. \”For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. (Luke 6:43-44)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-25)

The process of sanctification results in the bearing of the “fruit of the spirit”. However, you cannot make yourself bear fruit anymore than a tree an prevent itself from bearing it\’s fruit in due season. Once the tree has taken root, it will eventually and naturally bear fruit. As long there is water and nourishment, the fruit is going to spring forth. This also reflects the law of sowing and reaping, and it is the picture of what happens in our lives when we chose to obey God and submit to the sanctification process.

Pruning, Discarding, Bearing

Jesus said:

\”I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine dresser. \”Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. \”You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. \”Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. \”I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. \”If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. \”If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. \”My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. \”Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. \”If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father\’s commandments and abide in His love.” (John 15:1-10)

The Saint the bears no fruit: Discarded

Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. (John 15:1)

Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. (1 John 2:28)

There are several different tracks one may take when attempting to understand John 15:1. Of all the ones I can think of, I would have to say they\’re all correct from their own point of view and contextual limits.

The context in which relates to this discussion revolves around the saint (who is in Christ), but refuses to participate in the sanctification process. Eventually, this saint will be sanctified³, but clearly the saint is not useful to the Kingdom of God as long as he or she refuses to submit themselves to God. Eventually, God will give them over to their lusts and they will be put on the shelf of uselessness⁴.

However, there is another contextual light to which this may be viewed:

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The Saint that bears fruit: Pruned and Used

and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.

The things that God prunes out of your life are those things that don\’t look like Him. We all have dead weight that we\’re carrying around that needs to be discarded. God may be using us, we\’re may be bearing fruit, but we\’re like everyone else on this planet: imperfect. The difference is that we\’ve submitted to the sanctification process. Unfortunately, the pruning process doesn\’t always seem to be pleasant. However, we\’re told to persevere, and when we come out of the process, we\’ll be better equipped for the work of the God⁵.

The bottom line is this: don\’t resist the sanctification process. Don\’t resist the call to purity. And don\’t be lured away by your own lusts, by those shinny things that look so good that only serve to enable you to set your self up as the worship object of your life. Keep yourself clean, and when you do sin, “… [you] have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1)

1 Neil T. Anderson, Restored: Experience Life with Jesus (Franklin, TN: e3 Resources, 2007) 96

2 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. (Matthew 6:24)

3 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. (1 John 3:2)

4 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, (Romans 1:28)

5 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)

The story of Jonah is about a man who receives a call from God to preach a message of warning and repentance to the great Assyrian city of Nineveh. He rejects the call and attempts to flee from God. We then find him in a ship, in the water, and finally in the belly of a great fish before he mostly comes to his senses and begins the long trip to Nineveh for his over-due speaking engagement.

Most of us have casually dismissed the tale of this fish-belly dwelling prophet because we\’ve never sensed God calling us to anything. This is an unfortunate problem because if we would just take the time to find God\’s message through the story of this prophet\’s struggle with sin, then we might find the repentance to which God is calling us.

The call of God

The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

In our life, Nineveh is representative of sin and bondage. There\’s something in our life that God has touched, He has laid His finger on it and told us that He doesn\’t like it, that He wants us to turn away from it. In essence God has said to us, “discard and repent of that sin in your life, because the wickedness of it has come before Me.”

The rejection of the call

But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD

And herein lies the problem: we like the sin, we like the cords of bondage it has around us. It\’s comfortable and familiar; we\’ve found solace in it and it feeds our fleshly desires. The only problem is that we can\’t seem to get the same high from it as we have before. It takes more of it for longer periods of time to bring that same satisfaction that came so easily before.

So, what have we done with God\’s call to repentance? We\’ve ignored it, and done our best to flee from it. The problem is that when we run from God, there\’s no place to go but where our sin will take us and that is down, down and down again in to the depths of depression and despair.

How our sin affects us

But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep.

One of the symptoms of depression is an inability to pull ourselves out of bed. Sleep makes the pain go away, but only for a little while. Sooner or later, the dread comes back and we find ourselves back in the midst\’s of our sin, trying to make ourselves feel better. Maybe we\’re not depressed, or maybe we\’re just in denial of it. In any case, what happened next to Jonah is exactly what we do.

How our sin affects others

“Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.”

We pass judgment upon others, and blame them instead of ourselves for our problems.

Jonah knew God was after him, he was depressed out of his gourd, and he wanted to die. How else do you explain wanting to be thrown into the raging sea, far from any shore?

I know what you\’re thinking: he was just trying to save his shipmates. No, he wasn\’t. Who exactly were his shipmates? The same kind of people that God had sent him to: people that were not Hebrews, people that were not God\’s chosen; people who were the heathen of the world, gentile sinners.

Jonah was so angry with God, that he blamed those not like him for his trouble to the extent that he was willing to make them responsible for his death. If Jonah has actually cared for his shipmates, he would have jumped off the ship before they started throwing their cargo overboard. Not only was he unwilling to be responsible to himself for his poor choices, he was unwilling to lessen the burden he had placed on those around him by owning his decisions and removing himself from their midst\’s. But to our uttermost amazement, we find the contrary: he was perfectly willing to cast the burden of murder upon their shoulders by suggesting that they should be the ones to cast him overboard.

We\’re the same way. We think that if someone else would just change, we\’d be fine. If our circumstances were just better, then we wouldn\’t be like this. If God just would perform some small act of kindness, or even possibly a miracle, then we could change our ways.

In essence we blame someone else for our problems. We attempt to make someone else responsible for our demise, or we attempt to make someone else responsible for our salvation from our circumstances that we ourselves have created.

God will get your attention if you refuse to listen and obey

So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. … And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.

Eventually, God is going to bring a circumstance into our life, and we\’ll find our self in a belly ache of a problem. We can either choose to follow God, or we can let him break us, which is exactly what happened next.

God can save you out of all your trouble

Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the stomach of the fish, and he said, “I called out of my distress to the LORD, And He answered me I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice.” … Then the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.

Once God has us in the process of being broken, we can do one of two things: we can resist the process and end up like fish food, or we can get on our knees and call out to God for salvation. There\’s one other thing you need to know about the breaking process God has (or will) put us in: it doesn\’t stop until we repent, or it won\’t stop until God stops the process. It\’s possible to resist the breaking process of God. In that case, God will try again in the future. Eventually, we will either humble ourselves before God, or He will put us on the shelf of uselessness.

We must deal appropriately with our sin

Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.

This is exactly the point where most of us get tripped up. We find ourselves sinning and confessing, sinning and confessing; in a cycle of repetitive sin and confession that never seems to end.

If we have an addictive behavior, then nothing outside the grace of God is going to break that behavior. Sure, there\’s a 12 step process for just about anything these days, but at the end of that process we still consider ourselves as “recovering addicts”. God doesn\’t want recovering addicts, He want\’s His children to be free: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”. In the process, we must ask God for wisdom, and we must believe that He will answer us. (James 1:2-8)

We must pray and fast. Fasting is not something you do to solicit favor from God, rather it is something that you do to break the bonds of sin. This is s exactly what we need: the bonds of sin broken in our life. God is serious about our sanctification process, and He is serious about sin. We should likewise be serious about breaking our selves free from the bondage of sin.

Don\’t fall into anger at the prospect of giving up your sin

“Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.” The LORD said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?”

Jonah did what he was commanded to do, but he wasn\’t happy about it one little bit. If that is the attitude we have regarding giving up and shedding our sin, then we\’re going to fall right back into the same bondage patterns we\’re experiencing now. We\’re not repentant if we\’re angry or disappointed for having to give up sin, or give up those things which lead us into sin.

Bondage vs. Freedom

We have a choice. We can live in bondage to sin, as an unuseful vessel to God, or we can submit, yield and surrender to the yoke of Christ and let Him carry your burdens. And through that process, God will sand, chisel and cut away everything that doesn\’t look like Jesus, leaving us in the end, we “will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.”

Month: July 2008

Possessing yourself in sanctification