Sun. 5/10/2014

Quarter’s Theme: Discovering Life Foundation

Unit 1 Theme: Knowing The Foundation Doctrines (Lessons 1-5)

LOYALTY CAMPAIGN MONTHS

Sunday 5/10/ 2014

LESSON 5

SANCTIFICATION: A MUST FOR EVERY BELIEVER

Suggested Hymns: G.H.B. 244, 249

Devotional Reading: 2 CHRO. 29:31-34

Topic For Adults

YOU ARE A SACRED VESSEL

Topic For Youths

OTHERS MAY BUT YOU CANNOT

Topic For Intermediates

SET YOURSELF APART FOR HIS USE

Scripture Lessons

Exo. 40:10-13; 19:10-15; Heb. 9:13-14; 1 Thess. 4:1-7; Jn. 17:9-17

Memory Verse:

For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you should abstain from sexual immorality

(1 Thess. 4:3) NKJV.

DAILY DEVOTIONAL READING

Sun. 5/10/2014

Be Wholly Sanctified

1 Thess. 5:15-23

A man of God used to say that some people are born again but their hands are not born again and that is why it is easy for them to use the hand to steal, write petition against other people, romance a woman who is not their legally married wife, etc. Some are born again but their thoughts, eyes, purses, vehicles, building, etc. are not, for they can’t release them for God’s use. Those things are not sanctified and dedicated for God’s use in their lives. Let us know that the whole of our being – spirit, soul, body – are to be sanctified unto God, not leaving out anything. Both our lives and what we have are God’s properties and we must dedicate them to Him.

Point of Emphasis: Everything you are, in and around you, must be sanctified.

Prayer Point:            God of peace, sanctify me completely, body, soul and spirit.

BACKGROUND

I

t is possible to see people who claim to have been born again and still continue
in their old ways of life. The simple reason for this is because such people have not
been sanctified. They have not seen themselves as people dedicated and consecrated to God for His use. This week’s lesson explains the meaning of sanctification and why it is God’s will for every believer.

NOTES ON THE TEXT

1. THE MEANING OF SANCTIFICATION: EXO. 40:10-13; HEB. 9:13-14

The Hebrew term “godesh” which is rendered sanctify, has a meaning of “separation or setting apart”. The same also goes for the Greek word “Hagiasmos” which also means “separation or setting apart”. The dominant idea of sanctification, therefore, is separation from the secular and sinful and setting apart for a sacred purpose. As the holiness of God means His separation from all evil, so sanctification in the various Scripture applications of the term, has the same meaning.

In the Old Testament, things, places, times as well as persons, were sanctified, i.e. consecrated to holy purposes (see Gen. 2:3; Exo. 13:2; 40:10-13 etc). Connected with this were the Mosaic rites of purification (see Num. 6:11; Lev. 22:16; 32; Heb. 9:13). These rites, however, when applied to persons, were efficacious only in a ceremonial and legal sense and did not extend to the purification of the moral and spiritual nature. They were symbolical and thus were intended not only to remind the Jews of the necessity of spiritual cleansing but also of the gracious purpose of God to accomplish the work. In the New Testament, it is His blood that He shed, which He offered through the Eternal Spirit, that purges our conscience from dead works and sanctify us to God (Heb. 9:13-14). Sanctification is synonymous with holiness.

1. SANCTIFICATION: GOD’S WILL: EXO. 19:10-15; 1 THESS. 4:1-7

God deals with only the sanctified. He speaks, relates and reveals His mind and ways only to the sanctified. In Exodus 19, when He wanted to speak to the children of Israel , He had to send Moses to them to sanctify themselves before He could meet them. The reason for this is because God is a holy God. His eyes are pure and He cannot behold iniquities (Hab. 1:13). He hates sin with passion. In the Old Testament, various kinds of sin have different measure of punishment, with no exclusion of capital punishment, mostly by stoning. God had to send Moses to the people so that they are not caught unawares and waste their lives. They were to cleanse themselves from all known iniquities; they are not even allowed to have sexual intercourse with their wives. This is to show how serious God takes the issue of sanctification.

In the New Testament, Paul, while writing to the Christians in Thessalonica, told them pointedly that sanctification is the will of God for them. He told them to live in a way that pleases God. We need to bear it in mind that no one can live a life that is pleasing to God without being sanctified. To be sanctified is the command of God. He said, “for I am the Lord your God, you shall therefore sanctify yourself, and ye shall be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 11:44,45). The Greek word rendered sanctify, “hagiasmos” means here “holiness” and the same word is rendered sanctification in other parts of the New Testament (cf. 1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:12; Rom. 6:19 etc). It means here purity of life and particularly abstinence from those vices which debase and degrade the soul. Paul used two examples of what they should avoid as they pursue purity of life – fornication and fraud or fraudulent practices in all ramifications. This standard of God’s kind of sanctification has not changed in the 21st century Christians.

III.   SANCTIFICATION: JESUS’ PRAYER FOR BELIEVERS: JOHN 17:9-17

As Jesus knew that His hour to be crucified was drawing nearer, He thought it wise to pray for the disciples and those who would join the faith later. He knew that He was going to leave them in the world that is full of corruption and corrupt practices that could easily sweep Christians off their feet, if care is not taken. Jesus knew that, it is easier for human being to conform and comply with the norms and standard when the superior is around and watching them. But in the absence of the superior, the people may go another way or even formulate another standard for themselves, hence Jesus prayed for His disciples.

One of the major prayer points of Jesus is for God to sanctify His disciples. Why? This is because Jesus knew that sanctification is the will of the Father and that without holiness, no one can see God (Heb. 12:14). He knew that sanctification consists in a Christian becoming more like God and less attached to the world, for the world is corrupt. When Jesus prayed that God would sanctify them, He probably included both the ideas of holiness and consecration unto God for His use, that the believers might be made personally more holy and might be truly consecrated to God.

CONCLUSION

Sanctification is an act of being separated and consecrated unto God for His use. If all believers would understand that they are different from the unbelievers, for they are sacred vessels unto God and that all they do or say must be to glorify God, then the Church would have been attractive to the unbeliever. Believers must determine to sanctify themselves unto God.

QUESTIONS

1. Give the Hebrew and Greek terms for sanctification and their meaning.
2. What are the definitions of sanctification given in the lesson?
3. Of what importance is sanctification to a believer’s relationship with God?
4. Why do you think Jesus prayed for believers to be sanctified?
5. Is sanctification possible in this corrupt world?

French

DIMANCHE 05/10/2014

SOIS COMPLETEMENT SANCTIFIE(E)

1THE. 5:15-23

Un homme de Dieu avait l’habitude de dire que certaines personnes sont nées de nouveau mais leurs mains n’en sont pas encore et c’est pourquoi il leur est facile de se servir de leurs mains pour voler, écrire des pétitions contre d’autres personnes et d’avoir des affaires amoureuses avec une femme qui n’est pas leur femme légitime, etc. D’aucuns sont nés de nouveau mais leurs pensées, leurs yeux, leurs trousses, leurs véhicules, etc. ne le sont pas encore car ils ne peuvent pas les relâcher à l’usage de Dieu. Ces choses-là ne sont pas sanctifiées et dédiées à l’usage de Dieu dans leur vie. Sachons que la totalité de notre existence à savoir esprit, corps et âme, doit être sanctifiée sans que rien ne fasse exception. Notre vie de même que nos biens sont les biens de Dieu et nous devons les lui dédier.

Point essentiel : Tout ce que tu es, tout ce qui est en toi et autour de toi, doit être sanctifié.

Axe de prière : Dieu de paix, sanctifie-moi complètement en âme, esprit et corps.