Prayer Sanctification

While our group was in Israel back in 2018. Our first day included a trip to Megiddo, otherwise known where the final battle of Armageddon will take place. I took some water from a water fountain and little did I know, I would be laying in bed for the next 30+ hours and sick enough that Beni, our Israeli tour guide was going to postpone our trip to Galilee to take me to the hospital.

I didn’t want that to happen to the group and so I laid in bed for an entire day and that night and I missed the whole Galilean tour. I was also bummed out because the next day, as we had to pack up and head to the south desert for the Dead Sea experience. I was extremely weak and I couldn’t help lead or participate in the baptism of our group at the Jordan river.

But I did get to lead something just as amazing, important and meaningful. On our last day in Jerusalem, since I missed the blessing of baptizing people in the Jordan, I was asked if I would lead our group in holy communion at the garden tomb. I was blessed because this was my first time leading communion as a minister of the gospel on my own. And I was a bit emotional knowing that I was about to lead communion in a place not too far where Jesus first shared communion with his disciples and possibly in a place where he was buried and possibly where the power of the resurrection took place.

At the garden Tomb, I shared with the group Romans chapter 11 and verses 11-24. It’s a section in Romans where Paul tells those who read and hear this message that we, the redeemed by Jesus Christ have been grafted into the family of God. And he uses the grafting process for olive trees to give example of how that works. Olive trees often grow wild in Israel. Kind of like wild flowers do here in the states.

And when they mature they produce bitter and worthless fruit. So to produce a good olive tree with sweet and delicious fruit to eat and share, a branch off of a good olive tree, must be grafted into the wild tree, and the wild tree would then take on the characteristics of the good tree. So, After it’s union process, the grafting process, the wild tree would take on the identity of the good tree and because it has a new identity, it would then produce good fruit that was not bitter, but sweet and delicious to eat and to share with others.

Paul in Romans, talked about the reversal of that process of how we represent the wild branches, And when we come to Christ, we, the wild branch, are then grafted into the good tree of Jesus and because of that union we then must by faith and trust shed our sinful identity and take on His identity and become bearers of good fruit. I would like to challenge you all this week to read Romans 11: 11-24.

It’s an amazing reminder that we are grafted and adopted into an amazing family of God. I shared that intimate moment this morning too lead us into our text today. And to talk about two things that my heart saturated in this week. Two words I wrestled with all week. Union and Identity. Paul in his letter ends in benediction, but that benediction is actually a prayer and a call for action.

He’s calling God’s people to lean in, more than before and trust in God and let him Every Christian is called into holiness. Every Christian is called to be set apart for the work of the kingdom. All throughout the Bible, God is revealed to the people and that begins the process of being set apart for service to the king. Each and every one of us who calls Christ our Lord, has been grafted into the good tree.

Each and everyone of us that has been grafted in, has begun the union part of being a child of God. The union is the starting point of our sanctification. This is the part where, we come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and savior. And the Holy Spirit becomes a very intimate part of our lives. We are united to Christ. Paul tells us, that we are in Christ. Almost 160 times in his letters he tells us and uses the phrase you and I are in Christ.

There is a union, this bond between Christ and us. John 17 reminds us of Jesus’s prayer of unity when He prays, “That we become one with him, as he is one with he father. He’s praying for union, he’s praying for unity.” We understand that if we are believers, that means, Christ is in us. We also understand that the New Testament says, “We are in Christ.” Now, here is what so many of us miss.

Christ in us and us in Christ is simply defining both ways of this union. We are in Him; He is in us. That is to say, we are literally engulfed in one another in an inseparable union. Again, relationship is essential part of this union. Relationship matters when it comes to sanctification and relationship must be both ways. One of my biggest fears in my walk with God is that I am willing to give my life to Christ, I am united with him but then I fail to actually give and to do my part in the relationship and i become lazy in my loyalty to him.

I become swooned by what he world offers me. And then my loyalty becomes questioned. Think of our earthly marriages. Alicia and I before God have vowed to be one till death do us part, we have resolved to be committed one hundred percent to each other. I commit to her and she has committed to me. We were two separate souls now surrendered under the rule and love of Christ.

And there is no halfway union between us. God has called us to become one and his word has also told us that there is no greater love than to give our lives up for others. I give my life up form her and she gives up her life for me. Now, think about it, What would our relationship look like in our marriage if all we and our spouse ever met was halfway.

I would say our relationship right now would be in bad shape if I told alicia that I would give her 80% loyalty, but i want to reserve 20% for someone or something else who might come along. Just like the other day, I was trying to get one of our girls attention and I couldn’t remember Chloes name and I ended up calling her Ashley. And what do she do…

both of the girls run to my wife and say, dad called us Ashley…. Who’s Ashley…?? I have no clue where that name came from. So I did the only smart thing a pastor and husband could do… I said hunny… the Lord must have given me that name for me to pray for. and so I did… do you want to hold my hand as we pray together for this Ashley?

and I prayed for myself because I’ve heard that Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. And I needed grace so I can sleep in my own bed and not the couch. Listen, IM 40 not 14 anymore. I got back issues. I can’t afford staying in the dog house. But, no really, 80/20 doesn’t work with loyalty. 80/20 only works with hamburger ratios not relationships. And We know it doesn’t work in our marriages.

So then when it comes to our union with Christ, why do we treat God that way? We tend to want to just give God our Sunday morning best, but for the rest of the week we want to be loyal to our lives. We want to be loyal to our sins. If God was to stir the water of our hearts this morning, and he were to examine our hearts loyalty what would he find?

What would God find that’s hidden beneath the surface? Would he find a heart blazen for holiness? Would he find a heart passionate pursuing Him in all areas of life. Or would he find a heart that is 80/20, 70/30, 10/90? What percentage is our hearts. We ask that question because holiness and sanctification comes when a heart is 100% given to Him. What are we loyal to? Loyal to our possessions.

Loyal to our preferences? Loyal to our perversions? Loyal to our extra curricular activities. Loyalty to our jobs. Loyal to our savings accounts. Loyal to our families? Are we loyal to our ideals? Are we loyal to lies? Are we loyal to our coverups of things done wrong? What are we loyal to? What ratio would Jesus find in our life if he would examine our hearts? I cant answer that for you, that comes through the the Holy Spirit searching our lives to see what in our lofe is not of God.

Are we prepared for that? Are we prepared for what sanctification will cost us. Taking on the identity of Christ will cost us everything that we hold dear to our life. Are we prepared for what that will costs? Because it will cost us a deep narrowing of all of our interest here on earth and an incredible broadening of our interest in God and the things of God. That’s where union leads us.

Union says from Ephesians chapter 1: We have been chosen, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, grace-lavished and unconditionally loved and accepted. We are pure, blameless and forgiven. We have received the hope of spending eternity with God. When we are in Christ, these aspects of our identity can never be altered by us. It’s freely given to us through the union to Jesus Christ. But identity says, that we begin to see ourselves the way that God sees us and we take on the characteristics of Christ for the glory of God.

“Let them be one in me as we are one.” Church, it’s more than just union, It’s a life long committed relationship. And if you’re still not understanding sanctification., well then… maybe you jsut need to step out by faith and experience it. I’ve always heard you only get home by getting there. We may think about getting home, but we will never get there till we actually go there. Are you prepared for the reality of God making himself real to you?

Remember… God calls us to go deeper with Him. We do this by laying our will down to do the will of God. It won’t be easy, but it is always better for us. Going deeper will cost us: our will, our wants, the way we want to handle things, our choices. So what am I saying? What I am saying is if sanctification is something you truly desire, then what will you lay down at the foot of the cross to take more of him?

Before we take communion, let’s prayerfully ponder that question for a moment. What am I willing to give up to go deeper? Our pride? Our decisions? Our ways? What is it in your life that reflects your identity more than Christ identity in you?. Here in a moment I want to remind us all of that. Communion is a sacred time of unity. It’s a moment where we remember Christ and what Christ has done, but I believe we forget something….

We forget that it’s also a time where we must become altered ourselves and Christ must reign deeper in our lives. So communion is not just Remembrance, but a call for the Christian to sacrifice their identity to take on more of Jesus’s identity. *