In Jude 1, we find this: "Jude,the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called."
What does it mean to be sanctified? The world has a false concept of a saint, of being sanctified. Two false ideas are afloat in this notion. One, that a "godly" person, who has spent his or her life in service, has been dead a number of years, is finally "sainted." and referred to hereafter as Saint So-and-so.
The second false concept is that one who is sanctified goes about with a "holier-than-thou" attitude, with his head in the clouds, too good to associate with mere man. Neither concept is scriptural.
In this passage, Jude refers to those who have been called by the gospel as saints. Paul begins his letter to the Roman Christians, "called to be saints." In 1 Corinthians, where brethren were divided over many errors, Paul addresses them as "saints, them that are sanctified." These expressions are similarly used by Paul in his salutations in 2 Corinthians , Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians.
Sanctified means to "set apart for a sacred purpose." Every Christian has been so set apart by God, to be used by Him for a holy purpose, the carrying out of God's will on earth. A saint is simply a Christian, one who has been sanctified by the truth, John 17:17, set apart by the teachings of the truth, by virtue of the fact that he has obeyed it.
Floyd recalls an illustration by brother Foy E. Wallace, Jr. In horse and buggy days, he was met at a train depot by an old brother driving a ramshackle buggy, drawn by a single, scrawny horse. The horse was swaybacked, with every rib showing. On their drive to the man's house, he explained to brother Wallace, "This is my sanctified horse. He was a faithful old workhorse in his day. I did not want to destroy him, so I put him out to pasture. He does not plow any more. I have set him apart for one purpose: to pick up preachers and take them to their preaching appointments."
If all Christians could realize their purpose in life, to be consecrated to God's service, to accept the responsibilities a "saint" has been given, to take seriously that sacred trust,
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In thinking about what people have obeyed from the beginning of time, let us go back to Adam and Eve. The record says, in Genesis 3:1: "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was food for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." Now, of course, the question just automatically comes, who did these obey? The answer is very obvious: they obeyed the voice of Satan, not the voice of the people, not the multitude, but the voice of Satan. Do you think because you cannot see him today that you can't fall into this category? That you can't obey the voice of Satan? Don't be too certain! Satan himself used devices. Paul said, "we are not ignorant of his devices." And we should beware, lest Satan should get an advantage over us, using his devices.
The NT church has been charged with the awesome responsibility of preaching the gospel to all mankind. The design of that message is to turn men from darkness to light. Truly we are to "rescue the perishing."
Jesus said that the gospel was to be preached to the whole creation (Mark 16:15-16). Paul said the church is the "pillar and ground of truth" (1 Timothy 3:15). As such, it is expected to stand under and support the truth in the world. This divine task can and will be accomplished in harmony with the wisdom of the Being who ordered it when each congregation "sounds out the word of the Lord" under it's own elders, using it's own resources, and answering to no board or conclave knwn to man. It will be accomplished when each disciple, whose heart burns with a love for souls, personally does all he can to teach the truth, wherever his influence extends. Responsibility |
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What is RSS? Mike MinearI live in Orlando, Fl with my wife Dolores. We have 3 children, 10 grand-children and 5 great-grandchildren. Every Wednesday I publish articles concerning Christian Living and spreading the Good News. Archives
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