Waiting for the Spirit

May 11, 1997

Acts 1:1-11; John 17:6-19

In the period between the Ascension of Jesus and the Day of Pentecost the disciples, in obedience to their Lord's command, waited in Jerusalem for the prayer of Jesus to be fulfilled. They were waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit on the church, the great Promise of the Father and the Son. They certainly didn't know quite what to expect. But they had been prepared, and they had been prayed for:

This greatest prayer ever prayed is a favorite source of texts for holiness preaching. Jesus prayed "Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth." And he also prayed these wonderful words, "I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified in truth." Too often those wonderful texts become points of departure, and we want to explain in great detail the mysteries of God's great saving grace. Too often the result is not helpful.

The prayer of Jesus is not an explanation of sanctification. There are some things, however, that shed clear light on what it means to be sanctified. If Jesus does not give a theological discourse on what sanctification is and does, in his prayer Jesus gives

A PROFILE OF THE LIFE-STYLE OF THE SANCTIFIED

They are in the world, but not of the world.

"I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world ... I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one." In another passage this same idea is expressed: "Don't let this world squeeze you into its mold."

God's people are not looking for a way to avoid life the way it is lived in the here and now. Sanctified people do not cluster into colonies and look for a space craft to take them to a higher level.

They have an assignment: to be like Jesus.

"As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world." The Father sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world but to be the light of the world. The Father's Son has said to his disciples, to you and me if you will, "You are the light of the world! You are the salt of the earth!" And here he says in his prayer that he is sending his sanctified ones to carry out his work.

It is a big assignment, to be like Jesus. Bigger than we can be without help. That is what Jesus is praying about. It is a big assignment, being like Jesus: it means caring and healing and giving of ourselves. To be fully Christian means to be a servant. It means to have a mind-set to help other people. To be like Jesus means telling people who God is— not in theological words they can't understand, but in the plain language of an eye-witness. We exist to say from our hearts, "God is GOOD!"

They have access to real joy.

"I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves." When we talk about profiles of holiness, never, ever leave out the joy! When we start to backslide— when we begin to cool off in any way in kingdom work— the JOY is usually the first thing to go! Because it is more important and vital than we realize! The Presence of Christ's Spirit brings joy!

What is this sanctified joy?

This past Thursday I visited with Tom Crawford, my daughter-in-law's father, a pastor in New Jersey who buried his wife of 48 years last Saturday. Before we had prayer together there were hugs and a few tears and smiles. There was real loss and real sorrow. But there was something else as well. There was the real Presence of God, a tangible Love that means " joy in the midst of sorrow," and "peace in the midst of pain." It is real, brothers and sisters, this Jesus Joy!

Transition

ISN'T THIS PROFILE EXACTLY WHAT EVERY CHRISTIAN NEEDS AND WANTS?

Who are these sanctified people? Super saints who never make mistakes, and never get down or even sick? Hardly. When I think of holiness, of sanctification, I think not of theories and doctrines first of all— I think of people I know and have known. I think of my teachers in college, Jasper R. Naylor and Alice Spangenberg and Bertha Munro. I think of General Superintendents Charles Strickland and William Greathouse. But also I think of think of so-called "little people," people I knew that had faults and pain, and still were totally sold out to God and had His love.

On this Mother's day I think of my own mother's testimony. In another denomination, without knowing what to call it, she asked God for something to take away her bitter spirit. And her testimony reminds my of another person in still another denomination, who never heard a message on sanctification, and didn't know what to call it, but cried out to God for cleansing of her spirit— Mary Pitman!

My OWN testimony - not to perfection— but to a removal of bitter hatred.

I haven't sought to explain what Jesus meant when he prayed "Sanctify them!" I haven't begun to talk about the doctrine and the experience and what it does in cleansing and empowering and filling with God's love. And whatever I might say would not take away the wonder and mystery of God's grace. But I can tell you how to begin to seek what Jesus was praying for! Holiness, sanctification, in its simplest, most elemental form is simply belonging to God without reservation!

HOW TO BE A SANCTIFIED CHRISTIAN

A GOD-INSPIRED DESIRE - "I pray not (now) for the world; I pray for these who are not of the world, worldly." You cannot be entirely sanctified unless you want to be; and it is the people who love God who want to belong to Him without reservation. This is A DESIRE TO LOVE GOD BETTER - Jesus: "I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified in truth." A loving Son tells the Father he dedicates himself to His will in order that his brothers and sisters might also come closer to God.

A DELIBERATE, TRUSTING CONSECRATION - Romans 12: 1,2 "Brothers and sisters, by God's great grace, give yourselves to HIM!!"

AN ATTITUDE OF SEEKING, TRUSTING, BELIEVING - I Thess. 5:23-24

#522 - in Hymnal - to read in unison

Conclusion: I challenge you to ask God to sanctify you through and through— I challenge you to tell Him He can have you for time and eternity! He will receive you!

PRAYER (contemporary language)

O God, King of glory, you have received your only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven. As he has promised us, Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and by faith exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

#272 Crown Him with Many Crowns