"I am the Lord who sanctifies them."
Ezekiel 20:12

It seems a common theme, as we've seen throughout quite a few of the verses I've been reading through and blogging about lately, that God takes credit for and possession of glorious things such as sanctification, justification, salvation, and glorification. This verse obviously is focused on God being the one who sanctifies. That might make your head spin or your heart leap. Or it might make you scratch your head and disengage your heart. What determines your response to this verse is the realization of what a word that is antiquated and out-dated like "sanctification" means.

We don't use theological terms anymore in the church. Many people would say "Thank goodness" for that fact. But, I think, it's quite sad. It is one of the ways we can explain the stupidity in the church today and the lack of Scriptural depth. Nobody walks into a doctor's office expecting the physician to be ignorant of the subject matter at hand. Yet, so many walk into church doors wanting the preacher to speak about anything and everything but the Bible, and, heaven forbid, use theological words. You may never use a word like "insulin", but when the doctor tells you that you have diabetes, you'll want to know what that little word means. The same is true with sanctification. You may not use the word much in your daily existence, but it is absolutely necessary for you to grasp the concept if you are to be a Christian.

Two Latin words are the basis of our word sanctification: sanctus which means holy, and ficare which means "to make." So, the idea of sanctification is "to make holy." Now, "holy" is yet another theological term that has been dragged through the mud as we put it before words such as "crap." Nonetheless, I will hope and assume that you have an idea of what it means.

"Be holy as I am holy." (1 Peter 1:16) It is a command from God on high to be holy, just as He is. This, I hope, strikes you as nothing short of ridiculously impossible because it is. Yet, God, through the continuous, day to day working of the indwelling Holy Spirit, makes us holier and holier. (Romans 15:15) This is sanctification. And, really, holiness, in the most simplest of terms, is obeying Christ. Romans 15:18 speaks of "[winning] obedience from the Gentiles" right after Paul says they are "sanctified by the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:15). Jesus said in what we refer to as the Great Commission, "Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." Conversion is the start, but obedience is the goal of our lives hear on earth and is the heart of what sanctification truly means.

All that is merely foundation for the simple truth of the verse in Ezekiel. God is the one who sanctifies us. It is not our preacher, our favorite Christian speaker, or ourselves. It is God alone who has the power to win our obedience for himself. We cannot accomplish this on our own or by our own powers. We must rely on the Gospel, the words found in Scripture, in order to have a renewed mind, one that is sanctified by the working power of the Holy Spirit through the Gospel message. So, go be holy as our Father God is holy, and do so by relying on God the Holy Spirit to reveal to you, through Scripture, who God the Son, Jesus Christ, is and how it is that you can obey Him.

Grace and peace to you all-