Sanctification = Killing Reluctance

I am officially a fan of Keith Drury. Keith has been writing books for a long time. He has written dozens of books and Teaches Christian Ministry at Indiana Wesleyan University.


I am currently reading his book “Holiness For Ordinary People” and I gotta say, It totally nails the dilemma in our church.
Much of this post contains Keith’s Thoughts…not mine….so it’s definitely worth the read!

Here goes:
Sanctification is a word that we all should know. “It begins the moment we become a Christian. Since sanctification is all of God’s inner work transforming us into Christ likeness it has already begun…it happened when we were born again… But we need more of Christ and Christ needs more of us…God continues to perform a gradual sanctification in us day by day, making us more like Jesus” (Drury, 17)



Actually I got that part already….you probably have too

Here is where I was ROCKED.

It is safe to say that for the most part we equate sanctification with the gradual elimination of sin in our lives…..right?
And that’s true....
And as a church I feel that those of us who embrace this teaching are moving in that general direction.

However it is also equally true that Sanctification results in greater service for the kingdom!!!! …..oh my goodness.



Pop the balloon of self righteousness and mop up the spill of excuse juice that I hear nearly every week from dear saints in our church.

“It doesn’t fit my personally”

“I’m too old”

“I’m too young”

“I’m too shy”

“I’m not qualified to do that”

Can we take all of those excuses and put them in a stretchy hefty bag along with all of our Stryper cassettes and with that other excuse that I used last week when I was watching something I shouldn’t have been on TV. Has anybody else every said…. “I was just flipping the channels!”?

And let’s burn them in a ceremonial “Excuse Cremation”


We need Sanctification power for 2 things:
Power over Sin
And
Power for Loving Service

Case and point.

Guy in our church. We’ll call him Raz. Felt what he called “a holy spirit ulcer” eating at him to join the worship team. Didn’t match his personality….GOD DIDN’T CARE!!

So he joins the worship team…now he is denying his shy-ness nearly every week… serving God..Fufilling his calling....
Oh and last week…he sang a one verse solo….. You rock Raz

"Oh God, Light the fire on all the Excuses and may it burn along with it all of our reluctance to serve you."
                                                   
                                                                                                                                    -Josh