James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary
1 Thessalonians 4:3
GOD’S WILL FOR THE CHRISTIAN
‘This is the will of God, even your sanctification.’
These nine words have an interest all their own; but taken in their immediate connection, they are truly momentous and soul stirring. In order that we may please God, He will have us like Him. ‘This is the will of God,’ says the Apostle, ‘even your sanctification.’
I. The true nature of sanctification.—It is sinful man changed and raised into the image of Eternal Purity! And the transformation is thorough. It takes place in the soul, and can be seen by God only; it is then exhibited in the life, that it may be seen of angels and men. It includes several things—
(a) The abandonment of the world—not the natural world, but the carnal;
(b) The crucifixion of the flesh—its vain thoughts, unholy desires, unlovely actions;
(c) The consecration of the entire being—body, soul, and spirit, to the service of the Divine Master;
(d) The adoption of the law of heaven for the government of the life on earth.
II. The efficient means of obtaining it.
(a) The soul must first be cleansed from all natural impurity; and how and where can this be done? (Isaiah 1:18; 1 John 1:7).
(b) The Word of God as well as the Blood of Christ must perform its office in this wondrous change (John 17:17).
(c) The Spirit of holiness must operate in unison with the blood of Christ and the Word of God, and apply both to the soul of the believer (2 Corinthians 3:17).
(d) Prayer must ever ascend heavenward from the altar of the heart that this best and highest work may be divinely carried on, until the journey of life is over and the celestial Paradise is gained.
If this is God’s will concerning us, should it not be our will concerning ourselves?
Illustration
‘There can be nothing so great and blessed for any creature as to have God’s will perfected in it. “Thy will be done” is a prayer that pictures to us all struggle and misery at an end, and the sun shining down on a calm and green and fragrant world. Only in holiness are eternal life and blessedness possible. To have the thoughts pure, the life at every point and in all its interests set like music to the words of God’s law, the soul moulded into the image of Christ, that is to have eternal life begun. “In the keeping of Thy commandments there is great reward.” ’
(SECOND OUTLINE)
HOLINESS
It is God’s will, the great purpose that He has at heart concerning men, that they should be holy. ‘Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.’ Pardon and all other blessings are a means to this great end. The Great Sculptor would think and plan and labour only for a torso, in room of a statue, without this; the Great Builder would never see the topstone on His chosen temple without this; the Great Husbandman would never taste of the fruit of His vineyard without this. Now, if our sanctification—our growing holiness here and our perfected holiness hereafter—is God’s will, then—
I. Holiness is a great and blessed consummation.
II. God will spare no pains to create and perfect holiness in a man’s soul.—He has spared no sacrifice, in that He sent His Son; for it was the very essence and heart of Christ’s mission to ‘purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.’ And still towards and in us He will direct His working to this great end. He will prune His vine, that it may bring forth more fruit. He will hammer the rude block, if need be, by the heavy strokes of that law of His which is both without and within a man, by the loving sternness of His Providence, etc., till the form of limb and feature stand out. He will cut and chisel and polish it till it becomes the fair image of Christ. And as we smart and weep, and wonder at our Heavenly Father’s severity, let us think of the great purpose on which He is bent, and hear in all our Saviour saying, ‘This is the will of God, even your sanctification.’
III. We are bound to co-operate with God in this great end.—‘God wills it,’ exclaimed the Crusaders, and buckled on their armour for the conquest of the Holy Land. ‘God wills it’ that we should fight and strive and pray for a purer and higher conquest, the attainment of holiness itself. And what a start God gives us in His full forgiveness through Christ! He thereby gives us freedom, gratitude, momentum; and in our whole warfare with sin He gives His Holy Spirit to inspire and direct and sustain. ‘Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness,’ etc.
IV. We are assured of success.—If it is God’s will, then God’s will must be done. ‘If God be for us, who can be against us?’
Illustration
‘Sanctification means to make holy. In the Old Testament, vessels of silver and gold are said to be sanctified; and it will be quite plain to every one here that vessels cannot be made holy, as dumb unintelligent things, in the same sense as persons. Vessels and other things for the use of the worship of God in Tabernacle and Temple were to be sanctified to God in the first sense of that word, as they were set apart from profane and ordinary to sacred uses. A golden cup may be used for common purposes of drinking, or it may be set apart to be used only in the celebration of the Supper of the Lord. In this case it is separated to holy uses. When, therefore, St. Paul tells us, “This is the will of God, even your sanctification,” he means that both in our bodies and in our minds we should be separated, not only from the particular evil spoken of by the Epistle, but, in the full meaning of the word, from all evil. As Christians, we are to be set apart from all that is profane, wicked, and ungodly, and to wear the “white flower of a blameless life.” ’