Last time we looked at how the Holy Spirit Empowers us to
live free of fear through discipline and through the advocacy of the Spirit in
us. As we are gradually transformed into a deeper relationship with God, we are
sanctified for God’s service.
Paul tells the Roman church that he was empowered “to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the
Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of
the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified
by the Holy Spirit. In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to
boast of my work for God.” (Romans 15:16-17) He says his work is ‘priestly
service..sanctified by the Holy Spirit’. Only in Jesus can he ‘boast of my work
for God’.
We also are sanctified. To be sanctified is to be made holy
and consecrated and set apart for the work of God. It is awesome that God takes
each of us frail bits of dust and is willing to sanctify us by God’s Spirit so
that we can do the work of God in the world.
To live a sanctified life, we need a strategy. In the 2015
movie The War Room, Miss Clara explains
that she has a special closet dedicated to praying, which she calls her
"War Room". She says, "In order to stand up and fight the enemy,
you need to get on your knees and pray."
Probably we could all do with a bit more prayer in our
lives. Whether we can dedicate a completely separate place, or simply a corner
of a room, it is important to have a place and time to meet with God so that we
can be sanctified to the priestly service of the Living God. The graphic gives
an example of a checklist for connecting with God. You might want to come up
with your own (this is sometimes called a Rule of Life).
God takes the moments we give him and sanctifies them. God
makes holy the time we spend in conversation with God. As we spend time we learn
to more fully live into our ‘priestly service of the gospel of God’.
The 12 apostles spent a lot of time with Jesus and in that
relationship learned to carry the Good News into all the world. Certainly they
weren’t perfect, and obviously they didn’t know that they could do the work of
sharing the Gospel. (All you need to do is look at the first chapter of Acts to
see how unsure of themselves they were!) Then the sweeping wind of the Holy
Spirit came and sanctified their work. That wind of God’s Spirit gave them
courage and strength to go out into the streets and beyond to tell about Jesus
and about God’s redeeming work.
As we spend time with God in prayer conversation, we will
discover that we are also sanctified to do our work in the world. Your job may
be bagging groceries or it may be overseeing a financial empire, but either
way, you are ‘minister of Christ Jesus to
the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God’. We come in
contact with lots of people each day, and we are charged and sanctified to serve
as our ‘work for God’.
The ‘Gentiles’ you minister to are the people you come in
contact with each day. How might you change the way you interact with people if
you see yourself as in the priestly service of God?
Do you ever think that what you do doesn’t make a
difference? Does thinking of your work as part of priestly service to God
change that idea?
