Transcript have been saved - The Free Methodist Church in Canada

Sanctification:
“Saved to the uttermost”
2013 Minister’s Conference
Free Methodist Church
in Canada
The Collect for Purity
Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are
opened, all desires known, and from
whom no secrets are hid: cleanse the
thoughts of our hearts, by the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly
love You, and worthily magnify Your holy
name, through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
2
John 10:10
I have come so that you may have life,
and have it to the full. (NIV)
I came so they can have real and
eternal life, more and better life than
they ever dreamed or imagined. (Msg)
1 Timothy 6:19
“… life that is truly life.” (Msg)
Wesley’s Theological Optimism
 All must be saved
 All may be saved
 All may know they are saved
 All may be saved to the uttermost
Romans 5:20
“…where sin increased,
grace increased all the more.”
Romans 6:1
“Shall we go on sinning so that
grace may increase?”
"The Lord does not love us for our good parts
and pass over the rest. He died for the bad
parts and will not rest until they are put right.
We must stop thinking of God as infinitely
indulgent. We must begin to grapple with the
scary and exhilarating truth that he is infinitely
holy, and that he wants the same for us.“
(Frederica Mathewes-Green)
Romans 6:11
“In the same way, count yourselves
dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 6:3-4
... don’t you know that all of us who were
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized
into his death? 4We were therefore buried
with him through baptism into death in
order that, just as Christ was raised from
the dead through the glory of the Father,
we too may live a new life.
3
Romans 6:12-14
12Therefore
do not let sin reign in your
mortal body so that you obey its evil
desires. 13Do not offer the parts of your
body to sin, as instruments of wickedness,
but rather offer yourselves to God, as
those who have been brought from death
to life; and offer the parts of your body to
him as instruments of righteousness. 14For
sin shall not be your master, because you
are not under law, but under grace.
Romans 6:22
22But
now that you have been set free from
sin and have become slaves to God, the
benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the
result is eternal life.
Salvation …
“have been saved” (e.g. Eph.2:5-8)
Salvation begun (justification)
- delivery from the penalty/guilt of sin
“are being saved” (e.g. 1 Cor.1:18)
Salvation continued (sanctification)
- progressive delivery from the
plague/power of sin
“will be saved” (e.g. Ro.5:9-10)
Salvation completed (glorification)
- delivered from the presence of sin
The Christian Journey - Salvation
“have been saved …”
Justification
(Salvation begun)
•Regeneration
•New birth
•Conversion
“are being saved …”
Sanctification
(Salvation continued)
“will be saved …”
Glorification
(Salvation completed)
•Resurrection
•Becoming fully human
•Eternal life
•Renovation of the heart
•Holiness of heart and life •“Heaven”
•Loving God with heart,
mind, soul, strength
•Abundant life – more and better life
•Life that is truly life
The Christian Journey - Salvation
“have been saved …”
“will be saved …”
Justification
Glorification
•Regeneration
•New birth
•Conversion
•Resurrection
•Eternal life
•“Heaven”
(Salvation begun)
(Salvation completed)
The Christian Journey - Salvation
“have been saved …”
Justification
(Salvation begun)
•Regeneration
•New birth
•Conversion
“are being saved …”
Sanctification
(Salvation continued)
“will be saved …”
Glorification
(Salvation completed)
•Resurrection
•Becoming fully human
•Eternal life
•Renovation of the heart
•Holiness of heart and life •“Heaven”
•Loving God with heart,
mind, soul, strength
•Abundant life – more and better life
•Life that is truly life
The Christian Journey - Salvation
“have been saved …”
“are being saved …”
Justification
Sanctification
(Salvation begun)
(Salvation continued)
•Regeneration
•New birth
•Conversion
“will be saved …”
Glorification
(Salvation completed)
•Resurrection
•Becoming fully human
•Eternal life
•Renovation of the heart
•Holiness of heart and life •“Heaven”
•Loving God with heart,
mind, soul, strength
•Abundant life – more and better life
•Life that is truly life
Freedom, Healing, Wholeness
of spiritual, physical, mental, emotional
i.e. our whole being
Holiness
“Be holy, because I, the LORD your God, is holy.”
(Leviticus 19:1)
FORGIVENESS
release from
sin’s guilt
Change in status
(Justification)
DELIVERANCE
release from
sin’s grip
Change in nature
(Sanctification)
“Wesley was convinced that the Christian life did not
have to remain a life of continual struggle. He believed
that both Scripture and Christian tradition attested
that God's loving grace can transform our lives to the
point where our own love for God and others becomes
a ‘natural response.’ ... To deny this possibility would
be to deny the sufficiency of God's empowering grace –
to make the power of sin greater than that of grace.”
(Randy Maddox, Responsible Grace, p. 188)
“Here I found the plain reason why the work of
God had gained no ground in this circuit all the
year. The preachers had given up the
Methodist testimony. Either they did not
speak of Perfection at all (the peculiar doctrine
committed to our trust), or they spoke of it only
in general terms, without urging believers ‘to go
on to perfection,’ and to expect it every
moment. And wherever this is not earnestly
done, the work of God does not prosper.
all around it.”
(John Wesley)
A traditional view of Christian community
A traditional view of Christian community
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… you’re in
A traditional view of Christian community
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The Tree of Life
Luke 6:10
10He
looked around at them all, and then said to
the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so,
and his hand was completely restored.
Titus 2:11-14 (Msg)
God’s readiness to give and forgive is now public.
Salvation’s available to everyone! We’re being
shown how to turn our backs on a godless, indulgent
life, and how to take on a God-filled, God-honouring
life. This new life is starting right now, and is
whetting our appetites for the glorious day when our
great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, appears. He
offered himself as a sacrifice to free us from a dark,
rebellious life into this good, pure life, making us a
people he can be proud of, energetic in holiness.
from: The
Manual of the Free Methodist Church in
Canada
¶151 THE REQUIREMENTS OF MEMBERSHIP ARE:
1. Christian baptism, confession of a personal experience in
regeneration, and a pledge to seek diligently until
sanctified wholly if that experience has not been attained.
from: The
Manual of the Free Methodist Church in
Canada
¶119 SANCTIFICATION
Sanctification is that saving work of God beginning with new life in
Christ whereby the Holy Spirit renews His people after the likeness of
God, changing them through crisis and process, from one degree of
glory to another, and conforming them to the image of Christ.
As believers surrender to God in faith and die to self through full
consecration, the Holy Spirit fills them with love and purifies them
from sin. This sanctifying relationship with God remedies the divided
mind, redirects the heart to God, and empowers believers to please
and serve God in their daily lives.
Thus, God sets His people free to love Him with all their heart, soul,
mind, and strength, and to love their neighbor as themselves.
“I continue to dream and pray about a revival of
holiness in our day that moves forth in mission
and creates authentic community in which each
person can be unleashed through the power of
the Spirit to fulfill God’s creational
intentions.”
(John Wesley)
1 Thessalonians 5:23
May God himself, the God of peace,
sanctify you through and through.
May your whole spirit, soul and body
be kept blameless at the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ.
The one who calls you is faithful and
he will do it.
Romans 5:1-2 (Msg)
By entering through faith into what God has always
wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us
fit for him—we have it all together with God because
of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw
open our doors to God and discover at the same
moment that he has already thrown open his door to
us. We find ourselves standing where we always
hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces
of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting
our praise.