Sanctification is one of
those words used in more than one sense in the New Testament. It usually means
the state of having been made holy (Rom. 6:19,22; 2 Th. 2:13; 1 Pt. 1:2), but
it also is used in the sense of moral purity (see especially 1 Th. 4:2ff).
There is no doubt that God calls us to live pure, godly lives in Christ.
Because of this, we must watch the company we keep (cf. 1 Co. 15:33; 2 Co.
6:16ff).
How do we balance this
need of keeping ourselves "unspotted from the world" (Js. 1:27) with
the ability to reach out to those who are not followers of Christ? David
Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, in their book UnChristian: What A New Generation
Really Thinks About Christianity...And Why It Matters, discuss several factors
that lead two generations-they call them "Mosaics" (born between 1984
and 2002) and "Busters" (born between 1965 and 1983)-to be more
radically disconnected from and antagonistic toward "Christianity" as
they perceive it. One of the factors is their view that Christians' lives
are too sheltered for them to relate to it or find it desirable as a lifestyle
choice. We're often thought of as living in our own world, providing too
simplistic answers for our complex world, being ignorant and outdated, speaking
our own, exclusive language, and our outrage and offense at being putdown and
mocked by the world. I don't know how this hits you, but perhaps it gives us an
opportunity to examine ourselves.
The authors make a great
point worthy of our consideration: "Christianity begins to shift its sheltered
reputation when Christ followers are engaged, informed, and on the leading
edge, offering a sophisticated response to the issues people face"
(132). The answer is not to replace congregational singing with rock
concerts, recruit women, homosexual, or hard-edged shock-sermonizers who are
foul-mouthed and irreverent to replace faithful gospel preachers, or the like.
The answer is much more New Testament, more aligned with what the early church
was. The answer is "engagement."
That means we engage
people in the world. We create opportunities or enter environments where
"outsiders" (non-Christians) are to be found and we become salt and
light, opening doors for the gospel through relationship-building and our
genuine concern for people's (often messy) lives.
It means we engage
ourselves in "active faith." We let faith have arms and legs. We move
from being "believers" to being "doers" (Js. 1:22). We
urge, encourage, and enable people to actively serve and live out faith in
their daily lives.
It means we engage people
like those Jesus and His disciples targeted. That means the woman caught
in adultery, Zaccheus, the lame man, Blind Bartemaeus, the 10 lepers, the
Samaritan woman, and others like them. We cannot forget what Paul said, that
God has chosen the foolish, weak, base, nothing, and despised types to be His
people (1 Cor. 1:27-28). The people God chose to be heirs are not the pretty,
popular, influential, and wealthy (Js. 2:5). The authors
of UnChristian specify groups like "loners," "self-injurers,"
and "fatherless" people (135-137). We can add to that list, but
people like these do not often top the "prospect lists" we might
make.
Divine Truth must prevail
and guide us in matters of salvation, our teaching, our personal morality, our
worship, etc. If it will guide us in reaching the world with the Word, we
had better stop sequestering ourselves and our faith from a world in desperate
need of the only message with eternal implications. Reflect on how Paul's words
apply to this, when he says, "And do not be conformed to this world, but
be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the
will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom.
12:2). We're not just meant to prove that to each other. God wants us proving
it to those outside of Christ.
--Neal Pollard
