Sanctifiy Them
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Imagine for a moment that you are home and you’re cleaning up from dinner. You have a habit of taking off your wedding ring and placing it on a dish next to the sink as you rinse off the plates and load the dishwasher. You suddenly hit the dish by accident and the ring pops into the sink and goes down into the garbage disposal. Now I know, I’m making a lot of presumptions - that you have a wedding ring, a dishwasher and a garbage disposal - and that you actually clean - but work with me here for those who do not.
Would you go and grab your toothbrush and use it to fish out the ring?
Or let’s say your are cleaning your bathroom - again for some of the guys here, this may be a stretch - but let’s say you have your bleach cleaner, your gloves, some paper towels, and you are give the toilet a good once over. But you notice under the lip of the bowl some residue - would you grab your toothbrush and use it to clean that hard to reach place?
Of course not! (At least, I hope that is your response) Your toothbrush is not a general tool used for all sorts of situations. It is set apart for a specific purpose - to clean teeth. And not just anyone’s teeth - it is set apart to clean your teeth.
In a sense, it is a holy toothbrush.
In the Hebrew language, the word “holy”, kodesh, means to be set apart for a specific purpose.
Holiness does convey the sense of purity and righteousness, but when the Bible calls something holy, it typically means that it is “set apart” from everything else in order to do a job.
Your toothbrush is set apart to do a specific job, therefore you separate it out from other objects - you treat it differently. You protect it from becoming contaminated.
As we read the Bible, we find many instances of God setting apart something for specific use.
So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
God made the 7th day holy. He set it apart as a day of rest. A day when work would cease and we worship our Creator.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.
As God instructed Moses on how to establish the priesthood for the Hebrew people in order to have those who would intercede on behalf of the people and atone for their sins, we read the following:
“For Aaron’s sons you shall make coats and sashes and caps. You shall make them for glory and beauty. And you shall put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests.
If you ever wonder why the clergy of some churches within the Christian faith wear robes, stoles, hats, and other elaborate vestments - they would point back to this early “setting apart” or consecration of the priesthood. And when we hear words like consecrate and sanctify - know that these two words are sometimes interchangeable and refer to being set apart for God’s use.
In Leviticus, God set apart the entire Hebrew people which he rescued out of slavery.
For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground. For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”
The New Testament similarly reflects the idea that followers of Christ have been sanctified or set apart as a result of Christ’s holiness.
This is what we hear in Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer found in the 17th chapter o the gospel of John. We are making our way through this prayer and today we hear Jesus, praying to his Father, asking him to set apart, sanctify, his disciples, for God’s own use. In order for them to be set apart, sanctified, Jesus the High Priest will need to atone for their sins, and he would do so by consecrating himself. Voluntarily giving of himself as a sacrificial lamb, so that in and through Him, his disciples would be made holy.
Let’s look at this closely.
They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
Jesus identifies the disciples to himself. They were once of the world, living in rebellion against God, but now their identity will be in Jesus.
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
The Wesleyan Bible Commentary
Sanctification comes through the truth, which is the Word of God. The saving truth revealed by Jesus is the sanctifying agent. Truth is purifying: only truth can dispel falsehood, counteract error, and set men free
The disciples were to be sanctified (set apart) through the truth: Jesus is both the Word and the Truth. And because Jesus was soon to leave the world, the Father would send the Holy Spirit to take Jesus’ place and lead the disciples into all truth.
As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
God sent Jesus. Jesus sends us. We are identified with Him. We carry on the mission that He enacted - to bring salvation to all who are lost. We have been set apart, made holy, for God’s purposes. I’ve said this before - but the purpose of every Christian is to glorify God - that is your overarching purpose in life.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
now the last verse of today’s passage:
And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
Jesus was set apart for a specific purpose. He was sent to reveal the Father’s love to humanity. To show who God is, His great love for us all, to seek out and search for all who are lost and lead them home.
Consider the following statements Jesus made concerning his purpose for coming (there are just a few):
For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.
In order to fulfill His purposes, and to fulfill His role as the High Priest, to atone for the sins of His people, a sacrifice was required. A bull or ram would not do. To pay for the sins of all of humanity, the blood of one who knew no sin was necessary.
“For their sake, I consecrate myself.”
Jesus’ death on the cross freed us from the penalty of sin and death. Because of what he did, we can be sanctified in truth.
Jesus’ disciples, those who were present with him in the Upper Room as he prayed this prayer, would soon become his apostles. An Apostle is one who is “sent out”. By his death, they were set apart. And upon receiving the Spirit, they were sent out.
This is was has been passed down to us. In Jesus name, you are set apart and when you receive the Spirit of God, your are then sent out.
Let me close with some instruction from the Apostle Peter:
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Amen.