Holiness
Well, one of the reasons I found myself in the Church of the Nazarene was because they have a very Wesleyan understanding of holiness. John Wesley, the early Methodists, and the holiness movement of the 1900s have a particular view of holiness, or to use the theological word, sanctification. And that word sanctification talks about God's work in our lives to transform us into the likeness of Jesus.
The Path to Entire Sanctification
The moment that you are regenerated or you give your life to Jesus, sanctification begins, and the Holy Spirit starts to work in you. But Wesley and all the people who followed in his footsteps have a particular understanding of entire sanctification. This is when God frees us from original sin, and we enter into a state of entire devotion to God, what the Apostle John calls perfect love.
You see, God not only forgives our sins, but He cleanses us from sin and empowers us to live like Jesus. For us to reach that place of entire sanctification, it all happens by God's grace through our faith. When we make a total and entire consecration of our lives to God, the Spirit does this great work in our hearts - you can call it the baptism of the Holy Spirit - and we are cleansed of our sins.
Growing in Grace
Now, of course, we do still grow in grace. It's not as if entire sanctification is a destination that you reach, and then that's it, you're now fully godly. No, there is still maturing of your character as you grow in grace, but there is freedom from the sin that used to hold you.
John Wesley called it Christian perfection, and that's a phrase that frightens everybody because they think "I'm not perfect." And it's a phrase that he also was a little bit uneasy with because of people's misunderstanding of it in that way. You know, he was pretty clear that human beings aren't capable of attaining absolute perfection. Only God can do that. But he believed that we could be holy in the here and now, not only one day when we die.
In fact, he wrote this in one of his diaries: "I see that wherever Christian perfection is not clearly and strongly enforced, the believers grow cold and dead. Nor can this be prevented, but by keeping up in them an hourly expectation of being perfected in love. I say hourly, for to expect it only at death is much the same as not expecting it at all."
Pressing On To Perfection
See, for Wesley and the many believers who hold to his understanding of the faith, holiness is possible right now, and every hour we need to remember that we are pressing on towards perfection and living in step with the Holy Spirit.
That's what sanctification is all about. Getting to a place where we live in step with the Spirit and, sure, we still make errors in judgment; sure, we're not perfect like God is, but we can certainly live a holy life, free from the power of the sins that used to hold us.
In fact, the song that I'm playing here in the background is the Church of the Nazarene's anthem, which is called "Holiness Unto the Lord." It's a beautiful hymn that talks about this, that we're all called to holiness.
And so, friends, if you've received the love of Jesus as we spoke about yesterday, will you have faith in the Holy Spirit's cleansing you right now? And live your life in obedience and trust to the Spirit, because right now He is able to keep you holy and full of love like Jesus was. Believe it and live it in faith today.
