During our ordination service, Dr Gustavo Crocker delivered a powerful sermon about obedience to the Lord and sanctification.
He began by reminding the congregation holiness is who we are as Nazarenes. Holiness is the work of the holy spirit when we empty ourselves of the self and the holy spirit fills us and purifies us from the things that we love more than God. When this takes place, then we are sanctified.
But the question still remains: how do we get to experience entire sanctification? Jesus taught in parables and metaphors which is what post-modern global youth need to be taught in. Teaching in this way will help the Church reach young people.
To help us better understand how sanctification works Dr Crocker used the metaphor of a mountain. Sanctification takes work whereas in salvation, we simply need to receive our justification by faith. Being sanctified is like climbing a mountain of obedience.
His daughter once said something profound to him that reflects the human condition. That is, “We love mountains when we choose to climb them not when we have to.” Holiness is reaching the summit of the mountain that God wants us to climb. The reason that many are not truly entirely sanctified is that they love God when it is convenient or when they get what they want. But when God asks us to surrender what we love, it’s like hiking a mountain that you don’t want to.
Genesis 22 is a story that depicts holiness. Isaac was the blessing but how much did Abraham love God more than the blessing?
God asked Abraham, “Are you there?” and he answered, “Here I am.” We also answer God in the same way but how much of us is actually here–present and devoted to God? We can say “God here is my time talent and treasure” but there are some things that we do not want God to touch or take away – that is our Isaac. Isaac is not sin. Some of us aren’t sanctified not because of sin necessarily. Some of us are not sanctified because there are things that we love more than the one who blessed us Himself.
God tests Abraham to see how much he loves Him more than the blessing. He instructs Abraham to take his only son that he loves up the mountain to sacrifice him. Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90, they thought it would be impossible to have a child but the God of miracles delivered and blessed them with Isaac. Isaac was the blessing and the symbol of the goodness of God but now God asks Abraham, “do you love me more than the blessing?” If many of us were Abraham we would have argued with God and tried to change His mind with our own logic but obedience is a choice. God wants us to take the blessing that we have been given and see if we are truly willing to surrender it to Him.
Surrendering the blessing is harder than surrendering sin because it almost feels like defeat.
Obedience is not rooted in our understanding but in our trust and faith in God. We love to live in logic but that does not matter to God. God simply wants our obedience.
We know Abraham was a man of faith because he said that God would provide the lamb and he told people “We will be back” before starting to climb the mountain. He trusted that whether his son was dead or alive, God would not fail him. Obedience is an act of faith.
The amen at the mountaintop is different than the one in the valley. Abraham goes to surrender the blessing and the angel calls him. He says “Here I am” and it is different.” It’s not the joyous hallelujah of a mountain top or a battle cry but it is “Here I am fully surrendered.”
When God gives us a blessing we try to hold on but when we truly let go, Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide the blessing! Before we are blessed we open our hands to receive because we must release. When the Lord says he wants to sanctify and fill us, we have to release everything, even the things we love, because sanctification is perfect love to God first above everything else.
Surrendering everything is the best thing we can do because, on the mountain of the Lord, he will always provide. God provided the Lamb for Abraham. Every time we embrace a new Isaac and something becomes more precious to us than God, God asks us to surrender it and asks us if we love Him more than the blessing. We need to have a stronger grip on the One who blesses than the blessing. God is asking how much we love him and inviting us to climb the mountain of obedience to prove that we love him most. God asks us to let go of our grip and surrender the blessing.
As Christian leaders, we need to surrender our blessings to God so that we can be fully sanctified. Dr. Crocker invited us to walk up the mountain and come to the altar to surrender the things we love most. Now that we are home we can make the daily decision to obey God and trust that He will provide for us because he truly is Jehovah Jireh. He is Lord, and he is worthy of our faith and trust.
