Proper 8 Sunday Year A 6/28/2026
Genesis 22:1-14; Psalm 13; Romans 6:12-23; Matthew 10:40-42
Rev. Mark A. Lafler
We continue our readings from the book of Romans today…
Last week we heard from the first part of Romans chapter 6.
Today we heard from the second half of Romans chapter 6.
And twice in our reading, St. Paul uses the word sanctification.
Where justification is the understanding that we are justified or made clean by faith in Jesus Christ.
Sanctification is the process of salvation once we have been justified…
It is the in-between time.
In between our justification and our future resurrection.
In theological terms it is described as a now and not yet.
We are saved…
We are being saved…
and we will be saved.
All three are true in Christian salvation.
This in-between time…
This now time…
is called sanctification.
So, what is Sanctification?
The Greek and Hebrew words (the original languages of the Bible) emphasize simply…
That sanctification means to be set apart.
It is to be made holy or sacred.
On the one hand, Christians have been made holy through Christ Jesus…
And, on the other hand, they are called to continue to grow into…
and strive for holiness by cooperating with the indwelling Holy Spirit as they are being transformed.[1]
Sanctification is in a sense what we call the Christian walk.
It is the process of becoming sanctified…
the process of becoming holy…
It is by the power of the Holy Spirit to be made more like Christ Jesus.
Sanctification is to be set apart from this world and to be found in Christ.
So, if you are a Christian…
If you confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior…
You are in the process of sanctification.
The process of being made holy.
This idea of sanctification is found in our Book of Common Prayer as well.
We can see the idea in the Sacraments…
During communion…
Back on that table in the Narthex is a cruet of wine and a box of bread.
There is nothing necessarily special about that bread and wine…
It’s important yes…
But only because of what it is designated for…
Only because of what it will be used for.
It is not the same as what we keep in the tabernacle…
Over in the Chapel…
That bread and wine have been consecrated…
The bread and wine in the narthex have not been consecrated.
But soon, it will be brought forward…
And presented on the altar.
And during the consecration of the bread and wine, the priest prays:
Sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of your Son…
The bread and wine are then made holy…
They become sacred…
Because of the presence of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.
What was natural or normal…
Has become consecrated or sanctified.
Another example is found at the beginning of our worship.
The first words that the celebrant says in the liturgy are:
Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
And the People respond with:
And blessed be his kingdom, now and for ever.
Amen.
And then the celebrant prays the Collect for Purity.
Rite 1 or Rite 2 this prayer is said:
Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known,
and from you no secrets are hid:
Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.
It is really a prayer for the Holy Spirit to continue to sanctify us…
To transform us…
To continue the saving work of sanctification.
Listen again to the petition:
Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name…
We are asking the Holy Spirit to set us apart…
To make us pure.
Sanctification is the empowering of the Holy Spirit making us saved in the name of Jesus Christ.
It is the defeating of sin…
The overcoming of the power of sin in our life by the Holy Spirit.
When we are justified by God…
We are not then left alone…
We receive the Holy Spirit in our life to continue the work of salvation in us.
This is why Paul writes:
But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification.
You see, before we became a Christian…
We could try to follow the law…
We could try to be a moral person…
Make good godly decisions…
But we would never live up to the standard of God.
That standard is perfection…
To be without sin.
And that standard in our own power is impossible.
But the advantage we have (to use Paul’s words) as Christians is sanctification…
That is the ministry and power of the Holy Spirit.
This is why in our Baptismal Covenant the proper response to the celebrant’s questions is this:
I will with God’s help (see BCP, 304-305).
And that help comes by way of the Holy Spirit…
The Spirit whom Jesus has sent to strengthen us and comfort us in this process of sanctification.
And we find the help of the Holy Spirit when we actually quiet ourselves and take time to listen to what the Spirit is saying.
When we turn down the noise of this world…
Turn down the distractions of life…
And listen to the Holy Spirit in our life.
Through prayer and the reading of the Bible.
Throughout Christian history this has been called the Rule of Life.
First called this by the Desert Fathers in the 3rd and 4th centuries…
And the phrase became well known with St. Benedict in the 6th century.
It is about assessing our life and developing habits or rules that we live by…
What habits do we have daily, weekly, monthly, throughout the year…
Specifically, where do we actively pursue God’s will for our lives?
What is our prayer life like? Is it steady?
What is our Bible reading like? Is it consistent?
How do we practice Sabbath rest?
How often do we share our faith?
What or whom do we listen to the most?
Do we spend more time with the national news or in our Christian disciplines?
How often do we confess our sins and repent and return to the Lord?
We confess and agree that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength…
but do we really practice loving the Lord in all these ways?
Sanctification is about being formed to the image of God.
Sometimes it’s fun and sometimes it can be painful.
Sometimes we struggle with thinking we know best.
But we don’t… and we usually realize it later.
Jesus is forming you… forming us into what we were created to be.
And in this, we must trust the Holy Spirit…
We must yield to the Holy Spirit…
God will see us through.
Later in Romans, St. Paul will give more details on how a Christian should live in this world (Romans 12) … more practical details…
But for now, it is important to understand the theological paradigm we are in.
This time of sanctification…
where we are empowered by the Holy Spirit…
being transformed, renewed, sanctified by the power of the Spirit.
And the Spirit of God will complete the work…
The promise is in the last verse of our reading from Romans…
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
It’s a good verse to memorize.
May we declare and know that Jesus is our Lord and Savior.
May we grow in the knowledge of Jesus the Messiah.
May our lives continually be transforming because Jesus is our Lord.
May we always be ready to share to the world around us who Jesus is…
the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, the Redeemer of the World…
the name above all names… Jesus Christ.
Praise be to Jesus who sets us free from sin and calls us home in Him.
Amen.
[1] Grenz, Guretzki, Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove: IVP, 1999), 105.
