August 2023 - ‘Red Buttons’ !
Our kids love travelling south to their grandparents. One of the highlights for them is seeing grandmas many tins of buttons. The physical sort as opposed to the chocolate type. She’s amassed quite the collection over the years. Our kids love wading through them and sorting them out. They went for ‘red ones’ this time round. I watched as they sat there for hours at the kitchen table picking them out and setting them aside. Small ones. Big ones. Bright ones. Square ones. That was a cheap rainy day afternoon activity for sure!
Watching the kids in action got me thinking. The idea of being set apart is what the Bible means when it uses the word sanctification (v.23). Indeed, it’s the idea that Paul returns to as he concludes his letter to the Thessalonians. They have been set apart by God for God! There’s no sweeter note to finish on! Hang on though I hear you say and imagine they thought! How do we know that God won’t give up on us? What confidence can we have that we won’t cave to the pressure of the culture? Well, says Paul, God is faithful (v.23) and he will surely do it (v.24). Do what? Accomplish the purpose for which he set you apart.
Don’t neglect the aim! Paul’s prayer is that God would sanctify them completely. You see sanctification has another angle on it - growth! The Christian has not been saved to live aimlessly nor to walk cluelessly. No, the Christian has been set apart to grow in godliness. Our lives should be, by God’s grace, growing incrementally into the likeness of Jesus. The arena for this growth? Well, Paul talks about spirit, soul and body. I take it we shouldn’t get too caught up in drawing a hard distinction between these aspects (elsewhere Paul talks about body and soul). However, in a world that is increasingly attempting to sever the link between the inner us (soul) and the outer us (body) (propagating that the inner us is the true us whilst the body is malleable) we would do well to see that we were purposefully made whole human beings. Indeed, God is in the business of redeeming all of us - body and soul! In light of this, we should be offering our entire selves to the Lord on his service. That’s the aim of being set apart.
Don’t forget the goal! Paul’s prayer is that God would make us blameless. But for what reason? Well, see where Paul’s mind’s eye is. He’s thinking about the coming of the Lord Jesus. The unmissable and wonderful day when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead. He will return to banish evil and sentence rebels. Equally, he will return to gather to himself a worshipping people who have been transformed by his grace and who are eager for his presence. How easy is it to forget this goal! Presumably that is why Paul wanted this letter read to all the brothers (v.24). Whatever season of life we are in we all desperately need to hear this. Even the pioneer church planter Paul says pray for us (v.25). He knew it was the thing his heart needed to be reminded of most too!
It was the famous German reform Martin Luther who once famously said “There are two days in my calendar: This day and that Day.” I think that’s pretty sound advice for Christian living. Living in full awareness of both God’s plan before us and God’s purpose ahead of us. That’s why we’ve been set apart. That’s what it is to be a red button.
