1 Thessalonians 5/Isaiah 6 + What It Means to be Sanctified // Jesus Changes Everything - Jeremiah Lepasana

Series: Jesus Changes Everything
Driving Question: What does it mean that Jesus is our Sanctifier—and why should we cherish this part of who He is?

1. What God Is Like

When Scripture calls Jesus our Sanctifier, it reveals something about God’s nature. The word “sanctify” comes from the Greek hagios—the same word for holy. To be sanctified means “to be made holy.”

But holy doesn’t just mean nice or morally good. It’s not a Ned Flanders kind of “clean” holiness. In Isaiah 6, when the prophet encounters God, the room shakes, angels cry out “Holy, holy, holy,” and Isaiah falls in awe.

God’s holiness is stunning—a raw, beautiful power that stands against all the disorder and rebellion of the world. His very existence is a threat to everything unraveling in creation.

When we say Jesus is Sanctifier, we’re saying His holiness doesn’t just stay distant—it moves toward us. It changes us. It invites us into awe, wonder, and transformation.

2. What God Wants for Us

1 Thessalonians 4:3 says, “This is the will of God—your sanctification.”

God doesn’t just want you to be a “nice person.” He wants you to resemble Him—to share in His stunning beauty and goodness.

C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity that God’s goal is not to make better men and women of the old kind, but a new kind of person. “It’s not like teaching a horse to jump better,” Lewis says, “but like turning a horse into a winged creature.”

That’s what sanctification is—God transforming you from creature to child.

At the heart of this transformation is one question: Do you believe you matter to God?
The enemy’s main strategy is to make you doubt it—to make you feel like a faceless person in a sea of others. But sanctification is God’s declaration that you matter deeply to Him.

You no longer have to beg for others to affirm your worth—you already matter to the One who is stunning beyond all else. And what He’s doing is reshaping your life so that you begin to resemble Him

3. When and How God Does It

1 John 3:2–3 says that “when we see Him, we shall be like Him.”
Sanctification is both future and present. One day we will see Jesus face to face and be fully like Him—but even now, the process has begun. (2 Corinthians 3.18)

As we look at Jesus—in prayer, worship, and the gathered life of the church—something within us is being transformed. As we behold Him, we begin to resemble Him. Every moment of worship, every act of surrender, every time we fix our eyes on Jesus, the Spirit is quietly reshaping us to look more like Him.

We are being sanctified—made holy—not through striving, but through beholding.

Pray
Holy God, You are stunning beyond measure. Thank You that You not only save us but sanctify us. Help me believe that I matter to You, and form me to resemble You in every part of my life. As I look at Jesus, may Your Spirit transform me more and more into His likeness. Make our church a community that lives in awe, wonder, and holiness that reflects You. Amen.