Toongabbie Anglican Church Blog

Weekly Blurb

The saints in Toongabbie Anglican Church

Sunday 15 August, 2004 · Posted by Philip Bassett

The Apostle Paul opens his letter to the Ephesians, �Paul an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus.� (Ephesians 1:1 NIV). This week Neil and I attended the Western Region Clergy and Church Workers Conference. One of the speakers was Bp Glen Davies from Northern Sydney speaking about Sanctification. He pointed out that sanctification is not a process whereby, through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we grow to be more like Jesus, to be holy. Rather we are sanctified, we are already holy, though God's work of redemption through faith in Jesus Christ. We are already saints.

We still have to work on, with some help from the Holy Spirit, at actually being what we already are, but when we gather together on a Sunday for example, we the saints in Toongabbie Anglican Church gather to encourage each other in the Lord. We are saints who still sin and need God's forgiveness but we are not pagans coming to receive that forgiveness for the first time.

Have you ever stopped to think that, if you are in the Lord, you are already a saint? You don�t have to go through some sort of official beatification process conducted by the church. (Though for some of us some beautification might help.) You don�t have to wait until you are dead and can have a miracle or two attributed to you. You are already a saint; one of God's holy ones; one of God's chosen people. As the Apostle Peter put it, �Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you.� (1 Peter 1:3-4 NIV)

Perhaps if we look upon ourselves and those around us in Toongabbie Anglican Church as God sees us, as his saints, his holy ones, we will be much more positive about the vision and the mission of our church.

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