20 things I want to know about sanctification

This week my Bible class has been wrestling with the truths of Romans 6-8.  I asked the students to send me questions of things they want to know about sanctification and I'm answering them in class tomorrow.  This is tough stuff.  Here's the Q and A.

1.   What is sanctification in relation to being saved? 

It is a gift and a promise tied to your entrusting Jesus to save you. The gift is holiness.  The promise is God will grow you now and perfect you later.

2.   How can we apply sanctification to our daily lives?  How can I live it practically?  The gift of sanctification is applied to you.  The promise of God to grow in you can be cooperated with by trusting His Word and making the tough choices to follow Him.  This isn’t general, but very specific.  

3.   What does it do for us?

It begins to make us into what our justification says is true about us and promises to complete the work.

4.   How do we obtain it?

Justification is by grace through faith, and that legal pardon plants the seed of sanctification in you.  It is a gift, not a wage.

5.   Is it a lifestyle change?

Yes, but maybe not how you mean it.  It’s trusting God and courageously following which will change your lifestyle a bit.  But just changing your lifestyle will not cause you to trust God more.  Probably less.

6.   What does God then use us for once we are apart?

To love Him, love others, and thus bring Him glory.  Could look like missions, it could look like working at the mall.  It could look like adopting two kids, it could look like holding babies at church.  It could look like praying in the mornings, it could look like praying sporatically throughout the day.  It will look imperfect, and God will magnified in His grace through our weaknesses.  

7.   Why is it so divisive?

Grown men and women disagree on how much self-effort is involved in sanctification.  Obviously trusting God’s Word and courageously following it is action, but that is faith action not self-effort.  Faith in action is propelled by a self-lack where self-effort is propelled by willpower.  The self-effort side is convinced that Christians will not grow without constant prodding and examination.  Trust & follow sounds too soft.  The trust & follow side is convinced that no fruit is born out of self-effort and tremendous damage is done when Christian’s believe in levels of spiritual maturity they can obtain by method alone.  They slowly add more religion and rob the dependency on God we have. 

8.   How can I sanctify myself? 

You cannot set yourself apart for holiness.  Holiness is something only achievable by Christ alone.  You could set yourself apart for wholesomeness, or goodness.  But sanctification is a God thing.

9.   What is the non-Christianese version?

Becoming perfect 

10.               What is our role or responsibility in the sanctification process?

Trust Jesus’ Way in the face of trials, pain, confusion, and cultural sways.  Then follow accordingly.

11.               Is sanctification defined in the Bible?

The generic meaning of the word is “the state of proper functioning”.  To sanctify someone is to set that person or things apart for the uses intended by its designer.  A pen is “sanctified” when it is used to write.  Glasses are when they are used to improve sight.  The Greek word translated “sanctification” means holiness.  Biblically then, sanctification means “to make holy”.  

12.               Was anyone in the Old Testament sanctified?

Yes, in a minor sense of made outwardly holy or ritually holy.  But apart from Christ’s sacrifice one cannot be made Holy.

13.               How is sanctification different from justification?  Justification is a legal verdict of not guilty.  Sanctification actually makes us holy.

14.                How is sanctification relevant to Christians?  Relevant= closely connected or appropriate to the matter at hand.  So sanctification is relevant to Christians only.  Also it’s relevant in real time, in your real life, really.

15.               Are holiness and sanctification the same thing?

Great question.  Holiness is something that only God is.  Perfection is all things.  Sanctification is different because one is set apart to become holy in the image of Christ, it’s a process until we die or are raised.

16.               How do you know you are sanctified?

You have received the Holy Spirit.

17.               How does it help our spiritual life?

You spiritual life is at war with your old nature/flesh.  Sanctification promises victory can be had.

18.               Why does it have to be painful?

Isn’t that a great question?  The goal of spiritual growth is not only formation of Christ-trusting character and thinking, but ultimately fruit bearing that is such good news for all mankind that they are drawn to Jesus.  One key way we grow is to build up the inner man, but there is still the problem of the outer man.  Building up the inner man doesn’t always influence the outer man. (Though it can.)  In these cases the outer man is buffeted by pain and suffering in order to release the inner man.  If this is misunderstood Christian’s bail out.  There are three causes of suffering for us. 

1)   The fallen world= sickness, accidents, financial stress, mechanical failures, tech failures, job loss, death, rebellious children, other people’s wrong choices, genetic problems, etc.  There is no amount of faith to make you immune to these.

2)   Our wrong choices= negative consequences.  Grace doesn’t protect us from real world consequences.  Also it’s possible we might experience discipline from Dad.  This might help us avoid learning the hard way.  (Ex- a dad might spank his kid for playing in the street.  Harsh, but that kid won’t get hit by a car.)

3)   Following Christ.

So we can respond without shock that it’s happening, without trial comparing with others, and by focusing on the promises of Romans 8.  Be thankful for the privilege to suffer with Christ.  Tell God it hurts, tell Him it’s the worst, tell Him it’s His fault, just trust Him anyway and keep following.  God doesn’t break us, but He does allow our suffering to shape us. He doesn’t waste anything.  If He is the breaker, then my friend, there is nobody to trust.

 

19.               What should you do when you don’t “want” it sometimes?

First, congratulate yourself on being honest.  We don’t all want to follow Jesus all the time.  Admitting that shows that you are closer to growth.  Because you recognize a lack in you and it’s humbling.  So what do we do?  If you are in Christ, you are a new creation with new desires.  So when you don’t want, you are listening to the wrong wanter.  It might be louder, stronger, and more in control of you, but if it doesn’t want to follow Jesus it’s the old wanter.  Renew your mind and trust God’s love for you.  The more you trust, especially on your worst day and after your biggest fails, the more love you can experience/feel and it can woo your new heart/wanter into war.

20.                If someone, for a long period of time, believes in God, is “holy”, and was a “good” family man; is he saved?  What if this man just snapped and left the family and did unspeakable things?  Is he saved?  He acted like a Christian!  Is it wrong that I want this man to go to hell and burn for eternity?

Wowsers.  Ok based on this information, nobody can tell if He is saved or not.  You didn’t say He entrusted His life to Jesus, so I might say no.  But I don’t know.  He might be, just like you or like me, broken and hurt, trying to the right thing, and doing the wrong thing. 

Is it wrong to want him to burn?  Hmm.  It’s not wrong to tell God that.  It’s a genuine pain you experience.  Hell is eternal death so technically you desire His death, and that would make your thoughts murder, according to Jesus.  BUT did Jesus explain that to make you feel like garbage?  Did Jesus say that to make you try not to mentally kill the people that hurt us?  Or did Jesus say that to make you see you can NEVER be perfect apart from Him?  Yeah, it’s wrong, and Jesus can cover it.  He died on the cross not just for our sins, but to remove our pain and suffering as well.  All will be accomplished. 

Should you keep murdering the guy in your head so that Jesus grace can overflow you?  No.  But also, bitterness only hurts you.  It’s like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies.  Jesus can free you from that too.  But it requires hard trust in His love and protection and forgiveness.

Messy stuff.   

The Struggle- My last chapel message back home (Spring 2014)

This is for anyone out there who could use/still use these words.  

The STRUGGLE

          Something is happening here and it’s not good.  Have you noticed it?  What would you call it?  I’d call it an anti-Christian culture but people get weird about labels.  But what is Christian about drug abuse, under aged alcohol use, physical abuse, sexual activity, cheating, bullying, vulgarities, or things like these?

          Come on now Mr. E every school has these issues.  Yes, you are right every school has students struggling with these issues.  Are struggling with it though?  Or have we embraced the alternatives.

          It started out good.  From my point of view the vast majority of us (students, parents, faculty, and administration) openly reject legalism and its wrongheaded point of view of God.  That’s good. It also appears that the vast majority also rejected discipline.  It took me a while to figure this out but legalism and discipline are not the same thing.  Doing something to make God more happy with me or more secure, or doing something out of fear is legalism.  Doing something hard or intentional because of who I am in Christ now is discipline.  Those aren’t equals.

          It started out good.  From my point of view the vast majority of us have subscribed to a worldview of grace.  God is pleased with me, has made me new.  This is good.  It also appears that the vast majority also adopted endorsement of sin.  Nothing is really evil.  Especially if it is also fun, entertaining, or promises satisfaction.  If I do something wrong I shouldn’t face consequences because…grace.  I can’t be held accountable for my wrongdoings because I don’t think they are that wrong, have you seen what other people are doing, that’s worse.    

          When you toss out Christian discipline and you adopt sin endorsement you end up swimming in the biggest pool of relativism that anyone can contrive.  Bible class might say one thing.  The Bible might say one thing.  I might hear one thing at chapel or church, but everywhere else in my life, even on campus everything else is relative. 

          We twist grace to mean that I can explore stupidity and or evil and there will be no consequences.  We twist discipline to be an ugly tool that only rigid fundamentalists are still into.  In this scenario, I no longer know what is right or wrong.  It can change from case to case.

          Your worldview is always going to be shaped by your world.  And (the school) is your world.  Whether you like it or not.  If (the school) is intentionally Christian, full of discipline and grace, then you will know that drug abuse, under aged alcohol use, physical abuse, sexual activity, cheating, bullying, and vulgarities are not compatible with Christ in you.  If we are not intentionally Christian than most of us don’t really feel that strongly about some of that list.  

          Hopefully Christ is in you, and you are no longer dead, and you can feel this struggle.  I’m afraid there is a multitude of people that have no idea what I’m talking about.  All you can hear is blah blah blah Bible God Jesus blah blah.  It breaks my heart.

Others of you have been made new creations but you have bought into the world’s lie that you didn’t change.  So I can repeat it over and over that you are new creations and you can’t hear me.  I speak foreign languages. 

Some of you haven’t been made new creations because you didn’t trust Jesus with your life.  You have your reasons, I respect your decision, wish you would see Jesus for who He is, but only He can find you. 

          I can’t really talk to those people today, unfortunately, unless the Spirit moves their hearts, to them I’m a crazy person and they will start counting down to the bell.  It’s ok, I get that.  The cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.   

So I want to talk to you Christian.  The Christian that can hear me right now.  The Christian that might be drowning in the anti-Christian worldview that surrounds them.  Or maybe you aren’t drowning but you’re in a lifeboat all alone.   Maybe you are the Christian that secretly likes chapel and wishes people be more respectful.   Maybe you are the Christian that got drunk last weekend because you have hit a slippery slope.  Maybe you are the Christian who got drunk last weekend and you secretly like chapel.  If you can hear me I am talking to you.  It doesn’t have to be this way.

          I’m going to turn to Ephesians and let Paul speak to our hearts this morning.  Because I still believe in absolutes and that the Bible is true.  Do you feel me?

   

Ephesians 4:17 in the ESV has a fun title called The New Life.  Paul is writing to the Ephesian Christian’s who have come out of Greek culture and have been made new.

I’m gonna read a portion and then we are going to break it down.

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.  They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.  They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.  But that is not the way you learned Christ! Assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

In this little passage Paul shows us our new relationship with the world now that we are in Christ.  How we learned Christ in a certain way.  And he shows us our new relationship with our old nature.

There are three important parts in this little passage. 

1.    Verses 17-19 is our new relationship to the world now that we are in Christ.

2.    Verses 20-21 is that we learned a new way to live from Jesus

3.    Verses 22-24 is our new relationship to our old nature.

Earlier in Ephesians Paul described our condition before Jesus as dead.  We had no life.  We were dead in trespasses and sin.  Some of those who can’t hear me now are this kind of dead.

I was this kind of dead.  You were this kind of dead.  But the point is…we aren’t dead anymore.  We are alive.  Christ made us alive.  We are new.  New is different.  Alive is different from dead.

When we were dead we did evil instinctually.  We were selfish.  We were pawns of the enemy. 

Now we are reborn in Christ and we have been raised from a dead state to newness of life.  Now we get to renounce the world and its dominion over us. 

This is why Hunger Games and Divergent speaks to your heart.  The new you is to break free from this world and it’s rules. 

Your world is (the school) culture.  It’s rules are drugs, alcohol, oral sex, cheating, bullying, etc.  You get to throw these off.

Being reborn means you are a reversal of who you used to be. 

Paul gives us a command right off the bat.  You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do.  You must no longer walk as the other (the school)ers do.  This isn’t a position of obligation or burden you cannot fulfill.  It’s a belief Christ has in the new you.  He re-made you for this mission. 

NO LONGER.  Yeah we were all like this before.  But we are no longer.  We were once part of the system, alienated from God.  We are no longer. 

The Ephesians lived in a world that still had Greek heathens.  Their neighbors were still this way.  There was a way to live with them and not live like them. 

Now this would lead to some hard times.  Some persecution possibly.  The anti-Christian culture around you will reject you.  That’s ok.  In 1 Peter 4 he writes about this scenario.  When you stop going with the flow and you are set apart of Jesus, intentionally Jesus, well he writes With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you.

Why aren’t you drinking with me buddy?  Because I’m new.  Hmmmmm.  The struggle.

Here’s something to notice about Paul’s command.  He doesn’t just tell them to not join in with unbelievers he tells them specifically to not join in with their unbelieving peers.  For us it would be our unbelieving (the school)ers or those who lead you into evil. 

Mr. E do you really want me to stop hanging out with Jim cause he doesn’t know Jesus?  No.  I want to stop smoking with Jim.  Life together doesn’t equal sinning together.  Intentional sin doesn’t match life in Christ.

…you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.  They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.  They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

The people we want to stop following are futile in their mind, darkened in understanding, and excluded from life with God.  This is kinda serious.

Futility is not stupidity.  Futility is simply incorrect.

The unbeliever lives life as if it ends at death.  YOLO.  So he lives it for selfish purposes.  This life stinks but its better when im high or having sex.  This life is meaningless so I’m going to cheat and plagiarize on everything.    

The Christian believer knows that life is now continuous with Jesus and that they have been found and chosen by God for His purposes.  They have been re-made for His missions. 

The unbeliever or the blind believer sees life as revolving around themselves and so they view a person living Jesus’s way as annoying.  They are in the pursuit of satisfying themselves.  Whatever it takes.  Highs, lows, shortcuts, etc.   

The blind or dead are ignorant due to hard hearts.  It’s like Pharoah.  He suffered from a hardened heart.  So when God was plaguing Egypt Pharaoh remained ignorant and couldn’t see the hand of God working it. 

Like Pharaoh the people you are following are blind guides that can’t see the big picture.  They can’t see the signs of God and they are cut off from His life.  They stay dead.  Are your leaders dead?  Are your choices dead? 

Didn’t we learn Jesus?  Isn’t that what (the school) is supposed to do?  Help you learn Jesus?

After the command to no longer be like those guys.  And describe what those guys are into.  Paul says.

But that is not the way you learned Christ! Assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus…

“Learning Christ” isn’t a normal Christian phrase these days.  We say “born again”, “trust Jesus”, and things like that.  But we learn Christ through discipleship.

We trust in Him, we are made new, and we learn Him.  We learn Him and see all the opportunities we have to live with Him, live for Him.  Opportunities to trust Him further.  To live in the light of Him.  Opportunities to obey Him.  Opportunities to imitate Him in our way.  Opportunities to tell others about Him. 

Notice that we didn’t learn Christ as an abuser, cheater, liar.  He isn’t those things.  We learned that from somewhere else.  We were following someone else.  Jesus doesn’t say go ahead and push the limits and I will waive all the consequences.  He might have paid the piper of your death debt but you are still screwing up your life now.  That’s not what He saved you for. 

And just when it seemed to be too overwhelming and a hefty effort of self, Paul continues.

Assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Brilliant.  The work is completed in me.  I have been remade into the likeness of God’s holiness.  You Christian and been remade into the likeness of God’s holiness.  You have been re-purposed. 

What is required of you is to remember this and mentally throw off your old self and put on the new self, which is to simply live out of who God says you are now.

That new you has different wants than the people of anti-Christian culture that you are following.  Galatians 5:16-24 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

Wait a second, what do I really want to do?  Sex, drugs, and self-gratification?  Surprisingly no.  The new me has been re-purposed.  But alas I live in my old flesh that does want the sex, drugs, and self-gratification.  Turns out that the flesh isn’t me, so those desires aren’t mine.  That’s why Paul says the flesh is full of deceit.  It tricked us.

If you are spiritually dead this isn’t true for you.  Your flesh and you are one in evil desires.  Sorry about that. 

If you are in a spiritual coma this doesn’t feel true for you, but it is.  Your flesh is winning because the Spirit in you in drowning.  But the new you wants something different.  Can you feel that?  Can you feel a struggle?

My flesh keeps me from doing what I want to do.  Paul continues.  Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. 

So that list of anti-Christian culture are things a new creation NO LONGER desires.  Interesting.  We are re-purposed to stand apart.

Paul continues…I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.    

This is serious.  But we are split on a consensus on how serious. 

Some of us read this and say, “Yes, now there is something I can do to help Jesus save me.  I can NOT do these things.”  But you can’t help Jesus. 

Some of us read this and say that people who still do these things will not go to heaven.  They have made the leap from inheriting the kingdom with a locational promise.  And we put all who struggle with envy and jealousy on hell watch. 

Some read this and they think inheritance is equal to eternal rewards.  Losing that inheritance would look like the man who suffers lost but remains in the kingdom itself that Jesus mentions of in one of His parables. Also such a case is explained in 1 Corinthians 3:15 by Paul.   From this point of view your eternal life is not snuffed out by these sins!  Your eternal inheritance rewards are lost.  Because our maturity will be rewarded!

If a Christian falls into a sin like getting drunk, or having a fit of anger he does not lose his salvation whether heaven or rewards. 

The Greek verb tense is present which indicates that this speaks of habitual continuance rather than isolated lapses.  So this becomes an identity issue again.  Are you the continual sin in you, or are you Christ in you?  Continual practice is evidence of a missing newness.  The struggle wakes up the sleeper.  Can you feel the struggle?

Charles Spurgeon once said…Christ came to save us from every evil work.  And this is the salvation that we preach-not simply salvation from hell, but salvation from sin.

What are we saved from?  Our sin!  The thing that is destroying us and taking things away from us that we wanted.

Jesus can clean this out of us.  Trust Him to do this work in you that has begun.  He has made you holy.  You get to live out of this! 

Paul tells us what we can expect out of our new nature.  Out of the holiness embedded in the new creation.   But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such things there is no law.  And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with it’s passions and desires.

Like he wrote to the Ephesians.  We put off the old and put on the new.  It’s a mental exercise of faith.  Who am I really?  God says I’m His holiness now.  Trusting that truth and living out of it with transform me today!  I am not my flesh.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

I am Christ in me.  You are Christ in you.  We are still stuck in our flesh until the grand resurrection of the dead, but even so I can live by faith in Jesus in this flesh.

Truth trusted transforms.

Trusting the truth about Jesus work in me and my call to live out of my re-purposing can transform the culture of (the school).  Do you believe that? 

We tossed out discipline because we hated legalism. 

We started endorsing sins because we embraced grace.

We got confused.  Christian discipline and grace are not opposed.  They are married. 

Christ did not save us, remake us, implant holiness so then we could live however we want like we did before we met Him.

We aren’t compatible with that life any longer.  Do you feel the struggle?

Salvation and sanctification are complete works of God.  Our role in it is trusting and living out of those truths. 

Intentional Christianity is not lived out by those with a pagan mindset.  Pagan culture believes that the past is the key to the present.  What we think and how we act, we are told, is the result of our past.  It is only by understanding our past that we can live as we should in the present.  In other words, the past controls the present.  Our past is tied to our identity.

Jesus reverses this.  Our old life has no bearing on our present.  Christ in us overrides past settings.  He doesn’t hold those things against us going forward.  Yet as we go forward He will challenge you to live for Him, which will require discipline.

He is the Lord that said, “I do not condemn you.”

He is also the Lord who said “Go and Sin no more.” 

This is doable by His power, love, and discipline, in you. 

Let me close by addressing four types of people out there…

Dead person, I hope Jesus finds you as a treasure in a field and as you respond to His love He covers you with His holiness.  Because He already paid the price for you. 

Coma Christian, I hope you are starting to feel the struggle today.  It’s the tiny sign that you are not dead.  Follow that struggle to the feet of Jesus and trust Him to show you how to live out of your new self because living for your old self with your dead friends isn’t abundant life.

Struggling Christian, you are God’s anointed.  He chose you, He remade you.  You can do this.  You can live set apart from this culture that entangles you.  You are Christ in you, no matter what they say.  Even on your worst day, you are Christ in you.  You are Christ in you.  Trust that truth.   This is NOT the end.

Lifeboat Christian, you have kept apart from this mess.  It has cost you socially.  It has been a challenge and sometimes you wondered if it was worth it.  It cost to dress modest.  It cost to skip that one party.  It cost to listen to music that didn’t involve hedonistic lyrics.  It cost to study and work hard instead of cheating.  It cost to respect teachers.  It cost.  But it’s what the new you wanted.  Jesus in you trumped your flesh.  You cooperated with those hard tasks.  You aren’t a lifeboat, you are a lighthouse.  Well done.  You don’t hear this often enough but you’re doing it right.

It’s not about brownie points.  It’s not about earning God’s favor.  It is always going to be about living out of who God says we are now.