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This month at Kavod Family Ministries we are talking through a theme we are calling 'Growing Pains.' For a disciple of Jesus Christ, the path that is walked is one of increasing godliness and decreasing worldliness. This path is fraught with all manner of challenges, successes, and failures, but it is these that shape you into a person who resembles your Savior.
Sanctification defined
There is a tendency within Christian circles to employ the use of certain words that people who don't usually run in those circles would never understand. Take a simple word like fellowship. For most people, the only time that word is used for them is in reference to the title of the first movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. For the Christian, however, fellowship is a deeply meaningful word used to describe both the moments of intentional relationship between believers as well as the intimate union and communion that we have with God as our Father, Christ as our brother, and the Holy Spirit as our comforter and guide. But if we throw these words out flippantly without giving meaning and context, they can become lost on people.
Sanctification is a similar word. This term is used almost exclusively within Christianity. It is a concept that many of us are familiar with, even if we aren't used to hearing the word. What it basically means is this: sanctification is the process of your entire person becoming set apart for the high and holy purposes of God.
This setting apart is done both by us and by God. There is a sort of cooperation between us and God. Philippians 2:12-13 summarizes this well:
"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."
We see in this verse the reality that we are to do the work of our salvation while recognizing that it is God who is the one at work within us, giving us the power to work it out. Said another way by the great Saint Augustine, "Without God we can't, and without us God won't."
"Sanctification is the process of
your entire person becoming set apart for the high and holy purposes of God."
This setting apart is marked by an abandonment of the fleshly and sinful desires of our life before Christ, and a submission to the will of God for us, which is always for his glory and our good.
Why does sanctification matter?
The question I posed above is an essential one. It is something that, if not addressed and answered correctly, will result in a deficient view of God, an empty and fruitless walk with Christ, and ultimately, may even end up proving that we were never really born again in the first place.
Here is my answer to the question: Sanctification matters because it is God's will for us to be not only justified, or made in right standing with him, but made increasingly into the image of his Son, Jesus Christ, and showing the love of Christ to those around us.
Without this crucial understanding of sanctification, the Christian life will become self-centered and self-serving, when in reality, God forgives us so that we can become forgivers and makes us sons and daughters so that we can go out and show others how they can become sons and daughters as well. When we grasp this concept, it gives us a sense of purpose and direction when we are in the midst of being sanctified.
A brief glimpse of the future
To close this introduction to our theme of the month, I want to paint a picture for you of what the long road of sanctification will look like.
The life of a Christian is a constant, habitual, and intentional removal of the sins and struggles of your old life. Your old desires for self, pleasure, and fleeting earthly possessions must be surrendered to God and replaced by new desires for the things of God. The misguided emotions that ruled your life before Christ must be brought under the lordship of Jesus, being burned away if they were sinful or being bolstered by the Spirit if they were godly. It is a killing of the indwelling sin within you that you used to run to and rest in.
But here is the good news.
It is not just a turning away from the old things you used to love; it is a turning towards Jesus Christ, putting on his virtues and learning to love what he loves. It is a reordering of your affections towards the heart of God himself. You begin to look, and act, more like Jesus. The people around you begin to feel the warm glow of the light that is within you, and the dark places in the world become lit up by the presence of God that you bring. You slowly become transformed into a person of love who is capable of bearing with, building up, and blessing those around you.
This road of sanctification is walked by habitually gazing at Jesus Christ, the source of our righteousness, the agent of our justification, and the object of our deepest affection and joy. I will end with Hebrews 12:1-2, which describes this reality beautifully:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."
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