Reviews and Views

Sanctification – my journey

One day while contemplating the seemingly difficultly of living as Christ would have me live in purity of thought and action and in holiness, I believe that the Holy Spirit clearly placed message to my mind, “You are in the sanctification process.”  I realized that I didin’t clearly understand much about being sanctified.  Like many in my generation, I had heard the word, but never had any one explain this process to me earlier in my Christian walk.  So, I began to do some research.  The good news is that there is much written on the subject.  What follows is hopefully a brief and understandable explanation.

What is Sanctification?
“It is a progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives.”  Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem, chapter 35, page 746.

Grudem goes on to say that God and man cooperate in this process of sanctification.  That both God and man have roles, but those roles are not equal.  So what role does God have and what role do I have?

God’s role in Sanctification
This progressive change within me is the primarily work of God.  In His role, God will do the following things for me.

God will discipline me as his child as well as others going through the process of sanctification.  (Hebrews 12:5-11).  He disciplines because he loves us.  He causes me to want his will in my life and gives me the power to do his will in my life. (Philippians 2:13).  I don’t have that power within myself.  I’m naturally too self-centered.

Jesus Christ earned my sanctification for me. (I Corinthians 1:30).  And He is also my example.  (Hebrews 12:2).  He is the “perfecter” of my faith.

The Holy Spirit is at work within me as a believer to change me and to sanctify me, which gives me greater holiness of life.  He produces in me the “fruits of the Spirit” as found in Galatians 5:22-23.  As I “walk by the Spirit” or as I am “led by the Spirit”, I become more and more responsive to the desires and promptings of the Holy Spirit in my life and character.  Something that is a new realized experience for me.

My role in Sanctification
Of course, I have a role in this process also.  My role is both passive and active.  In my passive role, I must trust God to sanctify me.  This is not something that I can just start on my own.  Prayer is also something that I do.  I should pray and ask God to sanctify me.

In my active role, there is an expectation that I will put to death the deeds of this body.  I can only do this by the Holy Spirit, but I must do it.  This is my personal responsibility.  Obedience is the way in which I “work out my own salavation (sanctification)”.  (Philippians 2:12-13).

What is ‘putting to death the deeds of this body’?  It is to set my whole life (every aspect of it) to the task of learning and applying the instructions that God has given in his Word, and constanting seeking His help in absorbing and fulfilling them.  We constantly examine ourselves, our hearts, our motives, our desires.  We already know and have experienced that  self-effort is utterly worthless in bringing our flesh into subjection so that we might fully obey the Lord.  We are called to put to death, the sin that we practice.  Some of those sins we lived and walked in before we knew God (Colossians 3:7).

Choice has been a gift given to each of us.  I will either choose to be obedient or choose not to be obedient to God.  I will either choose to say NO to the sin in my life or I will choose to sin.  God never forces me to make the right decision and He never leads me astray and He never tempts me.  This issue of choice must be done continously.  

So, do I come to faith in Jesus Christ but yet choose to live as if I haven’t?  May that never ever appear to be the case.  God, in all His love and wisdom, has faithfully given every believer the power to obey Him, but it falls to each of us to continually choose to do so. 

Let me encourage you to delve deeper in the subject of sanctification and your role in that process.  May the Lord God watch over you and lead you and love you until you’re home.

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October 5, 2014 - Posted by Bill Wyler | Religion