Sanctification is more than a lofty theological word . . .

Today’s devotional reading tells of three errors concerning the doctrine of sanctification. Boring? Not at all when I explored the meaning of this term and studied the biblical definition.

One of my dictionaries says that sanctification means “the state of proper functioning” or to set a person or thing apart for the use intended by its designer. If I made a pen, I’ve set it apart to write.  In the theological sense, God designed me for His purposes, and He set me apart to live accordingly.

Another dictionary links sanctification to active trust and obedience, citing 2 Corinthians 7:1 which tells me to perfect holiness out of reverence for God, and be diligent to be what He has called me to be. (See 2 Peter 1:10)

However, neither the devotional or the dictionaries bring out an even more amazing truth. While no one can set themselves apart for God and no one can keep themselves in that place apart from the presence and work of Jesus Christ, yet because Christ lives in me, I am already sanctified . . .

“God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” (1 Corinthians 1:28–31, italics mine)

God has already set me apart, declared me holy. The issue is learning how to act like it, to behave according to what I already am! This is something like enlisting in the armed forces. When a person ‘signs up’ they become a soldier, but it takes months of training before they act like it. In the case of Christians, we are set apart by God right from the start, then spend the rest of our lives learning how to behave as a sanctified person.

This is God’s grace, yet is often a struggle. Paul describes the struggle and the grace . . .

“For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” (Romans 7:14–25)

Those three errors in the devotional include mixing works and grace in a human effort to become sanctified, becoming sinless by a ‘second work of grace’ which is totally contrary to Scripture (see 1 John 1:8), and trying to separate oneself from sin using rules. All three errors happen to those who do not realize or accept that in Christ Jesus, Christians are already sanctified. Again, we just need to learn how to act like what we already are.

Perhaps this doctrine is too outrageous. Perhaps it is dismissed because we tend to evaluate ourselves by our performance rather than by what God says. Perhaps we humans want to contribute to our holiness so add works and rules to what is needed for spiritual growth. Whatever the reasons, none of those errors bring us closer to what God intends. He wants me to trust and obey Him — and He supplies everything I need to do that. A walk of faith with obedience does not make me more ‘set apart’ for God; it simply declares that I already am!

^^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, just as Your kingdom is already here but not yet, so also is my sanctification. You are it! You live in me and You are my perfect holiness right now. In You, I am all that the Father intended. The process of shedding the stuff that is not like You is a challenge, often painful, and yet You are the One who bursts forth in my life. I can no more make it happen than a caterpillar can will itself into a butterfly. All I can do is trust and obey, and You do the wonderful work. What a glory. What a future hope! Thank You!

Feeding the right nature . . .

Chinese Christian Watchman Nee described the Christian experience of flesh vs. spirit as like having two dogs fighting inside of him. When asked which one was winning, he replied, “The one that I feed the most.”

Christian people ought to avoid certain activities when we know they will feed the wrong dog. Sometimes this is easy to figure out. If I had been an alcoholic (I wasn’t’) I would avoid bars and liquor cabinets. If I had once idolized particular sports or certain people, I would stay away, at least until that was no longer a problem, or in other words, until those activities stopped feeding that dog.

Another person described sin and temptation like having a wolf on a tether. It was always there, but stay beyond the length of the tether and for goodness’ sake, don’t pet the wolf!

Paul wrote about the battle of trying to do the will of God and how our sinful nature resists that. He knew that sin has been defeated by faith in Christ, but he also knew that it stubbornly does not go away and leave us alone. (Read these verses slowly!) . . .

“For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” (Romans 7:14–25)

I can especially echo the middle part of this passage: I also desire to do what is right, but in myself have no ability to carry it out. I cannot do the good I want to, but find sin very easy to do. Yet the Bible says that by faith in God I have been made a new creature. So if I am a new creature, why then am I plagued by that old sinful nature? Paul says, “Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.”

In the beginning, it was easy to see those areas of “feeding the wrong dog” and turn away from them. However, as time goes by, the Holy Spirit reveals to me how easily I can toss a few crumbs that way and often not realize it, but always wind up in trouble. Sin is like standing on that proverbial slippery slope. Just desiring to go that direction puts me at the top of the slope and if I don’t cry out to Jesus, I’m certain to slide into trouble. To use the wolf metaphor, I cannot pet the beast without getting bitten.

It seems to me that when the Bible talks about maturity such as the way God spoke of Job, it may include the ability to ‘feed the right dog’ but perfection isn’t the same as being sinless . . .

“And the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?’” (Job 1:8)

Job hated evil, but his story reveals he was not sinless (no one is). He experienced calamity after calamity and did not curse God, but he also said that had he sinned to deserve all this, he would have known it. In other words, this man was in touch with his own spiritual life. If he fed the wrong dog and fell into sin, he knew it, but he also knew what to do about it. This is the secret of being mature. It is summed up in one short New Testament verse:

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

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Jesus, until my sin nature is eradicated, the possibility and danger of sin remains. Yet You are faithful in teaching me how to do battle. Every day I’m becoming more aware of Your power and protection, but also how to wear spiritual armor and fight evil distractions. Some days, particularly when I am tired or experience set-backs and disappointments, that wrong dog begs to be fed, as if petting it will put him away from me. But that is not true. My only defense is clear in James 4:7: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Bless me today with the Spirit of submission to You so I am feeding that new nature that You gave me.

Treasure in an earthen vessel

For many years I did not understand the Apostle Paul’s odd statement about weakness and power. He said that when he was weak, then he was strong. It was only after learning the difference between me, the earthen vessel in which Christ dwells, and Christ the treasure in the vessel, that I began to understand what Paul was talking about.

In my own strength, meaning whenever I do anything without relying on the Lord, I am helpless. It didn’t used to be like that. At first, it seemed I could do anything I wanted. But as time went by, God began allowing me to see the uselessness of my efforts alongside the greatness of my need to rely on Him.

This is hard to explain. Imagine reading by candlelight and not knowing it was difficult. Then someone gives you a LED lamp and suddenly you realize the difference. The candle is nothing alongside that lamp. However, the other element that is more difficult to describe is the sense of being weak that goes with this power of God and that both exist at the same time.

Paul said that the power of Christ was strong in him, but only when he was weak. It is one thing to admit not being able to do something, but this is a different kind of helplessness. It is about being unable to do anything on my own and feeling that helplessness, yet at the same time totally trusting the Lord and knowing that His power and ability is somehow giving me an energy and ability that is otherwise not there. This is a paradox.

The devotional reading for today is Paul’s attempt to explain with this feels like, not so much concerning helplessness, but concerning sinfulness. Being a spiritual person is made possible by Christ and the Holy Spirit. It is not in any of us to be spiritual without Him, yet the more we draw near to Him in trust and obedience, the clearer we see our sin and its pull on our lives.

Paul said, “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” (Romans 7:14–25)

Most of us have to read that several times to understand just the English, never mind the concept. And this passage is not about an unsaved person or a new Christian who thinks sin is not a problem. It is about a mature believer who knows the war. His mind is the mind of Christ and his heart is dedicated to serving God, but there is this constant thing going on, this sinful stuff that bubbles to the surface like a putrid, festering, polluted well. It is from that old nature that is dead (and stinks like it is dead) but refuses to rot away and disappear.

Apparently in some parts of the biblical world, the dead body of his victim was strapped on the back of a convicted murderer. The guilty party had to wear it until it rotted away, likely taking him with it. Horrible image, but this could have been what Paul was trying to convey.

For me, the image that is closer to how I see it is that of a person whose limbs are shattered and cannot move. The feet are incapable of walking; the arms cannot carry or lift anything. The desire is there, but the ability is not. However, by the grace of God and through the power of the Holy Spirit, this wretched being can love God and love people. In his weakness, God’s power is the only reason his life has any value and he knows it. There is no faking it, no hypocrisy. This person’s life is an open book, and strangely enough, to some that life appears wonderful, even beautiful, not because of itself, but because Jesus is there.

These are hard lessons, but I am learning that the mind of Christ works the best in a person who is totally broken. If anyone wants that, God will do the crushing, but be prepared; it will be like nothing ever experienced before.