Sanctification: How Change Happens in Us
The word “sanctification” means to make holy or to purify. It’s the word theologians use to describe how God changes people after they begin to embrace the gospel with Jesus as savior and Lord of their lives.
Last Sunday four different people shared openly and honestly about how the gospel is changing them. A consistent theme that showed up was the sufficiency of Jesus for all the issues of life. In each story the individual was facing situations or places in one’s life, where whatever way the person was functioning or approaching things simply wasn’t working. It’s in those times and through those things where God most often opens us up to being receptive to the transformation the gospel can bring.
Sometimes we think we need…
Sometimes we think what we need is simply for our external circumstances to change. The problem with this approach is then we never look internally at ourselves, but instead are always looking outside to other things or people as being the source of all our problems. What we need most is to be turned away from ourselves and to see Jesus because only he has the power to change what is needed.
Sometimes we think what we need is simply to change our behavior, to do things differently or do them better. The problem with this approach is it doesn’t address the motives beneath our behavior, why we do what we do. It’s the motives that drive and and the motives of our heart that need the most change. What we need is for our hearts to change. In the gospel Jesus changes our very hearts, taking out hardness and resistance and birthing in us new desires.
Sometimes we think what we need is simply to think differently about things and that simply be educated on a better way to think will changes us. The problem with this approach is it doesn’t deal with why we tend to think certain ways, why our minds work the way they do, and warp things the way they do. What we need is for our minds to be renewed and to see the truth of the gospel of Jesus which answers the deepest questions and provides a rock solid basis in which to plant our very approach to life.
Sometimes we think what we need is simply a better self-concept or self-esteem, that we just need to think better about ourselves and thus the answer for us is to more positively affirm our own greatness. The problem with this approach is not only the myriad of troubles that come with such a self-centered focus, but the lack of humility that it breeds. What we need is to be brutally honest with ourselves and our own failings and our own hurts. When we do that we recognize that we need a savior and healing and that anything short of a divine-man who dies on a cross for sins and rises again for new life will be insufficient.
Here’s some good quotes on how change occurs in us from Tim Lane and Paul Tripp…
“The Bible describes life as a journey that often takes us through the wilderness. You will get tired and confused. You will have moments when you wonder where God is. You will struggle to see God’s promises at work in your life. You will feel that following God has brought you more suffering than blessing. You will go through moments when it seems like the principles of Scripture don’t work. It will sometimes seem as if the wrong side wins. There will be moments when you feel alone and misunderstood. There will be times you feel like quiting.”
“Christianity’s change process does not revolve around a system of redemption but around a person who redeems…We often deal with things that are out of our control. Good things tend to go bad and bad things tend to seduce us. People leave us hurt and disappointed. Change is often much, much slower than we want it to be. God’s Word is full of powerful life principles, but applying them to life is not always an easy task. We tend to encounter the same problems again and again. It is easy to believe that we are powerless to change and that all our effort is meaningless.”
“The gospel calls us to look at the messiness of life in a radically different way. The good news of the gospel is Christ has conquered sin and death and with them, every meaningless and destructive end.”
Conclusion…
I truly believe that only in so far as we believe the gospel and embrace it in our lives will the change we really need occur. The more trust we put in the gospel to change us the more change we will really experience. The less trust we put in the gospel the more stagnancy and repeated troubles we will continue to encounter. The change we need comes from Jesus and through Jesus. It’s not a clean or clear road, it’s messy, full of ups and downs, but the good news of the gospel is that Jesus walks with us through it all and uses all the trials to cause great and glorious change in us that would not occur any other way.
So look to Jesus and have him be the thing that changes you because he is the only thing that truly can change you in the way you most need to be changed.
Philippians 1:6 “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
- Pastor Duane
