Revision as of 17:58, 13 July 2023

Theological Proposition/Focus: God desires each of us to grow to be more like Christ.

Homiletical Proposition/Application: We need to grow in christlikeness by participating with the Holy Spirit within the body of Christ known as the church.

Introduction: Sanctification is a Team Sport

Image: Running a relay race

I enjoy running! In school I ran track, I was never really good, but I did enjoy being on a relay team. Running on a relay team was a lot of fun because each individual matters but also the team matters. If you never train, ignore your diet, and stay up all night before the race then you are going to disappoint your team. On the other hand, if everyone on the team works hard and trains well then even if one person has a bad day, the rest of the team will support that one person and victory can still be achieved.

I think this is very similar to what we call sanctification (the process of becoming more and more like Christ). We are in this together, we are a team, but we also have individual responsibilities.

Need: We need to grow in Christ-likeness together

Preview: Sanctification should be a natural outflowing of salvation, is so much more than self-help, and must take place as part of the body.

Setting the Stage:

Salvation occurs through grace.

Specifically, justification is complete.

A right standing before God is accomplished by faith alone and not by works.

If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior then your are justified before God regardless of what you have done or will do.

So, what is the point of holy living?

We have been using the phrase "Together We Grow." Today I want to talk about the theology of this phrase.

As we prepare for the next 30 years in our sanctuary I want us to be clear on what it means to grow together.

I am going to adopt a theological term for grow, sanctification.

Body

Justification implies sanctification.

Before we go any deeper I want to start with a basic assumption. Normal Christian behavior is growth. Theologically we say Justification implies sanctification. In other words, someone who has accepted Christ's offer of salvation through his atoning death on the cross as complete payment for their sins is justified and this act of justification naturally leads them onto a path of progressive sanctification.

Image: Baby growth charts

Emily and I do not have kids, but we do have nieces and nephews. My brother will often tell me about what percentile the kids are in in their development. Why, because a baby normally grows. If a baby stops growing it is time to show some concern. Being born implies growth. Being born again implies spiritual growth.

Don't be an evangelical Antinomian (Romans 6:14).

Sometime after 1537, in the midst of the protestant reformation, Martin Luther coined a term "antinomianism." The term broadly describes a position that some hold that once an individual is justified they need not show any concern for morality, after all they are already right with God. Just like so many other theological issues this one is so close to right that it is hard to pinpoint exactly where the problem is. After all, we are justified. The truth, however, comes from Romans 6:14. The Christian is no longer enslaved to sin. The Christian is free from the master we call sin.

In reality, the word "freedom" by itself does not make sense. instead we should think of freedom as always freedom from something to something else.

Independence Day - Free from paying taxes to a king.

Drivers License - Free from the confines of my parents driving schedule.

Retirement - Free from having the requirement to be at work 9-5 every day.

Freedom by itself is actually another word, chaos.

However, freedom from sin means freedom to God's way of life.

The statistics are pretty incredible, many Christians need to reject Antinomian ways of living.

13% of those who attend church at least once a month report engaging in binge drinking.

68% of Christian men regularly view pornography.

These are just a few of the statistics that I thought of, I am sure we could ask some hard questions.

How often do you speed?

Have you ever lied on your taxes?

How often do you do your devotions?

How many days do you fail to pray except for meals?

We live in a society that is increasingly marginalizing Christians but should we be surprised when so many are merely marginal Christians?

Make holiness a priority (1 Peter 1:16).

1 Peter 1:13-16 is a strong reminder that God does desire for us to reject immorality and instead embrace his holy standard.

The believers’ living hope based on their new birth should lead to a lifestyle of holiness. Those chosen for new birth are also called to be holy. Peter exhorted his readers to prepare to meet the challenge of obedience by adopting a new mind-set. The price paid for a believer’s redemption calls for reverence and obedience. Obedience involves purifying oneself and practicing holy living, while offering spiritual sacrifices as a royal priest. ^[1]

Peter provides us 5 points that are all connected to our call to holiness.

Prepare your minds for action

In other words, holiness is not going to happen by accident. This is something you need to actively pursue. In a minute we will see that sanctification is a work of the Holy Spirit and we are participants but what I want to remind you of right now is that you need to prepare yourself to participate.

Be sober

So many of our problems stem from our own lack of self-control.

set your hope what is to come, more on that later as well.

do not conform to evil desires of pre-salvation life

If you are focussed on looking like the world then you are going to look like the world. I know this is hard, we all want to be part of the world, we want to feel accepted, we want to feel part of the group. However, this is a trick. Do not be conformed to the world.

be holy - set apart.

Anticipate perfective sanctification (1 John 3:1-3).

The command to set one's mind on the hope of what to come is very relevant.

The time is rapidly approaching when you will be completely sanctified. Sin will no longer be a factor. My suspicion is that when our faith is made sight and we see Jesus for who he really is we will completely and utterly reject sin. In the mean time, we should eagerly hope for, anticipate this event. This knowledge should motivate us to live a holy life now because we know that in the future we will be living a perfectly sanctified life.

MTR: Determine to make sanctification a priority. Prepare you mind. Be sober. Set your hope. Do not conform to evil. Be holy.

Sanctification not self-help

Don't drink the self-help Kool-Aid (Romans 6:4-6).

Image: Forced to read a self-help book in college.

Back in college I was working on a professional pilot degree and was required to take a course on aviation careers. We read books on economics of the aviation industry, books on aviation career demand, and then a self-help book. The teacher really felt we needed to learn how to help ourselves become our best self. The issue was that I fundamentally believe that my "best self" is in fact totally depraved. My only chance of being anything is to crucify my "best self" that I might be set free from sin and embrace my new self.

As a culture we are addicted to the idea of self-help.

In the United States alone, the self-help industry is a 2.48 billion dollar a year industry.

Unfortunately, something like 80% of the self-help customers are repeat customers. In other words, customers come back regardless of if the resource helped or not.

People desperately want to have a better life but reality is that we are, in and of ourselves, incapable of making a better life for ourselves.

Romans 6:6 reminds us that the only way to improve our standing is to do away with the old self, the self ruled by sin.

Do the math (Romans 6:11)

The greek word λογίζεσθε (count) is a mathematical word that means to process, reckon, or calculate.

For example in verse 16 of Prognostics, a medical text by Hippocrates he speaks of calculating the number of days since symptoms first appeared.

In 18.1 of Plutarch's Numa the word is used of reckoning.

The idea is that one takes in all the information and draws a logical fixed conclusion from all the information.

We are to consider all the information and come to the conclusion that our old self. Our best-self is dead.

Our life is only to God in Jesus Christ.

We should not seek to better ourselves, we should seek to be more like Christ, and that can only happen if we put our focus on Christ.

Participate in your sanctification, don't try to lead it yourself (Romans 6:13-14; Gal 5:16-18).

Sanctification is not something that you do, but rather something in which you participate.

Looking more like Christ happens when you offer yourselves as instruments of righteousness. (Romans 6:13-14)

Remember, generic freedom does not really make sense, instead we have freedom to offer ourselves to Christ.

Sanctification is a battle that is being waged. (Galatians 6:16-18)

The combatants are the flesh and the Spirit - not you and the flesh!!!!!

The command to walk by the Spirit implies that we are participants along with the Spirit.

The fact that we do not do what we want proves to us that sanctification will often be uncomfortable.

Image: If you are always only comfortable then you may not be growing!

Growing is an uncomfortable thing. Children will sometimes experience aches from growing. When you work out, one way you know that you worked hard is if you are sore the next day.

The reality is that sanctification only occurs when one is led by the Spirit.

MTR: Join with the Holy Spirit as a participant in your sanctification.

Sanctification occurs as part of the body

Image: Chemistry requires a controlled environment.

I love chemistry. I am not sure my mom loves the fact that my brothers and I were able to take a lot of chemistry, but I still loved it. Once we figured out some basics we used to have all sorts of fun. One of our greatest achievements growing up was when we learned how to isolate our own hydrogen gas. We used to get bubble solution and then fill those bubbles with our home made hydrogen and have a great time lighting them on fire. Don't worry parents, I don't intend to share today how we isolated the hydrogen.

They key in this case, or really any chemical reaction, is containing your chemical reaction. To do this you need something like a beaker. Chemical reactions take place within some sort of container.

The Holy Spirit is the catalyst. The local church is a beaker (Hebrews 10:24-25).

Formally, a Catalyst is a substance that brings about chemical reaction without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change.

We have already spoken a lot about the role of the Holy Spirit in our sanctification. Now I wan to focus on the church.

Within the confines of the local church, members spur each other onward.

Individuals members spur each other onward.

The spurring is to love and good works.

Individuals encourage each other.

Under-shepherds care for and protect (1 Peter 5:1-5).

Members practice Christ-likeness within the church (Romans 12:9-13).

MTR: Commit to sanctification within the body.

1. ↑ Roger M. Raymer, “1 Peter,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 842.