Tradition!?

“Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” John 8:11 [ESV]

Jesus made this statement to a woman the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him saying she was caught in adultery. Many points of view exist in this passage – Jesus’, the woman’s, the scribes' and Pharisees', the man who was with the woman, and the people who are watch this story unfold. Today let’s consider the latter group of people because that is who we are, the people who watch the episode unfold.

As the watchers, we assume the scribes and Pharisees caught this woman in adultery. Of course, no blame could be cast on them because, let’s get real, they are the leaders of the faith. Still, how did they know the woman was a prostitute? Also, what was their intent – to shame and condemn the woman publicly, to show their “righteousness,” or to trap Jesus with His answer?

As watchers, we see a woman, one without a protector or provider. This may mean she had no way to make a living. Still, the Jewish leaders did not want to recognize that and help her. They considered her of a low social status since she was a woman without a husband or father. We can assume that is what she was since she was alone and without an obvious protector or provider.

As watchers, we see the absence of the man who was part of this adulterous relationship. Why is that? Did he have stature in the community and so the Jewish leaders let him “slip away” without condemnation? Was he one of the Jewish leaders and so they didn’t want one of their own condemned because then people might paint them with the same brush? “That could never be!” Right? We watchers don’t know the whole story, but we trust these leaders and want to believe them.

As watchers, we intently watch Jesus’ reactions and listen waiting for His every word. We’ve listened to Him teach about God and His love for every person. We’ve heard Him teach all the Laws can be summed up into two commandments – “Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39) Now we watchers wait with breath held to listen to what Jesus will say to these religious leaders about the women. Will Jesus condemn the woman and demand the people stone her for her sin? Will He pat the leaders on the back? Will Jesus turn to the crowd and tell us another parable? What will we learn today?

As people living in Jerusalem, we know what our religious leaders and parents taught us. We understand adultery is a sin against God according to God’s Law in the Old Testament. In God’s Law, a person caught in adultery must be stoned, yet delineations exist in that law. Was the woman a girl who was raped? Was she one who went willingly to lie with the man? Did her father chose a fiancé for her already? Depending on the answers to these questions, God’s law gave the required judgment.

What we should see as watchers of this accusation and Jesus’ reaction is the fact that Jesus paused. He took time to write in the dirt. Jesus did not have a knee jerk reaction of judging and condemning the woman as the religious leaders wanted. He paused, considered the situation and the Father’s love for the woman, the man, the religious leaders, the watchers, and the world. Jesus’ reaction was contrary to the Jewish leaders' reactions. He first considered the people. He waited for time to pass so possibly the tensions and emotions would calm. Jesus allowed the people to consider for themselves what is right according to God, then He acted.

We don’t know what Jesus wrote with His finger in the dirt. Still, as the watchers, we see the religious leaders did not calm down. They determinedly tried to trap Jesus. These leaders didn’t care about the woman; she was a pawn in their game. Their goal was to get Jesus. When these religious leaders continued to question Jesus, He stood up and said, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” (vs. 7) Next, silence weighed heavy with the exception of Jesus scratching the dirt with His finger again.

Jesus gave everyone a chance to ponder his or her own heart. In the moment of silence before Jesus’ proclamation, He wanted them to think on their own sin first and their inability to be the righteous judge of another person. When that time did not produce the required result, Jesus led them, as He leads us watchers with this passage, with a more direct approach. “Are you a sinner,” He asked. “Then why are you condemning this woman? You are not righteous and so cannot judge and condemn anyone.” Ouch!

Let’s understand this better. Jewish tradition required the religious leaders to be the police, judge, jury, and enforcer of judgment. Their tradition said to trust the religious leaders, learn from them, obey them, or suffer the consequences. The scribes and Pharisees tried to prove to the people Jesus was a heretic, so they would not lose their own followers and their power in the community. With Jesus’ answer to these religious leaders, He did not condemn them Himself. He allowed their consciences to convict them. These scribes and Pharisees walked away. Every person except Jesus and the woman involved in this confrontation walked away, too – the Jewish leaders, the watchers, and the man who was with the woman in adultery. Jesus noted their absence in verse ten. “Jesus stood up and said to her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?'”

What is the “take away” from this episode in Jesus’ life? The Pharisees, scribes, and other people determinedly followed tradition. When confronted with God or His Laws, they chose to follow the letter of the Law and not the intent. If they had followed the intent of the Law as Jesus taught them, then they would have realized their own sinfulness and seen the woman and man with love through God’s eyes. The people’s traditions blinded them to obedience to God. If the woman and man were actually in an adulterous relationship, then God would be the Judge. If the religious leaders determinedly obeyed God’s intent or not, God would be the judge. If the watchers were condemning the woman in their hearts or not, God would be the judge. Jesus understood God did not send Him to earth to judge people. He came to die on the cross to save people from their sins.

We must decide if we will follow tradition or follow God.

Will we obey God or what fallible people teach us?

Can you hear Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof singing about tradition? Towards what does your heart lean – tradition or obedience to God?

Lord God, I haven’t questioned why I do the things the way I do them. It was always done that way. But, Lord, now I am wondering about these things. Am I being obedient to You or taking the easy and possibly the coward’s way out? Lord, teach me to hear Your voice when tradition crowds my thoughts. Make me bold and courageous to stand up in obedience to You when the people around me say, “This is the way it should be done and the way we have always done it.” Lord, forgive me my casual acceptance of the ways of people. Forgive me for accepting the easy way. Help me not to walk away from my own sin, but to bring it to You in repentance. Help me hear and obey You. Amen.

NEW BOOK!

Chosen Woven-ness: 

Obeying God, Ministering to Refugees

God gives each person free will when He creates them. He loves us enough to give this freedom to us. We must decide with the free will God gave each person if we will obey this internal and written mandate to care for the oppressed, widowed, poor, orphaned, and alien. We must decide if we will weave our weft threads on the loom with the refugees’ and asylum-seekers’ warp threads to make a beautiful tapestry with God. This tapestry woven together is stronger than the individual, singular weft threads or warp threads. With this woven tapestry, “we” and “them” become “us” that supports, encourages, helps, teaches, feeds, and walks alongside as the family God envisioned humanity to be. We each get to choose to be woven by God into the beautiful tapestry of community and love. This is chosen woven-ness. You get to choose; God does not force you. If you choose not to weave into the lives of others in your community, you force the gifts God gave you to stagnate or extinguish. You become the weaker person in the community because you do not have the strength of the whole community, only your own. 

Will you choose to be woven by God into His tapestry of a compassionate and loving humanity? 

This is a decision each person must make for him or herself whether you are a Christian or not. Will you choose to care for your neighbor, the refugee who lives near you? Or, will you ignore them?

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Uncircumcision and the Law

Introduction

As we consider Romans 2:25-29, we must look back at Romans 2:17-24. The first word in verse twenty-five, “for,” makes us look back to those verses to understand what Paul said in the final five verses.

Paul told the Jews in verses seventeen through twenty-three they had the name “Jew” because of God’s calling them to be His people, not because of something they had done or were. He told them they bore the name “Jew,” relied upon and boasted in God, knew His will, and approved the things that are essential because of receiving instruction in the Law. Paul challenged the Jews when he said they were confident they were guides to the blind, a light to those in darkness, correctors of the foolish, and teachers of the immature because they had the knowledge of the Law and the truth. These Jews had inflated egos because of their knowledge and circumcision.

Paul challenged the Jews in verses twenty-one through twenty-three. He said, 

You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? [NASB]

Paul used rhetorical questions in these verses. Rhetorical questions are a teaching tool used to make a person dig deeper than surface level to search for the true answer. In these verses, Paul challenged them on their sins. By doing this, He pointed out they were no better than the Gentiles and pagans. The Jews who boasted in their circumcision and being called Jews were not better than other people because they broke their covenant with God by sinning against Him.

Paul ended this section with the glaring statement to the Jews in verse twenty-four. He said, “For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” Why? The Gentiles saw the self-righteous Jews were no better than themselves. The Jews sinned just like the Gentiles, so why should the Gentiles honor and follow the God of the Jews? Ouch! This is a pointed charge!

Circumcision’s Value

With this reminder from verses seventeen through twenty-four, let’s learn what Paul continued to say to the Jews in verse twenty-five. He said, “For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law, but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.” Wow, did you understand that? Paul told them outright the Jews who sinned were just like the uncircumcised people. They were unclean heathens, too. The Jews who sinned were no better than the Gentiles and pagans. They prided themselves on being good. The Jews had the Law, God chose them, they kept the letter of the law, mostly, and they were circumcised. How much more Jewish could you get, right? Paul said, “Wrong!” The Jews’ circumcision of their foreskin was not beneficial to them.

In verses twenty-six through twenty-eight, Paul turned the Jews’ world upside down. He said,

So, if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. [NASB]

Paul said if the non-Jew, the Gentile and pagan, kept the Law without even having a covenant with God like the Jews, isn’t that Gentile or pagan really circumcised inwardly, in his or her heart, even though his skin is not? Circumcision was a bragging point for the Jews. It was an outward sign of their covenant with God. The Jews used it as a sign to say they were better than other people. If you weren’t circumcised, God didn’t choose you, is what they said and meant with their lofty-mindedness. The Jews of the time that Paul spoke to thought they were the elite because of being chosen by God and bearing the mark of their covenant with Him. Yet, they chose not to keep their covenant with God.

Paul took this idea one step further. Besides saying the physically uncircumcised who kept the Law really were circumcised (in their hearts), he said they would judge the circumcised, the Jew. “What? How dare they?” the Jews would have thought. “They are filthy pigs, rotten heathens. They could not touch my robe because they are so low,” a Jew might have said. Yet, those who kept God’s Laws, though they were physically uncircumcised, showed they were righteous and obedient to God’s Law. They obeyed the Law of God revealed to them and so were circumcised in their hearts and had a covenant with God, too. Therefore, these Gentiles and pagans who obeyed God’s revealed Law, would judge the circumcised Jews who were disobedient to God’s Law given in their covenant with Him.

Judgment and Rhetoric

Paul continued in this passage with verse twenty-eight. He brought a stinging statement of judgment to these Jews. He said, “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.” A Jew is not someone who has circumcised flesh or who routinely goes through the motions to follow God. Genuine circumcision is not of the flesh.

What is genuine circumcision? Paul brought the biting revelation and the final truth to the Jews and his other readers and hearers with verse twenty-nine. With this verse, he reminded everyone who reads and hears this letter of what he taught in verse four. He said in verse twenty-nine, “But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, and not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.” The Jews, Paul said, got it wrong. They wanted everyone to see they were Jewish, the chosen people. They boasted about it and judged others because they sinned, all the while they, themselves, sinned, too. Paul taught them circumcision, true circumcision that showed evidence of a covenant with God, is not a cutting of the flesh. True circumcision is a circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit. When a person truly is circumcised by the Spirit of God, the old hardness of heart that comes because of sin and rebellion is cut away to make the person new and moldable by God. This circumcision removes sin and the guilt of sin, so the person can walk in newness of life. The person whose heart is circumcised seeks only to please God by obeying Him and growing closer to Him. He or she does not seek the praise of people by outwardly showing and stating how good he or she is. That is a sin.

Verse twenty-nine takes us back to a fact Paul taught with a rhetorical question in verse four. He asked in this verse, “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” The initial answer to this rhetorical question would be a resounding, “No,” by the Jews. The more considered answer would be, “Yes.” Paul taught that the Laws of God were to lead people to recognize His kindness and love, and to follow Him in righteousness by faith. Remember, “He is a Jew who is one inwardly” by circumcision of the heart by the Spirit, not by the letter (vs 29). God’s kindness should lead you to give your heart to Him. He will circumcise your heart to remove its hardness caused by sin.

Conclusions

Doing right acts for the wrong reasons does not make a person righteous. A wrong reason could be doing good things so people see you doing them. It could be giving great sums of money to a charity so you can take a tax deduction. There’s nothing wrong with doing good things. What is wrong is seeking glory for yourself? Who gave you the ability and desire to do the good things, whether giving time, money, or skills? God. So, He should be the One who gets the glory, not you. Right acts with wrong motives is not righteousness. They are good deeds. Right acts will not make you righteous and clean before the Lord. You cannot earn your way to heaven by doing good deeds. Only righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ the Savior will do that. Paul called this being justified by faith. Read what Paul wrote in Romans 3:21-30.

Now, apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for these is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God, He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one. [NASB]

God is the God of all who by faith accept the salvation He offers through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. None of us has anything to boast of in ourselves. We cannot keep the Law 100% of the time because we are sinful. Still, we must remember, God did not create the Law to make us perfect; only Jesus Christ can do that. He created the Law to lead us to Him, to see His kindness and love, and then to follow Him as ones He made righteous by our faith in Jesus. We have every reason to boast of God, to give Him all the glory.

Do you practice moralism, doing right things? This doesn’t prevent your heart from sinning. Being religious is no answer and has no power to keep you from sinning or to remove your sins. It has no power to make you clean and right before God. Does your moralism prevent you or other people from knowing the Lord?

It’s now your time to decide. Are you circumcised in your skin or your heart? Have you accepted God’s salvation through faith? None of us can do enough good works to earn our way into heaven. Only God’s grace and love make it possible. Will you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior today?

God, I am unable to do right all the time. I’m a failure at it. Please forgive me for the wrong things I have done, thought, or said. Please make be clean and right with You. You alone are the only way to salvation and righteousness. I give my heart and life to You, today. Amen.

Living Sacrificially: A Psalm 51:14-17 Devotional

Psalm 51:14-17

¹⁴Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation;

then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.

¹⁵O Lord, open my lips

that my mouth may declare Your praise.

¹⁶For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it.

You are not pleased with burnt offering.

¹⁷The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken spirit and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

David recognized he was a sinner. He understood God as loving, kind, merciful, great of compassion, and omnipotent. David realized he sinned against God and only He could cleanse him from sin and guilt. He pled with God and asked for Him to purify him ceremonially and wash him spiritually. David asked for his joy and gladness be restored to him. He asked God to create a clean heart and renewed spirit within him. In the last devotional (vs. 11-13), David realized he was unworthy to live in God’s presence or to have His Spirit live in him. He asked God not to cast him away from Him and not to remove His Spirit. Besides asking for a re-created heart and renewed spirit, David pled to God to restore the joy of his salvation. He wanted to live his life knowing he did not deserve God’s forgiveness, but could know and have hope he was God’s child and would forever be with Him.

What came next, in verse thirteen, begins a multi-verse reaction to God’s forgiveness, re-creation, restoring, and renewing of David. David, out of love for God, stated what he would do. He would teach others who rebelled against God about Him and His ways so they would be converted – turn back to God from their rebellion against Him.

With verses fourteen through sixteen David told God he would show his love to Him through specific actions. Because of God’s delivering him - rescuing him and snatching him  – from bloodguiltiness - from sin and its death penalty, he would joyfully sing of God’s righteousness, declare His praise, and offer his humble and broken being for God’s plans and purposes. David said he would sing and tell everyone about God and His righteous being, justice, and forgiveness. He would declare his own salvation from sin, guilt, and death by God (vs. 14). We read David did this in Psalm 35:28 and 71:15. In both these verses he declared God’s righteousness and salvation, both of which he was unable to fathom the depth. Do we show our love of God? Is it a visible testimony so others can know God, too?

Next David continued to state what he would do because of God’s righteousness, justice, and forgiveness (vs. 15). He asked God to open his lips to declare His praise. David wanted to express what God did for him and who God is. This speaks of the literal interpretation. Metaphorically, “lips” refers to the shore or edge of rivers and seas and “mouth” refers to a river, sea, or well. From this, we realize David’s praise and declaration of God would have no end. What he said would be just the beginning and did not encompass the entirety of Who God truly is. God is boundless; David loved Him and could spend each of his days praising and telling about Him and still would never finish speaking of God. In Psalm 71:15, he could not know the sum of God. Do we run out of things to say about God? Can we talk about God every day and never get to the end of who God is? Are we willing to spend our days praising Him?

With verse sixteen, David recognized no ritual animal sacrifice was acceptable to God for providing permanent salvation from sins. God does not delight in the death and sacrifice of animals, otherwise David would have given it. What we own - our possessions - will not testify to our realization of our smallness and unworthiness of righteous, forgiving, and saving God. To make an adamant point, David repeated this and said, “You are not pleased with burnt offerings.” Do we today try to offer something physical and fleeting to God hoping it is enough to show our gratefulness to Him?

David recognized nothing he could give God would be enough. He realized only by giving himself – his whole being created and restored by God – to God could his gratitude, love, and devotion be most shown to Him. This requires recognition of God worthiness and our unworthiness. It compels us to give that which is most dear to us – our lives, that which is eternal because of God’s forgiveness and salvation given to us. David acknowledged this in verse seventeen when he said, “The sacrifices acceptable to God are a broken spirit; a broken spirit and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” “Broken spirit and contrite heart” speak of David’s sorrow for sin and humble and thoroughly penitent approach to God. This broken spirit is a person’s crushed will, that which a person uses to decide, one’s temperament, and one’s choices - right or wrong. The person realizes what he or she has done or thought is crushed because of recognizing God and His ways. That person renders him or herself crumbled by his or her sin in the presence of almighty God. The contrite heart speaks of a broken or crushed inner man because of recognition of sin and unworthiness. Both these phrases refer to a person who is broken with sorrow for sin and humble and thorough penitence before God. This person recognizes God’s greatness and salvation as opposed to his or her sinfulness and finiteness. The person realizes he or she has nothing worthy to give to God in gratitude and love that is sufficient for what God did in his or her life except to give back his or her greatest possession – his or her life.

The sacrifices we give to God, all we own, came from God. They are fleeting and nothing more than possessions. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills and everything in the created world. Our God-made saved and eternal selves are greater than anything we have to give back to God in thanks and praise. David said this; his life was the greatest sacrifice he could offer, and he chose to give it back to God as a living testimony of word and action.

Have you come to the place where you realize there is nothing you can give God that is adequate to free you from sin, guilt, and death? Sin requires justice. Penitential confession recognizes God, His greatness, and His power to forgive and save forever. Our response to Him should be love for Him. David shows us love for God should lead us to live out in word and action praise and worship of God and obedience to His ways. How has your walk with God been today? Did your words and actions speak of God so others would note it and learn more about and praise Him, too? True love for God should be evident in our obedience to Him.

What do your words and actions say about God today? It may be time for you to return to God and let Him re-create your heart and renew your spirit.

What will you choose to do? Will you live sacrificially today?

Sanctification: What is it?

Sanctification, hagiosmos[1], comes from the Greek root word hagias[2], which means holy, hallow, sanctify, consecrate, dedicate, or set apart. Hagiosmos means to make holy. Sanctifying comes from the Greek word, hagiazo and means to render, acknowledge, or be holy; to separate from profane things and dedicate to God[3]. Sanctification and sanctifying are actions. Sanctified is a status and a point of becoming. It comes from the Old Testament word qadash[4], which means to make sacred, holy, or to set apart. We read of this word in Genesis 2:3 when God set aside the seventh day of the week to be holy. Qadash is a point to which believers attain as Paul told believers in Ephesians 1. From these words, we realize holiness, sacredness, and being set apart are actions done by one who is holy in being towards things or people who are not holy. Remember, for an action to occur, like making something or someone holy, a being must exist to do the action. Only one who is holy can make or bestow the status of holiness upon someone or something.

In the Old Testament, we read in many places about God being holy. God called Himself holy in Leviticus 19:2 and 20:26. Isaiah said it in Isaiah 6:3-5. Peter reiterated it in 1 Peter 1:15-16. Jesus taught the disciples in the Lord’s Prayer that God was hallow – holy (Matthew 6:9, Luke 11:2). Qadowsh[5] is the word used in these passages and means holy, sacred, Holy One, saint, and set apart.

Let’s understand this better now. For anyone to make something or someone holy, holiness must be a part of the being bestowing the status of holy. The Old Testament records God as being holy. No other being in the Bible has this attribute as part their being. That being said, only God can make or declare something or someone holy, just as Jesus said in John 10:36. So sanctifying work originates with Holy God. To put it another way, God is the only one who can make someone or something holy, sacred, or set apart for Himself.

The question now arises: How does the impartation of holiness occur? In the Old Testament, God declared the people of Jacob His people and that made them a set-apart people, holy to Him (Leviticus 19:2 & 20:26, et al.). God’s speaking brought the different elements into being in Genesis. He declared them very good. God’s choosing and setting apart the people of Jacob made them holy to Himself. He gave the Israelites and the Sabbath day the status of holiness.

Along with the Old Testament, in the New Testament we read about God’s action that brought about the sanctification of people. That action was the incarnation and crucifixion of His only Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus’ crucifixion provided the perfect sacrifice for the sins of humankind. No sacrifice humans can provide for their sins is sufficient to remove the stain of sin permanently and to give release from the power of sin and death. Nothing else was perfect – without sin. We read about God’s sanctification occurring this way in the New Testament. Paul told the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 1:2, “They have been sanctified in Christ Jesus.” The writer of Hebrews stated many times God’s sanctifying action occurred through the blood of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 2:11, 9:13-14, 10:10, 10:14, 10:29, and 13:12). As Jesus is just and is the justifier in the last lesson, He is holy and provides holiness (sanctification) in this lesson.

Is that all there is to sanctification? Is it a once-off action by God alone? Sanctification is a continuing process. The journey of being a Christian in this world is a journey to perfection – toward holiness/complete sanctification. Paul wrote in Romans 6:19, “So now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.” Later in 2 Corinthians 7:1, Paul said, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” In 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4, 2 Timothy 2:21, Hebrews 12:14, Ephesians 1:4, and 1 Peter 3:15, we note actions and attitudes by Holy God sanctified a person and additional actions by the person led by the Spirit are required for continuing sanctification. Sanctification then has more than one part. The first part is when you receive the gift from God of salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ given on the cross as mentioned in the last paragraph. The second part is the growing more like Christ - taking on the mind of Christ - and following God in obedience to Him through the power of the Holy Spirit. Doing righteous works because of growing to be more like Christ is the process of sanctification, being made perfect through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in every believer. Faith at work in the life of the believer is part of the process of sanctification - part of the journey of growing more like Christ, putting on His mind.

Sanctification comprises justification (the static point in time when a person accepts God’s gift of salvation and believes in Jesus Christ), which is purity before God. Without justification, there cannot be sanctification. Sanctification includes righteousness, purity before the law of God. This is our acting out the right acts inspired in us by the Holy Spirit. Paul and Peter wrote that sanctification was of the Spirit in Romans 15:16, 1 Corinthians 6:11, Ephesians 4:30, 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, and 1 Peter 1:2. Besides these, sanctification includes blamelessness, purity before the world. Paul spoke of these three parts of holiness/sanctification in 1 Thessalonians 2:10 when he said, “You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers.” Sanctification begins with God actions purifying humans through the perfect sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. It continues as these believers live in the world following the Holy Spirit to be more like Jesus in their interactions with God and with the world each day. God sets believers apart to be holy for Him. They live out that holiness growing more sanctified with the help of the Holy Spirit. “Sanctification is the will of God. It is an active living out of righteousness according to God[6].”

Sanctification goes on until perfection as Paul mentioned in Colossians 3:14 and 2 Corinthians 7:1. Jesus called His disciples to perfection in Matthew 5:48 when he said, “You are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Perfection – complete holiness – is the goal of Christians. Paul expressed he was not perfect but pressed on toward the higher calling – sanctification/perfection - not thinking it would be accomplished in this life. Whenever we sin, we show we are not perfect. We do not perfectly reflect/have the mind of Christ who was perfect. By this, we know we are not sanctified completely. John spoke of this continuing growth into perfection/sanctification in 1 John 1:7-2:2.

Justification occurs when we are made just or right with God through the sacrificial blood of God’s Holy and perfect Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus’ blood was the sacrifice. Being perfect, He could remove the stain of sin and remove the power of sin and death. Justification is the first part of sanctification. It is the point in time God began His work in the believer to make him or her holy just as Jesus Christ is holy. The working out of the salvation He gave us is obedience to God and becoming more Christlike, which comes from our love and reverence of God. By living out the love of God in the world, we become daily more like Christ, more perfect and holy. We become more righteous and blameless. Sanctification is not a one-step occurrence, but a journey of Christian faithfulness to God through the power of the Holy Spirit. This journey is the taking on the mind of Christ and being re-made into His image. Perfection will not be complete until we reach heaven where temptation and sin have no power. Paul said this in Acts 20:32 and 26:18. He said those who are Christians are given an inheritance among all who are sanctified by the blood of Jesus Christ, the saints. Christ is the “wisdom from God, and the righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Sanctification is for everyone who believes. Jesus Christ came to the world to be the Light leading people to relationship with God. God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world not to judge the world, but that the world might be saved from their sins and rebellion and return to Him (John 3:17). He did this because He loves the world and wants no person to die, and be permanently and eternally separated from Him (John 3:16).

If you have never accepted the gift of God’s love, now is your chance. Today accept that Jesus is the Son of God who came to provide forgiveness for your sin so you could have a relationship with God and live with Him forever. Confess your sins to Him and He promises to forgive you. When you do this, God sanctifies you and calls you His own. He sets you apart for Himself and makes you holy for Him. Begin the journey of sanctification and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.

If you are already a Christian, are you continuing your journey toward sanctification, towards perfection through Jesus Christ. God, being holy, gave you the status of being holy (set apart) to Him. Now you must choose to walk in His ways becoming more like Christ with the power of the Holy Spirit.

What is keeping you from being sanctified – being made complete and perfect?

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[1] www.iblestudytools.com. New Testament Lexicon based on Thayer’s and Smith’s New Testament Lexicon and keyed to Kittel’s Theological Dictionary and the “Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.”

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6]Walter Elwell, ed. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, 2001).

Mountaintop or Valley, What Does It Matter?

          Some may have heard that we cannot live on the mountaintop with God; that is not living. Being on the mountaintop is the place where we hear and see God’s vision and where we can worship God without limitations. To remain on the mountaintop brings no benefit to God. We must return to the valley for God to make us ripe and squeeze us for His purpose. God did not make us solely for the mountaintop, but also to be His servants on earth. We are to be participators with Christ and be companions of Christ, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:9.

            How can we be participators if we remain on the mountain? How can we be companions if we have not joined God in a relationship by faith believing Jesus is the Messiah? None of us can be joined with God without the baptism Jesus gives, the life eternal life He gives. We think we know a better way to get to heaven and we strive for it. Our striving is not what wins us the end reward, but the forgiveness and sanctification, the being made holy, by Jesus’ death and resurrection. This forgiveness by Jesus brings us the ultimate reward. Striving for ourselves does nothing more than harry and weary us. Our strivings get us nowhere; our acceptance of Christ’s gift gets us a life of forgiveness and a promise of heaven.

             We have decided to join Jesus and be in a relationship with God, now what? What does this mean for us? First, eternal life is the gift only God can give. He wants to give life to us. God’s desire to be in a relationship with humankind is why His Son, Jesus, died on the cross and rose again to new life. No one else and by no other means is eternal life acquired. This Life is the gift of God to humanity. What does this mean the saying, “It is the gift of God?” Since God gives us this life, it brings new meaning to “being crucified with Christ.” Since it was His life that was crucified for our sins (our wrongdoings) and since we take His life within us when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then we are crucified to our own desires. Are we identifying with that sacrifice? This does not mean that we are physically crucified. It does mean that we must use the new life Jesus gave us and live it as if Christ is still walking on this earth through us. We are the embodiment of Christ on earth. We then have the responsibility to let Christ act through us. Through being His arms and mouth here and now, we become the pressed grapes and poured out wine of God. This gives us our bruises and aches, but this walk with the Lord here on earth, obedience to Him, like Jesus’ obedience to His Father, matures us and makes us more Christlike. For us to change and be made more into the image Christ, this relationship, this communing with God, must not only be heard but must elicit a response from each of us. We either respond with obedience, causing a change in our thoughts and actions leading to maturity, or with disobedience, causing stagnation or a wall in our relationship with God. His teaching is meant to be applied to the life, which He has put in each of us, to make us more like Him. This is the working out of our faith, the putting into action what God commands and growing the new self, because of this obedience, within each individual. 

The ultimate question is have you believed Jesus is God’s Son who died for us on a cross and rose again to beat death? The next question then is: are you staying on the mountain top or are you in the valley working out the life Jesus has put in you for His purpose, to bring all creation back into communion with Him? If your answer is yes, then you can say with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who lives but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20). What will it take for you to descend to the valley and begin to work out in obedience what God has put into you, namely the life of Christ? You may be the only source of Light someone ever sees; should you not go to the valley?