Core Belief: Sanctification
Sometimes I think about my life if I did not believe in God and His Word. For me, that is always a scary thought. Yet, all I am and what I do is because of Him. In Christ, we have a purpose that we work toward—knowing God and making Him known.
As a believer, this is a lifelong journey that will be completed when Christ returns. This journey is called sanctification.
“Sanctification is a progressive work of both God and man that makes Christians more and more free from sin and more and more like Christ in their actual lives.” (Grudem, 2005)
There are two parts to sanctification: God’s role and the believer’s role. As always, God is the one who makes the first step toward us. God regenerates, justifies, and adopts us into His family through salvation in Christ in our sinful state. We are made whole and set free from sin.
God starts, see us through the middle of the sanctification process, and completes it in the end.
“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” I Thessalonians 5:23-24 ESV
In the middle, the believer has a role. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are to grow and live like Christ.
“He (God) empowers them to overcome temptations and face trials, wills, and works so that they accomplish his good pleasure, and much more. Together with this divine work, believers sanctify themselves in ways that are proper for their human agency. They read Scripture, pray, confess their sins, submit to the Spirit’s guidance, resist temptation and much more.” (Allison, 2018)
Like in salvation, the Holy Spirit moves us in faith repentance and puts our trust in God. The Holy Spirit empowers us the live our lives in faith and obedience. We should take an active role in becoming more like Christ.
It is essential to dig into God’s Word to know Him and His commands. We should not be like the Christians in the book of Hebrews.
“You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.” Hebrews 5:12- 14 NLT
Our culture sends us many messages that are contrary to God’s standards. As we grow more and more like Christ, we stand out from the world. As we live, we grow in our maturity, feeding on meat and not milk.
“If he gives you the grace to make you believe, he will give you the grace to live a holy life afterward.” Charles Spurgeon (Sermon, “Justification by Grace”)
References:
Allison, G. R. (2018) 50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith: A Guide to Understanding and Teaching Theology
Grudem, W (2005) Christian Beliefs: twenty basic beliefs every Christian should know.
Amen