Life is a Journey - Lesson 10

I. Sanctification

I need to talk with you today about the whole topic of walking with God, of becoming more like Him. This topic has been a difficult lesson to put together because I’m afraid it’s a little hard, maybe a little too hard, for you to hear at this point in your Christian journey. However, it’s important that I cover all the fundamental issues that a new believer needs to know. So hang in there because we’re going to talk about sanctification.

Sanctification is a theological term that simply means we are set apart from sin. Sanctification means that in your walk with God, over time, you are to become fully dedicated to Him.

When we became Christians we were, in a sense, babes in Christ. But just as babies are to grow into mature adulthood, so also are we to grow into spiritual maturity, of being fully dedicated to God. To say it in a different way, sanctification means that as we live our lives day in and day out, we look more and more like Jesus and less and less like the world. Spiritual growth means that our attitudes and our behaviors more and more reflect the attitudes and behavior of Jesus Christ. Spiritual growth means that our lives should start to show the fruits of the Spirit. Where there was no love, now there is love. Where there was no forgiveness, now we forgive. Sanctification is a process of looking less and less like the world and looking more and more like our Heavenly Father, becoming fully dedicated to Him.

There are many verses that talk about sanctification, but my favorite is Romans 12:1-2. Paul says to the church in Rome, “Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is, His good, pleasing, and perfect will.”

This is the will of God for our lives, to look at what God has done in His mercy in saving us and then to respond saying, I give everything I am to you sacrificially. Our desire is not to be conformed to this world, not to allow it to squeeze us into its mold, but rather to be transformed, to be transformed from the inside out, starting with the renewal of our minds. Then, that shows itself in how we live our lives. This is sanctification.

The important question to ask is, have you started the process of growth into spiritual maturity? In an earlier lesson we talked about being changed at the gate. This is the question I’m asking again here. Have you started to change and look less like the world and more like Jesus?

II. Role of difficult circumstances

The practical question is, how does this happen? In his love and his grace and his mercy and his power and his sovereignty — he is after all King of King and Lord of Lords; he is sovereign — this sovereign God allows difficult circumstances into our lives.

Why? It will help us to grow, to help us to become more like Jesus. Dealing with difficult circumstances is one of the primary ways in which spiritual growth happens. Our good, loving, all-powerful God will allow difficult circumstances into our lives.

He allows accidents, he allows sickness, he allows pain, and then on top of all these good things, and yes they are good because of what they produce, he will allow us to be persecuted for our faith. These good things will most likely start with our friends. Our friends will look at us and say, hey, you’re different, what’s wrong with you? Do you think you’re better than we are just because you became a Christian? Ah, come on, let’s just keep doing the things we’ve always done.

Our friends will not understand when we say, “No, I don’t want to do that anymore.” Perhaps we’ll suffer at work, perhaps we’ll be passed over for a promotion because our boss dislikes Christians. Perhaps our neighbors and even our family members will ostracize us because they think that we think that we’re better than they are.

A. Did I do something wrong?

Difficult circumstances are going to come into your life. They come into the lives of all Christians. So the question is, how will you respond? When this happens, you’re going to be tempted to say, what did I do wrong? I must have done something wrong for these bad things to happen to me. The answer from Scripture is no, you possibly did something right. That’s why these difficult circumstances are in your life.

Paul tells his friend Timothy, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Timothy 3:12). Persecution here does not necessarily refer to dying as a martyr. It can simply mean that we will be in opposition to the world and the world won’t like that. And it will react against us. Remember that the world hates our master, and Jesus says that if they hated him, they’re going to hate us as well.

B. Perhaps God wants to do something right

So when these difficult things are happening in your life, whether simply because you’re a human being living in a sinful world, or whether it’s because you’re a Christian, all it may mean is that God wants to do something right in your life. And so in his sovereignty and in his goodness, he is going to allow difficult circumstances into your life so that you can grow in your sanctification and holiness.

This is important. When times are good, we rarely grow spiritually. It’s frustrating, but true, right? When the marriage is good and the family is good and work is going smoothly and the car’s not breaking down, and we still don’t have to paint the south side of our house, when things are going good, how many of us grow in our faith and trust in Jesus Christ? Not many. However, when times of stress and hurt come, and when we handle those challenges properly, we do tend to grow spiritually and become more like Jesus Christ.

When these difficult times occur, there are all sorts of things that could be happening. One option is that **God wants to test how genuine our faith is**. He knows whether or not your faith is real, but he wants you to know that your faith in Jesus Christ is rock solid. But not only rock solid, he wants you to know that your faith is being refined, is becoming pure. You’re becoming fully devoted to him.

Peter describes all the wonderful things that happens to a Christian. In speaking about our salvation, he says, “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:6-7). You see, when difficult times come into our lives, it can be that we’re being purified, refined, and in the process we can know for sure that our faith is genuine, that it’s real.

Secondly, when difficult things come into our lives, God may be trying to produce a **deeper Christian character** in us. For example, Paul says that “we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:3-5). Those qualities are all part of our spiritual growth.

The Christian life is a process, isn’t it? I don’t know of anyone who when they first became a Christian could look at suffering and say, oh that’s good, hit me again. The Christian walk is a walk, it’s a process, and it takes one step at a time. So be patient with yourself. But as we get further down this path, we learn to rejoice in our sufferings. We don’t rejoice in our sufferings because we’re masochists, but we learn to rejoice in our sufferings because we know that God wants to produce endurance, character, and hope in our lives. We understand that this happens best during difficult times.

The other main verse regarding these things is in James, that’s chapter 1, verses 2 to 4. James says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” There have been times when I felt like taking a big black marker, just crossing out these verses. I haven’t yet, but I sure felt like it.

Please hear this carefully because it’s counterintuitive. God’s will for your life and mine is not the avoidance of pain. God’s will for your life is that you look like Jesus. In his control of all things, and in his love and compassion, the best way that God can get us to look like Jesus is to allow difficult circumstances into our lives.

III. How will you respond?

A. Learn and grow

God calls us to respond to these difficult circumstances, but not in fear, but in faith, to listen, to learn, to grow, to walk the path with him of life. This is how your faith is tested and made genuine and pure. This is how we become like Jesus.

Robin, my wife, and I lost two daughters, one while still in the womb and the other in my arms four hours after her birth. That’s when I really wanted to get the marker out and get rid of these “stupid” verses. But I didn’t cross them out. Robin and I leaned into the pain, and we are not the same people we were 35 years ago. We have been changed. We have grown spiritually because of God’s sovereign control and love and grace and mercy. I probably didn’t feel it at the time, but I do now. God allowed these circumstances into my life and Robin’s life. And in the midst of it all, he said, in the storms of life, hang on. And that’s what we did. Our marriage is stronger. We are better people for it, and Rose and Rachel are waiting for us in heaven.

When difficult situations come into your life, the question is, how are you going to respond? Hopefully, you will hang on for dear life, or perhaps better stated, hang on for all that God is worth. However, I know the difficult times will come.

B. Compartmentalize

And the temptation will be to run away and to hide, to not lean into the pain. You’ll be tempted to do anything you possibly can to get away from the pain and make it stop. One of the ways in which we are all tempted to avoid pain is to compartmentalize our lives.

Now, this is true of all Christians, not just new Christians. We’re tempted to divide our lives into sections and say, God, I’m not going to give you all of myself. We open some of the doors to some of the rooms in our lives, and then we shut others. We say, I’ll give you part of my life. I’ll give you access to this room, but I’m not going to give you this room or that room because it’s too painful. It hurts too much.

1. Compartmentalize your time

For example, we may give him the room of how we talk, but we won’t give him the room of forgiveness. We may stop swearing, but we refuse to give. If I can change the imagery a little, I often think of life as being a patchwork quilt, a quilt made up of many squares. We say, okay, God, these squares are yours. I will give you these parts of my life, but I will not give other squares because it’s too painful. I don’t trust you. I don’t think really that you have my best at heart. I think I know better. And I want to keep these squares of my life to myself.

So I’ll give you the squares of, I don’t know, what I watch on TV or the kind of books I read, and I’ll welcome you into those rooms of my life. But you can’t have the rooms, the squares of forgiveness and jealousy and pride. You’re not welcome to come into those rooms. Those squares are mine.

This is the challenge that lies ahead for you. And perhaps you’ve already started to compartmentalize your life, shutting off certain rooms, holding parts of your patchwork quilt for yourself. For example, you may be tempted to compartmentalize your time. You may think, well, this room, this square, is Sunday morning, and I’m going to give it to God. This is his time. However, I’ll keep other days and times for myself over here. See, these are different squares of the different rooms. And frankly, God, you’ll say, you should be happy with Sunday mornings, but I’m going to keep Sunday afternoon and all the time during the week for myself because they belong to me.

2. Compartmentalize your money

You’ll be tempted to compartmentalize your money. I understand that God doesn’t need your money because it’s all his anyway. But Jesus says that where our treasures are, that’s where our hearts will be. So we have this square over here, and that represents generally your loose change. It’s not too much so it doesn’t affect your lifestyle. This is the loose change that you can throw at God. That’s that square, that room. But I’m going to keep the rest of my money over here in other squares of my life and say, this money is none of your business, God. I need this money for my wealth, for my portfolio, so I don’t have to trust you in retirement. This money is for a bigger house, for a third car. See, we compartmentalize our money, again, forgetting, of course, that it’s all his.

3. Compartmentalize our affections

We’ll also be tempted to compartmentalize our affections. We’ll be tempted to say, in this situation, in this square, in this room, I’m going to love you, God. But in other areas of my life, you can’t have my heart. I’m not going to give you my affection in these areas. So perhaps we’ll go to church and we’ll enjoy the people and we’ll enjoy the service, but we can’t wait to get home to visit pornography sites or to pick up those magazines or to molest little boys and girls. I know the statistics. 50% of American males go to porn sites once a week. 25% of women have been sexually molested, and I suspect that number is actually considerably higher. I also know that statistically, the church is no different than the world. We do compartmentalize our affections.

I know all this is depressing, but it is real. It destroys people and it destroys churches. And in case this is frightening to you, remember that the Christian life is a walk. It’s a process. It’s something that we do one step at a time. God does not expect us to get it right the first time. He’s way more understanding and way more patient with us. But also remember that when we became Christians, we understood that Jesus is not only savior, but he’s also Lord. He’s the boss. He’s the master. Jesus gave all of himself to you and to me, and he expects all of us in return. Okay.

IV. Consequences

What’s going to happen if we do compartmentalize our lives? What will happen if we hold back pieces of ourselves from God? What are the consequences of refusing to open all the doors to all the rooms in our lives?

A. Harm your relationship with God

It’ll start by harming our relationship with Jesus. As we sin, we will realize that there’s something between God and us. As things progress, God will start to remove his peace from our lives. He will start to remove his blessing from our lives. This is certainly true of all relationships, isn’t it? If you’re married and you have a relationship with your spouse — but if you keep back parts of it from him or her, then there’s a relational barrier that happens. It goes up between you and damages the relationship.

The same is true of our relationship with God. When Jesus was teaching his disciples how to pray, he instructed them to say, “forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who sin against us.” Jesus wants them to understand how important that is, even if it’s really difficult and so he adds this note onto the end. “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly father will forgive you.” That’s great. “But if you refuse to forgive others, your father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14–15) If we refuse to forgive, if we shut the door to that room, then God will not forgive us. And that relational barrier will start to be erected between God and us.

The amazing message of the gospel is that because God is a God of mercy and grace, you and I can stop this downward spiral of sin whenever we want. It’s our decision. The barrier between God and us can be removed and the peace and blessing can come back into our lives. All we have to do is repent. All we have to do is confess saying, yes, God, you’re right, and I’m wrong. I am truly sorry. I will try to forgive. I will open the door to the room of forgiveness.

B. Lose the assurance of your salvation

If we don’t stop that downward spiral, and after all, there’s part of us that likes to sin. Sometimes we don’t forgive because we like to hold on to our anger. What will happen if sin continues in our lives? What will happen if we allow that spiral to pull us down further and further? When we continue to say no to God and continue to live in our sin and shut those doors, we are going to eventually lose the assurance that we are Christians. We will lose the confidence that we are children of God.

I’m not talking about just different acts of sin. We all sin. I’m talking about the person who knows they are living in a life of sin and they’re okay with it, and they even like it. They like the perception, for example, of power that comes from being angry and not forgiving. These people can have no assurance that they are children of God.

1. Obedience

Our assurance comes from at least two sources. The first is obedience. The message of Scripture is that if your life does not continue to change, then there will come a point at which you must ask whether or not you really are a Christian. This is not a question that a pastor should ask a parishioner. It is something that you ask yourself. Assurance of salvation doesn’t come from a single event. Assurance isn’t based on a raised hand or a prayer at camp. Rather, assurance comes from recognizing the change that occurs in our lives as a result of our conversion.

John says, “We know that we have come to know him” — in other words, that we live in a relationship with God — “if we keep his commands.” He later adds, “This is how we know we are in him. Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did” (1 John 2:3–6). You see, keeping his commands, that’s our main assurance. We don’t keep God’s commands as an attempt to earn his favor. No, that’s not what’s going on, but as a response of a changed life. If there is no change, there is no assurance.

2. Holy Spirit

There’s another source of our assurance. It’s a little more subjective and it’s a little open more to misunderstanding, confusion, but when combined with a changed life, it gives us an absolute rock solid confidence that we are children of God. This second source is the Holy Spirit. Paul writes, “The Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’”That’s great. He continues, “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:15–16). It’s as if the Holy Spirit is whispering in our ears, look at your life. It’s changing. Do you think you did this on your own? I wonder what force in the universe is strong enough to change your heart, Bill. There’s only one strong enough to change my heart, and that’s the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is whispering that we are in fact God’s child. Perhaps sometimes pointing to the changes in our life and sometimes just giving us that assurance.

C. Warning passages

The change in our lives and the witness of the Holy Spirit gives us our bedrock assurance that we are God’s children. But without long-term obedience, there can be no assurance. If we continue to be a disobedient, if we don’t care if our relationship with God is damaged, if we are not sufficiently terrified and not having assurance, then this is where the warning passages in the Bible need to be addressed. They are, in fact, divine threats.

The warning passages are not for people who are struggling and confessing their sin. The warning passages are for people who have perhaps made a profession of faith and think that gives them a get-out-of-hell-free card, as a friend of mine said. They think we can live any way we want; it doesn’t matter. At least I got my card and I won’t go to hell. They think that when they stand before the judgment seat of God, they can pull out their get-out-of-hell-free card and wave it in his face and say, I get out of hell free. It doesn’t matter how I live my life. And God’s going to look at them and say, what’s that? I’ve never seen that before.

The strongest warning passages are scattered throughout the book of Hebrews. In chapter 3, verse 14, the writer says, “We have come to share in Christ” — okay, we’ve become a Christian — “if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the end” if we hold our convictions that we had at conversion to the end of our lives. That’s the if. Later, the author writes, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,
but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God” (10:26–27).

But the warnings are not just in the book of Hebrews. Paul tells the Colossian church that they have been reconciled, they’re friends with God, “if you continue in your faith” — if you continue in your faith, — “established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel” (Colossians 1:23). You see, how we start a relationship with God is important, but it’s just as important how we finish. The warning passages are real, and terrifying, and that’s the point. If you are comfortable living in sin, you should be terrified. You have been warned.

V. Conclusion

Difficult times will come. God wants us to know that our faith is real, while at the same time refining our faith, making it pure. His goal is not to keep us from pain. His goal is that we eventually look like his son, and pain is our best teacher. I wish that weren’t the case, but it is.

How we respond is of critical importance. If we compartmentalize, if we only give him a part of ourselves to him, then we start down that spiral. We damage our relationship with God and eventually lose assurance of salvation, and we may have to face the terrifying facts of the passages. But the good news is that God is a God of grace and mercy. He will forgive and strengthen us for the long journey ahead. We just have to open the doors to all the rooms in our life. Please remember, the Christian journey is a walk. As someone once said, more of a marathon than a sprint. We don’t have to be perfect overnight, but as we take each step in our lives, they should be leading us to Jesus.