Sanctified

“As you come to him, a living stone, rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:4-5

I love the picture Peter paints in this verse. He refers to us as living stones that are being BUILT UP, to be a holy priesthood. God is calling his saints to be sanctified, to be built up to fulfill our holy calling. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.” (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

Let me start off by defining what sanctification is. Sanctification, according to Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology, is a progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and more like Christ in our lives. The word sanctified comes from the same Hebrew root word that holy and consecrated come from, quodesh, which denotes something separate that contrasts with the profane.

Our sanctification is so important, in fact as 1 Thessalonians 4:3 says it is God’s will for his children to be sanctified. Charles Spurgeon does a fantastic job of explaining the significance of sanctification.

“Justification without sanctification would be no salvation at all. It would call the leper clean and leave him to die of his disease; it would forgive the rebellion and allow the rebel to remain an enemy to his king….Remember that the Lord Jesus came to take away sin in three ways. He came to remove the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and last, the presence of sin.”

While sanctification is utterly important I want to be sure to note that this should not cause us to be legalistic. Personal holiness is the effect of redemption, not the cause of it. No matter what we do our best efforts will never merit our salvation without the Spirit’s enabling.

What then is our role in the process of sanctification if it is only by the Spirit’s enabling?  As Grudem noted sanctification is a combined effort between God and man. In the next couple posts I will explore the vital role God plays in our sanctification as well the specific role that we play.

“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.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23

All For His Glory Continued…

This excerpt from Jay Adam’s book “The Great Demonstration” is a continuation from my last post….

It is not incumbent upon God to glorify you. That He has chosen to save you, Christian, should not merely please you; it should astonish you…

When you understand the magnitude of what God is doing on this planet, the fact that creation, fall, and redemption have, as their ultimate object, to reveal the nature of God to man and to the universe, and that He has chosen you to play a positive role in displaying the riches of His glory, how can you not be humbled (not to say floored) by the significance of it all?

You- a puny, worthless rebel- have been chosen (purely by grace) to be one of those in whom God is demonstrating to the universe the goodness, compassion, kindness, and grace that lie in the depth of your being! Your salvation astonished angels; shouldn’t it have a similar effect on you? It certainly humbled Paul. In speaking of how God demonstrated his grace in his life before men and heavenly beings he wrote:

“To me, the very least of all saints this grace was given to announce to the Gentiles the good news of the inexhaustible riches of Christ….so that God’s many-sided wisdom now may be made known by the church to the rulers and to the authorities in heavenly places in agreement with the eternal purpose that He accomplished by Christ Jesus our Lord” Ephesians 3:8,10, 11

Can you do any less than fall down on your face before Him in praise, gratitude and thanksgiving? What astonishing grace is yours!

All for His Glory

“Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.” Isaiah 26:8

I am sure it brings great joy to the Father to hear his saints pray in this way. The desire of our hearts should always be to glorify God, to make his name great. Why is that? Because God’s deepest desire, his greatest passion, is to be glorified.

1 Timothy 1:15-16 says, “Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.”

The more I study the character and attributes of God the more I realize how great a gift salvation truly is. In Romans 3 Paul talks about how completely and utterly depraved we are as human beings. He points out “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”( Romans 3:10-12). In light of who God is there is absolutely nothing that we can do to merit salvation for our souls. As Paul says Christ came to save sinners of whom I am the foremost. WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY SINFUL!

Notice that He did not save sinners so that they may be magnified but so that God could be magnified. It says Christ came so that He may display God’s patience.

The Cross was all for God’s glory not our own. I recently heard a quote by John Piper that honestly left me speechless. He asked, “Do you love the Cross because it makes much of you? Or do you love it because it enables you to enjoy an eternity of making much of God?”

Wow let’s just sit on that for minute here. “The foundation of [my] salvation [and yours]  is God’s love for his own glory” (John Piper). Christ died to display the greatness of our God. He loves his glory so much that he was willing to suffer in order that we may see how completely utterly depraved we are and how wonderful his mercy is. When I realized how undeserving I was of salvation it made the cross that much sweeter. Romans 5:8 says “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  This causes me to think as the Psalmnist did: “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:4).

This should lead us to praise and worship the Lord not as an obligation because we are a Christian, but as a great honor and privilege. How amazing it is that God would choose me, the foremost sinner, to be his hands and feet, a reflection of him to the rest of the world.“Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him.” Psalm 147:1 It is fitting for us to react to this truth with praise and live the rest of our lives making much of the one who saved us.

“If I love the Cross only for what it does for me, I will have reduced it to a monument to myself. But the greatest glory of the Cross is what it tells me about God. A God of justice and mercy. A God who loved helpless sinners like me so much that he came to die so we could be free to know and worship him for eternity” (Joshua Harris).

So let me ask you: Do you love the Cross because it makes much of you? Or do you love it because it enables you to enjoy an eternity of making much of God?

“Don’t You See That Everything’s Grace”

Tears are literally streaming down my face as I write this blog entry.  I was just listening to one of my favorite songs, “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” ….I can never listen to that song and not be compelled to well up (I’m a crybaby I know ha ha).

If you have been a Christian for more than a second then you know the story of the cross. My intention for writing this is not to teach you anything new but rather to invite you to Praise God with me for the incredible sacrifice of Jesus Christ. My prayer is that the cross would never get old for you. That it would never become a side note. In scripture everything leading up to it and everything preceding it all points back to the cross. May we never lose our wonder and admiration for what Christ has done for us.

I love that from the beginning of time God had the plan of redemption in his mind. We see glimpses of Christ’s sacrifice from the first book of the bible on through Revelation. In the book of Genesis there is an incredible foreshadowing of the cross through the story of Abraham and his beloved son Isaac. (Read through Genesis 22 when you have the time).

If you can recall with me, God had promised Abraham that he would give him many descendants through his son Isaac, but then he turns around and asks Abraham “Take your son…your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there.” The Hebrew word used for love here is ahab- meaning “to love, desire, delight.” This is the first time this word is used in Scripture and it is a beautiful description of a Father’s love for his child. He not only loved his son, he delighted in him; he found great joy in him. Can you imagine the excruciating pain of knowing that you had to kill the one that you loved the most?

I absolutely adore the response Abraham gave his son when he asked “Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” He answered him saying “God will provide for himself a lamb” (Genesis 22:8). Just as he was about to slaughter his son “Abraham looked up and there in the thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering INSTEAD of his son. So Abraham called the place THE LORD WILL PROVIDE.” (Genesis 22:13-14).

I read something quite interesting the other day….In the Middle Eastern terrain a thicket ordinarily referred to a thorn bush. I can just picture the ram stuck in the thicket, his head wrapped in the thorns. Notice the resemblance to our savior with a crown of thorns adorning his head as well???

God was faithful to provide a replacement for Abraham just as he has provided a replacement for us. Note here what John 1:29 says: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” God has indeed provided the lamb! “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

“The very heart of the gospel is realizing that God did not simply provide a sacrifice for us but instead of us” (Beth Moore). Can you imagine the great relief Isaac must have felt as he leapt down from the place of sacrifice? That should have been him up there but the Lord graciously provided something to take his place.

These words from scripture just leap off the page for me: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—“Romans 3:23-25 (New International Version)

WOW!!!  That should have been me upon the cross but because of the grace of God I did not have to get upon that place of sacrifice.

I love the words from the Thrice song Beggars “Don’t you see that everything is grace after all.” We have nothing to boast in. It is only because of Christ that we are able to have a hope in a future beyond our present circumstances.

Thank you Father for sending your only beloved son, whom you adored and delighted in,to be an atoning sacrifice for my sins. That should have been me upon that cross but you graciously provided a replacement. Thank you Jesus for loving me enough to suffer the horrible weight of  sin. May we never lose our wonder and admiration for the cross. I am so thankful for your grace. In Jesus name Amen.

We Are Far to Easily Pleased

“Therefore I will block her path with thorn bushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way…Therefore I am going to allure her; I will lead her into the dessert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor (trouble) a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came out of Egypt. In that day, declares the Lord, you will call me my husband; you will no longer call me my master.” Hosea 2:6,14-16

Allow me to briefly explain this verse if you are not familiar with the book of Hosea. God instructs Hosea to marry an unfaithful woman to give a picture of his love and redemption for Israel. This is such a beautiful example of God’s unconditional, agape love for us.

I love this story because it can so perfectly apply to our daily lives. Our God is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5). He is so jealous for us that he will do whatever it takes to keep us close to him. How refreshing and assuring it is to know that God will always keep our paths straight if we allow him to (Proverbs 4:11) and He who began a good work in us will carry it to completion (Philippians 1:6).

Often times, when God hedges us in and blocks our paths, we get frustrated and dissatisfied. We do whatever we can to peak over the hedges and get a glimpse of what we are pursuing while God is longing for us to just look up to him. Unfortunately our ears are less inclined to perk up and listen to God’s tender calling. He may have to lead us into the dessert, into the Valley of Trouble, for a time in order for us to hear his tender words of love being spoken to us.

I love what Pastor Glen Packiam once said:”Could it be that God allows the lesser blessing to be taken from our hands so that He might give us the greater ones? In our thick-headedness, we so easily and often chose the lesser blessings, often even at the expense of the greater ones.”

The greatest blessing, which we often times miss, is the blessing of knowing God. Nothing we consider blessings could ever compare to the surpassing greatness of being with Christ.

One of my favorite quotes from C.S. Lewis explains it well. “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

God has infinite blessings that he longs to pour out on his children but to receive the blessings God has we may have to sacrifice the lesser blessing. Although it can difficult we know that “God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” (Romans 8:28). Listen to the verse that precedes verse 28, “For God knew his people in advance and chose them to be like his son.” That is the greatest blessing.

To know Christ and be like Christ we must share in his sufferings but in doing so we will experience more joy than we could ever imagine. In John 16:33 Jesus said “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” God never allows us to endure suffering unless it has a much higher purpose and a much greater blessing.

“Sometimes God lets a stinging blow fall on your life. You bleed feeling the pain and your soul cries out in agony. At first you think the blow is an appalling mistake. But it is not, for you are the most precious jewel in the world to God. And he is the most skilled stonecutter in the universe.

Someday you are to be a jewel adorning the crown of the King. As you lie in His hand now, He knows just how to deal with you. Not one blow will be permitted to fall on your apprehensive soul except what the love of God allows. And you may be assured that from the depths of the experience you will see untold blessings and spiritual enrichment, you have never before imagined.” –C.W. Cowman

How wonderful it is to know that our God has untold riches and blessings in store if we would trust in him and whether the storm, trudge through the dessert, and keep on the straight and narrow path. Then he will return our vineyards and restore our hope.

I love the way the psalmist describes the infinite joy of sharing in an intimate relationship with God. “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” (Psalm 84:10).

Clothed in Righteousness

1 Samuel 18:1-4 tells the story of a binding friendship between Johnathan and David:

“The soul of Johnathan was knit to the soul of David, and Johnathan loved him as his own soul…Johnathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. And Johnathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David.”

A covenant exchange was a practice from ancient times in which two persons sealed a covenant by exchanging their clothing. This covenant was basically saying “I will become what you are, and you will become what I am, our souls will be knit together as one.” A beautiful picture of friendship.

One thing we must take notice of though is that Johnathan and David came from two very different backgrounds. Johnathan was a royal son of the King. He was probably dressed in some of the finest linens around. David on the other hand came from a meager background. He was a Shepard boy and a servant of the king. His cloak was  filthy from being out with the sheep all day. More than likely his clothes resembled rags.

Johnathan loved David so much though that he would willingly trade places with him and put on his dirt ridden,  sweat soaked, foul-smelling cloak.

This to me is such a beautiful picture of what Christ has done for us. He willingly put on a robe of sin in exchange for our salvation. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

This past Saturday I spent my day up at Skid Row in Los Angeles.  Most my time there was spent sorting through old clothes that were going to be passed out to the homeless. As I was sorting through them I barely wanted to touch the clothing with my fingertips. They were all splattered with a colorful array of stains (not a clue where they came from) and had a stench that was forever embedded in the fabric. I would never think of putting one of those filthy shirts over my head and trying it on for size.

Just think how absolutely disgusting David’s rags were, or better yet imagine how horribly gruesome our sin must look. Yet Christ willingly clothed himself in sin for our sake.

When David put on Johnathan’s robe he had a new identity, the son of a king. Dressed in the finest linens around he resembled royalty. I can just imagine David standing there probably feeling pretty wonderful about himself until he noticed Johnathan clothed in rags and realized that if it weren’t for him he would never be clothed this way. 1 John 4:10 says “This is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” He loved us even when we were clothed in our ugly sin. May we never forget the great exchange Christ made by putting on our robe of sin and clothing us in robes of righteousness!

“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10).