Hebrews 12:14 (NLT)
Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.
I know a lot of people that spent a lot of time in churches where salvation = justification only… And that sanctification was some sort of optional spiritual upgrade. Does this sound familiar to you? How does the idea of working to live a “holy life” and being sanctified confront that misconception?
Philippians 2:12–13 (ESV)
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
What does it mean to work OUT what God has already worked IN, without turning sanctification into earning God’s favor?
On Sunday, I said that sanctification is “who I am coming in line with who He says I am.” Do you get the sense that we tend to resist? Do we have areas where we want the declaration of holiness without the transformation? What does that look like?
Colossians 3:5–17 (ESV)
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Okay. That was a long one.
That passage starts off with the negative… Things to put to death. Then it moves on with the positive.. Things to put on. Which of these do you find difficult to “put on?” How does God use uncomfortable, daily battles to sanctify us?
Unpack this statement from Sunday: “Grace isn’t rest from the fight – grace is fuel for the fight.” What do you think that means, and how/why do we get this wrong?
1 Thessalonians 4:3 (ESV)
For this is the will of God, your sanctification…
How does that clarity reshape how you think about God’s will for your life—especially compared to how we usually define it?
On Sunday I also asked if we don’t pray against and avoid the very things that God uses to sanctify us. Is that right? Does that mean we should pray for adversity, for conflict, for difficulty?
Romans 6:11–14 (ESV)
11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
What practical steps can this group take to help one another live out freedom from sin’s power, not just belief in forgiveness?