Sanctification
Teaching on Sanctification for LOCC
Goal for today
– Theological understanding of sanctification
– out necessary parts of sanctification
– help to sanctification to others.
– understanding of sanctification to our lives.
Defining Sanctification
“Sanctification brings the soul into harmony with God and the laws of its own being, and there must be peace, and there can be in no other way.” – AB Simpson. Wholly Sanctified.
• Sanctification has three parts according to Simpson:
•
•
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Sanctification is the constant reminder that nothing gets wasted. God uses all of our jars-of-clay-moments to make Him like His son.
The of Sanctification
• Sanctification is not a secondary issue. It is primary.
• Your understanding of sanctification will define how you talk about and work out spiritual formation in your church.
• The Theology of Sanctification will touch just about everything you do as a pastor and church leader.
• How have you seen the theology of Sanctification applied in real life in your positions and churches?
1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 (ESV)
• one of the 4 primary statements on Christ in CMA
Sanctification to Christ
• Positional with the believer in salvation. their relationship
• Definitive Sanctification
• This is the place of the believer’s life with Christ.
• We are set apart in Christ by Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV
2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV
Ephesians 2:4–10 ESV
• But the act of regeneration is not full sanctification. We are placed in Christ and called to follow Him.
• So we talk about our work, our part. We have to keep separate the ideas between effort and earning. We aren’t earning anything in sanctification, we are binding ourselves to Christ continually.
“Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning.” Dallas Willard
Hebrews 10:14 ESV
• How can you help people understand the both/and of sanctification?
Holiness
• Sanctification is about more and more like Christ.
• We do that through identifying with Christ and less and less identifying with the things of the world.
• Simpson states there is a contrast between separation from evil rather than disintegration of evil.
• God will deal with removing evil on the earth.
• Our lives are to be led with ourselves from evil.
1 Peter 1:16–19 ESV
• How do we maintain this position of holiness in Christ without becoming legalistic or making legalistic demands of others?
The CMA Views two perspectives on sanctification: and
Progressive
• are we formed into the image of Christ? It happens through the day in and day out taking up our cross and following Him.
• We are to our lives in such a way that Christ is formed in us through our habits, actions and relationships.
• What does it mean for us to be formed in Christ’s image in our day to day actions?
Romans 12:1–2 ESV
Spiritual Disciplines.
• Name some of the spiritual disciplines.
• How do you personally practice spiritual disciplines?
• How have you helped others to practice spiritual disciplines?
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2 Corinthians 7:1 ESV
• What is your daily reminder of Christ’s love and goodness in your life?
Crisis:
• If the progressive is the day in and day out then crisis are specific points in our lives that end up further defining our relationship with God.
• The word “crisis” literally means “.”
• These are the moments when we have utilized all of our resources and have nothing left to offer.
• They are the hardest moments but the richest.
• The Israelites in the desert.
• The crisis moment is the Peter Principle.
– The Peter Principle is the theory that we will always move toward the level of our own incompetency.
– We have moments of our lives when what helped us get to where we are won’t get us to where we need to be.
• Starting Job in MA
• God shows us that in crisis and allows us to know Him more deeply through the process.
Eucatastrophe
• This is a phrase coined by JRR Tolkien in his essay Fairy Stories.
• In the essay he talks about the place where the hero in a story can go no further. That they are not able to complete the task in front of them.
• When this happens, Tolkien developed a place for grace in the story where something else is introduced in order to help the hero finish the work in front of them.
• Eucatastrophe means, “a good turning of events.” As in when the story turns toward a better ending.
• This is the Eagles, in Lord of the Rings, picking up Samwise Gamgee and Frodo Baggins on Mount Doom after depositing the ring into it’s center. They were finished but the Eagles saved them. Eucatastrophe.
• What does this have to do with sanctification?
• The eucatastrophe responds to the crisis and response of the mercy and power of God to rescue us.
• In a crisis we see the work of God in such a way that we respond to the crisis as a good turning.
• Question: Where have you experienced God’s eucatastrophe in your life?
• The goal is always to move toward in Christ
• But it still takes grace.
“The sinner is not the one who uses a lot of grace… The saint burns grace like a 747 burns fuel on take off.” Dallas Willard
• question: Let’s talk about deconstruction. Is there any connection with deconstruction and sanctification? Why or why not? What may be missing from deconstruction in order to make it functional?
Submission
Crisis leads us to a .
• We have to decide what we do with crisis.
• And God leads us through crisis in order to surrender to Him.
• As we are led through crisis, we have the opportunity to surrender to God who can actually do something beyond what we can do.
Philippians 3:7–11 ESV
Question: What anchors you when you are thrown off balance?
• We will reach for the closest thing around us.
• Once we have surrendered we are giving our lives over to God for His work and His keeping. Let’s talk about filling and control.
Filled with the
• To grow in sanctification is to be controlled by the Spirit and empowered for witness by the Spirit.
• To submit to God is to give control to Him. This happens in all three areas: salvation, progression, and crisis.
• We are filled with the Spirit upon regeneration.
• We are filled by the Spirit in our daily lives.
• We are filled by the Spirit in crisis.
• We walk in the Spirit no matter what is going on in and through us.
• The life of walking in the Spirit.
be
What does it mean to be filled?
Acts 1:8 ESV
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
• To be filled with the Spirit is to
• receive power
• be witnesses.
John 16:13–14 ESV
• To be filled with the Spirit is to
• Hear from Christ and what He has said.
• To be guided into all truth
Galatians 5:16–26 ESV
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
• To be filled with the Spirit is to
• not the desires of the flesh
• bear fruit
How often are you to be filled with the Spirit?
Ephesians 5:18 ESV
• “ being filled”
• This is the ongoing filling with the Spirit, day in and day out.
Baptism of Spirit
• AB Simpson would state that being baptized is a subsequent action to salvation. This is good to use to distinguish. Because it is not just in salvation that we are filled with the Spirit of God. But that there is another moment when the Spirit of God baptizes us.
• To be baptized means to be placed into.
• To be baptized by the Spirit is to be placed into the Spirit.
•
• This is an additional and external sign of God’s work in your life.
• This is an external evidence of God’s work in your life. A manifestation of His Spirit in our lives.
• how do you distinguish filling of the Spirit and baptism of the Spirit?
Desire
• The idea of being continually filled means that our desire is for God and what He offers.
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Philippians 3:12–14 ESV
• It is not only to be filled but desire to continually be filled.
Empowered
• To grow in sanctification is to be controlled by the Spirit and empowered for witness by the Spirit.
Walk in the Spirit
Romans 8:9–11 ESV
• As we are filled with the Spirit and walk in the Spirit, we are changed and formed into Christlikeness. But it is the Sprit’s work in our lives that allows us to be .
• We are changed and renewed through the Spirit’s work in our lives. Far beyond anything we could have done for ourselves.
• Questions?