Community Update

By Jason Moore

Pastor, New Creation Presbyterian Church, Wentzville

I often talk to people who say things like, “I don’t feel
that I’m a very good Christian” or they lament not making enough progress in
the process of sanctification. What is sanctification? I’ve been reading the
book “Jesus + Nothing = Everything” by Tullian Tchividjian. He points out a
common mistake that Christians make: “We tend to think of the gospel as God’s
program to make bad people good, not dead people alive.”

I’m a pastor. I have a Master of Divinity degree from one of
the finest seminaries in the United States. I have been in ministry for nearly
15 years. I’ve been reading the Bible for many more years than that. And yet, I
fall into the trap of measuring my life by my level of “goodness.” If I can be
a better person than I was yesterday than I am obviously making progress in the
process of becoming a better Christian.

This is not sanctification. Sanctification is not my quest
to achieve personal holiness. I’m not even sure what “personal holiness” means,
but it sure seems like my default mode is to pursue some sense of personal
progress. Am I getting better or not? If I’m not, then I must not be a good
Christian. Or maybe I’m not a Christian at all...

The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks “What is
sanctification?” and answers with this: “Sanctification is the work of God’s
free grace by which our whole person is made new in the image of God,  and we are made more and more able to become
dead to sin and alive to righteousness.”

My idea of sanctification is small. I wonder if I’m getting
better. I measure by short list of what I think is most important to God. It’s
mostly a “what not to do” list. My idea of how to achieve sanctification is
centered on me. I wonder, “What do I need to do today to be better than I was
yesterday? The whole thing is radically me-centered. My standards. My goals. My
achievements by my own abilities.

Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace. He will
sanctify me. The focus of sanctification is not to make me the best version of
myself I can be. God does intend to make me a new person by restoring the
brokenness that permeates my heart, mind and soul. But, it’s not about me. It’s
about Christ. It’s about being dead to sin (the sin that Jesus conquered on the
cross) and alive to righteousness (the righteousness given to me as a gift of
God).

Tchividjian goes on to say: “Sanctification consists of the
daily realization that in Christ we have died and in Christ we have been
raised. Life change happens as the heart daily grasps death and life. Daily
reformation is the fruit of daily resurrection. To get it the other way around (which
we always do by default) is to miss the power and point of the gospel.”

God puts to death our sin, our selfishness, our
self-reliance, our idols (e.g. success, comfort, security, approval, money,
power, control) and all those things that keep us from embracing the
resurrection and the life that come from Christ. He declares us righteous and
then works out that righteousness in our lives by giving us the heart of
Christ. He doesn’t just help us check off our “what-not-to-do-list”, but
empowers us to live and love according to his grace. The process of
sanctification is bigger, messier and more beautiful than our quest to be
better people.

We need to be pruned

God actively prunes his people so that they might be made
alive to the righteousness purchased for us by Christ. If you’ve ever grown
roses or known anyone who has then you know how important this process is. When
the gardener prunes his roses, he removes dead wood and encourages new growth.
The pruning improves air circulation which helps fuel the plant’s growth.
Pruning allows the gardener to shape the rose in a way that will display its
beauty. Roses that are not pruned may still grow, but the good gardener will prune
the rose so that it might show its true beauty and share its fragrant aroma with
all who come near it.

This is sanctification. Pruning. The master gardener cuts
off the old wood that keeps us from growing. He shapes us so that we might
display the beauty we were created in. He makes it possible that new growth
might emerge so that others might be exposed to the fragrant aroma of the
gospel as God makes us alive in Christ.

We do get things turned around. We focus on ourselves. Focus
on getting better. We use prayer, Bible study and worship as a means to
strengthen ourselves so we might be better Christians. God does want us to get
better. Spiritual disciplines are means by which we connect with God. But, we
cannot make ourselves better. Daily reformation does not prove that we have
been resurrected. Instead, daily resurrection helps reform us daily.

Dying then living. That’s the pattern of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Sacrifice, suffering, and struggle are never easy. But, before we can
truly live our sin, selfishness and idolatry must die at cross. As God prunes
those things away, we can live more and more in the power of the resurrection.

By God’s free grace, we are made new in our whole person as
God makes us dead to sin and alive to Christ. That’s sanctification. If we want
to make progress then we must get the order right.

Progress comes as we learn that living means dying.