I’m Made Holy! – How Can This Be?

Scripture Reading:  2 Thes 2:13-16

 

A group of us women have been studying The Fruit of the Spirit from Gal 5:22-23 for many weeks. We began noticing that, while each of the facets of the fruit (eg Love, Joy, Peace, etc) was something produced by the Holy Spirit in a Christ-follower, there were also commands or directives from other verses to the Christian to be loving, joyful, peaceable, etc.  For instance, take the facet of Love.  In 1 John 4:9, we see God’s love is manifested in us; and in Matt 22:37, 39, we read, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.”  One verse shows it is God’s love in us, while the other is a command to love.

 

This was the first in a series of times God brought this concept to me:  If I am to grow to maturity, I need to recognize that both the Holy Spirit and I have parts to play in the process.  My next experience with these ideas came when I was preparing a talk on “Hope.”  It provided a name for how I am to live out my sanctification toward maturity.  In his book The Transforming Power of the Gospel (NavPress, 2012), Jerry Bridges coined the term “Dependent Responsibility” to describe the joint nature of my becoming holy.

 

·         The responsibility part of this term: work out daily the life you have been given in Christ (see Phil 2:12).

·         The dependency part: depend on the Holy Spirit for success (see Phil 2:13). He is the primary agent of our sanctification, without Him, we cannot experience the life and power of Christ in us.

 

In our reading today (which is my latest encounter with this idea, we note that in verse 13, both God’s part and our part in the process of our sanctification are mentioned.  The Phillips Translation of the New Testament says it this way, “He has chosen you from the beginning to save you, to make you holy by the work of His Spirit and your own belief in the truth.”

 

It seems to me as if God has been using a microphone to get my attention about something specific regarding being holy.  What is it? I’m not exactly sure, but I do know it has lead me to focus on it more these days, and I continue to ask, “Lord, what do you want me to know?”

 

This is what I’ve learned so far by listening to His answer:

·         The Holy Spirit’s role in my sanctification (maturation process) is to provide power, means, and desire in me to be more like Jesus.

·         My role is to trust God to sanctify me, present my body to Him, and yield to the Spirit – in other words, depend on Him.

·         My role also is to choose to do what’s right (obedience) – in other words, take responsibility for what I think, do, and say.

 

Holy Spirit, as You continue to bring thoughts of sanctification, maturity, holiness, please give me Your wisdom in what further understanding I need in this area of my life. Amen.

When Knowledge Grows Up

“It was just before the Passover Feast.  Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.  Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.  The evening meal was being served...  Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing and wrapped a towel around his waist.  After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet...” John 13:1-5

All children dream about what they want to be when they grow up. Take young Knowledge, for instance.  When Knowledge grows up, he wants to be a doer.  After all, he has a good role model ...

Think of all that Jesus knew about his last week on earth. He knew the time had come for him to leave this world. He knew Judas would betray him. He knew Peter would deny him. He knew the Jews would condemn him. He knew the Gentiles would mock him ... insult him ... spit on him ... flog him ... and crucify him. And he knew his Father in heaven would forsake him for one most crucial moment in history.

He knew all of this because he knew the scriptures, which had foretold it. And he trusted that ultimate authority with his life.

So now that his time had come, what did Jesus do? He “showed [his disciples] the full extent of his love”: he washed their feet and taught them humility.

In just a few hours, he would face betrayal, denial, condemnation, torture and execution, so how could Jesus possibly focus his attention on serving and teaching his friends? He could because also knew this: the Father had put all things under his power, he had come from God, and he was returning to God. And knowing the peace and certainty of these promises, Jesus was free to continue serving others in humility, right to the end.

There comes a point in our spiritual life at which “knowing” must mature into “doing.” After Jesus finished washing the disciples’ feet, he said to them, “You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.... Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

Our “Teacher” has taught us his truth; we are forever equipped in heart, mind and spirit. Our “Lord” now sends us to do; the world all around us is our mission field to serve as we are called ... day by day, moment by moment. To some, we bring encouragement. To some, we bring food. To some, we bring salvation. To some, we speak truth into confusion. To some, we simply listen. To all, we bring Truth and Life.

And just as Jesus found peace and freedom in the certainty of scripture, we also serve in the peace and promises of God. We take strength from Paul's assurance to the Philippians, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)”

In most of us, Knowledge has learned enough from the Teacher to go and serve its Lord. It is time for us to let loose the apron strings and let Knowledge go out and be what it has always wanted to be ... what it was raised to be ... a doer.

(To see today's devotional reading, John 13:1-17, 31-35, click here.)

Growing up in liberty

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.  1 Corinthians 13:11

Somewhere along the way, I began to picture parenting as a figurative rope that we slacken over time.  When our children choose selfish or disrespectful ways, we pull them closer, exerting our authority and guiding them toward wiser paths.  And as their behavior matures, we loosen our grip and watch them flourish in newly found dimensions of freedom.  While there are times of tightening our grip or even pulling back, overall, parenting is a process of recognizing maturity and celebrating it with liberty.

When we are born of the Spirit, we begin new growth, much like children.  It is a steady process of walking away from our sin nature and its preoccupation with self, sojourning ahead in our new nature, which is Christ in us.  As Paul tells the church in Corinth, spiritual immaturity looks a lot like envy, boasting, pride, rudeness, self-centeredness, and unforgiveness (see 1 Corinthians 13).  These are the ways of our "childish" sin nature, which can never be anything more than these.

But God calls us to grow up in our new nature, which is Christ living in us.  And what does this maturity in him look like?

Knowing the peace of our salvation, we leave behind useless attempts at self-righteousness and trust completely in the sufficiency of Christ, who is our life.

Knowing eternal life for us has already begun, we rest in the hope of Christ who creates new "today's" forever.

Knowing forgiveness and newness of life, we mature in the love of Christ and celebrate him in the liberty that is ours in him.

Spiritual maturity looks a lot like faith, hope and love.  And the greatest of these is love.