Please see Parts 1 and 2 in which I have suggested that all people are issued three successive calls by God, the latter two being contingent upon successive acceptance of the previous call. These calls are respectively
- The call to Salvation,
- The call to Service, and
- The call to Sanctification.
In Parts 1 and 2, I have set forth my position on the first two calls. This entry completes the “hat trick.”
May I submit that Christians are sanctified by the Holy Spirit through the mechanism of their service? Please read the words carefully. The sanctification is solely a work of divine grace, not unlike salvation in that it is “. . . through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8b,9. (NIV.)
Having made that clear, I can assuredly state that no one ever grew his or her likeness of Christ by doing nothing. In Part 1, I said of sanctification, “’Sanctification’ is a theologian’s ‘fifty-cent’ word for ‘keeping on growing in Christ-likeness.” We “keep on growing in Christ-likeness” obviously by doing “Christ-like” things.
That sentence must come with a caveat. Christ is God and everything Christ does is “God-like.” Contra-wise, I submit that it is not in our nature to do anything that is even remotely “God-like; Only God can do “God-like” things. Paul writes in an extended explanation (imagine that,)
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. . . For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do…Romans 7:15,18-19. (NIV.)
It sounds as though Paul has himself in a quandary, yet, there is an answer found in John 5:19 (NIV,) “Jesus gave them this answer: ‘Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.’
Ray Steadman observes of this passage that Jesus,
. . . is looking at God the Father with an inner vision, and, seeing what the heart of the Father wants to do in a situation, he immediately obeys that.
I do not know quite how to describe this inner vision. Within his Spirit, somehow, an impulse arose which Jesus knew was of the Father, because it was in line with the character of the Father as he has revealed himself in his Word. Ray Steadman, “The Secret of Jesus.”
There are at least two ways to “see” what the Father (God) is doing. The first is to look with one’s physical eyes, process the information, and come to a logical conclusion that God is doing or has done something. Another way is to repeat the same process except through the “eyes” of one’s “Spirit-man,” the “Godness” or Holy Spirit Who lives inside true believers.
Having so seen, one, like Jesus, emulates what one has “seen” the Father do. When one does this, one is working with Christ, the “[F]riend who sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 24:18b. (NIV.)
Like I have previously done, I will resort to the military metaphor. The soldier who is a slacker and does not do his duty well is not promoted in rank. One could liken sanctification to the military promotion in rank. By doing one’s duty well, one is spiritually “promoted,” except that “spiritual promotion” is not a “reward,” rather it is the natural result.
To “close the loop” with the extension of the military metaphor, my wife, Susan’s, First-Cousin-in-Law (if there is such a thing) served our country valiantly as a soldier in Viet Nam. He lost the sight in one eye there, but he gained something arguably more valuable. He gained friends – buddies. Every year for the past decades, the remaining buddies have met to reunite – to be together again. Some of them he liked more than others, but one thing is sure, they would all have given their lives for their buddies – many in fact, did.
I have heard it said many times that soldiers may tell you that they are fighting for their country; their family; their way of life; “truth, justice, and the American way,” or any one or more of dozens of very good reasons. The truth, though, it is said, is that when it comes down to it, they are fighting for their buddies. Though the battle-hardened soldier would be hard-pressed to verbalize it, they love their buddies in the purest of all ways, the way of sacrifice.
Meaning no disrespect, familiarity, or sacrilege here, but merely metaphorically speaking, I offer that so it is with sanctification. When one chooses a life of seeing what the Father is doing and working alongside Him, one becomes “buddies” with Christ in the way that soldiers become such buddies. They love each other in a self-sacrificial way such that they would give their life for each other – Jesus did, actually. That is how one becomes “sanctified.”
So let it be written, so let it be done.
johnthebaptist15 