Understanding Grace-driven Sanctification
How abiding in Christ fits us for love, fellowship, and ministry
Our relationship with God is manifested in our relationships with others (1 Jn 4:7-13; 19-21). As John Piper says, “
It is my greatest joy to experience the in-filling grace of God overflowing from me for the good of others.
” This is ‘reflexive love’—which overflows from our satisfaction in Christ (1 Jn 4:19). The habitual consciousness of who God is toward us in Christ in all His mercy and love is a major part of our equipping to love the brethren (Col 3:12-13).
Through ‘the word of His grace’, and union with Christ we are made “fit” to wear the garments of grace in order that we might serve the Body. The “garments of grace” are described especially in Ephesians 4-5 and in Colossians 3-4. The “garments of grace” are the Christian virtues and behaviors which constitute our Christ-like behavior toward one another in the Body of Christ.
The language used by the Apostle in these chapters is “put on” (put on like a garment the character qualities of Christ). Put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience (Col 3:12b). Our practical sanctification is lived out by replacement behaviors as we put off the old behaviors and choose to “wear” the garments of grace in our relationships with believers.
In this way, others see that we have become partakers of Christ and of grace. The Gospel of grace provides the rationale for us to love sacrificially; to be spent on behalf of the brethren; to live for the edification of others. (Illustration for put off; put on: the college student who was sprayed by a skunk had to put off the defiled clothes and put on fresh clothes before he could enter the house.)
The word of grace gives us the reasons why we are to identify ourselves completely with Christ’s purposes: The believer is a member of Christ’s Body; as such each member is to contribute his part to the maturation of the Body of Christ as a whole (Eph 4:15, 16; Col 2:19).
Each member of Christ’s Body is to commit himself or herself to the Great Commission which is not only directed at evangelism, but equally at discipleship. And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man that we present every man complete in Christ (Col 1:28). (See the book, Instruments in the Hands of the Redeemer: People in need of Change helping People in need of Change, by Paul David Tripp). The mindset is, “The Lord placed me in the Body so I can be here for others.”
Such radical identification with Christ and His purposes requires that our affections be captive to the grace of God in the Gospel (to be captivated with the Gospel of God’s grace is synonymous with having a Divine View Point perspective. Only then does the believer gladly make the purposes of Christ his own purposes and his life’s direction.)
Without the Gospel of grace as our focus, there can be a tendency to preach principles and then recruit volunteers for ministry while the sense of obligation is weighing heavily upon the consciences of our listeners. As a consequence, church members can easily interpret ministry activity and “orthodox output” as the very soul and heartbeat of the Christian life (our ‘bottom line’).
Indeed, a form of this busy-ness for God is what happened at the church of Ephesus (Rev 2:1-7). Productivity “ate up” devotion to Christ as the highest value. If we are to be faithful to the logical relationship between justification (the Gospel) and sanctification, then we will want to follow the pattern set by the Apostle Paul. An understanding of “who we are in Christ” and our devotion to Him will have to precede “what we do for Christ” (Eph 4:1-3; Col 3:12ff.).
The Gospel of God’s grace is our constant corrective; it keeps liberating us from the pressure to “measure up” in order to be loved and accepted by God. Preaching Christ in the Gospel of grace is the key to an “identity-based” ministry that puts who we are in Christ ahead of what we do for Christ.
When we preach the Gospel to ourselves daily, it keeps reminding us of the holy character of God, of the loving heart of God toward us in Christ, of who we are in ourselves as sinners, and of who we are in Christ. The beauty of reckoning our union with Christ is a growing recognition of His Person (Phil 3:10ff.). With that growing realization of Christ comes our willingness to be radically identified with Him. In other words, as we know Christ better, our desire is to live out His purpose for us.
Our life as a disciple of Christ has far-reaching effects. Fulfillment of the biblical ‘plan’ for the Church to reach the world depends upon individual believers reckoning and living out their vital connection to Christ as it is unfolded in the Gospel. We could outline this in the following manner:
UPWARD: Gospel-centered abiding in Christ (fellowship with the Lord by the Word—Jn 15:5)
INWARD: The Body of Christ edifying itself (spiritual growth through discipleship—Eph 4:14-16)
OUTWARD: Outreach in evangelism and missions (fulfill The Great Commission—Matt 28:18-20)
V. Ongoing faith in the Gospel allows us to
reckon Christ’s righteousness imputed to
our account (2 Cor 5:21).
To be fallen, and yet bear the image of God, is a problem that cannot be repaired by anything in the creation. Our carnal bent is to dress in fig leaves instead of reckoning our righteousness in Christ. The Apostle Paul reminds believers in Galatians 3:27 that, “You have clothed yourselves with Christ.” When Christians lose their wonder at God’s grace, it’s often because they have been seeking to clothe their souls with something other than Christ.
Only Christ our Substitute as the perfect image of God can restore us to our created purpose (Col 1:15). As Bible students, we know where the problem of our guilt, brokenness, and nakedness of soul first began. When our first parents sinned, they lost their standing before God. A palpable ‘nakedness’ filled their consciousness. But this nakedness and embarrassment was not physical alone—they felt an inner shame of soul which made them seek estrangement from God. They could not raise their eyes to heaven (See The World According to God, by Greg Johnson, p. 140).
The absence of a covering for their souls drove our first parents into hiding and plagued them until God graciously ‘sacrificed’ the lambs from which their garments were made. Now since the fall, it has been a universal experience to crave a covering for our naked souls. The pride or life says, “I can provide my own covering!” Each man or woman is drawn to the covering of their choice: money, power, reputation, pleasure, atheleticism, morality, education, beauty, youthfulness, etc. (1 Jn 2:15-17).
Closely associated with the pride of life is self-justification. Self-justification is the action of seeking to secure or defend one’s intrinsic worth. “Self-justification divides the world into armed camps —whether tribal, national, local (warring)” (Paul Zahl, A Short Systematic Theology, pp. 54-56). The apostle Paul summarizes the behaviors joined to self-justification in Gal 5:19-21 (“the deeds of the flesh”). Self-justification is a proper description of sin which issues from the ‘principle of possession’ (that is ‘I demand to control my own value’)—self-justification says in effect: “I possess intrinsic differentiation from the other.” Self-justification is an attempt to hold our part of differentiated territory of independent, self-possessed, or contained being (Paul Zahl, A Short Systematic Theology, pp. 54-56). This is of course the polar opposite of experiencing the gospel each day—experiencing the gospel daily involves: Understanding the seriousness and guilt of my sin—which leads me to treasure the grace of Christ—which causes me to abound in gratitude— which produces goodness and obedience in my life. This daily experiencing of the gospel engenders new love in me which gives strength against sin and love for the brethren. This is the word of His grace at work in me performing gospel formation (Acts 20:32).
Paul dealt with the fleshly wisdom manifested by the Corinthians’ pride of life. 1 Corinthians 4:6-7 is the ‘divine atom bomb’ that devastates their false notion of self-possessed differentiation. Here’s the reason why: all true differentiation in God’s sight, all individual identity is a gift of sovereign grace by which the self is freed from the self by means of a different measure—the measure of God’s grace.
In other words, the differentiation recognized by God is the differentiation He affects by bestowing grace and a new identity in Christ. Only God can justify a person; and He does so graciously —basing it entirely upon Christ’s work on our behalf (1 Cor 1:29-31).
Only Christ can break the grip of original sin. It must be by substitutionary atonement—the innocent for the guilty (1 Pet 3:18; Gal 3:13; Rom 8:3-4; 2 Cor 5:21). Substitution is a one to one transfer of moral guilt. (See Jn 19:30; Lu 23:46-49). Christ performed this transfer in freedom—He desired to do it (Jn 10:18). The transfer of guilt from one being to another (a divine being) is the content of the concreted good news—for the guilty there has been a burden-bearing transaction (Ibid, pp. 56-57).
Because God is just, He requires the death of innocent life in our place. God requires perfection from His human creatures. We know that the self that we are—exists under judgment—our reasoning plots ways to escape judgment (“if only I were another, etc.” “I have a history as a sinner I cannot escape —but I will try to escape it”). The blood metaphor (Lev 17:11) is based on the concept that blood carries life and transfers life. (i.e. the Mercy Seat under Levitical worship) (Ibid, pp. 60-63).
The robes of the saints are ‘washed in the blood of the lamb’ (Rev 7:13ff.). As we are attached to Christ the benefits of His blood are attached to us. The message of divine grace is amazing: The Judge finds the accused guilty, pronounces a capital sentence, descends the throne and pays the ultimate price— the Judge dies in place of the criminal. God is free to undertake such a reversal (Jn 1:29, 36)—He is able and free to effect a moral transfer (Jn 10:18).
Clinical and pastoral counsel experience reveals a gripping paralyzing fear of exposure (judgment). Paul says of himself, ‘sold under sin’—that person must pay the price of death (Rom 7:14) (Ibid, pp. 63-67). Biblical self-confrontation (self-criticism) is only possible by means of Christ’s atonement (self-confrontation is another way of saying ‘belief and repentance’).
Self-criticism is a mirror of Christian liberty. We meet God in the holy of holies as those who have been forgiven. Thus, we can be ruthlessly honest about our sin (James 1:23-25). Transparency with God in faith and repentance is a function of freedom from judgment. Freedom from judgment is the ground of Christian liberty—which has the potential to deliver us from our cherished defenses—defenses which harm our relations in the Body of Christ (Ibid, pp. 80-81).
Only the gospel can end the fear that keeps our defense mechanisms in place. The gospel literally dismantles the fear that generates our self-protective devices. Our fear generates our fleshly defenses (it is nearly always the fear of judgment). The atonement alone can achieve freedom from judgment. Submission to God’s act at Calvary results in the breaking of our chains. Christ’s shed blood and the resurrection are the foundation for self-criticism and repentance (biblical self-confrontation). The result is personal courage and heroism in dealing with what remains of our indwelling sin (Ibid, pp. 82, 94, 100).
The gospel of the cross must not be allowed to slip from its central place in our lives. How easy it is to allow the gospel to slip from its central place and status in our lives and into the realm of theory. How may we prevent this? Answer: Live upon Christ by faith as He is offered in the Gospel. The gospel starts my day with my wretchedness, God’s love, Christ’s substitution. That changes everything about my perspective. It overturns the world’s wisdom—that wisdom from below that is controlled by selfish ambition.
The earthy, demonic ‘wisdom from below’ is what comes so natural to us (James 3:13-18)—it is our ‘default wisdom’ unless continually overturned by the power of the gospel.
The wisdom from below is what moves us in our social relations to self-justifying differentiation manifested as: over-under, upsmanship, distinctions (man-made), pecking orders, systems of honoring men, cliques, people grading themselves into groups based on achievement, economic status, power, influence, financial independence. “That which is highly esteemed by men is detestable in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15).
Only the cross can strip us of our natural penchant for man-made distinctions and keep our self-exalting flesh pinioned to the cross. The pride of life believes that man-made distinctions count as much as, or more than, the divine distinctions made by sovereign grace. As Paul rebuked the Corinthians, “. . . What do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it” (1Cor 4:6-7)?
Overflowing gratitude for the grace of Christ was the cure for the Corinthians’ penchant for making human distinctions. Thus to be gospel-driven is to eschew the pride involved in comparing self with others (2 Cor 10:12). Instead of our distinctions being a basis for ‘over/under’ differentiation; in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 our differences are treated as the very ‘glue’ that makes the Body of Christ function in interdependency.
Through the cross applied to the saints, the Lord is building a diverse Body in which differences are complementary producing a dynamic, interdependent organic community (1 Cor 12:12-27). Where the cross, the gospel, and completeness in Christ are regularly exposited in their dynamic of personal transformation; it will guard against a return to pride of life with its self-protective, self-justifying wisdom from below (James 3:14-16). Only the gospel can keep that tendency in check.
Differences among the members (in interests, education, income, experience, race, background, maturity) ought to be embraced as an essential part of our complementary richness. Without that knowledge, we may find ourselves ‘huddling’ based upon our education, income, and interests. “Huddle” we should, but not merely to seek out the most comfortable social arrangements; but for the purpose of confessing our sins to one another and for the purpose of stimulating one another to love and good deeds (James 516; Heb 10:23-25).
Christ intends that the diversity of the Body (animated by His Spirit) help drive its commitment to the bond of peace—to unity (1 Cor 12:20-25; Eph 4:1-3). The pride of life is destructive to body life because it suggests that the Body may be divided up between, “those who are achieving God’s standard, and those who are not,” between “those who are the spiritually dependent, and those who are the spiritual ‘providers’ needing little or nothing from others”—the spiritual ‘haves’ and ‘have nots.’
The cross is meant to slay our distinction-loving pride of life. The cross is God’s corrective ‘lens’—it gives us God’s view of the world, of our lives, and of our relationships. The more the cross is in view; the more our man-made distinctions fall to the ground. The cross is the great leveler of men. Apart from the application of the cross, the pride of life comes in and says, “Wow, brother so and so has something to boast about. Look how he has gotten on in life. His position and achievements are certainly enviable” (James 2:1-9).
The pride of life envies a ‘covering’ from below; from the creation and the creature—instead of from the Creator. Jesus warns us that society has a complex system of spurious values to which men appeal in order to feel complete. Here are the words of Christ regarding self-justifiers, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15).
So serious is the matter of ‘what makes us complete’ that Jesus sets up an antithesis between proposed sources of ‘completeness’. To buy into man’s system of completeness is to reject God’s work in Christ as the source of one’s acceptance with God. Again Jesus blisters self-justifiers by proclaiming, “How can you believe when you receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?” (Jn 5:44) (Article, “Pride of Life Destruction” by Jay Wegter).
The behavior of the self-deceived Laodiceans of Revelation 3:14-22 typifies the universal tendency of seeking a counterfeit clothing of the soul. They boasted that were rich, wealthy, in need of nothing. What a shock it must have been when Christ the Lord, with eyes like a flame of fire (Rev 1:14ff.), peered into their hearts and declared them to be wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.
The mindset of the Laodiceans was the polar opposite of utter dependency upon Christ. Their boast was in things which they imagined would clothe their souls. As a result, not a small part of their blindness involved abject ignorance of their desperate need of daily divine grace. The mirror of God’s Word alone can keep us from self-deception in this matter.
How does God deal with our sinful tendency to seek “clothing” for our souls in things other than Christ our completeness (Col 2:10)? The answer is that God through His Spirit and His Word exalts Christ in all of His offices (Prophet, Priest, and King; Logos, Lawgiver, Loving Redeemer, Lion of Judah). In the gospel, the Father displays His Son to the saints so that they will come to understand that in all of His offices, Christ ever lives to represent us and bring us to God. The Father convinces us that apart from Christ we are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.
The safest place for the believer is to be constantly undergoing a “grace awakening.” Welcome views of personal sin, of personal depravity, dereliction and utter dependency—let them drive you to Christ. Invite the Sunrise from on high to shine upon your life (Luke 1:77-79). When you consent to be clothed by Christ alone; you will find the exit to the “grey castle of self.” (Yes there is some pain involved; but it is primarily to our pride. How fortifying this is to spiritual health to be scraped down to bedrock so that we are motivated anew to build upon Christ alone from grace motives.)
Paul placed all of the Corinthians’ carnal behaviors under the microscope of God’s wisdom in the cross and found each one of them to be symptomatic of the world’s wisdom; a wisdom antithetical to the cross of Christ (James 3:13-18). The Apostle stated in his Corinthian letters that the message of the cross-centered life is the spiritual diet of the mature. But only those who are sick of the world’s wisdom are ready for this diet (1 Cor 2:15-3:3).
The cross, the diet of the spiritually mature, produces substantial spiritual growth. The cross-centered believer increasingly perceives that his relationship with the Lord is the foundation for all of his other relationships.
Thus, the man or woman constrained by Christ’s love will have all of his relationships transformed because his motives will not be dominated by self-protection and self-enhancement (the flesh by natural instinct is committed to protection from judgment, criticism, diminishment, as well as to self-advancement). Instead of an agenda issuing from a self-directed life; the controlling, constraining love of Christ will equip the believer to love God and others (2 Cor 5:14-15).
If we are to excel in love and servanthood; if we are to be characterized by honesty and realism; and by heroism in dealing with personal sin, we will have to be in that habit of preaching the Gospel to ourselves. Only the man or woman who is constrained by Christ’s love and who lives a cross-centered (Gospel-centered) life is capable of dealing with personal sin at the depth enjoined in Scripture—the depth commanded of the true disciple of Christ (1 Jn 1:6-10).
Any attempt to “manage” our remaining depravity by a means other than the Gospel will produce destructive side effects. To seek to clothe our own souls by carnal strategies will tend to produce a host of masks, defenses, and personal agendas that keep us from being unhindered vessels of Christ’s love to the Body of Christ. As the Scotsman said, “There’s a stone in the pipe”—Christ’s love will not be free to pass through us to others.
Jesus said that His true disciples would not love their lives in this world (Jn 12:24-26). (The carnal love of one’s own life in this world includes all of the community-destroying, cherished, fleshly defense mechanisms employed to guard ourselves from others.)
By contrast, that man or woman who lives a sin-judged life by walking in the light will stand out amongst those who do not live in this way. Only the cross-centered life has the guaranteed power to transform our relationships (Phil 2:1-8; Rom 15:1-6).
The message of sin and grace is the starting place. 500 years ago Luther wrestled to the point of weariness with the problem of how a totally depraved person could be completely accepted by God. Once by God’s mercy he discovered the wonder of justifying love—Luther could exclaim with uncontainable joy that the believer is justified, yet a sinner.
This is precisely where so many believers are still stuck. “Justified, yet a sinner” has never taken hold of them in a life-transforming manner. Therefore they cannot be heroic in dealing with personal sin and failure. Why? Because deferring judgment, defending against condemnation, and protecting from perceived criticism is still a higher priority than fellowship with God and the saints.
Only the person secure in Christ’s justifying love can face his sin with courage; only the individual who solidly appropriates the word of justification can afford to hear the worst things about self. Apart from deep confidence in Christ’s justifying love—judgment, condemnation, and criticism (perceived or real) make our defense mechanisms go ballistic. Figuratively speaking, we are ready to cut off, attack, or “kill” the person who brought our failure to light and made us feel diminished.
This non-evangelical response to hearing about our sin is a destructive force that can tear fellowships apart (Gal 5:15). The foolish, and frequently the immature, cannot tolerate admonishment; it is the wise man that welcomes correction and shows gratitude for it (Prov 9:8).
For this very reason, the saints are in constant need of taking the good word of justification into their souls. If the Gospel is not their “food,” the temptation will be overwhelming to manage fear of judgment by carnal methods (the world is more than happy to oblige our longing to clothe our souls—it has a thousand counterfeits and “scorecards” by which we may pronounce ourselves “O.K.”).
If we are not made whole by Christ’s righteousness imputed, then we will attempt to find our completeness in other things. This self-deception must give way in order for the gospel to transform us. In order for gospel formation to take hold, the members of the Body of Christ must determine to be examined by the proclamation of God’s Word. Apart from the news of redemption in the cross, we tend to shoot the messenger. If the atonement is not our daily hiding place, we will have false refuges from judgment—and every false refuge has its social consequences (note how destructive the Corinthian “fig leaves” were to true community in that local church).
The believer who preaches the Gospel to himself each day will be equipped for heroism in dealing with personal sin. He will gladly make it his daily practice to ‘consent’ to be clothed by Christ’s righteousness, and thereby live by faith in Christ (Gal 2:20). As a consequence, his relationships will be characterized by supernatural love, humility, and unity.
“Ask God to change your heart so that, like Paul said in Galatians 6:14, you can say, ‘May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ’” (C. J. Mahaney, The Cross-centered Life, p. 23).
Christ’s fulfillment has decisively met my failure. I daily exercise faith in the Word of His grace, the gospel, instead of trusting in my flesh. Living by faith in Christ exerts a powerful effect in equipping me for ministry in the Body. Again I affirm the ‘Gospel order’:
- What God expects and requires of me (Christ-like love and service)
- Why I can’t and won’t do it in my own strength and resources
- What I am, can be, and should be by His grace (Christ fulfilled perfect righteousness for me)
FOR DISCUSSION:
- What must happen in our Christian walk before we are willing to see ourselves as ‘instruments in the hands of the Redeemer’ for changing lives?
- What will alter our perspective so that we begin to see all of our relationships as opportunities to move people closer to Christ?
- How does consenting to be clothed with Christ each day equip me for Body life?
- Why does feeding upon the gospel produce a willingness to confess our sins one to another?
- What biblical truths constitute the spiritual diet of the mature?
- How would living upon Christ’s love motivate us to wear the ‘garments of grace’?
- Only the gospel can disarm our fear of judgment. How does liberation from the fear of judgment (through the gospel) equip us for transparent, trusting relationships in the Body of Christ?
- How does the gospel impart the courage to practice ongoing self-confrontation and repentance in the believer’s life?
- Can you identify areas in your own life where the pride of life draws you away from the gospel alone as your standing, acceptance, and status before God?