Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

Are We Helping Or Hindering His Process

Jude 24-25 – Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

THEME OF THE DAY: ARE WE HELPING OR HINDERING HIS PROCESS.   There are two works of grace that occur in the Christian.  The first is what we may call “the grace of justification.”  This is a once and for all work of God declaring us “righteous” or “just” as we receive Christ Jesus as our Savior.  Being justified by grace through faith in Christ is not a process, but a proclamation (Romans 3:21-26Romans 4:5Romans 5:1). It has nothing to do with our performance, conduct, or worthiness.  It is all about God justifying us based on the performance, conduct, and worthiness of His Son, the Lord Jesus.  The other work of grace in the Christian we may call “the grace of sanctification” and has two aspects.  Like justification, it is a declaration by God.  The word “sanctify” means to “separate for a specific purpose.”  When we are justified, we were also “set apart” for God to be His and for His purposes.  Yet, the primary work of sanctification in the believer is a process; the process of becoming more and more like the Lord Jesus.  It is strongly implied in today’s scripture and a truth carried throughout the New Testament.  However, unlike justification, in the process of sanctification, we play a part; a huge part.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). One sees the “mysterious harmony” of our Christian life is all of grace, yet, also a call for us to work; not a work to gain salvation, but a work because of salvation.  And in the process of sanctification, working out our salvation in conforming to the image of Christ, our primary work is submission to the Spirit of God by a life of obedience in the fight against sin.

So, how are we doing on our part in the sanctification process?  Are we helping it by submitting to the Word and saying “no” to every temptation to sin?  Or are we hindering the process by ignoring the Word and satisfying the desires of our flesh?  This choice is one we make each day and throughout each day.  To ensure we help, not hinder, our growth in grace and Christ-likeness, the Apostle Paul gives some practical “how to” instructions in his letter to the Ephesian believers – “But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:20-24).  Notice the two step process – put off sinful behavior of our past life and put on the holy characteristics of the new life.  The key application is not the two acts, but what is the bridge linking them.  Do we see it?  It is found in the phrase, “be renewed in the spirit of your minds.”  The process of sanctification, conforming to the image of Christ, doesn’t begin with our activity or behavior, but our thinking.  Our Christian life always starts in the mind, goes to the heart, and then moves the will.  Do a study sometime on the mind in the New Testament.  It will really open us up to the predominant place the mind plays in our walk with the Lord.  King Solomon states, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7 – King James Version).

Yes, God is at work sanctifying us to become like His Son.  As He does so, we are responsible to respond.  Take time and look into our lives; are we helping or hindering this process?  How we answer will be seen in how much we are becoming like the Lord Jesus.

PRAYER: “Lord, help me to learn a life of submission to Your work in me is my primary calling.”

QUOTE: “If we are fighting sin, we are cooperating with grace; if not, we are hindering grace.”