Sanctification

By Dr. Dave Burggraff
First appeared at SI on July 20, 2005. Original article and discussion thread.

Introduction

As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance. But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all conversation; Because it is written, “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (1 Pet. 1:14-16)

“I have found in many books many different ways of going to God and many different practices in living the spiritual life. I began to see that this was only confusing me…” (Brother Lawrence, seventeenth-century writer)

Visit your local Barnes & Noble bookstore, scan the shelves of a Christian bookstore in your city, or simply look at the covers of the past year’s Newsweek and Time magazines and you will see a resurgence of interest in “spirituality” within our Western culture and a renewal of interest in “Christian spirituality” amongst Christian believers. This has led Don Carson to point out that, “the current interest in spirituality is both salutary and frightening”—salutary because in its best forms this interest in spirituality is to be preferred over the philosophical materialism that governs the lives of so many people, frightening because “spirituality” has become such an ill-defined, amorphous entity that it covers all kinds of phenomena an earlier generation of Christians would have dismissed as error. Similarly Robert Rakestraw points out, there is a “crying need for a robust, Biblical theology of the Christian life that will refute and replace the plethora of false spiritualities plaguing Church and society.”

Having tried my trowel in a modest 3- by 4-foot plot surrounding our mailbox, I felt primed to take on a more sizable project. So, in a spurt of gleeful ambition, my husband and I declared war on the 100-plus feet of backyard over-brush, hoping to cultivate a small ridge for our first “real” flowerbed. Easy enough—or so this city girl thought. Eager as we get about first time yard endeavors, the road of “trial and error” has been well-worn. I am, however, pleased that the tidbits of horticultural knowledge acquired have delivered more than a greener thumb. Almost embarrassed to pen the obvious, three gardening fundamentals have captured my interest because of their striking correlation to spiritual realities. Humbled and enlightened, please bear with the amateur lingo.

Basic Fact #1: Neglected soil is hard to hoe.

From what I hear, our backyard flowerbeds were once flourishing with a variety of botanical beauties, each one carefully chosen for continual blossoms throughout the summer. Needless to say, hours of back-breaking work digging up bulbs and bushes confirmed the hearsay. Uprooting established plants or nature’s sporadic foliage is no sissy’s job. And just when you turn your back, more late-bloomers make their appearance, summoning another evening of labor. In comparison, our spiritual “garden” is already speckled with unattended, undesirable “foliage” that becomes more firmly rooted with each sinful indulgence. Hoeing up bad habits and weeding out pet sins will be a life-long, arduous process. Often, the discovery of what lay beneath the surface is daunting as you uncover what seems like an impossible extraction. Plopping pretty little seeds atop an underground “beast” will not suffice. Only those surrendered to hard work, in cooperation with the Holy Spirit, will cultivate adequate soil, well-groomed for lasting spiritual growth.

Republished with permission (and unedited) from Central Baptist Theological Seminary. (The document posted at Central’s website in August of 2010.)

Dr. Andrew David Nasellli (a.k.a. Andy Naselli), has completed some excellent doctrinal and historical study in the area of sanctification. How do believers grow to be like their Lord? What should they expect the experience of growing in holiness to be like?

Every believer experiences deteriorating attitudes toward God sometimes. Some believers are out of touch with their “inner man” and live with their heads in the spiritual sand. As a result, they may not recognize this tendency within themselves (and that is tragic). Denying reality is an old coping mechanism, but a dishonest one. Perceived or not, the attitude problem within us is real. Here are two issues related to these attitudes.

One sad but common sight is what I call “Christian brats.”

By “Christian brats,” I mean individuals who have been brought up in Christian homes, continue to attend or be involved in an evangelical church, but resent their faith as confining. They secretly wish that they had been born into a family of unbelievers so they could experience what “everyone else” is doing and not miss out on the fun. On one hand, such individuals may not have been born again by the Spirit of God; they are spiritually indifferent. On the other hand, I am convinced that many do know the Lord.

Being brought up in a fine Christian home has both advantages and challenges. Even with godly parents, children are not robots that can be programmed; they must choose to follow the Lord or not. We pray, hold our breath, and hope for the best. So much is in God’s hands.

Reprinted with permission from Faith Pulpit, November/December ‘05

^{Note: This article is reprinted from The Faith Pulpit (July/August 1996), a publication of Faith Baptist Theological Seminary (Ankeny, IA). It appears here with some slight editing.}

There is a great deal of confusion today regarding what is involved in victorious Christian living and what makes it possible. Some of the answers being given out are plainly wrong, and many others are only partially true. It will be in the teaching of the Scriptures that God’s answers will be found. It is not possible in this brief treatment to mention everything which could be said, but a framework will be developed to note God’s wonderful provisions for us in this area of victorious Christian living.

Provision #1: The Work of Jesus Christ

The death and resurrection of Christ are at the very heart of the gospel (I Corinthians 15:3-4) “Christ died for our sins … and He rose again the third day” the Apostle Paul declares. How are these benefits applied to us? Again, the Apostle states, “To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Romans 4:5). It is by personal trust in what Christ has accomplished through the shedding of His blood and His bodily resurrection that salvation is appropriated. This is God’s gospel; yet there are false gospels abounding, such as the sacramental gospel—”I need the Church’s sacraments in order to be saved”, the Iegalislic gospel—”I must do something or obey some set of rules in order to be saved”, the whole gospel—”Social involvement is necessary in order to be saved”, or the full gospel—”I must have an emotional experience with the Holy Spirit in order to be saved”. The Bible’s attitude toward diverse gospels and their proclaimers is clear: “If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:9).

One of the main reasons why there is uncertainty about Christian living is due to the fuzzy thinking about the Gospel and the significance of trusting in Christ’s death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins. There are times when tolerance may be a virtue, but this is not true when it comes to Biblical teaching.