Good Day, Meetpastordan Readers… sorry this is a bit late today, but I had some minor surgery this morning at St. Luke’s Hospital at 9:00. At an annual visit to my dermatologist a month ago, he discovered a mole that looked suspicious, so he removed it and sent it to the lab for testing. It came back as pre-cancerous, so I met with a plastic surgeon this morning and he cut away the surrounding tissue to be sure there were no cancerous cells left behind. It was about a half-hour procedure and I’m home now feeling absolutely great…and ready to get on with my blog.
I want to share this story with you that happened at a recent dinner party. I was talking to a life-long friend about a mutual friend who was terminally ill, and I made the comment that we could both take solace in the fact that he was born again and knew Jesus Christ. I went on to say that thankfully we didn’t have to worry about his eternal destiny. His next comment was a complete surprise to me, especially since he is knee-deep into his religion and is extremely active as a teacher in his church. He said, “Well…I certainly am worried about my eternal destiny! I know I still sin, so I probably won’t get into heaven.”
Unfortunately I didn’t have with me a copy of the book “How Good is Good Enough” by Andy Stanley. I usually carry a supply in my car to give to people who have the same misconception, so consequently what followed was a long discussion about the Gospel of Grace. I gave it my best effort. We talked at length about 2 Corinthians 5:17, “You are a new creation in Christ. The old is gone; the new has come”; we talked about God’s love for us, even when we are still sinners, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners” (Romans 5:6); and we even talked about “justification” and our new identity in Christ. But he kept saying, “Yes I’ve heard all of that, but I still can’t believe I will qualify for eternal life.” It was exasperating, until I finally came to the conclusion that he was more comfortable being an unworthy victim than a Child of God who has been set free by the atoning work of Jesus Christ.
I know most Christians have heard the “churchy” terms, “justification” and “sanctification”, but what I’ve discovered is their understanding of those terms is sketchy and incomplete at best. And it’s easy to see how that could happen since each word involves multiple concepts. But a clear understanding of these concepts is imperative if one is to successfully grow in their Christian walk. So my intent now is to shed some light on this subject in what, I hope, is a very simple way.
The moment we make a decision to accept God’s Gift of Grace – Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior – a transformation takes place within us, and it happens instantaneously. 2 Corinthians 5:17 now describes us. “We are a new creation in Christ.” We now have a new identity in Christ: we are grafted into God’s family and are now a Child of God; our sins are forgiven; we inherit eternal life; we are worthy and acceptable in God’s sight, not because of anything we did to earn that status, but because Christ paid our “sin ransom” on the cross; we are Saints, meaning because we are in Christ, we are declared by God to be sin-free. (That is why when we fall short in our process of “sanctification” – and we will, God doesn’t count it against us as a “sin”. Why? Because we are covered with the blood of Jesus. The sin issue ceased to exist when our new identity became, “in Christ”); we are heir to all the covenants and promises in the Bible; and we are heir to all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly realm.
And 2 Corinthians 5:17 also tells us, “the old is gone”, meaning our “sin nature” that we inherited at birth is taken away; and “the new has come” meaning we now have the indwelling “Holy Spirit” to empower us to be the person God created us to be. In other words, we are no longer in bondage to our “sin nature”. Wow! How awesome is that. Now what you must to grasp from this description of “Justification” in this paragraph and the paragraph above, is that this transformation takes place in us instantaneously and gives us our new identity in Christ. At this moment we “have everything we need for living a Godly life.” (2 Peter 1:3) However… this is just the first step in the life-long process of “Sanctification”.
God’s Will for our life is two-fold. First and foremost he wants us to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. That is the only way we can be “justified” (made right with God), and equipped with everything we need to succeed in this journey of Sanctification (the second part of God’s two-fold plan for our life). And what does this journey entail? It is the process of becoming more Christ-like, and this is a journey that never ends.
First we must grow, not only in wisdom and knowledge of God’s Word and in Jesus’ love for us, but in our relationship with him. We are called to be His light in this dark world. In other words, Sanctification about growing as a Christ-follower and making intentional choices in our daily life that bring honor and glory to God. That doesn’t sound too hard, right? Well, if it weren’t for the fact we live in a fallen world; and if it weren’t for the fact we still live in these fleshly bodies with all the mental strongholds that were created to serve our own pleasure before we became a Christ-follower; and if it weren’t for the fact we have a formidable foe in satan who is hell-bent of ship-wrecking our best efforts, it probably wouldn’t be toooo hard. But as it is…it’s virtually impossible!
But we are given hope when we read 2 Peter 1:3: “As we know Jesus better, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. He has called us to receive his own glory and goodness.” And Ephesians 2:10 speaks to us in the same spirit: “For we are now God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Jesus Christ, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” God’s salvation plan for us is perfect. Not only has he called us to live to a different standard than the world around us, but he has equipped us to do it by “Justification”. Our new identity in Christ is our weapon against all evil because it includes the indwelling Holy Spirit to be our guide, our comforter, and to lead us into all truth. 1John 4:4 tells us, “But you belong to God, my dear Children. You have already won your fight with evil, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit lives in this world.” (satan) Do you get that? We ARE ALREADY VICTORIOUS…we just have to know that and stand on that truth!
So to return to the opening scenario with my friend at dinner. Had he actually understood his identity in Christ and the power that identity afforded him, he would have understood that the sin issue he was so worried about is a non-issue for those in-Christ. The sin issue was settled once and for all 2000 years ago at the cross. But because we are covered with the blood of Jesus, even when we fall short of God’s glorious standard, God sees us as a Saint who has stumbled, not as a sinner. All he wants us to do is get up and continue the journey down the path of Sanctification and to be molded into the image of his Son.
Our God is an Awesome God!
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May God bless ya…
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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