The Key to Sanctification: Look to Christ
Have you ever read the commands of Scripture and noticed…well…just how much you fail to meet them? Maybe you’ve read the fruits of the Spirit and become discouraged at how few of them come naturally to you, even after being a Christian for some time.
I recently re-read the American classic To Kill a Mockingbird and was struck by the interconnected themes of identity and behavior. Throughout the novel, interfering Aunt Alexandra nags protagonist Scout Finch to remember her true identity and act in accordance with it. Alexandra constantly frets that Scout is not reflecting well on the family name or becoming the southern young woman she should be. Yet, the endless hounding to remember the status of her forbearers produces no real transformation in Scout; it only burdens her with the reality of just how far she is from reaching her aunt’s standard. Throughout the novel, Scout does progress and change in all the ways that really matter, though. Her childhood naivete blossoms into empathy and integrity, not because of her aunt’s fussing, but in the context of being known and loved by the person she esteems and cherishes most—her father, Atticus Finch.
Unbalanced Scales
I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called… (Ephesians 4:1)
I wonder how many Christian women read this exhortation from the Apostle Paul and feel a bit like Scout Finch being lectured by her polished and pretentious aunt. Paul essentially says, “Remember who you are, and act like it!” And we know this is not unreasonable. Multiple Scriptures (Luke 6:43–44, James 2:14,17), as well as our own hearts, tell us we should live in ways that rightly reflect our identity in Christ. But we also know, quite painfully, that this is easier said than done. When we snap at our children, gossip with a sister at church, complain, wallow in self-pity, or succumb to anger, vanity, envy, or lust, we feel the disconnect. And it’s disheartening. The unbalanced scales of who we are in Christ (Eph. 2:19–21) compared to our actual attitudes and actions each day can lead to discouragement or a striving to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps and just do better. But is this the secret to our sanctification—to progressive growth and change in the Christian life?
Know the Love of Christ
Immediately preceding his command to “walk worthy” (Eph. 4:1), Paul prays for the Ephesian church. Amazingly, he doesn’t ask God to help these believers walk in obedience. Instead, he prays for the Spirit to help them know the love of Christ in a deep, transformative way that far surpasses head knowledge. Paul wants the Ephesians to grasp the immeasurable benefits of belonging to Christ: “…that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, length, height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:17b–19). Paul knew that lectures and law don’t change people; love does. Guilt trips don’t narrow the gap between our position and practice; grace does. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). So, how do we come to love Christ? Well, our love is kindled by the Spirit through the power of the gospel—the proclamation of how much Christ first loved us (1 John 4:19). The initial response to this love awakened is repentance and faith. But our love for Christ is fanned into flame in the context of a growing relationship with him. We don’t grow in obedience simply by striving harder in our own strength; we grow by gazing at Christ—the beauty of who he is and all he has done for us through his life, death, and resurrection. We must marinate our minds in the glories of the gospel by regular participation in the God-ordained means of grace—Bible intake, prayer, corporate worship, and the ordinances. The more we truly see and experience Christ’s love for us through these means, the more our affections for him grow, and we are spurred to obey as a result.
Obey by Faith
In one scene of To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout fiercely raises her fists to sock a schoolmate for an offensive comment he made about her father. Suddenly, though, she remembers that Atticus specifically asked her not to fight. Scout reluctantly drops her fists, turns, and walks away with calls of “Chicken!” from her opponent ringing in her ears. This is the first time in her life Scout has walked away from a fight, and she didn’t do it because she was trying extra hard to be good. She did it because she loved and trusted her father. Obedience was the proof.
“To obey by faith is to do what God commands from a place of rest and trust—rest in the work Christ accomplished on the cross and trust that he will finish the good work of transformation he’s begun in our lives.”
While true growth and change don’t happen by self-sufficient striving, they do happen through an active choice to obey the Lord moment by moment. Later in Ephesians, Paul details how believers are to “walk worthy” by putting off the deeds that characterized their lives before Christ and putting on righteous deeds instead (vv.4:22–32). This is what it looks like to fight sin with repentance, and this is the continual activity of the true Christian. While it requires our full, on-going effort to battle remaining sin, we take hope by remembering that even this is ultimately accomplished by God’s power at work within us (Eph. 3:20, Phil. 2:12–13). The God of the Bible has always required obedience, but he has never been pleased with detached, performative obedience. Our Father wants children who obey from the heart out of love for him (Ps. 40:6–8). God is after the “obedience of faith” (Rom. 16:25–26), and our God always provides what he requires. To obey by faith is to do what God commands from a place of rest and trust—rest in the work Christ accomplished on the cross and trust that he will finish the good work of transformation he’s begun in our lives (Phil.1:6, 1 Thess. 5:23–24).
Perfectly Balanced Scales
If we belong to Christ, God promises to one day fully close the gap between our position and practice. When he resurrects and glorifies us upon Christ’s return, the scales will be perfectly balanced (Rom. 8:29–30). What a promise! What a motivation to live into our identity as true children of God right now. Yet, when we fail to obey and painfully feel the disconnect, may we lift our gaze to Christ in repentance and faith, confident that his grace carries us from beginning to end. Sisters, press on in the obedience of faith with this in mind: Only the love of God in Christ tells us who we really are and transforms us into who we were made to be.
RESOURCES ON SPIRITUAL GROWTH
IMPORTANT NOTE
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