Growing in Godly Character
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At the moment of salvation, several things happened TO us at once
First: God regenerated us
produce anew
5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
This means God imparted new life to us, the Spirit of Christ
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
Jesus referred to this as being ‘born again,’ because something new is birthed in us
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” 4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” 5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’
Second: God justified us
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
This means that God declared us to be righteous before Him
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. 21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,
This refers to a legal standing before Him,
But, we are still not sinless- we sin
Paul tells us about his experience with this truth
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;
What do we do with this dilema
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
Third: God adopted us (Rom 8:23)
23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
This means that God made us members of His own family
By this act we become legal sons and daughters of God together with the blessings that go with it.
Ephesians states it again....
5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—
All these things happened TO us at the moment we believed, and we had no part in it
This was God’s work alone and it happened instantly and once for all time.
There was a fourth thing that happened at our salvation.
Fourth: God sanctified us.
Unlike the first three actions which were done by God alone, sanctification requires our participation.
sanctification has three stages, which we’ll now examine.
A. Three stages of Sanctification
A. Three stages of Sanctification
Stage 1: sanctified in our past
Stage 1: sanctified in our past
This, like regeneration, justification and adoption, happens TO us at the moment of salvation
11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
But what does it mean?
The first step towards complete freedom and sanctification were initiated by God at salvation!
Here’s how it happened …
We all inherited Adam’s sinful nature at birth
5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
We were “in Adam”
22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
which is why we all die (physically not spiritually)
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—
This sin can be holding a grudge or murdering your neighbor.
(globe example)
Paul said our nature or tendency to sin is defined as enslavement
17 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you.
In other words,
we had no ability to live godly lives pleasing to God
Which is why Paul said we were by nature, children of wrath
3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
But here is what happened at salvation –
our old self with its Adamic sinful nature was crucified in Christ
6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—
Now, when the old self was crucified, we died to sin
Romans 6:2 (NIV)
2 We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
What does that mean?
Death is the ending of a relationship, but not of existence
When we died to sin our relationship to sin ended forever
Romans: An Introduction and Commentary 2. The Meaning of Baptism (6:3–14)
those who are united by faith to Christ are reckoned as having been crucified with him when he was crucified
What part of us was crucified?
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
The sinful nature that was on you at birth and needed to be atoned for/paid for was done through Christ’s death on the cross. He paid our debt.
SIN - THE FLESH - SLAVERY
Sin was still alive, but it could no longer be our master
14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
People looking to be accepted by God by following the rules and requirements God gave them were never able to fullfill them because of the sinful nature in us.
3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.
Every year they had to come and graphically display through a sacrifice that they have sinned and are in need of atonement and forgiveness
This creates the need to work harder to fullfill the law…work harder to be acceptable to God by being everything the law required
THAT IS SLAVERY!
But there would always be a law they failed at, a righteousness they could not fullfill....the law constantly told them they were sinners…death.
Romans Commentary
Paul did not argue that the law no longer had any validity (you still had to fullfill them) but that what it required is now attained through grace
(see Fitzmyer, Romans, 447–48).
We have been delivered from Satan’s dominion of bondage
13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
The presence of sin was NOT broken – the power of it was.
But sin’s power to dominate you (give you no other choice) was broken through your death (when God crucified your old self and nature) and resurrection in Christ!
7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
Sin has now become an outer force tempting us from without, rather than an inner force controlling us from within!!!
You are no longer bound to serve or obey sin!
No one was helping you
We now commit sin when we willfully allow ourselves to act independent of God
But there is something now working against that…
Someone is fighting for you now, fighting in you against sin’s temptations and influence.
The death you died on the cross in Christ opened up AMAZING power in your life.
After Christ’s death and he was put in the tomb…what happened?
Ressurrection Power
Stage 2: being sanctified in our present
Stage 2: being sanctified in our present
But not only did God crucify our old self with the old nature
He then replaced the old Adamic nature with a new divine nature
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
And that divine nature is Christ’s nature – that’s our new self!
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Christ is now the internal power in our lives, giving us the desire and ability to obey God and carry out His will
13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
So, if there aren’t two natures (adamic and divine) battling within us, then why do we still act and react as though sin was still in control of us?
Didn’t Paul say …
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
We see just how much this battle within frustrated Paul …
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
But the struggle isn’t between the old nature with its propensity to sin, and the new divine Christ nature with its propensity to righteousness!
Paul points us in another direction …
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
Remember, if you are born again, your old Adamic nature is DEAD.
It was crucified in Christ by God!
You now have a NEW nature within you – the divine, Christ nature! Period.
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
HOWEVER, you still have something causing you trouble called the flesh and notice what Paul had to say about it …
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
While the old Adamic nature was something God had to crucify for us,
The FLESH is something WE are to crucify because the two are not the same thing.
So then, what IS the FLESH?!
When you and I were created we came with a conscious and sub-conscious part to us – the subconscious is a gift to us!
E.g. When you learn to drive you have to consciously think about how to execute all the elements of driving safely.However, as you practise it, doing it over and over, it turns into a good habit which is ingrained in the FLESH – these are the neuro-pathways in the brain.
Which is why you can drive to Sackville and then wonder how you got there. Your subconscious got you there, while you were consciously thinking about something else!
That’s how we do most of the tasks in life – like dressing ourselves, taking showers, eating, walking, talking, biking, and so on.
It’s a really good thing, or we’d spend inordinate amounts of time and energy doing routine things and would get very little done.
NOW, when sin entered the human race, our old nature’s leaning towards sin caused us to form sinful habits or patterns which were ingrained in our FLESH as well!
You were influenced by
the generations before you
the books you read,
the movies you watched,
the music you listened to,
and traumatic events you experienced
People you were in relationship with
Job, neighborhood
You learned to survive, cope and survive in this world apart from God and His ways.
One of the most critical stages of development and learning is from birth to five years old. The first five years of child development are crucial to their health, well-being, and the overall trajectory of their lives in various ways.
Studies show when a child experiences neglect at a young age, it often manifests into deep-rooted issues that stay with them throughout the child’s life, especially making an impact on the child’s emotional intelligence, emotional development, social skills, and ability to play with other children.
Children who do not receive proper treatment from their parents during these child development stages are prone to:
Behavioral issues
Low self-esteem,
Lacking a sense of belonging
Developing depression
Mental health issues
Addictions
These influences plant themselves in our flesh
They create the destructive behaviors that we automatically began to follow and revert to.
When you were born again, you became a new person with the new divine nature.
You have new desires in your inner being
Paul was referring to this new nature in him when he said...
22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;
Though your sins were washed away and the old nature crucified,
We bring to our new faith all the old destructive habits and thought patterns which remained ingrained in our FLESH!
So, while your new self with its divine nature desires to live dependent and obedient to God,
Your flesh automatically reverts to the patterns of action and response in your subconscious.
And THAT (FLESH) is the part you and I are responsible to crucify!
Before we were saved we were hopelessly imprisoned by our sinful nature (from Adam) that was constantly training our flesh to act in sinful ways.
After salvation we can still choose to walk “ACCORDING to the flesh!”
13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
But, as we saw earlier, we are to crucify the FLESH!IMPORTANT:
This crucifying of the flesh’s sinful patterns (sanctification) takes time
We do this through...
Confession
Deliverance
Emotional healing
Prayer
Obedience to Christ
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
There is a process to all of this:
18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.
Stage 3: will be fully sanctified in the future
Stage 3: will be fully sanctified in the future
Though Stage 2 of sanctification won’t be completed in this lifetime,
once we die and go to be with the Lord, it will be completed.
49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
C. How to grow in godly character
C. How to grow in godly character
As we noted in the introduction, our present growth in sanctification is something that is done by the Spirit and us together.
9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Notice, first, what Paul tells us to put off:
sinful practices such as anger, wrath, malice, slander, etc.
But Paul doesn’t stop there: he doesn’t want us to just take off the sinful practices, but to replace them!
He says we’re to put on the new self, which is being renewed in the image of its Creator.
What is this image He wants us to be renewed or recreated in?
The Lord Jesus Christ!Galatians 4:19 (NIV) My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you …. (also 2 Cor 3:18)
And Paul said something similar, to the church in Ephesus
Ephesians 4:13 (NIV) … until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (also: 2 Pet. 1:3-5)
Paul is talking about putting on or forming the character of Christ in us – Christ’s character traits!
Peter, using the term “godliness,” says we can partake in the divine nature, which is Christ (v. 4 below)
2 Peter 1:3-7 (NIV) His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires
Both Paul and Peter are saying that God wants to form Jesus’ character in us!
Then, Peter goes on to name what some of these character traits of Christ are …2
Peter 1:5-7 (NIV) For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.The Scripture uses a variety of interchangeable terms to refer to these traits: fruit of the Spirit, righteousness, godliness, holiness and even love.Here follows a sampling of the interchangeableness of these terms.
Paul’s “fruit of the Spirit” list (Gal 5:22-23), includes 4 traits just seen in Peter’s “godliness” list (2 Pet 1:3-7 above): goodness, self-control, kindness, and lovePaul’s “love” list (1 Cor 13), includes 3 traits found in Paul’s “holiness” list (Col 3:12-14): patience, kindness and forgiveness (or keeps not record of wrongs)Paul’s “holiness” list (Col 3:12-14), includes 4 traits in his “fruit of the Spirit” list (Gal 5:22-23): kindness, gentleness, patience and lovePaul’s “righteousness” list (Eph 4:24-32), includes 3 traits in his “holiness” list of (Col 3:12-14): kindness, compassion and forgiveness
So, when we talk about godliness, or character, fruit of the Spirit, righteousness, holiness or even love, we’re talking about the same thing!
When Christ’s character is being shaped in us, our ingrained behaviors, our default actions and reactions will be like Jesus
How do we know if we have a particular trait or not?
It’s a pattern of behavior: we do not have the trait if we do it one or two times.
It’s a pattern of behavior under stress: only a test (some kind of stress – often ongoing) will reveal it
It’s a pattern of behavior when no one is looking
So why should I want to grow in godly character? Why should I want to grow in godliness, holiness and righteousness? Why would I want to have the fruit of the Spirit in my life?