Sanctification and Unity in Christ
Blade Small Group In Home Sermons • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Just about a week ago my daughter Pa’Shence competed at the state track meet in her two main events, the 100 Hurdles and the 300 hurdles and she made all state in both events placing 4th in the 300 meter hurdles and 7th in the 100 meter hurdles. In addition to that she was able to secure an athletic scholarship so while she runs track in college it helps to pay for her schooling. These accomplishments were goals that Pa’Shence set long before achieving them.
See Pashence was not always top eight in the state in her events. In fact her sophmore year which was her first year running in high school she did not qualify for the outdoor state meet in either the 100 or 300 hurdles but still performed well for a sophomore. However after being out of qualifying for both events by just one place, Pa’Shence decided to put in the time and effort that it takes to qualify for state, get all state and earn an athletic track scholarship where she can run in college while it helps to pay for her schooling.
In order to meet these goals Pa’Shence started to train differently. Instead of taking summers off and only training and competing during the regular season, Pa’Shence started training year round with small breaks for recovery. Instead of getting up at 7am to go to school, Pa’Shence would get up at 4:30am to do weights and morning training at 5:30 am before getting ready for school. She would also compete in meets all over the nation off season against some of the fastest girls in the nation to help her improve and develop a certain mentality towards competition.
In making these changes Pa’Shence reoriented her priorities in life so that she could obtain the goal of becoming all state, and earning a scholarship to run in College. Pa’Shence started out good but not elite, but because she gave everything that needed to be given she had improved to becoming an elite athlete in her events.
Today we are talking about spiritual growth in the life of a believer and the mindset that we should have as those who are followers of Christ. Just as Pa’Shence prioritized her lifestyle to achieve these athletic goals and she grew and improved over time.
Believers are to also reorient their lives to be fully dedicated to following Christ and the Holy Spirit will continue to transform us over time making us more and more like Christ. This is called sanctification.
Big Idea- Believers are to have the mind to live fully for the Lord, growing in the knowledge of Him and in righteous living.
Big Idea- Believers are to have the mind to live fully for the Lord, growing in the knowledge of Him and in righteous living.
Take Aways
Take Aways
Even though believers do not reach perfection in this life, they continue to strive to live a life of righteousness.
Living for Christ requires us to forsake the love of the world and the things of the world and to pursue Christ with all that we have.
Mature believers lives show that they work to live a life pursing righteousness; this mindset unites believers in Christ.
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
How many of you have met a saint that was born Holy? In their eyes once they said they were a follower of Christ nothing that they do can be wrong? This person thinks that they have recieved instant perfection. Do you know anyone like that?
When I was younger growing up going to church this was my perception. I witnessed alot of people who said that they were Christian but they did not acknowledge where God had brought them from, where he was taking them through and where he was taking them to.
Instead they put up the appearance that they have already reached a state of perfection.
That is not what Paul is doing here in Philippians 3:12, in fact he is doing the opposite. He is showing humility and honest self reflection. Paul is letting us know that he has not yet reached perfection but he is in a state of growing and improving in his walk with the Lord.
In this life we do not reach perfection in that we do no wrong. But instead we go through a process of growing spiritually learning what is right and true and then doing so.
This process is called sanctification and it is not done through our own power or might but it is done through the power of the Holy Spirit and the work that He does in our lives.
that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
So here we see that the Holy Spirit sanctifies believers.
In this sanctification there are three stages. There is salvation, sanctification and glorification.
Salvation is the first step in sanctification and that is when the Holy Spirit Draws us to himself and we believe putting our faith in Christ, repenting from our sins and following Him.
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
So here we see that God draws us to him through His spirit .
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
So here Romans 10:9 lets us know that we acknowledge that Jesus is Lord, that is Lord of every area of our lives, and we believe the Gospel then we have salvation.
There is nothing that we do to earn salvation it is given to us.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
Salvation but it is given to us through Gods Grace.
The second part of sanctification is the process of Sanctification. This is the process where God refines believers and perfects them growing them in righteousness and living a Holy and pure life unto the Lord.
Here the Holy Spirit does the work of refining, however we as believers have a responsibility in this and it is to walk after the spirit and not after the Flesh. Jesus shows how this is to be done when he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.
When we are talking about the Flesh, what that is, is our base desires apart from Christ. Our flesh is selfish and wants to do whatever makes it feel good, whatever taste good, whatever looks good is what the flesh wants. The problem of this is that our fleshly or bodily desires have been corrupted by sin so the desires of the flesh have selfishness, greed and wicked desires of a corrupted heart attached to them.
Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.
Here in the passage where we see the Holy Spirit lead Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. We see that the function of the Holy Spirit is also to do battle with the Flesh.
In the sanctification process we are to walk in the Spirit who will lead us to do the things that are in the will of God. And we are not to do those things that are the will of the flesh.
I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
So before we are drawn to the Lord and we are being sanctified we walk in the flesh. While we are walking in the flesh we show symptoms of walking in the flesh and the bible calls these symptoms the works of the flesh.
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Now when we walk in the Spirit and follow the Spirit we are doing the Will of God and we show a different kind of behavior. This is called the fruit of the spirit and this is outlined in Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
As we go through the process of sanctification this is what we grow in.
The third phase of sanctification is Glorification. We do not obtain that until the return of Christ then we get our heavenly bodies.
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
Jesus was the first to have a glorified body. When he was resurrected he was in his eternal form and had his forever body. When we are resurrected we will also have our Glorified forever bodies. These bodies will not be corrupted by sin and will not have a sin nature attached to them.
So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.
It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
So this glorification is the end of the process of sanctification, when we are no longer becoming more like Christ but we will be pure and Holy like Christ.
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
Even though we do not reach Glorification and perfection in this life, we continue to strive to live a life of righteousness. And in this we walk by the spirit and not by the flesh.
Back to our main text.
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Here Paul is giving us the method to living a life for Christ, he is telling us how to reach the goal which is to be in the presence of the Lord forever. This method was demonstrated by Jesus and how He lived His life in being obedient to the father unto death.
but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
In order for us to live for Christ wholly or completely we must commit ourselves to Him completely. We cannot hold on to hindrances and idols that are in our lives that pull us away from Christ and diminish us from having a mind to be able to give everything up for the sake of Christ.
When an athlete is competing in a sport the athlete has to be conditioned for that sport. I will use track and field for this example. If an athlete was planning on competing in an event then the athlete would need to be conditioned and in shape for this event. Part of being in shape is loosing any excess weight that would hinder the athlete from running as fast as they can, jumping as high as he can or leaping as long as possible.
This is the same with living our lives for Christ except there is not off season. We are to lay aside all hindrances and distractions that will take us away from keeping our mind on serving the Lord.
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
In Philippians 3:13 Where Paul talks about forgetting those things which are behind, he is not saying to forget where the Lord has brought you from. What he is saying is that we are not to desire to go back to the sins and the lifestyle that God has brought you from.
But rather we are to share our testimonies encouraging other believers and sharing the Power of God to non-believers.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples!
In verse 13 and 14 of the main text when Paul is talking about pressing toward the mark or the goal. He is talking about living a life completely devoted to living for the Lord. He is talking about doing this with a mindset of giving all that we have all the way until the end.
We are not to love the world or anything in it more than Christ and we are to pursue Christ with everything that we have!
Back to our main text
Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.
Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.
Earlier we talked about sanctification, and that it is the process of being made more like Christ or being made Holy, and this process is done by the Holy Spirit. It is our responsibility to walk after the Spirit and do the Will of God by walking in the Spirit and denying the flesh.
Through this process the believer should grow and mature spiritually.
My wife and I have Six kids, and our children range from 5 months, to 17 years old. Between those numbers we have four different stages of life development. We have an infant, two children in the early school stage, two pre-teens and one who is an older teen approaching the adulthood stage of life.
Each stage of life exhibits a different level of maturity and we can see it in our house based on their actions. Our 5 month old is not speaking english yet, she also does not walk or drive a car. This is because she is in the infancy stage, because she is a baby she has to drink milk, sleep quite a bit and learn through experiencing the world around her.
However our two early school aged children are a bit different, they can now talk and walk, they can do some chores around the house and know how to eat using a fork and a spoon. They are also social and are starting to form relationships with friends outside of the house. But they are not able to work a Job, drive a car or get married because of their maturity level and stage of life.
Now we have two more who are pre-teens. They can walk and talk, they can form relationships with people and communicate with them regularly. They can also do chores and even make some meals to eat. However they cannot drive a car, or buy a house or get a full time Job supporting a family. Why? Because they have not reached the level of maturity to be able to handle these things.
We have one older teen who will be an adult on paper soon. She is able to drive a car, work a job, and cook food. Our older teen is much more independent than the other children in the house because she has a higher level of maturity in some of these areas of life.
Just as we can see the stages of life and growth and maturity in the lives of people. There should be growth and development in the life of a believer spiritually.
In Hebrews 5 Paul addressed a church that had known the gospel for some time and who were supposed to be growing in the gospel and teaching others, however they had not, although they were older in age they were spiritually immature because they had not put into practice what they had been taught.
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Here when the text says those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil the author is letting us know that they have used what they were taught. They followed the Word of God being led by the Holy Spirit to be obedient to the Word of God.
Someone can know all the things about the Bible and Theology, but not be spiritually mature because they have not practiced what they had been taught or what they know.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;
for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
If you are a believer then you acknowledge that Christ is Lord of your life, all parts of it, and because He is your King and Lord you do His will. The Word of God lets us know the will of God and we as believers are to live by Gods Word. If we are walking in the spirit, living by the Word of God then we will see spiritual growth and maturity.
The other day my wife was watching a movie that was a drama showing the life of Michael Jackson. There was an actor who played Michael Jackson on the screen. Now know what Michael Jackson looked like when he was living and I told my wife that’s not Michael Jackson! Because I was able to tell that this person was not the actual Michael Jackson, however I thought about what I said and I thought that may not be Michael Jackson but they did a good enough of a Job that I knew who the actor was trying to look like.
How many of you have ever seen a Michael Jackson look alike?
If we got a big room and placed a bunch of Michael Jackson look a likes in the room would most of them look kinda similar?
Yes there would be a unity of appearance in that room.
Just as those Michael Jackson look alike look similar because they are working to look like one person. Believers should also be similar to one another because we are being conformed to the image of Christ.
In Philippians 3:16
Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.
When it is talking about walking by the same rule of the same mind, Paul is letting us know that we are united in mindset as believers because we are all walking after the same spirit being obedient to the same Word of God and are being grown and sanctified in the same direction. Because of that we should all have the mind of Christ which is to serve the Lord with everything that we have unto death.
Philippians 3:15 also lets us know that if someone is a believer and they do not have this mindset that God will reveal this truth to them.
Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.
Our take aways.
Take Aways
Take Aways
Even though believers do not reach perfection in this life, they continue to strive to live a life of righteousness.
Living for Christ requires us to forsake the love of the world and the things of the world and to pursue Christ with all that we have.
Mature believers lives show that they work to live a life pursing righteousness; this mindset unites believers in Christ.
