Spiritual Growth - outline

Spiritual Growth–My Job or God’s?

by Todd Turner

Text: Philippians 2:12-13

Topic: What is the nature of sanctification

Big idea: Sanctification involves a mysterious partnership with God.

Keywords: Sanctification, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Growth

Introduction:

·        Whose job is sanctification and spiritual growth?

Sanctification is a joint project between us and God.

·        Illustration: Ortberg likens the cooperative nature of sanctification to the cooperative nature between man and wind in directing a sailboat, as opposed to the man-driven motorboat.

Sanctification is normative, not optional.

·        Our spirit is always being transformed, either by God or by the Evil One.

·        Scripture states sanctification as being God’s will for our lives.

·        The gospel necessarily implies a present process of sanctification.

Sanctification is a painstaking process.

·        There is no instant gratification in sanctification.

·        Forgetting past failures is indispensable to sanctification.

Sanctification is empowered by God, not by man.

Sanctification should be pursued for the sake of others.

·        The Pharisees exemplified the narcissism of self-centered sanctification

·        Paul defines sanctification within the context of community

·        The goal of sanctification is love

-     Illustration: Ortberg tells the true story of a man from a troubled past who takes on the lonely, burdensome task of caring for his ailing mother, thereby demonstrating true sanctification is not a measure of external purity, but a measure of applied love.