Salvation is a Workout (Christ as Progressive Sanctifier)

Philippians 2:12-13 & Galatians 5:16-24

In all the years we’ve lived in FL, any time we do anything touristy, we always end up seeing someone decked out in Nebraska Huskers gear. Nebraskans tend to have a bit of an ego-centric culture and that’s good in NE, but can make a person seem a bit much in other cultures if not tempered. My experiences broadening out gave me some good insight into the ability to over-emphasize Nebraska football, which is something that can only happen traveling and experiencing different cultures. It must be experienced; it can’t be taught. Just like getting in shape – it does you no good to learn about exercising – you have to do it yourself. The journey is the point. Paul helps us understand that our sanctification over time (progressive sanctification) works the same way.

Many people are familiar with Paul’s fruits of the spirit passage, but the rhythmic poetry of the passage does a lot more than make for nice bedroom décor; it gives us a workout routine of our sanctification.

Sanctification is About Surrendering Control

The Law was never meant to be a roadmap, despite how the Jews originally tried to use it. The Law was a stop sign – point positive that you cannot uphold the expectations of God, so realize your inadequacies and seek help. This first workout tip should accomplish that warning for us – we can’t do this on our own. The flesh is our nature (what drives us) and that’s not been fully removed yet (remember, positionally we are covered by Christ, but not fully changed). Now with Christ, we are able to surrender ourselves over to the power of the Spirit to lead us away from sinful activities such as listed here. Instead, when we surrender our will to God we can, through Him, begin the journey towards something greater – a deeper life with Christ. But it must be our choice – a purposeful surrendering of our will with a true acceptance of His Lordship over our life. When I gave my life over to Christ to be in charge during my junior high years, my desire to follow Him was in the right place, but I had some work to do. I couldn’t stay the same I was, if I wanted more of Him, I would have to walk the journey towards Him. And that would hurt.

Trimming the Fat

Good pruning concerns the removal of the dead and rotted to allow space for new to grow. Pruning is an art. Proper pruning removes the old, bad part of the plant and then continues to remove the good (slowly) so that the better and best is properly nurtured and can grow. This is exactly what Jesus meant in John 15 when he talked about every good branch being pruned. God works in us in small ways first – maybe challenging an old habit with opportunities to replace it with a better one. With each experience, we begin to trust Him more, eventually gaining some strength and confidence in one area, as He then opens up new areas of growth in our lives. Thus, as we begin to open up in love, He then challenges with joy, then peace, and so on. Slowly, as we give Him more and more control over our lives, more and more fruit is developed through us, helping us to gain experiences that build more and more trust in Christ. This is the journey of faith.

Walking the Path

While Paul’s roadmap is more of a gentle outline than a rigid set of directions, it gives us an idea of how God’s progression of sanctification works over time. If we aren’t going to submit with patience, then the idea of self-control is still a ways off. He works individually with each person, but we do all walk a similar path. Some’s walks are slower and others take detours, but for everyone it is a journey. Abraham waited 25 years after being given the promise of a child until Isaac was finally born! Philippians 1 tells us that the journey is life-long, meaning that it ends in our earthly death, which then God will give us new, glorified bodies that aren’t stained by sin so we can enjoy eternity in His presence. Those bodies will be perfect and sinless; our current ones, not so much. That’s why in chapter 2 Paul says that we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling. I take that to mean workout, as in exercise or practice, based off of his audience and the context around that verse, the idea is that as we workout our faith, we grow in our faith.

Next Steps

Jesus works in us over time to make us more like him. This fits the picture of being a city on a hill – as we grow, we look more and more like Jesus which is what the people need to see. Some workout ideas:

1. Surrender each day to a better trainer (Jesus) – give Him control – maybe start each day by reciting Galatians 2:20?
2. Practice living the way he says – where are you holding back and trying to keep your own control? Pray God gives you the strength to turn it over to Him.
3. Walk the journey – don’t rush to the destination (Slow down) Just like kids running at a pool, the best move is to practice slowing down and letting the time work.

It’s time to start working out…spiritually. Just like with PE, they best way to do that is together. Let’s go!