Sanctification and Isolation

I have yet to meet a genuine born again Christian who believes and is convinced he is able to save himself from hell by himself.  To become a Christian means we have confessed we are sinners in need of a Saviour, and Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah sent to seek and save the lost we have chosen to follow.  Like the Galatians who began well by receiving the Gospel yet tried to justify themselves by the works of the Law, there can be Christians who receive Christ and then live as if they can sanctify themselves and can overcome sins privately on their own by willpower--without fellowship with the Body of Christ, the church.  Since God has regenerated us with the Holy Spirit and made us members of one another, how can we operate or function effectively if we are effectively cut off from the Body?

It is important to remember more than good theology is needed to learn to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Jesus.  If all that was needed after coming to Christ was knowledge of theology or Bible study, seminary and online courses could supply this without a problem.  But Christians need more than knowledge to grow in spiritual maturity, to learn to recognise and to overcome sins that easily overtake us, and to extend grace to others without condemnation.  This is one reason gathering together with other believers as a church is vital for our spiritual growth.  Going to a church service does not mean we have exercised the spiritual disciplines of seeking the LORD, prayer, worship, repenting of sin, forgiving one another, and serving one another in love.  How can we fulfil the "one another" commands of Jesus Christ and others in the New Testament if we forsake gathering together with one another?

Christians have been justified by faith in Jesus Christ, but let us not imagine we can sanctify ourselves by ourselves.  Just as we need Christ to be born again and declared righteous, we need Jesus Christ in the lives of our fellow believers to be sanctified and grow in grace.  Sanctification is a position and also a process.  We are sanctified by faith in Christ (as in set apart), and we are also being sanctified as we are refined and begin to distinguish in our lives the difference between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit.  It is true Jesus has paid the price to provide victory over sin and death, yet there is a personal price of humility and laying down of our will we must pay for our lives to be purged of sin to walk in victory.  A day will come when we will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, yet as long as we continue our course on earth in these bodies our change for the better can stall and even regress.  Praise the LORD selfish detours and foolish setbacks that can stretch on for years can bear lasting, eternal fruit as we repent of our sin and return to Jesus.

This week I have been considering God's indictment of Moab in Jeremiah 48:11:  "Moab has been at ease from his youth; he has settled on his dregs, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into captivity. Therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent has not changed."  God compared Moab to a pot of wine that had not been "racked," poured from vessel to vessel, to separate the clear wine from dead yeast bodies that begin to impart pungent, unpleasant flavour as they decompose.  There is a inner purification that happens when we finally are honest about the precise nature of our sins with other Christians and pray for one another.  This is the opposite of gossip, for speaking about the dramas of others is like introducing bacteria that pollutes wine and turns it to vinegar.  God's desire is that our taste, our natural foulness, crooked thinking and perverse ways would be purged from us through godly fellowship and discipleship as we humble ourselves and love one another.  God would have our fleshly "scent" change inside and out so we might be to God and others the fragrance of life leading to life.  2 Corinthians 2:14 says, "Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place."