“Sanctification”

“Tell me not of your justification, unless you have also some marks of sanctification. Boast not of Christ's work for you, unless you can show us the Spirit's work in you.” JC Ryle

Overview

The Sanctification stage is when the believer is ready to undergo serious, internal transformation. Think of sin like an addiction, illness or a form of spiritual bondage. Sanctification is the process by which God begins curing us of our selfishness and liberating us from the vices that are damaging our spiritual health. Here, the focus is on starving those desires that aren’t of God so that we can feed that which is pleasing to God. Namely, spiritual fruits like love, joy, peace, patience and kindness are being born. Every human being on this side of heaven will have competing natures living within us (spiritual and sinful). By feeding the fruits of the Spirit, we are increasing the power of our spiritual nature, and lessening that of our sinful nature. During this stage, it is important to not only enjoy this fruit for ourselves, but to find ways to allow this fruit to be useful to God, to the church, and to the world as well.

Timothy (2 Timothy 1)

Levels for Stage 5:

  • Knowledge of God

    Understands not only the basic truths about faith, but the practical exercises of Christian life.

    Baseline: Regularly engages faith conversations and studies with other Christians on topics like the Trinity, biblical context of particular books, Old Testament vs New Testament, etc.

  • Spiritual Disciplines

    Prayer and spiritual exercises have now become daily disciplines. Believer is also sampling practices that require some degree of self-denial.

    Frequency: Weekly

  • Service of Others

    Begins to see their acts of service as a form of worship. Ventures out to participate in mission trips or occasional service projects.

    Frequency: Monthly

  • Church Engagement

    Attending faithfully and serving regularly on specific ministry teams every other month on average.

    Frequency: Weekly

  • Witness to Others

    Seeks opportunities to share faith with persons in their social circle who may or may not be Christians. Also begun inviting others to attend church and spiritual communities with them.

    Frequency: ~3-4 times a year

The “Sanctification Stage” found in scripture:

  • A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.

    Matthew 7:17-20

  • The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

    Galatians 5:22-23

  • What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? ... So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

    James 2:14,17

Spiritual Diet during
this Stage

  • The biggest challenge of this stage is the honest confession required. If there can be no honesty regarding one’s mistakes, shortcomings, sinful desires or temptations, then there can be no further growth. It is vital that the believer finds 1-2 persons that they can safely share which areas need God’s healing and freeing grace.

  • During this stage, there needs to be a movement from consuming to contributing to the mission of God. Meaning, the believer will always have more knowledge to accumulate and more understanding to accrue. However, we cannot do so at the expense of integration. Here, the believer is making a concerted effort to serve both inside and outside their church more frequently. They are making sure their faith isn’t just heard, but seen.

  • In the earlier stages, it is common for spiritual disciplines to be completed on an occasional basis; however, in this stage, prayer should be engaged daily. While the particular prayer practice can (and should) change with each new season, the frequency with which one prays must be held daily. This level of discipline might feel forced or empty at times, but the goal is establishing habits that become rhythms, rhythms that become patterns and patterns that become a new lifestyle.

Sample Exercises

  • Again, this stage is about moving from consuming to contributing to the mission of God. Consider finding a ministry team inside your church that aligns with your gifts. If you haven’t taken a spiritual gift inventory, be sure to do so first. Once you find a good fit, start by making a commitment to serve at least once a month. It is perfectly ok to try out a couple of different ministries to start!

  • Depending on which Christian tradition you are coming from, the practice of “confession” can either be quite common or quite foreign. In attempts to not overcomplicate matters, think of confession as the willingness to let another person see you. The REAL you. This can be an accountability partner, mentor, pastor, or a spouse. This needs to be someone you can share the selfish desires and motivations living inside of you. Further, this needs to be someone you can safely share when you’ve come up short in resisting temptation. This act might be feel intimidating, and incredibly vulnerable, but it is one of the most powerful strategies for decreasing the power that sin has in our lives.

  • In order to cultivate discipline into our lives, we must reshape our habits. And the only way to reshape our habits is to repeat a desired action for a period of time (at least 2 months)…even when we don’t feel like it. That is why one exercise we recommend is finding a 1-2 month spiritual growth program. This can be a devotional, prayer practice, discipleship app, Bible reading program, etc. In fact, to make this practice even more effective, consider inviting another believer to participate with you. That way, you can hold one another accountable as you seek to create a daily regimen of communing with God.

Trap #5 to avoid:

Religious Egoism

This is one of the most dangerous spiritual ruts we can fall into. Coupled with newfound knowledge of God, it is tempting for a believer to observe their newfound actions as evidence of spiritual mastery. During this stage, we can fall victim to our pride and no longer possess the humility needed in order to be a faithful disciple. Specifically, we fail to perceive the reality that we might have more in common with the religious leaders who opposed Jesus, rather than those who needed his grace. If ever we start seeing ourselves as higher or separate from the rest of humanity (i.e. non-believers) , this is a signal that egoism has set in and repentance is desperately needed. (See examples of this with the Pharisees in the Gospels)

Resources

For more information about this stage of the Christian journey, use the link below!