DOES GOD SANCTIFY US OR DO WE

You might have heard, “Let go, and let God.” There is truth in this. Every move we make should begin with trust and prayer to God. After all, our lives are buried in Christ (Galatians 2:20) and without Him, we can do nothing (John 15:4-5). He even guides our steps:

• Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. (Proverbs 3:5-7 ESV)

However, these verses can be perplexing. On the one hand, God promises to direct our steps, but then He tells us that we have to direct our own steps by turning “away from evil.”

Well, who then sanctifies us - we or God? God has to always initiate the process, but we are required to keep step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25), and sometimes this requires effort:

• Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14)

• Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. (Hebrews 12:1)

These verses demonstrate that we are to work in harmony with what God is doing in our lives. While the process might start with “letting go and letting God,” we are then required to partake in this process of sanctification, as these verses indicate:

• Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13)

These verses do not teach that there is anything uncertain about the outcome of our salvation. Instead, we have a role to play in bringing about God’s plan for our lives There are many examples of this phenomenon. For example, we are to meditate on the Word of God day and night (Psalm 1; Joshua 1:8), but it is the Lord who gives understanding, as Jesus had done for His Apostles after His resurrection: “Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,”(Luke 24:45), demonstrating that He is our ultimate teacher (John 6:45). This means that it’s more important to have a heart for God and His Word than to have three PHDs (1 Corinthians 2:14).

God is our sanctifier, but we also must participate in this process. Many of us make the mistake of thinking that sanctification is the work of either God or ourselves. Jerry Bridges had confessed that he had wrongly assumed that his efforts represented dependence on the flesh and not the Spirit. Consequently, he thought that, in order to be receptive to the Spirit, he had to remain passive:

·       How foolish I was. I misconstrued dependence on the Holy Spirit to mean I was to make no effort, that I had no responsibility. I mistakenly thought if I turned it all over to the Lord, He would make my choices for me and would choose obedience over disobedience. All I needed was to look to Him for holiness [sanctification]. But this is not God’s way. He makes provision for our holiness, but He gives us the responsibility of using those provisions. (Bridges, Pursuit of Holiness, 79-80)

Both God and His people are the agents of sanctification. However, I’d like to conclude with something perplexing – God gets all the credit:

·       But by the grace of God I [Paul] am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1 Corinthians 15:10)

How is it that Paul credited even his efforts to God? Paul recognized that a great mystery was at play – Even as we strive to walk according to His Spirit, God is inspiring and directing our freewill efforts (Ephesians 2:10).