Scripture: Colossians 3:1-11
Scripture Memory: 1 John 1:6-7
“If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
Journey: For the last few weeks we have emphasized that the Gospel is that by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ you enter into a living, dynamic relationship with God. The Gospel is not about human effort and religious works to “get right with God.” It’s about Christ’s atoning effort (death and resurrection) for you and you trusting in Him and being grateful for what He has done. The Gospel is about His work for you, His gift to you and your acceptance of it by faith. Full stop. You have nothing to add.
However, (and this is a big however) living as a disciple of Jesus does involve human effort and even sacrifice. God intends to transform you and you do have a real part to play in this. Your part is not about you doing religious works on your own, or under your own steam but there are things that God gives you strength to do that will definitely shape the kind of person you are becoming. This is about you living life the way that Jesus lived life so that you are becoming a person that is more like Him. This is something that is commonly called sanctification and that’s what we’ll be thinking about today.
Sanctification is a life-long process of your becoming exactly who God intends for you to be and of Him using you to help the church become exactly what He intends for it to be.
And if we pursue sanctification, I mean if we really run after it and are not just playing religious games week to week, it will cost us everything we have and everything we are. Of course, if we don’t pursue sanctification and really run after it, playing religious games will cost us even more. Think about it.
God bless,
Will (for the pastors)
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