What is sanctification?
Christians use this word “sanctification.”
And it’s often explained like this: sanctification is the process by which a Christian’s behaviour changes.
You used to lie; now you tell the truth. You used to lose your temper; now you control it. You used to take; now you give. You used to say horrible things; now you say helpful things.
And very quickly, the free forgiveness, grace and mercy of God becomes eclipsed by this question: Is your behaviour getting better?
Well, sanctification literally means “Being made holy.” And what Paul tells the Ephesians in this passage today is that it is not primarily about behaviour.
Yes, it has an effect on your behaviour. But the answer to this question: What is sanctification? Or even How do I grow as a Christian? is not “Do things better.”
In this passage written to the Christians in Ephesus, Paul says it is two things:
1) A growing assurance that God is in a good mood with me 2) And so, a diminishing need to make things good for myself
So first, sanctification is 1) A growing assurance that God is in a good mood with me
From v. 17, Paul describes unholiness as arising from false thoughts and feelings about God:
17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
Hardness of heart is being insensitive and resistant to God’s goodness. And so, people become callous and unfeeling toward one another. Paul says the solution is to be given a right attitude to God, vv. 20-21:
20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,
It is this truth that is in Jesus that transforms the way we see ourselves, v. 22:
22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,
And so, sanctification is right thinking about God, vv. 23-24:
23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
We clothe ourselves in this thinking: No longer hard hearted toward God, but soft hearted. No longer seeing God as an enemy, but seeing him as a friend. No longer thinking we have to appease God or make things good for ourselves despite him, but thinking of him as the source of all our good, and of being only positive toward us.
And this is not merely some kind of divinely sanctioned cognitive behaviour therapy. For years and years I read “renewed in the spirit of your mind” to mean that I have to do all sorts of logical thinking. As though, if I think logically enough about my behaviour, then it will change and improve. That is not Paul’s point.
He uses the picture of clothing. Taking off the old self, and putting on the new self, because my clothing is how people see me. And how does God see me? The old self thinks God sees me as a frustrating problem. The new self thinks God sees me in Christ, as a son that he loves.
Paul says our new self is: created—so this is not achieved by my own effort in true righteousness and holiness —which means through Christ I am already holy and perfect in his sight, purely because of his kindness.
So, while the old self sees God as a tyrant. The new self sees God as a tender, forgiving, Father. That is the likeness of God we are created after.
Adam was made in God’s image: he was God’s son, who walked with God as his Father. Jesus is the perfect image of God: he is God’s Son, who trusts his Father. In Colossians 3:10, Paul explicitly says the image of God is knowing God rightly:
put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
This is what it means to be created in God’s likeness. The God who himself is love: It means to know that I’m loved by him.
“Sanctification”, growth in holiness, is not at heart you behaving better and better. It is: A growing assurance that God is in a good mood with me
Because that is the first commandment. “You shall have no other gods.” Which means to trust God above all things as the source of all good in my life.
Now, the problem is that we think we can behave better on our own, through more willpower, through more techniques, through simply trying harder and harder, and we disconnect that completely from trusting God.
In fact, we turn the Law entirely on its head, and growth in holiness simply becomes another way I try and trust myself instead of trusting in him. Whereas, if instead we have this growing assurance that God is in a good mood with me, it naturally leads, Paul says, to point 2: 2) A diminishing need to make things good for myself Just look at v. 25:
25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbour, for we are members one of another.
What is the “truth” in Ephesians? Well Paul just reminded us in v. 21: it is in Jesus. It is the fact that you are forgiven, freely, because of God’s mercy. Purely because of his grace and kindness in Christ.
And so, while every kind of lie we tell one another is self-serving, the ultimate falsehood we speak to one another is: You must try harder. Some of you, when you joined the church, had been dogged for years by other Christians, even other pastors, constantly telling you: You have to do better. All of this year, some people have been openly criticising me, saying: “You are so awful, you must do better!”
And it has been crushing. It was crushing for you hearing that in some previous contexts. It has been crushing for me hearing that over and over again.
But here is what Paul says: that is not the truth. And what’s so great is this: we are one body. Members one of another: and so, we get to tell each other the truth. “You’re forgiven! God’s positive! He’s merciful!”
You are not constantly being testing: How is he handling himself as a husband? How are you performing as a parent?
I know that huge pressure has been placed on us in many contexts. That is not sanctification. Paul says, vv. 26-27:
26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil.
Why talk about anger? Anger is that part of me that needs to see justice done. That’s not wrong, but the devil constantly wants to use my anger to convince me that I’m the one who has to make things right myself. And so, Paul says: Put down the gavel and the wig. You don’t need to carry the responsibility to make things right anymore. Why? Because of the truth that is in Jesus: God is the judge; God is Almighty; and God is good to you.
And finally v. 28:
28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labour, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
A growing assurance that God is in a good mood with me gives me A diminishing need to make things good for myself. The thief no longer steals, but gives, because of the confidence they have God gives to them. This is perfectly illustrated by a thief. If I’m confident that God is good to me, then I simply feel no need to steal anything.
Sanctification is not trying harder to become a better Christian. In fact that is the very opposite of what growth in holiness is.
Simply trying harder will leave you either proud or exhausted.
At its heart, sanctification, growing in holiness, is this: The growing confidence, assurance and certainty that God is positive toward me, happy toward me, in a good mood with me because of Christ. And as I grow in that assurance, that confidence, it will transform everything about it.
And so how can I grow in this assurance? How can I grow in holiness?
That’s a question Jesus answers very simply as he prays to his Father in John 17, verse 17:
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
In our Gospel reading today, what did Jesus do to the paralyzed man? He said: “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” Jesus gave him absolution.
Through this Word—preached, attached to water and to bread and wine, spoken by us to one another formally in absolution, spoken casually by us to one another casually over coffee —through this Word, Jesus is giving and strengthening that assurance. This is how the Holy Spirit renews your mind, —through these means of grace— making you increasingly confident of the love God already has for you in Christ.
And as you become more confident in God’s goodness, you become more free to be good to others.
That is sanctification.
A growing assurance that God is in a good mood with me gives me A diminishing need to make things good for myself.
So keep receiving the gifts Jesus gives you. Because God really is in a good mood with you. And Jesus wants you to know it and to feel it.