Our Bodies must also be set apart for God

Each born again Christian has been given great blessings because we are "in Christ." Perhaps  the greatest of these is the fact that God is no longer a Holy Judge who is ready to condemn us for our sins. When God saved us He imputed the righteousness of Jesus Christ to each believer. Practically, what does this mean?

It means that you and I can can call God our Father. He is no longer our Judge because Jesus paid all of our sin debt and He removed the guilt from us. There is no need for feeling ashamed  and no need to cover up because Christ's righteousness covers us. 

Therefore, the Father is going to keep working in us, transforming us and changing us into the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ. This is a great work of salvation that God is presently doing in our lives. 

The word "sanctification" is the action God performs in us to make us holy and to change the way that we think so that our focus is on the things of God and not the things of this world. The word "sanctification" is a parallel word to "holiness." Holiness is the state of being morally pure, free from sin, having a pure heart before God and being separated to His service.

God will ultimately transform us by giving us a glorified body and completely removing the sin nature from us. This is the blissful state that we will enjoy for eternity. Until that time, God works in us to change us into His image.

It is clear that we are not yet in this state of being. We still struggle with sin (Romans 7) and we are keenly aware that a battle is going on inside us between our flesh and the indwelling Spirit of God (Galatians 5). 

New birth brings new life in Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 

I love looking at this text because it brings back powerful memories of what God did for me at salvation. Old sinful things that previously enslaved me passed. He broke their chains, but this is not all! "All things are become new" the apostle declares, and we should rejoice because of what God is doing for us. 

Being a new creation in Christ is the result of the regenerative work of God's Spirit (Titus 3:4-6). This is part of the good work God begun in each believer (Philippians 1:6) and He is continuing this work until we arrive in His presence. Day by day things are made new. Day by day we should experience incremental progress toward the goal of becoming like Christ. 

We will have setbacks, of course. The old sin nature is still in us, ready to lead us astray. The old man still desires to engage in the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:16-21). 

Yet, the Spirit of God is in us seeking to produce spiritual fruit in our lives as He teaches us and helps us along on our pilgrimage through this life (Galatians 5:22-24). Heaven is our destination and we are just passing through this world. 

Renewed minds and transformed lives.

Romans 12:1-2  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2)  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 

Because we are recipients of the grace and mercy of God, our spiritual response to this truth should be presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. Ongoing sanctification does not involve only our soul or inner man. It also involves our physical body.  

The idea of presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice to God is total surrender to the will of God. It is an act of devotion to God, dedicating our life to Him. The goal is holy living by the people of God (remember, what we believe impacts our behavior). We prove what is genuinely good for us and what is well pleasing to our Father, by reading God's Word and praying that He will help us to live an upright life. 

Paul tells us that we should not be conformed to this world. The word "conformed" means  fitting into the pattern of behavior of the culture. Those who love the world do not have the Father's love in them (1 John 2:15-17).

How do we escape being squeezed into the mold of the world? By actively being transformed through renewed minds. The word translated "transformed" is "metamorphosis" like a caterpillar going through various stages before emerging from a cocoon as a butterfly.  

The word "renewing" means to be completely changed for the better, a renovation and renewal that happens in our mind. Thus, God is changing how we think about all things. 

Often, sanctification is viewed as straining to get better as we walk with the Lord. If this is how we think about sanctification then it will be a long, arduous journey. 

God sent His Spirit to live in us, so that He can teach us about Christ (John 16:4-15). Paul uses terms like walking in the Spirit which indicates allowing Him to do the work in our hearts that needs to be done. He uses terms like being led by the Spirit so that we do not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 

Our Father does not expect His born again children to live a God pleasing life in our own strength. This is one reason the Spirit of God comes to indwell the believer. He comes along side to help us, guide us and strengthen us when we are weak. 

Mortify our flesh!

Romans 8:12-14  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13) For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 14) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

What Paul is stressing here is that we must daily recommit our bodies to the Lord. That is, we will not permit our body to commit unclean actions. A thief will stop stealing and find employment. A liar will no longer lie but speak truth. A fornicator will no longer commit sexual sin but will exercise moral purity. 

We are to "mortify" or put to death the deeds of our body. Paul speaks about keeping his body under subjection to the sweet influences and power of God's Spirit (1 Corinthians 9:27). 

The word "mortify" has the idea of not giving our body any stimulation toward something that is sinful. In other words, if we struggled with an addiction before we were born again, we must make sure to deprive our body of any opportunity to lust after an addicting substance. 

Romans 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

This text tells us why our bodies are part of the sanctification work that God is doing. In our flesh dwells no good thing, in the sense of lacking moral purity. As our Lord Jesus said, our spirit may be willing to love God and love our neighbor, but our flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41). 

Matthew 5:27-30  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28) But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. 29) And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 30) And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 

When Jesus taught about the sin of adultery He said if your eye offends you, pluck it out. The word "offend" means putting something in your path that will make you trip and fall. In reality any of our 5 senses can lead us astray so that we fall into sin.

Christ was not telling people to literally remove their eye. Rather, He showed the reality that the sin of adultery is connected with what we see, what we allow our eyes to focus on (Matthew 5:27-30). 

In the same text He taught that if your right hand offends you, cut it off and cast it away. When we see something and lust for it, our hands may reach for the object of our lust. Therefore, the idea Jesus taught is that we must guard what we see and what we do.

The classic example of how the eye and hand offend and lead us to sin is what happened between King David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:1-4).

Thoughts to Ponder...

1 Thessalonians 5:23  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

God communicates this vital truth to us regarding His sanctifying work in the believer. God intends to sanctify our whole being, our body, our soul and our spirit. This is why I spent time today to remind us that our physical body is included in the process of ongoing sanctification.

I pray that the Spirit of God will grant understanding of ongoing sanctification to each of us, that we can grow in our faith, and become more like Christ and live for the glory of God.

Bob