Now for the rest of the story... Get busy IN your salvation = Sanctification

Hello Church Family:  As we continue in our series, "How the Gospel Changes Us”,  we have been reminded that the God of the Bible, the Triune God who loves us beyond anything we can imagine, has known us before the creation of the world.  His love has set a destiny upon us since before there was any time.  That is the kind of love He loves us with a foreknowing and predestining love.  That love results in us being declared righteous when God justifies us at our earthly calling and at the same moment in time He adopts us as His children and makes us fellow heirs with Christ.  Throughout Scripture God shows us that He always works first in salvation.  God moves first in performing the miracle of salvation in us and those whom we love.  We have been declared righteous and are known by God as righteous because of Jesus Christ, this is known as positional holiness.  We are positionally holy in Jesus Christ.  Our lives are hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).

And now for the rest of our salvation story.  Are you ready?  We must be busy living holy lives!  God does not stop with declaring us holy in Christ.  He commands us to live holy lives on this earth.  He commands us to manifest God’s declaration of us being righteous by living out lives progressively more and more free from the bondage of sin.  God's justifying and adopting us must impact how we act, speak, relate, respond, serve and allocate our time and resources.  God does not stop with us being declared holy but commands us to be transformed into His likeness through the power fo His Holy Spirit that He gifted to us so that we could excel at living Holy lives.  This is called sanctification.  Sanctification is the part of salvation when we are involved with God in it, “working out our 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).  Sanctification is 100% the Holy Spirit working in us as we put forth our 100% acting in obedience making choices and decisions delightfully embracing our moral responsibilities while on this earth.  In other words, God is Sovereign and we are responsible.  God’s action does not preclude our actions but actually empowers and demands our action.  Sanctification is visible proof that we have been called, justified and adopted.  If we are justified and adopted then we also will be sanctified and glorified.  Oh, there is so much to talk about as we ponder this great gift of salvation. Lets get together this Sunday to enjoy such a salvation together and afterwards eat some “potluck.”  What could be better than salvation and potluck?

Philippians 2:12-13 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.

With great love, Steve