From The Inside Out, I John 1:9-10
Introduction
The medical staff at the hospital was puzzled why a patient was not improving. The nurses were giving the proper medication. Yet, there was no improvement. The following day the nurse gave the medication and hid.
Thinking the nurse had left, the patient spit it out. Too many Christians act similar when hearing the word of God. They retain it for a short time, and then spit it out. As the result, there is no improvement in their Christian life.
Transition
This morning I want to talk to you about getting better spiritually from the inside out. I want to talk to you about the process of change which God is taking all of us through as we travel through this life.
In theological terms this is referred to as sanctification. In practical terms it is the gradual and continual process of God working in our lives to make us more Christ like. It is the ongoing and regular work of God as He sets us apart for His purpose.
Illustration
Earlier in the service, during the children’s sermon, you heard me tell the children how we are very much like this pumpkin I have sitting here on the stage.
God chooses us from the dirty, dusty pumpkin patches of the world. He picks up because He sees our potential and our beauty. He takes a towel and uses it to wipe away the dirt and grime that the dusty pumpkin patch has gotten all over us.
He then takes His carving knife and very intentionally takes the top off of us so that He can see what it really inside of us. He sets the top to the side and then takes a big spoon and digs way down into the pumpkin to get the junk out.
As He does this he scrapes the sides the make sure that He has gotten everything out that does not belong. Once the inside of the pumpkin is clean and ready, and then God carves His image on us.
He places a candle inside of us and lights it with His love so that everyone around us can see that we are His. When they see His love shining in us, they are drawn – not to us – but to Him.
But there is more to the story isn’t there? Because unlike innocent children, we know that the story doesn’t simply end with God’s light shining in us. We know that sometimes we do things to snuff out that light or to make it faint.
Sometimes we forget who are – children of God – and we go our own way for a while. We forget the tremendous cost of our freedom in Christ. We forget or we are drawn away by temptation into selfish living.
Scripture
1John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Scriptural Exposition
When you and I came to Christ we brought a lot of junk with us. It really doesn’t matter, though, whether we came to God as adults or children really, because even if we have known God our entire lives, we collect junk all the time.
That’s why the process of change in our lives is constant, because the process of collecting junk is also constant. We can hardly get through even one day without being faced with faced with all kinds of temptation to sin.
We wake up late and we are tempted to get angry at our wife who we are supposed to set the alarm and didn’t or we trip over our kids skateboard and for just a moment we find ourselves to treat them like something other than a gift from God.
The book of I John is a letter written from the Apostle John to his “little children” – those whom he had led to faith in Christ – who are in the world. With the exception of perhaps only the Song of Solomon, no other book in the Bible is written with such intimacy and gentleness.
Interestingly one of the major themes of the letter, though, is the sin of the Christians that the Apostle John wrote the letter to.
In this letter John treats the sin of the Christian as a child’s offense against his father. Sin is seen, not so much in legalistic terms of debt and retribution, but as a family matter between a child and a loving, gentle father.
Sanctification –the constant and ongoing process of the Christian becoming more like Christ – is a gradual journey that we are on our entire lives. It is like taking a walk with our daddy.
He holds our hands and walks at our pace. He encourages us and tells us what a good job we are doing and what good children we are and how much He loves us.
He also points out things that we need to be careful of. “Watch out for the big step. Don’t touch that, it will hurt you. I don’t want you to get hurt. Good job son-daughter, good job. Daddy’s proud of you and he loves you.”
That’s what being sanctified is all about. It is about God shaping us into all that we are capable of being. It is the constant process of God removing the junk that clutters up our lives and replacing it with more of Him so that we can become what He intends for us to be – set apart from all of the ugliness of this world.
You and I were saved by grace. When we come to Christ by faith we are given a new nature. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (ESV)
But while we have been forgiven, we are not perfect. “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:10(ESV)
Sanctification is what happens from the time we come to Christ in faith until we leave this life.
Exodus 29:43 says, “There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory.” (ESV) Old Testament era worshippers of God had a very clear idea of what it meant for something to be sanctified.
In their minds, to sanctify something simply meant that it had been set apart or separated for God. Once they had dedicated a ceremonial vessel, such as a cup or bowel for use in worship, it was considered holy and dedicated to God.
The word sanctification is defined this way, “To set apart for sacred use; to consecrate; to make holy; to purify.”
There are two aspects to consider when talking about the biblical doctrine of sanctification. First we are consecrated to God in just the same way that a ceremonial cup or garment has been consecrated to God.
This aspect of sanctification is positional and can not be changed. In other words, in a very real way God has plucked us up and set us apart for His special purpose. No longer are we to be used for ordinary things, we have a divine purpose to fulfill.
This is a reality which can not change. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (ESV)
So, as a believer in Christ you are inherently holy, in that you have been set apart for a divine purpose and use by God. In just the same way that the communion cup has been set apart for a specific purpose, you have been set apart for a specific purpose.
Secondly, and more specifically for our discussion today, sanctification is the progressive work of God in our life of making us more like Christ. This work of transformation happens from the inside out as we hand over control of our lives to God.
God has called us, God equips us, and if we allow Him full access to the all of the junk in our lives, God will scoop it out and replace the junk with the light of Christ.
In Galatians 2:20 the Apostle Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (ESV)
Conclusion
Fresh water is always doing one of only two things. It is either moving like in a river or it is still like in a pond.
Water which is moving is always in process, it is alive and changing. There is an ancient proverb which says, “If you stand in a river, you will never stand in the same water twice.”
Water which is still grows stagnant. It fills up with junk and becomes bitter and undrinkable. If left long enough it begins to smell and fill up with slime.
Our lives are just the same way. We have a choice in our walk with the Lord. We can either allow ourselves to be changed from the inside out as our lives flow like a river; in constant change and growth.
Or we can stay the same all the time like a pond of still water. We can remain right where we are and grow stagnant in our walk with the Lord.
Oswald Chambers wrote, “After sanctification, it is difficult to state what your aim in life is because God has taken you up into his purposes.” Unless you know some secret which I have yet to discover, I plan to be in process my entire life.
Today, choose to be in process your entire life. I encourage you to allow God to change you from the inside out every day of your life.
Amen.
