The Great(er) Purpose of Sanctification
I often catch myself speaking of the sanctification process as a self-help program. It is easy to make it sound like it is simply about lessening the frequency and gravity of sin or becoming a more moral person. I do not actually believe that but upon hearing a very shallow explanation of sanctification on YouTube, I started to ask myself how many times I had done the same thing.
More deeply, what are my motivations for sanctification? Why do I desire to have victories over sin? Why do I avoid certain movies or places? Why do I pray for the strength to flee sin? What is my ultimate motive in pursuing Holiness? Is it just because I want to become a better human being? Is it because I do not want to feel the shame and guilt of sin? Is it so I can find joy and peace in knowing I have been ‘good’ today?
Sanctification or Behavioral Modification?
Honestly, the answer to these questions for me was yes, many times. The reality is that there are a lot of very powerful motivators for someone to drastically turn from certain sinful behaviors that have nothing to do with God:
Desire to live (sin has deadly physical consequences)
Desire not to feel shame or guilt
Desire to feel good about oneself
Desire to be seen as a good person or for moral superiority
Fear of discovery of a secret sin
Fear of the consequences of sin on relationships or reputation, etc.
Some of the reasons listed are good reasons to stop sinful behaviors but as Christians, should these be our ultimate motivation? How would sanctification then be any different than secular self-help programs? It has to be something beyond that, something beyond Self.
The Greatest Commandment
Jesus said:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 22:37-40).
Love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:10). In other words, growing into loving God (with everything that we are) and loving our neighbor as self is the goal and motivation of sanctification. In sanctifying us, God is transforming us into the image of Christ because he is the embodiment of Love (1 John 3:16, John 15:13, Romans 5:7-8). He is Love.
The deep desire of any Christian to pursue holiness should be to know and love God more and more deeply. I should desire to have pure thoughts, because sinful thoughts grieve God, rob me of time spent savoring him, and prevent me from seeing him clearly. At the same time, these sinful thoughts cause me to use God’s image bearers as objects to satisfy my sinful desires. I would be missing the point if desiring pure thoughts was simply about feeling ‘pure‘.
All Other Commandments
As fallen creatures, we do not know how to love or even what love is. We naturally think love is self-serving but love is self-giving without expectations (1 John 3:16, John 15:13, Romans 5:7-8). Apart from God working in us, we are constantly hating God and each other. All sins, from murder to gluttony, are lovelessness/hatred towards God and others. This is why God gives us (his children) the Holy Spirit and his Word to guide and teach us. I, for example, would not have known that gossiping is hatred had the Holy Spirit not taught me. Therefore to actively and intentionally refuse to gossip about someone is love, even if no one knows the effort I am putting into it. Another example: to reason frankly with a fellow Christian instead of holding a grudge against them is Love (Leviticus 19:17-18).
John said:
By this, we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5:2-3).
Jesus said:
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full (John 15:10-14).
These passages are not teaching works-righteousness (i.e. the belief that our salvation can be earned and/or sustained by doing good works). Loving God is keeping his commandments because through them we learn to know God and to live out the greatest commandment: Loving God (and others). It is like an infinite loop of love. One can only do this by the power of God the Holy Spirit indwelling them after the new birth.
