Sanctification is Progressive but not a Perfectly Linear Trajectory

Pastor Dave Monreal, Lead Pastor

“He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

Ephesians 5:11-16

We looked at the reality that sin has affected every area of our lives so that we are sinful in our thoughts, actions, attitudes, and relationships in some ways. Our greatest desires are tainted with selfishness or are self-serving. If we are completely honest with ourselves, we have never loved the Lord with our total heart, mind, soul, and strength. And we have never loved our neighbor perfectly as we love ourselves. This is why we need grace! It is not that our righteousness is perfect righteousness, but it is sincere righteousness. Because these good works are done while relying on grace they are pleasing to the Father. This means that our good works that are pleasing to God done by grace just make us more indebted to God’s grace.

A Christian that is not growing in Christlikeness and is not progressing in his faith is a contradiction in terms. If we are believers, God is relentlessly conforming us into the image of Jesus because we are his. This means that even though we may not be perfect, we should be getting better in every area of our lives. Sometimes we grow like gangbusters and other times it seems like watching the grass grow. We know grass is growing not because we can watch it moment by moment but because we have to cut it every week in summer! Spiritual growth means that you should be growing in your obedience and turning away from your sinful desires in every area of your life.

Spiritual growth is like the stock market (or at least how we hope the stock market operates). If you follow stocks or mutual funds your desire is to see your money grow over time. It may be two percent or 10 percent per year, but you want it to keep going up. At the end of the year, you want it to be worth more than it was at the beginning of the year. If you were to check it every day, some days will be discouraging. It is a little up or a little down depending on the day. It is not a straight-line trajectory of constant, perpetual increases. In the short run it is going to have some down days. But over time it is your desire to see it going in a positive, upward direction.

This same principle is true in your spiritual life. If you were to take a snapshot of a moment in time, you may be doing great in an area or you may be really struggling. Sometimes we feel like we are really growing in our fighting against sin and other days it is a battle, and we wonder how much we are really growing. A moment in time is not the way to evaluate your spiritual growth. You need to step back and see it over time. Spiritual growth takes time and focusing on a moment in time may give us a false sense of progress or it may leave us discouraged. It isn’t about a moment in time, the question is, over time are you moving in an upward direction of greater Christlikeness in all the different areas of your spiritual life?