Why Does God Make Me Holy?
One of my favorite definitions of sanctification is from the New Bible Dictionary. It defines sanctification as
“the process by which an entity is brought into relationship with or attains the likeness of the holy.”
I like this definition for a few reasons.
I like that it speaks to both being brought into a relationship with God (“the holy”) and attaining the likeness of God. We are sanctified, made holy, the moment we come to faith in Jesus. Paul says in Colossians 1:22 that through faith in Jesus’ death on the cross, we are reconciled to God and presented as “holy and blameless and above reproach before him.” Our status in God’s eyes is, therefore, “holy” because of the work Jesus did on the cross. This is the only pathway to a relationship with God. It’s the foundational work that must be present for us to be adopted into God’s family. So, in this case, sanctification is instantaneous and relationship-empowering.
But sanctification is also a process, namely, the process of attaining the likeness of God. I love that phrase. It’s a wonderful description of the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit to transform us, continually working renewal within our hearts and minds to mold us in the shape of Christ-likeness. While Scripture is clear that the work of sanctification won’t be complete on this side of our eternity with God, the beautiful thing is that the longer we faithfully walk with God, the closer we will resemble Him and His character. That’s the promise of sanctification.
But we must ask why. What is the purpose of sanctification? Why does God want us sanctified?
There are many ways to answer that question. The breadth of such an undertaking is beyond the scope of this little article. However, I have been thinking about how we view sanctification in our Western Christian culture. And I think we’re in a season of missing the main “why.”
There’s a tendency in the American church to view everything about our faith through the lens of the individual. In Western Christianity, “the self” is elevated in a way that it isn’t in much of the rest of the world. We emphasize the community, the family, aspect of our faith far less than other cultures. Our curse is to see so much of our faith as for “me” and not for “we.” This is as true about sanctification as it is for many other things.
Is there a “me” aspect of sanctification? Of course. Nothing is more personal, more intimate, than coming to that internal place of surrender to Christ and being met with the fullness of His transforming grace. It’s maybe the most intensely personal thing that can happen to a person. It is quintessentially individualistic. But this still doesn’t fully answer the why. Why does God sanctify us? Is it only personal? Or is there more?
We would do well to step back and consider our sanctification in relation to God’s Church and God’s Kingdom.
God sanctifies us for many reasons. But one reason is for the edification of His Church. The Church is God’s physical presence in this world. We are, in Paul’s words, “the Body.” We are the hands and feet of Christ, the “called out ones,” God’s plan to shine His light in a dark world. As such, God is greatly concerned with the nature, the make-up, of the various parts of this Body. Is it a whole Body? A healthy one? Is it thriving and growing? Is it operating within its God-ordained mission? Is it a vital part of the community it finds itself in? The only way these questions are answered in the affirmative is in the ongoing sanctification of its members.
One of the “whys” of sanctification we often overlook is that God’s Church must look like Him. That’s not possible if its individual members aren’t growing in godliness.
Another “why” of sanctification we overlook is its role in God’s Kingdom. In Hebrews 12:10, we learn that God disciplines us, trains us, “for our good, that we may share his holiness.” That we may “share his holiness.” What a phrase. What’s the reason God wants to share His holiness with us? It’s for our good, sure. But not JUST for our good. God loves us, sure. But He loves His Kingdom, too. And what king doesn’t want his subjects to live in accordance with his will? How much more is this true for the perfect ruler of an eternal Kingdom?
It’s probably not a bad idea to quickly review what I mean by God’s Kingdom. Any explanation of a kingdom starts with a king. In God’s case, He’s King over everything. God rules over everything, everywhere. He is the sovereign over all creation. There is nothing anywhere that isn’t subject to His authority. That’s the parameters of His kingship.
We understand the reality of God’s Kingdom as everywhere that His ways are followed, His rule accepted. There is a current physical reality of this Kingdom here on earth, where God’s rule is acknowledged and obeyed internally (in the hearts and minds of His followers) and externally (in the right actions of His followers). Anywhere we see God’s redemptive work in evidence, from the most minor examples to the most epic, there is the Kingdom. In this way, it’s a current reality. This is the “already” of the Kingdom that Jesus preached so thoroughly in the gospels. The Kingdom is already present wherever God’s will is done, specifically through the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus and in the lives of believers who live under God’s rule.
However, there is a “not yet” aspect of the Kingdom, a future physical reality in which God’s reign will be perfectly and eternally established in the new heaven and new earth of Revelation 21. The perfection of God’s Kingdom will be completed when Christ returns, and God’s reign is universally recognized.
Our sanctification cannot be separated from our role as citizens and ambassadors of God’s Kingdom.
As subjects, we look and live like the King. But we also advance the nature of the Kingdom, taking ground from the enemy and broadening its borders through our daily lives—lives that “share in the holiness” of the King! We are made holy within the context of Kingdom advancement. Don’t miss this: the outward expression of our inner sanctification is the means by which we see realized, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven.”
Is our sanctification personal? Is it intimate? Is it for me? Yes. Because God, our Father, wants me, His child, to reflect His likeness. But we can’t separate our ongoing process of being made holy from our place in God’s Church, His Body, or our task of pushing ahead the borders of the Kingdom.
Our holiness isn’t a prize to be kept on a shelf in a glass case to be taken down and marveled at. It’s a workaday tool, an EDC (“everyday carry”), an essential implement for doing the work of living the Christian life in a broken world that desperately needs the life and light of the King.
Our holiness is just that: ours. It’s a collective work of the Spirit on God’s people, maybe the most remarkable example of the maxim, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Our holiness is an undeniable apologetic to the world of the power of the Spirit to change and shape individual lives and creation itself. Our holiness is an unstoppable force for good, the power of God at work in the world through His people.
I am thankful that God has made me holy and is making me holy. I am never not amazed at the glorious intimacy of the Spirit of God in residence within my body of flesh. But I am reminded that the boundary of my body is not the limit of God’s transformative work.
This article originally appeared in Volume 32 of my free newsletter, Good For You.
To subscribe, CLICK HERE.