Redemption & Sanctification

I was asked to write an article about redemption for a magazine that my church publishes..so here it is:

It is only fitting that I find myself on the heels of an emotional breakdown as I begin to write about redemption, lest I misrepresent the messy truth and speak about the sanctification process quite matter-of-factly. We have a tendency to do that though – to pretend. We pretend we are better than we are, pretend we don’t struggle as much as we do, pretend that obedience is completely natural and that our fleshly desires never conflict with the Word of God. Let me assure you, we can be very convincing liars- content to deceive ourselves right into deeper bondage…because it is easier than facing the truth that sets us free. Like the Israelites, our “… exodus is the end of captivity, but it is only the beginning of freedom” ¹

I am not suggesting that Jesus’ blood is insufficient in any way. His blood indeed covers the repentant for he has “blotted out [our] transgressions like a cloud and [our] sins like mist; [so that we can] return to [him], for [he] ha[s] redeemed [us]” (Isaiah 44:22). We have been wholly redeemed by our Savior; he has taken our hearts of stone and given us new hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). But as is the case with God’s people all throughout scripture, and daily confirmed by our own sinful desires, just because we are redeemed, doesn’t mean we always act like it.

In the literature I am reading for my redemption group, this tension is referred to as the “already-and-not- yet”, where “’we have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator’ [Colossians 3:9-10]. The old self here has been put off (already) and the new self has been put on (already). But look what’s happening with this new self: it is being renewed. Renewal is a process.”²

And renewal is a complicated process because this journey of transformation necessitates confronting our own brokenness, which is painfully vulnerable and challenges our preconceived notions of identity and faith. In brokenness, we are stripped of the idols we insatiably cling to instead of our Savior. We expose the lies we have for so long chosen to believe. We stop pretending and are forced to wrestle with God regarding our sin and suffering. In brokenness, we are finally released to chase after Jesus and know him (through experience) deeper than we ever thought possible.

The following lyrics from the song entitled, “Healing Begins”³, describe this process so beautifully:

“This is where the healing begins. Oh, this is where the healing starts. When you come to where you’re broken within, the light meets the dark.”

God does not ask us to go to the deep places within our soul and then abandon us in it. No, he is ever-present in the wilderness of our souls. I love the great display of sovereignty and kindness recorded in Hosea 2:14-16:

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor [trouble, the place where Achan was stoned as punishment for his sin⁴] a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.”

God allures us into the wilderness, not to condemn us, but to speak tenderly to us. When we have been captives (to the Egyptians as recorded in Exodus, or to our lovers as recorded in Hosea, or to “every weight or sin that easily entraps us”, as evidenced in our present realities), we have to be broken down. We need a new way of thinking, a renewal of our minds. The wilderness requires total dependence on God for our daily bread, which we are unwilling to do as long as we are allowed to cling to the filth we’ve been deceived into thinking is our real sustenance.

Our helplessness in our invitation to hope. When we see our own brokenness and insufficiency, we get on our knees…and are finally in a position of power. When we rely upon God, the valley of Achor (trouble/ death) becomes a door of hope. When we begin to know God deeply, other things start to lose their power over us.

Yet, so often we fail to recognize the obvious: only the sick need a doctor (Mark 2:17); only dead things can be resurrected. Unless we are willing to examine “the deaths that [we] still dwell in”⁵ – from abuse to addiction to bad attitudes and everything in between- we will never experience the healing and new life Christ has freely given to us.

Of the many redemptive promises made in Isaiah 61, we are assured that we will receive “a crown of beauty instead of ashes”⁶. An ash is defined as “the powdery residue of matter that remains after burning” ⁷[italics mine]. How interesting that throughout scripture, the Holy Spirit is referred to as a “consuming fire”, refining us into Christ’s likeness. When the Spirit of God tests us with fire, exposing every hidden thing, only ashes remain. For to him, our perceived righteousness is like filthy rags⁸. But because of the Cross, those remnant ashes, surrendered to Jesus, are exchanged for a crown of beauty. “The power of the Cross is not exemption from suffering but the very transformation of suffering.”⁹

We serve a God who knows the end from the beginning and has planned accordingly. He specializes in doing the impossible, even transforming our broken hearts. Whatever stage you may find yourself in along this process, know that God sees you right where you are. He is well able to lead you along the path of righteousness, even if it involves a journey through the wilderness. In every season, we have but one Redeemer, inviting us to lay our ashes before him and receive the crowns of beauty he longs to bestow upon us. It is my prayer that we will have the courage to continually surrender all to our blessed Savior, that we may find the abundant life he died to give us.

1Graeme Goldsworthy. According to Plan (Downers Grove: IVP, 1991), 137.

2Mike Wilkerson. Redemption (Spring 2010c Preview Release, v8.1 ), 32.

3Tenth Avenue North. Healing Begins (Provident Label Group LLC, a unit of Sony Music Entertainment , 2010).

4Joshua 7:24-26

5Relient K, For the Moments I Feel Faint /Never Underestimate My Jesus (Gotee Records, 2001).

6Isaiah 61:3

7ash. Dictionary.com. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ash (accessed: July 19, 2010).

8Isaiah 64:6

9Elisabeth Elliott, The Path of Loneliness (Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 1998,2001 ), 31.