Dayenu
During the modern Jewish observance of the feast of Passover, the Jews will sing a song: Dayenu. The word Dayenu literally means: “Enough for us”. During the song they sing of God's blessings to their forefathers in Egypt. For 15 stanzas, the song progressively sees God's blessings as being layer upon layer of grace to the Jewish people. “If He had brought us out of Egypt, it would've been enough”, “If He had executed justice upon the Egyptians, it would've been enough.” and so on to the end of the song: “He built the temple for us” The idea is that God had redeemed them from Egypt and then blessed and blessed again. While we don't hold that the modern Jews are saved apart from the saving work of Jesus Christ, this song represents an appropriate response to God and His blessings to us in the Savior and King: Jesus. We might sing it with fresh words: “If He had only lived a righteous life, Dayenu” “If He had only hung on the tree to Justify us and forgive us of our sins, Dayenu.” “If He had only taken the wrath that we were due, Dayenu.” “If He had only given us free righteousness, Dayenu” “If He had only granted us adoption by the Father through His righteousness, Dayenu” “If He had only granted regeneration by His Spirit, Dayenu!” It would have been enough for us.
Legal Righteousness, but what about Tangible Righteousness?
In Part 1 of Christ our Savior, we saw as Jesus lived out righteousness and that God has given us that righteousness fully. This, so that when God sees us, He sees the righteousness of His Son Jesus. We saw as Christ's righteousness makes us right. The word that Paul used in Romans 5 was Justification. We were indeed justified by Jesus act of obedience on the cross and we received the righteousness that He Himself had earned.
It is with profound joy and deep conviction that we read John 3 and see how Jesus in His grace sends His Spirit to regenerate us; to grant us new life. It would've been enough for Jesus to Justify us and then to grant us new life in the indwelling of His Spirit. But Paul at the end of Romans 5 says “Where sin increased grace increased.” Everybody celebrates and says: “Well great then, I'm cool sinning then, as I have so much grace given to me freely.” This of course is my paraphrase of Paul's words beginning in Romans 6, “Are we to continue in sin so that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin, still live in it?”
But God's grace in saving us from our sin continues. We find our gracious Savior at work, through His Spirit as He begins the gentle and often painful process as He continues to purify us and grants us what we could never have hoped for: real and genuine righteousness.
It is imperative that we see that if we are in Christ that we have the promise of eternal life. We must see that our relationship is not a relationship contingent on our actions. To say it another way: We don’t earn the relationship. Jesus did in His completed work on the cross and His righteous life. We don’t cause the relationship. Jesus did when He sent His Spirit to take up residence in us. We will see today that Jesus is the one who also sustains us and makes us ready for heaven. The process that God undertakes to make us ready for His glorious consummated kingdom is called Sanctification.
Now to understand Sanctification, it’s critical that we understand what it is not. We must understand how we are saved in justification and in regeneration. Once we understand His grace to us in salvation, we can clearly see His loving grace to us in sanctification.
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” – Romans 6:1-11
Paul at the end of Chapter 5 of Romans says: “but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” And knowing what the cynics would then say. Thinking they had found a flaw in his reasoning, he responds as they would and many do: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” “Paul, if grace grows and grows to meet the debt of our sin, and grace is free and not bound to our obedience then there is nothing to prevent us from sinning. Why not party on?” Both Paul’s response and what he DOESN’T say are what we need to see. First, he doesn’t say: “You’re right, your salvation is contingent on your perpetual obedience. Oops, I left that part out.” He also doesn’t say: “You’re absolutely right, so go on live like the devil.” He points to the reality of who we are in Christ. This reality demonstrated in the exchange that occurred when we, the believers were regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
Paul points us to the reality that we have in Christ, in our baptism. When we were recipients of the sacrament of baptism, it represented a reality that had occurred for us. This reality is that just as Jesus had died on the cross, so too our sinful flesh was nailed to the tree. We were united with Him, Paul says. His death was our death. Jesus says in Luke 12:50, in regard to His Crucifiction: “I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!” As Jesus died, our old nature also died. That sinful nature was nailed to the cross in Jesus flesh. “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that that the body of sin might be brought to nothing.” When we were baptized, we were celebrating our death. Paul answers the question: “How can we who died to sin still live in it?” The flesh that died, was a death to wrath and our bondage to the curse that lead to sin and death. Sin had to be judged in us, and Jesus took that wrath and we likewise died. We were truly united to Christ in His death.
What is Sanctification?
We’ve already seen what joyous news this is in previous weeks. But we need to see it again. If we were united with Him in His death, then we are united with Him in His resurrection. Specifically, Pauls says that “Death no longer has dominion over Him”. Likewise, death no longer has dominion over us. His resurrection is an indicator of what we are to experience fully at the final consummation of the kingdom. However, it is a reality for us now, because of this unity with Christ, that sin (that which brought death) is no longer our master. It doesn’t rule over us as it did. In regeneration we were given a new disposition. Paul says it in verse 17 “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,”
Paul completes the picture for us. If you are a slave, you do as the master says. You are under its dominion and you have no power to escape it. We were under the dominion of sin. It was our master, we were disobedient from the heart. We couldn’t break its chains, we couldn’t be set free until Jesus death. However, when He died, we died. That sin was no longer our Lord. Paul says this in Romans 7 when he draws the analogy of a woman married to a man. If she’s married to that man and leaves him and is joined to another, she is in adultery. However, if she dies, she’s freed from the covenant. So too, when you died vicariously in Jesus, you were set free from the Law. You are no longer bound to your sin.
Sin was your king, but now in Jesus, righteousness embodied is your King. Paul doesn’t tell us these things as a future hope, but a present reality. He says, you are now a slave to righteousness. He is your King and so you are no longer bound to obey the flesh. You are bound to obey Christ. And He doesn’t tell us these things because we are now perfect, but because it is SO important in the war against the flesh that we know that it isn’t our master, that Jesus is. That we were taken from the dominion (or the kingdom) of sin and transferred into the kingdom of righteousness.
But we have a problem: there is a now and a then scenario at work. We have the flesh, which is at opposition with God, it hasn’t been resurrected yet. It still has its tendencies, thus Paul says in Romans 8 “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” We see this in disease, though we are set free in the here and now from the curse, we are still subject to the sufferings and the diseases of this age. So our unity with Christ in His resurrection is in part now and in part then. And the problem for us is that we are now engaged in a battle. The flesh makes war on us. Temptation abounds in this age. Peter says: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” 1 Peter 5:8. Do you remember Job? If we are now under the dominion or the kingship of Jesus Christ, the enemy considers us seditious and would love to besmirch Christ’s work in us even though Romans 8 is true (Nothing shall separate us). Our flesh too is constantly, like the Israelites trying to run back to our former bondage. Remember how they longed for the pleasures of their former land? Isn’t it true that we too at times desire to return to our former ways? Paul in these verses paints the picture of the life long battle of the believer. We are engaged in a war, an armed struggle with ourselves.
This is the picture of sanctification as we do battle, putting the flesh to death; as we DON’T let sin reign in our mortal bodies; as we consider ourselves dead to sin and as we battle to not offer our members as slaves of sin. Now if you’re anything like me, you look at that which remains in you and the battle that goes and you grow weary. The Lord knows this and knew that this was for us, a life long struggle. That’s why we are to be constantly reminded of His grace to us on the cross but also in the gifts that He has given us, His children. Remember Paul “but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” – Romans 8:14.
It would have been enough if God had seen fit to redeem us and then set us on the course, in the battle and left us to our own. But He hasn’t and it’s key that we see this. Unlike Justification and Regeneration, there is definitely an element of Sanctification that is ours, at least from our temporal perspective. We are like it or not in a battle. I think though you may have not seen it this way, as Paul describes the battle I hope that you are thinking two things. First, I recognize this in my own life. I see this battle day in and day out. Second, I am feeling a tension caused by the variance between me now and me then. That is, I see, in some way the magnitude of the difference between my character and Christ’s righteousness and something in me pokes at me. If a man comes up to you in a the middle of a combat zone, with no rifle, not wearing fatigues and is rather wearing shorts and a Hawaiin shirt, with a remote in one hand and a soda in the other, and he says: “I’m a soldier engaged in a war” It’s clear he is not. Don’t misread me! I’m not saying its sin to wear shorts, or a hawaiin shirt or watch tv or drink soda! However, if you don’t see in yourself the markings of battle then you should not be at ease. We won’t camp on this, but if you are in Christ there is a war on. We are each engaged at different levels of intensity and we often fail. There are times that we go dry. But if none of this is true of you, you’re the guy driving down the road never touched by Scripture, God’s holiness and Christ’s righteousness. You know some facts about a man on a cross, but you haven’t been regenerated and you can’t take comfort. However, if you are weak and struggling and the battle rages on, you can take comfort in the promises that you have been given.
A Peek at the Engine – Whose work is sanctification?
So let’s look at sanctification from another view, a very hopeful view. I believe God’s view.
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” – Philippians 1:6
So just as the good work, the salvation work that Jesus began in you in regeneration was empowered by the Spirit, so to Jesus will bring to completion that same work. We see that it is Christ who saves us and it is Christ who brings the work of sanctification to its completed state. Jesus is the one who is empowering you to put the flesh to death. Jesus is the one through the Spirit who is convicting you. Jesus is the one who is ordaining all things together for your good, to bring you to righteousness. (Romans 8:28).
And again:
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” – Philippians 2:12
So here again we see the believer engaged in obedience. We see the believer engaged in effort. Paul uses the words “Work out your salvation”. This can’t mean: accomplish your salvation, much of the new testament argues against that. The word does mean to work a work to completion and it always means a work that is consistent with the nature of what is producing the work. In Romans 7:8 – “But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness.” Again in 2 Corinthians 4:17 – “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,”
Many think here that Paul when referring to fear and trembling is referring to a fear and trembling related to condemnation. And this word is used at times in that way. It’s the word Phobos. However, it is most often used in another way. A fear that in our world of Jesus is my boyfriend songs and the oft used image of God as being a kindly old accepting grandfather sort, we don’t really even hear about. This fear is a glorious fear. It’s the same fear that the disciples feel all the time when they see that Jesus is God. In Mark 4:40 when Jesus quiets the storm and they ask themselves: “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" This is the same fear that the women have in Matthew 28:5 as the angel proclaims to them the glory of the risen Lord and “they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy”. This fear is the same fear that the prophets who were brought into the presence of God Himself, experienced.
Lets go back a few verses to verse 9: “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” This working out with fear and trembling points directly the glory and the authority and the power that Jesus has been given. When we hear the word Lord, we don’t hear what they heard. When they heard the word Lord, it meant “Supreme in authority”. When they heard the word Lord, they envisioned a mighty victorious and powerful King. That’s what Paul wants us to see here. That this King, Jesus, is working in us, that is He is the power and the ability behind us as we “work out” the salvation that HE has accomplished. Isn’t that good new? And if the mighty King of all things, is He who is working in us and amongst us to bring about His good pleasure, then we ought to have the same fear and trembling that a lowly subject would have for his King. This is a reverence that causes the knees to buckle with the realization that it is Jesus who is working in us.
Now, what is the nature of the work that He is doing in you? It is first, Paul says the will, or the desire, the wish, the hunger to work for His good pleasure. You see in yourself sin and yet it breaks your heart. You see in yourself failure and it makes you long to please Him. This is His work in you! Second, Paul says that the work itself, that is the effort applied, or the power behind our working is His power, his effort. As we are working, as we obey, as we put the flesh to death, it is Jesus through His Spirit that is graciously granting us the desire to do so and the working itself.
Who could take credit for such things? You want to show me your good works, you want us all to see how holy you are? If there is anything lovely in you it is His work in you. This is so hopeful in the battle that is sanctification. King Jesus, at who’s feet all will fall, at who’s name all will confess He is LORD. This same Jesus is working salvation out in us. Are you struggling today? Does it seem like sin is winning? You know what it is and that you desire to please Him. Take courage be strengthened. Fight on! From Jesus’ vantage point, He is doing wonderfully in you, what you could not do. Even if you don’t see it right now, if you are His, He is pouring out abundant grace in sanctification!
In the words of the old Hymn writer, Hallelujah! what a Savior!
The Means of Grace – His tools
Jesus says, in John 17:7, as He prays to the Father for us: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” Paul when using the analogy of Christ’s marriage to the church in relation to Christian marriage says: “as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” – Ephesians 5:25 So, you long to be sanctified do you? Let the word of revelation, of Jesus as mighty Savior, as Sanctifier go deep and do its work in you!
I would be remise not to discuss briefly what Godly conviction looks like. The word is full of imperatives and descriptions of God’s holiness and of His righteous requirement. For those of us who are in Christ, whose sin’s have been forgiven and paid for, Law no longer holds us in bondage. Nonetheless, the Law is not without its use. When we come to the Law when we come to imperative in scripture we see our absolute failure. We feel it deep down. Our conscience is stricken. The Holy Spirit shows us our failings, not to rub our noses in them, like dogs. He does this to prod our lazy hearts back to the cross, to be reminded supernaturally of His once for all atonement of our sins. And to take us to sweet gratitude rich repentance.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:26 “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.” Paul is not saying that we declare Jesus’ death to the unbelievers. Though if there are unbelievers present, they will hopefully see the Gospel played out graphically in the distribution of the elements. But Paul is saying that we proclaim Jesus’ atoning work for the sins which we battle against in a real way to ourselves and to our brothers and sisters in Christ. So we return to the cross. We taste and see that Jesus is good. We take the wafer, His flesh on our tongue and experience the reminder, the proclamation of His death, and we take in the cup of blessing and drink deep of His grace.
May Jesus, our life giver continue to shower us in His grace!
Hallalujah! What a Savior!
