Cooperating in Sanctification

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

What do you know about your sanctification? I’m obviously talking with people who believe themselves to be authentically saved, not people who merely profess they are Christians but may actually not be. But even those people hopefully have some thoughts about what it means to be saved and going through the process of sanctification.

Many to most authentically saved Christians may still be focusing solely on their justification, which occurs the moment a person is truly saved. At that point, because God opened their eyes and gave them the faith to understand and embrace their need for salvation, they became immediately justified. I’m wondering if too many Christians come to that juncture and then simply stop, wrongly believing that they are “good” now. Anything beyond this justification may seem to them to be “works-related” and we are not saved by our works, so why bother?

While it is 100% true that no one is saved by their works at all – it is the gift of God made possible by faith in Him and the finished work of Jesus on Calvary’s cross on our behalf (Ephesians 2:8-10)- this does not mean that Christians are never to put any effort into their lives so that they start cooperating with God in order to grow in Him.

As Christians, we are called to help, comfort, warn and be patient with one another (1 Thessalonians 5:14) and is part of our sanctification process. We are called to be encouragers, helpers, coaches, if you will, and at times, even Christians might need actual biblical counseling to help them over areas in their lives that have begun to strangle them. Since my own experience with counseling provided me with insight I had never realized before, it is incumbent upon me to be able to help other Christians over life’s hurdles. Whether I do this professionally or simply come alongside other believers from time to time to help them in time of need remains to be seen. I’m sure the Lord will direct my steps though.

In many ways, as noted, the entire process starts with the first part of sanctification, which is justification. If we do not fully understand what that is, we may easily get stuck in the mud. Let me give a for instance to get things rolling. Do you swear? Is that a normal part of your conversation? Maybe it was prior to being saved, but is that something you should continue doing?

In Ephesians 4:29, Paul the apostle makes things starkly clear.

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.

What could be more simple than reading and understanding that. The above statement not only includes swear words as so often and routinely used by the average person today (with the “F” bomb being the go-to word used), but I believe Paul is talking about words and statements that tear others down even if not using swear words within those statements.

If the intention of our communication is to tear down or harm others, then we are not edifying them. So what is our responsibility here as believers who confess Jesus as Savior and Lord?

But someone might say, “Gee Fred, I’ve been swearing all my life and I just recently became a Christian. How am I supposed to break a habit that has been part of me forever?” Good question and the answer is that it takes time…and effort.

Simply put, do I want to speak in a way that edifies (builds up), so that I impart grace to those on the other end, or do I still want to give way to my sin nature and just say what I want to say regardless of how it might harm the person hearing me?

If I don’t want to change my behavior leading to replacing the old verbiage with new, then I need to start there. I need to go to God admitting my failures and my wrong desires and I need to ask Him to help me get to where He wants me to be. This is a process because no one can change a habit overnight. In fact, it takes at least 21 days to develop a new habit. This is part of our sanctification.

If I want to change my ways so that I no longer swear and only speak words that edify those who hear me, that’s half the battle. So as I submit to Him, acknowledging that He wants me to speak in ways that share grace with others, He will help me do that. Will I become perfect about it after 21 days? Probably not but I will be further along then than I was 21 days prior.

Again, this is our sanctification, as He works in me to recreate the character of His Son. In essence, I cooperate with God by wanting to do what He wants me to do and then actually using effort to force myself to do what I can to change my bad habit into something that pleases Him.

People who work out probably didn’t enjoy working out at first. It was new to them and it was hard work. By persevering, they developed the habit of working out and began to see the results of their workouts. This then prompted them to push on so that they continued to see results and the results pleased them. But way back at the beginning, they were probably not fully emotionally onboard, yet they stuck with it. They knew what they had to do and did it. When they began to see results, that in itself gave them the energy to continue pushing onward.

Everyone of us – all true believers – has work that needs to be done in us because God is trying to recreate within us the image of His Son’s character. One day, when we leave this life and enter eternity, we will become glorified with the removal of our sin natures and the addition of glorified bodies. Now, as Paul says, the entire Creation groans because so many forces are at work against us to keep us from moving on and growing up in Jesus.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:22–23)

I spent a good portion of my life believing that if I did any “work” at all to improve myself, I’d be using self-effort to accomplish it and that would not glorify God. On the contrary, we are to cooperate with the Holy Spirit who indwells us and go where He leads even when that means moving away from troubling sins and habits that do not bring glory to God.

This is also why Paul tells us in essence to persevere and to push on in our high calling of Jesus. He makes this clear in Philippians 3:12-14.

12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Paul is referring to sanctification in the above verses. He is telling us that we have an obligation to apprehend what Jesus apprehended us for – ultimately perfection that will be ours in the next life. Notice also Paul said he had not already obtained it, nor was he already perfect. I’ve met believers who honestly believed God made Paul perfect at some point in his life. This is absurd and goes against Scripture with Paul himself admitting that he hadn’t been perfected yet, which is why he continued to press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

This is, in a nutshell, sanctification, which will continue in this life until we take our last breath. Once we pass from this life to the next, God will grant us the perfection we seek in this life. If you are not working by using effort on your part to live, do, say and think the things that bring glory to God, then you are not doing it correctly.

In 1 Corinthians 9:27, Paul makes a comment that has taken some people back.

But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

The opposite of being disciplined is being lazy. There’s too much of that going around, even among Christians today. Paul could have just coasted. After all, he was saved, right? Why did he work so hard to bring about the change in his life that God wanted? By that I mean why did he make the strong effort to cooperate with God the Holy Spirit in order to become the person God wanted him to become? The answer is much more simple than the process itself. Paul did this because he wanted to bring glory to God and he understood that whatever he was going through, it was because God ordained it and in every situation, he wanted to respond in a way that pleased God. Because of that, he literally disciplined himself – his thoughts, his actions and his words – so that he relied heavily on the power of the Holy Spirit to create in him (Paul), what was good for edifying others and glorifying God. This meant constant growth and change for Paul.

Most of the epistles written by Paul deal with aspects of sanctification. If you are not reading God’s Word on a daily basis, then you are simply not getting it. All you have left is how you feel about something, which may or may not be biblically accurate.

If you are an authentic believer in Jesus, one who has salvation and is now justified by God alone, then you have an obligation to fully cooperate with the Holy Spirit by putting forth the daily effort to do, be and say what He wants. This is our sanctification – our work in progress.

Consider this last example, which I will flesh out more in an upcoming article. How do you memorize Scripture or anything for that matter? You make the effort to repeat it, repeat it and repeat it until you know it without looking at the actual text.

When you undertake to memorize Scripture, is this salvation by works? No, you are already saved, correct? Therefore, memorizing Scripture is an effort you put into it in order to hide His Word in your heart, so that you can think, contemplate and even pray it whenever you want to do so throughout the day.

No one would say, “Hey, you’re trying to earn your salvation by your work of memorization!” Yet, we often believe this to be the case if we put forth any effort to live in a way that pleases Him. I’ve been there and maybe you have as well.

Sanctification is the God-ordained way He has chosen to begin the process of perfecting us in this life. It will be completed in the next life with our glorification, that one-time event in our future that God is responsible for completing just as justification was the one-time event in our past that God was responsible for completing based on our faith and embrace of Jesus.

I don’t know how many more years in this life God has given me. I simply know that when I stand before Him at the BEMA Judgment Seat of Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:10, where my works are judged but I am not judged as to whether or not I am saved), I do not want to be ashamed. The process of sanctification will be finished when we stand before Him and become what He determined we will be.

Are you cooperating with the Spirit in this process called sanctification? I pray you are doing just that daily.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

Source: https://studygrowknowblog.com/2025/10/30/cooperating-in-sanctification/