Sanctification Through One Another
I have been reliving the meeting for the past several weeks. A friend was bold enough to share words that are never easy to hear. He had the courage to point out a blind spot in my pastoral leadership. As I have been processing, or maybe better said, wrestling with that conversation, one thing has become clear. Having friends who can speak hard words is a gift. More than that, this encounter has reminded me of the necessity of Christian community. We need Christ’s body in the Spirit-empowered journey of becoming more like Jesus. Why? Because sanctification occurs by the Spirit in community (Angela Shier-Jones, New Dictionary of Theology, 807).
The New Testament often signals the community-oriented nature of sanctification with the phrase “one another,” such as “love one another” and “welcome one another.” In fact, it uses this “one another” phrase nearly 60 times. As I have studied these “one another” phrases, I have identified three broad divisions of these commands. These broader characteristics give shape to the church as a community used by the Spirit in the Christian’s sanctification.
The Community Characterized by Love
One of the primary themes throughout the New Testament is love within the body of Christ. From Jesus’s command to “love one another” (John 13:34–35; 15:12, 17) to Paul’s exhortation to love (Rom. 13:8; 1 Thess. 3:12; 4:9; 2 Thess. 1:3), there is no more foundational motif for community ethics. We love as an overflow of the unique love Christ has shown us (1 John 4:10). Our love is always a response because Jesus is love. Although Jesus’s love is one-of-a-kind, it is also an example for us to emulate (1 John 4:7). The New Testament calls us to love because it spurs us on in becoming more like Jesus (1 Pet. 2:21).
In the church where I serve as an associate pastor, one way we speak about the love of Christ is the transforming welcome of Jesus (Rom. 15:7). Because Jesus has extended his radical welcome, we in turn can welcome others. This is a welcome that goes beyond superficiality and, as such, is an apologetic witness to our culture of the truth of the gospel (John 13:35). But what does this welcome look like in practice? Certainly, it can look like the warm hospitality we extend on Sunday mornings, or in our homes, but it can take other forms as well. Extending love is often enacted through simple means. For example, tucked in the pages of my Bible is a tattered note from someone in our congregation. Sketched on this card are words of affirmation and encouragement. When I am discouraged by the challenges of ministry, I often pull out this card and read these words as a reminder of the kindness God has shown through his people. Is there someone who needs a word of encouragement? Send him a note. Do you know a family in your church community aching from the burdens of life? Surprise them with a meal on their doorstep. Have you noticed someone sitting on the fringes of the congregation on a Sunday morning? Walk across the room and extend a welcome to her.
Another way we can embody love is to walk with others through pain. One of my greatest privileges is when I see those under my care loving one another by “bearing one another’s burdens” (Gal. 6:2, cf. Eph. 4:2). This past year, several groups have journeyed with someone on the painful road of a health diagnosis or financial hardship. Others have provided comfort and a warm presence to those in darkness and difficulty (1 Cor. 12:25). To love this way is to take the posture of a servant (Gal. 5:13; 1 Peter 4:10) in response to the One who first served us (John 13:14). By caring for the sick, or bearing other’s burdens, not only can we model the love of Christ, but we can also point people to Christ, the one who transforms us by his love.
The Community Shaped by Grace
The church also functions as a sanctifying community in the way it models confession, forgiveness, and grace. Although confessing our sin, extending forgiveness, and embodying grace run contrary to our nature, they are a powerful witness to the transformation of the gospel. Let me share an example from my own life.
Recently, I confessed sin to a fellow elder in our church. As I picked up the phone and found him in my contacts, everything in me was saying, “Just put the phone down. You don’t need to confess.” While our disposition is to want to conceal, there is freedom and healing that come from confession. I experienced nourishment for the soul through this conversation, and I heard a reminder of God’s grace through his prayer for me. We need a small few in the body of Christ with whom we can be vulnerable and be reoriented toward God’s healing and forgiveness. It is counter-cultural to repent rather than run, to bring to light rather than hide (James 5:16). But we can confess because we are to be a community extending forgiveness flavored by the grace we have received from Jesus (Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:13).
Another aspect of being a grace-filled community is in the giving and receiving of correction. I probably don’t have to tell you that admonishment is difficult, on both the giving and receiving ends. But even so, correction within the body of Christ has a very specific purpose: to point others to the truth of the gospel (Eph.4:25). This can take place in formal gatherings under the preaching of the Word, but also in our daily relationships (Col. 3:16). Like my friend who highlighted my leadership gap, we need refining friends who can help calibrate our lives to the truth of God’s Word (Heb. 3:13). Even though my friend’s words were hard to hear, they were seasoned with grace and have proved fruitful in my life and leadership.
The Community that Clings to Christ
I appreciate the often-cited mantra to “preach the gospel to yourself.” But it is equally important that we preach the gospel to one another in the church. We are surrounded by anti-gospel messages from the media we consume, our work or recreational spaces, or maybe even the words we tell ourselves. As such, we need the daily reminder of God’s rich grace made known in Christ.
The author of Hebrews exhorts his audience to “meet together” (Heb. 10:25). Why? To “encourage” each other in the gospel (Heb. 10:19–25). The very act of meeting corporately reminds us of what Christ accomplished. Every Sunday, at our church, we offer a welcome liturgy we have adapted from Immanuel Church in Nashville that Barnabas Piper helpfully unpacks. At the end of this welcome, the pastor says, “This church opens wide her doors with a welcome from Jesus Christ.” Several have told me they make every effort to be in the service for this welcome because it is a reminder of their gospel need. Even when I am the one extending this welcome from the platform, I have found that these words pierce my own heart with the healing balm of grace.
As the church, we remind each other of our need for grace, the countercultural act of love, and our sure hope in the gospel. As we do, we recognize Jesus is the one who takes hold of us, and he has a loving, grace-filled embrace that changes us forever.