Sanctification is a process. We go from babes, to children, to strong young men and Fathers. There are these 4 stages of growth that can help let you know where you are in the journey closer to Christ Jesus and His likeness. Within these stages are 4 other stages that have to deal with lets say individual truths.
An individual truth is something you learn about God, Jesus, the Bible, Salvation or your Christian life. 1 It is something you didn’t know was wrong or off in your feeling, thinking, words or actions. 2 Learned what was right. 3 Grew in the practice of it. 4 Then at some point you could say that for the most part you have it down.
Let us take the idea of being one body. All members of the same body. We are the Bride of Jesus Christ. He is the head and we are the Body. Okay there are two truths here that you may not have known. 1 Jesus is the head and you are His body. Ephesian 5:25ff. Now there is an action of love that should follow from this understanding the He is the Head and you are the body, but the two of you are one. The body listens to the Head. The bride listens to the Bridegroom for He is her head or leader or wise and loving Biblical decision maker in the relationship. He wills it and she follows like the arm obeying the heart for the soul and body are one. The soul and body function in harmony.
Phase one.
Phase one is ignorance and unconscient disobedience.
Ignorance. These are things that aren’t necessarily sin for knowing the good you ought to do and not doing it is sin. But they are things you should know or change about your belief system so that we could all have the same mind and please God. Babes in Christ have the most ignorance. They know enough about Jesus and what He did to believe in Him and be saved. But there is much to learn. This learning of the things of Christ Jesus will continue forever even after death. But a mark of a new believer is that they really don’t know much. The child knows more than the babe and the young man knows more than the child and the father pretty much has it all down, at least the most important things. So there is this progression from ignorance to more of a full knowledge.
This is not knowing the truth that “He is the Head, and you are the body.” A new believer has many many of these things that he does not know. It’s not sin for him to not know but good to know to encourage and have more motives to love.
Unconscient disobedience. These are things you weren’t aware of until reading the Bible or going to church, give from the first fruits, use your gift, when taking communion to do it in “remembrance” of Him and His work of love at the cross etc. These are things you just didn’t know. Like get baptized if you have believed in Christ for salvation and have repented. Once you know the good you ought to do and don’t then you are in sin and need to repent and do the good you know, are conscient of and convicted of, thus proving your love.
True maturity has to do with how much of what you learn do you put into practice. Or do you know much but do little and hide talents?
Now I am pretty sure that most of you have hardly thought about Jesus being your Head and you being the body. And the two of you are one. You have a new identity and purpose based on your position in Christ Jesus! The head wills it and the body moves because it is united to the head will obey unless the person be on drugs, have some disease or disorder. The body here, shows love to the head and the head to the body in that the head only wills what is best and good for the body (for the most part).
The change from phase one to phase 2
Phase 2
Awareness and knowledge of various truths. Which lead to
Conscient obedience or
Conscient disobedience
Conscient obedience. These are things you read in His Word that you knew you should do, and you did it. More or less right, but you did it. Whereas before you didn’t know you should change.
Purer good mental health consists of having it in your mind that “He is the head, and you are the body” And based on this you obey. Or it could be that you think He is Lord of lord and King of kings so I obey. Or he is my husband and Leader therefore I obey. All of these and more are relational truths. Meaning due to your relationship with Jesus Christ and who He is, you therefore respond a certain way in different situations.
Conscient disobedience
A continuance conscient disobedience leads to fear of punishment and lack of assurance of various truths like “He is my head and I am His body” You doubt this truth because your life isn’t consistent with that truth. If you were the body then you would obey your Head. But you now know what your Head desires and you are consistently and willfully choosing to disobey. This leads to fear and not assurance of certain truths. Hebrews 10:26 ” if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.”
Differing levels of assurance in phase 2
Phase 3
This is where the work begins. Laboring. Not ignorant, but having near full knowledge of the will of God. Learning to continue in doing all that was learned in phase 2. Getting strong and stronger in the Lord.
Working hard, laboring in love so that the fact that “He is mine, and I am his” turns to “I am his and he is mine” then to total loving obedience with the full assurance of his love to her, not doubting his love “I am his and his desire is for me.“
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4th stage is the fruits of this stricter union. Harmony. Contentment. Knowledge.
Practical oneness in everything.
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