Josh Benner

Tag: sanctification

  • Jesus didn’t die to keep you the same

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    Jesus died to save sinners.

    It is out of the love that he has for that he died. But it is also because he loves us that he didn’t die to keep us the same. When the gospel takes root in someone’s heart, part of the evidence for a sincere faith is a life that has been changed by the gospel.

    Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).

    It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).

    20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
    -Ephesians 4:20-24

    I used to enjoy watching a show as a kid called Rescue 911 which was a show that had reenactments of emergencies. But the reenactments often included portions of 911 calls (and later testimonies from the 911 operators). Often times, you’d see a reunion with the person and their rescuers at the end of a clip. I’m sure it’s natural for a person to want to thank the people who saved them. With the gospel, Jesus saved us from our sins, and it wasn’t just so we could say “thanks a lot,” and get back to our lives.

    Jesus saves us from death but the relationship he invites us into in knowing him is an invitation to life.

    Jesus didn’t die to keep us the same. That wouldn’t even make sense. Since our sin was so bad that our only way to God was through a savior, then why would he want us to stay the same? He rescued from the penalty of sin. And to realize that, how far off from God we were, and that Jesus has forgiven us, that should result in a transformed life.

    James said: You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone (James 2:24). The point James is making is not to preach another gospel. But to claim to have faith and not live a life that reflects an inward faith might be an indication of a faith that isn’t real. The gospel changes lives. Faith without works works to show faith that doesn’t work.

    That’s not to say we never struggle. We do. We’re sinful people. We might have several areas where we’re struggling when we come to faith. And that doesn’t all go away overnight. But more and more, there should be evidence of faith. You will know them by their fruits (Matthew 7:16).

    2 Corinthians 3:18 is part of the reason why we know that faith necessarily leads to a transformed life. Because it’s the Holy Spirit who is working in us. Beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).

    Jesus didn’t die to keep you the same. He loves you too much for that. If you have faith, and you’re struggling in an area, know that it doesn’t always have to be this way. There is hope. Walk with God, love for God, love God.

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

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  • 8 signs of a maturing Christian

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    For a person who believes in the gospel, Jesus did not save us from our sin to keep us the same. Salvation happens in an instant by means of faith. But for the rest of life, a person is on a Spiritual journey. The Bible calls for us to walk and live Godly lives, to grow and mature in our faith.

    In our society, we have ma

    But what does that look like? Here are some of the really significant examples that come to mind through the Bible.

    This list is most definitely not exhaustive.

    1. A maturing Christian is committed to love for God and people.
      A maturing Christian follows the Greatest Commandment. As a result, he loves God and loves people (Lev. 19:18; Deut. 6:5; Matt. 22:36 – 40; Mark 12:28 – 31). He loves the Lord with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength. Further as part of loving God, for a maturing Christian, faith is supreme over everything else in life (Matt. 10:38, 13:45-46). Along with the idea of loving God, a maturing Christian also loves people. It goes hand in hand with the Greatest Commandment, in regards to loving God. It is impossible to truly love God without loving people (Matt. 22:37-40). He shows love to other Christians and grace to non-Christians. He is not prideful, but recognizes shortcomings and the grace of God in his own life (Matt. 28:19; 2 Tim. 4:2). For non-believers, the maturing Christian is more concerned with a desire for the lost to know Jesus and become his disciples than in judging. The maturing Christian is flexible in ministry and evangelism. He’s not afraid to put in the time in to building relationships. He meets people where they are in life (Acts 17:16-34). He also relates to people as individuals (1 Cor. 9:19-23). A maturing Christian recognizes that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). Because of this, the maturing Christian has a desire to see others come to know Christ, because a person’s eternal future depends on faith in the gospel. He knows that God has ordained the means through which the gospel is spread to be through his word and through the proclamation of the gospel.
    2. A maturing Christian pursues God daily.
      A daily pursuit of God fosters transformation and growth. While a person is justified once and for all at the moment of conversion, the process of maturing and growing in faith is continual. Means through which a believer grows include prayer, the study of scripture, and fellowship with believers, and obedience to God. Christians also mature through various trials they face in life (James 1:2-4; Romans 5:1-5). A maturing Christian understands that testing from God and discipline from God are part of the Christian life (Deut. 8; Heb. 12). While we don’t have to like the challenges in and of themselves, a maturing Christian knows that God is sovereign, God is providential, God is good, and that all things will ultimately work for good (Rom. 8:28). Through tests, the result for the maturing Christian will ultimately be growth and increased dependence in God and love for God.
    3. A maturing Christian views it as a divine mandate to make disciples.
      In making disciples of all nations, Christians recognize the command of Christ to go out into the world baptizing and telling people the gospel (Matt. 28:16 – 20). Making disciples is more than evangelism (although evangelism is a part of this process). Making disciples is working with converts and helping to challenge and encourage them in their walk with Christ to an even greater love for Jesus, His Church, and people (Prov. 27:17).
    4. A maturing Christian obeys
      The Bible has much to say about God’s moral will for our lives (Exodus 20:1-17; Deut. 6:4-6; Matt. 5-7). As the maturing Christian grows in the knowledge of the word of God through the Bible, the proclamation of the word, and through Christian community, a cognitive dissonance is created where a person knows what they ought to do and has opportunities to either obey or sin.
    5. A maturing Christian repents.
      While a person is forgiven from sins at the moment they come to faith in the Lord Jesus, people still do commit sins in reality (Rom. 7). Christians are called to confess sins and to repent (Matt. 3:8, 4:17; Luke 17:3; 1 John 1:9). Repentance is turning away from sin and turning to God. A maturing Christian recognizes that how she lives matters, and that God has a moral will for how Christians ought to conduct their lives. In having a high value of the weight of sin, a maturing Christian is enabled to have a greater love for the grace of gospel.
    6. A maturing Christian uses his Spiritual gifts to serve in the Church.
      A maturing Christian understands that the purpose for involvement in a church is not merely how it benefits himself but how God can use the gifts which He has given the believer to serve and build up the Church (Rom. 12:6 – 8; 1 Cor. 12:8 – 10, 28; Eph. 4:11). He uses his gifts in building up the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-31) and understands that he is part of the priesthood of all believers. He also considers himself to be a minster of God, regardless of vocation (1 Tim. 2:5; 1 Peter 2:5-9; Hebrews 3:1).
    7. A maturing Christian is sensitive to the commands of God in loving those marginalized by society.
      Believers are called to love those society looks down upon (Matt. 25:31 – 46; Luke 10:25-37). This is from a recognition of the restoration that Jesus ushered in during his earthly ministry (Luke 4:18-21). The Bible also repeatedly talks about loving widows and orphans (Jas. 1:27). The maturing Christian is called to remember those society forgets.
    8. A maturing Christian bears fruit.
      Followers of Jesus will be known to the world by the good fruit that they bear (Matt. 7:16-20). Depending on if a person has faith or not, a person can grow good or bad fruit (Matt. 3:10, 12:33). Bearing fruit is a direct result of fellowship with the Lord Jesus (John 15:4-5). The maturing Christian brings glory to God when fruit is produced in life (John 15:8). Believers are chosen to become more like Christ and a natural product of this is the bearing of fruit (John 15:16). People who are not in relationship with the Lord are incapable of producing good fruit (Luke 6:43-44). The sinful desires are opposed to the Spirit, which produces fruit (Gal. 5:17, 19-21). The life that is led in accordance with the work of the Holy Spirit results in the bearing of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23).

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

  • Strength through the toughest struggles

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    At the beginning of Romans 5, the Apostle Paul is speaking of the glories of justification by faith.
    Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
    -Romans 5:1-2
    But beginning in verse 3, Paul seems to randomly change topics:
    Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.
    -Romans 5:3-4
    For a Christian who has been justified, God gives them his Spirit. And through God’s Spirit, a person is sanctified (made Holy).
    There are other places in the Bible that talk about sanctification and its result. In Galatians, Paul. talks about the fruit of the Spirit. And the point of that passage is that for a person who has the Spirit, which is synonymous with a person who has faith, the Spirit of God working in a person produces fruit, virtues like love, joy, peace, patience. (Galatians 5:22-23)
    In Romans 5, Paul is saying that another way how people grow with God is through struggles.
    That might seem absolutely counterintuitive.
    Many people get frustrated with God when they’re struggling, suffering.
    It can so naturally be this sense of “where are you God?” Or “Why is this happening to me?” “It’s not supposed to be this way.”
    Suffering is part of life.
    It rains on both the saint and the sinner.
    And the Christian life is one that is lived in a fallen world. Where we still sin, and have to deal with the ramifications from that. Where other people still sin, and where we have to deal with the ramifications from that. And where there is still sickness, illness, disease, hurt.
    And there’s something we all have to understand. The Bible doesn’t promise a Christian’s life will be free from suffering.
    In fact, the Bible literally promises the opposite of that.
    James tells us to look at trials as a reason for joy:
    Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
    -James 1:2-4
    So in James, the result of trials is that it refines a person. It’s meant for a person to actually be “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” God uses suffering to refine a person.
    We so often think life is all about happiness.
    It’s not. That is not what the Bible says the Christian life is all about.
    It’s all about knowing God and serving God.
    If life were all about happiness, if this life were all there was, then yes, suffering would interfere with that.
    But suffering does not interfere with knowing God. And in fact, it can often times enhance our relationship with God.
    Some people struggle and suffer, and they turn their back on God.
    It’s tragic.
    But for others, they grow in a deeper relationship with God than they ever thought possible when going through the greatest challenges and struggles. You name it, people have been able to love and follow God through it.
    And again, it’s not that suffering is good for its own sake.
    It’s that the result, the strength that comes from the tension, the greater relationship we can have with God is what can often times be the biggest blessing.
    A radical idea that is puzzling to our world.
    When you lift weights, you don’t get from the workout itself. It’s that when you lift weights, it creates all of these little micro-tears in your muscles. And after you workout, the muscles repair themselves and as a result of that, you’re stronger.
    Faith gets strengthened through the heavy lifting.
    If we never face difficult situations, then we never grow.
    And different types of workouts work different muscles. Different ways how we’re tested strengthen us in different way.
    Sometimes it’s not until the dust has settled that we can look back and truly appreciate what God was doing in us.
    Sometimes you don’t see the beauty of the journey until you’re on the top of the mountain and are able to see where the difficult path was leading you and to appreciate the beauty that it brought.
    I’m sure some of us have experienced things that were extremely difficult at the time, things that were horrible. But things we can look to and as hard as it was at the time,we can see how it helped shape us, how it helped make us into who we are today.
    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.