Heb. 12:14 stresses the essentiality of sanctification. It says, “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.” Sanctification is the purpose, Paul says, for which we are saved. 1Thess. 4:7 “For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.”
Now Peter never uses the word sanctification, per se. He does however refer to the sanctifying work of the Spirit in us, back in chapter 1vs2. But I believe that the general thrust of Peter’s epistle is the subject of our sanctification. His central thesis is found in the first chapter, vs 16, “Because it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy.” Sanctification is simply holiness. They are synonymous. To be sanctified is to be holy, set apart, for good works. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” That is the goal of our sanctification, that we should be fit for service to God.
Last week we looked at a list of motivations that Peter gave us for sanctification. Now this week I believe we can find another list, Peter’s 12 step program, if you will, for sanctification. And as I said, the purpose for our sanctification is that we might be of service to the Lord. So without further introduction let’s look at Peter’s 12 steps to sanctification as presented in the first 10 verses of chapter 2.
The first step in our sanctification is love with a pure heart. Peter has already referenced this in the previous chapter in vs 22, saying, “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart.” And as I said previously, the KJV and other translations include the word “pure” heart. That indicates that Christian love is not possible without sanctification. That it has to be unhypocritical love. It’s really a shame how modern society has redefined the idea of love. They have exchanged love for lust. They have debased love to the point of lusting after self gratification. But true Christian love is something you do for others, not for yourselves. It’s sacrificial, not selfish.
Paul says in Romans 12:9-13 “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.” That’s the kind of love, the kind of devotion we should have towards one another.
So therefore in pursuit of such pure love Peter says, in vs.1, “putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.” All those attitudes are antagonistic towards Christian love. That reminds me of something else beneficial in the KJV, when it talks of agape love, or sacrificial love, it often uses the word charity. That’s an old fashioned word perhaps, but it indicates that Christian love is focused on other’s benefits, not towards our own selfish ends. And all these attributes that Peter gives are signs of a selfish, self centered love of self first and foremost. So sanctification involves learning how to love like Christ loved the church, sacrificially, putting off selfishness and envy and hypocrisy and slander.
Number two in our 12 steps to sanctification, Peter says, is long for the pure word. He actually says in vs 2, “like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word.” Back in the previous chapter in vs 23, Peter had told us that we were born again by the seed of the word. “For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.”
Now he says, as new born babies long for the pure milk of the word that you may grow. Many years ago when I was a kid, there was a trend in society for women to not breastfeed babies and instead to give them formula. Perhaps it was an attempt to make women more independent and be able to go to work and so forth which was the goal of the women’s liberation movement at that time. But over the last couple of decades, more and more research has come out which shows the tremendous nutritional benefits of breast milk. Nothing science or dietitians have come up with can compare with the benefits of breast milk. In fact, as bizarre and gross as it sounds, it’s a trend among body builders to buy breast milk today because of the tremendous nutritional benefits which it has. I don’t believe that is something that ought to be done, but nevertheless it shows the tremendous nutrients in breast milk.
In the same way, there is an inherent benefit in the word of God which cannot be found in psychology, in self help books, or in science. It has the ability to give life. Jesus said, “the words that I have spoken to you, they are spirit and they are life.” On another occasion, Jesus refuted the devil by quoting from the scripture, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” The word of God is authored by the Spirit, it is life to the soul, it is bread for the body, and it will keep you from sin. Psalm 119:11 says, “Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” So a proper diet of the word of God keeps you from sin which is directly related to holiness.
Thirdly, Peter says the next step of sanctification is to grow up. Now our text makes it clear that our maturity is closely related to eating of the word of God. “Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.” Maturity, or growing in your salvation, is essentially sanctification. Sanctification is the maturing process of becoming conformed to the image of Christ. The goal is that we do not stay babies, or even children, but we become mature. We grow up in Christ.
Paul speaks of this in Ephesians 4:14-16 “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”
The problem with the church today is that it is full of spiritual infants. They have a doctrine which is a inch thick and a mile wide. They get their teaching from self promoting television preachers and you tube prophets. The doctrine of the scriptures has too often been reduced to a sentimental ditty sung to a modern rock tune which repeats again and again and again, without any substance. Peter and Paul are saying, you need to grow up. Stop being deceived by every wind of doctrine. Stop being swayed this way and that way. The gospel doesn’t change according to the winds of the culture. It is founded upon a rock which is Christ, who is the Word of God made flesh and we have beheld His likeness as we meditate on HIs word. And that is how we grow as we spend time studying Him, copying Him, following Him.
The fourth step in sanctification is we are to partake of His goodness. Peter says in vs3, “if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.” This is sort of a difficult verse to exegete, but I would say that Peter is talking about partaking of the goodness of the Lord. The idea follows the previous principle in which we drink of the pure milk of the word. Now Peter speaks of tasting the goodness or kindness of the Lord. So the eating of the word is what is being spoken of here. He is doubling up on the exhortation to eat of the word, to taste of the word, so that you might grow in sanctification. If you don’t eat, then you will be malnurished, you will be under developed. So the goal is to grow, and the means of doing that is to eat the good things which the Lord has given us to eat, the bread of life, the pure milk of the word. Psalm 34:8 “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusts in him.”
Number 5. The fifth step in our sanctification is to go out to Him. Peter says in vs4 “And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God…” Listen, if we are going to be like Christ, if we’re going to follow Christ, we’re going to have to go out to Him. Go out to Him who is outside of the camp, outside of the out of the religious centers, out of the political centers, out of the intellectual centers of society. Jesus did most of His ministry outside of the political and religious centers of His day. He was an outcast. He was rejected by the mainstream religious leaders and political leaders. Being a true follower of Jesus wasn’t popular then, and it’s not popular now.
Paul said in Romans 12 “be not conformed to this world.” The opposite of being conformed to this word is to go out to Christ. Hebrews 13:13 tells us, “So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.” Jesus himself said if we were going to be His disciples we must take up our cross and follow Him. I think we go a long way in our process of sanctification if we would just get over the idea that we want to be popular, we want to be accepted by the world, and instead we identify with Christ.
The sixth step in our sanctification Peter says is we are to build up the church. Vs4-5 “And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
First of all note that a building is not the temple of God, but our bodies are. Paul says in 1Cor. 3:16 “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
I like how Peter refers to Christ as the chief stone, the foundation stone, a living stone, and we also are living stones built on the rock which is Christ. Peter realized that he was not the rock upon which the church was built, but Jesus was. Peter was just a living stone, built on Christ the cornerstone. Our identity is in Christ, and He is in turn identified in us by His Spirit which lives in us and through us. But the idea that God dwells in houses built by men is not a principle taught in the New Testament. Rather, we are being built into a holy temple; a Spirit filled congregation of saints.
And so we must recognize the importance and the need for other stones in this temple. We are designed to be in assembly with other believers in the church, corporately forming the temple of God. And so Peter is saying in our sanctification there is a need to build up, or edify the church. That is the whole purpose of spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts are not for self edification, which the charismatics teach, but for the edification of the body.
Paul says in 1Cor. 14:12 “So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church.” So your gifts are for building up of the church. He speaks specifically of some of those gifts in Rom. 12: 6-8 “Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.” So use your gifts to build up the church.
The next is closely related to that. The seventh step in our sanctification is to offer spiritual sacrifices. Peter says, “you also, as living stones,]are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” One of the primary duties of priests in the temple service was to offer up sacrifices and offerings. And so in the new covenant, in the new temple not made with hands, we as priests to God offer sacrifices as well. But not the sacrifices of bulls and goats, but our own bodies, our own lives in service to God. We are to be sanctified for service to God.
Paul says in Romans 12:1-2 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” So holy living is a spiritual sacrifice. Paul says service is worship. Worship is not in what we say, but what we do.
Jesus said in Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” Be holy as God is holy. That’s the sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God.
The eight step to sanctification in Peter’s 12 step program is to trust in the Lord. To believe in the Lord is not just an intellectual assent, but it’s a commitment of your trust, to do all that He says, and to be all that He is and claimed to be. Vs6 “For this is contained in Scripture: “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone.”
To believe in Christ, to have faith in Christ, is the basis of our justification. Rom 10:9-11says “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”
But not only are we justified by faith, but we are sanctified by faith. The scriptures say in four different places that the just shall live by faith. We trust the Lord as we do what He commands us to do, and find that He will supply our needs and our strength to do His will as we step out in faith. And God promises that if we trust in Him we will not be disappointed. By the way, Peter was referencing a quotation from Isaiah 28:16, a prophecy concerning the Messiah which says, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.” Jesus is the Rock which we can depend upon as we live by faith, doing what He commanded us.
The ninth step in our sanctification is to fulfill your calling. Vs 9, one of my favorite verses in Peter’s epistles says, “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
What I like about Peter is he is constantly reminding us of the glories of our salvation. He doesn’t hold back from giving us the hard or difficult parts, but at the same time he is encouraging us by reminding us of our inheritance. Look at what God has called us to be. A chosen race; called and chosen to be sons of God. A royal priesthood. We are given a dual title. Thats better than the priesthood of Levi. We are priests and kings to God. Revelation 1:6 says, “and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father.”
Revelation 5:10 reiterates that promise, saying, “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.” But the interesting thing is that this is something we are to be engaged in now. Paul said to Timothy in 2Tim. 4:5 “But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” Be about the business of the kingdom. That is our calling, our duty, our commission. We all have a calling, we all have a ministry. And fulfilling that calling it is the path to sanctification.
The tenth step in our sanctification is closely associated with that ministry, and it is to proclaim His gospel. Vs. 10, “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
Our primary ministry is to proclaim the good news of the gospel. Our primary calling is not to be a carpenter, or a banker or a doctor or lawyer, but to be a witness; to testify to the world the truth of the gospel. Jesus said in Mark 16:15 “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” He is recorded as saying in Matt. 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” It’s easy to think that witnessing is someone else’s job. The pastor perhaps, or a missionary; it’s their job. Someone else should go, but not us. Someone else might witness, but not us. But Jesus commissioned you to be His ambassadors, to bear witness of what He has said and done. And we cannot be like Him, unless we bear witness of Him to the world, even as He faithfully bore witness of the Father.
Closely related to that is the eleventh step, which is to be a light in the darkness. “So that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” What is the light which we are to shine in the darkness? It is the light of the world; the truth of Jesus Christ as revealed in the word of God. The Psalms say, Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. And so in the same respect, we are to be lights in the world. Jesus said in Matt. 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does [anyone] light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” That’s how we let our light shine. By our good works, and by proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. Both are necessary if either is to be effective.
Lastly, the 12th step in our sanctification is that you remember who you are. Peter says in vs10, “for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.” You are a child of God. Act like it. Remember who your Father is. Be careful not to bring shame upon the name of Christ. Don’t be arrogant in who you are. Remember Paul said in 1Cor. 1:26-29 “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.”
But on the other hand, remember your calling, remember you were chosen, you were justified, and that you have been been a promise of inheritance. Remember you are a royal priesthood, created to serve the kingdom of God. You are a citizen of a chosen nation. A light set on a hill. You are the people of God. Stand in that promise. Stand in that reality. Stand on that Rock which is Jesus, our cornerstone. And be holy, even as He is holy.