Justification is a solitary covenant with God. He extends grace to us e RN when we are still in our sin. We repent and receive it by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Sanctification is a communal process of shared covenant to encourage and live out the “one another’s” lived and taught by Christ. Justification occurs at a point in time, individually, with God, as Christ’s new garment or mantle of imputed righteousness is placed upon us. Sanctification progresses over a course of time in Christ and in community with others. The problem is that in community we can get distracted by comparison of ourselves one to another, unable to see that the garment of imputed righteousness we wear is the same for everyone, like the tunic worn under one’s armor. We get bashful about being seen for the truth of our need for continued refining, our “nakedness” in having “put off” the old filthy rags of the past. God alone sees us in the truth that truly is the fullness and completeness of the mantle itself. We don’t have the same ability yet to see the new garment’s beauty for what it is. Until we wear it a while and get comfortable in it and quit trying to compare it with that of others. It “grows on us” or we “grow into it” gaining further necessary “accessories” along the way like the belt of truth, breastplate of imparted righteousness, helmet of salvation, shoes of preparation for the gospel of peace, the sword of the Word and the shield of faith. Like David casting aside Saul’s useless armor and moving out to slay Goliath with what he’d been equipped with and trained to do by God alone, just a youth who sized up the threat to himself and others, trusted God, and said, “Yes” to God. In receiving the mantle given him, he was then anointed by Samuel, received into the king’s house and given the further equipping for future kingship that he had to grow into. And even as he did, while his heart was for obedience and service to the Lord, even so he made wrong steps along the way and had to face many obstacles and a few serious consequences. But he continued to wear the mantle of imputed righteousness in Christ. His heart could recognize and repent of wrong and accept God’s discipline while continuing to be further pruned and equipped with the other things a king needs and attempting to equip and set an example for his successor and son, Solomon, as well. But in the end, God alone acts to choose, anoint, equip, and refine each generation based not on popular acclaim, entitlement or heritage, but by grace.
With the armor we learn to hold the imputed garment of the righteousness of Christ in place with truth, guard our hearts with the breastplate of imparted righteousness, guard our minds with the helmet of salvation, walk in holiness and obedience with the shoes of preparation of the gospel of peace, and keep alert to the enemy by keeping in our hands the sword of the Word and the shield of faith. Equipped this way we remain alert, and will not be naked or ashamed, ready to always give a defense and the reason for our hope and destroy the darts and arrows of the enemy.
If we are holding back or holding on when God is nudging us to step out in faith, we are at risk of idolatry to security, status, comfort… whatever…and he will allow the thing we hold to become a thing of discontent, conflict even, so we’re willing to let it go and move with his will, in spite of fear of the unknown or even fear of what is known and believed to be inadequate. It’s a demand to trust God fully if we are to fully used by him… to trust the sufficiency… and the goodness of his plans.
As long as we cling to anything other than Christ’s call and the will of God, we risk losing the very thing we think is necessary for us to do what God has prepared. God can’t give the fullness of himself to one who’s heart, mind, and hands are already full of one’s own self focus….. even if we’re doing it for “good” reasons by our own definition. Good is only defined by what God calls good and is revealed in his Word.
To be in mission with Christ by definition requires dis-“placing” self and placing Christ’s authority and purpose in the lead, doing only what we are directed to do. He himself said he had no “place” of his own to lay his head…. that doesn’t mean we can’t have homes or churches… we just have to view them in proper perspective.
Why is a water tank up high? It is pumped into or collects rainwater to mete out to those in need. Then it releases water vertically downward with enough force that when water hits the bottom it is forced out horizontally into pipes and faucets in places it is to be used. Christ’s living water flows down from on high, a fountain that then wells up in us and flows upward and outward horizontally to the world. It is the very nature and being of God…. mercy, grace, humility, righteousness, self restraint, patience, all that is encompassed in godly agape love. He is a tall tower. A source of all that brings nurture and growth, cleansing and refreshing. It is the ongoing baptism of the Holy Spirit released over and over through us.