Closing the Gap: Sanctification and Spiritual Disciplines
The unknown and unnamed writer of the Book of Hebrews is pleading with persecuted Jewish followers of Jesus in the first century to resist giving up on the faith. The writer masterfully uses meaningful Jewish metaphors and compares them to Jesus, pointing out not only his connection to each image, but also his supremacy over each one. In Hebrews 9, he compares Jesus to the High Priest who entered the Holy of Holies in the Temple once a year on Yom Kippur to make sacrifice for all of the Jewish people. He writes of Jesus the High Priest,
But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven’s “tent”—the true Holy Place—once and for all. He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all. If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out. Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God. Hebrews 9:11-15 (The Message)
It seems to me that sanctification is our intentional, consistent and lifelong journey towards living fully in Christ, here and now, this side of the grave, into Jesus’ “once-and-for-all” finished work on the cross. This is the work of God that “cleans up our whole lives, inside and out…freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God.” Because of the reality and the effects of sin in our lives and our world, there is a “gap” between Jesus’ finished work on our behalf and our actualization of that work in our earthly lives. God has given us agency to cooperate with him in this journey towards wholeness.
Spiritual disciplines, then, are those God-given, time-tested, proven avenues we are invited to travel down in the power of the Holy Spirit and within the gift of Christian community to facilitate sanctification and close the gap. But we have to be clear and remember that the disciplines are only a means to an end. As Richard Foster wrote in the classic book Celebration of Discipline,
The purpose of the Disciplines is freedom. Our aim is the freedom, not the Discipline. The moment we make the Discipline, our central focus we will turn it into law and lose the corresponding freedom. The Disciplines in themselves are of no value whatever. They have value only as a means of setting us before God so that He can give us the liberation we seek. The liberation is the end; the Disciplines are merely the means. They are not the answer; they only lead us to the Answer. We must clearly understand the limitation of the Disciplines if we are to avoid bondage. Not only must we understand, but we need to underscore it to ourselves again and again, so severe is our temptation to center on the Disciplines. Let us forever center on Christ and view the Spiritual Disciplines as a way of drawing us closer to His heart.
The bottom line, it seems to me, is that the disciplines only position and posture us so God can change our lives. God does the changing. God closes the gap.
Below are several resources that I have used to help me position and posture myself so God can “close the gap” in my journey of sanctification. I recommend them to you for your intentional, consistent and lifelong journey towards living fully in Christ, here and now, this side of the grave.
Books:
Tempered Resilience, Tod Bolsinger
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, John Mark Comer
Practicing the Way, John Mark Comer
The Divine Mentor, Wayne Cordeiro
Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster
Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership, Ruth Haley-Barton
Sacred Rhythms, Ruth Haley-Barton
The Sensitivity of the Spirit, R.T. Kendall
All Is Grace, Brennan Manning and John Blasé,
The Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning
Abba’s Child, Brennan Manning
The Furious Longing of God, Brennan Manning
A Work of Heart, Reggie McNeal
The Wounded Healer, Henri Nouwen
With Open Hands, Henri Nouwen
Discernment, Henri Nouwen
Life of the Beloved, Henri Nouwen
In the Name of Jesus, Henri Nouwen
The Way of the Heart, Henri Nouwen
Confronting the Thief Within, Wes Olds
Ordering Your Private World, Gordon MacDonald
Restoring Your Spiritual Passion, Gordon MacDonald
The Life God Blesses, Gordon MacDonald
The Resilient Life, Gordon MacDonald
Building Below the Waterline, Gordon MacDonald
The Life God Blesses, Gordon MacDonald
Invitation to a Journey, Robert Mulholland
The Deer Journey, Robert Mulholland
Soul Keeping, John Ortberg
Astonished by the Word, Brian Russell
The Emotionally Healthy Leader, Peter Scazerro
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, Peter Scazerro
Emotionally Healthy Relationships, Peter Scazerro
Water from a Deep Well, Gerald Sittser
Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools, Tyler Staton
A Beautiful Mess, Danielle Strickland
The Deeply Formed Life, Rich Villodas
Good and Beautiful and Kind, Rich Villodas
The Narrow Path, Rich Villodas
The Digital Fast, Darren Whitehead
Renovation of The Heart, Dallas Willard
The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard
The Spirit of the Disciplines, Dallas Willard
Online Resources
Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/john-mark-comer-teachings/id1592847144
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strengthening-the-soul-of-your-leadership-with/id1214483830
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/asbury-seminary-kentucky-chapel/id988435522
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bridgetown-audio-podcast/id84246334
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-with-god-a-renovar%C3%A9-podcast/id917771018
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ask-nt-wright-anything/id1441656192
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/john-ortberg-become-new/id1554045522
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-art-of-holiness/id1513040080
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-best-of-dr-dennis-kinlaw/id1678140037
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-emotionally-healthy-leader-podcast/id1064966935
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-cutting-room-floor/id1747197336
““Spiritual formation” is the process through which those who love and trust Jesus Christ effectively take on His character. When this process is what it should be, they increasingly live their lives as He would if He were in their place. Their outward conformity to His example and His instructions rises toward fullness as their inward sources of action take on the same character as His. They come more and more to share His vision, love, hope, feelings and habits. In the language of His “Great Commission” to His disciples, they are “taught to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matt. 28:20)
This process of “conformation to Christ,” as we might more appropriately call it, is constantly supported by grace, and otherwise would be impossible. But it is not therefore passive. Grace is opposed to earning, not to effort. In fact, nothing inspires and enhances effort like the experience of Grace.
Yet it is today necessary to assert boldly and often that becoming Christlike never occurs without intense and well-informed action on our part. This in turn cannot be reliably sustained outside of a like-minded fellowship. Our churches will be centers of spiritual formation only as they understand what really does make for Christlikeness and communicate it to individuals, through teaching and example, in a convincing and supportive fashion.”