Redemption: Growing in Likeness to Him

When I first heard about this topic, I was excited, because I thought it would be interesting to talk about. When I started making some notes, however, I was dismayed. I realized what a huge subject this is – like maybe half of the New Testament. I started thinking about all that could be said about spiritual growth, about sanctification, about Jesus as our example. Wow, how to narrow this down?

One of the challenges is that this phrase, “Growing in Likeness to Christ,” does not actually appear in the Bible, so the first thing we have to do is decide what it means – in the absence of a specific biblical context. The Bible does have plenty to say about spiritual growth, what it means to mature as a Christian, in terms of our understanding and experience of God. However, the title might sound like growing in holiness, which brings up the subject of sanctification – the process by which we are made holy. This can muddy the waters a bit, because sanctification is something of a paradox, as is predestination, which is what we were talking about just before I left on my trip. The reason sanctification is tricky is because there are two ways (some say 4 ways!) of looking at it. On the one hand, as believers in Jesus, we have been made holy, once and for all by the atoning death of Jesus on the cross. We have been clothed in his righteousness. When God looks at us, he sees the righteousness of Jesus, not our sin.

There are many verses that stress the sovereign work of God in our salvation. For example, in Romans 8 it says:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.—Romans 8:28-30

Because God is outside of time, he already knows everything that is going to happen. He “foreknew” us before we were born – that is why he was able to “predestine” us to be conformed to the image of Jesus. When he calls us, our response (by faith, also a gift from God) is to love him and accept him and submit to him. Then we are justified, which means the guilt of our sin is removed, which makes us worthy to enter his holy presence. So we can and will be glorified in heaven with Jesus.

This sounds great, doesn’t it? All we have to do is sit back and let God do everything. He already knows what he has predestined to happen, and we can’t do the calling, conforming, justifying, and glorifying anyway. We have this amazing promise that God will work everything for our good. The only hint that we have to do anything at all is that it is for the good of those “who love him.” All we have to do is love him. He does everything else.

And in a sense this is absolutely true. All we have to do to live as a Christian is to love God – and to love our neighbor, which Jesus (and John, in his epistles) say is part of loving God. The rub is that this is not a passive love, just a warm feeling that we get when we think about how wonderful God is. True love requires action, it requires work – just ask any couple that has just gotten married or parents who have just had their first child. Can you just sit back and think about how wonderful your baby is, so cute, makes you feel so happy. No, babies are a lot of work. You have to do everything for them, practically sacrifice your life for them. It’s all part of loving your child.

In the same way, our response to all that God has done for us is love – and all that that means in terms of commitment and action. Another part of the “loving a new baby” analogy that works is that we need to learn how to love a baby. Not how to have warm, gushy feelings for the baby – most parents get those automatically – but how to truly love him or her: how to do what is best for them, how to sacrificially adjust our own plans and selfish desires to meet their needs. This is exactly what it means to love God: to put him first, to think about what he wants rather than what we want. That is why Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” And his commandments are to love! So we need to learn what that means and practice it until we get good at it. We are motivated by love to love, in an upward spiral. Love from God flows from us back to God and to other people. 1 John says that if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete (or perfected) in us.

So that is why, in the second sense, God’s sanctifying work in us is an ongoing thing that we have to continually commit to pursue. In the first sense, we have been completely sanctified, once and for all, by the death of Jesus. But we have to learn to love him, truly love him. It sounds so simple, and yet we will spend our lifetime figuring out what that means. As we seek him, he will keep pointing out areas in our lives where we need to yield to him and allow him to purify us, in our thoughts, our attitudes, and our actions. Sanctification is still God’s work, but we need to cooperate with him and choose to walk in obedience to his word. Hebrews 5:8 tells us that even though Jesus was the Son of God he had to learn obedience from what he suffered. Part of the “working all things for good” spoken of in Romans 8:28 is God’s use of hardship to purify our hearts and lives. Hebrew 12 exhorts us to endure hardship as discipline from God. It goes on to explain

God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.—Hebrews 12:10-11

So growing in likeness to him requires that we submit to his discipline. This is part of God’s program of sanctification. Another part is the change in thinking that God wants to bring about in our minds, in grasping the reality of our new life in Christ. We have been crucified with Christ, the old has passed away, all things are made new. As it says in Romans 6

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.  Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.  For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.—Romans 6:11-14

This is the sense in which we “work out our salvation,” as it says in Philippians 2. Our relationship with God cannot be a static thing. If we stop growing, we will start dying. If we are not pressing on, we will be slipping backward, losing our sense of his presence and involvement in our lives. Obedience is something we get better at with practice. I have told my kids that the decisions that they are making now will set the course for the rest of their life. It’s never too early to choose to follow Jesus in obedience and purity. The little decisions that we make day by day become habits, and they become part of who we are – for good or for bad.

But let’s look at some more passages that help us understand what it means to grow as a Christian. This is an important issue, whether you have just come to know Jesus or if you have known him your whole life. A really key verse is 2 Peter 3:18

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

This is a great place to start in thinking about spiritual growth: the role of grace and knowledge. We are saved by grace through faith, as it says in Ephesians 2. We can do nothing to earn our salvation; it is completely a gift from God. Grace is the entire basis of our relationship with God. We need to remember that our effort does nothing in making us acceptable to God. So why bother trying to live a good life? It is NOT because God might do something bad to us if we don’t. I heard this in Nepal from Christians. But Christians should not believe in karma. Yes, there are some direct consequences to sin. If we abuse our body then we will get sick. If we drive recklessly then we will eventually have an accident. If we kill someone then we will go to jail. God has established laws to govern the world. But it is not as though he is standing over us, waiting to punish us if we make a mistake. If parents have a disabled child it is not because they did something wrong – as I have heard in Nepal. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We want to live a good life because it is good for us! And we don’t want to grieve the Holy Spirit. We want to be close to God; we don’t want anything to come between us.

So in this verse Peter tells us to grow in grace. We are meant to live by grace day by day, and that is where the growth comes in. As we experience God’s grace, his undeserved favor, we are able to extend that grace to ourselves and to other people. Do you have a hard time forgiving yourself if you make a mistake? This is then a place where you need to grow in grace. Are you hard on other people? Are you quick to criticize, take revenge, act selfishly, or even take joy in others “getting what they deserve”? You need to grow in grace. The only way we can do that is – not to grit our teeth and resolve to do better – but rather to receive grace and forgiveness from God, day by day remembering that he is not giving us what we deserve (namely sending us to hell) but blessing us abundantly. There is tremendous freedom in this. We are all so blessed, way beyond what we deserve. How can we not offer grace to others?

Grow in grace and grow in knowledge. The knowledge required is not just knowledge about Jesus. You might know your Bible from cover to cover and still not really know Jesus. This here is an intimate knowledge, based on personal experience and trust. In the King James Bible the word know is used as a euphemism for having sexual intercourse, the physical union of husband and wife. Adam knew Eve, and she bore Cain. That level of intimacy, vulnerability, and bonding is what is what we need in our relationship with Jesus. When we really know him, we will really love him. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him, how I’ve proved him o’er and o’er – in the words of the old hymn. That is the kind of knowledge we need – not a head full of Bible facts. Or even a sermon series on doctrine – as important as that is!

One of the pitfalls of aspiring to grow in holiness is that we tend to look for some standard apart from God himself by which to measure our progress. At times that might be ourselves: am I holier today than yesterday? Or frequently it can be other people, and we run the great risk of developing a “holier than thou” attitude. Are you familiar with that expression? It actually does come from the Bible, Isaiah 65, in the KJV:

I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts; A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick;  Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;  Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.—Isaiah 65:2-5

This is the Lord speaking of his people Israel after they had turned away from him to worship idols and observe other pagan rituals. The people had become like smoke in his nose, provoking him to anger with their rebellious behavior. And yet they considered themselves holy, setting themselves apart from other people. They were completely self-deceived. They thought they were doing well, looking down their noses at others, but in fact they were an abomination to God, just like the Pharisees that Jesus spoke out against.

There is no justification for a “holier than thou” attitude. We are all sinners, deserving God’s judgment, never measuring up to his standard, always in need of his grace. The closer we come to the light, the more we see our flaws and imperfections. The moment we think we are doing okay – or at least doing better than someone else – we fall into a despicable pit of pride and self-righteousness. We always need to be growing in grace. We will never outgrow our need for it. If someone praises us for some aspect of our spiritual maturity we need to give glory to God. We cannot take credit for it ourselves. As our verse from 2 Peter puts it

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.—2 Peter 3:18

The glory of God is our aim and our focus. We need to get our eyes off ourselves and how we are doing and onto him. We need to be dwelling in his presence, feasting at his table, surrounded by his glory, as the Don Moen song puts it. This is actually part of the transformation that we desire in spiritual growth. As it says in 2 Corinthians 3:18

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Are you being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory? Do you desire to reflect his glory to a suffering, dying world? Then you need to contemplate his glory face to face, spending time in his presence and looking for his glory in all that he is doing around you. Ask God to open your eyes to his glory.

Another aspect of growing in likeness to Jesus is that it is ultimately a corporate rather than an individual objective. Let’s consider these verses from Ephesians 4:

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.  Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.—Ephesians 4:11-16

Christ appointed leaders with certain functions to equip the church. For what? For works of service, it says. And as the body reaches out in service to the world, it will be built up. The goal is unity in faith and knowledge, so that the body as a whole attains to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. The intention here seems to be that as individuals we can never measure up to the way Jesus was, but in some mysterious way we complement each other in gifts and ministry so that we can as a body be as effective as Jesus was. We will be as God intends us to be, fully alive and flourishing, a body growing and building itself up in love, representing Jesus to the world. But this body will only function as long as it is intimately connected to its head, Jesus himself, with each part doing its work.

Growing in likeness to Him. We have talked about the growing part, and we have touched on a few aspects of what Christlikeness looks like. There is so much more that we could say about what it means to follow the example of Jesus. In what ways is Jesus our example? Humility, servanthood, self-sacrifice, love, truth, peace, joy, purpose, simplicity, kindness, gentleness, acceptance, perseverance, forgiveness – the list goes on and on. God has commissioned us to be his servants in bringing all these good things to a needy world. The main way that people see Jesus is through us, his people. So God wants to grow us into the likeness of Christ not just for our own benefit, but so we can minister his love and truth to people around us. That is why Paul could say in 1 Corinthians 11:1

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

At first glance, this might seem like a rather egoistical statement. Was he holding himself up as the perfect example of Christlikeness? No, I think the “as” can be understood in the sense of “to the extent that.” We all should want others to follow our example to the extent that we follow the example of Christ. If we are not following Christ in some way, then don’t bother following our example.

Representing Jesus to the world can be a daunting prospect. But his grace is sufficient for us; his power is made perfect in our weakness. Dependence on God is actually a sign of strength – and a powerful witness in itself. Jesus was not ashamed to speak of his dependence on his Father. We can be encouraged that our spiritual growth and development is ultimately in God’s hands. As it says in Philippians 1:6

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

What a precious promise! This good work is the process of growth and sanctification that we have been talking about. God as the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith has begun it and will carry it on to completion. However, we will have to wait until Jesus returns to be perfected in this good work. It says in 1 John 3: when Christ appears, we shall be like him – finally attaining to complete Christlikeness – for we shall see him as he is. One more promise of this nature, from 1 Thessalonians 5

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.—1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

He will do it. We can trust him. I would like to close with a parable in the form of a picture from Bangladesh, one of the places that I visited on this last trip. As we think about growing in likeness to Christ we might be tempted to think of some growing distance from the world, some shining state of ethereal sublimity. But we need to remember what the incarnation was like for Jesus. He gave up his glory in heaven to enter our wretched world and experience it the way that we do. What was that like for him? Here is a photo of sewer repair in Dhaka. Should we aspire for something more?