REFLECTIONS

Written by Stephen Shead

Finish this sentence: “Jesus died to save ___.”

I hope you are able to finish that sentence with the word “me.” That’s an assurance that every believer should have: that Jesus died for you personally.

But there’s an even better word to finish that sentence: “Jesus died to save us.” There’s nothing wrong with rejoicing in Jesus’ salvation of you as an individual (e.g., Galatians 2:20). But far more often, the Bible encourages us to understand God’s saving work as directed not to me, but to us. Jesus saved us from sin and condemnation, and he saved us into a people, a body.

That’s not just a small difference of language. It’s a gigantic shift in mindset – and it’s particularly important for our understanding of holiness. God has delivered and devoted us to himself by grace, not as disconnected individuals but as a body, unbreakably joined to one another through our union with Christ.

For example, in Ephesians 2 Paul describes God’s work of delivering us from sin and devoting us to himself, and at the heart of it is God’s work of joining us together and building us into a “holy temple”:

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:14-22)

Isn’t that last sentence striking? We might be inclined to say, “God lives in me by his Spirit” – and that’s true. But it’s even more important to know that God has devoted us – all together – to himself as a building, a temple, a holy people, so that he might come and dwell in us by his Spirit.

Listen to how Paul describes Christ’s saving work a few chapters later in Ephesians:

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. (Ephesians 5:25-27)

Christ died to make the church holy.

Why is that important? We’ll return to this tomorrow; but for starters, it means that as believers in Jesus, we shouldn’t only be concerned for our own holiness of life. We can’t be content with that! We should be concerned for the holiness of his church. That is, the more I become captivated by God, the more I should long to encourage my brothers and sisters at church to reflect God’s holiness in their lives as well.

The second reason it’s important is because practical holiness is something we need to … well, practise! And the normal context for practising holiness is not sitting by yourself contemplating spiritual things, but the beautiful, frustrating, purifying mess of the local church. Not just your friends or the people you “click” with at church, but the whole body of those who gather together (yes, including that person).

The normal context for growing in holiness is Christ’s church. In fact, in most cases the only way to grow in holiness is through the hard work of striving to love and serve your brothers and sisters in Christ (yes, including that person).

Finish by meditating on Paul’s words in Ephesians 4 – here is how God will supercharge the process of growing us, all together, in practical holiness:

1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:1-6)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stephen is our senior minister.