Hazmat (Week 5)
This week we will continue our exploration of the role of the Holy Spirit in the ongoing process of sanctification.
1. If you grew up in church, was the term sanctification ever taught to you? Discuss your understanding of it. What unanswered questions do you have?
In the sermon, Pete recalled a conversation in which a student questioned whether Hitler would go to heaven if had he accepted Christ just before he died. Upon receiving the answer “yes,” the student wondered why wouldn’t someone just live life the way they wanted to and then at the end, accept Jesus.
2. Have you ever wondered the same thing as the student? What does such a belief indicate about our understanding of salvation and sanctification?
3. What do you make of Pete’s response that “if you don’t believe that the Spirit leads you to abundant life now, why would you want to spend eternity with God”?
Pete also quoted Dallas Willard: “If you want to go to heaven when you die, go now.” In other words, the process of sanctification leads us to peace, joy, and abundant life now, not only when we die.
4. How does this idea change your view of life here and now?
5. In his sermon, Pete said that during sanctification “we surrender our identity completely to the Spirit.” What are some portions of your life that you have difficulty surrendering? Why do you think that area of your life is difficult to surrender?
Read Romans 8:3-4 in The Message, focusing particularly on the second paragraph.
6. What does this image of a “Band-Aid on sin” bring up for you? Reflect on a time in which you have attempted to place a Band-Aid on your own sin. What was the result?
7. In contrast, what has happened when you trusted the ongoing process of the Holy Spirit in your life instead of relying on your own effort to combat sin? Was there something deeper than behavior that was able to be healed or transformed?
For Further Reflection: Less Like Me, or More Like Me?
This week, take a look at this section from British theologian C.S. Lewis’s classic book Mere Christianity. In it, Lewis talks about the process of sanctification in a refreshing way, writing “The more we get what we now call ‘ourselves’ out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become.”
Lewis argues that instead of becoming less like ourselves, “giving ourselves wholly to Christ is the only way to discover who we are…and the only way to fulfill the purpose for which he made us.”
(*Video available after Sunday services)
