By Matthew Gamble
A Commentary on the Sabbath School Lesson for March 12–18, 2005
A few weeks ago, the transmission in our 1991 Audi 100 automobile started to fail. Panic set in. What in the world would we do? Could we afford to fix it? No. Could we sell it? Not in that condition. Maybe we should donate it to a charity. But then what? How were we going to replace this car, which my wife and I so desperately needed?
A few days later, a friend telephoned to ask if he and his wife could come over. Upon their arrival, we chatted about life, and a few minutes into the discussion he asked a question: "Matthew we are friends right?"
"Of course," I replied.
At that, I was told, "God has laid it on our hearts to give you and Susan something." A set of automobile keys and a signed title were passed to me across the table. A line adjacent to the sale price read "Gift."
As I sat there that night, I had a choice: I could either deny the gift or accept it. The bottom line is that I had to respond to what was presented to me.
"Could Susan and I make payments on the car?" I asked.
"How can you make payments on something that is free?" he responded. "Matthew there are no strings attached, God has laid it on our hearts to give you this car. It’s always been his, but now he has asked us to allow you to use it."
Wow! I could hardly believe my ears.
That thought was presented in the introduction to this week’s study of what the Cross "does to the life of the one who accepts it as his or her own" (italics added). I know this may seem trivial, but I believe there is a fundamental problem that plagues Christianity today. The problem is that we don’t truly accept the free gift of life that Jesus offers us. We don’t embrace it as though it is ours.
We may state that Jesus has died on the cross for our sins, but do we truly accept it? Do we live our lives as though Christ has died in our place so that we can live for eternity with him? If we did, then the way we live would be radically transformed. If we truly believe that eternity starts today as we accept the free gift that Jesus offers, then we really have something to be happy about regardless of the cars that break down in our lives. Unless we accept the Cross on a regular basis, sanctification will never work out its full fruition in our lives.
You probably wonder, How does one accept what Jesus has done for me? Let’s go back to the story about the car. First, my friends passed the keys and the title over to me. As I sat there speechless, I told the couple that there was no way that I could ever receive this gift. They responded by telling me that what Susan and I decided to do with the car was up to us; the bottom line was that it was ours.
As a few days passed and the reality set in. I took steps necessary to get the title in my name. I drove the car and cleaned it. I stood in awe just looking at it. Lastly, I told everyone I could about how God blessed us with the car.
In the Christian life, Jesus always takes the initiative to get us to heaven with him. He is the one who decided to come to earth and die on the cross. He is the one who then slides us the keys with the entitlement that has the word Gift written on the price tag. Then he watches to see how we will respond.
Do we pick up the title and keys with joy, or do we just sit around and talk about it? Are we going to experience it? Are we going to be cleansed by the gift? Are we going to behold it in order to be transformed? Are we filled with passion to tell the world about our acceptance of the free gift?
My friend, do you believe it? As Ellen White puts it, "By faith [trust/belief] in His merits I am free from the condemnation of the law" (Selected Messages, 1:396). The wages of sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life. Today, do you accept it? Do you embrace it? Are you ready to pick up the keys and drive? Are you so in love with it that you can’t help but stare for moments on end? Are you willing to die telling people about it?
So what does the Cross have to do with sanctification? Absolutely nothing if we do not truly accept the life that Jesus offers us. But if we are willing to accept the gift with all our heart daily, Jesus works to sanctify our lives so that we become more and more like him and less like our sinful selves.
And this, my friend, is sanctification.
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