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  THOSE SANCTIFYING EFFECTS OF SUFFERING
  by A.W. Tozer
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Summary: The sermon critiques the idea of 'instant Christianity' and
emphasizes the need for spiritual growth, development, and the
sanctifying effects of suffering.

Topics: "Spiritual Growth", "Suffering and Sanctification"
Scripture References: Philippians 3:7

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DESCRIPTION
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A.W. Tozer emphasizes that the concept of 'Instant Christianity'
undermines the dynamic nature of the Christian faith, which requires
ongoing growth and development akin to a living organism. He argues that
true faith involves a continuous relationship with God, necessitating
spiritual nourishment, exercise, and the acceptance of suffering as a
means of sanctification. Tozer critiques the tendency to reduce
salvation to a single experience, warning that this leads to spiritual
stagnation and disappointment. He highlights the importance of forming
right habits, engaging in spiritual training, and actively resisting
worldly temptations. Ultimately, Tozer questions whether modern
interpretations of faith align with the deeper, sacrificial commitment
exemplified by the Apostle Paul.

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CONTENT
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Instant Christianity tends to make the faith act terminal and so
smothers the desire for spiritual advance. It fails to understand the
true nature of the Christian life, which is not static but dynamic and
expanding. It overlooks the fact that a new Christian is a living
organism as certainly as a new baby is, and must have nourishment and
exercise to assure normal growth. It does not consider that the act of
faith in Christ sets up a personal relationship between two intelligent
moral beings, God and the reconciled man, and no single encounter
between God and a creature made in His image could ever be sufficient to
establish an intimate friendship between them.

By trying to pack all of salvation into one experience, or two, the
advocates of instant Christianity flaunt the law of development which
runs through all nature. They ignore the sanctifying effects of
suffering, cross carrying and practical obedience. They pass by the need
for spiritual training, the necessity of forming right religious habits,
and the need to wrestle against the world, the devil and the flesh.
Undue preoccupation with the initial act of believing has created in
some a psychology of contentment, or at least of non-expectation.

To many it has imparted a mood of disappointment with the Christian
faith. God seems too far away, the world is too near, and the flesh too
powerful to resist. Others are glad to accept the assurance of automatic
blessedness. It relieves them of the need to watch and fight and pray,
and sets them free to enjoy this world while waiting for the next.
Instant Christianity is twentieth century orthodoxy. I wonder whether
the man who wrote Philippians 3:7-16 would recognize it as the faith for
which he finally died. I am afraid he would not.

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/aw-tozer/those-sanctifying-effects-of-suffering/
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