Earlier this semester, Dr. Abner Chou preached in chapel at The Master’s University, charging students out of Ephesians 4:17-24 to “know who you are in Christ” as the irreplaceable start of sanctification in the Christian life.
“If some of you here have said, ‘Ah, I’m really struggling with sanctification. I want to be like Christ. I want to make my life count. I want to participate in this plan. I want to be holy unto the Lord. I just can’t make it work.’ Maybe you’ve skipped the first step,” Chou said.
Chou impressed on students that the pursuit of holiness begins not with action, but with deeply pondering what the Lord has already accomplished in them through Christ.
“Brothers and sisters, here’s a problem in your life and my life: We convince ourselves that ‘this sin is too big for me to kill.’ You say that enough, and you become ingrained in the habit. No wonder that when you try, you fail,” Chou said. “Here’s the genius of God. He says, ‘Let me tell you the first step: It’s to never get in the situation (of telling yourself that) to begin with.’ This is why you have to know who you are in Christ.”
TMU livestreams chapel every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning at masters.edu/live. Previous chapel messages can be viewed on TMU’s YouTube channel.
