I turned 55 a few weeks ago. Let me recount some things – 22+ years as a pastor, in the same place; 26+ years married; 25+years living in the same place. Wow – I’m struggling a bit thinking – man, I haven’t come very far. Things seem more fragile to me than I thought they would be. Things don’t seem as certain as I hoped they would be. I wonder have I done all that God wanted me to do (at least so far)? Have I been faithful?
I can’t tell you how deeply Joshua 1:1-9 has effected me. That passage of scripture just will not leave me alone. I keep thinking – God is gracious, he makes grand promises, he takes the initiative – yet there is no mistaking that He exhorts us ‘Be strong and courageous‘. What does that mean for me – a 55 year old pastor? What does it mean to you who might be reading this?
Over the course of last few weeks it seemed to me like Joshua 1:1-9 was all I could think about. Here was a man, several years older than me, preparing for the biggest deal of his entire life. He spent 40 years serving an apprenticeship which brought him to that moment. He was chosen as a 20 year old to be part of the group who first investigates the Promised Land. He then waits 40 years to finally arrive at the place where he could enter the land. 40 years to come to the place where he would embark on his life’s great purpose. I wonder… how should I judge myself? Have I arrived at the place where I am fit to used to do something really significant? If Joshua took 40 years, who am I to think that my time of formation should be any less? I find myself thinking – I want to think about these things in ways that are realistic, true and biblical. All around me the world is frantic – a woman reaches her 40’s and if she happens to be an actress she is almost certainly near the end of her career. A person who loses their job in their 50’s finds it much harder to find a job, because he or she is thought to be ‘limited’ by their so-called ‘advancing’ years. Yet this is not the way God tells time. God’s economy can include really long periods of preparation.
I could have never thought or grasped these things when I was in my 30’s or even my 40’s. I am beginning to learn that some things just can’t be done without a long, slow development. I think that God has given me a vision of a Biblical counseling center. I can see a place that is multiracial, crossing socio-economic lines and reaching into some of the most broken places in our culture. Ah – but how to get there? I have my own experience, the training I received in graduate school, the things I have learned over the past 20+ years and the hundreds and hundreds of hours of counseling experience from which to draw. These things will help – but this is so much bigger than anything I can do by myself. But like the young lad Jesus called upon when he fed the 5000 (Luke 9:10-17) – I have my two fishes and five loaves and I am prepared offer them. (more…)
The church: Divinely inspired and human in its life
I like those two words. Vagaries refers to unpredictability, vicissitudes refers to change. These two words are descriptive of the nature of organizations, even those who ostensibly have divine origins. The church is God’s creation, but local congregations are a product of human beings attempting to partner with God to faithfully express this glorious spiritual reality called the church. The body of Christ is spread thorough out the world, existing in a single room gathering of a dozen or so all the way to the world’s largest church, in Korea with 700,000 plus members. (more…)
In just a few days Gail and I will celebrate 26 years of marriage. I’m delighted to be with her, and I’m grateful that she stills finds me a source of joy in her life. But something I have discovered about marriage is this – it cannot be left to itself – marriage needs periodic questions, evaluation and re-affirmation. Leave it to run on automatic pilot and you will end up some place you won’t want to be.
I have had a harder time learning this regarding church life (I guess because with just me and the mrs. I can figure this thing out more quickly than when you have to think about a whole group of people). The truth is, church life requires a very similar willingness to evaluate and renew commitment. I will admit that this is a struggle I don’t always do so well at working through. I assume that people are on the same page, and that commitments made in the past are still working and still relevant. But my time in the book of Revelation as well as some current difficulties are teaching me that I need to think once again about these matters.
Jesus, standing in the midst of His churches
When John saw the vision of Jesus standing amidst the lamp stands I wonder was he astonished by the interest that Jesus had in evaluating the seven churches in Asia Minor? There is no specific reaction of John to this – only the seven times repeated phrase – ‘To the angel of the church of (fill in the name) write…’ Considering how much trouble was going on in the Roman Empire and in Jerusalem I find it quite amazing that Jesus is so completely focused on the life inside these 7 congregations. While there is some reference to outside troubles, like what He says to Smyrna ‘the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation.’ Most of the words are directed at life inside the congregations. Jesus, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings concerns himself with whether His people have passion for Him, or whether they are tolerating false teaching, or false prophets in their midst. Wow – with all that was going on around these churches, I’m blown away by the range of Jesus’ evaluative eye – He cares deeply about the quality of life among his people.
After these letters were read what do you think happened next?
Okay, so its Sunday in the church of Ephesus – news spreads throughout the congregation that there is a letter from John that is to be read in the public gathering. The same thing in 6 other congregations in Asia Minor no doubt took place over whatever period of time it took to get this thing circulated. But try to imagine what it might have been like to hear this – ‘But I have this against you‘ (Rev. 2:4) or this; ‘But I have a few things against you‘ (Rev. 2:14). Do you think things became spooky silent in those churches? Do you think that the next time each of those churches met for worship they noticed there were a few less than the week before?
As I understand this process through which Jesus brought each of these seven churches I am convinced that this sort of thing is meant to be a normal part of the life of every local church. Okay, so maybe we won’t receive a letter specifically addressed – ‘to the church of West Orange called Lamb of God.’ But what Jesus does here with each one of these churches is evaluate, redraw the lines and say – listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church. He speaks and he clarifies what He thinks is important, how he defines commitment, and what faithfulness looks like on the part of the people in each one of these congregations.
Six months of study and reflection have led me to the conclusion that this is a time at Lamb of God Fellowship for evaluation and renewal of commitment to take place. In a way that is similar to marriage – the relationships which make up a church community need reassurance – ‘I’m here, and I still want to do this.’ Leaders need reaffirmation from the people – ‘we believe in you, and we still want to follow your lead.’ Leaders need to be able to say to the people – ‘we still count it a privilege to serve you.’ I believe that God has shown me clearly that He is taking us through a process of refinement and pruning. I won’t say at the moment all the things that convince me of that, but suffice it to say that as much as one can know anything I believe Jesus is refining this congregation (myself included).
Would you like to know what I believe?
I have come to believe that some of us have already decided we are no longer committed to Lamb and in various ways have withdrawn our support. This pains me, but I believe it to be true. Others of us need to repent because we haven’t been faithful to what that commitment means and have allowed other things to get in the way. I also know that there are many of you who are faithful and prepared to give yourself as fully as you are able to the things that God has for us. You are the ones who give generously of time and money, who pray for the church, who are willing to sacrifice and faithfully persevere. Maybe you do know, or maybe you don’t – but I am deeply thankful for each one of you. What I pray is this – ‘please Jesus I hope most still have a optimistic view of the future and want to continue building our little piece of God’s Kingdom.’
I want to say that loving this work, Lamb of God is not the same as loving Jesus (although I do believe that loving a local church somewhere is crucial to healthy Christianity). I think LOG has demonstrated over and over again – we love the whole church and pray for God to bless every church He has given us opportunity to know and be involved with in this area. I don’t for a moment believe we are the only church, or the best church. We are what we are – partly wonderful and partly difficult. However, – if you are unhappy, and find yourself filled with criticism and unrelenting dissatisfaction with Lamb – please either work it out or leave. Don’t allow your dissatisfaction to harm this little body of brothers and sisters. Please understand I don’t want anyone who really wants to be here to leave. I want everyone to find a way to work out conflicts, resolve disappointments and to grow together. I know this pleases Jesus. But lingering when you really can’t support this work is a receipt for harming others. Words matter. Criticism, picking away at those who lead and finding fault with one another is most surely a sign that things aren’t working for you.
When I was a young pastor having people leave would devastate me. I would re-criminate myself and feel like I had failed. Sometimes it was my failure. Other times it was something else. Other times it was never clear why someone had left. But age has given me a more philosophical view of things – ‘you don’t necessarily finish this race with the one’s you started with.’ I still feel the loss when people leave – but I recover more quickly.
What I know is this – I still have a passion for pastoring. I still feel energized by being with God’s people. I still want to look ahead and discover with my brothers and sisters new moves of the Spirit, new lessons of God’s goodness and love and new opportunities to welcome people into this motley fellowship of the friends of Jesus. Perhaps this is a time for you to re-affirm the same.
These three make a handsome trio, don’t you think? I had fun pasting them together in Photoshop. Britney looks particularly fierce, even scarier than Chairman Mao and Nero.
I have a serious post to make, so enough with the funny stuff.
During the mid-60’s A.D. Nero began to turn his maniacal rage toward an obscure group of people who called themselves ‘Christians’. He had experienced a plot to assassinate him (which failed) as well as a significant amount of intrigue aimed against him. Someone started a fire in Rome (many think it was Nero) and that fire ravaged Rome, destroying several sections of the city, and damaging many more. Nero used that fire to divert attention away from himself and he used Christians as his scapegoat. The Roman historians Tacitus and Seutonious both say Nero killed multitudes of Christians. He often did it in quite horrible ways. Roll the clock ahead 1800 years… (more…)
Please note that at the end of this article you can listen to and watch the video version of this piece. If you would prefer that just skip to the end.
Several years ago all of the elders at LOG made a trip down to Brazil to observe and participate in the work started by Tom & Kathy Padley. Others had visited Brazil in prior years, but something very special happened to all of us on those visits (which occurred over a period of two successive summers).
I was personally profoundly touched by the 3 weeks I spent in Nova Lima, and the surrounding communities. I observed a level of passion, intensity and devotion to Jesus that I had not ever seen in my 40 years of being a Christian. I saw poor believers gathering in small clusters, in homes, on front porches as well as believers in large gatherings. What touched me was the emotion and brokeness I witnessed every where I went. People were being changed, won to Christ, healed, and delivered from all manner of struggle. I was awestruck at the power of God, humbled by His presence and suddenly lights began to go on inside me mind. (more…)
(At the end of this article are 4 videos 7-10 minutes each which are based on this article, and expand slightly on the written version)
I would like to use an analogy to speak to something which I have felt God stirring in my heart. One of the things about this recent presidential election that came through to me clearly was the difference in the vision which each candidate presented to the nation. Regardless of how you voted I think that President-elect Obama and his campaign team were very successful in presenting a vision of change that many, many voters found very compelling. As I reflected upon the enthusiasm, and intense passion which many people seemed to genuinely experience regarding President-elect Obama’s campaign I begin to think about the church, and whether we have a compelling vision capable of motivating the kind of sacrifice and faithfulness necessary to fulfill all that God has for us.
What happens without vision – nothing…
Proverbs 29:18 – Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint… Where there is an absence of compelling vision people go in every direction. Eugene Peterson has an interesting interpretation of this verse: If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves… Compelling vision is necessary to motivate our hearts to rise above self-interest, and from being overly invested in too highly individualized a game plan for life. We are not individuals who happen to be in a particular religious organization. We are a family of brothers and sisters called together to serve the Lord, and to advance his purposes. God has a purpose for every church, and He calls people together to serve his purposes in a particular region (Read the letters to the 7 churches in Revelation if you doubt this). Jesus knew these churches, he had particular evaluations of each one, he referred to the degree they had been faithful or not faithful to His purposes. That is particularity. Jesus knows Lamb of God Fellowship, and he knows everyone who is a part of this body. He has something for each one to do, and something for each one to contribute. If this were not true what sense could you every make out of a passage like this: (4) For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, (5) so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. (6) Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; (7) if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12)
A sense of something larger than myself….
Yet still, we as human beings, need to be able to believe that this local church commitment is tied to something larger than just the ups and downs of a local church. We need to see how the glorious, majestic, resurrected, ascended mighty Son of God who came to earth and triumphed over sin, death and the devil and now sits enthroned above the heavens relates his awesome victory to me, my family, my work and my local church family. I need to see how the work of Christ enables me to do things that apart from that gospel work I could never hope to even want to do. I need to see how God, by saving me, has invited me into a lifelong apprenticeship to His Son, to actually learn to love and act as Jesus did while living his life here on earth. I need a compelling vision of all that God is to me in Christ, all that God has done for me in the work of Christ on the cross and all that God has called me to in my lifelong apprenticeship to Jesus. I need a vision of these things that drives my affections, that motivates my will, that captures my imagination, that fascinates my mind and keeps me burning for the all that God has called me to accomplish in this generation. It was this kind of compelling vision which motivated Jonathan Edwards(1st Great Awakening), George Whitfield (1st. Great Awakening), John Wesley, Charles Finney (2nd Great Awakening), Evan Roberts, Jeremy Lamphier (Fulton Street Revival), Daddy Seymour (Azusa), Susanna Wesley, Amy Carmichael, Jackie Pullinger, Elizabeth Elliot, and Joni Eareckson. In many of these examples we are talking about people who did not appear to be extraordinary: Amy Carmichael was a sickly child, who ended up being a missionary is some of the most difficult places of India (She was a huge influence on Jim & Elizabeth Elliot). Evan Roberts was an uneducated Welsh coal miner who ended up leading one of the greatest revivals of the 20th century. William J. Seymour (called ‘Daddy Seymour), was the son of former slaves and yet God used him to lead the Pentecostal revival of 1906 often referred to as the Azusa Street Revival. Jackie Pullinger, as a 20 something launched out into ministry in Hong Kong’s opium ghetto. She had no experience and yet God used her to reach 100’s of addicts and bring healing, salvation and deliverance to many drug addicts, prostitutes and marginalized people.
How vision turns ordinary people up-side down
All of these people share a common understanding of the greatness of Jesus, the glory of his gospel and the necessity of fully engaging our apprenticeship to Jesus. I believe that it is the lack of a compelling vision of these things that had co-opted so many of our churches into sub-biblical Christianity. Paul clearly understood and taught this: Ephesians 1: (17) I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. (18) I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, (19) and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, (20) which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, (21) far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. (22) And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, (23) which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. What Paul prays for here is revelatory understanding of the hope to which we have been called, the greatness of our inheritance, the greatness of the power to which God has given us access and the majesty of the one through whom all of this is made possible – Jesus Christ. Paul understood this so profoundly – very likely because he himself had undergone such a radical re-orientation of his life. It was quite literally a vision of the Risen Jesus that turned his world upside down. While we may not see Jesus in precisely the same way that Paul did, we can experience Jesus in the manner Paul prays here in Ephesians. In fact I would say we must!
Our holy obsession….
I am persuaded like never before that three things must become our holy obsession: The greatness of Jesus Christ (what David Bryant calls ‘A Crisis in Supremacy – a shortfall in how we see, seek, savor, serve, share and speak about God’s Son for ALL that He is. Next, the glory of the gospel (understanding the work of Christ and how the grace of God works in our lives) and the necessity of intentional daily involvement in following Jesus (What Dallas Willard calls ‘The Renovation of the Heart). I believe that these three streams must become our food, our daily bread, our constant rallying point, our inexhaustible fountain of inspiration and motivation. The church needs a new day of sacrifice and perseverance (one that mirrors the Early Church, and the church renewed in every generation). However – without a passionate purpose how can that sacrifice and perseverance be sustained?
Jesus stated a very simply principal about how outward conduct is related to the inner person with these words: The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45) In other words – you have to have something good in your heart to get it out when you need to act. If my heart is captured by a ‘big’ Jesus, a great gospel and my need to really respond to God then I will bring that out of my heart in my day to day life. If I don’t have that in my heart, then no matter what the opportunities I will likely do little, say little and have little impact. Christians seem to be filled with everything but these three things (consider these numbers, sent to me last week by David Bryant: 96% of Christians discovered to be “biblically illiterate” cf. Barna Research; 80% of US congregations are stagnant or dying in terms of membership; Millions sitting in our pews on Sunday remain unconverted – 50% by one major survey). If these numbers are true, even if they were off by 10 or 20% would still be staggering. What do we do?
What do we do?
The first step is to face the reality of what really drives my life. I can’t hope to change what I do not actually acknowledge needs fixing. We humans have an extraordinary ability to sustain slow and steady spiritual decline for years without being bothered by it. We have no problem sitting in church (assuming we have even made that much of a commitment), going through ‘religious’ motions and remaining virtually unchanged for years. Dry, religious performance can easily become a substitute for passionate apprenticeship to Jesus. The numbers quoted from David Bryant should suggest at the very least that this is the reality of much of the church. Step One then is this: Do I have a compelling vision of the Christian life? Is my life organized a ‘Big’ view of Jesus Christ, dependency on the gospel’s resources and intentional apprenticeship to Jesus? How can I know what is really going on in my heart? : Enthusiasm for worship, hunger for the Word of God, intentionality regarding growing in my faith, (study, devotions, regular prayer, accountability, generosity with my resources, time and gifts.), increased love for God and my brothers and sisters. Where are you at when you hear this list of things in your head?
Second: After diagnosis comes treatment. What must be done to re-order my life so that it reflects a life that is driven by a vision of who Christ is, what He has done and what it means to actively live that reality out in my day to day life. Some of us need prayer partners, some of us need to become more intentional about study and the knowledge of the Word of God. Some of us need help in our marriages, and in our relationships with others. Some of us need deliverance from habits that are working havoc in our lives. Some of us are in financial bondage and we need help to learn to budget and order our financial house well. I could go on and name many areas – but the point is this: If I know I am in need of change – recognize that only specificity married to intention will ever take us anywhere. I have spent the last 12 months trying to get myself back into physical shape (after years of neglect). I can’t tell you the joy and delight that has come from simply facing my lazinesses, my excuses, my self-pity and deciding that I was going to take a step of faith, embrace my partnership with God and follow through with with effort. God has blessed me, I feel better, more focused, more energetic and more able to serve the Lord with my whole life (including my body). I can tell you two things happened – I faced my sinfulness and poor stewardship of my body; and I implemented a plan that actually made sense for me. The result is change, glorious God honoring change.
Third: You can not do this without partnership with others. Stop fooling yourself. You will not change without help and constant accountability along the way. Once you face the truth, once you consider a remedy you will still need encouragement, reminders, and occasional rebukes to keep moving. I believe in revival. I am expecting God to bring one. But the church needs not only revival but reformation. We need that precept on precept, day by day constancy that brings beautiful transformation to individuals, families, churches and communities. Let me make clear what I mean: It takes thoughtful biblical understanding to bring real change to our culture. We need unified, committed believers that will work and walk together in sustained effort to bring about lasting gospel influence. Of course we can’t do this without the Holy Spirit working mightily. But remember mighty works of the Spirit happen all the time in step by step blessing, and pushing back the darkness. Yes, I love and want ’signs and wonders’ – but God does so much work, in fact most of His work through our faith expressing itself in love.
This ‘vision’ thing is really getting all up in my business, if you know what I mean. I am thinking about it day and night. I hope I am becoming more like Paul who said – I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ (9) and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— (10) that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, (11) that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead
Video Blog – The following are ‘videos’ based on the above writing. They are in 7 to 10 minute parts and expand slightly on the thought above.
Contrary to what you might think or even unwittingly believe – Christian Spiritual formation is not reserved for only the ’super’ spiritual. There is a sort of adage among retailers regarding people who write or call with concerns about a product. If you get a letter it probably speaks for many, many more who just won’t take the time. That is why it takes very little in the way of complaints for a company to respond (they know it is a representative sample). I think the following ought to be understood as a ‘representative’ sample.
One of the most theologically solid educational institutions in the U.S. is a school called Covenant College and Seminary in Georgia (Lookout Mountain). Recently the president of the Seminary told this story: Covenant Seminary gives an entrance examine in order to place its incoming students in the track of study which takes into consideration what they already know. 20 years ago (1988) 2/3rds of the students passed the Bible knowledge placement examine and 1/3rd failed. Today (2008) that number is reversed. 2/3 failed and only 1/3 passed. (more…)
The election is now history. The people have decided and the victory of Barack Obama is decisive. Yet scripture declares a truth even more decisive:The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever. (Ps. 29:10)
However you may feel about the outcome of the election we know that God is working his eternal purposes and that He has not turned a deaf ear toward His people. The growing voice of united prayer emerging all across this nation will be answered by our God. The cries for Him to have mercy on the nation, and in particular to come to the aid of the most vulnerable will not be ignored by our compassionate heavenly Father. I am undaunted in pressing in to prayer for awakening among the people of God, and I hope that you will see how critical it is for us to never give up (Luke 18: 1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart).
Our hope is in God alone. However, our strategy to see righteousness established is not simply a matter of praying and waiting. We are compelled by the Word to marry our prayers to wise action which puts our ‘money’, so to speak where our mouth is. We are not ideologues, but as James exhorts us: What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? (James 2:14) (more…)
Spiritual Formation is not optional – we are being formed, whether we acknowledge it or don’t. The question is will it be into the character of Jesus or something else?
Early on in the Renovation of the Heart, Dallas Willard writes: A carefully cultivated heart will, assisted by the grace of God, foresee, forestall, or transform most of the painful situations before which others stand like helpless children saying ‘why?’
Later at near the end of the chapter entitled ‘The Heart in the System of Human Life’ Willard writes: ‘We therefore live in “hot pursuit” of Jesus Christ. “My soul followeth hard after thee”, the psalmist called out (Ps. 63:8). And Paul’s panting cry was ‘That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death‘ in order to participate in the life of His resurrection. (Phil. 3:10-11). What are we to say of anyone who thinks they have something more important to do than that?
That is a very challenging statement. Recently, there was a study done on the level of spiritual growth one finds among regular church attending Christians. It is now necessary to differentiate those individuals who call themselves Christians, but do not attend church from those who do attend. In this study the people involved in designing it wanted to try and take a measure of whether people claiming to be Christians, and attending church were actually experiencing ’spiritual growth’. They used criteria like, regular bible reading, regular prayer, service to others etc (there were something like seven categories).
One series of responses is quite telling. Over 50 percent claimed that they had grown spiritually in the previous year, but when measured against conduct, or modest evidence of this only a little more than 3% actually could demonstrate that in any measurable manner. Now that indicates two things – apparently most Christians think they are growing, but have nothing tangible to point to which might indicate that growth.
I don’t know how you feel about this but I feel very frustrated when I think of that tiny a number of Christians being able to point to anything substantive in their lives to indicate growth in Christian maturity. It seems easy then to conjecture from that the seemingly profound impotence of Christianity must be directly related. If its really true that only 3 out of 100 Christians can point to measurable change in the past year, we are really in trouble. This is a significant part of the reason why I am so passionate about the book ‘The Renovation of the Heart.’ I really believe must raise the level of expectation we have of ourselves relative to growing as disciples of Jesus. It begins as Dallas Willard suggests with a vision of the kind of life that God desires for us. Jesus said that those who give themselves to him will receive ‘living water’, and that they will not be driven and ruled by unsatisfied desires. Paul writes that we can know the love of Christ in such a way that we will be filled with the fullness of God. Peter writes that those who love and trust Jesus ‘rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy. Can it really be that only 3 out of 100 Christians have anything approaching that kind of experience of following Jesus?
We simply cannot let this be the case for Lamb of God Fellowship (we don’t want it to be true about any believing congregation), but we begin with ourselves and our own backyard. I say all of this in the hopes that somehow God, by the workings of His Holy Spirit would stir up a tremendous urgency in every single one of us to undertake a serious effort to understand how we grow as followers of Christ. My experience is that most people are unreflective concerning their lives. Only tragedy, loss, or serious illness slows most people down long enough to ask – where am I going with God, am I making progress in getting there, is there any real change going on in me?
What we are trying to do about all this?
Saturday, October 18th a group of men and women gathered together for in an effort to try and make some progress in gaining an understanding of how one ‘watches over their heart.’ I want to use the rest of this post to try and summarize as best as I can the essential things that came out of that effort. My heartfelt prayer is that we would see a stronger core of brothers and sisters who are clear headed about how one ‘puts on the character of Christ’ as well as growing in the ability to help others who want to learn how to do it for themselves.
The Basic Principal – The Heart Directs the Life.
This is the core of what the Bible teaches about growing as a disciple of Jesus is this – we live out of our hearts. “The human heart, will or spirit is the executive center of a human life. The heart is where the decisions and choices are made for the whole person.” (pg. 30) Jesus taught this very clearly – ‘Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.’ (Matt. 12:34) In another place Jesus broadens this – Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.’
Spiritual formation has everything to do with the process which leads us to the place where we do the will of God out of our hearts. It has a lofty, but a concretely Biblical goal – ‘to love God will all the heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves.’ This is what God desires, this is the end to which He is directing everything and it is what will make eternity an endless delight. But the real, and necessary process of spiritual formation says this ideal is not just for the sweet-by-and-by. God intends for his sons and daughters to ‘be prepared for and capable of responding to the situations of life in ways that are good and right’ (pg. 29).
Basic Elements of Human Life:
Willard suggests that we can think about human nature as six basic aspects. (1) Thought (2) Feeling (3) Choice (4) Body (5) Social context (6) Soul. He summarizes in the following way: ‘every human being thinks (has a thought life), feels, chooses, interacts with his or her body and its social context, and more or less integrates all of the foregoing as parts of a life.’ Later in this section Willard suggests that this isn’t mysterious (in other words, we can all understand it). Human nature has parts, these parts have properties, which in turn make possible relationships between the parts to form larger wholes and so on. We can learn how our thoughts, our feelings, our will, and so on work and how they can be formed in cooperation with the Holy Spirit working though the Word, and the various means of grace which God makes available to all Christians. In my judgment we are required by the Word of God to gain this understanding. This is certainly what is implied by a scripture like II Peter 1:15 – For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith…
One of the most helpful understandings which Dr. Willard advances is a concept he calls ‘relenting.’ “Our actions always arise out of the interplay of the universal factors of human life: spirit, mind, body, social context, and soul. Actions never come from the movement of will alone” (pg. 39). Relenting describes how these various elements(thoughts, emotions, body, social context) place pressure on our will so that our choices are principally a relenting to these pressures.
This means that good intentions are not enough, and that there is a ‘rigorous consistency in the human self and its actions.” This single sentence may be worth the price of the book: “Actions are not impositions on who we are, but are expressions of who we are. The come out of our heart and the inner realities it supervises and interacts with” (pg. 39).
Trying to make this personal
Let me make that very personal, and I will use myself as the example. From about the 8th grade in school until I graduated college I was a fairly well disciplined athlete. Not a gym rat by any means, but pretty faithful to staying in shape. After college I began to slowly allow myself to ‘coast’ on past effort. It takes a fair amount of time to undo years of weight training and conditioning, but I am living proof that it can be undone. Over time I became a lazy person in so far as it relates to taking good care of myself, health wise. About 7 years ago I was diagnosed as a diabetic and this caused me to make some changes in my life including a fairly radical change to diet and to begin exercising once again. After about a year of conditioning and weight loss I began to see improvement. As most everyone who knows me knows five years ago I fell and suffered a serious break in my leg, one which resulted in surgery and the insertion of a 14 inch steel rod into my leg. Unfortunately, I used this excuse to drift back into inactivity and began to slump back into poor physical condition. In January of 2007 I promised myself and the Lord that this would change, and praise God I have been able to sustain nearly 11 straight months of consistent conditioning.
But I would like to make several observations about myself. I wasn’t someone who had ’slipped’ into a lifestyle of physical inactivity, I was in fact a lazy person who occasionally sustained physical activity. My use of the physical injury as a rational for inactivity wasn’t a slip, it was a pattern. Until I faced up to the condition of my heart – one which treated physical conditioning as unimportant, or as an optional matter of good stewardship I could never change. I wasn’t an occasional ’slug’, I was in fact a committed slob. Only the words of my family physician working in concert with my pastor Ray and the prompting of the Holy Spirit could get through my rationalizations for further inactivity. I had to face a truth which Dr. Willard makes plain – ‘whatever my action is comes out of my whole person’ (pg. 40). I now consider myself in recovery. Sustaining change, with all its concomitant elements (thoughts, emotions, body, etc) takes time and it would be a prideful mistake to think I have licked the problem.
However, the Lord taught me a good deal about change in the past 11 months. But I can do no better in describing that learning that to refer to Dr. Willard’s description of the nature of spiritual change in chapter five of the Renovation of the Heart. First, this past 11 months has reminded me that change is possible. I am 54, and like many folks my age I am set in my ways. But developing a lifestyle of physical conditioning has taught me again that you can teach an old dog a new trick. And although physical exercise is not the same as spiritual formation it is in many ways parallel. Listen to Dr. Willard: “Without the gentle though rigorous process of inner transformation by the graceful presence of God in our world and in our soul, the change of personality and life clearly announced and spelled out in the Bible, and explained and illustrated throughout Christian history, is impossible. We not only admit it, but also insist upon it” (pg. 79)
Lamb of God brothers and sisters get this! “Without the rigorous process of inner transformation… the change of personality and life… is impossible.” As Willard observes – “the result of the effort to change our behavior without inner transformation is precisely what we see in the current shallowness of Western Christianity.” Even revival alone will not change this. I am praying for, and believing God will bring revival, however, we cannot bypass this truth so eloquently stated by Dr. Willard.
V.I.M. – A Pattern of Change
The acronym which Dr. Willard develops for this pattern of change is simple: V.I.M., Vision, Intention, and Means. If we are to be spiritually formed in Christ, we must have and must implement the appropriate vision, intention and means (pg. 85) Dr. Willard wisely points out if we are concerned about our spiritual formation then we must have a vision of life under God, in His kingdom that is compelling. This requires me to know deeply what it is that God is making available to me in Christ and for me to embrace it with my whole heart. But as Willard says it is a vision that has to be given to us, one which we don’t naturally see on our own. But, thanks be to God, that vision is given to us in the Word of God. It is a vision of a new kind of life, life lived in the range of God’s effective will being done. It is a vision of life which can be discovered, meditated upon, and in cooperation with the Holy Spirit worked into our lives until it becomes an overwhelmingly compelling desire of our hearts.
In concert with the vision of life in the Kingdom of God is the necessity of our actual intention to do it. This is an extraordinary quality of being a human. We can decide. I can choose to make this vision of life in the kingdom a reality that I actually pursue. That means, even if my resolve is weak, I can decide that no excuse will any longer be accepted (even if I struggle and fail to always follow through). Intention moves us beyond our rationalizations, our denial, our blame-shifting to a place where we accept that the decision to do what ever is necessary to grow as a disciple of Jesus belongs to me. I must decide, and that intention is mine to follow through on. God will not magically make me do this. If I am to change, it is my decision to pursue the things that bring change. One of the observations which Dr. Willard makes which really stings is this: “Perhaps the hardest thing for sincere Christians to come to grips with is the level or real unbelief in their own life: the unformulated skepticism about Jesus that permeates all dimensions of their being and undermines what efforts they do make toward Christlikeness” (Pg. 88) Intention means I can no longer accommodate this unbelief as acceptable.
Finally, vision and intention must be combined with means: how will we go about replacing the inner character of ‘lostness’ with the inner character of Jesus? Thankfully we are not left to make this up on our own. But let me use Willard’s own summary: “We must start by discovering, by identifying, the thoughts, feelings, habits of will, social relations and bodily inclinations that prevent us from growing in the character of Christ. God has given us many ‘means’ of grace to enable this process to actually get somewhere. Richard Foster’s classic ‘The Celebration of Discipline’ is an excellent resource. Dallas Willard’s own ‘The Spirit and the Disciplines’ is also incredibly helpful. The is no lack of carefully explained material to help each one of us to become fully engaged apprentices of Jesus. The problem is not lack of information.
As Dr. Willard says: “The problem of spiritual transformation among those who identify themselves as Christians today is not that it is impossible or that effectual means are not available. The problem is that it is not intended. People do not see it and its value and decide to carry through with it. They do not decide to do the things Jesus did and said” (pg. 91)
This truth of this must be faced: I must not allow my harried life, or my state in life, or any other vicissitude to stand in the way of the blessed life of being apprenticed to Jesus. He paid an extraordinary price to open a doorway to make it possible. He gives amazing resources to sustain any who seek it and it is not idealistic to hold forth the expectation that what Jesus calls us to is in fact possible.
I turned 55 a few weeks ago. Let me recount some things – 22+ years as a pastor, in the same place; 26+ years married; 25+years living in the same place. Wow – I’m struggling a bit thinking – man, I haven’t come very far. Things seem more fragile to me than I thought they would be. Things don’t seem as certain as I hoped they would be. I wonder have I done all that God wanted me to do (at least so far)? Have I been faithful?
In just a few days Gail and I will celebrate 26 years of marriage. I’m delighted to be with her, and I’m grateful that she stills finds me a source of joy in her life. But something I have discovered about marriage is this – it cannot be left to itself – marriage needs periodic questions, evaluation and re-affirmation. Leave it to run on automatic pilot and you will end up some place you won’t want to be.
The election is now history. The people have decided and the victory of Barack Obama is decisive. Yet scripture declares a truth even more decisive: