Renovation of the Heart
The “Beyond Within” and the Way of Jesus
Introducing Spiritual Formation (3|4)
Pages 13-16
• Reaching beyond the Merely Human
• God Moves Forward
• Distinctively Christian Spiritual Formation
TOGETHER read the devotional and the scripture.
INDIVIDUALLY take notes in your journal on what stands out.
John 13:34-35 (NIV) “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 14:15-21 (NIV) “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever - the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
TOGETHER pray for one another.
INDIVIDUALLY answer the questions in your journal - process your devotional notes and pray.
Reaching beyond the Merely Human
“Spiritual transformation, the renovation of the human heart, is an inescapable human problem with no human solution.”
What is your response to this statement?
God Moves Forward
”God periodically moves upon his people and in their surrounding culture to achieve his everlasting purposes for that tiny stretch of cosmic time we call ‘human history.’ This usually happens in ways that no one but He could have planned or foreseen and in ways that lie far beyond our control or comprehension. “
Does the recent emergence of spiritual formation offer a genuinely new opportunity for advancing the cause of Christ and blessing human life in our time?
“There arises a very real danger that we will set ourselves in opposition to what God truly is doing now and aims to do in the future. Often we miss the opportunity to act with God in the now. We fail to find, quickly enough, new wineskins for the new wine.”
What has been your experience with God’s time vs our time? Sometimes it seems that God moves very very very slowly and then what seems almost too fast for us to keep up - why do you think this is? We say “God’s timing is perfect” even though we do not comprehend “God’s time” (as He is beyond time being the beginning and the end simultaneously) What are your thoughts?
“And God is still moving. The quest for spiritual formation (really, as indicated, spiritual transformation) is in fact an age-old and worldwide one. It is rooted deeply in the personal and even biological need for goodness that haunts humanity. This is, I am sure, part of an incoming tide of God’s life that would lift our lives today for our voyage into eternity. Our hearts cry out, “Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart.”
What do you think Dallas Williard means? How do you interpret this statement?
Distinctively Christian Spiritual Formation
”Christian spiritual formation is focused entirely on Jesus. Its goal is an obedience or conformity to Christ. Obedience is an essential outcome of Christian spiritual formation. ”
What dangers lie in an ‘outward’ or ‘external’ interpretation of spiritual formation? How is this related to legalism?
EXTRA READING:
“People who believe in war leave all behind, prepared to die: what price are we prepared to pay to be a people who believe in peace? Those who keep faith to the end will know their weakness the best. God, grant me the courage, help me, that I may plant seeds of peace.”’
- Jim Wallis (born 1948) American theologian, writer, teacher, and founder of Sojourners Community.