Renovation of the Heart
Transforming Our Social Dimension (4|4)
Pages 200-205
• Minister to Marriage
• Receiving God’s Vision of Our Wholeness in Him
• Defensiveness Gone
• Genuine Love Predominates in Our Gatherings
• Opening Our Broader Social Dimension to Redemption
TOGETHER read the devotional and the scripture.
INDIVIDUALLY take notes in your journal on what stands out.
Romans 12:1-21 (NIV) Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
TOGETHER pray for one another.
INDIVIDUALLY answer the questions in your journal - process your devotional notes and pray.
Minister to Marriage
“To heal the open sore of social existence, there is no doubt we must start with the marriage relationship - or, more inclusively, with how men and women are together in our world. If that relationship is wrong in its many dimensions, all who come through it will be seriously damaged. And they will be further damaged by a surrounding world of similarly damaged people, who are trying to manage their ways of being together on the assumption that assault and withdrawal are just ‘the facts of life.’ - The visible churches, congregations of apprentices to Jesus, must return to the transcendent power of Christ for which they stand. They must drain the assault and withdrawal, the attack and coldness, from the individual men and women who form families under their ministry of Jesus and his kingdom.”
Is it/How is it possible to “heal the open sore with how men and women are together in our world? Is it/How is it possible for “the visible church” to “return to the transcendent power of Christ” to “drain the attack and coldness” in our culture?
Receiving God’s Vision of Our Wholeness in Him
“The first main element in the transformed social dimension is for individuals to come to see themselves whole, as God himself sees them. Such a vision sets them beyond the wounds and limitations they have received in their past relationships to others. It is this vision of oneself from God’s point of view that makes it possible to regard oneself as blessed, no matter what has happened.”
How can we “come to see ourselves whole” in God’s life, and how would that help heal our social dimension?
“God has a plan for each of us in the work he is doing during our lifetimes, and no one can prevent this from being fulfilled if we place our hope entirely in him. The part we play in his plans now will extend to the role he has set before us for eternity. Our life in him is whole and is blessed, no matter what has or has not been done to us, no matter how shamefully our human circles of sufficiency have been violated.”
Not to spark a Calvinism vs Arminianism debate - do you believe this statement to be true/do you agree that “God has a plan for each of us” - and what does that mean?
Defensiveness Gone
“The second element in the spiritually transformed social dimension is abandonment of all defensiveness. - This abandonment of defensiveness includes a willingness to be known in our most intimate relationships for who we really are. It would include abandonment of all practices of self-justification, evasiveness, and deceit, as well as manipulation ”
Do you feel your defensiveness rise when reading this statement? 😉 Does this statement excite or intimidate you? It takes tremendous courage to choose to be vulnerable - it also takes a lot of practice. Have you ever chosen and tried to” let your guard down” with another person or group? What might it be like to walk in continual abandonment of defensiveness?
Genuine Love Predominates in Our Gatherings
“The third element in the spiritually transformed social dimension of the self. Love between Christians, then, would, as Paul said to the Romans, ‘be genuine.’ - Christ’s apprentices would be carrying out their particular work in the group life with a grace and power that is not from themselves but from God. - Just think for a moment what it would be like to be part of a group of disciples with shared intention and where it was actually lived out, even if with some imperfection.’”
Could Paul’s picture of the redemptive fellowship of Christ’s people (Romans 12:1-21) be put into place in your group?
Opening Our Broader Social Dimension to Redemption
“The fourth element is an opening up of our broader social dimension to redemption. Not having the burden of defending and securing ourselves, and acting now from the resources of our new ‘life from above,’ we can devote our lives to the service of others. - Social formation in Christ obviously requires that we increasingly be happily reconciled to living in and by the direct upholding of the hand of God. This is clearly what the entire biblical view of life calls for, and especially what Jesus himself lived and presented as the truth.’”
What is your response to this statement?
EXTRA READING:
“Take heed, then, to come together often to give thanks to God, and show his praise. For when you come frequently together in the same place, the powers of Satan are destroyed, and his fiery darts of sin fall back, worthless. For your unity and harmoniousness faith prove his destruction and the torment of his assistants. Nothing is better than Christ’s peace, by which all war, both of heavenly and earthly spirits, is brought to an end.”
- Ignatius of Antioch (unknown - 108)