Renovation of the Heart
Spiritual Formation in the Local Congregation (1|4)
Pages 245-250
• A Spiritual “Hospital”
• Being Realistic About Our Current Congregations
• The Central Cause of Our Current Situation
• The Vessel and the Treasure
TOGETHER read the devotional and the scripture.
INDIVIDUALLY take notes in your journal on what stands out.
Ephesians 4:10-16 (NIV) He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe. So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him, the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
1 Corinthians 2:4-5 (NIV) My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
2 Corinthians 4:6-7 (NIV) For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
TOGETHER pray for one another.
INDIVIDUALLY answer the questions in your journal - process your devotional notes and pray.
A Spiritual “Hospital”
“The local groups of disciples, in the usual case, will certainly have people at all stages of the journey. These groups can be compared to hospitals, with people at various stages of recovery and progress toward health. Some will be in the ICU. Others will be taking their first wobbly steps after a lengthy time bed-ridden. And others will be showing the flush of health and steady strength as they get ready to resume their ordinary lives.”
What is your response to the picture of the church as a spiritual hospital?
Being Realistic About Our Current Congregations
Philippians 2:15 NIV Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky.
“Now, we candidly admit that this represents the church, the people of Christ through the ages, at its best. But what we see here is not an impossible dream, a hopeless idealization. It has been done and can be done now if we turn our efforts under God in the right direction. And that direction would be one that makes spiritual formation in Christlikeness the exclusive primary goal of the local congregation. This is what one would naturally expect after having read what Paul - and, indeed, after having read what Jesus sent his world revolutionaries out to do.”
Does this statement give you hope for the Western church or discouragement? Is the current state of the church too far removed from what is described in Philippians 2:15?
The Central Cause of Our Current Situation
“What characterizes most of our local congregations, whether big or little in size, is simple distraction. The oft-noted ‘failures’ of many kinds that show up within them and around them are not the fundamental problem of church life today. They are much more a result than a cause.“ - Now you might ask yourself, Why does the New Testament say nothing about all those matters to which the usual congregation today devotes almost all its thought and effort? - Pay attention to the ‘principles and absolutes’ of the New Testament church and, one might suppose, everything else will fall into place - in large part because ‘everything else’ really doesn’t matter much one way or the other. To fail to put the focus on those principles and absolutes, on the other hand, is to wander off into a state of distraction, which is where most of our local congregations actually are. They wind up majoring on minors and allowing the majors, from the New Testament point of view disappear.”
Do you agree with the claim that distraction is the central cause of the current situation in our churches?
How have you experienced church (or any Christian organization) majoring on the minors?
The Vessel and the Treasure
“Of course, we do not think we are distracted. The things we are investing our efforts in seem absolutely primary. - But the people on location have actually mistaken the vessel for the treasure. - The same principles of ‘vessel’ and ‘treasure’ apply to our local congregations their traditions, and their higher-level groupings called ‘denominations.’ - Our various groups become, over time, nearly 100 percent vessel. That is, what they seem to regard as essential and what they devote almost all their attention and effort to, has to do with human historical contingencies that have attached themselves to individuals brought up in a certain way. They, of course, love those contingencies, and they love the dear ones who have shared life with them within the contingent forms. And because the contingencies are dear to us - often there is much good associated with their past - we mistake them for the treasure of the real presence of Christ in our midst, and we spend most of our time concerned with the historical accidents or contingencies of our group, even trying to urge them upon others as essential to salvation, or at least as what is best for us and for them. No wonder we are distracted from the path of spiritual formation in Christ.”
Does the distinction between the “vessel” and the “treasure” make sense to you? To religious traditions, denominations, and local groups of Christians?
What effects of vessel importance have you personally seen in Christian practices and endeavors?
EXTRA READING:
“Go and find Jesus when your patience and strength give out and you feel alone and helpless. He is waiting for you. Say to him, ‘Jesus, you know exactly what is going on. You are all I have, and you know all. Come to my help.’ And then go and don’t worry about how you are going to manage. That you have told God about it is enough. He has a good memory.”
- Jeanne Jugan (1792 - 1879)