Renovation of the Heart
Spiritual Formation in the Local Congregation (2|4)
Pages 261-265
• Eliminating Performance
• Stage Three
• We Do Not Choose to Believe or Not
• And Beyond Teaching
• Two Steps of Confidence
TOGETHER read the devotional and the scripture.
INDIVIDUALLY take notes in your journal on what stands out.
1 Corinthians 2:2 (NIV) For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
John 18:36-37 (NIV) Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
TOGETHER pray for one another.
INDIVIDUALLY answer the questions in your journal - process your devotional notes and pray.
Eliminating Performance
“Performance is where we try to make an impression rather than just be what we are. The element of performance would be absent in the Trinitarian gathering, as would constant solicitude concerning ‘How did the service go?’ God is the primary agent in the gathering. The truth is, from the only point of view that matters - God’s - it is very likely no human knows how the service went; and in any case, that cannot be judged by reading overt responses of the attendees. - The minister (and/or worship team) does not need tricks and techniques but needs to only speak Christ’s word from Christ’s character, standing with the manifest presence of God. Of course, we are talking about a steady course of life, not a momentary inspiration, and for such a life in its leaders, the church languishes.”
Could we really eliminate “performance” from our church gatherings?
“We expect to find Christ in others, and that is all we are looking for. We don’t worship ‘worship’ or a fine service or impeccable teaching or fine-looking people. - Far too often we approach our gathering together all prepared to major on minors. - Why look at some aspect of performance - some ‘vessel’ matter, no doubt - when you could come to Jesus in the midst?”
What would our meetings look like if we could eliminate “performance”? How does the church stop worshipping “worship” and no longer major on the minors?
Stage Three
“Once the spirit or will has been quickened with new life from above, then the priority of the mind (thought and feeling) in inner transformation must be respected. This is true whether we are thinking of what we can do for ourselves to grow in grace and in knowledge of Christ, or of how we can help others among whom we serve. The ideas and images and the ‘information’ and ways of thinking that occupy our minds must be changed to godly ones, as is also true of the feeling tones that make up our emotional lives.”
How does the priority of the mind in spiritual formation affect the means employed? to advance spiritual formation in the local congregation?
We Do Not Choose to Believe or Not
“Our beliefs and feelings cannot be changed by choice. We cannot just choose to have different beliefs and feelings. But we do have some liberty to take in different ideas and information and to think about things in different ways. We can choose to take in the Word of God, and when we do that, beliefs and feelings will be steadily pulled in a godly direction. - Belief is when your whole being is set to act as if something is so. And that is how the commands of Jesus finally come to us as we grow. We see them to be reality - So we do not, in general, control our beliefs or those of others. We never choose to believe, and we must not try to get ourselves or others to choose to believe. That is God’s work. We can try to understand and try to help others understand. And beyond that - God must work..”
What things could your local congregation do beyond “regular church services” to advance spiritual transformation in its members?
And Beyond Teaching
“We must be Spirit-led, Bible-informed, intelligent, experimental, and persistent. The Christian past holds a huge store of information on spiritual formation. It is a treasure - a God deposit - in Christ’s people. We must take the trouble to know it and to own it in ways suitable to today. - We should never forget that this sort of intensive training away from ‘ordinary life’ is exactly what Jesus did in the spiritual formation of the selected few who were to be his shock troops, his ‘green berets’ (army rangers, SEAL team six) in world revolution. He gave them almost three years of special training away from their ordinary lives. Only after that were they led through his death and resurrection to the Upper Room and the endowment with power from on high. We well might ask ourselves, What have we actually gone through in the process of spiritual formation? - Jesus did not give us a plan for spiritual formation that will fail, and he has the resources to see to it that it does not.”
Could we publically announce that we teach people how to actually do the things Jesus said for us to do? What would have to change around the church house if we were to do that?
Two Steps of Confidence
“First, open expect the apprentices to learn to do the various things that Jesus taught us to do. - Second, announce that you teach people to do the things that Jesus said to do. - No special talents, personal skills, educational programs, money, or possessions are required to bring this to pass. We do not have to purify and enforce some legalistic system. Just ordinary people who are his apprentices gathered in the name of Jesus and immersed in his presence, and taking steps of inward transformation as they put on the character of Christ: that is all that is required. - Let that be our only aim, and the triumph of God in our individual lives and our times ensured. The renovation of the heart, putting on the character of Christ, is the unfailing key. It will provide for human life all the blessing that money. talent, education, and good fortune in this world cannot begin to supply, and will strongly anticipate, within this present life, a glorious entry into the full presence of God .”
What is your response to this closing statement?
EXTRA READING:
“Christianity is being concerned about your fellow man, not building a million-dollar church while people are starving right around the corner. Christ was a revolutionary person, out there it was happening. That’s what God is all about, and that’s where I get my strength.”
- Fannie Lou Hammer (1917 - 1977)