Hi Everyone-
I just finished my final paper in my "Facilitating Spiritual Formation" class at Crown College. For those that do now know I am pursuing my Master's in Ministry Leadership there. I haven't blogged in a long time and because my wonderful wife Sharlay always wants to read what I write I am posting for everyone. I am appreciative of her constant encouragement (or harassment at times) about my writing ability and the fact I don't do enough of it.
Hope you enjoy! Please comment as you find necessary! It is long so only read when you have the time!
“But you can't get away from yourself. You can't decide not
to see yourself anymore. You can't decide to turn off the noise in your head.”-
Jay Asher
Outside of
accepting and receiving salvation from God the concept of spiritual formation
may be the most important pillar of a Christian’s life. Yet, in my experience there doesn’t seem to
be a way to truly measure spiritual growth nor is there agreement on exactly what a person needs to do in
order to grow spiritually. In his book,
“The Deeper Journey” M. Robert Mullholland says this about spiritual growth, “When
Paul says we are being changed from glory to glory he means that we are being changed
from what we are in our unlikeness to Christ into his likeness. All this suggests that when Jesus says that
he has given us the ‘glory’ that God has given to him, he is indicating that he
has made it possible for us to once again be formed in the image of God, to
share God’s nature as we were intended” (Mulholland, 2006, pg.12.) This
author has attempted to outline his own personal philosophy for spiritual
growth. Many people are likely to find
as much agreeable as disagreeable in the paragraphs that follow. Maintaining an
ongoing and open dialogue about facilitating spiritual growth however, is the
most important thing to take away from this paper.
Personal Philosophy of
Facilitating Spiritual Formation
An author,
if he or she truly wanted to, could probably write for eternity about the
concept of spiritual formation. There
are simply so many different avenues this topic can be approached from and an
endless number of concepts that could possibly lead to spiritual
formation. I have attempted to narrow
down my own list to a more manageable assortment. The key points are: freedom, accountability, combat,
intimacy and service.
Freedom
“Freedom is not
worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.”
Mahatma Ghandi
What
kind of freedom are we talking about? We are talking about the freedom to be
who God made us. The kind of freedom
that Jesus Christ died for and the religious leaders of his day fought
against. Ever since Adam and Eve were
cast out of the garden men have tried to create rules for us as Christians (or
Jews) to govern our lives. Most of these
rules are not even found in scripture.
“But some of the extrabiblical rules – read ‘add-on rules’ – written and
enforced by religious leaders and groups can cost you much more. They can cost you the vitality of a growing
and dynamic friendship with God…Such rules will pull you down and away from God
like lead shoes on a swimmer” (Perkins, 2007, pg. 19.)
The key
here is to “draw a distinction between the moral law of God that Jesus reinforced
and the add-on rules that he resisted” (Perkins, 2007, pg. 20.) Many churches, especially in the West spend
more time creating new rules about what you cannot do and no time focused on
the freedom that Christ gives. Nothing
can grow in this kind of environment.
For example, you take a seedling and put it in a pot to grow yet it will
only grow to a certain extent. The pot
will serve to confine the tree’s growth so that it cannot reach its full
potential. The same thing happens with Christians
and “add-on rules.”
Many
Christians and especially the church have gotten this notion believers are to
be subjected to rules and regulations that govern some of the most mundane
areas of our lives. Christian’s produce
video’s pronouncing what music you can listen to and which music will result in
a person burning in hell for eternity.
Likewise pronouncements are made that drinking any amount of alcohol is
a sin and if you ever say a curse word you can’t possibly love God. Erwin McManus writes, “It’s hard to imagine
that Jesus would endure the agony of the cross just to keep us in line”
(McManus, 2005, pg. 7.)
Just like
the tree example, in order for a Christian to truly grow she must be able to
grow without any artificial or man-made constrictions (such as the pot). I firmly believe in general people know when
they are doing something they shouldn’t.
I also believe this is enhanced once someone becomes a follower of
Christ. People cannot live in the
freedom of Christ when we chain and bind them to “add-on rules.” McManus goes on to sum up my passion in a
beautiful way, “With our hearts burning for God, we would move forward with the
freedom to pursue the passions burning within us” (McManus, 2005, pg. 7.) With
so much freedom there is great responsibility. Therefore we must also take steps to ensure we
are enjoying the freedom Christ died for in a responsible fashion.
Accountability
“A
body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by
anybody.”
Thomas
Paine
To often
accountability in the church takes on the color of being accountable for only
the “bad things” in life. That is
certainly not what God intended. Having
accountability in your life is one of the only ways we can learn to grow and
develop our walk with God. While at
times it will involve having to confess to those we are accountable to the
mistakes we have made; more often than not it will instead help us ease the
burden of our stressful lives, difficult decisions and help us gain wisdom from
others. I always enjoyed the following
passage found in the Old Testament:
“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for
their labor: if
either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will
keep warm. But how can one keep warm
alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not
quickly broken.” (Ecc. 4:9-12, NIV.)
The danger of having no accountability in the church is
self-righteousness and a religious inflexible personality. Jesus talked about this very issue when he
confronted the religious leaders of his day, “Woe
to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like
whitewashed tombs, which look
beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead
and everything unclean” (Matthew 23:27, NIV.)
There was no accountability in the lives of the Jewish leaders when it
came to what happened outside of the public eye. In the synagogues and streets they appeared
righteous and in love with God. Yet
behind the scenes these were men with serious issues who didn’t appreciate
seeing others live in freedom. They were
basically only accountable out in public but even then this accountability was
based mostly on their own “add-on rules.”
If
you look at the Gospels you see the disciples being accountable to each other
even when they didn’t want to be.
Granted it is not the healthiest form of accountability but what you
will notice is none of them seemed to fear calling out others based on their
behavior. Jesus also called them out when they tried to
vie for the spot at his own right hand.
We all have blind spots in our vision; these areas will always prevent
us from seeing the full picture of our growth (or lack thereof) in our
lives. Having mature brothers and
sisters around us to help us realize we are not a religious superstar is
essential in pruning our leaves so we can continue to get closer to God. We must be careful and not get too
comfortable assuming all is fine in our journey, “Our religious false self
presumes, because we are religious, that everything is fine in our relationship
with God” (Mulholland, 2007, pg. 47.)
Combat
“Fight for the
cause God has given you!’
Ps. Anthony
Cecutti
On of the misconceptions prevalent in the church and
Christianity is an assumption that as believers we should be passive,
non-aggressive and non-combative. For
people who feel this is the correct posture of a believer I wonder if they have
ever read the Gospel accounts of Christ’s life.
Jesus was no wilting flower or limp wristed man of God. When he needed to fight he did. When he needed to be tough and refused to be
pushed around he followed through. These
examples include clearing out the temple and every time he stood up to the
Pharisees. The bottom line is that every
day we are breathing life is a battle.
We battle for our jobs, our families, marriages, vacations, piece of
mind and other forms of nonsense on a daily basis.
We must not be afraid nor back down from the fights we
have to face. More importantly God has
placed in our hearts passions and causes to fight for. Anthony Cecutti, one of our pastors at church
fights every day for the rights of individuals who are being charged with
crimes. Other friends of mine fight
every day for a chance to be on a Broadway stage. Ruth Barton talks about those things buried
deep in our souls. She states the
believer “…trusts that in the midst of one’s very public existence something is
going on deep in the interior spaces of the soul that warrants serious
attention” (Barton, 2008, pg. 66.) There
shouldn’t be any days off as a Christian. “Therefore
do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has
enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34, NIV.) There will be people and organizations to
challenge your beliefs every day. They
will question the very essence of your being and likely offend you. As followers of Christ we are not to back
down from these confrontations but to speak the truth and to not cower. Our spiritual mettle is tested and forged on
the battlefield of life. It is on that
battlefield we learn where we are in our walk with God. There is no more effective refining fire than
being tested in battle and learning where the weaknesses in our armor lay.
More important than our own
spiritual growth is the growth and salvation of others, rarely do the battles we
fight have anything to do with us. We
fight those battles for others. “If He
has won your heart, then to follow your heart will always lead you to follow
the heart of God. He will always lead
you to advance forward behind enemy lines to win the hearts of those who not
yet know Him or love Him” (McManus, 2005, pg. 14.) Winning souls for Christ is and will always
be a hard fought battle and one which must be taken seriously. As we grow and mature in Christ we will have
opportunities to share the Gospel with others and help their own spiritual
growth, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17
NIV.)
Last but certainly not least is the
importance of spiritual warfare in the growth of Christians. This is perhaps the most important fight and
one we cannot afford to be passive about.
Bill Perkins sums up the necessity of this battle:
“What I am
driving at is this: As followers of Christ we need to realize that we’re
warriors in a battle between two opposing kingdoms. We’re in a battle between light and
darkness…good and evil…between God and his army of angels and Satan and his
legions of demons. For God’s kingdom to
advance, his followers must enter the fray and fight. Could you imagine an army which the troops
are taught not to fight? We need to
break the law of passivity and fight.” (Perkins, 2007, pg. 36.)
Intimacy With God
“They went to a
place called Gethesmane, and Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I
pray.” – Mark 14:32
To a large degree not much needs to be said about the
importance of intimacy with God as a key contributor to spiritual formation. The proof is in the pudding as they say. When you spend quiet time with God, pray,
worship and mediate on his word you can’t help not to grow. A person becomes more in tune with what God
is saying to them. They also become much
more adept at hearing from God and the urging of the Holy Spirit. I love what Ruth Barton writes about Moses,
“Because of his encounters with God, Moses is now a fundamentally different
person. Rather than brash, impulsive,
take-matters-into-my-own-hands…he is now someone who is able to offer a deeply
spiritual response in the face of grave danger” (Barton, 2008, pg. 95.) There are so many stories in the Bible where
you see the consequences (good or bad) when someone makes a significant
decision with or without consulting God first. Spending time with God is the key to spiritual
formation, “Only God can reveal his plans and he does so in his way, on his
time schedule, and to whom he wills. How
often do Christian leaders claim to have received their vision from God when in
fact they have simply dreamed up the most desirable future they could imagine
and then prayed for God to bless their efforts as they set out to achieve it” (Blackaby
& Blackaby, 2011, page 70). The only
way we can avoid the latter statement is to be in constant and intimate
communication with God. There are no
short cuts for this. A Christian simply has to do it. “You are created to experience your true
life, your genuine identity, your deepest meaning, your fullest purpose, your
ultimate value in an intimate, loving union with God at the core of your being”
(Mulholland, 2006, pg.27.)
Service
“From now on, any definition of a successful life must include
serving others.”
George Bush
Serving God and God’s people will do
more for your spiritual growth than just about anything on this list outside of
intimacy with Him. Serving is where all
our warts come out. When serving you have to deal with real people, in real
situations often during a time when you would rather be doing something else. Serving in God’s kingdom will change your
life; there is no doubt about it. The
disciples are a good example of this.
When they first came to Jesus they all had their own agenda. Most of them were selfish, self-centered men
who longed for glory, power, money and prestige. Yet the traits Matthew, Mark and the others
longed for, they wanted to obtain on their own and exactly the way they
envisioned them. When they came to the
end of their lives they might not have had money or even power but they
certainly held a status and would for the rest of eternity that even they
couldn’t have imagined obtaining on their own.
My point is that we enter into God’s service, often with our own agendas
only for God to take us to far better and more amazing places than we could
have ever imagined on our own.
Serving also helps us to give our
life meaning and purpose at times when it might otherwise be lacking. Many celebrities and sports figures perform
out of a need to cover up feelings of inadequacy and the fear of being
irrelevant. In his book “Counterfeit
Gods” Timothy Keller uses a quote from Madonna where she admits she pushes
herself to stay in the spot light because she feels the constant need to prove
she is somebody. Keller states, “For
Madonna, success is like a drug that gives her a sense of…worth, but the high
quickly wears off and she needs a repeat dose.
She must prove herself again and again.
The driving force behind this is not joy but fear” (Keller, 2009, pg.
73.) You can’t help but be selfless when
you serve God. While you may have
started serving him out of selfish ambition or gain it will be your desire to
serve God and others that keeps you in the game. In the process God does something remarkable,
he fills our lives with meaning, purpose and joy, as Nehemiah says, “…for the
joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10, NIV.) New York is a city full of people striving
for meaningfulness in their lives but rarely if ever attaining that measure of
success. It is because their view of
meaningfulness (money, power, esteem and status) never fills the hole in their
hearts. Only a relationship with God that includes serving him will fill that
void. “Even then Jesus understood his
purpose was to save us not from pain and suffering, but from meaninglessness”
(McManus, 2005, pg. 31.)
Personal Experience
with Spritual Formation
People who know me well can certainly attest to the
“success” (and I use that term loosely) I have achieved in my own spiritual
formation in the areas of freedom, combat and service. This isn’t to be taken as an arrogant
statement at all. Rather, it is
testimony to how far Christ has taken me, “Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:31,
NIV.) It certainly is also not to say
there isn’t more work which can be done in these areas of my life. There are still times when I am reluctant to
serve, slow to stand up for myself and probably times when I engaged in too
much freedom. The truth is we are never
going to be perfect no matter how we decide to measure spiritual
formation. One of the things I am most
passionate about is breaking free from the legalism and bondage that so many
Christians have been taught and in turn try and “teach” (i.e. enforce) on
others. Paul writes in Galatians, “It is
for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let
yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1, NIV.)
Often people ask me if
I am happy with my job or does my job provide me meaningfulness. Sadly the answer to that question is usually
“No.” I am not a super competitive
person when it comes to jobs, job status and income levels. I am paid well but am certainly not wealthy
by any stretch of the imagination. The
“what” of my job doesn’t change lives for the better, I am not trying to cure
cancer or end world poverty. Basically I
am helping rich corporations save even more money every day. Not exactly something to get excited
about. However, where I do find meaning
is in serving God and ministering to others.
I love running a Connect Group, being part of our church’s “People Team”
and teaching the Bible at my church when given the chance. Doing those things bring me great honor and
humbles me at the same time. Nothing
makes me feel better and gives my life meaningfulness than those things. Whether it was the way I was raised, God’s
influence on my life or both; I have always been a firm believer of being a
team player and doing the job you have been assigned. Keller writes, “Honor is given to those who
fill their assigned role in the community, whether it be as citizen, father,
mother, teacher or ruler” (Keller, 2009, pg. 78.) I couldn’t agree more. I don’t want awards or accolades; I want to
serve and serve well.
If there is on one area that is my Achilles’ heel it
would be intimacy with God. This is not
to say I spend no time alone with God or that I never read my bible. I just know I don’t do those things enough. As I have gained more responsibilities in
life it has become hard to carve out time to spend alone with God on a
consistent basis. Yet if I am honest
with myself it is really a lack of discipline in my life in this area. While I might be better than others at it and
worse than many it is a constant area I am trying to improve upon. Everyone says how you should wake up in the
morning to spend time with God. These
same people go on to say how it will change your life for the better. I don’t disagree that spending time with God
and growing in a more intimate relationship will do that. I just disagree about the timing. Mornings are rough for me. I don’t like doing anything in the morning as
I retain very little of anything that happens in the morning. I generally need a full hour of being awake
before I feel I am running on mostly full cylinders. Thus the idea of being up 2 or more hours
before I need to be doesn’t really sound interesting to me. This makes it more difficult of course to
find time to spend with God because once your day starts it is amazing how
quickly it can get away from you. While
I realize most of these things seem like excuses (okay maybe they are) it isn’t
like I haven’t tried to get up in the mornings for prayer and reading my bible. The truth is when reading the bible I retain
almost nothing in the morning and I usually feel so tired for the first 30 – 40
minutes when I am awake it is hard to pray about anything with effectiveness.
I am sure most Christians could always spend more time
with God (even if the amount they spend is sufficient) but the truth is I really could and should. It is a constant battle in my heart and head
but one I am fully engaged in. As Teddy
Roosevelt stated, “Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious
triumphs, even though checkered by failure…than to rank with those poor spirits
who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that
know not victory nor defeat.” I might
get knocked down on occasion in this area but I will continue to rise to my
feet and engage in the battle once again.
One of the keys to any area of spiritual formation is the fortitude to
never give up and to press into God.
Conclusion
When it comes to spiritual formation as believers we have
to go into the process realizing we (or rather God) has work to do. Thinking that we have arrived before we have even
departed for our journey is a recipe for disaster. However, a person pursues their own spiritual formation
isn’t nearly as import as realizing the need for change and improvement. I leave you with this last thought, “We must
make a choice. We can choose to
acknowledge our dark side, practice a life of transparency before God, and let
down our guard, knowing that he will begin his refining and empowering work in
us; or we can chose to live in denial and even masquerade before God, fueling
the ongoing development of our dark side.
The course we chose determines the nature of our…journey and the
condition in which we arrive at our final destination” (McIntosh & Rima,
2007, pgs. 169-170.)
References
Barton
H. Ruth, Strengthening the Soul of Your
Leadership, Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2008. ISBN:
978-0-8308-3513-3
Blackaby,
Henry and Richard Blackaby, Spiritual
Leadership, Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2011. ISBN: 0-8054-1845-8
Hull,
Bill, The Complete Book of Discipleship,
Colorado Spring: NavPress, 2006. ISBN: 978-1-57683-897-6
Keller,
Timothy, Counterfeit Gods, New York:
Dutton Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-525-95136-0
McIntosh
L. Gary and Rima D. Samuel, Overcoming
the Dark Side of Leadership, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007.
ISBN:978-0-8010-6835-5
McManus,
R. Erwin, The Barbarian Way,
Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2005. ISBN 0-7852-6432-9
Mulholland,
M.R., The Deeper Journey: The
Spirituality of Discovering Your True Self, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity
Press, 2006 ISBN: 978-0-8308-3277-4
Perkins,
Bill, 6 Rules Every Man Must Break, Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers,
2007. ISBN 978-1-4143-114-1
The Living Insights Study Bible, New International Version, General
Editor, Charles R. Swindoll, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996
ISBN: 0-310-91870-7
