religiousaffections

I am in the Bahamas this week with family and most of my time has been taken up with laying on the beach reading a book entitled Spiritual Formation as if the Church Mattered - Growing in Christ through Community.  Despite almost a full week away, I have only managed to make it through one chapter.  I have not fully grasped what I’ve read so far and so I cannot move on.  The Spirit is helping me along through what I’ve read in this book and in Scripture (primarily Romans), but at a slow pace.  Fitting considering nothing is done quickly in the Bahamas. 

In the forward, Dallas Willard writes,

“We have for most of the twentieth century been in period of time when, in all segments, the Christian churches have been distracted from the central task of teaching their people how to live the spiritual life in a way that brings them progressively to enjoy the character of Christ as their own.  But in the last few decades a sense of spiritual shallowness and emptiness, in individual lives as well as in church groups and activities, has led to a renewed use of the ancient language of spiritual formation… In the period we have recently come through, there has simply been no serious intention of fostering in our church activities such a process of individual transformation of members of the group.  Becoming the kind of person who routinely and easily does what Jesus told us to do has generally been considered out of reach and therefore not really necessary for what we, as Christians, are about… the practical problem is: How do we move back into the powerful form of life which won the worlds of the past and alone can meet the crying needs of our world today?  The answer to the question is that the local congregations, the places where Christians gather on a regular basis, must resume the practices of making the spiritual formation of their members into Christlikeness their primary goal, the aim which every one of its activities serves.” 

To put it another way, Willard states, “they (local church) must take as their unswerving objective to be a body of apprentices to Jesus that are devoted to learning and teaching one another how to do, through transformation of the ‘inner man’ (Eph 3:16), everything Jesus said for us to do.  That is what it means to ‘put on the Lord Jesus Christ.’  Remember, the churches have always been at their best when they had the least but were simply obedient to Christ.”

I am not deep into the thick content of this book yet, but it appears that Wilhoit has offered a stern answer to the vast problem in evangelicalism - churches (especially mega-churches) that are miles wide in numbers, but inches deep spiritually.

All humans are formed spiritually - either in a positive or negative direction.  This formation may involve the cultivation of virtues that promote trust in God and foster social compassion or may leave persons wary, self-protective, and unable to promote the welfare of society.  Wilhoit suggests a starting place for moving back to spiritual formation as priority - developing a better understanding of the gospel.  Many Christians were nurtured in programs that tended to see discipleship, and spiritual formation as things that happened after the gospel was preached and believed.  In this view the gospel contained both the indictment of our sin and the announcement of hope through the cross - a message the unbeliever certainly needed to hear.  Here the gospel is seen as the foundation of the spiritual house, but what is dangerous is when we think the gospel is merely the door by which we enter Christianity, something we leave behind as we grow spiritually. 

Wilhoit says, “The gospel is the power of God for the beginning, middle, and end of salvation.  It is not merely what we need to proclaim to unbelievers; the gospel also needs to permeate our entire Christian experience.” 

Paul on Preaching the Gospel:

“To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ … For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son, is m witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you.  For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you… hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome” (Rom 1:7-15).

Who do we usually think about preaching the gospel to?

•       Non-Chrisians

Who is Paul writing to?

•       Roman Christians: “To all God’s beloved in Rome”

Who is Paul eager to preach the gospel to?

•       He wants to preach the gospel to the Christians in Rome: “hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome” (1:15).

What is surprising about this?

•       We tend to think that the gospel is just non-Christians.

Why do Christians need to hear the gospel?

•       Over time we simply tend to wander from the truth.  As God said to his people through Jeremiah, “You love to wander far from me and do not follow in my paths” (Jer 14:10).
•       All of us have idols at hand, which we use as substitutes for the cross to gain divine favor.  The problem of the Galatians is a problem all of us face: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel” (Gal 1:6).

Why does Paul want to preach to Christians?

•       He wants to encourage them and strengthen them spiritually (Rom 1:11-12).

What is the gospel?

•       The power of God for salvation (Rom 1:16).  It may well be said that, in Paul’s view, Jesus Christ is the gospel.  The gospel contains the power to become a Christian and is the source of grace/power needed to live the Christian life.

Salvation describes the complete process of redemption (from turning to Christ through our sanctification and eventual glorification).  The gospel contains the power to become a Christian and is the source of grace needed to live the Christian life.  Paul shows us that we do not simply learn the gospel when we are converted and then move on from there.  For Paul, the gospel continually works in us as we understand more and more of its truth and respond to it.  The gospel is at work as we seek to live out its teaching on speaking the truth, turning away from lust, diminishing racially biased judgment, and focusing assessment on character and competence.  The gospel calls us to discipleship and contains the power to enable us to follow Christ. 

So, what does it mean to understand more and more of gospel truth?  What does it look like to respond to it?  There is a lot to unpack here - think about it.  I am beginning to see ways that I can use gospel truth to fight temptation.  I want to write more on the application of all that is written above, but the Spirit is only beginning to show me how this works out in my own life.  So, I will wait and look forward to hear any thoughts you guys have. 

*All of the above was quoted/adapted (but mostly quoted) from the book named at the beginning of this entry.