Saturday Ramblings 9.25.10

Saturday? It’s Saturday already? Didn’t we just have a Saturday last week? Well what are we waiting for? Are you ready to ramble? And have you ever seen a paragraph where every sentence ends in a question mark?

The Apostle Paul preached all night on one occasion, putting Eutychus to sleep. When he woke up, he was three floors below on the ground, and had just been brought back from the dead by Paul. From this we can gather that Paul may not have been the most dynamic of speakers, and did not have the best grasp on how much his audience could handle. Steven Furtick, pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, put both aspects to the test this week as he preached for 24 hours straight as a way of celebrating the release of his first book. We believe Furtick preached from the first floor of his building.

Pope Benedict XVI concluded his trip to Great Britain with a call to Christians in England to find new ways to proclaim the Gospel. “In the course of my visit, it has become clear to me how deep a thirst there is among the British people for the Good News of Jesus Christ,” said the Pope. Can the same be said of those in the United States?

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Spiritual Formation: A Bit of Counsel

By Chaplain Mike

Come to me, all of you who are weary and over-burdened, and I will give you rest! Put on my yoke and learn from me. For I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

• Matthew 11:28-30, Phillips

We’ve been talking about the subject of Spiritual Formation. It’s clear to me that people are interested in the topic, and I love a good discussion as much as anyone, but at some point we have to starting acting on all this, don’t we? There comes a time to “put on the yoke” of Christ and begin learning of him.

Given the nature and modus operandi of most of evangelicalism, it is likely that many of us don’t know where to start.

So, today. . . a few words of counsel.Continue reading “Spiritual Formation: A Bit of Counsel”

Christianity’s Forgotten Man

Allow me to relate two recent incidents as a way of introduction to this book review. The first was on a recent Sunday morning in a church associated with a popular Christian movement (they do not want to be called a “denomination”) located in the midwest. The man who preached is a well-known missionary, a man who has been on the side of Christ for more than 40 years. His message that morning was taken from Luke 15, the story we know as the Prodigal Son. The missionary made it through his sermon without once mentioning the name of Jesus. Not one time. Oh, and the message he shared from this parable was that there are three levels of maturity we all must pass through in order to be of useful service to God.

The second incident was also recent, also in the midwest as I was visiting family. A woman asked me if I knew of any DVD series that used New Testament characters to teach positive character traits. Another woman, a teacher in a Christian school, needed it for her middle school classes. I said, “No, I don’t know of any.” Then I continued, “And that would be the wrong use of Scripture.”

“What do you mean?”

“Scripture is given to us for one reason only,” I said. “And that is to reveal Jesus to us. If you want to teach positive character traits, try a book like Mickey Mantle’s The Quality Of Courage. That’s much better to use to teach that kind of thing.”

As you can tell, I am not always a hit at family gatherings.

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Difficult Scriptures – John 3:1-5

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:1-5 NKJV).

Dear Internet Monks, I’m embarrassed to tell you this is a difficult Scripture for me. You might say, “What’s wrong with Lisa Dye? She’s making this entirely too difficult.” At the risk of exposing my ignorance, I’ve pondered the above passage from time-to-time over the years and found it … well, difficult.

Some folks wonder if this points to salvation and baptism of the Holy Spirit being two distinct experiences. My questions are more along the lines of, “Is there a distinction between seeing and entering the kingdom of God?” If so, “Is seeing the kingdom of God a lesser and different experience than entering the kingdom of God? Is being born again (the act that allows us to see the kingdom of God) the foundation for being born of the water and the Spirit (the act that allows us to enter the kingdom of God)?”

Continue reading “Difficult Scriptures – John 3:1-5”

Spiritual Formation: Clarifications

By Chaplain Mike

For many Protestants, discussion of the “spiritual disciplines” raises a number of questions. In particular, we have questions about the relationship between God’s grace and human actions in the process of spiritual formation.

Today, I’d like to make a few things clear.

1. When we talk about growing through practicing spiritual disciplines, we are not discussing doing anything that affects our acceptance with God. It is those who receive Jesus, who believe in his name, that God gives the power to become his children (John 1:12). We are saved by grace through faith, and this salvation does not arise from our works, but is pure gift from God. We have nothing to boast about — it is Christ’s work that saves us, not ours. No amount of praying, fasting, attending services, studying the Bible, almsgiving, or performing any other act of piety can win God’s favor or gain us release from our sins. “By his doing you are in Christ Jesus” (1Cor 1:30).

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Spiritual Formation: How It Happens

By Chaplain Mike

We intend what is right, but we avoid the life that would make it reality.

• Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, p. 6

Let’s say I’m in a room with three adults, all seated at pianos. I want to find out their ability to play the instrument. I ask them all to play “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” The first has trouble. The keyboard is unfamiliar. She stumbles around and finally finds a few notes that resemble the simple tune. The second and third pick out the notes right away.

Then I ask them to play a four-part hymn from a hymnal. I hand each the same book. Once again, the first struggles, stopping with each chord and passing note to look at her hands, then back up at the music. She finally gives up. The second plays the notes as written. The third also plays the tune, but enhances the hymn with additional chords and rhythmic patterns.

Finally, I turn to these three friends and say, “OK, for your final challenge, I would like to hear you play Bach’s “Goldberg Variations.” The first laughs. She barely knows who Bach is, and has never heard of this particular piece. The second has heard of it, but has no idea how to play it. The third pauses, sets her hands on the keyboard, and begins playing the opening aria.

All three of these friends have a relationship with the piano. One is an obvious beginner, still trying to grasp the basics. The second is a competent pianist. She can read music and play from a book. The third is much farther advanced. There is no hesitation about picking out simple tunes. Not only can she read and play from a score, she has the ability to improvise and explore a song’s possibilities. And she has obviously studied and mastered classic pieces of the repertoire. In fact, she can play complex works on the spot, upon request! They all “know” the piano. Only one has the capacity to make music at any given moment, solely from the resources that lie within her.Continue reading “Spiritual Formation: How It Happens”

Spiritual Formation: What Is It?

Spiritual Formation.

First of all, I don’t like the term. It is too “spiritual” for me. We’re talking about personal formation, about becoming a more gracious, loving, virtuous human being; the person God created me to be. It is not about developing some part of me that is “spiritual,” it’s about me becoming more mature. It is not about developing some part of life or some special version called the “Christian” life. No, it takes place in the midst of life, ordinary everyday human life.

Second, I appreciate the term. Correctly understood, it reminds me of a few important concepts. (1) It is “formation” — a process of organic development. “Growth” is another good word in this regard. At its core, it is not about something manufactured or constructed, it’s about life, evoking images of human or agricultural development. (2) It is “spiritual” in the sense that it happens because the Spirit of God vivifies and indwells his children, enabling and energizing our development into the family likeness. Perhaps “Spirit-led formation” says it more clearly.

Of course, here at Internet Monk, we want to emphasize, thirdly, that this formation is “Jesus-shaped.” Michael Spencer would say that it is designed to help us live lives “that Jesus would recognize as being like him, about him, and formed around him, not religion.” Growth happens through walking with Jesus, living with Jesus, eating and drinking with Jesus, watching Jesus work, listening to Jesus teach, asking questions of Jesus, fulfilling the callings Jesus assigns us, and living the life with God that Jesus showed us and makes possible for us.

Continue reading “Spiritual Formation: What Is It?”

Spiritual Formation: A Place to Begin

By Chaplain Mike

A.W. Tozer once wrote, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” This is the Bible’s perspective, as well.

  • “In the beginning, God…”
  • “You shall have no other gods before me (the one true and living God)”
  • “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”
  • You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth.
  • “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

This is the most fundamental aspect of “being transformed by the renewing of our minds” (Rom 12:2) that is key to the process of spiritual formation. Such formation involves learning to see and live our life’s story within the story told by the one true and living God. That is why coming to know who God is and what God is like is so important!

That is why I will begin our iMonk emphasis on spiritual formation by recommending a classic book on the subject.Continue reading “Spiritual Formation: A Place to Begin”

Short-Term Loss, Long-Term Gain

By Chaplain Mike

Today’s post will consist first of some exegetical work, breaking down this difficult passage—Luke 16:1-13— so that we can grasp its meaning. This will be followed by a brief meditation to drive home the gospel message of Jesus. I encourage you to read the passage carefully, work through the study, and then prayerfully contemplate today’s meditation.

Understanding this Passage
To grasp this parable, which some have called the most difficult to understand of Jesus’ stories, we must first make clear the organization of the passage. Of particular interest to the reader is figuring out where the parable ends and how the sayings after the parable relate to Jesus’ story. In my view, this is how the passage flows:

  1. The parable (16:1-8a)
  2. The lesson of the parable (16:8b-9)
  3. Additional saying 1 (16:10-12)
  4. Additional saying 2 (16:13)

So, the text consists of (1) a story, (2) a lesson from the story, (3) and two extra, complementary sayings that have been attached to the passage in order to make additional applications about discipleship.Continue reading “Short-Term Loss, Long-Term Gain”