Monthly Archives: April 2009

the transformation cycle, part 3

Posted by chriswilliamsde on 2009/04/21

Growth

Paul wisely noted that it was “God who made it grow” (1 Corinthians 3:6).  While we are responsible to hoist the sails by engaging in training activities, only God can direct the wind of his Spirit blow through our lives in ways that actually generate growth.  God is the one causes growth.

As we put ourselves in places where growth is likely to occur, we have to trust that over time God will show up in those places to help us grow.  This is the formula for spiritual growth—faithfully doing our part + trusting God to do his part = life transformation.  

Galatians 5 speaks about this very issue.  In verses 13 through 18, Paul spells out the choice that every person has—you can either live life the way you want to live it (according to the sinful nature) or you can live it the way God wants you live it (walking by the Spirit).  

In verses 19 through 21 he articulates the results of a life lived according to the sinful nature:  “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”  

Compare the results of a life lived for self with the a life lived in step with the Holy Spirit.  Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”  When the Spirit of God is at work in a human life the outcome is completely different.  A life that is lived in step with the Holy Spirit is a changed life, one that is being “transformed into his likeness.”   

So the big question is, “How can see the fruit of the Spirit in our lives?”  We have to CONSECRATE ourselves fully to God. Galatians 5:24 tells us that: “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”  Then we need to “keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24).  We do that by TRAINING for godliness—putting ourselves in a place to encounter the Spirit.  And when we do that God’s Spirit will interact with our lives and he will produce his fruit in us.

swimming pool or river?

Posted by chriswilliamsde on 2009/04/20

Some people say that Christianity is simply a crutch for people who need help dealing with the reality of life.  Yet, I believe one can argue that it takes a real man or woman to be a Christian because it takes courage to swim against the current.

So I have been thinking…Maybe the reason Christians are accused of using their faith as a crutch is that a lot of Christians don’t swim against the current. In fact, a lot of Christians aren’t even in the river of our culture. Instead they prefer to create safe swimming pools where they can swim with people who believe, think, talk, and act like they do. So when the world looks at Christians maybe they see people who aren’t strong enough to enter the mess of our culture without losing their faith or compromising their beliefs. They see people who retreat to their Christian sub-culture where they hide out until Jesus comes back.

The Christian machine has created all kinds of these swimming pools. We have Christian bookstores. Christian coffee houses. Christian schools. Christian colleges. Christian radio. Christian television. Christian apparel. We even have Christian amusement parks (Check out The Holy Land Experience). And sadly some of our Christian churches are simply places where Christians go to hang out with each other instead of being a community centers that exist primarily for the people outside of the organization.

Why do we have all of these Christian things? There are, no doubt, some good reasons for why these things exist. But in having all of these things, are we withdrawing from the culture that needs the very thing we have discovered? Are we creating our own sub-culture so we can enjoy swimming in the safe, clean, chlorinated water of the pool?

How does this mesh with Jesus words about being in the world, but not of the world? I don’t think Jesus intended for his followers to create a religion or a sub-culture. I think Jesus called people to join a movement that would intersect with every part of culture and change it. And the change Jesus had in mind was not that everyone would wear a Christian t-shirt to the next pro sporting event they went to. Jesus wants to see people changed at the core of who they are so they become more like Jesus in character and behavior.

This means that we cannot keep swimming in the sanitized little pools of our Christian sub-culture. We need to get back into the muddy, murky river of our culture. In this river we will encounter people who are broken, hurting, addicted, hungry, and troubled. We will engage individuals who do not believe like we do or talk like we do or think like we do. We will come across athiests, agnostics, new agers, muslims, buddhists, hindus, and many others. We will befriend people who are different – different beliefs, different worldviews, different sexual orientations, different lifestyles. But swimming in this river does not change who we are or who we are following. Swimming in this river simply allows to connect with people where they are. Only when we have truly connected with people will we have the opportunity to start a conversation with people who far from God. And in the course of those conversations, some people will connect with Jesus and be changed. And when people are changed heaven rejoices!

Jesus said that we are the “salt of the earth.” Take it from someone who absolutely loves french fries and popcorn…salt doesn’t do any good unless it touches the food it was intended to season. In the same way, Christians don’t make any difference for Christ unless and until they start rubbing shoulders with the people Christ came to seek and save. And the bottom line is that you’ll never rub shoulders with those people if you keep swimming in the pool. You have to go down to the river and dive in.

the transformation cycle, part 2

Posted by chriswilliamsde on 2009/04/20

Training

1 Timothy 4:7-8 says, “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.  For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”  Notice the direction Paul gives to his young protégé, Timothy.  Train yourself for godliness.  He doesn’t say, “Try to be godly.”

There is a huge difference between training and trying.  John Ortberg points this out in his fabulous resource on spiritual disciplines, The Life You’ve Always Wanted.  He talks about the difference between going out and trying to run a marathon versus the idea of training to run one.  If you are serious about running a marathon, you will have to dedicate yourself to a life of training.  Training isn’t the marathon, but it prepares and equips you to be able to run on race day.

In the same way, Christ-followers will need to enter into a life of training to become godly.  The training itself isn’t godliness; it is what you to do put yourself in a place to become godly.

I have been around the church a long time, my whole life to be exact.  And I have noticed that church people have a tendency to substitute training for the actual game.  They read their Bibles, spend time in regular prayer, and attend church faithfully.  The really serious ones give 10% of their income and even fast occasionally.  These activities are noble and worthy pursuits when they are focused on the right end.  The problem comes when you think that because you do these things, you are godly.  Godliness has more to do with how much of the Bible you are living out in daily life, then it does with how much of the Bible you read today.  It has more to do with how in tune you are with God’s voice and direction, then it does with how long you prayed this morning.  Being godly is not so much about attending church as it is truly worshiping God while you are there.  And, of course, none of these things matter if they are not moving us toward the ultimate goal of loving God and loving others more and more each day.

So what does it mean for us to train for godliness and how do we go about doing that?  Training for godliness consists of the activities and practices we engage in to put ourselves in a place where God’s Spirit can interact with our lives and help us grow.  It is like sailing.  I am not a sailor, but I know enough to understand that you need two major ingredients to make sailing work: a hoisted sail and a blowing wind. 

The sailor is responsible to hoist the sail.  And it doesn’t matter how hard the wind is blowing, if the sail is not hoisted, the boat moves very little.  This correlates to the spiritual journey, in that, the wind of God’s Spirit could be blowing all around us.  But if we are not hoisting the sails of our lives we will not move forward.  We hoist the sails in our lives by engaging in training activities that put us in a place to interact with the wind of God’s Spirit.  

These training activities have historically been known as the disciplines of the faith and include things such as Scripture, prayer, meditation, silence, solitude, fasting, confession, and worship.  (Check out the following resources for more information on spiritual disciplines: The Life You’ve Always Wanted, Celebration of Discipline, The Spirit of the Disciplines, and Running on Empty).  

When you faithfully engage in these training activities you are putting yourself in a place where you are most likely to connect with God.  It is in those places that the wind of God’s Spirit can blow through your life bringing change and growth.

In the next post in this series we will consider how growth actually happens in our lives.  Until then, stop trying to be godly and enter into a life of training!