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Invitation to a Journey - insights from a book on spiritual formation
One of the books I read and reviewed for my last Masters subject was "Invitation to a Journey: a road map for spiritual formation" by M. Robert Mulholland Jr. I found it a thought provoking and helpful book and so I thought over the next few weeks I would provide some extracts and summaries of key points:
"I do not know what your perception of Christian discipleship might be, but much contemporary Christian spirituality tends to view the spiritual life as a static possession rather than a dynamic ever-developing growth towards wholeness in the image of Christ. When spirituality is viewed as a static possession, the way to spiritual wholeness is seen as the acquisition of information and techniques that enable us to gain possession of the desired state of spirituality. Discipleship is perceived as "my" spiritual life and tends to be defined by actions that ensure its possession. The the endless quest for techniques, methods, programs by which we hope to "achieve" spiritual fulfillment. The hidden premise behind all of this is the unquestioned assumption that we alone are in control of our spirituality. In brief, we assume we are in control of our relationship with God." (p12)
His proposed definition of Christian spiritual formation is:
"Spiritual formation is a process of being conformed to the image of Christ for the sake of others". All elements of this definition are significant.
Next time we will look at the first two elements of this definition - process, and being conformed. In the mean time you might like to pray this prayer:
"Gracious and loving God, you know the deep inner patterns of my life that keep me from being totally yours. You know the misformed structures of my being that hold me in bondage to something less than your high purpose for my life. You also know my reluctance to let you have your way with me in these areas. Hear the deeper cry of my heart for wholeness and by your grace enable me to be open to your transforming presence. Lord have mercy." (p19)
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David Wanstall, 11/02/2009 |
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| | Bingo (Guest) | 14/02/2009 13:09 | | I wonder how much, if any, of this stuff is from God as opposed to man.
Man doesn't through a process of patterning oneself on the life of Jesus become like Him. Sure we can try but God doesn't respect man's attempts at righteousness. There is nothing scriptural to spiritual formation or disciplines.
I may not agree with many points he has on other subjects but this man is spot on on this subject.
http://cicministry.org/commentary/issue91.htm
I think Christianity is so simple. He draws those He has called to Himself. We enter a relationship with Him. Reread that last sentence.
He changes us into His likeness. We don't. Navel gazing and reflecting on life doesn't change us. He does.
| | | David Wanstall | 26/02/2009 13:04 | | In light of Christ's work and through God's grace there are things for us to do:
take up our cross (Matt 10:38)
Offer the parts of our body to him as instruments of righteousness (Rom 6:13)
Put to death and get rid of anger lust etc. (Col 3:5-10)
Clothe our selves with compassion, kindness etc (Col 3:12-14)
Whatever is pure, right, lovely etc think about these things (Phil 4:8)
Prepare your minds for action (1 Pet 1:13)
Make every effort to add faith, goodness, knowledge, self control, perseverance, godliness, bortherly kindness, and love (2 Pet 1:5-7)
None of these things earn us right standing with God - that is only by grace, but they are wise and necessary things to do.
This list hasn't included all the references to God's work, the gift of faith, not by works etc. which are true and right and necessary if we are to even to be able to begin to follow the above list.
| | | David Wanstall | 26/02/2009 15:56 | | regarding DeWaay's criticism of Willard's 'Spirit of the disciplines' I think he has misread much of the book and would encourage people to read it for themselves (I have a couple of copies). He continually conflates all of church history with the deserved criticism of the Medieval Roman Catholic Church. the original monastics were a protestant movement that arose do the laxity of the church in the 3rd century - nothing to do with medieval times.
Regarding the claim that the disciplines are not biblical in origin I offer the following:
solitude (Matt 6:6 - when you pray go into the closet and close the door)
silence (Ps 4:4 - be silent)
fasting (matt 6:16 when you fast)
frugality (1 Tim 6:8 if we have food and clothing we will be content with that)
chastity (Eph 5:3 - not even a hint of sexual immorality, 1 Cor 7:5 there is even place for brief periods of chastity within marriage for the sake of prayer)
secrecy (matt 6:3 do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing)
sacrifice (John 15:12-13 love - lay down life for a friend)
study (Col 3:16 - let the word of Christ dwell in you richly)
worship (Rom 12:1 offer your bodies as living sacrifices - act of worship)
celebration
service
prayer (1 Thes 5:17 pray continually)
fellowship (Heb 10:25 let us not give up meeting together)
confession (james 5:16 confess your sins to one another)
submission (Eph 5:21 - submit to one another)
| | | Bingo (Guest) | 07/03/2009 19:52 | | Yes there are things for us to do. Correct. But we can NOT do them in ourselves. There are all manner of commandments that number in the thousands.
God gave Adam and Eve one. Failure.
God gave the Israelites 10. Failure. They said: “we will obey”
God gave them many more commandments. Failure.
Jesus came. New commandments. Failure.
Apostles via the Holy Spirit. Further commandments. Failure.
Message: We cannot do what the law says. Please note the commandments of the new Testament you list are law if you fall into the trap of trying to obey them.
Why is it we keep trying to do this that or the next thing….? No I am not advocating sin, but trying to fulfill the word is fruitless.
When we enter into a real relationship with Him (ie talk, walk, live… and this is two way) fulfillment of the law is automatic as He lives through us and all the burdens of us trying to please Him fall off. He came to fulfill the Law and not just the law of the outward man (old Testament) but also the inward man (new Testament). If you are in a relationship you talk (prayer) and He talks back! You spend time together-in solitude and silence and sometimes not. He may tell you to fast: then you do it. Not just because you think you should or because church says its 40 hour famine week! You get the picture. We make ourselves available. He performs.
If we try our hand at fulfilling the law we become as Pharisees. White washed tombs. A catholic priest can out-pray any of us… but is it flesh or of the Spirit? A Buddhist monk may fast more and abstain from this that or the next thing more. He is no closer to God. There are plenty of unsaved theologians. They study the scripture all day long, without the Spirit.
Flesh begets flesh. Spirit spirit. Yes, even in the act of trying to become more “Christ-like”. All positive commands of the Lord are centered on spirit (just the same as all negative one speak against acts of the flesh) as the flesh is powerless to obey and God hates our attempts at righteousness. He hates fake. He likes real. The commands are only fulfilled when it begins and ends in Him- He says it and He does it (Spirit-spirit not Spirit-flesh). The Greatest Commandment is to Love the Lord with All our heart soul mind and strength. We haven’t a hope without Him making it so within us.
Where does it say in scripture that by practicing “disciplines” we become more like Christ? Why are these disciplines as opposed to many other directives?
Silence? What about the command to shout to the Lord? Psalm 32:11
And Jesus cried with a loud voice…? Eg John 7:28 Noise is no more a discipline than silence.
Fasting? What about the many scriptures related to feasts? Why is not feasting a discipline? Jesus hung out with sinner and was critisized by the Pharisees for eating and drinking
Frugality? Being content with what you have is a message of contentment not frugality. What about the many scriptures related to blessing and prosperity eg Psalm 1:3? Are they a message of frivolity?
Prayer? Pray continually or is it as Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 5:2 ..”Let your words be few?
etc etc. You can go through the whole list no problemo
For everything there is a season. We are instructed to follow God. When He leads us into the wilderness we go. If He asks us to fast we fast. We are to lead a Spirit directed life in relationship with Him. He can, and will have us fulfil the word. Us emulating what we think He wants is a recipe for disaster. We become like Pharisees thinking we know what to do and so doing but are not where God would have us be. Again there is nothing scriptural to suggest we become more like Him by performing “disciplines”.
Lets allow Him to perform His work (Philippians 1:6) in us and stop trying to do it in our own efforts (Romans 7:18)
| | | David Wanstall | 18/03/2009 10:43 | | You make some great observations about other practices like feasting, shouting etc. We should also be encouraged to do them as well. It is not that one cancels the other out, or that you should do one and not the other. It is like dieting and working out at the gym. Both are good. Both these physcial disciplines/practices/training activities are things you can do that indirectly help you do things you can't do just by trying - lose weight, get stronger muscles. I can't just run a marathon by trying but if I go through a process of training, my body is changed so that it becomes capable of running a marathon.
In the same way I can't 'do the right thing' by my own effort but by placing myself before God through spiritual practices/disciplines/training activities, I find my life (which I can't change by direct effort) being transformed by God and His grace so I now find myself doing those things.
Christlikeness through spiritual exercise is commanded in 1 Tim 4:7 where Paul says 'train yourself to be godly'.
Paul also encourages his disciples to imitate him and his way of life (1 Cor 4:16-17, 1 Cor 11:1, 2 Thes 3:7-9). We know from the NT that his way of life included times of prayer, fasting, solitude, self-sacrifice, simplicity etc.
Now a person could do all the things paul did in an outward way, and that would be legalism and ineffective. But rightly understood and approached with an attitude of trust and reliance on God, Spiritual disciplines/practices are activities we do to enable us to receive more of Jesus' life and power. Spiritual practices are a way of us connecting so that Christ can do the perfecting.
Most Christians know about prayer and bible study as wise practices - they don't earn us any merit before God but help us connect with Him. Highlighting additional biblical practices can greatly enrich our walk with God. It is a bit like two people who have a relationship but all they do is talk on the phone and write letters to each other. A friend comes along and says to them - have you tried having a meal together, or going for a hike through the park or going together to work at the soup kitchen. They do some of them and find their relationship greatly enriched.
Do we all need to do the same practices - no. A person with weak leg muscles will have a different training program to a person with weak arm muscles. As you have noted, it is the same in the spiritual life and we need to be open to God's leading about what is appropriate for us at a particular time.
When you first go to a gym, the instructor shows you around all the different equipment, shows you how to use it, and gets you to try it out. Then with him you work out a specific program for you (that will probably change over time).
In a church it is also helpful to show people different biblical spiritual exercises, explain how they work and encourage them to try them out. They will then be in a better position to engage with the excercises that are wise and helpful for them at a particular time, that will help them connect to God and receive His life into theirs so they will become more like Christ.
| | | Charlie (formally Bingo) (Guest) | 31/03/2009 22:17 | | D: You make some great observations about other practices like feasting, shouting etc. We should also be encouraged to do them as well. It is not that one cancels the other out, or that you should do one and not the other. It is like dieting and working out at the gym. Both are good. Both these physcial disciplines/practices/training activities are things you can do that indirectly help you do things you can't do just by trying - lose weight, get stronger muscles.
Wrong. Very wrong. My observations aren’t intended to give a greater list of “exercises”. My point is there are many contradicting commands. They are opposites. Its like a gym instructor telling you to eat drink and be merry and to fast. Which is it? Well a gym instructor doesn’t just leave it up to the novice to decide. He will direct the novice.
D: I can't just run a marathon by trying but if I go through a process of training, my body is changed so that it becomes capable of running a marathon.
Pretending a spiritual walk and physical training are synonymous is faulty. You can never train yourself to be like Christ. Only the Spirit living through us can do that.
D:In the same way I can't 'do the right thing' by my own effort but by placing myself before God through spiritual practices/disciplines/training activities, I find my life (which I can't change by direct effort) being transformed by God and His grace so I now find myself doing those things.
Again wrong. You don’t put yourself in front of God performing exercises. You simply come to Him. He’s not interested in any attempts at becoming righteous. You can’t change yourself.
D: Christlikeness through spiritual exercise is commanded in 1 Tim 4:7 where Paul says 'train yourself to be godly'.
Yes. Does he say which exercises to perform? Simply rattling off things that have a form of godliness like fasting, silence solitude etc (things many naturally don’t like) aren’t going to make you more righteous or godly. He (God) makes us more like him. As I said in my last post we cannot fulfill any commandment. They are Spirit given and only the Spirit can perform it in us. Just as Jesus fasted- He was lead into the wilderness by the Spirit. He didn’t think to Himself “lets perform an exercise”. He fasted 40 days. Not physically possible. The Spirit quickened Him. What He did was poles apart from a spiritual exercise.
Again to prove my point we cannot fulfill the commandments... You seem to have the rather strange stance we can. Raising the dead, healing the sick etc are also commandments no man can do. What about “be ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” We can no more do these things than train ourselves to be Godly.
If Jesus did everything by the Spirit how on earth can we do anything apart from Him. We certainly won’t become like Him by “lifestyle” manouvers.
D: Paul also encourages his disciples to imitate him and his way of life (1 Cor 4:16-17, 1 Cor 11:1, 2 Thes 3:7-9). We know from the NT that his way of life included times of prayer, fasting, solitude, self-sacrifice, simplicity etc.
No. Paul never said to imitate his way of life. That is something that Willard and Wanstall have said. Willard quote: “My central claim is that we CAN become like Christ by doing one thing - by following him in the overall style of life he chose for himself.” That is a lie out of the pit of Hell with not one drop of scriptural support. It smells like Eastern religion :“lets model ourselves on the guru”. Why is Paul not referring to following him in terms of the fruits of Spirit and his characteristics?
D: Now a person could do all the things paul did in an outward way, and that would be legalism and ineffective. But rightly understood and approached with an attitude of trust and reliance on God, Spiritual disciplines/practices are activities we do to enable us to receive more of Jesus' life and power.
Really? How do you “rightly” understand spiritual disciplines when they aren’t listed in the word as spiritual disciplines? You can do any of the things you list as a discipline but unless the Spirit breathes life into it is dead. Unless the Lord direct you it is lifeless.
Scriptural reference stating we need to perform a discipline to connect to God???
D: Spiritual practices are a way of us connecting so that Christ can do the perfecting.
Your statement implies we do something and He perfects what we have done. Wrong. He calls, He equips and He perfects. We are to be obedient to His leading not some silly rules made by men.
D: Most Christians know about prayer and bible study as wise practices - they don't earn us any merit before God but help us connect with Him. Highlighting additional biblical practices can greatly enrich our walk with God. It is a bit like two people who have a relationship but all they do is talk on the phone and write letters to each other. A friend comes along and says to them - have you tried having a meal together, or going for a hike through the park or going together to work at the soup kitchen. They do some of them and find their relationship greatly enriched.
Perhaps your example has merit. But only in the context of someone with zero social skills who needs leading in something that is fundamental. Secondly God does the leading we are expected to follow. God may not be in the soup kitchen for us. A “friend”, no matter how well meaning, could be directing us up the garden path. “For as many as are led by God, they are the sons of God”. If God directs us to the meal or whatever, we go. It isn’t an “exercise”. It is meant to be a love relationship.
D: Do we all need to do the same practices - no. A person with weak leg muscles will have a different training program to a person with weak arm muscles. As you have noted, it is the same in the spiritual life and we need to be open to God's leading about what is appropriate for us at a particular time.
Yes including if He says don’t do spiritual “exercises”.
Agreed. Let Him lead. I am not sure why you keep trying to turn things into a work though. On one hand you say it isn’t legalism but discipline by definition is a discipline/work. If it is done out of I have to do this because it is a commandment it is work Anything we do apart from God’s direction is a “work”.
The Lord hates mans efforts and ‘righteousness’.
D: In a church it is also helpful to show people different biblical spiritual exercises, explain how they work and encourage them to try them out.
Nonsense. The only thing they should be encouraged to do is walk with God in a relationship. HE is more than capable of directing them from there. Otherwise they will be so busy doing stuff they miss Him.
D: They will then be in a better position to engage with the excercises that are wise and helpful for them at a particular time, that will help them connect to God and receive His life into theirs so they will become more like Christ.
No. People don’t know what’s helpful to them at a given time. Our hearts and minds are deceptive. The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked : who can know it? God knows it.
Again, in case you missed my fundamental points:
1. We are called to a relationship (real 2 way dialogue and communica
| | | (Guest) | 06/04/2009 01:39 | | Message got truncated:
Again, in case you missed my fundamental points:
1. We are called to a relationship (real 2 way dialogue and communication)
2.We follow His prompting and leadings not what we we or Mr Willard (or his disciples) thinks is a good idea. Especially not some pharisee list of “exercises”
3. We cannot become more like Christ through exercises. Only the Spirit can do that in us. If Jesus was lead and spake by the Spirit, how much more should we?
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