Growing to Be Like Jesus

Many today are simply no longer content with either "spiritual goose bumps" [in other words, a religion or spirituality with just emotional euphoria or ecstasy] or a cerebral, intellectual, or logical religion [in other words, a religion or spirituality with just the mind, that is divorced from daily life and living].  People are looking for and expecting a faith, a spirituality, a religion that will thoroughly and completely transform their lives - something real, authentic, alive, and practical.

What is Spiritual Formation?

Spiritual Formation, another way of saying discipleship, breathes new life into religious experience by reconnecting theology to practice.  We need right orthodoxy (right beliefs and doctrines) as well as right orthopraxy (right practice and living), and this includes both the mind and the heart.

When Paul said to the Galatians, "I am in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you" (4:19) he was speaking of Spiritual Formation.  When he told the Romans, "Those whom (God) foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son" (8:29) he was speaking of Spiritual Formation.  When he reminded the Corinthians that "All of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image" (2 Cor. 3:18) he was speaking of Spiritual Formation. 

So what is Spiritual Formation?  Spiritual Formation is the continuing process of life and experience through which we are progressively formed, conformed, and transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.

Christian Spiritual Formation is intentional formation.  We purposefully seek formation of a particular kind which will lead us in a particular direction.  The particular kind of formation is the "imitation of Christ."  The particular direction this leads to is Christian virtue, Christlike character, Christlikeness.  In the fifteenth century Thomas a Kempis wrote in The Imitation of Christ, "we must imitate [Christ's] life and his ways if we are to be truly enlightened and set free from the darkness of our hearts.  Let it be the most important thing we do, then, to reflect on the life of Jesus Christ...Anyone who wishes to understand Christ's words and to savor them fully should strive to become like him in every way."

We are not a church that believes, teaches, and practices consumer-Christianity-without-discipleship.  Christian Spiritual Formation is really hammered out in the harsh realities of ordinary life - ear infections, broken arms, late buses and trains and tubes, unreasonable bosses, stock market slumps, irrational neighbors, difficult spouses, challenging children, losses in life, etc.

As we move forward in Spiritual Formation, it is important that we remember these three areas.

Focusing on Jesus

First, we must focus on Jesus.  This is not formation in general, but formation into Christlikeness.  Everything hangs on Jesus.  He gives skeleton, sinews, and muscles to our formation.  We find definition, shape, and form for our formation in Jesus.  Jesus is our Savior to redeem us, our Bishop to shepherd us, our Teacher to instruct us, our Lord to rule us, and our Friend to come alongside us.  We are constantly learning to live our life as Jesus would live our life if he were we. 

Focusing on Scripture

Second, we must focus on Scripture.  God, in sovereign grace and outrageous love, has given us a written revelation of His own being and nature and of His purposes for humanity.  But the intrinsic power and greatness of the Bible does not make it easy for us to receive the life it offers.  In fact, we can often use the Bible in ways that stifle the spiritual life and even destroy the soul. 

Sometimes we study the Bible for information alone in order to prove that we are right and others are wrong in particular doctrines, beliefs, or practices. At other times we study the Bible to find some formula to solve the pressing need of the moment. But both approaches to the Bible leave the soul untouched.

No, we need to study the Bible with a view to the transformation of our whole person and of our whole life into Christlikeness. We come to the Bible to receive the life "with God" that is portrayed in the Bible. To do this we must not control what comes out of the Bible. We must be prepared to have our dearest and most fundamental assumptions about ourselves and our associations called into question. We must read humbly and in a constant attitude of repentance. Only in this way can we gain a thorough and practical grasp of the spiritual riches that God has made available to all humanity in His written Word.

Focusing on Spiritual Disciplines

Finally, we must focus on Spiritual Disciplines.  The life we find in the Bible is meant for us. Jesus' declaration, "I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" is intended for you and for me (John 10:10). It is a life of unhurried peace and power. It is solid. It is simple. It is serene. It is radiant. But, it is not automatic.

There is a process, a God-ordained means, to becoming the kind of persons and the kind of communities that can fully and joyfully enter into such abundant living. This is the reason for the Disciplines of the spiritual life. They constitute the way God has given us for intentionally "...training ourselves in godliness" (1 Tim. 4:7).  (TMB):  "...Exercise daily in God--no spiritual flabbiness, please."  (NLT):  "...Spend your time and energy in training yourself for spiritual fitness."  This is why the Spiritual Disciplines are the third essential focus of Spiritual Formation.

Frankly, no Spiritual Disciplines, no Spiritual Formation. The Disciplines are the God-ordained means by which each of us is enabled to bring the little, individualized power pack we all possess-we call it the human body-and place it before God as "a living sacrifice" (Rom. 12:1). It is the way we go about training in the spiritual life. By means of this process we become, through time and experience, the kind of person who lives naturally and freely in "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Gal. 5:22-23) as well as other things the Bible talks about.

What are these Spiritual Disciplines I am speaking of? Oh, they are many and varied: fasting and prayer, study and service, submission and solitude, confession and worship, meditation and silence, simplicity, sacrifice, celebration, and the like. The commonly identified public religious activities are important to be sure, but the less commonly practiced activities like solitude and silence and meditation and fasting and submission to the will of others as appropriate are in fact more foundational for Spiritual Formation. All Disciplines should be thoughtfully and decisively approached for the purpose of forming the life into Christlikeness, or they will have little or no effect.

It is vitally important for us to see all this spiritual training in the context of the work and action of God's grace. As the great Apostle reminds us, "It is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13).

You see, we are not just saved by grace, we also live by grace. And we pray by grace and fast by grace and study by grace and serve by grace and worship by grace.

The training of the Spiritual Disciplines must always be seen in the context of an intimate, personal walk with Jesus Himself. We are not looking for some exhaustive list of the Disciplines so that we can cross every "t" and dot every "i". Nor are we looking for any "formula for blessedness". No, this is a dynamic, interactive life "with God". In practicing the Spiritual Disciplines we are simply learning to fall in love with Jesus over and over and over again.

Spiritual Formation, discipleship, Christlikeness...all for the sake of the world!  The inward journey of Spiritual Transformation will help us to embody, demonstrate, and share the gospel of the good news of Jesus and His Kingdom (rule and reign) to the world.