4 - Spiritual Formation
Spiritual Formation • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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How to Read the Bible
I want to build a case for why reading the bible is so important and then deal with How to read the Bible.
Recap -
Philippians 2:12–13“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”
These Spiritual Disciplines are not an end. The point is not adding a bunch of external practices for the sake of themselves. But rather they are a means of grace to the end - loving and knowing God and being changed into His likeness.
If we fail to see this and fail to remember that these are simply responses to the grace of God, we can fall into the trap of thinking that they have value in themselves and then we quantify our spirituality according to the set of external practices rather than God’s internal work of grace in transforming us.
Grace, have I done enough? By what standard? For what reason? For status? For attention?
- The poor don't have these questions, this is from the privileged. They are only thinking about where to eat and sleep tonight.
- It's a modern idea of status and constructing an identity.
- Friend there is no boasting
- Jesus died the shameful death and raised highest, and shares that with you.
- it's a gift, you are already in possession of the highest status and privilege in existence because he shared his with you. Its a gift. And from this gift he is using his hands to form us and make us like himself. It’s his work not ours. The spiritual disciplines are simply changing the dumb things and useless things I do in my life for profitable things that God uses to transform me. It's because of my identity I live from that. It's a gift!
- the question is not have I done enough but rather, has he?
Law says do, Grace says done
Law emphasizes what we do, Grace emphasizes what God does
Law lives for self, Grace lives Christ
Law draws on our own resources, Grace draws from God’s resources
Law deals with external rules, regulations, and standards, Grace deals with the heart
Law deals with what we have to do, Grace changes our wants and we want to
Law declares - do in order to be. Grace says you are, therefore do.
He does this work in us because of who you are - not a self-made identity but a given one.
Philippians 4:9 “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
What we practice forms our habits which forms what we love
I want to cultivate habits in my life that moves me to love God more.
To live out what God is working in - to be Christlike in our daily life (responding to situations etc.) we need His practices, we need his habits and we will see the fruits of that in our life.
1 Timothy 4:7–10“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. This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.”
God has saved us and has shared His divine character with us. He is making us like Himself.
What we have discussed in previous messages:
We have discussed the practice of silence and solitude - Being still and knowing that He is God. Probably the most difficult of all the disciplines for our modern age of business and control.
And we discussed last time the practice of the presence of God - transformation only occurs in God’s presence and an awareness of Him, thinking of him often.
The Practice I want to share with you today is what the church Fathers called Lectio Divina or “Divine Reading”
This is paramount to our growth.
Luke 10:26 ““What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?””
This deals with “HOW” we read Scripture.
We want an accurate and true vision of God, we say it every week, know God better.
“Aslan,” said Lucy, “you’re bigger.” “That is because you are older, little one.” answered he. “Not because you are?” “I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”
The more we grow spiritually, the bigger God gets to us.
Small thoughts about God = small life and impact.
Peter said in 2 Peter 1:2–3 “Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” , we grow in grace according to our growth in knowing God. Who God is.
He is a person, God is a person. Wants, desires, likes, dislikes, plans
He is perfect, powerful, self-existent, infinite, eternal, unchanging Creator of all things. he alone is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. He is holy, just, truth, love, goodness, faithful.
The revelation of who god is - is found in Scripture.
2 Timothy 3:14–17 “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Divine reading is a profound answer to How to read the bible and grow in Knowing God
The goal of divine reading (in contrast to an academic type reading) is not simply a bible study or attempt to gain information but is radically different in that it sees Scripture as a meeting place for a personal encounter with the Living God.
It is about formation rather than only instruction. We are reading to be changed, to be transformed, to be recreated, reshaped ever more fully into the image of Jesus Christ our Lord, the Word incarnate who was sent by the father to redeem us and recreate us.
It is the fusion of my story and Christ’s story. It is the forming of my mind and heart in agreement with Christ, we encounter Him and it moves us into the way of Christ then our actions will be a vehicle of grace to others.
Life in the Spirit: Spiritual Formation in Theological Perspective Chapter 8: Reading Christ into the Heart: The Theological Foundations of Lectio Divina (Christopher A. Hall)
Ignatius of Antioch loved to emphasize that we are all image-bearers. Yet to employ a common phrase, we are “already but not yet.” We still “live between the times,” and the spiritual discipline of lectio divina is particularly concerned with the incompleteness, the imperfection, the “not yetness” of our present condition; we are created in and bear the image of God, but our image bearing is now cracked, skewed, distorted. The discipline of lectio divina works within us to straighten us out, to heal the spiritual genes that have mutated; indeed, it is a form of gene therapy.
Lectio Divina contains 4 concepts
Lectio - Reading Slow (outloud)
It is much less about quantity of reading and more about quality.
When lectio divina was employed in ancient times, people did not read as we do now: silently and mentally. The text was read aloud and, therefore, heard. “One reads, in the ancient sense of that word, with one’s mouth and one’s ears.”
Reading in antiquity rested on the sense that the text was primarily proclaimed and heard rather than seen.
As you read the text slowly and out loud, what word for phrase jumps out at you? What captures your attention?
Meditatio - Meditation / Imagination
Isaiah 31:4 “This is what the Lord says to me: “As a lion growls, a great lion over its prey— and though a whole band of shepherds is called together against it, it is not frightened by their shouts or disturbed by their clamor— so the Lord Almighty will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights.”
Jesus, the Word, the bread of life. A dog with a bone
“Meditation is the prayerful employ of imagination in order to become friends with the text.” It moves us from simply looking at the words of the text to entering the world of the text.
Meditation is asking questions, pondering, repeating, exploring, examining the text you are befriending.
Perhaps we access material such as a commentary, dictionary, or encyclopedia that will help us understand the cultural and historical context. However, this only sets the table, mediation is enjoying the meal.
Meditating the text allows images to be formed in your imagination that are guided and built from the text itself.
Your soul becomes the canvas the Word is written on. Our minds are being aligned with His mind. We are becoming like Him.
Blessed is the one whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.
Oratio
As we have given attention to what God has done in Christ, He is now calling forth a response from us.
Lectio [divina] has been described as a prayer that begins as a ‘dialogue’ and ends as a ‘duet’. Thus what begins as God addressing us and our responding leads eventually to an experience of union.” Oratio is the place where dialogue begins to become a duet; where a response to the Word begins to lead to union with God.
This is the place where the whole process of lectio divina where we are aligned with the purposes and character of God.
It’s where we speak to God on our feelings and insights, giving them the God.
It’s where I respond with repentance and pray, seeking his power and wisdom for daily living. It is a time of thanksgiving and awe and adoration
Contemplatio
Enjoying God, enjoying his refreshment and sustenance by living the text. The text being incarnated in our own lives.
The sense of communion with God, an abiding state - it is to abide with the Lord in His presence.
Contemplatio, then, is to rest with and be with God with an enhanced sense of his presence. It is a state of awareness of God facilitated by the combined effects of having given attention to lectio, meditatio and oratio.
Casey writes: “It can be said that the ultimate goal of lectio divina is contemplation. And according to the ancient way of viewing reality, the final aim of any project must stamp itself in each of the preliminary steps if any progress is to be made.” It is this stage of lectio divina, possibly more than any other stage, which depends most upon the gifts and grace of God. “Contemplation can never be seen as the outcome of a process. It remains a gift from God that is not automatically associated with particular human acts.”
This is a time of listening, giving Him in his presence your loving attention.
Here we learn to rest in the Lord.
Psalm 37:7 “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.”
Psalm 40:1 “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.”
Psalm 130:5 “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.”