The Formation Field: Our Inner Life
Formation in Philippians • Sermon • Submitted
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· 20 viewsAt the center of our lives is the divine mystery of the Triune God who desires to shape us into the likeness of Christ. The spiritual formation God desires to bring about touches every part of our personhood. In this sermon series on Philippians, we will look at the various spheres of our personhood and discuss God’s transformative design and desire for our lives.
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Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, please be our companion in the way. Kindle our hearts, and awaken hope, that we may know you as you are revealed in Scripture and in the breaking of the bread. Amen.
Formation in Philippians
Formation in Philippians
Dr. Adrian van Kaam and Formative Spirituality
Formation field: Spheres of Formation (Foundations)
Read Philippians through the lens of spheres of formation
The Life of Dr. Adrian Van Kaam
The Life of Dr. Adrian Van Kaam
Roman Catholic Priest
Hague, Netherlands
April 1920 - November 2007
Operation Market Garden Failed
Dutch Hunger Winter (1944-45)
September 1944
Dutch train workers went on strike to hinder Nazi troop transportation
Nazis punished the Netherlands by cutting off their food supply
Operation Manna
Operation Chowhound
4.5M Affected
20,000 Died
Key Observation
The Quest for the More Than was unquenchable.
It prevailed in the most oppressive circumstances
Physical debilitation
Emotional upheaval
(Understanding Our Story, 2)
Spiritual formation question: What is the role of human suffering?
Model of Formative Spirituality born out of human crisis
Formative Spirituality Model
Formative Spirituality Model
Deeply Trinitarian
Starting Place and Center: The Mystery
Unique-Communal Life-Call
Form Donation and Reception
Genesis Story: Life is a process of being formed, deformed, reformed, and transformed (41)
Formation Events
Foundational Structure: The Formation Field
The Formation Field
The Formation Field
The Formation Field
Intra-sphere (Our Inner Life)
Inter-sphere (Our Relational Life)
Situational-sphere (Immediate Circumstances)
Wider-world-sphere (Global Influence)
Divine Mystery - Triune God (Center)
Always in relation and always truly cares (12)
Trinitarian Nature of the Formation Field
Trinitarian Nature of the Formation Field
Perichoresis is used in the context of the Holy Trinity to denote an interpenetration of the persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each person remains distinct from the others, but participates fully in their Being and action as one.
Athanasius (296-373 AD)
Exiled 7 times for proclaiming Christ’s divinity
Listed the 27 books he thought should be in the NT; it’s the 27 books we use today
“I am in the Father and the Father is in me”
John 14:11
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
John 17:21
that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
Dynamic not Static
Weaving: uses movement to create “thickness” and cohesion
“God’s mission utilizes movement: within the Trinity, into creation and humanity, and ultimately through the back-and-forth movement of pieces being woven together into a thicker whole...” (Okesson, A Public Missiology, 71) .
“Hence, the public realm of the twenty-first century is not a monolithic entity but more a spirited dance as free-flowing domains clasp hands, clutch one another in mad embrace, push apart, and spin across the ballroom, constantly seeking out new partners” (Okesson, A Public Missiology, 51).
Relationship and connectedness, not the oneness of eastern thought.
Persuasive because this view of reality corresponds to the very Being of God in His Triune nature.
Philippians 3:1-16 and the Intra-sphere
Philippians 3:1-16 and the Intra-sphere
Phroneō
10 times in Philippians (26 in NT)
Thinking, feeling, acting (Dispositions)
Three Essential Pairs of Spiritual Dispositions
Sensibility and Responsibility
Sensibility - Openness (Phil. 3.10)
Responsibility - Response (Phil. 3.12)
Firmness and Gentleness
“Firmness without gentleness deteriorates into severity; gentleness without firmness becomes debilitating weakness” (van Kaam, Formation of the Human Heart)
Firmness - Phil. 3.12
Gentleness - Phil. 3.15
Privacy and Communion
Privacy - Internal Retreat (Phil. 3.4-8)
Communion - Deep Friendship (Phil 3:15)
call of God in Christ Jesus
The Pace of Grace
The Pace of Grace
Famine paired with a lack of fuel for warmth
Self-talk leaves us cold and starving
Reflection Questions
Reflection Questions
How is your inner self-talk shaping you? Is it a source of formation or deformation?
How does God want to change your inner dialogue?