“My prayer for you is that you would have a rich life of joy and power, abundant in supernatural results, with a constant, clear vision of never-ending life in God’s world before you, and of the everlasting significance of your work day by day, a radiant life and death.”
Mt 5: I am the salt of the earth
’Son of Man’ means ‘I am what human beings are supposed to be'
[exegetically I don’t agree, but there may be something in it]
Ps 8: what is man that You are mindful of him?
until quite recently, the primary dominion people had was over animals, especially to extend ability
now it’s computers, airplanes, etc.
1 Pet 5: Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you, casting all your cares on Him, because He cares for you.
Let Us make man in Our image … and let them have dominion
Heb 2: signs, wonders, gifts of the HS: enablement to be the light of the world
Mt 25: Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world
Creation is 14 or 20 billion years old
Rev 22.5: They shall reign forever and ever
1 Jn 3: Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God, and that is what we are
If you understand your calling and the dignity of your life in God, you won’t want to do what X wouldn’t do.
[We sin when we lose sight of who we are in God. For one thing, we think we don’t matter, so if we sin, that doesn’t really matter, either.]
Phil 3: their god is their belly
they worship their feelings
we expect a Savior from heaven … He will transform the body of our humiliation
it is the body that allows you not to recognize who you are, keeps you from seeing things as they are
Col 3
since our lives are hidden with X in God, it is possible to ask ‘what is man, that You are mindful of Him’
John has to tell us we are children of God. it’s not obvious now.
2. Leadership as Love of God and Neighbor Part 2
Liberation theology is strange b/c the first thing we need to be liberated from is our own desires
[though, of course, that’s not what they think]
they believe desires are holy and should be fulfilled
Mk 6: after Jesus walks on water (after feeding 5000), their lack of understanding is explained as ‘for they did not understand about the loaves’
unless we believe God has power over nature we will have to fight our own battles
the spiritual side of leadership and spirituality is knowing in practice how to access the spiritual side of God to fulfill your role
we must grow to the point where we can exercise God’s power and that’s why character is more fundamental than power in leadership
if we had power like Jesus, our character would not bear up under it
the leaders in the Bible: their power outruns their character
3. Spirit & Spirituality
How to read a book
synoptic reading: what is the book about? what’s the thesis? sometimes the best place to begin is at the end and read from back to front.
authority is always regarded as bad in the US
even the family is regarded as voluntary
there’s no authority unless i agree to it
so pastors have basically no authority
the only way for pastors to get authority is to take it by being successful in the eyes of the congregation. and that success often has little to do with spiritual life
Ps 62.11: Power belongs to God
Jesus was walking a very fine line before Pilate. If He has said much more than He did, Pilate would not have crucified Him. His aim was to get to the cross. ’the power you have comes from God.’
physicists don’t know what energy is
all energy is directly or indirectly the action of God
upholding all things by the word of His power
In Him all things hang together
Jn 5.26: The Father gave to the Son to have life in Himself
Ex 3.14: I am that I am
Luther’s right about the bondage of the will, but we do have a little power of self determination. we can turn to God and connect to His K and then our lives expand w/o any limit
astronomers study the expansion of the universe. wait until they find our about the universe of the soul and its expansion
God has in mind the creation of a universe as good as He is. since He’s infinite, that expansion won’t be completed; it will just get bigger and bigger
What is man that You are mindful of Him?
And they will reign forever
That’s what we are made for, but only in God
Spirit is the source of everything
the arrangements that God has made are natural laws. in the realm of the spirit, they are the laws of the K
Ps 104: nature and our place in it
The Trinity is the center of the universe, a sweet society, ultimate reality
Out of the Silent Planet
became aware of another and more spiritual cause
nightmare long engendered in modern mind by mythology that follows in the wake of science was falling off of him
space seemed a libel, the heavens is a better name. they declare the glory of God
we are not our brain. we inhabit our bodies as God inhabits space, you occupy it but are no localizable
[however, isn’t it true that we are more affected by what happens to our bodies than God is by what happens to space?]
you cannot join leadership to spirituality unless you can accept the fact that you have to be vulnerable by extending grace
[and not just sharing about yourself from a public position and then avoiding people one on one
presence is everything in the extending of grace (presence of Steve Jobs example)]
How do you hold people responsible under grace?
‘Dying’: seeing God’s full world for the first time
‘total depravity’: the way many people use it: there’s nothing you can do to be saved
I think that is one of the most harmful teachings you could give
saying there’s nothing you can do to earn salvation is different
grace is not opposed to effort or action, it’s opposed to earning
earning is an attitude, effort is different
is such a belief really owed to Calvin? read Calvin, not the Calvinists
read Luther
there are real issues of activity and passivity not only in salvation but in sanctification
there is nothing in us by which we can deal with guilt or sin
I reject the separation (isolation) of salvation and sanctification
our danger today is that we will preach a gospel that has no connection with discipleship at all b/c it omits regeneration
if you take sin seriously, you won’t be a Pelagian
justification does not come w/o regeneration despite explicit teaching to the contrary
4. The Gospel of the Kingdom
to see the results of Jesus we have to preach what He preached in the way that He preached it
the Gospel is not just for the down and out, but for the up and in, who need to hear it more
The prayers on the walls of the old Coventry Cathedral:
Hallowed be thy name in industry. God be in my hands and in my making.
Hallowed be thy name in arts. God be in my senses and in my creating.
Hallowed be thy name at home. God be in my heart and in my loving.
Hallowed be thy name in commerce. God be in my desk and in my trading.
Hallowed be thy name in suffering. God be in my pain and in my enduring.
Hallowed be thy name in Government. God be in my plans and in my deciding.
Hallowed be thy name in education. God be in my mind and in my growing.
Hallowed by thy name in recreation. God be in my limbs and in my leisure.
the kind of thinking in this prayer can abolish separation between sacred and secular, clergy and laity
three instruments of knowing are body, mind and imagination
one reason arts are so important
our body is potential energy, which is the nature of matter (E=mc2)
energy for action, even in defiance of God
you have to be able to defy God to develop character
our bodies individuate us and fix us in a particular time and place where we have the opportunity to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world
eg, we will forever be the children of our parents
one reason we need to be able to honor our parents, to accept and be grateful for who we are
we have to work past any resentment we have for who we are and how we’ve been treated
our culture has full time composers of why we should be angry at God and hate ourselves
the root of mental illness is self-rejection and then rejection of God’s purposes for you
we must be able to say ‘thank You for my body, family, time’
Miniver Cheevy
Miniver Cheevy, child of scorn,
Grew lean while he assailed the seasons;
He wept that he was ever born,
And he had reasons.
Miniver loved the days of old
When swords were bright and steeds were prancing;
The vision of a warrior bold
Would set him dancing.
Miniver sighed for what was not,
And dreamed, and rested from his labors;
He dreamed of Thebes and Camelot,
And Priam's neighbors.
Miniver mourned the ripe renown
That made so many a name so fragrant;
He mourned Romance, now on the town,
And Art, a vagrant.
Miniver loved the Medici,
Albeit he had never seen one;
He would have sinned incessantly
Could he have been one.
Miniver cursed the commonplace
And eyed a khaki suit with loathing;
He missed the mediaeval grace
Of iron clothing.
Miniver scorned the gold he sought,
But sore annoyed was he without it;
Miniver thought, and thought, and thought,
And thought about it.
Miniver Cheevy, born too late,
Scratched his head and kept on thinking;
Miniver coughed, and called it fate,
And kept on drinking.
as flesh, my body carries the natural abilities than enable it to act without God, to have that choice
if you woke up every morning and looked directly into the throne room of heaven, it would change your life.
[so how do we do that?! how can we?]
unfortunately, what the body is usually able to do without thinking is wrong
we’ve been trained the wrong way
Peter’s body was ready to deny X w/o thinking
most of our communication comes from body language
and then many things come out of our mouths without thought, too
much of the body’s purpose is to do things automatically, to have stuff outsourced to it from the mind
given what’s in there, when it comes to things like transparency, we’re apt to think ‘I can’t let that out’
normal human life is dread, deficiency, depravation and then death
dread is anticipation of evil
we must learn to turn our lives over to God’s K, to say ‘the battle is not ours’
a lot of our troubles comes from leaders who are trying to pretend they’re not deficient when they are
sexuality: you don’t deal with it by thinking thoughts [esp. at the moment of crisis]. you have to proactively change your body by training. social relations, what you look at, what you don’t look at, what you think when you look
issues of sexuality are never just sexual. they include issues of status and power [and all the identity issues above in this talk].
people do not sin sexually b/c of sexual desire alone. they feel things like ‘I have been deprived. God owes this to me.’
to deal with sexuality you have to get that kind of stuff out. can require ministry, disciplines, professional help
if you walk around with that feeling ‘I have been deprived. God has not done well by me.’, then you’re just a pigeon waiting to be shot.
onlookers think the sexual sin is stupid in itself, but it’s because of the underlying reasons
the positive side: the heart that Jesus gives us
Mt 5.20: unless your righteousness exceeds…
I haven’t done anything wrong
the Pharisee wants to be righteous [has to be], but his path can’t deliver it, so he’s going to fake it and that’s hypocrisy
instead of aiming at not doing the wrong thing, you aim at becoming the kind of person who will naturally (that is, routinely, b/c there will be supernatural involvement) do the right thing
[I don’t always agree with Dallas on this stuff, but I can seek Your guidance if I really want to know more about what you think about it. And I’m confident Dallas has sought you. Part of the problem with Biblical studies today is it can be satisfactorily pursued from a professional standpoint, including ‘publish or perish’ without seeking You. :-( ]
Jesus is teaching progressively. if you pull anger and contempt out of sexual relationships, you will have defused 80% of the problems
[one text for class: The Ascent of a Leader: How Ordinary Relationships Develop Extraordinary Character and Influence]
5. The Self
no matter where you are, you are in a perfectly safe place if you are in the KoG
the point is, we’re not going to die, so we don’t have to be afraid of that
don’t you know that if you ‘die', God will keep you?
Jesus is the master teacher of the human race
‘Vampire Xians’ don’t see the goodness of having all of Jesus/the K now. They need the vision.
‘already … not yet’ is problematic b/c people default to the ‘not yet’
better to talk about present rule and future rule
[the only reason the K is not present now is that God holds off so more of us can choose Him]
if you preach the Gospel of the KoG and put this into force, you’re going to see all the promises of God that are set forth gloriously in the Scriptures in your life
[Lord, I want to see those things. Let it be done to me according to Your Word.]
The vision comes from the preaching of the Gospel of the KoG and the manifestation in the lives of those who preach it. And above all, from JX Himself, and that’s why He has to be the main thing that occupies our mind.
[Including constant immersion in the Gospels, including memorization]
What would be in a course on turning the other cheek?
look candidly at the alternative
begin to try to mine assumptions behind, if you hit/curse me, I should hit/curse you
you will probably conclude that there ought to be a better way
think through why it’s good to turn other cheek in context of Gospel and K
who’s going to take care of me?
the deep meaning of the Cross in human experience is that it liberates you from having to meet your needs
practice by role play. it is essential
turning the other cheek means to remain vulnerable
now go out this week, and when people give you a bad time, remain vulnerable, including close enough to them that they can hurt you again
they know what to do if you hit them back, but not what to do if you don’t
[my worry is that they’ll get away with it, that justice will not be served
Vengeance is mine, I will repay, sayeth the Lord.]
you have to have faith in God
One common outcome is that people take advantage of you
that’s one thing as a leader, but another if it going to hurt the whole enterprise
you have to believe that under God a context of openness and honesty will restrain people from taking advantage of grace [taking it for granted, abusing it]
you have to allow them space to abuse it until they find out that is bad and change their ways
there’s a false view of Xian charity that says you don’t resist anything, you don’t have anything to say
that’s not humility. you have to take your examples of humility from people like Moses (said to be the meekest man on earth) and Jesus
and you have to come to believe that the ways of Jesus are not simply ways of letting people do what they want
'If you love me, you will let me do what I want’
Not necessarily. And if you’ll do it anyway, I’m not going to cooperate with you and I’m not going to keep it a secret
Total openness about people who will abuse grace in the group
You might have to tell the group what the person did, while reaffirming love and acceptance for that person. [And Dallas is talking about telling the group in front of that person.] Might result in shame for the person in that context.
Leaders allow themselves to be isolated by people, thinking we need to keep things secret
When someone starts to do something like that, immediately involve others (just like with cases of child, spouse or elder abuse)
[He doesn’t mention Mt 18, but it’s all over this]
3 main components to being light of the world: truth, love and power
Men rejected the light b/c their deeds are evil
Pastors get stuck in situations where individuals are beating the tar out them. They need to let it be know. And vice versa.
Rejecting isolation opens up the power to cope with people who want to abuse grace.
You are empowered by your position in the KoG to use the power of God to correct them
You have to have the faith to use it
If you’re walking in truth and love, any use you make of the power of God will be safe and God will honor it
If you don’t move, nothing happens
The guidance system takes over when the rocket leaves the pad — John Wimber
Take up you bed and walk. Stretch out your hand.
Give general pattern for teaching SotM in TDC in ch 9
Train people to live w/o contempt
Teach what contempt is and what it does
What is its opposite
Teach how it arises, how it expresses itself
Eg, dirty language is always an expression of contempt. Contempt is soul poison.
Send people into real life to try and to observe what happens
Usually it will be a record of failures
What went wrong?
Cannot form intentions w/o proper vision
Think about and teach about possibility and desirability
Lead people to decide
One example: teaching children how to share
[Back to already … not yet]
The KoG is here now
Then add why it’s not as here as it eventually will be
[God is waiting so more can choose to seek Him]
When Jesus taught that the KoG is at hand, He was not teaching that it’s about to happen
It has now become available. That’s the clear reading of the Gospels
It’s true that there’s a lot of stuff here now besides the KoG
The K is here, but it’s not here alone
The biggest threat to the KoG practically for me is my kingdom
I did not say you can do this w/o the HS
One of the things we learn is that these changes and capacities come as gifts of the HS
But we have to step forward into them, we have to act, we have to do something
6. Spiritual Transformation & Disciplines
When we put our faith in X the battle that was between us and God breaks out in ourselves
God will not do everything for us
one of our greatest problems is passivity, the idea that the HS is going to do everything for us
Jericho was the first and last Canaanite city where the walls fell down
process was people learning how to be responsible in the power of God
but if you don’t act, there will be no power
problem of spiritual growth is well advised action
you are creative will and God is forming you in that and His action in your life is not going to override that
[human formation stuff from RotH]
in spiritual transformation, we’re mostly trying to change the soul through the instrumentality of the body
we can think of the soul as being like the computer that runs our whole self
we can reprogram it to also change body and social relations
Paul says I do the things I don’t want to do, ‘sin in my members’
sin is in our body and social context
sometimes there are thoughts and feelings that need ministry/inner healing
disciplines and preaching are not the answer to everything
The soul is under the protection of God until it’s broken
abuse as a child can open the door to demonic oppression
one of the temptations of leaders is to spend their whole life trying to prove that they are not worthless
[Dallas is working on correcting passivity and over-emphasis on the work of the Spirit]
therefore, our need is to understand our part
learn from Jesus how to teach
don’t just tell people stuff
you have to meet people where they are and get them moving
if you prick their balloon and hear some of the air leaving it, they will remember what you said without notes
Jesus doesn’t teach systematically
most of the time you have to identify the general assumption He is letting the air out of
our problem today is passivity before the HS
people think if you get baptized in the HS your character will be transformed. I’ve never seen it happen
spiritual change does not come from more information. it comes from insight that leads to practice/action
the action of the HS is indispensable
spiritual growth takes place in the ordinary events of life/tribulations
the test of a leader is fundamentally a test of her family (including extended)
if you don’t lead with integrity there, you’re going to be hindered elsewhere
trials/tribulations are the opportunities for us to really grow
when you look at the teaching of Jesus and think ‘I can’t do that’, you’re right. you can’t do it if you stay like you are, but if you’re willing to change, you can do that. and the HS will help you, the whole environment will help you, angels will help you, and God Almighty will applaud and bless you, and you’ll be able to do it and you’ll say ‘Why did I think this was hard?’ and you’ll look at all the people who are cursing those who curse them and you’ll say ‘that’s hard. look at their lives.’
if you think loving your enemies is hard, look at those who hate their enemies
am I planning to become like X?
[what is my plan?]
if I plan, do you think God will let me down, do you God will say ‘Willard wants to be like X, but I’m not going to help him’?
He’s waiting for me. He’s looking for people who will worship in Spirit and in truth
[The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth…]
How can we not plan to do it?
[Answer: We don’t have the vision. We don’t expect it to work. And our halting efforts don’t succeed, which reinforces our expectations.]
most churches are trying to survive within parameters that they consider acceptable
Follow Me: Experience the Loving Leadership of Jesus (Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ), by Jan Hettinga
7. Spiritual Disciplines Part 1
character is what you do without thinking
repentance is realizing what we really do and not thinking our sins are anomalous
until we admit we’re the kind of person that does our sins, change is impossible
we don’t focus on doing the right action
the scribes and the Pharisees try to keep in the bad behaviors and only let out what is good
the problem is not the action, it’s what’s inside
we practice disciplines and grow in ordinary life
some people feel this is bad news, that we can’t get away from God
but we have to move from feeling that to it being good news that God is with us all the time and cares about us and what we do
[I want people to know I’m clever. What if I wanted them to know God loves them? But some deep things in me will have to be changed]
James was Jesus’ little brother and when you read James you can hear Jesus speaking
[but surely not from familiarity before his ministry. more like James felt bad for not having believed and took J’s words to heart after His death]
8. Spiritual Disciplines Part 2
p364-369 (TDC): Curriculum for Xlikeness
two aims are to enrapture the heart with God and to break the power of sin
when you do this, you will find things move very fast
dealing with these kinds of issues are not lifelong problems
[may it indeed be so!]
if you have lifelong problems, you haven’t dealt with the problem
if you deal with the problem in detail, and in the light of the Gospel, in dependence on the HS, things move very quickly
you will suddenly begin to realize how stupid your former behavior is
sin is slop
but your body has its own way of ‘thinking’
[the mind will rationalize in service of the body]
we can drive as a spiritual discipline
driving give us power and power shows corruption
[further, for me, i’m in a car where those people aren’t going to hear what I say about them. (it’s a little pathetic)]
if we go to church and participate in the service, our life will go better, but it’s not nearly enough
once you get the vision, you can correct the method/means thereby
disciplines as means of grace
one of the great problems in our culture is that people think they know about Jesus and don’t know anything about Him
disciplines are experimental and there will be lots of ‘failure’
the first lesson in skiing is how to fall
the point is to learn. don’t try to be heroic. accept ‘failures’ as part of the process. then focus learning there. or adjust the method
Jesus will go with you into your disciplines and you want to be sure to take Him with you. He will talk with you
the spirit of the disciplines is the love of Jesus
He will be with you and He will teach you
[look to Him more. listen to Him more. (though not anxiously)]
how do you practice the disciplines?
you decide to live as Jesus’ student. you begin to obey His teachings and observe why you fail
do, in reliance on the Spirit, what will remove the causes of the failure. these will be disciplines
for many of us, our first response will be ‘I don’t have time for more required activities'
the primary act of faith in undertaking spiritual disciplines is the faith that God does not give you more than you can do
‘they also serve who only stand and wait’ — Milton
you have time to practice the disciplines you need to practice
solitude and silence
start with an afternoon
'No pain, no gain.’ I’ve seen lots of gain with no pain and lots of pain with no gain.
solitude cures loneliness
9. Spiritual Disciplines Part 3
frugality
abstain from sensual indulgence, ostentation. car, furniture, house
there’s nothing virtuous about it in itself, or any of the virtues. they are wisdom, not virtue
Jesus was not a poor man. He had a full-time embezzler as his treasurer ;-)
there’s nothing pious about frugality
you aren’t safe in frugality unless you’re safe in celebration
chastity
actually the outcome of [sexual forbearance]
the only savior from lust is love
secrecy
seeking honor from human beings is a primary obstruction to faith
sacrifice
giving up things you actually need
shows how God is supporting you, supplying your needs
can be accepting when someone takes away what you need
Abraham and Isaac
Jesus gave up His life
There is nothing you cannot sacrifice to God
engagement
study
primarily the study of Scripture, primarily the study of the Gospels
memorization is a primary form of study
we need to memorize Scripture and especially the Gospels
there is nothing like memorization to help you see what is there, moreso than critical study
[therefore, I need to be memorizing parts of the Gospels more than I need to ‘study’ them
study other things, too: nature, history, great Xians, the hand of God in human life
The disciplines of abstinence deal with what wrongly occupies the spaces of our soul and body
There is a certain primacy, given that we start from a fallen position, with disciplines of abstinence
[Almost all of this stuff is in the books (RotH and SotD here), but there can be a difference in hearing. A person could get the content from the books alone, but it doesn’t affect us the same way. No credit to myself: my method of listening and reading and processing is pretty effective.
So go on to apply it to Jesus and not just Dallas!]
worship
Celebration
Give thanks for what God has done for us.
God has done well by me.
Dt 14
[take a little money and celebrate what You are doing in our family]
We have to count our blessings b/c we forget them
Service
Important thing is not expecting anything back, including recognition
Jesus taught service [and more] by washing His disciples’ feet. Foot washing was something that was needed then, and that’s the point. Foot washing stands for serving others.
Jesus wasn’t saying ‘If you want to be a leader, serve’. He was saying ‘Only servants are leaders’.
Serving will protect you in leadership from the temptations of power, etc.
Examples: Cincinnatus and Washington
The difficulty of practicing them can be an indication of how badly they need to be practiced
10. Sexuality, Vanity & Power
Fellowship is essential to the life of discipline.
With whom do I really have fellowship as a Xian? With whom do I share life as a Xian?
Fasting
Primary purpose of discipline is to teach us to be sweet and strong when we don’t get what we want
Training in self-denial
[Just went through a whole chapter of this in RotH]
We have to be liberated from the idea that if we don’t get what we want, something is wrong
We have to be liberated from the idea that is something bad happens to us we should ask ‘why?’
Really, the question is ‘why not?’
Bad things happen to everyone. Life is hard.
Get over it.
But North American culture is basically an altar built to the idol of gratification
It is assumed that people should get to do what they want, especially me
The Cross of X comes to liberate us from having our own way.
[This is probably what I need to focus on next, not anger. Not least since you woke me up early this morning and I have more attention for this topic.]
Don’t get hung up on having your own way. Let others have their way.
What’s going to happen to me? God will take care of you.
[Be not dismayed whate’er betide, God will take care of you…]
You don’t have to know how he’s going to do it, b/c He does.
Fasting is the most concrete way possible of addressing self-will
Difference b/t ‘disciplinary fasting’ and ‘purposive fasting’
We should have routine fasting and feasting in our lives
[But we have so much indulgence in our lives today that it’s hard to sort out the role of feasting or how it’s even different.]
Esther fasted purposively
‘to make your voice heard on high’ — Isaiah
David fasted for his child that was going to die
disciplinary fasting trains you to access God’s K
It makes the reality of God’s spiritual K directly accessible to your embodied self.
It’s a testimony to another reality.
Jesus quoted Dt 8.3.
One of the constant associations of fasting is humbling
[And, oh, how I need it. And today is a fasting day.]
Fasting is a way of acknowledging and living in your dependence on God
‘Manna which you did not know.’ ‘Manna’ means ‘what is it?’
Next verse: your clothing didn’t wear out and your foot didn’t swell
E=mc^2
God controls energy and matter. Power belongs to God.
[It is trivial for God to transform matter. To create manna out of energy, to renew clothing or keep it from wearing out.]
After you learn to fast, you are not going to be hungry or miserable. That’s why Jesus said ‘Don’t look miserable’.
You will be feasting and your body will be nourished by God. And your whole body will be caught up in the reality of the KoG in a way that makes you a much more powerful person in everything you do b/c you are working in the power of the KoG. That’s why fasting is important.
It doesn’t earn you anything or corner God. It’s a way of relating.
You have to get beyond the point where you’re thinking about fasting
Remember the things, especially when you were a child, that were hard to learn
[or having watched children try to learn to do them]
learning in early stages is always hard, so you have to have authority and discipline that will make you stay with it until it gets to be easy and enjoyable
If you don’t have something to carry you through the hard part, you’ll never get to the fun part.
[especially feast on God’s word by reviewing memory verses on fast days]
If you don’t have Vision and Intention, fasting will only make you hungry
‘Why should I suffer?’ Why not? Have you got something better to do?
As you learn to fast, you can concentrate on receiving God’s reality into your body and social self
You will note a remarkable difference b/t when you’re receiving God’s reality [including non-fasting times, I think he means] and when you’re not.
[Remember, Dallas fasted regularly for decades. He is a master of this discipline and it worked for him in spades.]
cp. John 4
'I have meat to eat that You know not of. My meat is to do the will of the Father.'
Did he really mean it? Are those just pretty words? Should we make a song out of them?
[Dallas constantly surprises us (like Jesus before him ;-) with a metaphysics that is completely different from how we approach creation and our lives.]
To be in union with the activity of the Father will nourish us
It’s not ordinary nourishment [food is], but He wants us to remember it. And then we can use it when necessary for purposive fasting and step into it with ease and understanding and concentrate on the work and not on the fast.
Understanding these things about fasting is key for most people to practice it effectively (some figure it out on their own)
The mark of the presence of God in your life is when the effects of what you do cannot be accounted for naturally
Ishmael could be accounted for in natural terms and Isaac could not (cp. Genesis and Galatians)
flesh is not always garish sin.
confession
Morning prayer: Lord, help me to be sensitive and truthful today
If I misled someone or said something that might mislead then, I went back to them and told them and asked their forgiveness
Didn’t take long before I found myself greatly strengthened to be truthful
humanity takes cover in identifying with certain overt practices (can be fasting, e.g.)
‘I’m doing the right thing and I’m right with God.’
Some women stay in bad marriages b/c they think they are supposed to deny themselves.
Self-denial is never to be used to justify what is wrong.
The disciplines correct one another, so don’t want to do just one or two. You want to have a range.
If you can’t fast, you need to be careful with celebration and vice versa
Why is homosexuality wrong? It’s hard to do b/c we live in a culture where it isn’t clear that anything is wrong.
The Bible teaches it’s wrong. Why?
Militates against the substance of human life b/c the relations cannot create kinship groups
the family is not a voluntary association
Since the whole idea of family is in trouble, this point doesn’t compel some people
there is no such thing as homosexual marriage. the movement is an attempt to negotiate something into what it is not
if you pass a law that cats are dogs, cats will still be cats
[From their standpoint, the homosexual marriage advocates define marriage as something that applies to both hetero- and homosexual relationships and then want homosexual marriage.]
people who are homosexually inclined and have practiced homosexuality are not worse sinners than other sinners
We have to admit that homosexuals have been badly treated
That doesn’t justify what is wrong. Doesn’t make it right to be a homosexual.
You have to have a very clear idea of right and wrong, which is the problem, of course
I start with ‘Is anything right or wrong? Why? Are any sexual relations right or wrong? Is anything you can consent to right?’
You have to establish a basis before you get to the issue or it’s all over [the issue will blow up the discussion with no basis for sound reasoning]
As a Xian, you still love people who are wrong and insist on being wrong
But loving does not mean approving [all behaviors]
People today try to say ‘If you don’t approve of everything I do, you don’t love me.’
[Part of the problem here is the deepness of sexual identity in our current culture, equally for heterosexuals. ‘You cannot deny my sexuality without denying me.’]
We live in a culture where the idea of self has vanished.
If there’s no self (as currently in our culture), I am identified with my actions.
Sex
nothing is more devastating than misuse
when people turn from God they turn to the body and the most exciting thing about the body (when it is separated wholly from God) is sex
people get sunk in this sensuality and will glorify it and insist on its necessity
In a world without God, sexuality is going to run rampant
Short of anger and contempt it will be the single most destructive force in human life
That’s why Jesus treats it where He does in the SotM
You can’t deal with it directly, you have to deal with it before God
The power of sexuality comes from it being dramatic. It makes people feel like they are really alive.
Some Xians feel dead, so they seek life in wrong sexuality
Why do they feel dead? Overwork, overcommitment, wrong kind of self-denial
[They are not getting life and joy from X]
Part of the attraction of homosexuality for some people is the special zing of it. Perversion comes in trying to push sexuality even further than its best normal forms.
That’s where kinkiness comes from: more drama, more power
In back of it lies a heart that is deprived of the drama of God and love
The only answer to lust is love, to see others as whole persons in God’s world and to act in what is good for them
Nothing is as dramatic as human life in the KoG, which is a life of love
Many people live celibate lives and are happy and productive
They have a dramatic system of life that enables them to be strong and happy without sex. That’s countercultural.
Our culture treats children as animals who can’t resist their sexuality and tells them they can’t and they believe it and give themselves up to it. Self-fulfilling prophecy.
We should say to them ‘You are spiritual beings. Your life is greater than your body.’ Who are you and why are you here. Move them away from mental health through sex.
Achieving mental health through sex is a dumb idea that has been foisted on people.
We are meant to have drama and love in the KoG that’s meant to produce loving, wonderful families and communities and churches and nations and a world. when it’s not, the drive for drama turns to sex or violence.
pull anger and contempt out of human life and see to what extent human life is transformed
take out fostering and harboring of desire [looking to lust] and see how life is transformed
by the time you get to ‘be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect’ [in the progression] [it sounds and is] good and right
but if you haven’t made progress on that other stuff it sounds bad and impossible
drama of life in the KoG puts you in the position of looking at sexual temptation and seeing it for what it is and recognizing that it is possible to love people enough that you will not abuse sexuality
otherwise, you’re an accident waiting to happen
how do we bridge gaps with our family where these things have probably not gone right?
probably begin with taking good counsel
be truthful and enter into communication
might have to confront denial
and then stay with it. let people realize you’re not going to hate them and you want to love them, but you’re not going to allow the deceit to go on
in most cases you need a Xian counselor to walk through it with you
you have to be relentless. not mean, but you have to insist.
gradually things can change (though they won’t always)
pray a lot, ask others to pray for you
be gently persistent. give people a chance to come to terms with the truth. then healing is possible.
you’ll find some healing for yourself even if the others don’t cooperate
the goal is the vision
disciplines come in to help us, especially after we’ve failed to attain the vision in our own strength
children can be led into these things, but you have to reach their minds
the child who has not been forced into a defensive or rebellious posture will do what she believes to be right
there is no greater drama than redemption
some leaders break down when they succeed. if that’s what you’ve been pursuing, what do you do next?
people who become addicted are pursuing a goal that has a set of feelings and drama associated with it
11. Whole Life Spirituality & The Strength of Life
Because disciplines are not righteousness (but wisdom), when we fail it’s not sin (just stupidity ;-)
Count on the Lord walking with you. He is a gentle teacher
James: If any man lack wisdom, let Him ask of God who giveth to everyone liberally
In addition to sexuality, vanity and power are real problems: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life
Leaders fail and fall basically b/c they’re disappointed and they’re not getting what they want (whether it’s legitimate or not), they don’t know how to deal with it. Like David at Ziklag. Strategy resulted in loss of families and property and they were ready to kill David.
‘David strengthened himself in the Lord.’
[Maybe with Ps 23!]
It is so essential to know how to do that. Do you have a reliable way of strengthening yourself in the Lord? Leaders fall and fail b/c they don’t and their disappointments overwhelm them. Misunderstanding. Lack of appreciation. Fundamentally churches do not know how to care for their leaders.
Art has a major role in spiritual nourishment
Access beauty. Listen to beautiful music. Love poetry and literature. Can you draw from great painting and sculpture? The function of art is to make the glorious present in matter.
‘Don’t be misled by all this crap that is sold as art.’
[That’s the strongest language I have heard Dallas use :-)]
As in art, so with spiritual reading. Go for the great stuff, master the masters.
Teresa of Avila, a Kempis, John Woolman
The great ones in your own tradition
You should have as one of your objectives never to hurry
(you can act quickly without hurrying)
Hurry is an attitude. When you find yourself acting quickly or paralyzed with a sickness in the pit of your stomach about getting done what you have to do, that’s hurry.
Aim to grow to the place where you will never hurry again
[My main weak place for this, I think, is driving.
I wonder if I could act quickly in soccer without hurrying :-)]
Then you avoid burn out, which is when you’ve been running on your own strength and you’re on fumes
Don’t just use natural strength to get your job done
Work with God. ‘Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.’
We are not intended to do the work of God in our own strength [not can we]
‘All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me … and I am with you always.’
[bookends worth remembering]
circle diagram [I don’t remember having seen, so here’s my guess]
your ministry is greater than your job, your work is greater than your ministry and your life is greater
it would be wonderful if your ministry included your job, if your work included your ministry and your job
that will never happen completely
we have to learn, for one thing, not to let our job get in the way of our ministry
it is epidemic for professionals in this country that the conditions under which they do their work frustrate the aim for which they came into their profession
your job is what you’re paid to do
job hatred is absolutely pervasive
ministry is part of God’s special work in my time that He has specifically allotted to me
‘David served God in his generation and fell asleep’
there are special things God is doing. He doesn’t have to pay attention to other things very much
We have to get over the idea that God is breathing down everyone’s neck all the time, paying as much attention to every little detail of creation as every other
Is it not the case that God is a great cosmic unblinking stare
The doctrine of omniscience is not that God knows everything but that he can know anything He wants to know
Just like the doctrine of omnipotence is not that God is doing everything all the time but that He can do anything He wants to anytime He wants to do it
God is doing special things in our time and being a part of it is our ministry
if you lose your job, you still have your ministry
work is the total amount of lasting goods that I produce in my lifetime, including your kids
[this concept is all dependent on how Dallas has defined his terms. they could legitimately be defined differently]
store up treasures in heaven by investing in other people and yourself b/c only people go on forever
God is mainly interested in your life. the main thing God gets out of your life is the person you become
many people are ‘good for nothing’ [in the world’s sense, even from the level of work down. Dallas mentions young people and old people]. they stand as a witness to us of how God values people.
God comes into your life, not through your job, but through you
leaders are apt to think God primarily relates to them through their job
If you shrink this whole diagram down to your job you have trouble
Consider how the disciplines relate to this diagram
doing nothing enables you to come to terms with the fact that you are somebody apart from your job, ministry and work
sometimes children are treated as ministry and they are more than that
‘I personally never speak of ‘my ministry’.’
there are good things outside of ministry that are life-giving, like gardening, art, education, etc.
remember: when your job, ministry and work are over there is still you
when you step through the portals [of bodily death] into God’s full world, you will begin to blossom
therefore there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness
the crown represents fullness
Leadership
1. Don’t try to be a leader. Try to be worthy of leadership.
Always be happy to see others lead
develop abilities under God
develop character more than anything else
if you never get to be a leader, thanks God for it and enjoy your life
2. Remember ‘Endure hardness’
Paul to Timothy: Endure hardness as a good solider of JX
accept hardness and difficulty. we all have it. no one has an easy life.
accept it and don’t run from it
the quickest way through is acceptance
God will be with you through it all
‘Many are the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.’
count it all joy when you fall into all kinds of troubles because tribulation works patience and patience, which is endurance, will make you perfect
maybe not now, but later, in any case
3. don’t try to manage your career
‘I don’t have a career, I have a careen.’
your life is a mystery that comes from God and returns to God
[I’m thinking too firmly about the twins’ future education. Everything will probably change. It’s ok to have a plan, but don’t set too much store by it.]
Man proposes and God disposes [of those plans]
Hold your ‘proposes’ loosely and accept God’s supervision of your life
As you look back you will probably see a career, but you will experience it as a careen
And that is a good thing
No one sees the Church but God
The Church is the people of God and no human being sees it
we literally have hell to pay when people think they do see it and can run it
[so much of church history shows this]
the church is a mystery in the midst of the earth
the church is not the KoG. it interacts with it. the KoG is much broader than that. X is the head of the Church and the only one who sees it
‘The whole world is going to hell except me and thee and I’m not so sure about thee.’
who are we supposed to be witnessing to? the people who are saved probably need to be witnessed to as much or more than the people who are lost
witnessing is not just for getting people on the heavenly train
hold it loosely. you don’t know which part of the church you’re supposed to wind up in
How to start from here
So what you know to be right in a spirit of love. do the next thing you know to be right.
and as you go, doing that, you will have to cast your cares upon Him. you have to let Him carry the burden. that’s the point of the easy yoke.
If [when] we have trouble with that, follow Him into His practices (some version of spiritual disciplines)
Try to make vivid in 1st chapter of SotD
If we do these simple things, it will all come along
‘Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey’
Trust: cast all your cares on Him b/c He cares for you
Again, my prayer for each of you…
‘We should be glad God didn’t give Moses the multiplication tables b/c then we wouldn’t be able to teach them in our public schools.’ ;-)
self-denial doesn’t hurt once you get used to it, and you’re going to suffer whether you deny yourself or not
[and I am focusing on self-denial these days, so learn this]
celebration is important for celebrating in the midst of suffering
[but we have feasts and treats all the time, so how else to celebrate?]
Worship obviously comes in here, too
You have to resolve that you are going to rejoice in the Lord
[I wonder if there is suffering coming my way, that You are graciously preparing me for…]
self-denial is liberation
Xian life is self-denial — Calvin
That’s what Jesus meant when He said ‘If you lose your life for my sake and the Gospel’s you’ll find it’
then we will know the constant joy of the Lord, that the joy of the Lord is our strength
you find the reality of it as you put it into practice as we’ve been discussing it
why shouldn’t we be angry? what’s the reality of it?
[being willing to not get my own way is probably at the root of not getting angry, so the current discipline is related]
what would life be like without anger and contempt?
there is appropriate anger, but nearly all anger we actually see is inappropriate
why shouldn’t I be angry when someone beats me out of something?
‘Be not dismayed whate'er betide, God will take care of you’
that’s the vision
you have to start all this stuff with the proclamation of the KoG
don’t start with the cases where you feel defeated to start with. start with easier cases. learn those and move up. that’s the way we learn this stuff.
learn to be straightforward without getting upset
it’ll move be quickly if you decide to do this and you’ll find you can do the same thing in harrowing cases
your body needs to be re-educated and it will learn
No comments:
Post a Comment