Spiritual Renewal Conference
[This series is available for free on iTunes U. You have to listen to it in iTunes.]
[most people in the Western world agree that we should love others, that it’s the best and highest way. but there’s no vision that we could actually do it, and certainly no concept of the path of personal change that would have to happen, in Christ, to make it happen.]
[Jesus is the smartest man who ever lived. and His teaching are the most essential information and the wisest instruction on the most important human topics. so, if we are wise, we will read them constantly and closely and seek to learn them and learn from them and to be formed by them]
1. How the Gospel of the Kingdom (the ‘Divine Conspiracy’) sustains the moral life and provides understanding of good and evil
Prayer is how God shares His power and develops His people, allowing them to have more of His power, but still under His control as their kingdom grows in His K
prayer and giving are the two steps of entry into the KoG
through them you learn more and more about the reality of the K and increasingly that’s where you take more of your life as His disciple
we learn about holiness by living in the KoG
in moral enthusiasm, people get excited about things they can’t do anything about except make trouble for the people around them
faith and knowledge have been separated and often faith is basically code for the absurd. Xians are no longer regarded as having knowledge
Jesus’ teaching are displaced from the domain of knowledge
and Jesus was the smartest person who ever lived, so our culture is ruling out the best resources
we want our dentist, mechanic, etc to have knowledge (not just what people mean by faith these days)
in the Bible, faith is opposed to sight, not knowledge
sometimes we do have faith in things we can’t know. that’s the difference. we have to act, to believe something. you don’t want to live like that all the time. you want to believe what you know.
faith is what we have on the basis of our knowledge
Abraham knew God, so he had faith to leave Ur
David knew God (WRT the bear and the lion), so he had faith to face Goliath
separation of church and state is good in the way it was intended, keeping the state out of the church. but you can’t keep values out of the state and we don’t want to.
religions are not the same. so when someone says ‘all religions are equal’ they mean equally irrelevant
once moral knowledge disappears, political correctness takes over
political correctness does not require knowledge, only advocacy
during elections, we urge people to vote regardless of if they know anything about the issues[!]
[this has become such a civil religion dogma, and many good Xians propound it as well]
just b/c someone doesn’t know something [obviously] doesn’t mean it’s unknowable. e.g., multiplication tables, departing gate for flight
agnosticism is a cop out if they haven’t really sought
[some people adopt the position based on their epistemology, also. that’s a more convoluted cop out]
[one good way to use this repository will be to search it]
2. Q&A
People today are like farmers who don’t believe in bugs and weeds, only fertilizer
*3. The Good Life and the Good Person Made Real by Jesus: Rethinking the “Sermon on the Mount”
*NB: The talks are out of order in iTunes the 5th talk in iTunes (this one) was actually third in sequence)
Revival is a temporary phenomenon. It does not solve the problems of spiritual growth.
It doesn’t focus on character growth.
Finney: It’s unfortunate we need revivals
They have a lot of negative side-effects
Jn 14.13-14; 15.7
How do we ask in His name? Learning to do it must include spiritual growth.
Probably related to abiding in Him
It’s a big change for us to think of our lives as drawing on Jesus the way a branch draws on a vine: everything.
How do we break the old habit of self dependence and expectation?
For one thing, we can let His Word abide in us. Fill mind with it.
Memorizing is good, but should be in order to put into practice.
Putting God’s Word into practice is the main way we abide in it.
For one thing, we have to settle in our mind that that would be good.
Jesus’ great promises on prayer teach us:
nothing is impossible with God
to help us understand we are in a process of growth that entails being able to draw the life of God into our life
‘If you continue in my word...'
(continue is same word translated abide later in Jn)
‘Apprentice' has the connotation of applied knowledge.
Very few people can stand the truth. It’s best to come to it in the way Jesus said:
“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
We need to abide in His Word
We can’t stand the truth unless it’s environed in grace
Jesus spoke with authority
scholars do not. they cite others for authority.
The lesson of the whole Bible is ‘God with _______.’
Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, and so on
I prepare endlessly, but I’m never ready b/c I know what God is going to say is what really matters.
I don’t trust my preparation. I trust God to act with me.
And then sometimes I take notes on what I said after I said it :-)
If Jesus came today, He would say ‘woe be to you professors’ b/c professors are the ones in charge of knowledge now
The world is into research, not knowledge
[Knowledge is implied, but if you pin them down, they have to give up that claim (at least beyond concrete, physical inquiry). It’s kind of a shell game. They say research and we think of science, but there’s lots of other alleged scholarship going on to that is not helping and probably hurting.]
The church could be doing some research. Do God’s promises beat a 401k?
Seek first the KoG and its righteousness and all these things will be added.
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.
Jos 1.8
Ps 16: The Lord is my portion
You can’t be J’s disciple w/o trusting Him with your life, turning your life over to Him
why were there lost sheep in the house of Israel?
that was the system J was confronting and the system that killed Him
human beings in arrogance had taken over access to the KoG
[we don’t see God and think we have to fill the vacuum.]
One reason Peter was key is his mistakes were so clear and instructive. The rest just sat around with their mouths shut [around Jesus (they argued amongst themselves or got their mama to ask Him)].
The Gospels are a record of d’ship. It was a spiritual formation trip, intensive and brutal. It was required to shift them around — to change their minds, feelings, bodies and they were able to receive the Spirit in a way they couldn’t have before. cp. ‘The Training of the Twelve’ — one of the best things ever written on this topic
What is the connection b/t the church being disciples and the restoration of moral knowledge? It is only through the knowledge and character that comes from d’ship that we can restore confidence in the moral knowledge that Jesus brings. The world doesn’t have anything else. ‘Who else did you have in mind?’ They can try Buddha, Gandhi and John Lennon and that’s it. You can say that’s arrogant, but is it true? Is Jesus the best moral teacher in history? Many of our churches are obstructing the call of X b/c they present disciple-less Xianity as the real thing and it isn’t.
knowledge authorizes people to act, to formulate and direct policy and to teach.
The primary field for d’ship in our day is the churches, like the synagogues were in J’s and Paul’s day. It’s where you will find the most people who are interested in d’ship [in addition to Pharisees].
You’ll find plenty of opposition there and that’s part of your opportunity to further know the KoG.
the KoG emerges from the Jewish com’ty in exile
first, they thought of a localized God. then that Jehovah could beat all the other god. then theocracy. (read Joshua and Judges to see KoG in action.) the people wanted a king, so God worked with it.
then in exile they said ‘where is God?’ and finally learned that God is not tied to a place. ‘God of Heaven’. 2 Chr, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah
Jesus said ‘the K will be taken from you Jews and given to a people who bear the fruit thereof’ and that’s what the book of Acts tells.
‘Lord, will you now restore the K to Israel’ after His resurrection means ‘Now will you take over and we’ll be your officials?’ they still hadn’t gotten it. [then Pentecost]
best church growth plan in history: I’ve been given authority over everything, so make disciples as you go and surround them in Trinitarian reality. and I’m with you always.
He told them not to take anything b/c He wanted them to live from what they were preaching. and if you can’t trust the K for those little things…
you say ‘I’m just trusting Him for forgiveness so I’ll stay out of hell.’ do you think you can trust Him for that w/o trusting Him for a place to sleep and something to eat?
the Beatitudes are proclamations of the K’s availability
[I still struggle w/ Dallas’ global interpretation here. Some of the conditions seem obviously desirable to me. The best I’ve got so far is a mix of his interpretation and a more traditional one. Father, what do you say?
What Dallas says is true in general, of course. So it’s sort of a technicality about whether it comes out of this passage or not (kind of like Mt 25). But I would like to know what to thing from a hermeneutical point of view. Maybe this is a good chance for me to be humble ;-)]
Put the Beatitudes and the Woe-be-s together: the first shall be last and the last first. Poverty is not a blessed condition in itself and wealth is not always a curse.
One test of how well you understand the KoG is: to whom can you go and say they’re blessed. You don’t want to be insincere, but it needs to become sincere and sometimes there’s a little gap there. And perhaps we need to start with ourselves. Most of us have discounted ourselves in many ways.
You are the salt of the earth: to disciples and crowd. No one including them by conventional wisdom would ever have said they were.
They thought Jesus was abolishing the law and the prophets b/c His teaching/authority/interpretation differed so much from the prevailing interpretation, the one of the scribes and the Pharisees.
Look especially at what He just said: who is blessed.
[And maybe that’s the key! Maybe the Beatitudes are a mix of conditions we don’t want to attain and conditions that are desirable, but they were regarded as unblessed by the current religious thinking.]
the prevailing interpretation made the Law and the Prophets unbearable to common people [and to the scribes and Pharisees as well, so they had to adapt them and also to pretend and become hypocrites].
[And here was, maybe, one of Jesus’ major problems with the religious leaders, maybe even THE major problem: not just that they were hypocrites but that they misinterpreted the Law and the Prophets and made them undoable for everyone: you either had to give up or become a hypocrite. 'Woe to those who harm one of my little ones…']
[Sins of the Pharisees:
1. misinterpretation that misled the people
2. self-righteousness and pride
3. hypocrisy]
[To put it another way, I think Dallas comes down too heavily that none of these conditions are desirable b/c he, too, is teaching against a prevailing interpretation that is wrong.]
People working the law find a cushy place for themselves.
Our legal system is basically an injustice system, as it was in J’s day. That’s why he taught about settling before you get to court.
It doesn’t mean we don’t stand up for what is right, but J teaches how to do it [which He molded perfectly Himself. You might get yourself killed.]
When He says I came to fulfill the Law, He doesn’t mean as the authorities are interpreting it.
He was constantly in trouble for Sabbath-breaking and food issues
God did not give the ‘letter’ of the Sabbath law as the authorities were interpreting it. In keeping the spirit, J had to break the human ‘letter’
Read the SotM as a sermon, not a collection of sayings.
If you do not exceed the righteousness of the Ss and the Ps, you will not enter the KotHs.
Their righteousness was one of letter.
This is not talking about heaven for eternity, but active participation in what God is doing now.
b/c it’s a sermon, there’s a plan, and, in this case, the teaching is progressive: anger and then lust
furthermore, those follow commandments 6 and 7: murder and adultery
progression: settles the issue of blessedness, then moves on to righteousness
[I need to get free from this fear that others will mess with me. Really all they can affect is what I want. My present and future are objectively safe in You. The subjective isn’t comparatively important, but I give it so much power and I worry it will be disturbed and then I worry when it’s been disturbed. Father, please help me to get free from my flesh and to live in Your joy, the joy of a perfectly settled life, now and forever.]
[One way of teaching to uth class would be to set up 4 great questions and Jesus as philosopher. He healed everyone at the end of ch 4. Then He shows He’s the wisest man who ever lived. It all starts to add up ;-)]
4. Pastor’s Luncheon: The Great Omission
there is not now a publicly available body of knowledge as a basis of organizing our lives and helping others
our teaching institutions, including church, do not provide knowledge of good and evil, right and wrong
they provide feelings, opinions, traditions and even force
things like cheating are negotiated, but cheaters are not regarded as moral failures
there is a prior moment to learning—commitment
in an educational context, it usually involves payment
[what if we had to pay to be disciples? and I’m not talking about seminary (obviously)]
as a student, I will do what needs to be done to learn, including paying tuition
we ravish people with the KoG so they realize their greatest opportunity in life is to be a disciple of Jesus
[I’m so impressed lately with William Carey’s work ethic. Please help me to display even a small part of it for You.]
where two or three are gathered, X is in the midst. He is teaching. that’s why they’re His disciples and not ours
I’ve been given say over all things in Heaven and Earth
as you go, therefore, make apprentices to me
and submerge them in Trinitarian reality
and train them so that they do all the things I’ve commanded you
and look, I’m with you every minute until the job is done
[topic: can we trust Jesus with our life?]
the best church growth plan on record
started with nothing and in three centuries 50% of urban populations were Xian
the church manages to do the best when it has the least
deep lesson: situation is so hopeless you have to trust God
take up your cross. give up having your way (not standing for what is right.)
Xianity is not like a car where d’ship is part of the luxury package, not a part of the base model
we have good language for salvation [but it doesn’t mean what it should]
trust Jesus, give your life to Him
if you just do that, you will step into the K b/c He is the King of the Kingdom
we are invited to live in the KoG by putting our trust in X (a miracle in itself)
new life begins to flourish in us, bringing about in us the things that God intends
God created us to do what is right in partnership with Him
we open ourselves to the action of God with us, we expect it
that’s how we fill our lives with the KoG
the general form of temptation is: if I don’t act on my own, I will miss something good
cp. serpent’s temptation of Eve.
response is to broaden vision and see everything under God
that enables us to know that missing out on this seemingly wonderful opportunity will not be that important.
can only live that way by inviting God into our life. He will provide what we need, but not necessarily what we want
the key is to get beyond wants to what is good. our wants betray us. that’s why the Bible says so much about the destructiveness of lust overall (not just sex)
so: the Lord is my Shepherd. I will lack no good thing.
[someone won $450M in the lottery this week.
what if I told you you could lack no good thing?]
therefore, d’ship is more a great opportunity than a sacrifice
the greatest field for d’ship in the world right now is the American church.
some of these people would like to be disciples. [that’s why they’re there]
then we learn to obey all that He taught
if we just try to do that, it’s hopeless
but in the K they become sensible and easy and we grow into them
blessing means involving God for the good of another
willing what is good for someone else
one thing we can bless those who curse us with is the knowledge of God
we fill ourselves with blessing so that blessing others becomes natural and easy
many people think you remain a miserable sinner until you’re lucky enough to die and then you can’t sin any more
if you decide to learn to obey Jesus you will learn what you need to know as you go
Q&A
how Jesus teaches
usually He’s debunking how people normally think
if we turn that into laws we make J look stupid
in evangelism we should invite people to become disciples, not consumer Xians (consume merits of X, services of church, fellowship, etc.)
don’t tell people what you’re doing. begin with Mt 3: John the Baptist: Repent for the KoH is at hand. Get that established, then move on in Mt. Pretty soon they’ll say on their own ‘this is different’
‘I guarantee you, if you teach the KoG as Jesus taught it, people will come out of the woodwork for it.’
[And then what would I do? But I do want to get through to these kids, not least my own.]
5. The heart and its place in spiritual transformation: How actual obedience to Christ in real life becomes possible and easy.
Obedience to X pulls the train of Xian spirituality
it comes from the inside and our hearts have to be transformed
Jesus’ Way is the easy way to live
life gets easier the more sanctified you get
What is real? Reality is what you can count on. It’s what you bump into when you’re wrong.
God and His K are real
Who is well off?
Those alive in the KoG
Who’s a good person?
The one controlled by love. Loving is doing what is good for the object.
How do you become a really good person?
Mk 12: Love God and neighbor
Jesus goes further in Jn 13.34: Love as I have loved you
That’s why He died on the cross
Greater love has no man than this: that He lay down His life for His friends
But sometimes it’s easier to love by dying than it is by living
Laying down your life for your friends does not necessarily mean dying for them. Many times, you can do more good by living.
Heart, Mind, Body, Social relations, Soul
[Most/all of this stuff is in RotH, so I’m not going to take extensive notes]
If we want to keep Jesus’ teaching, we have to intend to. It will not just fall upon us.
Our first freedom is where we will put our mind. This is where we turn to God.
As we respond to God our will renews its contact through grace with God and life comes back into you and then you can begin to grow.
[If our soul is like a computer, is Scripture memorization like loading the right programs into memory?]
Intelligent action in cooperation with grace is the secret of spiritual growth.
We change as we put things into action. The Spirit takes over. We receive more grace.
‘True Spirituality’, Francis Schaeffer
Clean the inside of the cup and the outside will get taken care of
It’s even true that we have to place dishes in the dishwasher so water can reach the inside.
Good trees produce good fruit. We are trying to become good trees, especially on the inside.
Flesh is not bad in itself.
Wanting things our way will lead us to ruin
Two kinds of will: vital and reflective
The problem of human life is to be able to not do what you want to do
The Cross as a life principle deals with the flesh, it sets it aside
Anger comes out of having our will crossed
Anger seems to justify in the moment. Everyone feels justified when they’re angry.
If you don’t take up your cross and follow me, you can’t be my disciple.
He wasn’t saying He won’t let us, but that it’s not possible.
You have to deal with the flesh through the Cross before you can be Jesus’ disciple
The goal: doing what is good and right is easier than doing what is wrong
Misapprehensions:
God is mad (not joyous)
God doesn’t love us (just letting us off the hook)
[We project our disappointment with ourselves onto God.]
St Benedict and the briar patch
‘You say to me ‘Are you kidding?’ No. Are you kidding? Would you like to deal with your sin? You have to have the vision.’
How soon do we pray in a difficult situation?
Changing the VIM of pornography to get free from it
Broaden the vision. ‘Somebody’s Daughter’
Pray for people we’re sexually attracted to
after deciding not to sin, you can come up with means to help, including, in this case, not having access to pornography
addicts have signed over their will to their feelings
As you try to address these things in God, all that is good in the universe will rush to your aid
The recovery of moral knowledge can only come through obedience to Jesus
Churches exist to bless the world through d’ship
The Church is for d’ship and d’ship is for the world
[how do I ravish the youth ss class with You? a Dallas answer from another place: teach Your message with Your methods
also, I need to pray for them more
Father, please help me]
[some of my callings:
d’ship
family
sg
ss
work
Dallas work
plenty to keep me busy ;-)]
6. Building the Person on Rock Solid Righteousness: The Interlocking Aspects of a Holy Life
2 Pet 1
convey assumption of Xian life in NT
Normally regarded as one of latest book sin NT
I think we’re looking here at reflection on practice
(NASB, since that’s what Dallas uses)
To those who have received a faith of the same [b]kind as ours, [c]by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us [d]by His own glory and [e]excellence. 4 [f]For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. 5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral [g]excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; 11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.
Growing in these areas influences the others
[I think of it like a virtuous cycle, an upward spiral, sort of like the hermeneutical spiral.]
Cp. Romans 5
Therefore, having been justified by faith, [a]we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and [b]we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but [c]we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
We mustn’t throw away where we are. That’s the only place anyone has been blessed by God — where they are.
I don’t think the differences in these two passages are major.
This passage is presented as passive.
We have to bring together active and passive in spiritual growth. Nothing defeats people in spiritual growth more than the idea that they [should be] passive.
In our effete stage of Protestantism, we have the idea that if you got active God would be nervous.
Kierkegaard has a passage where he shows the Devil looking at Luther’s statement ‘we are justified by faith alone’ and the Devil strokes his chin and says ‘Yes, I think we can do something with this.’
The Romans passage (passive) emphasizes there’s much more going on than what we do.
Every step in both of these passages is both a gift and an attainment
Col 3
We expect God to be at work
We ask in our fellowships: How are you seeking the things that are above today? Did you find anything? What happens when you find it?
God has to hide from us so that we can hide from Him.
Jesus did not normally live in His transfigured state
mortifying your members upon the earth is the your flesh, the things you can do without God
covetousness is idolatry. I make myself god. I should have what that person has.
Lewis’ Four Loves
passion is passive
Jesus uses agape to bear the weight of divine love
these passages reveal assumptions about the normal Xian life
In the past, although families were dysfunctional, communities contained teaching about what was good and right.
Now we say ‘We won’t tell you what to do. Do what you want, but don’t hurt anyone.’
We don’t say that in the Chemistry lab, and they’re going to get hurt worse in life
People are apt to wrap their whole moral character up in one virtue that they’re good at, often with a sense that they are weak elsewhere.
Legalism, esp., goes down this track.
Jesus criticized those who were scrupulous about tithing, but not other important practices
others: sacrifice, solemn assemblies
[it’s attractive to think there’s one thing that, if done right, will cover our guilt and shame.]
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