Unintentional Spiritual Formation

Amen.

Amen.

It is so good to be with you, church.

My name is Russ.

If I hadn't had a chance to meet you, excited that you guys were here, are here this morning.

Nobody showed up at 8 15, which is answer to prayer.

Somebody may show up at 9 45 and and you know graciously, you know, just kind of move in here and act like they're, you know, just a part of what we're doing.

But thank y'all for being willing to kind of adjust uh to our uh new new times and just seeking God's plan as we deal with some exciting things, which is growth.

That's exciting, that's a good thing.

And and God's working, yes, praise the Lord.

And so um, and so uh you if you want you have your Bibles open up to Ephesians chapter 4, we're beginning a brand new series today called transformation.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Called Transformation.

We're gonna we're gonna we're gonna talk about how we change.

A common practice for many of us um in a in a at the new part of a year, and this might be a good time.

We're we're kind of um into February, so it's a good time to kind of look back at maybe something we are trying to change at the beginning of a year.

Forbes magazine reports that um through research that 44 percent uh of those in the U.S.

are likely to make a New Year's resolution.

Of those that set those goals, more than half, 55% report that they kept those resolutions for an entire year.

That's good news.

According to Forbes, the top two resolutions chosen for 2020 were to improve mental health 39% and then improve physical fitness 30 32%.

So, what does this tell us?

It tells us that people want to change.

And it tells us that lasting change can be difficult.

How do people truly change?

If you looked up a generic Google search about how people change, you get a variety of answers.

And most emphasize that you don't get people to change through shaming and blaming.

One psychological journal went so far as to compare how people change to how we train dogs.

It takes repeated positive reinforcement.

In other words, don't rub people's noses in their own mess.

It's easy to find that psychology, that the psychology community and other disciplines agree that one key to finding healthy change is, and here's what the world will tell you.

Just be true to yourself.

Just be true to yourself.

That's what, that's kind of a mantra in today's culture.

Be true to yourself.

If you're going through tough circumstances, you're going through a divorce, you're going through painful circumstances, and you and you hope to find happiness around the corner from these transitions, the most important thing the world will tell you is just to be true to yourself.

Most of us hear that, and our response is hey, that's that's pretty good advice.

But there's a problem with that.

The problem we must contend with is the question that we must ask, which self am I to be true to?

Which self?

See, see, there's my job self.

I want to find the best paying job for my job self and for my benefit.

Then there's my help self, my workout self.

It's the eating the right stuff self, and then there's my eat a donut self.

Right?

Yeah, there's competing.

Which self am I going to feed?

Richard Foster says that we have a conglomerate of selves to compete with and contend with.

We have desires, more than one desire that leads to tensions, tug of war.

And when our desires pull us toward different things, activity, actions, that all supposedly promised that we will find ourselves, but in reality, that simply leads to more inner conflict.

So, where do we go to find true lasting change?

It's not being true to yourself or one of yourselves.

Today we start this new series called Transformation, where we ask the question how do we change?

How do we grow?

And over the next three weeks, we'll we're going to propose that we grow really through three primary means in our life.

The first is teaching, which we're talking about today, teaching the gospel, teaching the word of God, teaching it.

But you don't stop there.

The second way we grow, we'll talk about next week, is through the community of faith, the family of God, the church.

And then the third way that we grow, and we'll talk about in a couple of weeks, are practices or habits that shape us, that grow us.

All three have to be part of the equation if you really want to change and grow.

You can't just take one of those.

You can't take two.

It's got to be all three.

Teaching by itself will not work.

Why?

Because that's just information.

The information has to move into life transformation.

And so community has to be a part of it.

There has to be somebody that's going to ask me.

That video of Joseph that you just watched, I talk to Joseph at least twice a month.

Sometimes three or four times a month.

He is my brother in Christ.

Now, he, for really most of our relationship, I have been the Paul to him being the Timothy.

But now he's grown up and we now encourage one another.

And we provide accountability.

He asked me the tough questions.

And so there has to be somebody that's going to ask you the questions.

How are you doing?

Are you walking with God?

Are you feeding your spirit rather than just trying to be true to yourself or the flesh?

And so all three, the third part, practices and habits are necessary for lasting change.

So how do we change?

Here's Paul's letter.

Paul's letter to the book of Ephesians, uh to the to the community of Ephesus.

It was a metropolitan city, probably like an Atlanta, a Las Vegas, or a Los Angeles, or Chicago, or a New York.

It was a major, large city.

It was known for a specific temple where human sexuality was worshipped.

And so Paul writes in this letter, and in these first couple of chapters, he writes about theology.

The first few chapters, he really writes about how you come to know Christ.

Ephesians 2, 1 through 10.

Read that on your own because he tells you, you are dead.

You are dead outside of Christ.

But God, who is rich in mercy, has saved you through through the work of his life and his death and his resurrection, and he has a plan for your life.

You go back and read that.

But in chapter 4, he begins to talk about how we change, how the gospel, the good news of Jesus begins to transform us.

And here's what he says, verse 1, Ephesians 4.

Therefore, I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling.

To lead a life.

To lead a life.

What does that mean?

It means to the way you live.

Salvation is not a moment that you just kind of have and then you move on with life.

Salvation is the beginning of a journey.

He says, So I beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.

Always be humble and gentle.

Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love.

See, he's talking about our disposition.

He's talking about how we interact with one another.

Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit.

What does that mean?

That's the Holy Spirit.

We're united in the Holy Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.

So Paul's writing to these believers.

Some of them are new.

Most of them are new.

It's a new, growing faith community in a very ungodly city.

A growing church, and they put their faith in Jesus, but now they have this huge challenge of how do we live and grow into the image of Jesus in this sinful and dark culture?

How do we continue to change?

How do we continue to grow in our faith in a way that we aren't pulled back into the old sinful ways?

Now, fast forward verse 11.

Verse 11, Ephesians 4.

He says, Now these are the gifts of Christ.

These are the gifts Christ gave to the church, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.

Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.

So that's that's my job.

That's the job of the elders of the church, overseers of the church, ministers of the gospel.

That's our job is to equip and build up all of you for the work of the ministry.

It's our responsibility to do the work of the ministry.

And it says that their responsibility is to build up the church, the body of Christ.

This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's Son that we will be what?

Mature in the Lord.

We're supposed to grow up and be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

Christ is the standard.

Russ is not the standard.

Jonah is not the standard.

Reese is really close because she's godly, but she's not the standard.

Jill is not the standard.

Now Jill is really close to God.

That's my wife.

But she's not that standard.

The standard is Christ.

Verse 14, then we will no longer be immature like children.

We won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching.

We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies, so clever they sound like the truth.

Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of the body, the church.

He makes the whole body fit together perfectly.

As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow so that the whole body is healthy and growing full of love.

We all as a church are to be growing, maturing together.

Yes, yes, somebody is with me.

Thank you.

It's okay to talk back.

So Paul states clearly that the leaders in the church have a responsibility equip, to equip God's people, the church, to build up the church, to grow up the church to complete maturity.

What's the goal?

What is the goal?

What is the standard?

It is, yes, it is Christ.

It is Jesus.

We are to become like Jesus.

If we're not becoming like Jesus, we are wasting our time.

Let's go do something else.

As each part or individual grows, it helps others grow, and the result is the church being full of love.

Verse 17, with the Lord's authority, I say this live no longer as the Gentiles do.

Now that word Gentile is in this context, it's not a race or race or ethnic kind of thing.

It's just basically saying people that are outside the faith, people that don't know God.

They're referred to as Gentiles in Scripture.

We would say, hey, those those heathens that are out there, people that are people that don't know Jesus.

I mean, we get frustrated.

Look at what's happening in the world.

I mean, we we get frustrated, but but we are to live differently.

Here's let me tell you what's frustrating is when the church, you can't distinguish the church as being any different from the world.

It says they they their minds, talking about the people without Jesus, that their minds are full of darkness.

They wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him.

They have no sense of shame.

They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity, but that isn't what you learned about Christ.

Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off, throw off, throw off your old sinful nature, your former way of life.

Should have kept my jacket on, but you throw it off.

Throw off your sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.

Instead, instead, say it with me, instead, let's say it, instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.

Put on your new nature, created to be like God, true, truly righteous and holy.

So Paul is challenging the believers in Ephesus.

Don't live as unbelievers live anymore.

Your life is now changed.

He's talking about how people outside of the faith are held in bondage to sin and darkness and hardened hearts.

That's the old self, the old nature.

Paul's saying, we need to become like Jesus.

He's speaking to people who have identified themselves as believers or followers of Jesus.

And if you know Jesus, you need to start living differently.

My brother used to say, no change, no Jesus.

No change, no Jesus.

Throw off the old, put on the new.

And you're when you feed the new, you'll become you'll start becoming more like Jesus.

Thomas Merton writes about the fake self and the true self.

He says you'll find peace not by rearranging the circumstances in your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.

And I can truly say that I am not who I want to be at times at my deepest level.

Most of you.

I want to have the spiritual disciplines of Billy Graham or some godly man.

But it is a struggle.

Why?

Because my fake self or the old self, the sinful nature, pulls me down and keeps me from growing and changing.

I'm not the person I want to be.

So how do we change?

We change through spiritual formation.

Spiritual formation.

I had a class in seminary titled spiritual formation.

I didn't know what spiritual formation was.

And it's really, it just means spiritually growing.

How do you spiritually grow?

You're always being formed.

And it comes from the word transformation, which is in the Greek word, and we're going to look at Romans 12 in a second.

It's the word that is metamorphio, which is the same word that we use in English for metamorphosis, how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly.

And Dallas Willard says this about spiritual formation.

He says, spiritual formation is the process of the human spirit or will given a definite form or character.

Spiritual formation for the Christ follower refers to the spirit-driven process of forming the inner world of the human self in such a way that it becomes like the inner being of Christ Himself.

Our agenda is to become like Jesus.

Transformed by Jesus to be like Jesus.

Transformed by Jesus to be like Jesus.

I'm kidding.

There's two really ways that we are formed.

We're talking about spiritual formation.

There's two primary ways.

We are all being formed.

We are all being formed.

The first way that we are being formed is the unintentional plan for being formed.

And so Russ, I don't, I don't, I'm not being formed.

Well, you are.

If you're not intentionally being formed into the image of Christ, then you are unintentionally being formed into something else.

So the unintentional strategy for spiritual transformation, we are all formed by the stories we believe.

It's what we would call a worldview.

We're all formed by the stories we believe.

Ephesians 4, 17, with the Lord's authority, I say this: live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused.

The futility of their minds, ignorance, hardness of heart.

It's what we call a worldview.

It's the stories we believe.

A worldview is the lens through which you view all of the world.

We're hardwired to take the complexity and reduce it to simplicity.

We take in the story and we begin to live it out.

For example, sexuality.

The world says that we're all just animals.

We're just animals like other animals in the animal kingdom.

And so sexuality is just part of our social construct.

Gender, it's just part of our social construct.

We can choose what we want to do when we do it, with who we want to do it.

We all can change and make up our minds.

And so the world view, this worldview will say, hey, sex is just a, it's just it's just it's just for grown-ups to play.

Sex is play for grown-ups.

And this is a story looking at the world.

It would have been prominent in Ephesus.

But Jesus tells us a different story.

Jesus says something different.

He you are not an animal.

You are not an animal.

You are created in the image of your creator.

As a matter of fact, there are angels and there are animals, and we are just below the angels.

We are created differently.

We are created.

We are image bearers of God.

And so He gives us dominion to rule over the animal kingdom.

And Jesus says gender is not a social construct.

Sexuality is not a social construct.

It's important, but it's not the most important thing about who you are.

Marriage is given by God.

It is social, but it is God invented and it is a gift to us ultimately to reveal to us in a greater way who God is in his character.

And he is the bridegroom.

And we, the church, are the bride.

And so two become one.

You can't unwind what God has made one.

And so we are formed by the stories we believe, but we're also formed by our habits.

Paul says, way of life.

When he was talking to the Ephesians, he says, way of life.

Way of life equals habits.

What you do regularly and habitually.

Habits get to our heart over time.

Habits shape our love and our longings.

When you first took a sip of coffee as a child, there may be a few of you, but most of us responded by saying, Ooh.

I remember asking my parents, why do you drink that?

But what we drink a little bit, we drink a little bit more, and then over time, our our habits shape what we like, what we love, what we long for.

The more you do something, the more you want to do it.

How about your spiritual habits?

The word of God.

Fellowship with other believers.

The more you do something, the more you want to do it.

And finally, we are formed by our relationships.

We're formed by our relationships.

And so back to verse 17 in Ephesians 4, with the Lord's authority, I say this live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused, darkened, futility, alienated, ignorant, hardness of heart.

And so we become like the people we hang out with on a regular basis.

We're formed by our relationships.

All of this happens over time.

All of this occurs through experiences.

All of this forms you, the stories you believe, the habits you develop, and the relationships that we invest in.

Who are you becoming?

And so you are being formed.

You are being formed.

If you don't have a plan for being formed, then you're going to basically accept anybody else's plan that is imposed upon you.

This is what I've told my kids growing up.

You don't really choose your friends.

You're going to basically gonna gravitate to where you're accepted.

And so I've taught my kids, you've got to intentionally be aware of that and be intentional about who you choose to spend your time with in your life.

And so, what does intentional spiritual formation look like?

Jesus says this in Luke chapter 6.

Luke 6 · chapter mention

It says, then Jesus gave the following illustration.

Can one blind person lead another?

Won't they both fall into a ditch?

Students are not greater than their teacher, but the student who is fully trained will become like the teacher.

What's Jesus saying here?

He's saying all of us need somebody to mentor us.

We all need a rabbi.

We all need somebody that we can grab a hold of and say, you know what, help me become more like Jesus.

The end goal is to become like Jesus.

Intentional spiritual formation intends to counter each one of the building blocks of what forms us unintentionally by being intentional in our growth.

And so to counter the stories we hear, we move to intentional teaching truth given by God, what Jesus teaches, what the Word of God teaches.

Don't stop listening, hearing, being taught the truth.

And so teaching is counter to the stories we hear from the culture.

Listen to me.

Teaching is counter to the stories we hear from culture.

Romans 12, 1 and 2 says that, and so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because all he has done for you, let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind he will find acceptable.

This is truly the way to worship him.

Don't copy the behavior and the customs of this world.

And this is how I memorized it.

Do not be conformed, do not be conformed to the world.

He says, do not copy the behavior and customs of the world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

Then you will learn to know what God's will for you, to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

And that word transformed is the metamorphoo, it's the metamorphosis, it's the change that we experience as we follow Jesus.

So teaching the word is a necessity.

People need to have, we need to have our minds renewed.

And here's the the reality: we have no shortage of teaching.

Next week, we're gonna get to um uh we're gonna we're gonna talk uh next week about community and the next week about habits.

Those are important.

But I'll tell you this: a lot of us, there's no shortage of teaching.

I all I have to do is pull up a podcast, and I can listen to any of my favorite preachers that I want to at any time.

I can watch them online, I could watch them on the computer.

Used to, it was just the main preachers.

It was Charles Stanley and you know, a couple of crazies that were from other places in the country.

You know, I listen to them, I watch them just for entertainment, and I come back to Charles Stanley for some more truth, right?

And so we have no shortage, but what we have a shortage of is practice.

Practice that will counter our bad habits.

We know church, reading scripture, prayer, community groups, sabbath, silence, solitude.

We'll talk about some of these practices in the coming weeks.

Community is important.

Community is the is the is counter to our relationships.

Community is the incubator for our spiritual formation.

Living around other believers, having relationships.

Now I'm gonna tell you, I you know this.

I am the kind of person that says, hey, let's go get lost people.

Let's go reach our neighbors.

Let's go, let's go, right?

Let's go, let's go invite somebody.

You need to have some relationships with people, and you need to have the courage, and you need to have the spiritual fortitude to reach out and invite people, share the gospel, share the good news.

That's just kind of how I'm bent.

But I'm telling you, you've got to have relationships with other believers for accountability, for spiritual formation, to counter the pull to the old self.

Here's what here's what Jesus promises.

Jesus says, I'm telling you, what I'm saying this morning, I mean, there is a lot to what I'm saying.

And it feels, it feels heavy.

But here's what Jesus promises.

Jesus says, I will do the heavy lifting.

If you will simply turn and repent.

I will do the heavy lifting.

Come, come, come unto me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden.

And I will give you rest.

Jesus says, I will, I will do the heavy lifting.

And he wants to bring us to a point where we are where we we we're we're we're so overwhelmed by the move of the Holy Spirit that that the leaving the old self it becomes natural, it becomes easy, it's a it's not heavy anymore, it's light.

And what I want to happen, what I want to see happen here in Walton County, God is working.

Now, I've been telling you for a while that there's going to be a revival.

Have I been telling you that?

I'm telling you.

Now I want to part, I wanted to drive up to Asbury, Wilmore, Kentucky this week.

Those students around the clock are worshiping.

Somebody will teach a little bit, then they'll worship, somebody will teach.

And people just keep coming.

People are coming from all over the country to see what God is doing.

Then my daughter calls me.

She says, Daddy, it's happening right now at Lee University.

Yes, the Lord is moving.

And then I find out it's happening at Cedarville University, which is in Ohio.

I'm telling you, it's probably happening at other places.

And then I find this article on the internet from The Atlantic, from this magazine called The Atlantic, that said, right now the conditions are perfect for a great awakening.

And the article was written by one of my heroes, a guy named Tim Keller.

And he's a student of revival and awakenings.

And so I'm telling you, I don't want to miss out on that.

I don't want it just to be Asbury.

I don't want it just to be in Cleveland, Tennessee.

I don't want it just to be in Cedarville, Ohio.

I want it to happen around here.

I'm telling you, a bunch of old people, I'm pointing at myself, the young people will start following the work of the Holy Spirit and they'll pass us by with our hardened hearts.

If we don't get with it.

So I want to encourage you this morning.

We're going to close our time with a song titled, Lord, I need you.

Lord, I need you.

And I want to encourage you this morning.

If you want prayer, I want you to feel comfortable to come and allow one of us to pray for you.

There might be another elder or two, and I'd love to have a lady or two that would be willing to come stand here at the front.

But if you want prayer, you're saying, Russ, I need a jump start by the Holy Spirit.

I need prayer.

I've got, we've got some tough circumstances we're going through, and we need somebody just to put their hands on us and pray for us that the Holy Spirit would work.

So, Father, would you move?

I pray for those that are here, maybe that their primary step is to say yes to Jesus.

Yes to salvation.

Yes to stepping out of darkness and into the light.

Understanding that Jesus, through his life and his death and his resurrection, the gospel has provided new life for us.

And so some of you need to step into that life for the first time.

Others of you, it might be to step through the pain, begging and pleading with God.

God, would you bring healing?

Healing in our relationships.

God, we need healing in our physical bodies.

We need more of you.

God, help me grow.

Help us grow into maturity to become like Jesus.

Lord, we need you.

If that's your desire, I'm gonna ask you to feel free to come.