Seminar | III. “Formation Towards Spiritual Maturity” | Bill Haley

On the first Sunday of the next 3 months, we will share a series of talks Rev. Bill Haley offered Christ Church Austin during a retreat they hosted entitled “Spiritual Formation for Kingdom Action.” Taken together, these talks offer a powerful invitation into an integrated and transformed Christian life. 

I. Contemplatives in the Heart of the World

II. The Kingdom of God & Shalom

In this third talk, Bill digs into the biblical vision of spiritual maturity and how that vision might become our reality.

Explore the Full Archive of Bill’s Sermons

Explore Bill's Essential Christianity Book & Course

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Transcript

Drew Masterson: 0:16

Hello and welcome to For the Journey, a podcast offering formation and inspiration to Christians longing for more of God in their lives and in the world. For the Journey is presented by Coracle, a ministry committed to inspiring and enabling people to be the presence of God and the brokenness of the world through spiritual formation for kingdom action. We want to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God so that you can go further into the world with God's loving, healing, redeeming power. For the Journey is a space where each week we hope to help you encounter God and live a more integrated life of faith in the world by offering a regular rhythm of reflections, guided spiritual practices, thoughtful conversations, and more. On the first Sunday of the next three months, we will share a series of talks Reverend Bill Haley offered Christ Church Austin during a retreat they hosted entitled Spiritual Formation for Kingdom Action. Taken together, these talks offer a powerful invitation into an integrated and transformed Christian life. You can find links to Bill's first two keynotes in the show notes. In this third talk, Bill digs into the biblical vision of spiritual maturity and how that vision might become our reality. Here's Bill.

Rev. Bill Haley: 1:42

So we've been talking about this morning, we've been talking about the out there, right? We've been talking significantly about changed world. So let's transition and talk about the in here, changed us, changed life. So let's uh let's take a look at what Paul says. The screen there. I'll read this to you from Galatians 2, verse 20. This is this for me, I think, has become, you know, all of us have a lot of life verses, right? The whole thing about what's your life verse, and sound like, well, all of my hope. But um but so we have our list, but this one is really high on my list of, oh man, that really gets to it. So Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, it is Christ who lives in me. And he goes on, and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God. And we're gonna come back to this. Can anybody complete that? Who loved me and gave his life for me, right? So it I have been crucified with Christ. By the way, for those of you who are gonna be baptized tomorrow, who is that? Amen. Amen. That is great. Y'all, this is your verse for tomorrow morning, right? I have been crucified with Christ. That's what you're doing. Is you are you are you are undertaking the sacrament of trying to make something visible that is invisible. And that is the fact that you have been joined with Christ, you have been crucified with Christ, died with Christ, raised with Christ. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. We're going to come back to that this afternoon. Um, this is what amazes me about this passage is that this is in Galatians. This is Paul early in his ministry. So you might remember that um, you might remember that after Paul was converted, um, there was actually a long period of time before he started ministering in community. And there was even a longer period of time before he started writing letters. Probably between his conversion and when he wrote Galatians was probably about 20 years. Maybe a little bit less, but you know, 18 or 20 years. It was a long time before Paul put his pen down to paper and was writing. So it amazes me that already after that time he was able to articulate what is, in fact, really the summit of Pauline spirituality. Okay, of how Paul understands the spiritual life, and he understands it, to use the live, to use the words of uh of some good people, as a life of divine exchange, where I exchange my life for Christ's life. You know, Christ takes up residence in me and lives his life through my own life. Um Christ living in me, me living in Christ. So the goal of spiritual formation is to live more and more who we are in two ways. Two ways. The goal of spiritual formation is to live more and more into these two ways. Number one, to be the body of Christ in the world. That is to say, to be the presence of God in the world. And Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12, 27, now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. I just want to say this is this is um this is not hard to understand. The meaning of this metaphor is not a mystery that we, that is to say, Paul, that is to say, you, um, the Corinthian church that he's writing to, uh, Christians serving others in Austin, Christians in Washington, D.C., Peter in South Sudan, who I talked about, you, me, all other followers of Jesus, are in fact his body on earth. We are his flesh on earth, individually and corporately quickened by the Holy Spirit to be the presence of God. It is not too strong to say that we are the incarnation of the incarnation. The incarnation of the incarnation. It is not too strong to say that when Jesus' body left the earth, when he ascended into heaven, that his body did not leave the earth, if you get my meaning. It is not too much to say that when Jesus ascended into heaven, that he did not leave himself without a witness, that God did not leave himself without a witness. So it's very, very true that the flesh and blood hands of a Christian showing compassion to an impoverished man are the hands of Christ to him. Um, that the lips who are telling the good news of the gospel of the kingdom of God are in fact the mouth of Jesus, that the arms that embrace a woman in pain are the arms of Jesus around her. It is Paul who is at pains to teach us and to remind us that Christ's followers are now the body of Christ in the world. It's very interesting how often Paul, with exasperation, in his letters, and this is consistent throughout his letters, how consistent Paul with exasperation basically says, Do you not know who you are? You know what I'm talking about? And he basically is saying, live into your dignity. Live into your dignity as a human. More specifically, live into your dignity as a Christian, as a Christ follower. So the goal of spiritual formation is to live more and more into who we are in two ways, to be the body of Christ in the world, and then secondly, to be who we are, that is to say, who God made us to be. And this is going to be different than anyone else. It's going to be our own uniqueness in its full flower, not for the sake of our glory, but for the sake of Christ's glory. So now I have a couple of quotes about the true self. And I think to come back to your Piper question, it had to do when I realized, it had to do when I realized, you know, Bill, you don't have to be who you are, you don't have to be who you're not. God is calling you to be who you are. Don't be distracted by somebody that you want to be, because that's actually never who you can be. You know? And the more we realize that, the more the weights just kind of fall off our shoulders. Um, this one's from me. The true self is the unique expression of who we are made to be, who we are, who we are becoming, and who we will be in union with Christ through communion with God. So, in other words, we are one with Christ, and through being one with Christ, we have communion with God. This is just John 14 through 17. Um, it is I in Christ and Christ in me. And then the next slide. This is from David Benner. It's a beautiful book. The true self is who in reality you are and who you are becoming. It is your total self as you are created by God and as you are being redeemed in Christ. It is the image of God that you are, the unique face of God that has been set aside from eternity for you. We do not find this is really important, we do not find our true self by seeking it. Rather, we find it by seeking God. This is right back to that quote from Mother Teresa last night, right? Our vocation is not to love the poor. She said, Our vocation is to long to is to belong to Jesus. And the more we seek the face of God, the more we belong to Jesus, the more basically we mature alongside. And then the next slide. I see the new self, this is from a guy named Ken Boa. I see the new self as the life of God's Son within us, uniquely expressed through the prism of each believer's personality. The new or true self, which is our inner life in Christ, impinges on and progressively transforms our thinking, our character, and our actions in such a way that the Imago Dei, the image of God, is gradually being purified, though never fully or perfectly in this earthly life. So this is quite a bit to unpack here. First thing to unpack is just in that very first sentence, uh, the new life, the life of God, someone within us, uniquely expressed through the prism of each believer's personality. In other words, as Christ continues to take up residence more and more and more in you and in all of us, we do not become homogenous. We do not move toward homogeneity, we do not move towards sameness. We actually move toward quite a bit more uniqueness, right, and diversity. This is one of the reasons why diversity in a congregation is so critically important, so that we can see the basically the full range of the gorgeous image of God being lived out through a lot of different sorts of people. And then he talks about it being a that this is the way that you know, we'll come back to your process word there. It progressively, it impinges on and progressively transforms our thinking. And he talks away about uh in this way the Amago day is gradually being purified. When he talks about the image of God, what I love about this is not only did Jesus come to get the world back on its track that it had been designed for, all right? We talked about that this morning. That Jesus comes to get the world back on track in the direction of its original design, the way that God had intended. Um but that's not only true for the world, it's also true for us as individuals. And what happens to us at conversion when we accept Jesus into our life for the very first time and say, You are my God, and I trust you for the forgiveness of my sins, and I will obey you. I will take my cues from you, I will orient my life around you. Jesus, I believe in you. When we do that, when we do that, that's the very first moment of God Himself setting our lives individually back on track according to the original design that God had in mind for us from before we were born, before we were tainted by not only our fallenness as a human being, but also our own individual expressions of our fallenness. Does this make sense? Again, I just want to say conversion is not only about forgiveness, it's rather much more positive. It's setting something in motion so that we can be who God has always desired us to be. Not because we are somebody special, but rather because we have somebody special living in us. Does this make sense? It's just such a much more beautiful, I think, encouraging way to think about the spiritual life. Um, to realize what's happening is not only did Jesus come to redeem the world, which he did, he also came to redeem me. And for both of us, he came to put us back on track in the direction of what God has always had in mind, and what God has always had in mind for both the world and for me is gorgeous. So, and then Boa finishes with, you know, never fully or perfectly in this earthly life. Good news and bad news. Philippians 1, 6. Um remember, God is very committed to our formation, God is very committed to our Christ-likeness. And in fact, we will be made Christ-like. We will live into all this. I I I can I can look you in the eye and say that um with full confidence that that one day you will be perfectly Christ-like. One day you will be who God made you to be. That's the good news. Here's the bad news. Philippians 1, 6, right? I am convinced of this very thing that he who began a good work in you will complete it. That's the good news. Bad news? When? In the day of Christ Jesus. In other words, it's probably not gonna happen before you die. So that's just the way it is. But there's a sense of there's a sense of relief in that, right? There's a sense of, you know what, I I don't have to attain perfection now because, in fact, I can't. What I can do is I can set myself up to go as far down the track as I can until I am made perfect because I see Jesus face to face. And so that's what we do. And we have to be gracious to ourselves when we are not as far along as we want, because the process takes a lot longer than we would like it to. It's a process of maturing. Um you have a Bible, you might want to open up to um Hebrews 6, 1. It's a funny little passage, but I love it. Um the writer writes, Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity. Let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and let us go on to maturity. So he says, Let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ, and then he lists some of the rest of those things in Hebrews 6, 1 and 2. And the list reads like what was being taught, basically, in the early church's version of a confirmation class. You know, when people become members of Christ Church, I'm sure you have some sort of confirmation class, right, Cliff? Cliff is not listening. Somebody else. Do you have some sort of class? Right. Sorry. Oh, he's like, he's like, Haley, I don't need your words. I got the word of God. You know. Um when somebody's joining the church, there's some sort of class, right, where you're teaching about yes, okay, thank you, thank you. Okay, and so what what the writer here writes is kind of like that, where he's basically listing what was what was basically taught in sort of an early church confirmation class, um, or people preparing to be baptized, and they were they were the basics that these Hebrew Christians had been taught, and now they're saying, okay, now that you've been taught the basics, build on them. Build on them. The purpose of a foundation is to build on it, and that's what they had, but they were actually stuck on the foundation. So many of us have heard of Alpha, or maybe have taken Alpha. It is a great course, isn't it? It's basic, right? And the goal is not to keep on revisiting the major themes of Alpha so that you can understand the basics better. The goal is to take that foundation and then build on it towards maturity. It's like learning your ABCs. You don't learn your ABCs, um, you don't learn your ABCs so that you can keep on revisiting them and say them faster and more perfectly. No, you learn them and you get them ingrained in your mind so that they become unconscious, so that then you can put them to use for what they're to be used for, which is communication, which is language. Um so we don't leave it as in abandoning it by any means. Nothing wrong with the basics. But we just move on from it because we're using it. And it's the same way with the basics of the Christian faith. At some point we use them unconsciously in our lives so that they become so deeply ingrained in our minds and more importantly in their hearts, so that then they can be unleashed in our lives, and so that we can mature. That is, that the word of God and the truth of God can have its effect, which is not simply that we know it, but rather that we're changed by it, and are able to then be freely used by God to change, be changed in the world. So then, Hebrews 6, 1, the second half of that verse, let us go on to maturity. The Greek word here that is used comes from the Greek word telios. You might have heard the word telos, Latin telos, Greek word telios, it means the end or the goal or the purpose, um, or when something is mature or complete or perfect. Now, it's not perfection here in the sense of being sinless. That happens, as we mentioned, when we see Jesus for the first time after we die or whenever he comes back. Um Teleos, perfect, mature, let us go on to maturity here, has the sense of something that has lived into its design, has lived into its purpose. So, um it's the purpose of an acorn. Grow into an oak tree, right? Um, some some acorns probably exist to feed squirrels. That is true. That's not what I had in mind. Um but you're right. You are absolutely right. Let's think about the let's think about the acorn that well, I guess in that sense, in that sense, that acorn, that acorn would that got eaten by the squirrel would not be complete, would it? Unless uh we're gonna get it all filled. Okay, forget it. Umbermite, umber mite. So here's the here's the next one then. What is the purpose? What is the purpose of an um of an architectural drawing? To eventually produce a building, right? And until that drawing becomes a reality, the drawing itself isn't complete, is it? Um think about a grape seed. You know, squirrels notwithstanding. What's the purpose of a grape seed? And that right there, that right there is the best reason for being Anglican. Can I get an Amen from the Baptist? I'm sure you I'm sure you know the difference between a Baptist and an Anglican, right? What's that? I mean, there probably are some. Yeah, the uh the Anglican will say hi to you in the liquor store. Okay. That one was not in my notes. Yes. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps the purpose of the grapeseed is to become wine. But let's step back a little bit and say the purpose of a grapeseed is to grow into a vine, right? And the purpose of that vine is then to grow grapes to bear mature fruit, isn't it? And what you do with the fruit, then, you know, that's your call. But but the purpose of a grapeseed is to grow into a vine that will then mature and bear fruit. This is John 15, isn't it? That's all it is. Um, and all of these things take process. Maturity implies process, like we were saying. So it's very interesting. After the Holy Spirit comes, new language emerges and is employed to describe the ultimate goal of spiritual development. The epistle writers and most clearly Paul speak of, and I quote, being conformed to the image of Christ, or being transformed, or growing from one stage to the next, or they talk about a process of being changed. Um, all these words, conform, transform, um, they all have the same Greek root, which is metamorphu, from which we get the word metamorphosis, right? Um, change, meta form. So we're changing forms. We are we are growing. Um and it's in this context that the the metaphor of physical development or human lifestyle cycle becomes employed and becomes a consistent theme in an image. Let's look at some of the language here from um the epistles about this this conforming language. From Romans 8. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that Jesus might be the firstborn among many brothers. And then 2 Corinthians 3, and we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. In Romans 12, be transformed by the renewal of your mind. And then this is my favorite because it just so um, well, bold on Paul's part. I mean, the guy had never had a baby in his life, as far as I know. Right? And yet, look at that. What made him feel, I mean, he's trying to think about what could be the what's the like the most painful process that a human being goes through and he thinks, aha, I've heard that childbirth is really tough. Right? And so, and so he's trying to describe emotionally what he feels like when he is longing for Christ to be formed in the Galatian people. And so he chooses that metaphor. Look at that. I am in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. And ultimately, the language for conforming, for transformation, for being transformed into the image of Christ is getting at the goal of spiritual formation and the process by which we become, to use Peter's word, partakers in the divine nature. Um, we'll maybe spend some time on that later. Now, the most helpful definition of spiritual formation that I've come across is um is from a man named Robert Mulholland. It is this, and I'll put this up on the screen here in a little bit, not quite yet. He says, it's the process of being conformed to the image of Christ for the sake of others. If discipleship, that wonderful word that comes to us from the Gospels, if discipleship could be summed up in Jesus' words, follow me, which they are, which it is, spiritual formation could be summed up in a different phrase. Anybody guess it? It's in the Gospels. At the beginning of Jesus' ministry, what was often on his lips was follow me, and then when he gathers all of his disciples around him on his last night on earth in John 15, he says, he says, it's right, he says, Abide in me. Abide in me, abide in me, and I in you. So this stuff about spiritual formation is best summed up, I think, in the process of abide in me, of letting Jesus continue to take up more and more residence in us. And this is what happens as Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, continues to take up residence in us more fully and more consistently. It's what happens when we live into and experience the promises of union with God that Jesus so often talked about. That He makes possible and that the Holy Spirit also makes possible. So let's just look at a definition of Christian spirituality here. Um, just so that we can have a sense of what we're talking about. Christian spirituality, in my definition, is being filled with the Spirit of God so that we become more like Christ and increasingly become the presence of Christ in the world. When I'm talking about Christian spirituality, that's what I'm talking about. The Holy Spirit is operative in this, um, so that we become more like Jesus and increasingly become the presence of Jesus in the world. In other words, the goal of Christian spirituality is to live into more fully who a Christian is in fact, and who he or she is called to be. The body of Christ, empowered by the Spirit, to be his creative and his redemptive work in the world. To glorify God by being the presence of Christ in the world, friends, this is the purpose of Christian spirituality. This is the summit of the mountain, in my opinion. This is what it's all about. To glorify God, there's my Piper roots coming out. There's the Bible, I should say. Um to glorify God by being the presence of Christ in the world is the purpose of Christian spirituality. Now, there is a lot of mountain underneath that summit, but that's the summit. And how this happens, how we become like Christ in order to be God glorifying, world healing, brokenness redeeming, joy-finding, love-giving Christians. The presence of Christ in the world is called spiritual formation. And so now we can put Maul Holland's definition up there. Spiritual formation is the process of being conformed to the image of Christ for the sake of others. Now there's lots that we could unpack here, but I just want to unpack this one word process. That somehow, over the long course of our lives, that these things combine. Probably more, but at least these things. These things combine. God's action combines with our willingness, combines with our circumstances, what is actually happening in our lives, and our response to those circumstances, and the power of the Holy Spirit, these things weave together, and we are changed. We become different people. Let me do that list again. That somehow, over the long course of our lives, God's action, him doing stuff, our willingness, our our willingness to say yes to him doing stuff, our circumstances and how we respond to them, and the power of the Holy Spirit weave together and we are changed, and we come become more and more like Jesus over time. Now, this is going to be disappointing for us who want perfection now. Maybe disappointing at the same time, maybe liberating. Any of you ever beat up on yourself because you're not there yet? Right? I mean, who of us hasn't? Right? Who of us hasn't? So, this is from Ma Holland working with this word process. We live in an instant gratification culture. Just sit near a vending machine and watch what happens when people don't get the product they paid for. By the way, there's one of those machines up there, we can try it out. They will begin to complain to anyone handy or even begin to abuse the machine. And this silly example illustrates a deeper dimension of our culture. We have generally come to expect immediate returns on our investments of time and resources. If we have a need, we have only to find the right place or the product or the procedure and invest the right amount of time and energy and resources, and our need will be met. It's not surprising that we, as members of an instant gratification culture, tend to become impatient with any process of development that requires of us more than a limited involvement of our time and energies. If we do not receive the desired results almost instantly, we become impatient and frustrated. Often our spiritual quest becomes a search for the right technique or the right method or the perfect program that we can that will immediately deliver the right results of spiritual maturity and wholesale. Or we try to create the atmosphere for the right spiritual moment, that perfect setting in which God can touch us into instantaneous wholeness. If only we can find the right trick, the right book, or the right guru, or go to the right retreat, or hear the right sermon, instantly we will be transformed into a new person at a new level of spirituality and wholeness. It's not that the right techniques or right methods and right programs are not beneficial, nor should we minimize the importance of transforming spiritual moments on our pilgrimage. All of these are important, but there is something about the nature of spiritual wholeness and the growth toward wholeness that is very much a process. Amen? This makes sense, doesn't it? I mean, are you at all like me? That yeah, for many, many years, gosh, you know, finally here's the book. Or, you know, here's the guru, right? Here's the right teacher, or here's the retreat. That if I can just nail this down, then it will all be done, right? Except that that's just generally not the way that God chooses to do that. Spiritual formation, becoming like Christ in order to be the presence of Christ in the world is a process. And so you say, well, yeah, well, what about the Apostle Paul? I mean, he got zapped on the road to Damascus. Well, yeah, he got zapped and converted. But then, like I already said, um, for the rest of his life, for the rest of his life, his conversion experience, as opposed to making Paul in a moment everything that he would become, rather, it was the experience that formed the bedrock for his formation over his lifetime. And so you get this sense when you try to fill in the gaps of those 18 to 20 years when we really don't know exactly what's going on in Paul's life. Um, three years of them were spent alone, actually, in study. Um, but when you look at Galatians 1 and 2, where he's listing out how long it took from his conversion to when he was actually sent off by the apostles, you get the sense that his formation took a long time. Um and it wasn't, it didn't, it didn't all just happen then, that he needed to understand. And that there were things that even Paul needed to grow through and grow in. You get this sense from Peter, right? Certainly, certainly in the Gospels, but but you know, Peter's making some pretty substantive mistakes, even into Acts, isn't he? Um, it's like, show me the Bible character that didn't go through a pretty long process of formation to where they needed to be changed, but when they were changed over time, it's just the way that it happens. So for a Christian, spiritual formation refers to growing in the Christian life from being, to use Jesus' phrase, born again, um, to then towards what the New Testament writers call maturity. So Paul states his own desire in Colossians 1 as his desire is to present everyone mature in Christ. I love this. Paul's goal was not simply to convert as many people as he could, although that was a goal for him, but he says that he earnestly desires to present everyone mature in Christ. And that's a big difference from a baby Christian. So I've got a quote to you here from C.S. Lewis. Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else. The church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ and to make them little Christ. And if they are not doing that, all the cathedrals and clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose. That's pretty good strong. And also different, right? I mean, most oftentimes in conservative Christian circles, of which I'm in one, um, when you ask the question, why did Jesus die, you get an answer about sin, you know, and salvation. Um you don't get as much, or or you get something about, you know, so that we so that we could conquer death. You get something about eternal life. What we don't get so much though is this thing that is that happens in the middle of when we're converted and forgiven of our sin, and to when we will be with the Lord forever in eternal life in a physical sort of way. And that is the process of us becoming Christ. That's why Christ died on the cross was so that we could become like him in our own unique ways. So I'm not going to spend any time on this really, um, but there is quite a bit of time that we could spend on it. So it's a wonderful, beautiful study, and maybe I would just commend it to you. Um, and that is to, you know, there's a lot of different images and metaphors that over the centuries of church history um that people have employed to talk about what is this process like? Like what's a great image for this process. Um there is, of course, the great metaphor of the journey, the spiritual journey. That spiritual development is like a journey, right? There is a great metaphor that employs the imagery of a castle. That's from Teresa Avala. Um, or ascending a ladder. Um there's another image of a garden. An image of an ascending spiral is often used. That is kind of a long journey in the same direction where you hit similar points again and again and again, but in a different place. Does that make sense? Um in classic Christian language, um, many have understood spiritual development to be a progression from in a couple of basically four four stages that are not entirely dist, that are not entirely distinct, but distinct enough to be four different stages of awakening and purgation to illumination to union. So lots of different metaphors and language to get at what is the journey of spiritual formation. But another common image, and I think it's uh it's it's a compelling one and a simple one for spiritual development, I think it's probably the best one, and here's why, is because it's the one that is most easily extracted from the simple language of the text, from the simple language of scripture. And that is that our spiritual development, our spiritual formation is like the human life cycle. Like the human, it's a cycle of our own human development, that goes from birth to infancy and childhood, into youth, and then adulthood, and then maturity, and then death. So even when I say that, already what's clicking off in your mind, right, are places in the New Testament where those images or those words are employed, right? They're all over the place. They're all over the place. And so I'm not even gonna enumerate them because there are so many. But it's a fun study at some point to go through the language of the New Testament with looking for human life cycle imagery. Um and realizing this is actually talking about spiritual formation and spiritual development. Um and what is really, really cool about this is that it has nothing to do with our chronological age. Nothing. I've known some really old infants spiritually. And I'll tell you what, I have known some young people who are so mature it'll knock your socks off. And you know them too, don't you? Right? You've encountered these. Um each person experiences these stages in the spiritual life differently, but still there are similarities within the stages. Um, you know, that's true for us as humans. It's also true in our spiritual life. All of us, you know, will go through the various stages of life, and we each have our own experience of it, and it's different, although it's kind of similar. So, yeah, you know, you had your own experience of adolescence, so did I. They were probably both a little awkward in their own unique ways, you know? Um, but it's also true in the spiritual life. We go through these stages and each of us have them, but we experience them, we experience them differently. Um and all as in this uh physical development of our bodies and lives, there are transitions, right? Adolescence being one. Also, there are transitions in the spiritual life between the various stages. And this is really important to note that when we are transitioning in the spiritual life, in our spiritual formation, from one stage of maturity to the next stage of maturity, um, anybody who's ever gone from childhood into teenage years through adolescence, or anybody who's gone from like midlife into the next season of life, what are those transitions like? Are those comfortable? Are they fun? Are they pretty? Um Are they disorienting? Can they be scary? Are they unfamiliar? Yeah. And um oftentimes what happens, um oftentimes what happens is that when we are going through transitions of spiritual growth, we we think that something must be wrong because all of a sudden things are disorienting or disconcerting or unfamiliar. What actually might be happening is that we're actually growing. It's very much like it's very much like my 10-year-old son who now is going through a you know a shoe size every six months. Um y'all know how much shoes cost? It's like the biggest racket. I mean, anyway. Um so yeah, so what happens if Liam, you know, I think he's wearing a, I don't know what size he's wearing, let's just say he's wearing a size six right now. You know, what happens if he tries to fit into a size six a year from now? It's gonna hurt, right? It's gonna be uncomfortable. Why? Precisely because he's grown. And what worked for him in terms of clothing is not what's working for him now. And as opposed to him being upset with himself that his new shoes don't fit, or that it or that his old shoes don't fit, thinking that there's something wrong with him, what's he need to do? He needs to get some new shoes, right? He needs to explore the new shoes. And it's an invitation to him to grow. And so this is really important because the the early, you know, like the early Christian life to the mid-Christian life, that transition is really hard, and then the midlife, the midlife crisis of a Christian life is really hard. And I'll tell you what, a lot of times what happens is that this is this this is what's going on when people feel like God is letting me down, therefore God must not be real. What's happening is that they are growing in their understanding of who God is, but a lot of people at that point will ditch the faith. And it's a bummer. Because they don't have somebody to walk alongside them that is that is helping them understand who they thought God was versus who God is. Um and uh and what happens is that sometimes um you know an immature Christian faith can actually translate into no Christian faith. Um, so all that to say is that this is really helpful imagery, isn't it? When we think about our own spiritual development. And so our goal is not to basically um you know jumpstart from being an infant to maturity, because it's actually not really possible. Our goal is to be faithful on whatever the journey is that God has us on, attentive and diligent to try to do the things that are gonna help us grow. Yeah, you know, so the what we what I feed my children, what my wife feeds our children, really matters to their growth, and it's the very same thing for us. So I realize this is over, I realize this is very simple. Right? Amen. Makes sense. Really, really helpful way of understanding our own spiritual formation, to think about the questions, well, um, you know, where am I? What does that mean I need in order to grow? Um so. And then as we've said, spiritual formation to what end? Spiritual formation to this end, to be who we are, that is the body of Christ, the presence of Christ, and who God has actually made us to be, to be who we are in our own unique ways, wherever God puts us, in whatever context we happen to be. Today. Today. Filled with the Spirit to be the body of Christ, bringing the kingdom of God, which we talked about this morning. So I just want to close with a story of a friend of mine, um, and then a quote. Um So my friend Rich, who actually is uh he's actually chairman of the of the board of our nonprofit Coracle. Um Rich Dean uh and has been you know senior warden at our church, um, still serves on the vestry. Uh, decades ago, literally, he was packing up his car from UVA on his way, I'm sorry, from Vanderbilt, getting ready to go to law school, and a well-intentioned friend came up to him and uh pleaded with him, pleaded with Rich to, with tears, to abandon his law school plans in order to go into full-time Christian collegiate ministry. I think it was like Campus Crusade or something like that. And that's a good ministry, but you know, you know, don't go to law school, rather join this full-time Christian ministry. And then he said, and I quote, or else you'll be throwing your life away. Well, Rich fortunately didn't listen, and he did go into law school, and uh he would go on to become uh an internationally recognized lawyer with specific expertise in international government and corrupt government and business corruption cases. And in other words, what he goes around the world doing is prosecuting governments and businesses when they are rife with corruption. So going through the whole process of figuring out what's the paper trail and what's the money trail and who's responsible and how do those people get brought to justice? Because, as you know, when there's corruption at the highest levels, who ultimately suffers? Right? The people on the lowest levels. It always happens that way. Um, and then precisely because of his platform and his expertise, um, he served and led on more boards than I can count, including our own. Um, and so what I love about Rich is that in his vocation, in his job, um he is he is doing something that is um very clearly easy to see that it's an aspect of the kingdom of God. He is doing justice, right? Where the kingdom of God is, there is justice. And there are a lot of ways to pursue justice. And being a good lawyer is one way to pursue justice. It's not the only way, but it's a real way. It's a real way. In fact, I would say it's probably the standard way. Um I had Rich, we were doing a sermon series on justice at the Falls Church a few years ago, and I was able to get Rich uh preaching a sermon on justice at the Falls Church Anglican, which felt like a coup, you know, a lawyer, a lawyer in the pulpit. It just felt right somehow. Um so I visited Rich once in his office, um, and he was talking about the various ways that he had tried to be a Christian in that place. And you know, he'd had the Bible on his desk, um, you know, in case somebody noticed the Bible and said, Hey, why is that on your desk? And he had had um you know, had verses that were taped to his wall, and again, trying just more for others even than for himself, I think. And um, anything that would say to somebody who walked in his office um you know that this is a person of Christian faith. And and he talked about how after a while that just didn't feel compelling. It's like it began to felt thin and uh and not quite enough. And is there any, is there more? Is there more to me being a Christian in my workplace than trying to have a WWJD bracelet, you know, um, or whatever the equivalent is. And um, and he wanted to know what the next thing was. And so we talked about this and I likened it to this. And I said, you know, Rich, there are two ways, there are two ways of bringing light into your office. One is basically to have a flashlight in your pocket, you know, um, and you're able to pull it out and shine it every now and then when you want to bring light into your office. That's a way of bringing light into your office, right? Um, but the other way, the other way, is to be light in your office in such a way that God lives so much in us that we radiate. Now you remember those words that describe Mother Teresa at the beginning? A shining, a radiance, a luminosity. That's what I was talking about. And that's another way of bringing light into the office. And um uh, you know, depending on the person, I will sometimes wear a collar when I visit somebody in their office, or I won't. It just depends on what they want, you know, I'm happy to do either way. I don't, I don't find it particularly comfortable, but you know, if it serves them somehow to have a priest come to meet them in the office, then I'm happy to do that. So I have my collar on that day, and um, and I, as I was leaving Rich's office, I said, Hey Rich, would you do me a favor? Um, as we leave your office and walk down the hall, would you just kind of quietly sob? You know, just just you know, that would just be great. You know, if you could just pretend to cry a little bit, that'd be really cool. And uh it might, you know, might make people wonder what's going on. He didn't, um, but I thought it'd be kind of fun. Um But as we were leaving the office, I finally said goodbye to him at the elevator, and um, and a co-worker of his, um, a co-worker of his raced up to me before I got in the elevator, and he basically made my point. He said, he said to me, outside of Rich's hearing, he said, You have no idea the difference that Rich Dean makes in this place. He said, quote, and I quote, it's like Christ himself is working here. Pretty high praise, right? And he went on to talk about just how much Rich's presence, let alone the fact that he's a really good lawyer. And that matters. What makes a professional product Christian or not Christian? It's whether or not it's any good. Right? That's all Dorothy Sayers. You know, that the only Christian table is a is a is a is a table that is made excellently. Interesting. Anyway, sorry. Um so he's, you know, so Rich is a great lawyer, but the guy went on to say, you have no idea how how much Rich's presence has been helpful to him personally, professionally, and then also as a believer, and how much he had seen Rich become basically a pastoral presence in his lawyer's office by virtue of who he was and by virtue of his character. So here you have a guy who, you know, radiating light in his office, and on an individual level, bearing witness to Christ that way, while at the same time doing justice as a professional, right? Bringing the kingdom of God through doing kingdom action. Um, and I guarantee you, I guarantee you, if Rich were to walk through that door right now, um, and uh he would hear me talking about him, or would hear maybe some things that you guys might relay that I had said about him, he would shake his head, he wouldn't even know what you're talking about. You know? He's like, uh uh, I don't see it that way, but thank you. It's amazing. Because of course, the more we become like Christ, right? The less of a big deal it is, right? Because it's not about us, it's about Jesus. And uh if if you any of these people that I've ever mentioned or that I mentioned this morning that you know who are like Christ to you, I guarantee you every one of them is humble. None of them think they're that big of a deal. Does that make sense? You've experienced this, right? It's the same way with rich. Um so there you have a man who has had a changed life for change in the world. Here you have a man who is really well formed spiritually so that he can be very active for the kingdom in both his job and in his witness and in his larger service. So I asked once, I asked Rich once, um, I said, so how often do you enter your law office in the morning with the notion I was prepared, I was prepping for a sermon, so I need an illustration. He said, How often do you, how often do you walk into your office and think to yourself as you walk through the door, I'm the priest here today? Because that's good theology, right? There's a lot we could say about that. And he said, I don't know, I don't know, maybe two, two out of five. And I was stunned. I was absolutely stunned that there was somebody in our congregation who conscientiously thought about their vocation as a priest in a law office as he walked through the door. And Rich thought that that wasn't too good. He said, What? You're just, you know, it's like two out of five, it's batten 400. I said, Yeah, but in baseball, that's really good, you know. Um, but but just a beautiful, a beautiful image, isn't it, for us to be those who God has called to be his people in the world, doing his work in the world, so that he maintains his witness in the world. So to be the body of Christ, to be the redemptive presence in the midst of pain, wherever you are, with power and the presence of God in your unique way. Spiritual formation for kingdom action, changed lives for a changed world. Let's close with this quote from N.T. Wright, and then we'll pray and have some lunch. And this afternoon we're gonna regather, we'll kind of drill down a little bit into the okay, so so what? How? Thanks, thanks, mystic boy. Can you get, you know, can you give me something concrete actually? So, uh, so this is uh again, NT right. The more we find out about Jesus, and particularly about his death and his resurrection, the more we are then energized by the Spirit to reveal God's love to the world. In John chapter 20, Jesus breathes on the disciples and he says to them, As the Father has sent me, so I send you. Receive the Holy Spirit. And suddenly we see the whole vista of what God did in Jesus through his healing and his suffering, through his parables, his celebrations, and ultimately his agony. And with that, we discover that the story of Jesus' ministry is not only the story of what he did in history, but it encompasses also the vocation that comes to us in the present, that we should be in the power of the Spirit, the presence of Jesus for the whole world. And this discovery brings the most remarkable joy and the most remarkable sorrow that this is our vocation to take up our cross and be Jesus for the whole world, living with the joy and the sorrow woven into the pattern of our days. And all God's people said, Amen. God, thank you for this calling, thank you for this gift. Just ask that you would once again this day send your Holy Spirit into us and amongst us that we might live into it and be faithful to it. You are a good God. You have loved us, and we thank you. Thank you for family and fellowship and for food. We receive it. In your name. Amen.

Drew Masterson: 53:48

Thanks so much for listening to For the Journey. We hope you'll join us again next week, and in the meantime, you can explore past episodes and see what we're up to at in thecoracle.org and on social media at in the coracle. If you've been blessed by what you just heard, please subscribe, as we'll be releasing new episodes each week. Please also rate and review this show and share it with others who might be blessed by it. For the journey is made possible by the generous support of our Coracle partners, the wonderful men and women who choose to support this ministry through their prayers and financial gifts. If you are one of our partners and are listening, we are so, so grateful for you. If you would like to join us as a sustaining partner, you can set up a monthly donation of any amount at in thecoracle.org slash support. The link is in the show notes. Our growing community of partners gets access to tailor-made resources, gifts, and events, and we would love for you to be a part of that. Our theme song is Mystery Hymn from our friends at Lowland Hum. Please give them a listen wherever you get your music. And so, friends, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen, and we will see you on the journey.

Speaker 1: 55:14

This old mystery will let me go. Let me spend mine full life by sweat old showing.