Asbury Free Methodist – September 15, 2024
Isaiah 35:1-10
I usually start a new series in September. September is a great month to remind us about who we are and who we are called to be. But here it is September 15th and because had our services in parking lot and our ministry fair I’m just starting a new series now.
For the next 4 weeks I want to spend some time on how God spiritually forms us. We are all being spiritually formed. We are formed by our culture, by schools, by media, by the decisions we make and the activities we participate in. We are all spiritually formed.
The choice that you have is not whether you will be Spiritually formed. The choice that you have is what you will be spiritually formed by. I want to spend the next four week reminding you what it means to be spiritual formed by God. We also want to look at the ways that God spiritually forms us.
The definition I am going to use for Spiritual Formation is this:
Spiritual formation is the process of being conformed to the image of Christ for the sake of God, ourselves, and others. Let me say that again. Spiritual formation is a process of being conformed to the image of Christ for the sake of God, ourselves, and others.
If you can get hold of what we’re talking about in the next 4 weeks, it will give you handles on how God works and what God wants to do and why God wants to do what he wants to do in your life.
I know that there are some of you who are growing in your spiritual life. There are some of you who have plateaued. There are a few of you who are regressing and being formed by other things other than God. I am hoping that in these next 4 weeks we can give you some handles on getting back on track, staying on track, and moving forward with God.
This morning, I want to talk about the fact that spiritual formation is a process.
One of the best-selling Christian books of all time is called Pilgrim’s Progress. It is the story of a man who travels from the town of destruction to the celestial city. It is an allegory of the spiritual journey. In this journey, Christian the man’s name, encounters the swamp of depression, then he encounters the cross. He is accompanied by friends who are sometimes helpful and others who are sent to deter him from his journey. God shows up along the way. Other times he wonders where God is. Sometimes he camps too long in a certain place and puts himself in spiritual dangers that he needed not. He faces trials and persecutions and wonderful experiences along the way. But the whole idea of the book is that the Christian life is a journey.
I think many of you understand that. I know that I have used that metaphor here a number of times. It is a metaphor used by scripture.
The scripture passage that we read this morning is talking about what happens when God comes and restores his people and heals their land.
Isaiah 35:8–10 (NIV)
8 And a highway will be there;
it will be called the Way of Holiness;
it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
wicked fools will not go about on it.
9 No lion will be there,
nor any ravenous beast;
they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,
10 and those the Lord has rescued will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
There is a path that God wants to set us on. I find it interesting that in the New Testament the word “Christian” is not used very often. They refer to people who were Christians as “followers of the way.” But even in the Old Testament here in Isaiah, 400 years before Jesus, the language of “the way” is used.
Spiritual formation is a process of being conformed to the image of Christ. It is a journey we take. It is a process we submit to. And here is why it is important to know this.
We live in a world they want everything fast. There is fast food in microwavable dinners. I think that it’s great that they have raised speed limit from 100 to 110 on some of the 400 highways. I like to get to places fast. But spiritual formation, being changed into the image of Christ, is a process. It does not happen fast.
You get on this way of holiness as our scripture describes it. You engage in this process of becoming Christ like and what you find is that there are things in you need to change. We move from being self-centred to God-centred. We find that our bent towards particular sins is strong. We find that our ability to love and be gracious is challenged by people we really don’t like. We know the promises of God that he is going to give us peace enjoy and yet we find ourselves dealing with fear and worry.
And we start to think that if God is God why doesn’t he just ZAP us and change us. Why do we struggle with sin?
And the crazy thing is that sometimes he does. We have all heard testimonies of God calling somebody to quit smoking or quit drinking and instantaneously the desire for cigarettes or the alcohol was removed. That is amazing and wonderful. But if you are one of those people who are struggling with smoking or drinking or whatever it is and God doesn’t remove it instantaneously, you start to wonder what’s wrong with me.
And if you have an addiction that is hard to overcome or a besetting sin or a tendency to engage people in an unloving way and you see the pattern happenning over and over and over again, you wonder where is God.
This is where you need to know that spiritual formation is a process of being conformed to the image of Christ. We want God to come along and ZAP us and make us better. He says I will come along and walk you through this valley. We want God to fix us with a trip to the altar or a prayer done by somebody who can pray. God comes along and says my grace is sufficient for you. I am going to teach you and help you to grow in the middle of your struggle.
If you have an incorrect view of God, this is really difficult to grasp. For when you fail, and when you do the stuff you promised yourself you would never do, your human reaction is to think ”how can God love me?” However, the reality is that in your deepest places of darkness God still loves you.
Our human reaction is to think that we need to somehow become better to reach out to God. And when we have blown it, we feel like we need to do penance. If we beat up on ourselves enough and think badly of ourself enough then maybe God will get the idea they were truly sorry and that he’ll accept us back.
God comes along and says, “repentance is important,” but penance is not required. I paid for your sin on the cross. Will you sit with me in the middle of your sin and come to me as you are? When you do you will find out about my grace. When you do, I am going to teach you the process of change.”
There is no question that God wants us to be holy. There is no question that God wants us to be Christlike. But most of us feel like we need to take it upon ourselves to become holy, to become Christlike.
I grew up believing that being a better Christian was about having better self-discipline. Now there is a place for self-control. It is one of the fruit of the Spirit. But you cannot make yourself more loving. You can do actions of love but you cannot change your heart. The peace that God wants to give you is different than the peace that the world has. You cannot conjure it up. You can put yourself in places of peace, but your heart will only find rest in God alone.
What happens when we take it upon ourselves to be Christ like and holy, we inevitably become legalistic and moralistic. We make rules for ourselves and then try to live up to those rules. I have met too many of those kinds of people. What I have often found is that they are morally upright but not loving. They know the law, but they know little about grace. They follow the rules until they can’t. Then they make up all kinds of justifications for not following the rules. They seem to be judgmental and sour. That is what happens when we take it upon ourselves to be Christlike and holy.
What God wants to do in our lives is change our hearts. This will in turn change our actions. But heart change is a process. It is a journey. It is something that you cannot do apart from God And in most cases, it is not something that God will do apart from your cooperation.
Here is what I have found. I often know what needs to happen, but I have no idea how to make it happen or where to start. I have also found that often I will think one part of my life needs to be worked on, but God will direct me to a different part of my life. He will direct me to cooperate with him by working on that. Often judgmental people and sometimes well-meaning people will tell you what part of your life should be worked on. But God may have a different plan.
It is not wrong to work on a particular part of your life, whether it be being gracious or controlling your tongue. Whether it be pleasing God rather than people or learning to love or trust or forgive. But spiritual formation is a process, and we want to make sure that we are working with God in this process.
In my younger days I used to lift weights. I would see guys in the gym pressing a barbell with two or three plates on either end. I would think, I would like to be able to do that. But going from lifting one plate on either end of the barbell to lifting two or three plates is a process. It does not matter how much you think you should be able to lift. You start where you are at. It doesn’t matter how loving or kind or peaceful you think you should be. You start where you are at.
God only works with reality. If you have this image of what you should be and start with that, God doesn’t work with that fantasy. He only works with you where you are at. So be real with God.
***
You don’t expect a one-year-old to run a marathon. You don’t expect someone in grade 2 to do calculus. But so often in our spiritual lives we see the goal of where we want to be, but we forget that spiritual formation is a process. It is a process where God changes our heart so that we can do what we’re called to do.
***
There are some dynamics in this process that I think it is helpful to remember. When we’re growing up the 1st 20 to 25 years of our lives are about learning things. The primary feature of our life is school. Then we get into the workforce and find that we have more things to learn. We intuitively get the process of learning. You need to go to elementary school before you can go to high school, and you need to go to high school before you can go to university. There are some people who think that when school is done, they are done with the process of learning. There are others who choose to be lifelong learners.
It is the same with the spiritual formation process. When we first come to Christ, there is a lot to learn. When that time corresponds with times in our life where we feel like we need help we tend to be very intentional about spiritual formation. When your coping mechanisms are barely adequate for the life you are living, when you are dealing with stuff that feels over your head, then we have a tendency to run to God. We tell God how much we need him. We learn and he changes us. We learn that he is faithful and good. We learn that we can trust him. As we learn to trust him, our hearts change. Our lives change.
However, I have noticed that there is a tendency to disengage from the process of spiritual formation in our 40s and 50s. It is usually around that time where we come to accept that life is what it is. We can see the trajectory of our careers. We see our family life for what it is. Unless something out of the ordinary happens, we start to believe that life is what it is. It is right around that time where many people choose to disengage from the process of spiritual formation.
It is like quiet quitting the spiritual formation process. We still show up at church. We still talk to our Christian friends. But our passion for God has left. We go through the motions but we have disengaged from the spiritual formation process.
I tell you that because a lot of you are past 50. I know that there are a lot of you who are still allowing God to change you and form you into his image. But I suspect that there are some of you who have disengaged the process. I’m not saying that you’ve stopped believing in Jesus. I’m not saying that you stop being a Christian. But you have stopped looking for God to be at work in your life. When that happens, your life will often feel grey.
Like I said before whether or not being spiritually formed by God you are you are being spiritually formed. It is dangerous to live life in the grey. For our world continues to form us in ways that are not always good and sometimes very destructive. If that is where you find yourself let me urge you to consciously repent and say God, I’m sorry I have disengaged from you. Lord, give me the faith to believe that you can do more in me than I have seen. Help me to know how you want me to cooperate with you right now.
Isaiah 35:8–10 (NIV)
8 And a highway will be there;
it will be called the Way of Holiness;
it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
wicked fools will not go about on it…
But only the redeemed will walk there,
10 and those the Lord has rescued will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
The band Petra sings a song called the road to Zion.
There is a way that leads to life
The few that find it never die
Past mountain peaks graced white with snow
The way grows brighter as it goes
There is a road inside of you
Inside of me there is one too
No stumbling pilgrim in the dark
The road to Zion’s in your heart
The road to Zion’s in your heart
It is the beginning of a New Church year. If you are not fully engaged in the process of being spiritually formed by God – I am calling you to repent and to reengage.
Repent and ask the question, God what do you want me to do. You may want to join us on Wednesday nights as I teach on spiritual formation. You may want to engage with God with some other people to talk about how we become Christlike.
Here is what I have come to believe. God has more for us than we know. He wants you to engage in the process of becoming Christlike for the sake of God, yourself and others. Will you do it?