{"id":1304,"date":"2010-12-21T12:38:54","date_gmt":"2010-12-21T12:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/2010\/12\/a-normal-christian-life--part-seven.html"},"modified":"2010-12-21T12:38:54","modified_gmt":"2010-12-21T12:38:54","slug":"a-normal-christian-life-part-seven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/12\/a-normal-christian-life-part-seven.html","title":{"rendered":"A Normal Christian Life—- Part Seven"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Thumbnail<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

I used to have a
\ncolleague at Asbury who said that when he was a teenager he came to the altar
\nin repentance so many times, and was born again so many times, he had stretch
\nmarks on his soul!   <\/span>Whatever else you
\nsay about the new birth, if it is genuinely the new birth, it only happens once
\nto a person, at the beginning of his or her Christ life.  <\/span>It does not happen again and again and
\nagain.   <\/span>You can no more be ‘a little bit
\nborn again’ than you can be ‘a little bit born’ in the first place.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Near
\nthe beginning of his sermon on the ‘Marks of the New Birth’ John Wesley makes
\nunequivocally clear that conversion is a work of God.  <\/span>Quoting John 1.12-13, he says  <\/span>“we
\nmust “become the sons of God, …believe on his name; [becoming sons] which were
\nborn,” when they believed, “not of blood, nor of the will of the
\nflesh,” not by natural generation, “nor of the will of man,”
\nlike those children adopted by men, in whom no inward change is thereby
\nwrought, “but of God.”<\/b> 
\n<\/span>Wesley thus stresses that the inward change that happens to a person
\nthat makes them a believer happens through the work of God not through human
\nwill.  <\/span>God is the agent of initial
\nspiritual formation which we call conversion or the new birth, we are not.  <\/span>God in the person of the Holy Spirit is also
\nthe primary ongoing agent of spiritual formation, we are not.  <\/span>It’s a matter of our co-operating with what
\nGod is already doing in the body of Christ, and in us as individuals as
\nwell.  <\/span>In fact, as much as anything, it
\nhas to do with our getting out of the way
\nof the Holy Spirit, <\/i>ceasing to quench or grieve the Spirit in our lives,
\nbut rather opening ourselves up to the Spirit’s renovating, gifting, character
\nforming powers. <\/span><\/p>\n

            <\/span> <\/span>When Wesley talks
\nabout our getting out of the way of the work of God in our lives, he even calls
\nit ‘a renouncing of self’.  <\/span>Too many
\ntimes, modern spiritual formation literature, with its indebtedness to modern
\npsychology, presents spiritual formation as a series of things we can do to
\nimprove our sense of self-worth as a Christian, or it presupposes the
\nimportance of having a healthy sense of self and self-importance in order to
\ngrow in Christ.  <\/span>While I would not want
\nto say this is 100% wrong, I would say it is mostly wrong.  <\/span> <\/span>Here
\nis how Wesley describes things: <\/span><\/p>\n

  <\/span>“The
\ntrue, living, Christian faith, which whosoever hath, is born of God, is not
\nonly an assent, an act of the understanding; but a disposition, which God hath
\nwrought in his heart; “a sure trust and confidence in God, that, through
\nthe merits of Christ, his sins are forgiven, and he reconciled to the favour of
\nGod.” This implies, that a man first renounce himself; that, in order to
\nbe “found in Christ,” to be accepted through him, he totally rejects
\nall “confidence in the flesh;” that, “having nothing to
\npay,” having no trust in his own works or righteousness of any kind, he
\ncomes to God as a lost, miserable, self-destroyed, self-condemned, undone,
\nhelpless sinner; as one whose mouth is utterly stopped, and who is altogether
\n“guilty before God.” Such a sense of sin, (commonly called despair,
\nby those who speak evil of the things they know not,) together with a full
\nconviction, such as no words can express, that of Christ only cometh our
\nsalvation, and an earnest desire of that salvation, must precede a living
\nfaith, a trust in Him, who “for us paid our ransom by his death, and
\nfulfilled the law of his life.” This faith then, whereby we are born of
\nGod, is “not only a belief of all the articles of our faith, but also a
\ntrue confidence of the mercy of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

            <\/span>As usual, Wesley does not mince words.  <\/span>Spiritual formation exercises without
\nrepentance of sin availeth not, says our spiritual forebear.  <\/span>That deep trust in God that a true believer
\nhas is something wrought in the inner life of the believer by God himself in
\nthe person of his Spirit.  <\/span>In order to be
\n‘found in Christ’ we have to first ‘renounce ourselves’. Notice that Wesley
\ndoes not say we must renounce or give up some
\nthings<\/i>, like giving up chocolate for Lent! 
\n<\/span>No, it is ‘ourselves’<\/i> that we
\nmust renounce.  <\/span>Jesus of course says the
\nsame thing— ‘if anyone would come after me they must deny themselves (not
\nmerely deny themselves something) <\/i>take
\nup their own crosses and follow me.’  
\n<\/span>The beginning of spiritual formation comes with a clear sense of our own
\nsin and guilt before God.    <\/span>Too little
\nspiritual formation even talks about sin and the way it gets in the way of
\nbeing conformed to the image of Christ, but think about it for a moment.   <\/span>Christ was the sinless one.  <\/span>Wouldn’t spiritual formation that has the aim
\nof Christ-likeness have as one of its major tasks dealing with sin in the life
\nof the believer?    <\/span>We have come to such
\na sorry place in American culture, that we think we can be ‘spiritual’ without
\nbeing repentant of our sins, reconciled to God, and on the path of conformity
\nto the image of Christ.  <\/span>Indeed, bumper
\nstickers are popping up everywhere which say things like “I’m spiritual, not
\nreligious”.   <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

            <\/span>Of course part of the problem in America these days is
\nthat we have ceased to be an honor and shame culture,  <\/span>and even the church has in too many cases
\nbecome part of the ‘feel good’ self-actualizing culture.  <\/span>I never will forget the shock of sitting on
\nthe platform in the Crystal cathedral next to Dr. Schuller with the choir
\nsinging that great Isaac Watts tune ‘When I Survey the Wondrous Cross’ when to
\nmy dismay Schuller handed me his bulletin where he had underlined the hymn
\nphrase ‘and pour contempt on all my pride’ and next to the word ‘pride’ he had
\nwritten NO!  <\/span>and beside that he wrote,
\n‘pride in self is a good thing’.   <\/span>Mr.
\nWesley thought otherwise.  <\/span>When a culture
\nloses its sense of sin and shame, it loses its understanding of true honor and
\nsalvation.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

            <\/span>In that wonderful movie, ‘Amazing Grace’  <\/span>about William Wilberforce and his mentor John
\nNewton, there is a very powerful scene where these two men are meeting and
\ndiscussing vital things, and Newton then says ‘These two things I know. That I
\nam a great sinner, and that Christ is a great savior.”  <\/span>Here was a man who knew the need for
\nrepentance, full whole-hearted repentance, for he had once been a captain of a
\nslave ship and had been party to the enslaving of hundreds and hundreds of
\nAfricans.  <\/span>When Christ invaded his life,
\nhe not only became a minister of Christ, he spent much of the rest of his life
\nrepenting of his many sins.  <\/span>Those who do
\nnot have a strong sense of sin and guilt, hardly understand the need for the
\nmercy of God, hardly grasp that salvation is not a self-help or spiritual tune
\nup program, it is a radical rescue which must involve our denying ourselves or
\nas Wesley puts it ‘renouncing ourselves’.<\/span><\/p>\n

            <\/span>What happens to the new convert when the spiritual
\nformation of conversion invades a person’s life?  <\/span>What is the first spiritual fruit of the
\nSpirit changing us?   <\/span>Wesley has no doubt
\nabout what it is—<\/span><\/p>\n

An immediate and constant fruit of
\nthis faith whereby we are born of God, a fruit which can in no wise be
\nseparated from it, no, not for an hour, is power over sin; — power over
\noutward sin of every kind; over every evil word and work; for wheresoever the
\nblood of Christ is thus applied, it “purgeth the conscience from dead
\nworks;” — and over inward sin; for it purifieth the heart from every
\nunholy desire and temper. This fruit of faith St. Paul has largely described,
\nin the sixth chapter of his Epistle to the Romans. “How shall we,”
\nsaith he, “who” by faith “are dead to sin, live any longer therein”
\n“Our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be
\ndestroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” — “Likewise,
\nreckon ye yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus
\nChrist our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign” even “in your mortal
\nbody,” “but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from
\nthe dead.” “For sin shall not have dominion over you. — God be
\nthanked, that ye were the servants of sin, — but being made free,” — the
\nplain meaning is, God be thanked that though ye were, in time past, the
\nservants of sin, yet now — “being free from sin, ye are become the
\nservants of righteousness.”  <\/span>  <\/span> <\/span><\/i>  <\/span>  <\/span>   <\/span>   <\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

            <\/span>The first great effect of spiritually being changed is
\npower over sin, both inward and outward sin.  
\n<\/span>The old self has been crucified, and is buried with Christ in baptism
\n(Rom. 6), behold the new has come to past.  
\n<\/span>One of the real differences between spiritual formation discussions in
\nthe Wesleyan Way and some other Protestant discussions of spiritual formation
\nis that Wesleyans do not believe
\nChristians are still in the bondage to sin.<\/i> 
\n<\/span>They believe that the Spirit has set us free from the principle of sin
\nand death (Rom. 8.1-2).  <\/span>For freedom
\nChrist has set us free, so we need no longer dwell in the past.   <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

John
\nWesley was quite convinced that we must take 1 John 3.9 in complete
\nearnestness. ‘Whoever is born of God does not sin’. Wesley cautions in this self-same
\nsermon on the New Birth, that that text should not be amended by adding the
\nterm ‘habitually’ as if it read ‘Whoever is born of God doesn’t sin with
\nregularity’.  <\/span>Wesley however defines sin
\nmore narrowly than in some places in Scripture. 
\n<\/span>Wesley means conscious willful sin whether inward or outward sin.  <\/span>He does not mean sins of omissions, or
\naccidental sins, and the like.  <\/span>His point
\nis that we have power over conscious willful sin, and can avoid it by the power
\nof the Spirit. <\/span><\/p>\n

Wesley
\nbelieves that what begins to happen at conversion is that the peace, hope, and
\nlove of God begins to fill the human heart.  <\/span>Not only does a person gain confidence that he
\nor she is a child of God, in addition to that settled confidence comes a sense
\nthat one is at peace with God as well and so one has hope for the future, and
\none is able to love God and one’s neighbor and one has the joy of the Spirit.  <\/span>The spiritual formation of the fruit of the
\nSpirit is what we must turn to in the next chapter.  <\/span>But here there is still more to mine from
\nthis sermon of benefit to our study.  
\n<\/span>Wesley notes that in that great chapter in Romans, Rom. 8, which is
\nfilled with the discussion of the Spirit, one of the things that happens when
\nthe Spirit enters the believer’s life is it enables and empowers their prayer
\nlife and of course prayer is one of the main disciplines discussed in modern
\nspiritual formation literature. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span>“Ye have received the Spirit of Adoption,
\nwhereby we cry, Abba, Father!” Ye, as many as are the sons of God, have, in
\nvirtue of your sonship, received that selfsame Spirit of Adoption, whereby we
\ncry, Abba, Father: We, the Apostles, Prophets, Teachers, (for so the word may
\nnot improperly be understood,) we, through whom you have believed, the
\n“ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.” As we
\nand you have one Lord, so we have one Spirit: As we have one faith, so we have
\none hope also. We and you are sealed with one “Spirit of promise,”
\nthe earnest of your and of our inheritance: The same Spirit bearing witness
\nwith your and with our spirit, “that we are the children of God.”
\n(Rom. 8:14-16).  <\/span> <\/span>    <\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

So
\nclose is the connection between the activity of the Spirit in the believer and
\nthe activity and response of the believer to God, that Paul says here it is the
\nSpirit by which we cry Abba Father. That is, we can’t even say the Lord’s
\nprayer, and mean it, without the prompting and empowering internal work of the
\nSpirit.  <\/span>We are dependent on the Spirit
\nnot just for our character formation, but for the unction to function as one
\nwho boldly address God as Abba. <\/span><\/p>\n

What
\nwe have seen in this essay is that the root of spiritual formation, the
\nbeginning of that process, comes at conversion, and that the Spirit provides us
\nwith all that is necessary not just to begin that process, but to continue it,
\neven when it comes to overcoming sinful inclinations and even when it comes to
\nprayer.  <\/span>We have stressed in this chapter
\nand the last as strongly as we could that salvation is into a body of
\nbelievers, that once we are born again, we are baptized by the Spirit into the
\nbody of Christ.  <\/span>Spiritual formation in
\nthe primary sense happens in that way and in that context.  <\/span>And we also stressed that conversion is not
\nprimarily about Jesus being incorporated into our lives as ‘our personal Jesus’
\nbut rather about our being incorporated in to Christ,  <\/span>becoming ‘in Christ’  <\/span>becoming a part of a living organism, not an
\norganization. And that organism is called the body of Christ.   <\/span>We will explore more about how the Spirit
\nshapes our spiritual character in the next chapter.  <\/span>But here let us leave this discussion with a
\nword of encouragement. <\/span><\/p>\n

The
\nnormal Christian life is a busy life— busy with family, work, children, rest,
\neven play.  <\/span>It involves all sorts of
\nactivities all of which should be done to the glory of God and for our
\nedification.  <\/span>If that is our orientation,
\nthen all that we do and refrain from doing can be part of our spiritual
\nformation.  <\/span> <\/span>But more than that, we do not have to do our
\nspiritual formation alone.<\/i>  <\/span>For one thing, God is already at work in us to
\nwill and to do.  <\/span>For another thing we
\nhave been joined to a body of believers by God’s Spirit and they are all on the
\nsame pilgrimage. Spiritual formation is chiefly part of body life, part of
\nthings we do together.   <\/span>We should not be
\nputting ourselves on a guilt trip if we don’t have time to spend hours and days
\non a weekly basis doing certain kinds of supererogatory spiritual formation
\npractices like fasting, or praying all night, or endlessly journaling, or the
\nlike.   <\/span>The good news is, the Spirit
\nnever sleeps and  <\/span>is at work in us all
\nthe time and the Spirit is the primary agent of our spiritual formation we are not.<\/i>,  <\/span>In any case, what we do together with our
\nfellow Christians is already the main<\/i>
\nmeans of our spiritual formation. 
\n<\/span>Everything else should be seen as a supplement to, not as supplanting,
\nour life in the body of Christ.    <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I used to have a colleague at Asbury who said that when he was a teenager he came to the altar in repentance so many times, and was born again so many times, he had stretch marks on his soul!   Whatever else you say about the new birth, if it is genuinely the new birth,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nA Normal Christian Life- Part Seven - The Bible and Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/12\/a-normal-christian-life-part-seven.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Normal Christian Life- Part Seven - 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A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He is now considered one of the top evangelical scholars in the world, and is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies. Witherington has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell. A popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings not only in the United States but also in England, Estonia, Russia, Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia. He has also led tours to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. Witherington has written over thirty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Beliefnet website. Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&E, and the PAX Network.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/author\/bwitherington"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1304\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}