15| Four Stages Of Spiritual Growth | Patterns of Spiritual Development I

01/24/18 • 65 min

Every faith journey is different, but are there discernible patterns that are common among us? Law was good, but it could never transform It was good, it taught you that we live in a moral universe, you weren’t designed to live under a baby-sitter for ever, meant to mature and live by the Spirit It’s openness to God that transforms, Jesus is the path to openness in God, in his death, he demonstrated his absolute trust—his absolute openness—to God and to resurrection life in God

There often will come a point where you have to get off the paved path. Often times it’s suffering or some sort of inner conflict, or a product of the Christian culture that we're living in today.

“If you ask anybody, ‘What’s the activity that you had that made you who you are?’ no one says, ‘You know I had a really great vacation in Hawaii.’ No one says that. They say, ‘I had a period of struggle. I lost a loved one. I was in the Army. And that period of struggle or that period of toughness made me who I am.’”

This idea of the dark night, some period where your faith seems inadequate or your suffering makes you ask, “Where is God?” is one of the key characteristics in the pattern of spiritual development

Every journey is different, but are there discernible patterns to the spiritual journey? This can help us normalize our journey! We are not alone. “It hurts to become real” -The Velveteen Rabbit

SCRIPTURE This development is actually normalized in Scripture We are all being changed (2 Corinthians 3:18) What matters is becoming new creation

So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

Law-NT Paul: law is a baby-sitter (Galatians 3:24)

Law was good, but it could never transform It was good, it taught you that we live in a moral universe, you weren’t designed to live under a baby-sitter for ever, meant to mature and live by the Spirit It’s openness to God that transforms, Jesus is the path to openness in God, in his death, he demonstrated his absolute trust—his absolute openness—to God and to resurrection life in God Development in the nation of Israel Jesus: Kingdom of Heaven: Mustard seed NT Wright: every generation must wrestle with... “We must stop giving 16th century answers...”

PSYCHOLOGY James Fowler Stage of Faith

M. Scott Peck The Road Less Traveled http://www.whale.to/b/peck1.html -Stage I Chaotic, Antisocial Antisocial in that it’s all “me” (perhaps Hedonistic)

-Stage II Formal, Institutional, Fundamental Boundaries good Dark side: very either-or, all-or-nothing. Have difficulty explaining, or comforting when experiencing suffering.

-Stage III Skeptic, Individual, Questioner Life is more gray than previously acknowledged

-Stage IV Mystic, Communal Open to God

Notice, Every pattern or theory of development we’re going to talk about today ends in some sort of “union”

It's possible, or probable to be in more than one at once. Not linear. We may be in both or all at different times.

Exercise: In the midst of a painful thought, relationship or memory, asking God: "How can you be so good?"

There often will come a point where you have to get off the paved path. Often times it’s suffering or some sort of inner conflict, or a product of the Christian culture that we're living in today.

Every journey is different, but are there discernible patterns to the spiritual journey? This can help us normalize our journey! We are not alone. “It hurts to become real” -The Velveteen Rabbit

SCRIPTURE This development is actually normalized in Scripture We are all being changed (2 Corinthians 3:18) What matters is becoming new creation

So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

Law-NT Paul: law is a baby-sitter (Galatians 3:24)

PSYCHOLOGY James Fowler Stage of Faith

M. Scott Peck The Road Less Traveled http://www.whale.to/b/peck1.html -Stage I Chaotic, Antisocial Antisocial in that it’s all “me” (perhaps Hedonistic)

-Stage II Formal, Institutional, Fundamental Boundaries good Dark side: very either-or, all-or-nothing. Have difficulty explaining, or comforting when experiencing suffering.

-Stage III Skeptic, Individual, Questioner Life is more gray than previously acknowledged

-Stage IV Mystic, Communal Open to God

Notice, Every pattern or theory of development we’re going to talk about today ends in some sort of “union”

It's possible, or probable to be in more than one at once. Not linear. We may be in both or all at different times.

Exercise: In the midst of a painful thought, relationship or memory, asking God: "How can you be so good?"

Previous Episode

14| Salvation as Process | Gospel & Salvation VI

Intimacy with God is the process of Salvation -- we connect to Him more deeply through the process of Salvation. Salvation is more of a process than an "event" where our sins are forgiven. See Hosea, Song of Solomon, Eph 5 to see examples of intimacy with God. He's created a world where we can find Him and going deeper with Him. Paul's epistles: What God has done, who we are as a result (adopted, His children), therefore you live it out this way. This is a big difference from "works theology" something that we've been trained to live in fear of as Protestants.

We contrast between two verses that people use to defend that "certificate" of salvation vs. walking out our salvation.

Eph 1:4-5 (NLT) Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

James 1:26-27 (NLT) If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

How does "participating" in salvation change how we live? We talk about our anxieties about Works Theology, and how to engage in love for others in the way that Jesus prompts us in the gospels, and the way James 1 does.

Salvation is a relationship -- not something that we possess, but as a relationship that's transforming us.

12 Steps of Recovery are a process of sanctification or "working through salvation"... our behaviors towards others and in our life change as we lean in and accept that God is our "higher power".

Bianary perspective on Salvation-- how do we see Salvation as All or Nothing Thinking?

Review All-or-Nothing Thinking & Trauma responses to fight-or-flight experiences that train our brain (amygdala) to respond quickly, or fearfully.

More information on M. Scott Peck's Stages of Faith: http://www.whale.to/b/peck1.html

Depersonalization: when we're afraid, we turn our loved ones into "things" or thing-ify them as a threat, instead of someone who we love, or who has good and bad as part of their nature.

------------------------------------------------------ CELEBRATE RECOVERY 12 STEPS AND BIBLICAL COMPARISONS 1. We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable.

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. Romans 7:18 NIV

2. We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Philippians 2:13 NIV

3. We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1 NIV

4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. Lamentations 3:40 NIV

5. We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. James 5:16a NIV

6 We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10 NIV

7 We humbly asked Him to remove all our shortcomings.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 NIV

8 We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

Do to others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6:31 NIV

9 We made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23-24 NIV

10 We continue to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 1 Corinthians 10:12

11 We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us, and power to carry that out.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Colossians 3:16a NIV

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16| Faith + How It Grows | Patterns Of Spiritual Development II

Looking deeper at M. Scott Peck's Stages of Faith M. Scott Peck, Stages of Faith Stage I: Chaotic, Antisocial -Antisocial (not caring about community or others, but only own self-interests). Stage II: Formal, Institutional, Fundamental -Faith is part of the person’s life. -Can imagine this person giving a testimony in church. -Not only is belief the TRUTH, but the TRUTH is simple.

Stage III: Skeptic, Individual, Questioner -Life is more gray than previously acknowledged -There’s struggle here-- questioning what you thought was TRUTH, or why it was truth.

Stage IV: Mystic, Communal Community/relationship focused (see Jesus: Love God & your neighbor)

Mark 12:30-31 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

John 17:3 And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.

Brandon's interpretation: I Chaos (Antisocial/Chaotic) II Boundaries (Institutional/Formal) III Tension (Skepticism/Questioning) IV Union (Mystic, Communal)

We talk divorce, sex and love addiction, and how to engage in boundaries in the midst of life events that we can't control.

Christian worldview is about union with God in the midst of suffering.

2 Corinthians 1: 4-6 He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 5 For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. 6 Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer.

We talk about Rumspringa, an Amish + Mennonite rite of passage for adolescents.

Check out a new favorite podcast: "Stuff Jews Should Know,"

Psalm 91 If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home. For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone. You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!