Category: Teachings

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Following Jesus by the Practice of Prayer – Part One

Our vision is to become like Christ, to be “The Beloved” we already are in Christ.
Our highest value in pursuing this vision is to follow Jesus in relational intimacy.
We do this by engaging in daily practices that are “means of grace” in our spiritual (trans)formation toward Christlikeness. These spiritual exercises should not be a burden, rather a joyful means of spending focused time with the Lover of our soul.
We all need mutual support and accountability in two’s/three’s friendships to help us in this life journey: Do you meet regularly to ask the 5 questions of the circled-triangle?

To live our highest value of following Jesus in relational intimacy we practice…
The Word: we imbibe/meditate on God’s Self-revelation – the Way, The Truth, The Life.
Worship: our response to this God is surrender in acts of adoration and a life of service.
Prayer: this naturally leads to growing relationship with God – the practice of prayer.
Holy Spirit Ministry: resulting in the practice of the leadership and ministry of the Spirit.

We ask why pray? What is prayer as a daily practice for spiritual formation? Next week we look at the how of prayer: how do we actually pray… daily? Continue reading Following Jesus by the Practice of Prayer – Part One

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Following Jesus by Practicing Worship Part 4: Isaiah’s Three Movements of Worship

To listen to the audio teaching, go to http://followingjesus.org.za/sermons/being-the-beloved-18-the-practice-of-worship-part-4-2/

Intro: Isaiah’s worship in the midst of political crisis

I’ve been teaching on the practice of Kingdom worship to live our highest value of following Jesus (developing intimate relationship with God): In worship, God’s Kingship in heaven and the age to come, breaks into our midst… or as we worship we enter God’s throne room and worship with all the angels and redeemed from all tribes, languages, nations (Hebrews 12:22-24, Revelation 7:9-17). Worship is the means of regular power-encounter with God, especially since Jesus inaugurated the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. But even in the Old Covenant there were such breakthroughs of Kingdom worship – seen in Isaiah 6:1f.

Isaiah was a priest doing his duty of worship when the veil between heaven and earth momentarily lifted, and he saw The Lord. In the routine of regular worship God surprises us with his presence and power – often in the midst of deep instability (“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord…”) – to restore our perspective on reality. We live in a context of international political turmoil, with war and death stalking the nations. Horrendous atrocities have recently taken place locally and internationally, leaving one very vulnerable, even fearful. Who will save us? Who’s in charge? Is there anyone we can trust? “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (read Psalm 11). Look up, see God, he’s on his throne, he’s still in charge! If so, why doesn’t he intervene? The answer… Continue reading Following Jesus by Practicing Worship Part 4: Isaiah’s Three Movements of Worship

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Following Jesus by Practicing Worship – Part Three

For the audio teaching go to http://followingjesus.org.za/sermons/being-the-beloved-17-the-practice-of-worship-part-3-2/

Recap: Our Response to God – For All God’s Worth  

This week I’m finishing what I didn’t do in my teaching last week. First to recap: God reveals him/herself as The Word in creation, in Israel and fully in Messiah Jesus. Our response to God is worship, which is acts of adoring surrender (proskyneo, to prostrate and kiss, John 4:23-24), and a daily lifestyle of service (latreuo, to serve, Romans 12:1-2). In this way we express God’s worth for all to see and know. Worship exalts God as King over us and the world (Psalm 22:3): we receive, on behalf of all created things, his Rule & Reign of Love, anticipating and embodying the future Kingdom at Jesus’ Second Coming, when God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven. That will be pure consummated worship. So, every time we worship, alone and together, we actually enter into that heavenly reality now, by faith.

What I’m describing is seen in the Old Testament, e.g. Isaiah 6:1-8f; and especially in David’s psalms, where YHWH’s Kingship (worth) is exalted in creation and covenant (e.g. Psalm 19). Psalm 95 is one of many that teach this experience of worship. It’s especially instructive for worship leaders. NOTE: a) each movement is a response to obey a call or invocation, “Come…”; and b) all three movements are body postures expressing inner convictions. Continue reading Following Jesus by Practicing Worship – Part Three

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Following Jesus by Practicing Worship – Part Two

Recap: For All God’s Worth 

To follow Jesus – to grow intimate relationship with the Father in his Son by his Spirit – we prioritize and practice devotion to God’s Word, and to Worship. God’s Word is his self-revelation to us. Our response to his self-giving disclosure is worship: the gift of our self in responding disclosure and full surrender of ALL who we are and possess, to ALL who he is and has done for us, that God may possess us in utter mutual delight. When you encounter Someone so significant, so beautiful, so majestic and all loving, you cannot but respond with awe and adoration. Think of the moments when beauty breaks through – seen in creation, in people, in the arts, in God’s goodness to you, and above all in Jesus of Nazareth – tears of appreciation and joy well up in you… that is worship… because God is Ultimate Beauty!

‘Worship’ comes from ‘worth-ship’, meaning ‘giving God all he’s worth’. Worship is: For All God’s Worth! Who or what is more worthy of our worship, of our love and our lives? Thus worship is both an act of loving God (proskyneo, in church and in personal times with God) and a lifestyle of serving God (latreuo, all we do every day is for God)… or is it? God is not our butler, at our beck and call, “You rang?” – there to serve us whenever we need him.

A Kingdom View: Worship is Heaven on Earth 

A ‘Kingdom view’ of worship is this: the promised end of the world, God’s future Rule and Reign, the Kingdom of HEAVEN, has already come to earth. It broke into human history in the man Jesus of Nazareth. What is the picture of worship in heaven… now come to earth? Continue reading Following Jesus by Practicing Worship – Part Two

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Following Jesus by Practicing WORSHIP

Recap and Intro

Our identity in Christ is “Beloved” of the Father. We become who we are in Christ by a life-long spiritual (trans)formation, learning to live a life of love… as God is love, imitating our Father… as we see in Jesus in his sacrificial life of love, following our elder brother.

Our core values that make this identity and spiritual formation real are: 1) following Jesus, 2) forming (in) community, 3) fishing the world, 4) as fits our context, 5) to be free to love.

Our key priorities enabling us to daily practice our highest value of following Jesus (intimate relationship with God) are: The Word, Worship, Prayer, and Holy Spirit Ministry. 

The Word is our 1st priority and practice because it’s God’s self-revelation to us. We come to know God/Jesus by the daily reading, study, meditation and memorization of his Word.

Worship is our 2nd priority and practice because it is our response to God’s self-revelation.

WHY worship of God? WHAT is worship?

The only adequate response to God’s Word to us – God’s self-revelation as sheer beauty, glory, love and mercy, in Christ and creation – is awe and adoration. Paul says in Ephesians 3:14, the more we see who God is and what God has done for us, we cannot help but fall to our knees in total surrender and pay homage… this is worship… the (returned) gift of who we are and all we have, because of who God is and all God has done. Continue reading Following Jesus by Practicing WORSHIP

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Following Jesus by Practicing the Word – Part Two

Recap: The Practice of The Word and Daily Devotions 

Our highest value is our relationship with God: following Jesus in daily intimacy.
Our first priority and practice that makes it a reality is the discipline of The Word of God. Why ‘The Word’? Because it’s God’s self-revelation to us. Jesus is the Living Word, God’s full self-revelation. The Bible is God’s Spirit-inspired written Word or self-revelation – having power to transform us as we daily read, study, meditate, and memorize it.

We ‘do the Word’ in these four ways – placing ourselves under the Word’s authority – by having daily devotions or “quite time” with God. Do you have a specific time and place set apart to encounter God in prayer and The Word? To the extent we consistently engage in that time and activity the Spirit progressively transforms us. The affect of a long obedience in the same direction accumulates into fruit-full growth in Christ’s mind and character.

HOW do we have a regular “quiet time” with God? HOW do we make it meaningful? There are two major reasons why many Christians don’t have daily focused time with God: they don’t know what to do (“it’s boring!), and due to lifestyle choices (“I’m too busy”). CS Lewis says it’s laziness: we allow other people/things to determine our REAL daily priorities and practices because we are too lazy to set our own – life lives us, we don’t live life! The deeper issue, of course, is spiritual sickness, lack of hunger, loss of love for Jesus. As Pedro Arrupe SJ says: “What or who are you in love with determines everything: what gets you out of bed in the morning, what you read, how you spend your time, who you relate to… fall in love with Jesus, stay in love with Jesus, and it will determine everything in your life!”

LECTIO DIVINA

The Latin Lectio (reading) Divina (Divine) refers to a tried and tested Christian practice of encounter with God in the Word and prayer. It means “spiritual reading” or “reflective and responsive reading of the Bible”. It gives a simple framework to spend 30 minutes of daily quality time with God. Rooted in the Hebrew tradition of Torah prayer-meditation, the monks from the 4th century began to practice Lectio – some for hours a day. Monk Guido II (14th century) was the first to record the framework of Lectio Divina in the four steps of lectio, meditatio, oratio, and contemplatio. I will add a few NOTES… here we go… Continue reading Following Jesus by Practicing the Word – Part Two

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Following Jesus by Practicing The Word – Part One

Introduction to The Practice of The Word 

Our theme is “A Year (a Life) of Spiritual (Trans)Formation” – are you committed to this? How are you doing regarding Support & Accountability relationships? Are you praying… and linking up?
What is our highest value in being God’s Beloved? It is intimacy in relationship with Jesus (“Come, follow Me…”). And what is our highest priority & practice to grow this intimacy in following Jesus daily? It’s the discipline of The Word of God.

WHY the Word? WHAT is the Word of God? And HOW do we practice this discipline? These are the questions I will address in this teaching on our first priority and practice.

WHAT is “The Word of God”? WHY practice The Word?

Evangelicals think it’s the Bible, but it’s more than that.
The Word is essentially God’s self-revelation. And that self-revelation is Jesus. He is seen as the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit is the Breath of God: Psalm 33:6, “By the word of YHWH the heavens were made, and the starry host by the breath of his mouth.”
God is revealed through creation – his Word to humanity – called general revelation.
God is revealed in history via Israel – the Old Testament – called specific revelation.
God is revealed in Jesus of Nazareth – the New Testament – called full-filled revelation. As John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and was God. And that Word became flesh and dwelt among us (in Jesus of Nazareth)… he who is the in bosom of the Father has revealed God to us” (John 1:1,14,18). Continue reading Following Jesus by Practicing The Word – Part One

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Community Accountability and Support in Spiritual Practices

Recap and Introduction

How does God change us into being his Beloved? By his Spirit-Life in us (God’s grace) that works with our faith responses – itself a work of grace – via spiritual practices (our effort). The regular practice of spiritual disciplines is not easy. The devil tricks and traps us to stop us doing them. Our own biggest ‘enemy’ is lifestyle. WE choose our lifestyles, no matter how we explain or excuse it. We are as busy as WE choose! The bottom line is: WE are responsible for our own spiritual growth, no one else. But we can’t do it on our own. We need each other in supportive accountability. Remember “The Golden Triangle of Transformation”? I added “community accountability” to Dallas Willard’s diagram: the Spirit transforms us into Christ’s mind and character via our planned and unplanned disciplines, as we experience and practice them in supportive community.

Proposal for Support & Accountability

I want to cite two examples of being very intentional about one’s spiritual formation and growth. John Wesley and his “Holy Clubs” met weekly for prayer and self-examination, bible study and charity work – up to 15 people per group, later called “Classes”. When they met they asked each other: “how is it with your soul?” They kept each other accountable to the “methods”(spiritual practices) of growth. That is why they became “Methodists”. Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox developed the practice of “spiritual direction”, and also “spiritual companions”. The latter was for mutual care and accountability in their spiritual formation. Continue reading Community Accountability and Support in Spiritual Practices

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Transformation 2 – How God Changes Us

Introduction to Transformation

This is talk 10 in Being the Beloved series of teachings. Last week I introduced how God changes us into becoming who we really are: his BE-LOVED. The process of how God changes us is called spiritual formation. Paul says it in three ways: “My dear children, I am in pains of child-birth till Christ is formed in you” (Gal 4:19); “Those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son” (Rom 8:29); “We are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:18).

The last verse clearly says that it is GOD who changes/transforms us by his Spirit. BUT, it doesn’t happen automatically. It happens via our faith responses; i.e. with our co-operation. Our part, our participation in transformation, is through priorities and practices, also called spiritual disciplines/ exercises. Salvation is God’s eternal life in us. It “relates & assimilates”: interacting with God to imbibe his Being, via our practices. This is how God’s life grows and develops in us, progressively (trans)forming us from inside out into Christ’s likeness. I first discuss the “The Golden Triangle of Transformation” (see the diagram adapted from Dallas Willard), and then comment on grace, disciplines and effort.

Triangle of Transformation colour

Take time to study this diagram by reading and meditating on the texts. The action of the Holy Spirit that progressively transforms us into Christ’s mind and character is pure grace, which is God’s gift that enables change. The Spirit works through two “means of grace” (sacraments): our planned spiritual disciplines and God’s disciplines in ordinary daily life – unplanned events that happen to us. God uses these to grow and transform us, IF or AS we respond to him with faith and obedience in each event, in each trial and temptation. We practice our planned disciplines and learn to respond to God in unplanned disciplines in the context of community belonging, support and accountability: our spiritual family in home groups and church. Spiritual (trans)formation is a community journey. An unaccountable individual life, in the name of privacy, busyness or unavailability, is lonely, isolating and self-defeating. Note: planned and unplanned disciplines are not a telephone booth instantly changing us into a super-christian! Rather, it’s a long obedience in the same direction! Continue reading Transformation 2 – How God Changes Us

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TRANSFORMATION 1 – HOW GOD CHANGES US

This is my 9th teaching in the series “Being the Beloved – A Year of Spiritual Formation”.

Being God’s Beloved: For three months I’ve taught on Being and Becoming God’s Beloved. To Be-Loved and to Love is our new nature and identity in Jesus Christ. We are “accepted in The Beloved” (God’s Son, Eph 1:6), thus “born again” by God’s Spirit/Life (John 3:3-5), with his nature in us as his beloved children – to imitate him and learn to live a life of love (Eph 5:1-2). I recap both the language and the overall Framework that I use, and then I introduce how God changes us into being Beloved.

The Language of VVPP: I use the language of vision, values, priorities and practices. But it starts with mission.

Mission is our sense of being, our identity and calling – answers WHO we are.
Vision is our sense of becoming, our future oriented goal – answers WHERE we’re going.
Values are our core beliefs, our non-negotiable guiding principles, measured in what we give our time, energy and money to – answers WHY we do what we do.
Priorities are the most important things we do first before (or prior to) doing other things – answers WHAT we do.
Practices are the HOW we do our priorities – also called disciplines, exercises, or skills.

See my diagram of the overall Framework, showing our vision and values. Continue reading TRANSFORMATION 1 – HOW GOD CHANGES US