Category: Part 3

Relation to Self

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 17 – Finding our place

Relation to Self

[Bible references: Psalm 8:5; 104:27-30; Micah 6:8; Matthew 6:26; 10:29-31; Luke 12:24; 18:29-30; John 13:35; Ephesians 1:7; 5: 21-33; Philippinas 2:1-11]

The second greatest commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself” implies that we love ourselves. God loves us. He cares about us, even to the number of hairs on our head. We are His creatures. That makes us worth something. While the focus in the Greatest Commandments seems to be of us loving God and us loving our neighbor, we need to remember that the love we give flows out of the love we are given. We are neither loved more nor less than anyone else. This complementarity is woven together in Ephesians 5 where husbands are instructed to love their wives as much as they love their own bodies. In fact, we are best able to take care of others if we are healthy ourselves.

Our health includes all dimensions of our being: physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual – If you will, our body, soul, and spirit. To be fully healthy, we need to pay attention to all these aspects of our lives. One problem area in the church as a whole is that it has commonly addressed all these aspects in an unbalanced way. It was due to that imbalance that a pastor, Peter Scazzero wrote, “Emotionally, Healthy Spirituality”[1] in response to the results of an unhealthily imbalance in his own life. Even within the field of medicine, there is a recognition of the connection of physical and spiritual health.[2]

Yahweh has created us with particular bodies in particular times and places, but our post-modern culture has added one more type of imbalance. When some of us experience a dysmorphic disorder, our culture encourages us to deny our embodied identity in Christ. Instead of grounding our being in the surety of our identity in Christ, we are encouraged to ground our being in an identity based on a broken self-perception.

This action replaces Yahweh’s authority with our own, centering our lives in our limited knowledge which is subject to fleeting emotions. This post-modern diminished focus on Yahweh’s authority strips the determination of truth from an all-knowing God and places the determination of truth on our incomplete (and sinfully corrupted) knowledge.[3] However, our primary identity should be based on our identity in Christ with all sub-identities being subject to that.

When we engage in other relationships both within and without the church, we need to be honest about who we are. None of us has it all figured out. We all fall short of what Yahweh intends for us to be. We all lack wisdom and knowledge and all of us are in rebellion. All of us, whether we claim we are children of Yahweh or not, are daily working our way to or from Yahweh. We all imperfectly “do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.” We all need forgiveness.

In the end, Yahweh will be the dispenser of wrath to those who remain in rebellion against him, but it is his love that draws us to Him, and it is by His love that people will know we belong to him. The love and mercy we receive from Yahweh may be unearned, but we are loved, and therefore, we need to learn to love ourselves as well. From the security of that love, the love which Christ had towards us when were unlovable, we can then reach out in love with those with whom we disagree or find offensive. As we learn to fully receive the love of God, we will strengthen our ability to love others.

[1] Scazzero, Peter. “Emotionally, Healthy Spirituality”  Zondervan, 2017

[2] Cook, Alison. “The Most Important Gift” Alisoncookphd.com www.alisoncookphd.com/the-most-important-gift and “Saying Yes To Yourself” 2 Dec 2020 www.alisoncookphd.com/saying-yes-to-yourself/

[3] Groothuis, Douglas. “Postmodernism on Race and Gender: An Evangelical Response” Asbury Seminary, place.asburyseminary.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1317&context=asburyjournal

Reflect

Various businesses use our various media to try to make us dissatisfied with our bodies to create desires to buy services or products to make our bodies “more acceptable.” Our social media enhances that effort. While It is good to be

Observe

Read Psalm 8:5; 104:27-30; Matthew 6:26; 10:29-31; 12:11-12; Luke 12:24. If God cares about your needs, how should you care for yourself?

Relation to Yahweh

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 17 – Finding our place

Relation to Yahweh

[Bible references: Exodus 6:1-6; 1 Corinthians 13:12]

Most English translations of the Bible obscure a very significant relationship. In Exodus 6, the Creator revealed himself to Moses as Yahweh for the first time in history. Our translations mask the personal nature of the name when they translate that name with the title, LORD. However, if when reading the Old Testament replacing the word LORD with the name, Yahweh, we will discover, particularly in the Psalms, a very personal relationship between us and Yahweh.

Not only is God not some impersonal force but He is a person with whom we can have a relationship. In fact, He created us to have a special relationship with Him. As such, the meaning of our lives cannot be found solely within ourselves as if we were isolated creatures or self-contained universes. We are image-bearers of Yahweh, the person who is a community, we are designed to be people in community. And since we are created as an outpouring of the love that was shared between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we should outpour that very same love in our relationship with Yahweh and with each other.

We were created to be co-creators with Yahweh. Not that we have the same kind of powers, but we can use the materials and abilities He has supplied for us to create families, cities, nations, art, tools, and many other types of things. It was intended that our creations would glorify Him.

We know that we are not able to love Yahweh in the same way He loves us. Firstly, He is the Creator, and we are the creatures. Secondly, ever since our Rebellion, we were born in a corrupt state with a tendency to rebel against our Creator. Therefore, to discover the meaning of our lives, we need to search out the essence of the love of Yahweh toward us. In Chapter 15, we explored the various spiritual disciplines which could be helpful in guiding us in the search of who Yahweh is and how he loves us.

Even though our rebellion against Yahweh has harmed our relationship with Him, he continues to love us and has made provision for our relationship with Him to be restored. It is also because of his love, that he has had great patience to endure our constant rebelling and he is constantly working to draw us back to him. Our relationship with Yahweh does not require us to do great things or to do sufficient good things to outweigh the bad things we do. We “merely” need to be born again, to have his Spirit join with our spirit. When we are born of the Spirit, that is when we are born again, then we are not only image-bearers, but children of our heavenly Father. And one day, we will know him fully even as we are fully known by Him.

Observe

Read Exodus 6:1-6. What is the difference between knowing God as “God Almighty” (El Shaddai) vs. “Yahweh?”

New Jerusalem’s Urban Garden

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 16 – Fixing our eyes

New Jerusalem’s Urban Garden

[Bible references: Genesis 1-2; 1 Corinthians 12; 14;1 Peter 1, 4; Revelation 21-22]

In the now-broken earth, many people think of human civilization only as a corruption and pollution of the earth, that the earth was only meant to be pristine – as it supposedly was before humans started to mess it up. While we certainly have abused the earth in many ways, that does not mean all aspects of human civilization are inherently bad. When we use our God-given capabilities to join God in His kingdom building, that is good. Many of the things that we design, create and build are inherently good. The problem lies in our corruption and the world’s corruption that causes us to misuse every good thing.

When we were charged with filling and subduing the earth, it did not mean that we were to simply expand the Garden of Eden. God had given us many gifts to use, including tremendous creative abilities. We were given various spiritual gifts for the purpose of building one another up; we were given artistic gifts to make articles for the Tabernacle and Temple; we were given gifts of singing, making musical instruments and craftsmanship, hunting, trading, sailing – in general, making the things of civilization.

Those same gifts are available for current task of participating with God in the process of bringing His Kingdom to earth, a process that shall lead to ultimate uniting of heaven and earth, a process that leads not to the original Garden of Eden, but of an urban garden attached to the new Jerusalem.

It is undeniable that, despite the corruption we see, God has provided us an abundance of creative skills for displaying His transcendence and glory in our art, technology, engineering, and sciences. He has also given us social and political skills to create human public and private institutions that can organize our abilities to do good.

But it does not take much observation to also notice the corruption that has permeated our society. It can seem hard to determine if we have misused more than properly used the gifts and abilities God has given us. Nevertheless, as God’s co-regents we have been given a sacred obligation to nurture the place he gave us in anticipation of God’s final restoration of the earth.

Reflect

How can you use the gifts and skills that God has given you to help give people hope for the future?

Observe

Read 1 Peter 1. If our mind is set on seeing Christ soon, how shall we prepare?

Ministry of Reconciliation

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 16 – Fixing our eyes

Ministry of Reconciliation

[Bible references: Matthew 10; Mark 1:40-45; 5:1-20; Acts 2:42-47; 3:20-26; 17:16-34; Romans 8:18-39; 12; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20; Ephesians 4:1-16; 6:18-20; Philippians 3:25-21; 1 Thessalonians 5:11-28; John 13:34-35; Revelation 21:1-2]

When Jesus came the first time, people were looking for a Messiah to overthrow the Roman government, but Jesus’ message was to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sin. That is the message we need to respond to and the message we need to bring to others. The gospel is the good news of forgiveness that we can receive if we respond by repentance. The gospel is the good news of God’s Kingdom come to earth to transform us as well as all of creation so that heaven and earth can be fully joined as God had intended from the beginning.

Once we have become transformed, we are able to invite others to repent and accept the grace of God in transforming their lives as well and then join us in the work of discipleship and restoring the world beginning with the call to reconciliation, that is to engage in the work of evangelism. Some people are better equipped to do evangelism than others, but that does not leave the rest of us with no part in the work.

Evangelism, like other aspects in the life of the church, is a work of the body of the church. It is also a work of the Spirit. Evangelism involves persuading, proclaiming, and teaching the gospel and is a call for others to come to Christ, His Body, and to discipleship. We do not convert people to Christ, which is the work of the Spirit; but we are called to join Spirit in His work in the world. The church is called to be the church and display the gospel at work; the gospel which calls us to be transformed, calls us unity with others in the body of Christ and calls us to join Christ’s work of reconciliation and restoration.

That means that we all have a part to play in the body of Christ, to help build one another up so that we may all become mature members of the body of Christ, displaying the love of the transcendent God towards each other. If we are each transformed by Christ, then we should be able to “give a reason for the hope” we have. A hope that we can hold onto even as we live amid a church that is transformed and yet broken by sin.

The call to discipleship is a call to reconcile all the parts of our lives to the Lordship of Christ. This includes not only all our relationships, particularly with those in the body of Christ, but all of our stewardship responsibilities for all of creation. The evangel, the good news, is not just that our personal relationship with God can be restored, but that all of creation will be restored.

It is for the sake of love that God suffered for us that he might redeem us. The greatest commandments that He gave to his image-bearers, were about love: loving God and loving our neighbor. The good news is about that love – a love that reaches out to us and through us amidst all our brokenness. a love expressed in word and deed.

The remaining parts of this book are about the breadth of expressing that love. Certainly, if we love someone who does has not heard the gospel, it would be loving to share that news with them. And if we are truly loving that other, the words of that news should be happening amid all we do to show that love in our deeds as well as in our words. It may be that the deeds of love will help open-up hearts to hear about that love; a love that reflects God’s prodigal love for each of us, a love that desires to take care of all that God has given us – God’s creation and God’s creatures, God’s image-bearers, and the gifts he has given each one of us. God’s extravagant love should be reflected in the way we love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and the way we love our neighbor as ourselves.

God’s image-bearers, the ones who call him Lord and Father, are God’s chosen vehicles to proclaim and demonstrate his love as his ambassadors. God’s proclamation and demonstration of love is not constrained by our different personalities and circumstances, for our limitations are not his limitations but rather our weaknesses are His strength, and our little demonstrations of love are the reflections of His powerful love to us and to the world.

Within ourselves, we may be small and insignificant, but we are not just isolated individuals. We are part of Christ’s body, physical manifestations of Christ

  • Past, present, and future
  • Around the world
  • In all our different ways with whatever resources Christ has given us
  • In whatever place and time he chose for us, with whatever strengths and weaknesses we have

We are the creatures whom God has empowered to rule the earth as his gardener-priests. That empowerment has not changed even though we are broken people living in a broken world. The charge he had given us still remains. Therefore, within our brokenness we need to take whatever Christ has given us and proclaim and demonstrate God’s unsurpassed, overwhelming love to the world, a love that not only wants to reconcile all people but literally all the world to Himself … to reunite heaven and earth.

 The challenge we have as God’s ambassadors, is for us to be proclaiming and living the gospel amid the cultures that are sometimes indifferent and sometimes hostile. Therefore, in our tasks, if we are to be effective ambassadors then we must be, “wise as serpents and innocent as doves,” as we try to discern how to effectively persuade others to follow Jesus. Of course, keeping in mind that it is not we who ultimately persuade others to follow Christ, rather that is the work of the Holy Spirit. But how can we participate with the Holy Spirit?

Different people are persuaded by different means. Sometimes, people are persuaded by logic as we could see in the life of the apostle Paul. Sometimes people are persuaded by personal relationships and are drawn by a personality that looks attractive as we could see in the lives of people who were drawn to Jesus. Sometimes people are persuaded by seeing something different in the life another.

With that in mind, then how do we put ourselves in the place where we are most effective? The answer is: the church. The church is the body of Christ whose members are called to build up one another and to demonstrate a love for one another such that others will recognize us as belonging to Christ. When the church gathers to worship and express it’s love to God, that same desire should lead to expressions of love to one another which pour out into love of neighbor as the church scatters during the week. That desire to love should then draw us to desire to learn how to love in the best way possible. Love leads to love. The love of God leads us to love, love of one another and a love of the world that God loves.

Exactly how that love will flow depends on the particulars of each individual in their particular circumstances. We are all born with different personalities and different bodies, and are equipped differently according to the Holy Spirit, and find ourselves in different cultures within the church and within our communities. Some individuals will find themselves in a very individual ministry and some will be called to a broader ministry to the world. Also, different church communities will even find different approaches in how they interact with the cultures around them.[1]

[1] Finn, Nathan A, Whitfield, Keith S. “Spirituality for the Sent” Chapter 5 Missional Spirituality and Cultural Engagement IVP Academic 2017

Reflect

Discipleship is a process of “being transformed” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Ultimately it is something that happens to us – but it is something we can co-operate with by engaging is spiritual disciplines. What kinds of changes need to happen in our lives that would make it natural to invite someone else into discipleship?

Observe

Read Romans 12. How do we help those around us to be reconciled to each other and to God?

The Kingdom is Come and Not Yet

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 16 – Fixing our eyes

The Kingdom is Come and Not Yet

[Bible references: Matthew 6:9-13; 28:36-49; Romans 12:2; James 1:27; Revelation 21-22]

When Jesus came the first time, his healings and teachings began the ushering in of the Kingdom of God, a task He will complete when He returns to fully restore His Kingdom. When Jesus came the first time, He was resurrected, but when He comes a second time, there will be a new heaven and earth, and everyone will be resurrected. But what about now?

When Jesus ascended to heaven, he told the disciples to wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It was then, through the power of the Holy Spirit, that the disciples of Jesus began the process of continuing the task of bringing Heaven to earth. In this in-between time, God is at work through the Holy Spirit, continuing to bring people to Himself, continuing to build His kingdom. The task that lies before us is to join Him in His work. The prayer He gave for us to say says, “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” This prayer asks that His kingdom be brought to earth, the Kingdom of justice and mercy.

Empowered by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, it is our opportunity to do our part, with whatever ability He has given us, to work with Him in bringing His justice and mercy on earth: to look after the widows, orphans, the helpless, and the marginalized; to have compassion; to not lie about others; hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts; bringing the good news of Jesus to all. This is simply doing the task assigned to us from the beginning: to fill the earth and subdue it as his co-regents, to take care of the earth as farmer-priests representing Him on earth.

Our final destiny is not to a disembodied existence, but to a new, transformed body, transformed in the way that Jesus was when he was resurrected. Earth itself will also be transformed, with its corruption being removed, not back into a Garden of Eden, but into the earth as it was meant to become, filled, and civilized, with a new Jerusalem being brought from heaven to earth. We are not being sent to heaven; heaven will be coming to us.

Knowing that this end is coming upon us, in the present age we can be motivated to express our hope by living out our hope as in mentioned in The Lord’s Prayer, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” This encourages us to do what we can to help usher in God’s kingdom now, if only in part. The full entry of the kingdom will not happen until the Lord returns and establishes a new heaven and earth, but we do not need to wait hopelessly as if there is nothing we can do. God has given everyone in his church gifts with which we can build each other up and take charge as His stewards of the earth.

But the task of transforming the earth needs to begin within us. We need to be transformed. In our sin, it is our tendency to always point to other things for the cause of the problems we see. But the cause of the corruption we see elsewhere begins with the corruption within ourselves.

“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either – but right through every human heart…even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains…an uprooted small corner of evil. [1]

[1] Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr. “The Gulag Archipelago” Vintage Publishing 1974

Reflect

Reflect

In this time that we live in, the Kingdom of God has come but not yet completely. Our hearts reflect this time with our mixed desires – at once delighting in God’s law and at the same time waging war against that same law. The corruption in our hearts is reflected in the corruption we see in the world. How does that impact how we approach our task to join God in bringing His Kingdom into the world?

Observe

Read Revelation 21:22-24. Try to imagine what it means that “the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into the city.” What would that look like?

Created to grow

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 16 – Fixing our eyes

Created to grow

[Bible references: 1 Samuel 2:26; Psalm 92:12-15; 147:8; Isaiah 61:11; Mark 26; Luke 2:22-52; 1 Corinthians 3:6-9; Ephesians 4:11-16; Colossians 1:3-14; 2 Thessalonians 1:3-4; James 1:13-15; 1 Peter 2:1-3; 2 Peter 3:17-18]

Many times, we imagine the first humans to have been created as fully mature adults, but perhaps they were not. One of the church fathers, Irenaeus contemplated that the first humans were not initially created as mature adults, but as youth who would have the opportunity to experience the process of becoming mature.

“Because they [humanity] come later, they are immature; as such they are inexperienced and not trained to perfect understanding. A mother, for example, can provide perfect food for a child, but at that point he cannot digest food which is suitable for someone older. Similarly, God himself certainly could have provided humanity with perfection from the beginning. Humanity, however, was immature and unable to lay hold of it …

“Through this system, such arrangement, and this kind of governance, humanity was created according to the image and established in the likeness of the uncreated God. The Father decided and commanded; the Son molded and shaped; the Spirit nourished and developed. Humanity slowly progresses, approaches perfection, and draws near to the uncreated God. The perfect is the uncreated, God. It was therefore appropriate for humanity first to be made, being made to grow, and having grown to be strengthened, being stronger to multiply, having multiplied to recover from illness, having recovered to be glorified, and once glorified to see its Lord. God is the one who is going to be seen; the vision of God produces incorruptibility; incorruptibility makes a person approach God.”[1]

So here we see that the process of maturity is linked to the process of transformation, the process in which we can become more like our Creator. Moreover, as part of that process, He desires that we join Him in His creative work of love, expanding His kingdom into the entire world.

[1] Irenaeus, “Adv. Hareresies,” 4:38

Observe

Read Psalm 92. How should we bear fruit in our old age?

Everything Belongs

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 16 – Fixing our eyes

Everything Belongs

[Bible references: Leviticus 27:30; Psalm 22:27-28; 2 Corinthians 4:1-18; Hebrews 12:1-29]

The gift that true contemplatives offer to themselves and society is that they know themselves as part of a much larger story … Only when we live and see through God can “everything belongs.” …All religious teachers have recognized that we human beings do not naturally see; we have to be taught how to see.[1]

In our last chapter, we looked at the spiritual disciplines which God can use to conform us more to His image. We saw that although those disciplines had an internal focus – they were meant to conform us as individuals. We saw that the disciplines have an external purpose – to enable us to build up others in the body of Christ. That prepares us now to extend our outward focus on God’s work in restoring His kingdom and the many ways in which we can participate with God in restoring the breadth and depth of His kingdom.

All of creation belongs to the Lord. All of creation was designed to be His temple – a place where God would be with His image-bearers. The care of all creation was given to His image-bearers because they themselves are temples of God in whom the Holy Spirit dwells and therefore able to be His stewards. Despite our rebellion, the responsibility given to us was not removed; even though both it and we are corrupted and even though we are unable to remove that corruption. Also, despite our rebellion, our Creator has not ceased to love us. In His inexhaustible compassion, he has not left us to ourselves but means to restore us, along with all of creation. He means to continue the project He began at the beginning of creation, the project of transforming us to become more like Him.

[1] Rohr, Richard. “Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer.” The Crossroad Publishing Company 2003

Observe

Read Leviticus 27:30; Psalm 22:27-28. Everything, including us, belongs to God. How does that affect how we treat everyone and everything around us?

Discovering how we are formed

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 15 – Reforming our Souls

Discovering how we are formed – for each other

[Bible references: Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, 13:1-3; Ephesians 3:6-8; Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 4:7-10]

Once we have centered ourselves on Christ and have learned to submit to God and to one another, we are in a good place to evaluate the unique ways in which God has formed us.[1] One of the more holistic tools developed by Saddleback Church provides an evaluation of several aspects of how we are formed: the spiritual gifts, the desires, the abilities, the personality, and the experience God gives us.

The reality is that much is life is filled with, “I just gotta do what I gotta do.” Parenting is like that, housekeeping is like that, etc. Diapers need to be changed, the house needs to be cleaned, the bills must be paid, grocery shopping needs to be done, etc. Much of life is filled with responsibilities that need to be done regardless of what capacity we think we may have. There may be no luxury of just doing “what I think I am best at.”

But where it is possible, when we gather in a sharing community, there is the opportunity to allocate different tasks to those people who are best equipped for it. God has intended that we be in such communities, so described in scripture as “the body of Christ,” where different people serve in different functions. At such times, there are opportunities for us to discover in what unique ways God has designed us so that we may serve each other in the best way possible.

Scripture reveals that all who are in Christ are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and that the Spirit has given us various gifts that we can use to help build up other members of the body of Christ. A few Bible passages give us an idea of the kinds of gifts of some of these gifts, but the lists are not exhaustive: exhortation, giving. leadership, mercy, prophecy, service, teaching, administration, apostle, discernment, faith, healing, helps, knowledge, miracles, prophecy, teaching, tongues, tongues, interpretation, wisdom, evangelism, pastor, teaching, celibacy, hospitality, missionary, voluntary poverty.

One way to discover what gifts we may have, is by serving in our community. As we serve in various ways, we may discover that God has particularly blessed our service in various ways. Sometimes others may point out those abilities or gifts to us. Another way to discover our gifts is to read about those gifts and certain gifts may become apparent to us that way. Another way is to take a questionnaire and the results of that questionnaire may reveal certain gifts to us. It may be helpful to take such a questionnaire with someone else because they may have different insights into the questions.

As we mature and encounter different life experiences, we may discover that different gifts emerge or that God has provided differently for us in our different circumstances. God knows us and our circumstances and may provide differently as we change, and our circumstances change.

[1] Links to various assessment tools: Spiritual gifts: Carver, Jeff. “Spiritual Gifts Test – Adult Version”Spiritual Gifts Test spiritualgiftstest.com/spiritual-gifts-test-adult-version ; Granger Community Church. “Spiritual Gifts Test” Granger Community Church spiritualgiftstest.com/spiritual-gifts-test-landing; Ministry Tools Resource Center. “Take Online Spiritual Gifts Test Inventory Assessment” Ministry Tools Resource Center mintools.com/spiritual-gifts-test.htm; Rock Church, “Gifts Test” Rock Church giftstest.com. Personality test sites: Hayes, Robert. “The Best Free Enneagram Tests You Can Take Online” Tech Junkie www.techjunkie.com/best-free-enneagram-tests; Truity Psychometrics. “The Enneagram Personality Test” Truity Psychometrics www.truity.com/test/enneagram-personality-test; Barkers, Ewald. “Eclectic Energies Enneagram Tests (Free)” Eclectic Energies www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/test; Shape test: Hill, Kevin M. “S.H.A.P.E. Test” Free Shape Test www.freeshapetest.com; Saddleback Church “You Were SHAPED for Serving God” Saddleback Church www.ministryideas.com/doc/shape_discovery_tool.pdf

Discipline of Resting/Sabbath

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 15 – Reforming our Souls

Discipline of Resting/Sabbath

[Bible references: Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5: 12-15; Mark 2:23-28; Hebrews 4:1-13]

We work to live

To understand the place of Sabbath we need to understand who we are and the place of our work (or play). The accumulation of archeological research in the last few decades has made it more possible to understand the Genesis creation account in the same way it was understood in the times of Moses. Creation was not primarily viewed as a physical event but rather the moment of being assigned a purpose. The creation account, understood this way, was a dedication of a temple, that is, a place where God would meet with his image-bearers. Those moments of dedication were done within the boundaries of days, “there was the evening and the morning.” After the temple was dedicated, it was now the time to live into the temple, to live into what it was designed for. The “rest” was not referring to a cessation of activity, but of doing the activity that the temple, in this case, the universe, was designed for.

The seventh day, as described in Genesis 2, was not assigned a beginning and an end. It was not designated with “and there was evening and there was morning.”  It continues now. Now is the time we live in the temple, doing that for which the temple was designed. Work has been designed for us, but we were not designed for work. Going back to Genesis 1 and 2, we see God was creating a place for him to reside and take control and for us to join him as co-regents. The seventh day, the sabbath, God had finished the dedication of the “temple,” but it was not a time where he ceased to do everything. Rather, it was the time where the “home” was now ready for God, and for us as co-regents, to begin the settling into our “home” and doing the things that our home was designed for. Jesus in John 5:1-7 clarified this idea where he explained, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” Living into this sacred space would entail us taking part with God in his continual acts of creating and sustaining the universe. When Eve gave birth to Cain, she recognized that “I’ve created a man with Yahweh.”

The work that we were designed to do was more than just tending the garden. In Genesis 2:15, we were given a mandate to “work” and “take care of” the garden God had created. These tasks, again looked at in light of Ancient Near East culture, were more of a priestly nature, taking care of this temple where we reside with God. We were to take care of this place which was designed to be a “very good” place for us to flourish in, creating whatever structures we needed to “increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it.” This task, this mandate, meant that we would eventually go beyond the capacity of gardening and create not just a bigger garden but cities, a flourishing civilization as pictured in Revelation 21 and 22.

When examined closely, we can see the breadth of work committed to Adam and Eve. Subduing the earth would entail many physical, social, and intellectual activities. In the gardening we can see cultivation and farming; in taking care of the animals, we can see shepherding and domestication; in the naming of the animals, we can see a cultural and scientific activity which required understanding the nature and attributes of the animals and establishing authority over them. We can see that God had created things to be beautiful (Gen 3:6) and as his image-bearers we would be expected to also create beautiful things.

The introduction of sin has complicated this sense of work by corrupting the value of the good work that had been intended for us and by adding more types of work that are only necessary because we need to mitigate the effects of our sin (law enforcement, hospitals, military, etc.). But even to that work, we can join Christ in His work of redeeming creation.

We rest to remember

Having determined the nature and value of our work, we can now determine the place of sabbath rest. The discipline of Sabbath is a regular reminder that work may have a place for us, but we were created by God for God, we were not created by God for work. There is work designed by God for us to do, and even if we enjoy that work, we need the reminders that we were primarily made for our relationship with God. The Westminster Catechism states that we were designed to “enjoy God and glorify Him forever.” 

Our focus should be on God and not the work He has given us. In this world there is more than sufficient work to be done, but we are not created to be slaves to that work. The Sabbath is our opportunity to remember our dependence on God’s provision for us, leaning on His provision instead of our labors, trusting Him to provide for us instead of trusting in our work to provide for us. In that restful place we then have the opportunity to focus on our relationship with God. As Jesus pointed out, the Sabbath was made for us, for our benefit, for us to enjoy.

Observe

Read Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5: 12-15; Mark 2:23-28; Hebrews 4:1-13. What is the reason for the Sabbath?

Discipline of Submission

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 15 – Reforming our Souls

Discipline of Submission

[Bible references: Romans 13; 1 Corinthians 16:16-17; Ephesians 5:21; Hebrews 13:15-17; 1 Peter 5:1-7]

Mutual accountability

Despite what the world may think, there is nothing weak in being strong in the spiritual discipline of submission. However, it is one of the most difficult disciplines to practice. We want to be independent and strong, and we don’t want people to walk all over us. An important part of developing the spiritual discipline of submission is to balance when to be open and humble with knowing when not to let people take advantage of us.

As Christians, we are accountable to God. We know that we should confess our sins to Him and that He sees all that we do. Yet, we are also accountable to others around us. In allowing ourselves to be accountable, we also become more open to direction. Taking criticism well is difficult, which is why submission is a spiritual discipline. It takes effort to take criticism well. It’s far easier to be defensive and dismissive of what we’re being told is wrong. Yet when someone has developed the spiritual discipline of submission, they are able to not only take criticism and direction well, but they actually remain open to it.

Priority of listening

When we practice the spiritual discipline of submission, we learn more about ourselves, we become far more patient, we learn humility, and we understand how to be honest with others and ourselves. By allowing ourselves to be accountable and open to direction we become stronger in our faith, because we no longer have to hide our weaknesses from others. We are able to listen to others with minds that are open, and we break the cycle of always thinking of ourselves first. When we learn to be submissive, we learn to put ourselves in God’s hands far more, which allows us to build our relationship with Him. Saying we’re going to be more submissive is fine but putting it into action is a whole other thing.

Guarding against abuse

Of all the Spiritual Disciplines none has been more abused than the discipline of submission. Somehow the human species has an extraordinary knack for taking the best teaching and turning it to the worst ends. Nothing can put people into bondage like religion, and nothing in religion has done more to manipulate and destroy people than a deficient teaching on submission. However, each the aim of each discipline is to gain freedom, the freedom to be who we were meant to be.

The corresponding freedom to submission is the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way. Instead, in the face escalating demands and counter-demands and strong wills needing impose their own way, we can offer the grace of silence. Biblical submission focuses primarily on the way we view other people, not in terms of our hierarchical relationships but on the attitude of mutual subordination and mutual respect, valuing people for themselves without demanding the same in return, for it is far better to serve our neighbor than to have our own way.

Observe

Read Romans 13:1; Ephesians 5:21; 1 Peter 5:5-7. What is our motivation for humility?

Discipline of Service

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 15 – Reforming our Souls

Discipline of Service

[Bible references: Deuteronomy 10:12; Psalm 126:5-6; Matthew 5:16; 10:42; 20:28; 25:22-23; Mark 10:43-44; Luke 22:27; John 4:34; 13:14; 27:4; Acts 20:9, 24; I Corinthians 3:9; 12:7; Ephesians 4:4-8; 6:7; Philippians 2:7; 1 Timothy 6:18; Titus 2:7; Hebrews 10:24; James 2:17-18; 1 Peter 2:12; 4:11]

To belong to Christ is to belong to His Body, all those who belong him. All who believe in Christ are sealed with the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit gives spiritual gifts to all who belong to him, gifts that are designed for the building up of His body. This automatically calls us then to be serving others within the Body of Christ.

Change the diapers

Once we are in Christ, by virtue of the gifts He has given to us, we become responsible to Him and therefore to His Body, to use the gifts we are given. This does not mean, however, that we are not obligated to serve outside the scope of the particular spiritual gifts he has given us. For example, if we have a baby, we are obligated to change the diapers even if “it’s not our gift.” It’s merely what we’re called to do. The point is that belonging to Jesus is to belong to His Body and to be a part of an enterprise that began long before we were born and will continue after we die. To be part of that Body is to have a function in that Body.

Different services

To each of us, whatever possessions or gifts we have, all belong to God, and we are stewards of whatever He has given. Jesus declared, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28). Since to be in Him is to become like Him, we should also have that same attitude of service. A part of developing this attitude is to develop a sense of humility, beginning with the realization that God is holy and that we all deserve His wrath for rebelling against Him, but by His love and grace He has rescued us from the full consequence of our rebellion, and has instead chosen to give us great blessings. It is out of gratitude that we can respond and give back by serving Him, and therefore His Body. The difficulty is, that in this time of “Already and Not Yet” we need to be intentional about dealing with the sin in and around us by developing the habits, which is the discipline, of service. There are different aspects of our service.

  • The service of hiddenness – hiddenness is a rebuke to the flesh and can deal a fatal blow to pride.
  • The service of small things – those frequent opportunities to help in small ways.
  • The service of guarding the reputation of others – actively avoiding gossip which causes division, and instead promoting unity through your words.
  • The service of being served – true servants should graciously receive service, not feeling they must repay it.
  • The service of common courtesy – acknowledging others and affirming their worth
  • The service of hospitality – “practice hospitality ungrudgingly to one another” (1 Peter 4:9); making a space where people are welcome as they are to be together and share life.
  • The service of listening – we don’t need to have all the answers, we simply need to be present and listen well in love.
  • The service of bearing the burdens of each other – weeping with those who weep and bearing the hurts and sufferings of others.
  • The service of sharing the word of Life with one another – nobody hears God perfectly; thus we are dependent on one another to receive the full counsel of God

Reflect

Think about the needs of those around you and how you might serve them.

Observe

Read Ephesians 6:7. How does this verse affect how we serve others?

Discipline of Worship/Celebration

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 15 – Reforming our Souls

Discipline of Worship/Celebration

[Bible references: Deuteronomy 12; Isaiah 6:1-13; Matthew 6:25-34; John 4:23-24; Psalm 29; 95:1-7; 102; Romans 12:1-2]

“Authentic worship will impel us to join in the Lamb’s war against demonic powers everywhere—on the personal level, on the social level, on the institutional level. Jesus, the Lamb of God, is our Commander-in-Chief. We receive his orders for service and go …”[1]

 “The pervasive sinfulness of human beings becomes evident when contrasted with the radiant holiness of God. Our fickleness becomes apparent once we see God’s faithfulness. To understand his grace is to understand our guilt” [2]

God does so many things in our lives, and when we build up worship as a spiritual discipline, we learn to identify what He has done and honor him in appropriate ways. The first step it to give glory to God for all things in our lives. When we have privileges, they come from God. When we are bountiful, it comes from God. When we see something beautiful or good, we need to thank God for those things. God shows us His ways through others, and by giving Him the glory, we are worshiping him.

Another way to respond to God is to sacrifice. Sometimes honoring God means giving up things we think we’re enjoying but may not be edifying. We sacrifice our time by volunteering, and we sacrifice our money to help those in need, we sacrifice our ear to those who need us to listen. Sacrifice doesn’t always mean grand gestures. Sometimes it’s small sacrifices that allow us to worship God in our actions.

The spiritual discipline of worship can be beautiful and fun. The obvious form of worship, celebrating together and singing in church, can be a great time. Some people dance. Worshiping God can be both fun and serious. Laughter and celebration are ways to worship God.

As we practice the spiritual discipline of worship, we learn to experience God in His Glory. We easily identify His works in our lives. We seek out our time with God in prayer or conversation. We never feel alone because we always know God is right there with us. Worship is an ongoing experience and connection with God.

Worship is probably the most familiar of the Spiritual Disciplines. What does it mean to practice worship as a Spiritual Discipline? We all worship something; it’s only a question of what it will be. The number one topic of the Bible is our worship of God. The Israelites were constantly getting into trouble because of one thing — idolatry — the worship of something other than God. If we really believe that God is who he says he is then we will worship him, not out of a sense of duty, but because of who he is — then our worship will overflow into all other activities.

The celebration of worship is great when it just flows out of the moment we are in. The discipline of worship is necessary when we don’t feel the overflow but begin by forcing ourselves to begin to worship anyways. It might be that as we begin to worship our spirit will respond in earnestness. But even if our spirit does not seem to respond at the moment, we may continue the discipline because God is worthy despite how we feel.

[1] Foster, Richard. “Celebration of Discipline”  Harper & Row Publishers ©1978 p. 148

[2] Foster, Richard. “Celebration of Discipline”  Harper & Row Publishers ©1978 p. 160

Observe

Read Psalm 95; 102. These two Psalms begin from two different experiences. What do they have in common?

Discipline of Prayer

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 15 – Reforming our Souls

Discipline of Prayer

[Bible references: Matthew 6:6-7; Luke 11:11-13; Romans 8:26; Colossians 1:9-14; Philippians 4:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:17]

To have God speak to the heart is a majestic experience, an experience that people may miss if they monopolize the conversation and never pause to hear God’s responses.[1]

“We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there’s nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all. Most of us would prefer, however, to spend our time doing something that will get immediate results. We don’t want to wait for God to resolve matters in His good time because His idea of ‘good time’ is seldom in sync with ours.”[2]

“I think the reason we sometimes have the false sense that God is so far away is because that is where we have put him. We have kept him at a distance, and then when we are in need and call on him in prayer, we wonder where he is. He is exactly where we left him.”[3]  

 “Authentic worship will impel us to join in the Lamb’s war against demonic powers everywhere—on the personal level, on the social level, on the institutional level. Jesus, the Lamb of God, is our Commander-in-Chief. We receive his orders for service and go …”[4]

Fortunately, we have a heavenly Father who cares for us – a Father, not just a distant God, but a Father who created us so that we could share His love, a Father who desires a friendship with us, a Father who desires a partner to rule Creation with Him. The grief, sometimes overwhelming, is that we allowed sin to break our relationship with Him and break our relationship with each other and with Creation itself. The result is that we don’t talk like we should, we let shame and embarrassment get in the way of what could be a wonderful and intimate relationship.

The goal of prayer is to rebuild that relationship, to share concerns, to listen, to express our appreciation of each other, to share our feelings. We have the benefit of having a Father who already knows us better than we know ourselves, who knows our thoughts and our needs – but He still wants us to talk, to give us a chance to be honest with him (and ourselves), to confess what we need to confess, to deal with any confusions that we have. He wants us to participate with Him in bringing His kingdom into our lives and into the world, to share His love for the world and to seek justice for the oppressed, to even to bring His shalom into the world.

We have needs and the world has so many needs, that it seems that our list of petitions is overwhelming to the point where it makes us give up. But our prayer is more than a list of petitions because the God of love rules over all creation and that love brings us to express adoration and thanksgiving. And when our brokenness gets in the way of our relationship, we can bring our confessions of sin so that we may receive His overwhelming forgiveness.

Having a prayer life with a loving God should just happen, but it doesn’t and that brings us to the discipline of prayer – to help our prayer life, our talks with God, to happen despite our brokenness.

There are times when we are desperate, when we feel that we have no options … so, we pray. These are the times that St. John of the Cross said are the “dark nights of the soul.” As people of faith, we know that those “dark nights” don’t last forever. Just as surely as we experience the darkness, there is the resurrection light. These dark nights of the soul – these times of spiritual crisis – lead us closer to God. As we pray, are persistent in prayer, and are willing to be moved by the Holy Spirit through prayer? We will see that prayer changes us and help us grow to become more able to see others as God sees them.

[1] Stanley, Charles.

[2] Chambers, Oswald.

[3] Zacharias, Ravi. “Has Christianity Failed You?” Zondervan 2017

[4] Foster, Richard J. “Celebration of Discipline” Harper & Row Publishers ©1978 p. 173.

Observe

Read Colossians 1:9-14. For whom could you be praying this prayer?

Bible-centric disciplines

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 15 – Reforming our Souls

Bible-centric disciplines

[Bible references: Genesis 24:63; Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:1-2; 19:14; 119:11, 127; Isaiah 66:2; Matthew 7:24-27; Luke 10:27; John 14:15, 21; 17:3; Acts 5:29; 17:11; Romans 10:17; 1 Timothy 4:15-16; 2 Timothy 2:15; 3:16-17; Philippians 4:8; Titus 3:1; James 1:22; Revelations 1:3]

“If we are ignorant of God’s Word, we will always be ignorant of God’s will.” [1]

“Delighting in God’s Word leads us to delight in God, and delight in God drives away fear.”[2]

“The Scriptures teach us the best way of living, the noblest way of suffering, and the most comfortable way of dying.” [3]

“We discover the will of God by a sensitive application of Scripture to our own lives.”[4]

The Bible is not God, it is His word to us. The end point of Bible disciplines is not to know the Bible, it is to know the God who gave us the Bible. There are various techniques available to us to let the Word of God to lead us to the one who is The Word.

Discipline of Hearing the Word

The Bible was written before the time of the printing press, therefore before the time when widely printed copies of the Bible were available. So, reading the Word of God was not possible for most people, only the hearing of it. Yet, even today, although we can read, study, memorize and meditate on the Word, the goal is to hear the voice of our Lover, the one who gave us the Word. Our relationship is not with the Bible, our relationship is with the Living God. We long to hear the voice of His Spirit speaking to us.

Whether we are reading, studying, or meditating on the Bible, we can pause to listen. What is God trying to say … to you … at that moment … in your situation. We need to develop skills of listening. We should develop the same skills in listening to God as we do listening to the people around us. We should distinguish between “hearing” and “listening.” In passive “hearing,” we find ourselves wanting to respond, to assert ourselves, trusting in ourselves instead fully listening to the work of God in another’s life before we hear a whole message. Listening to others requires discipline coupled with faith and grace. Listening to God’s voice requires patience, restraining our ready-made answers and waiting for His voice.

Discipline of Reading the Word

The discipline of reading the Bible vs. studying the Bible is that reading is for breadth and studying is for depth. It is through Bible reading that we may do short devotionals during the day or do reading programs that allow us to read the Bible (either the entire Bible or in parts) in a specified length of time. It is reading that allows to become familiar with larger parts of the Bible and to see whole context of different books of the Bible. But even as we are reading for breadth, it is the opportunity for us to listen to His voice speaking to us. Reading is done without an agenda, not looking for a particular thing, but prepared to hear God’s voice as we read.

  • Read for breadth –read long passages in the Bible.
  • Read consistently – Make a habit of continual reading.
  • Read without agenda – come with questions, not answers you want to justify.
  • Read prepared to listen – give time to reflect and listen to God’s voice.

Discipline of Studying the Word

All the examples listed below should give you the idea that there are many approaches to studying the Bible – use whatever approach or combination of approaches is suitable for what you want to accomplish.

  • Bible study by books. Use either the inductive[5] or synthetic[6] methods.
  • Bible Study by chapter. Read the entire book to understand context (kind of book, author, etc.), outline the chapter (look for details: comparisons, contrasts, etc.), Begin the task of interpreting: (Define unusual or significant words, understand geographical settings, read in various translations, use cross-references).
  • Bible study by paragraphs. Determine main thought, Rewrite the text, Make an outline, Use a concordance.
  • Bible study by verses. Identify the verbs, Identify the people, Identify ideas, Verse mapping.
  • Bible Study by words. Trace use of word in chapter or book, Use a concordance, Word study in Hebrew or Greek
  • Bible Study by topics. Use a topical study guide or a concordance to examine how a topic is addressed throughout scripture.
  • Bible Study through biography. Use a biographical study guide or a concordance to study the life of a Biblical character.
  • Bible study through journaling. Create a journal that records your thoughts as you study scripture.
  • Bible study through scripture writing. Scripture Writing is a wonderful way to solidify God’s word into your heart. For some, reading isn’t enough. There’s something about taking that God breathed scripture, writing it down and reinforcing it in your heart in a way that will help you memorize and digest it.

Discipline of Memorizing the word[7]

“Bible memorization is absolutely fundamental to spiritual formation. If I had to choose between all the disciplines of the spiritual life, I would choose Bible memorization, because it is a fundamental way of filling our minds with what it needs. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth. That’s where you need it! How does it get in your mouth? Memorization.”[8]

 “I know of no other single practice in the Christian life more rewarding, practically speaking, than memorizing Scripture … No other single exercise pays greater spiritual dividends! Your prayer life will be strengthened. Your witnessing will be sharper and much more effective. Your attitudes and outlook will begin to change. Your mind will become alert and observant. Your confidence and assurance will be enhanced. Your faith will be solidified.”[9]

Memorizing the Word allows us to meditate on it so that it can get more deeply into our hearts. We don’t all memorize equally well, but the goal is to get the Word in our heart whether it’s word for word out of a translation or not. Whether or not we memorize word for word, meditate on it so that it sinks into your heart so that it’s available in the moment of need. Here are some techniques for memorizing verses.

  • You can even turn verse into a prayer.
  • Memorize Verses in a Theme
  • Get a Partner to memorize with you
  • Write the Verses down and carry them with
  • Writing the verse in your own words.
  • Listen to the Verses through an audio Bible
  • Say Verses Out Loud
  • Use Music. Find verses that are set to music or create your own music
  • Break down the verse in shorter chunks and memorize a chunk at a time
  • Use physical motions to go with the verse.

Discipline of Meditating on the word

Christian meditation is the act of filling one’s mind with Scripture and dwelling on God and all that He offers to humanity. In the Bible, the words translated as “meditation” have a variety of definitions: mutter, speak quietly, and ponder, imagine, mourn, complain, study, talk, or utter. [10] You can see that meditation can take a variety of ways for us to interact with what we are reading or memorizing. It is this type of engagement with not just Scripture, but the God who gave us the Scripture that opens us up to transformation.

In Psalm 1, it is written that the ideal Bible reader is one who meditates on the Scripture day and night. In ancient Jewish culture, the followers of God would meditate on His word by speaking it to themselves over and over. They would dwell on the Scripture. As time went on, the definition of meditation changed slightly. During the times of the New Testament, both Jews and Gentiles were all coming to God. This is when meditation changed slightly because the word now had a Greek connotation and culture, rather than a Hebrew connotation and culture.

Apply your imagination and senses

Envision yourself personally engaged in the relationship or encounter or experience of which the text speaks. Hear the words as they are spoken. Feel the touch of Jesus on a diseased body. Taste and smell the fish and bread as they are served to the multitudes. See the truths that God has revealed by mentally recreating the scene with yourself present. There is nothing magical or mysterious in this. The purpose of the imagination is not, as some have argued, to create our own reality. Our imagination is a function of our minds whereby we experience more intimately and powerfully the reality God has created. As you are doing so, reflect on the truth of the Word; brood over the truth of the text; absorb it, soak in it, as you turn it over and over in your mind.

Forming our character

It is difficult to know when meditation moves into prayer. It isn’t really that important. But at some point, take the truth as the Holy Spirit has illumined it and pray it back to God, whether in petition, thanksgiving, or intercession. In other words, take Scripture and turn it into dialogue with God.

Where possible, and according to sound principles of biblical interpretation, replace proper names and personal pronouns with your own name. God never intended for his Word to float aimlessly in impersonal abstractions. He designed it for you and for me.

Then worship the Lord for who he is and what he has done and how it has been revealed in Scripture. Meditation ought always to lead us into adoration and celebration of God.

Finally, practice. Commit yourself to doing what the Word commands. The aim of meditation is moral transformation. The aim of contemplation is obedience. And in obedience is joy inexpressible and full of glory.

Discipline of Obeying the Word

“There will be no peace in any soul until it is willing to obey the voice of God.”[11]

“Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading.”[12]

“God has no more precious gift to a church or an age than a man who lives as an embodiment of his will, and inspires those around him with the faith of what grace can do.”[13]

When we truly love someone, we desire the best for them and are willing to inconvenience ourselves for their sake. There is a sense in which their desires become our desires. In such a situation, we do not find ourselves doing just the minimum for them, but to do all we can. When the object of our love is God, we respond to the overflowing love He has for us by returning His love. We do not “obey commands” just because He has authority, but because we care about what He cares about, and that care includes us and our best interests. The goal of obeying the Word is not obedience, but to respond in love to God’s desires.

It would be a mistake to learn a lot of Bible but fail to apply it to our lives. If we learn about the God who loves us and the kingdom He is establishing even right now, our response should include our desire to participate in bringing the kingdom of God on earth. Here are some responses we can think about towards that end:

  • Pray about how God can make us more like Him.
  • Think about what we learn about God and what kind of difference that should make in our life.
  • Think about what doctrines, warnings, promises did we learned and what our response should be.
  • THE 4-P APPLICATION – Problem: Identify something in our life that needs to change. Passage: Identify what verse or verses point out the problem in our life. Plan: Create a plan to work on that change in our life. Progress: Create a routine to check on the effectiveness or carry-through of our plan..

[1] Graham, Billy. “How do I know God’s will for my life” billygraham.org 27 May 2019 billygraham.org/answer/how-do-i-know-gods-will-for-my-life

[2] Jeremiah, David. What Are You Afraid Of? Facing Down Your Fears with Faith.” Lifeway Christian Resources 2014

[3] Flavel, John.

[4] Ferguson, Sinclair B. Banner of Truth Magazine Issue 219 December 1981

[5] Got Questions “What is inductive Bible Study?” Got Questions gotquestions.org/inducitive-Bible-study.html

[6] Guthrie, George H. “How to Do a Synthetic Bible Study” Inglewood Baptist Church http://storage.cloversites.com/inglewoodbaptistchurch/documents/Synthetic_Study.pdf

[7] Mathis, David. “5 Tips for Bible Memorization.” Crossway 23 June 2018 www.crossway.org/articles/5-tips-for-bible-memorization

[8] Willard, Dallas. “Spiritual Formation in Christ for the Whole Life and Whole Person” Vocatio, Vol. 12, no. 2, Spring, 2001, p. 7.

[9] Swindoll, Chuck. “Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life” Zondervan, 1994, p.61

[10] Peña, Madeline. “Christian Meditation: Definition, Biblical Examples, & More” Just Disciple justdisciple.com/christian-meditation

[11] Moody, D.L. “Steps in the Downfall of Israel” Northfield Echoes 1897 (p. 317)

[12] Chambers, Oswald. “My Utmost for His Highest”  1924 eBook p. 64

[13] Murray, Andrew. Leadership Vol. 7 No. 4. Fall 1986

Observe

Read Psalm 1:1-3; 2 Timothy 3 :16-17; Revelation 1:3. What should be our attitude about the Bible?

Discipline of Generosity

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 15 – Reforming our Souls

Discipline of Generosity

[Bible references: Psalm 24:1; Proverbs 11:24-25; Ecclesiastes 5:10-20; Matthew 6:1-4, 24; Luke 12:13-21; 2 Corinthians 9:6-15]

If we have entered the discipline of simplicity to order our lives and stewardship,

and if we have entered the discipline of gratitude to order our attitudes,

and if we have entered the discipline of fasting to order our needs

and if we have entered the discipline of lament to order our desires

then we are in a place enter into the discipline of generosity.

The spirit of generosity is helped by all the previous disciplines. They open us up to recognizing God’s generosity in our life so that we can extend His generosity to others. To move from the spirit of generosity to the discipline of generosity we must move from giving from out of the overflow of what we received to looking for ways to give that may stretch us. If we are confident about God’s provision for us, then we will be free to give from a feeling of abundance rather than scarcity.

One of the ways to begin is with the tithe, 10% of our income. That kind of giving normally requires us to have discipline with some of our other expenditures. If 10% seems too much, you can start lower but look for ways to increase over time. If 10% is not a stretch, then you may consider increasing from there. The goal of the discipline of generosity is to move us from “merely” giving from the overflow of what we received to looking for ways to give that may stretch us.

The principle of the tithe does not apply only to our money, but to our time and talents (spiritual gifts) as well. The point to remember is that God provides all we have, and our discipline is to give back out of what he has already given as an appreciation of all He has provided, and an acknowledgement of our dependence on Him.

Generosity is about more than just giving. It’s about our attitudes towards our possessions. Do our possessions reduce our priorities for God? Do we think that we own our possessions or that God owns them, and we are only stewards? Does our security come from our possessions or from God? By removing trust from the possessions we have and instead placing our trust in God, we will be more able to freely share what God has given.

Reflect

What keeps you from seeking to stretch your faith in God’s provision?

Observe

Read Ecclesiastes 5:10-20. How can wealth be meaningless?

Discipline of Distress

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 15 – Reforming our Souls

Discipline of Distress[1]

[Bible references: Psalm 11:1-7; 24:1-10; Acts 4:23-31]

“Whenever you are in a time of stress, you should go to the Psalms. They have a medicine for everything, they depict every situation that a human being can be in, and they’ve addressed every emotion you could ever have. They also tell you how to process that emotion or about that situation before God.” [2]

Often in times of difficulty we are prone to turn our focus on whatever it is that is bothering us. This spiritual discipline, sometimes known as “don’t waste an illness,” helps us to confront what has caused us distress, and then to use our distress as an opportunity to lean more fully on God. Instead of being preoccupied by a difficulty we can learn to become occupied with the presence of God.

There are three ways distress can affect us.

  • Distress tends to cause us to focus on the problem in front of us. Like Peter, when He saw Jesus walk on the water, tried to also walk on the water but he became distracted by the winds and waves and lost his focus on Jesus.
  • At other times, distress can make us lean into whatever means of control we have, but again, we focus on the means of control that are right in front of us, forgetting that we are not the ones really in control.
  • Also, as part of needing to control our circumstances, we may avoid acknowledging our suffering or our fears instead of being honest about them to God, which will allow those things to control us later.

When we are confronted by things that cause us distress, we can train ourselves to focus more on God than the situation immediately in front of us, to remember that the Lord is on the throne, that He knows our situation, that He is in control, and that He knows our fears and concerns, that He has a plan. In the future, we may be able to look back like Peter and Joseph and see God’s hand at work in times of distress.[3]

In difficult times, worrying may indicate that we are thinking that we know more than God about how things should be working, and we are worrying that He is not going to get it right. In fact, God may also be testing us, to help us come to grips with what is in our heart, to better understand ourselves, to grow in the faith and to examine our priorities.

[1] Keller, Tim. “Disciplines of Distress” Redeemer City to City 26 Mar 2020 redeemercitytocity.com/articles-stories/tim-keller-disciplines-of-distress

[2] Keller, Tim. “Disciplines of Distress” Redeemer City to City 26 Mar 2020 redeemercitytocity.com/articles-stories/tim-keller-disciplines-of-distress

[3] Peter is remembering that Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and Israelites were anointed to do what God had already predestined them to do. Gen 5:20, Joseph is telling his brothers that the very things that they had intended to do evil, God was going to use it for the good.

Observe

Read Psalm 11:1-7; 24:1-10; Acts 4:23-31. In these passages, what did the people concentrate on in their distress?

Discipline of Lament

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 15 – Reforming our Souls

Discipline of Lament

[Bible references: 2 Samuel 1:1-2:7; Psalm 10:1-4; 17:20; Jeremiah 4:8; Lamentations 2:5; Micah 2:4; Acts 8:2; John 11:31-33]

Lament is not despair. It is not whining. It is not a cry into a void. Lament is a cry directed to God. It is the cry of those who see the truth of the world’s deep wounds and the cost of seeking peace. It is the prayer of those who are deeply disturbed by the way things are… The journey of reconciliation is grounded in the practice of lament.[1]

“Lament and praise must go hand in hand. …  My tears showed me a God who was still worthy of my praise in troubled times. Lament cries out for shalom. Shalom is active and engaged, going far beyond the mere absence of conflict.… it embraces the suffering other as an instrumental aspect of well-being. Shalom requires lament.[2]

The Bible is filled with lament. When the God’s people are faced with evil, injustice, oppression and turmoil, the Biblical response is often lament. Sometimes the lament is focused on ourselves, sometimes it is focused on others. Sometimes our suffering can reveal the needs we really lack, not necessarily what we do not feel nor see. In all of this we should remember that our lament is not to inform God about our needs or wants, God already knows them, but he wants us to lament and plead so that we may kindle our hearts to stronger and greater desires.

Growing in lament helps us to see the sinful, broken world more fully as God see it, to be more fully aware of how our own sins participate in that brokenness, and to become more aware of our need for God’s justice and grace.

Rest and Remember[3]

The goal of the discipline of lament is to learn to slow down, become more aware of our own emotion and pain as well as others, so that we can learn to cry with God about the pains of suffering and injustice. Resting in God gives us the time to remember and reflect, to consider all the many we and others in the world have been hurt and treated unjustly. As we remember, we may find it helpful to turn to the Psalms. Many of the psalms are psalms of lament, sometimes ending in a declaration that God will respond. In Ps 71, suffering is not seen as a problem as God acts to restore him. As we find ourselves, crying out to God, we can find ourselves wrapped in His goodness knowing that he cares about our pain, It is then we can develop a fuller picture of God and learn to praise him with renewed joy and hope.

Repentance 

In that remembering, fused with the hope of God, we can become more fully aware of the part we ourselves have played in the world’s injustice. Repenting, confessing our role in creating pain opens the way to our own healing as well as the healing of others.

Recompense and Restitution

Our repentance turns us towards God, but we may need to consider practical steps act on our repentance and make amends with those we’ve hurt.

[1] Katongole, Emmanuel. Rice, Chris. “Reconciling All Things: A Christian Vision for Justice, Peace and Healing” Intervarsity Press, 2009

[2] Rah, Soong-Chan. “Prophetic Lament:  Call for Justice in Troubled Times” Intervarsity Press, 2015

[3] Price, Paula Francis. “Lament as a Spiritual Practice” ” Women in the Academy and Professions (intervarsity.org), February 09, 2017, thewell.intervarsity.org/spiritual-formation/lament-spiritual-practice The categories in this section are taken from this article

Observe

Read 2 Samuel 1:1-2:7. What did David do during his time of lament?

Discipline of Fasting

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 15 – Reforming our Souls

Discipline of Fasting

[Bible references: Isaiah 58:1-14; Ezra 8:21-23; Matthew 6:16-18]

By the help of the merciful Lord our God, the temptations of the world, the snares of the Devil, the suffering of the world, the enticement of the flesh, the surging waves of troubled times, and all corporal and spiritual adversities are to be overcome by almsgiving, fasting, and prayer.[1]

“More than any other Discipline fasting reveals the things that control us.” [2]

Fasting breaks up habits to let us see our lives in new ways or to enable us to pray at new times or in new ways. Because we are stopping something for a finite period of time, there’s an unfamiliarity and discomfort to it that can be very instructive, open up time for prayer, and draw us closer to God.”[3]

“In every culture and religion in history, fasting has been an instinctive and essential language in our communication with the Divine.”[4]

The pursuit of God can be described as in Psalm 37, to trust in, to delight in, to commit to, to wait on, and to be silent before the Lord; these are words of “giving up” of “going without” whatever the world offers and instead resting in God. The discipline of fasting then looks like learning to go without while learning to rest in, to fight through our appetites so that we can remain focused on the act of pursuing God and loving others, to push through our hunger pains so that we can discover we’re just fine on the other side of them, to look to God, to talk to him, to open ourselves to him in confession, to not so much as give up anything, but to commit to hearing the voice of God in our lives. The goal of fasting is to pursue God, to turn our hearts and our loves towards God and neighbor.

There are many reasons Christians are led by the Holy Spirit to the spiritual discipline of fasting, a few of them are: to strengthen one’s prayer life, to seek direction for one’s life, to express grief and loss, to seek deliverance and protection for life, to express repentance and reconciliation with God. to humble oneself, to express concern for the work of God, to minister to the needs of others, to overcome temptation and rededicate oneself to God, to express love, devotion, and worship of God, to establish rhythms between absence and abundance.

Simplicity and Gratitude can be precursors to fasting. Once we have determined how to order our lives then we are better equipped to identify those things that stand in our way and in the lives of those around us, not only the good vs. bad things, but the good things that detract us from the best things. The Gratitude for God and His provision can set our attitude in preparation for fasting.

[1] Sister Mary Sarah Muldowney The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation Writings of Saint Augustine Vol 17 Fathers of the Church 1959 Sermon 207 (p. 89)

[2] Foster, Richard J. Celebration of Discipline.  Harper & Row Publishers ©1978 (p. 48)

[3] Baab, Lynne M. “The Surprise of Fasting” Lynnebaab.com www.lynnebaab.com/blog/the-surprise-of-fasting

[4] Ryan, Thomas. The Sacred Art of Fasting: Preparing to Practice Skylight Paths 2005

Observe

Read Isaiah 58:1-14; Ezra 8:21-23; Matthew 6:16-18. The benefit of fasting does not come just from deprivation. What should accompany fasting?

Discipline of Gratitude

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 15 – Reforming our Souls

Discipline of Gratitude

[Bible references: Psalm 118:1-29; 136:1-26; Philippians 4:4-8; Colossians 3:1-17; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18]

“One of the most important—and most neglected—elements in the beginnings of the interior life is the ability to respond to reality, to see the value and the beauty in ordinary things, to come alive to the splendor that is all around us.”[1]

But a true Christian experience would find, during some part of every day, the soul in a condition to love and praise God. To be in a praising state one must be in a most unselfish condition of mind; he must live relatively humble as before God; he must be sensitive to his obligations to God; he must have a faith that shall enable him to see God in the events which are transpiring about hi m. “a humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow.”[2]

 “Dr. Atkinson writes that scans show that when people share positive emotions there is a natural sync up process … research shows tremendous benefit to the one who is expressing gratitude, in the manner of it is better to give than to even receive.”[3]

“You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what you will feel and do about what happens to you.” [4]

“Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the views they take of them.”[5]

Gratitude is the affirmation of the good things we have received from someone else. That feeling of gratitude results in the desire to either repay the giver or to pay forward to someone else with good things. Basic gratitude is a simple response to what we have received, but the spiritual discipline of gratitude is pro-active; it calls us to not depend on external circumstances but to train ourselves to intentionally look for reasons to be thankful in all situations; it calls us to pursue gratitude not just because it makes us feel good but because it is good for one’s family, community, and society. It is a virtue that is practiced, not just a feeling. The discipline of gratitude calls us to seek greater mindfulness and awareness, to be more present in the moment, to sharpen our powers of observation, to notice what others miss, to develop humility in recognition that the good in one’s life comes from outside the self, and to actively seek to reciprocate these gifts, returning goodness for goodness. Therefore, the goal of Gratefulness is to develop our ability to recognize and appreciate God’s provision.

The discipline of gratitude will be on guard against the various obstacles to feeling gratitude: our busyness and distraction, our ingrained penchant for noticing the negative over the positive, our tendency to adapt to the feelings of gratitude and allowing ourselves to become numbed to the reasons for our gratitude, and the possibility of feeling envy as we tend to compare what we have to what others have.

Counteracting those obstacles will require us to focus on things that will enhance our ability to keep alert, to see familiar things in a new way, to recognize the abundance of what we have rather than what we lack, to not forget all the good we have in our lives and to remember where it came from and how it made us feel.

[1] Merton, Thomas. No Man is an Island Mariner Books 2002 (pp. 33-34)

[2] Beecher, Henry Ward. The Life of H. W Beecher. Chapter 4. Plymouth Church (p. 77)

[3] Green, Barbara J. “Open your heart and focus on gratitude: Feel connection, share connection” BJgreenphd.com 2 Feb 2016 www.bjgreenphd.com/open-heart-focus-gratitude-feel-connection-share-connection

[4] Frankl, Viktor E. Man’s Search for Meaning Beacon Press 2006

[5] Epictectus. Enchiridion. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Ed. Chapter 5 www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0237%3Atext%3Denc%3Achapter%3D5

Reflect

The marketing done in our consumer culture is designed to make us discontent, to make us desire things we don’t need. What desires are creating discontent in your life?

Observe

Read Psalm 136. This Psalm shows gratitude for what Yahweh had done for Israel in the past. Could you make a list of gratitude for what Yahweh has done in your life?

The Discipline of Simplicity/Stewardship

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 15 – Reforming our Souls

Discipline of Simplicity/Stewardship

[Bible references: Genesis 1:28; Psalm 33:5; Micah 6:8; Hosea 6:6; Matthew 25:35-40; Luke 16:13; John 13:34; 1 Corinthians 3:9; 4:2; 9:24-27; 2 Corinthians 1:12; 9:6-8; Galatians 6:6; Philippians 4: 4,8-13; 1 Timothy 5:8; 6:6-10, 17-19; Hebrews 3:5; 12:1-3; James 1:17; 1 Peter 4:10; 1 John 3:17]

The central point for the Discipline of simplicity is to seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness of His kingdom first – and then everything necessary will come in its proper order.[1]

There’s no point in simplifying your life if you are steering toward an end point that doesn’t matter to begin with.[2]

My schedule is far less about what I want to get done and far more about who I want to become.[3]

“We do not mean . . . that simplicity betrays itself in no visible signs, has not its own habits, its distinguishing tastes and ways; but this outward show, which may now and then be counterfeited, must not be confounded with its essence and its deep and wholly inward source. Simplicity is a state of mind. It dwells in the main intention of our lives. A man is simple when his chief care is the wish to be what he ought to be . . . And this is neither so easy nor so impossible as one might think. At bottom, it consists in putting our acts and aspirations in accordance with the law of our being, and consequently with the Eternal Intention which willed that we should be at all.”[4]

“If you want to have a spiritual life you must unify your life. A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for.”[5]

It is not enough to simply pare down one’s possessions or schedule, because they can become their own ends or become undone because we have not dealt with our habit of filling our time or possessions with something else. To successfully practice simplicity, we must have a clear center, a clear purpose. It is from that purpose that we can decide how to spend our time and resources so that our decisions can be based on how they fit our priorities. An indicator of whether you achieved your purpose can be if you feel fragmented and restless. Without a clear purpose, short-term distractions and pleasures can hijack our progress towards our long-term goals. Therefore, the goal of simplicity is to gain integrity of spirit, reduce temptations, distractions, and the need/desire for things so that we can better serve God.

Setting our priorities

To reach these goals, we must do less of some things but more of others. True simplicity is doing less of what matters least, and more of what matters most. You don’t just empty your life of the bad, you fill it with the good. Having a purpose allows you to discern whether a particular area of life should be constricted or expanded; purpose produces priorities. Once our priorities are set then we can make meaningful decisions about our activities. We may need to declutter our lives: we may have too many things in our home, or too many activities in our lives. What detracts our attention from our priorities? What things should we say “no” to? What habits do we have that move us from our goals?

The discipline of simplicity includes determining who we want to be and setting goals to achieve that, then setting our priorities, and then arranging our use of time, money, our spiritual gifts, and our relationships to meet those priorities. Simplicity is the essence of stewardship.

Stewarding our resources

Once we have centered ourselves and established our priorities then we can focus on how to manage the limited resources that we must accomplish the responsibilities God has given us. It is easy to get overwhelmed by all the needs we see around us in the world, it seems that there are not enough resources to meet the needs of the world. That is why we need to figure out what responsibilities God has to us individually. Then we need to trust God to provide what we need to for those responsibilities (Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.)

If we have set our priorities properly, then our priorities should be aligned with God’s priorities and desires. In Gen 1:28, we can see that stewardship is the first assignment God gave humans, so part of what we need to consider is what individual things that we, as individuals, have been given stewardship responsibilities over. We also need to consider God’s desires for how we carry out those responsibilities. We know that His desires are for us to love God and neighbor, act with justice and mercy, have a generous and overflowing love towards others (including our families, our fellow believers, and those in need) and to take care of the world he has provided for us.

As His stewards, we need to consider how to use the blessings God had given us, to serve in the way he would have us do so that we bring glory to Him in all that we do. We are not just a person with a vocation, or just a member of a family, or just a church member, etc. We are a who not a what. We are people created by God to be in relation with him and with others, and with multiple obligations.

[1] Foster, Richard J. Celebration of Discipline Harper & Row Publishers ©1978 (p. 75)

[2] Hybels, Bill. Simplify: Ten Practices to Unclutter Your Soul.  Tyndale Momentum 2015

[3] Hybels, Bill. Simplify: Ten Practices to Unclutter Your Soul. Tyndale Momentum 2015

[4] Wagner, Charles. The Simple Life. McClure, Phillips & Co. 1901

[5] Merton, Thomas. Thoughts in Solitude.  Farrar, Straus, and Giroux 1999

Reflect

What habits in your life move you away from pursuing God?

Observe

Read 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. How would following the advice in this passage help us to be better stewards?