Formation Series Suggestion

Formation as Worship/ Spiritual Warfare

Formation: discovering truth. Agreeing with Truth. Allowing Truth to compel our words thoughts and actions.

Our we satisfied with the truth we have discovered?

Romans 12:1–2 (ESV)

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The New Bible Commentary 12:1–2 The Heart of the Matter: A Renewed Mind

Paul’s summons to transform our lives does not come in a vacuum. It is only in view of God’s mercy that his appeal becomes relevant and that our obedience of it is possible. As we recognize all (the word ‘mercy’ is plural in the Greek) that God has done for us in his Son, as Paul has surveyed it in chs. 1–11, we realize that offering ourselves to God as living sacrifices is, indeed, a ‘reasonable’ (logikēn) act of worship (see the NIV mg. for this translation). The word living reminds us of what God has made us: we are people who are now ‘alive to God in Christ Jesus’ (6:11). Paul encourages us to look at our entire Christian lives as acts of worship. It is not just what is done on Sunday in a church building that ‘ascribes worth’ to God, but what God and the world see in us every day and every moment of the week.

‘reasonable’ (logikēn) - Spiritual Worship

Through your ‘worship’ you may discern the ‘will of God’ and ‘what is perfect’

English Standard Version Chapter 4

22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

1 Peter 2:2 ESV

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—

“My worship is a weapon”

Your spiritual worship is not a song, but and declaration and celebration of our allegiance to the true Jesus above all else.

Formation as Allegiance/ Spiritual Warfare

English Standard Version (Chapter 12)

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Faith- pistis

Allegiance, fidelity

not “belief”- mental ascent- forensic justification

There is no dual-citizenship in the Kingdom

LGBTQIA2+++

English Standard Version (Chapter 7)

24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Ephesians 4:21–24 (ESV)

assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

English Standard Version Chapter 6

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Formation as Church Unity

English Standard Version (Chapter 12)

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

English Standard Version (Chapter 4)

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Christian Love is predicated on TRUTH

Thomas Aquinas:

“Love is to will the good of the other”

Formation as Kingdom

English Standard Version Chapter 12

17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

The ultimate expression of my formation is multiplication

Formation is freedom

English Standard Version Chapter 8

31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”