Life Is Fleeting

Good Morning. I am glad that we are here together. We have been journeying together on this path toward Jesus. I honestly can think of no better place for us than on this journey together as Easter quickly approaches.

The Last several weeks we have been digging into what it meant to be with him and to draw us closer to that relationship with our Rabbi. Yet, that isn’t the only thing we are called to do. We are also supposed to become like him. Let’s talk about that some more this morning.

I want to open though with and Idea or a Rule of Living.

Day by day remind yourself that you are going to die.

-The Rule of St. Benedict

Well this just got really depressing. Think about it though for a minute.

How would you change your life if you lived with this as one of the primary perspectives of your life?

Essentially it boils down to not wasting your time on trivial things.

If you were going to die tomorrow would you be worried about arguing with a family member over something unimportant.

If you were going to die tomorrow would you put your phone down and spend time with family.

If you were going to die tomorrow would you waste your day or make the most of it.

Now It would be easy to take this approach and say well I guess I can just do whatever I want because my life is ending tomorrow.

We don’t know when life is going to end and we need to live a life that finds the balance of both the reminder that we are mortal and life is short but that we are also to live for something greater.

In essence we aren’t to live a life that is worried only about the here and right now but we are to live a life that is for your eulogy.

Your Eulogy

Have you thought about it. What is your family going to write about you?

What are your friends going to think on when they know you are gone.

I know this may seem like heavy stuff but let me point you to the hope that comes in approaching life with this perspective.

When we think on the end we can come to one of two main opinions.

I don’t care what people think, I want what I don’t care what people think.

Or

2. I want to be remembered as someone who did good in this world. Who people look back on fondly.

As a Christ follower we are called to take this even further.

3. I want to be a person of love. A person who embodies what Jesus did for me. To Become like him

This is the goal of being with him.

The Goal is to become like him. Not just to learn the bible or to do all the right things as a Christian but to recognize that we live our lives intentionally around the goal of spiritual formation and Maturity.

We embody this passage.

Philippians 3:12–14 NIV

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

A moment ago I used a term that is an interesting one. That we need to talk about.

Spiritual Formation

Spiritual formation isn’t just a Christian thing. It’s a human thing.

It isn’t uncommon today to hear this idea that I am spiritual but not religious. Many people want to associate with the ideas of spiritual growth but they don’t want to associate with a particular set of beliefs.

The reality is that Spiritual Formatino is simply the effort to change and grow as a human.

We have to recognize that the human soul is a powerful thing and that many people are on a journey to grow for the good or the bad in who they are.

It goes back to the question or idea from a few weeks ago.

Who or what is forming you?

It happens to everyone.

Mother Teresa was a product of Spiritual formation, so was Billy Graham, but so is your favorite signer, actor, politician, and the list goes on and on. Each one person, whoever came to mind has been formed by someone or something.

The truth is that Spiritual formation isn’t optional. You can’t run from it. You can’t escape it no matter how hard you try.

Spiritual Formation

Think about it for a moment we can’t escape it from the moment we are born to the day we die we are spiritually formed.

Young children are taught so much in their early years. Right and wrong. What to expect from the world. The Beauty is that some of the worst behaved kids can turn out to be the best adults. This is mostly because they are still really pliable in life and not enough has shaped them that they become ridged. Often their opinions and views are those of their parents.

Teenagers start forming their own opinions and often just want to be contrary to their parents because heaven forbid you are like the people who raise you right. Teenagers are blown by the winds and the waves as they try to navigate the world and establish themselves.

Then we have Young Adults. Views and opinions are established and they are forming who they are. They are starting to get set in their ways and they are also starting to gain beccome more ridged. This is also the stage in my opinion that you really establish who you want to be in the future. Yet, nothing is set and you still have time to change.

Middle Age. This is where I am at. I like to think i can change but it is not an easy thing to do. It usually takes something bigger to move us. We are still open to new ideas but are less easily swayed.

Then we have the older crowd. I read an author who said that there are two types of older people. Now don’t take this as saying all older people can’t change or that they are truly stuck in these two polar opposites but the truth is that most people who reach their older years and I don’t want to define that I will let you decide if you are in this category.

People in this category when it comes to formation are at the point that they are either the Best or the Worst. Think of it this way the classic stereo types.

You have the first one which is the sweet old lady who is so loving and caring and just wants to give anything and everything she can to people.

Then you have the Grouchy old man sitting on his porch yelling at people to get off his lawn.

I am willing to bet all of you including those who might be in this category can think of someone who fits these extremes.

Why though are they that way. Because the world formed them over a long time and they are at the point they don’t want to or see the point to changing. How they got there is the spiritual formation.

The process from beginning to end form birth to death that leads us.

Spiritual Formation

It is important to note though that while everyone is spiritual there is a different between that and what we seek to do as someone who is a follower of Jesus.

In a simple way to understand it we are no longer pursuing the way we think we are supposed to be but instead we are seeking the way that God sees us and had us in mind.

We are becoming the person who God intended us to be.

Culture wants us to be true to ourselves but as believers we want to be true to who God wants us to be.

Paul sets this up for us in Philippians

Philippians 3:10 NIV

10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

We want to know Christ. To know and participate in who he is.

We want to be formed and shaped and molded by him.

Think of the images of the bible.

Isaiah 64:8 NIV

8 Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

or

Malachi 3:3 NIV

3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,

Potters hands, Refiners work. God wants to work and move in us and shape us if we are willing to let him.

Not Done by Us

True formation over the years in the Christian life begins in the recognition that we can’t do it. It is God who changes us and shapes us.

Often you might hear the statement like this. “Let go and Let God”

Don’t be fooled. Yes, it is God who transforms us and works in us but Saint Augustine said it in the fourth century.

Without God, we cannot. Without us, God will not.

We don’t always remember our role in the process of spiritual formation.

WE are incapable of saving ourselves from the pain of death through Sin. Only God can do that. It is only his work in us that makes that possible. Yet, it takes our broken willingness to come before him and a moment of incredible honesty to say.

God, I need you.

It is this immeasurable grace that pours out into our lives and is what saves us from ourselves and it is in our brokenness we come and we are transformed. This is where the journey begins.

Maybe some of us right now are saying there are things in my life that I need to change. that I have been formed and shapped by in the worng ways. This is a moment to come to God and lay them down and recognize what he has done for you.

Transition to communion.