UP: Spiritual Formation

Introduction

What are Core Values

Good morning Citylight! Man, I’m so excited to worship with you this morning and open up God’s word together! If we haven’t met, my name is Alex and I serve as one of the pastors here.

Last week we started our Core Values series! Typically we preach through books of the bible but We periodically take time to come back to our core values as a church through this sermon series for a couple of reasons. First, it reminds us of who we are and what God has for us. And second, it is also a barometer for us to continue to evaluate the ministry that is happening here and make sure that we are actually doing what we set out to do!

Core Values

We have 4 core values that are really easy to remember because they’re just directional arrows! The first and most important core value we have is DOWN which Ricky preached last week. The Gospel is the “good news” that God has reached down to us in his son, Jesus, to defeat sin and death and their effects in our world. Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus has initiated and accomplished what we never could.

It is the power for personal salvation and transformation as well as the renewal of neighborhoods, cities, and nations. We never move past Jesus. We never move past the gospel. Who we are and what we do will be rooted in and empowered by God’s reaching down in the Gospel.

Our second core value is UP which is Spiritual formation that well cover this morning. Next week Ricky will cover IN which is community. Finally there is OUT which stands for Mission, reaching the world with the good news.

Point 1: What is Spiritual Formation

Illustration: back 2 school

This week as I’ve been thinking about our Core Value of Spiritual Formation, I noticed something that right before many of our eyes. All over social media this week my pages and probably yours as well have been saturated with pictures that parents are posted with details of their children and what grade they’ll be entering. Some of these posts have even been from friends doing life updates in their new jobs or teachers sharing their classroom with how many years they have been teaching.

Often the pictures have information on them like: age, favorite food, color, activity, and finally they have the phrase of “When I grow up I want to be….”

Question: who do you want to become

But it brings me to a questions I want you to wrestle with this morning; In 5 years, who do you want to become? I don’t mean like what job do you have, but I want you to wrestle with at the core of who you are, what do you want to be true about yourself in 5 years? What do you hope others to say about you? You might say you’d love for people to say that you’re more gentle and compassionate toward people. You hope they would say you’re present in conversations or that they know you cared because how well you listened and remember things. You probably don’t hope that people say you’re always on your phone or that you are quick to get upset.

Here is why our Spiritual formation matters. Each and every single one of us is being formed. The question that we must wrestle with and actually explore in our lives is, what is forming us.

If you were to actually sit here and take the next five minutes to journal about your day to day activities and habits and conversations, would they point to the answer to the question of who you want to become, OR would they show you that you’re actually being formed into something completely different and you didn’t even know it?

Turn to 2 Corinthians 3 to see what God has to say about our Spiritual formation and what it means for us to actually become what we’re meant to be.

As we discuss Spiritual Formation, it’s helpful for us to consider what it actually means.

Definition:

One definition that I’ve come across and enjoy is that Spiritual formation is “the process of being shaped by the Spirit into the likeness of Christ.”

Or a more simple way to be that Spiritual Formation just means that we are becoming like Jesus.

The good news of the gospel of Christ is that while it brings us salvation and saves us from hell, it actually transforms us. It changes us and the direction that formation actually directs us is to become more like Christ himself. We often say at Citylight South that we are a family to grow with and what we mean when we say that is that we want to grow in becoming more like Jesus.

Point 2: Why it’s important - Hardened mind & heart

Context

Our passage for this morning in 2 Corinthians comes as Paul has written this second letter to the church in Corinth. If you have ever read 1 Corinthians you notice that the church clearly has some major issues that Paul writes to correct them. While exhorting them to turn from sin and turn to Jesus, there seems to be this difficulty with his relationship in the church. In 2 Corinthians he begins with reminding the church that ultimately his desire is to point them to God but he also helps them understand why they can trust him as someone who is following Jesus and has been entrusted to tell people about Jesus and how they too are entrusted to ministry.

Why can they participate in this work? Because of what God has done. As Paul begins to encourage them with what is true of them he draws on the story of Moses and the Israelites in Exodus as they are at the foot of Mount Sinai. What Paul is doing for these 12 verses is drawing on the old covenant and how while it was beautiful, it was not final and does not compare to the new covenant, but most of all, he’s demonstrating that they are transformed by God’s grace.

SLIDE: V. 10

In verse 10 Paul says “What had been glorious is not glorious now by comparison because of the glory that surpasses it.”

Gospel

The word “glory” repeats itself 10 times in verses 7-11. Paul can’t stop using this word to describe the new covenant of what God has done. The law and old testament that Moses and Israel were under was the mirror that reflected to them that no matter how hard they tried, no matter what they did, they would continue to fall short of God’s standard and fall into sin. Over and over again, the weight of their denial of God, their refusal to surrender, their own nature kept them separated from God.

But the beauty and glory of what is true in the new covenant helps us see God’s great plan for redemption in Jesus. Because as Paul says in v. 13” we are not like Moses. V. 16 tells us that if a person turns to the Lord, Jesus, the veil is removed. When we place our faith in Jesus we are able to receive the forgiveness of sin, a new transformed heart, and be brought to freedom in Christ is what v. 17 tells us. We don’t carry a burden. We don’t experience slavery. We no longer are chained to the things we wish we didn’t do or trapped condemned apart from God in sin. We are set free from all of that in Christ Jesus because he has set us free and given us a new life.

God grants to us the gift of salvation by putting our faith in him and him alone. But he does not just leave us there. God doesn’t just wait for us to pass on and say see you later, but he actually desires for us to be transformed. To look like him and reflect who he is as he transforms us and makes us new.

But what happens is we end up having some misconceptions of what Spiritual Formation actually is and I think this passage helps reveal some of that for us. There is typically two misconceptions we have about it, the first is an apathetic view of our formation.

Lisence View

V. 14 says that the minds of the minds of the Israelites were hardened. What he’s communicating is that they could not grasp in their minds of what God was doing right before their eyes at Mount Sinai. They saw God’s power at the top of the mountain, they heard him speak, they feared him speaking to them, and ultimately couldn’t even gaze upon Moses face as it shined with God’s glory when he came back down the mountain.

It continues on in their history because we start to see the leaders of the people of Israel received this law from God and as they failed to follow it, they continued to put up more and more man made laws to help them not even get close to falling into sin. They heaped up heavy burdens upon the people. It’s legalism.

If we’re honest with ourselves some of us hear about spiritual formation and start to think it’s legalism. Because Spiritual Formation takes work. We don’t become more like Christ just by happen stance. We cooperate with God in the work that he is doing. We are actually called to obey the Scriptures and fight sin, live holy lives, gather as a body of believers, and meditate on God’s word.

What happens when we take this approach is that we do nothing. We say that God is just changing us and we don’t need to do anything. he has already saved us and we don’t care about holiness, we think we’re good because our salvation is paid for and so we live on without actually seeing God at work in our own hearts.

To counter our apathetic view of Spiritual formation & discipline, Paul describes the work that God is doing in v. 8 “how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?”

The work that Jesus has done is glorious. And even so the work of the Spirit in us through our disciplines and formation is also glorious. Because the Spirit of God dwells in our hearts when we give our lives to Jesus and works to change us when we walk with him.

SLIDE: SPIRIT LED LIFE = SPIRIT FORMED LIFE

A Spirit led life is a Spiritually Formed life.

In order to actually live this Spirit led life we have to cooperate with God and walk with him daily to see him at work in us and to ask him to actually change us.

The Gospel says that Our salvation is found and Jesus and Jesus alone. If we believe that we are dead in our sin, repent of our sin and believe that Jesus died and rose for our sin, he will give us a new heart with new desires to actually walk with God and fight against sin. AND he doesn’t just save us, but wants to transform us and walk intimately with us to reflect his image. That means we walk in new habits as we walk with God, but the habits are not what save us.

SLIDE: 1 TIM. 4:7

1 Timothy 4:7 “train yourself in godliness.” We still play a part in our Spiritual Formation as we cooperate with God.

Pride & Legalism

V. 15 adds to this to reveal that it wasn’t just their minds that were hard, but it says that their hearts were veiled. They had no affection for God or others in relation to what God called them to in reflecting his image.

This can look like legalism in our own world. We start to take a prideful approach to Spiritual formation and we look down on others and say you’re not mature because you don’t know this doctrine. You a not spiritually mature because you haven’t read the bible enough. You don’t have anything memorized, you don’t serve as much, you don’t give enough. And what we start doing in this is that we puff our selves up and we start to view these other good things, but make them gospel.

Think of the jewish religious leaders - they had it all memorized, they did everything to the tee of their laws and yet, they were far from God. Because their hearts were totally closed to see that their heavy burdens were actually veiled hearts to God’s Spiritual formation in them to give them hearts like his. Jesus said that people will know they are his disciples by the fruit they bear and the what’s the greatest of the fruit of the Spirit? Love.

How: gospel is what changes you

So how are we actually spiritually formed? Here’s how you’ll experience it on a Sunday morning here or in city groups and conversations in discipleship here. The gospel is the only thing that can actually redeem you. Sometimes we’ll stop and think that they gospel, the good news that Jesus is sufficient, Jesus died for it, Jesus loves you, Jesus has paid for it, Jesus is with you - we think that’s the basics and we want to move on.

We start to say, hey when can we move on from these surface level conversations of the gospel for lost people and when will the sermons be more filled with Greek and Hebrew or preaching on doctrines so we can get deep and rich theologically together.

None of that is bad and those are beautiful things but they are NOT gospel and knowing more doctrine doesn’t mean you’re more spiritually formed that someone. Because what is going to get you through the season of cancer, the depression, what is going to actually walk with you and bring you peace when you child goes astray or your spouse passes away is the precious reality that the God of all comfort is with you. When the friend hurts you and harms you you’ll be met with the reality that you placed there where God should be and the only thing that will actually help you move forward is not complaining about them and waiting for an apology but seeing that Jesus is the greatest friend you could ever have and he won’t ever let you down.

That’s all doctrine, but it’s a Doctrine of God that is rooted in the Gospel and seeing that the Gospel is not something we graduate from, but is what the Spirit uses to transform us.

You’ll also hear that Jesus wants more for you. You’ll hear that you need to repent of sin, turn away the idols of greed, approval, success, status, pride, and more. God doesn’t just leave you where you are, but he frees you to actually live out who you were made to be, which was to be a reflection of his image to the entire world and live in freedom! We receive that gift when we actually walk in line with the Spirit, cooperate with God and his people to see God actually change us in life.

A Spirit led life is a Spiritually formed life.

One of the main gifts of grace that the Spirit of God does in our hearts is that his job is to glorify Jesus. When we wrestle with him in that, He continues to actually form us into men and women who resemble and look more like Jesus.

Point 3: Why it’s Good - From glory to glory

biblical theology of formation

The Bible is consistent in it’s message about our formation and what God desires for us. We were made to flourish as we live like our Creator designed us. From the beginning in the creation narrative, God makes man and he sets us apart as humans. He makes us in his image and the mission for Adam and Eve was to fill the earth with the image of God all over it.

In Exodus, Moses spends 40 days and nights up on Mount Siani and beggs God to see his face. He desires so much to see God’s glory in Exodus 34, but God just passes by him because he can’t see him face to face. But after days of intimate time and conversation with God, it literally changes teh appearance of Moses face. When he comes back down from the Mountain top the people can’t look upon him because Moses face is shining with the raidiance and glory of God from being so near to him. He is transformed into God’s image and they place a veil over his face so they don’t have look upon it.

This is what Paul is drawing on in 2 Cor. But even Moses’ shining face is nothing compared to what God is doing now in the new covenant with believers today. Because when you were saved, the Spirit doesn’t just give you a make over, but he actually fills your heart and dwells in you. The living God resides in you. The veil is removed and the glory of the Lord is upon you. You have freedom now in Christ because of God’s work in you.

In Romans 8:29 “For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” This is what God has set out to do is to bring about our salvation, but also our transformation.

v. 11 & v. 18 enduring, remaining, spirit led

In verse 11 here Paul says that this is even more glorious. Because the old law is set aside. it’s past. it’s no longer and is not eternal. But what endures is even more glorious. The word for endure in the Greek is the word “meno” its the same word that John uses like crazy in his writings and we translate it to abide.

God desires for you to not just have some temporary transformation, but in our life here today, we actually are spurred on to live a spirit led life that abides in Christ. This is what leads to our spiritual formation.

You could have the entirety of the scriptures memorized, you could write the longest theological treatise, you could be the nicest person in the world and care for the poor, but if you don’t actually abide in Christ it’s all worthless and means nothing. Our spiritual formation is not found in holy habits, attendance, efforts, doubts, apathy or work. It’s find in an actual daily relationship with the Living God.

illustration of intimacy

While we were on sabbatical this summer, Mariah and I took a trip up to Divide, Colorado. We were able to stay a couple nights in a cabin that was in the mountains and the view was amazing. There’s wildlife all over the place, the quiet stillness of the woods made it so you could hear every bird. The property was laid out so that as you look out the back window, the trees were cut out too look at the landscape in this section, but as you look out your eyes would be drawn to gaze forward as you’re at the foot of Pikes Peak. It was so incredibly peaceful.

Mariah and I took time to have slow mornings, cook food without a kid wrapping around our legs, we spent time sleeping in, we spent hours in scripture together talking about what we were studying, read books and discussed them. The best part of the whole trip reminded me of how much I love my wife. It was the best time filled with laughter, no agenda, peacefulness.

One night I was sitting there as the night is winding down with Mariah as we’re watching a movie and I’m thinking about how amazing this is to be in this place with my bride. I look out the door’s thanking God for how awesome this time is and as I look up I start to see the top of Pikes Peak again. The clouds are rolling over the top of the mountain. A storm was headed. You could see the lightning and you’re just in awe of the majesty and power that is up there.

But what I was left with as I was praising God for this time was a picture of what the Israelites experienced. The sat at the base of Siani and experienced the fear of God as they stared at the mountain and felt the rolling thunder and the voice of God shake their bodies with power.

But I began to think about the beauty of the paradise that this amazing, all powerful God had created to let me be with my bride. And I started to wonder all the more. If this is intimacy, closeness, love, and peace is what I feel in a place like that with my bride, how much more does the Creator of the universe desire for us to have that kind of intimacy with us, the church, his bride.

Intimacy with God

Our Spiritual formation isn’t just about reading your bible more and praying all the time and going to church and city group. Yes, do all those, those a great, real things that we should be doing as believers. But our worth, our formation, our salvation isn’t dependent on any of that. Our formation is found in abiding with Christ, being led by the Spirit, walking in relationship with him not just being roommates in this life, but actual intimacy with Jesus.

Church the beauty of all of our habits, the good in all that we practice is that the living God meets us in them and desires for us to actually walk in step with him. This is where the actual ground work is done. Here is how those habits form up and bring us intimacy with God.

It’s when I’m walking with God to actually think through what Abraham’s failures as a husband mean for how I can treat my wife that change me as I ask God to bring those out in me so I could care for her well. It’s the time I’m caught up in frustration and anxiety about life decisions that I put my face into the palms of my hands that I’m led to plead with God that he would help me and bring me peace that I can’t explain. It’s the moment of joy with laughter as my daughter and I roll around and play with puzzles that I quietly thank Jesus for these memories and moments that fill my heart with even more joy of gratitude that he’s answered my prayer that my daughter would know the joy of a father who loves her.

It’s this continuing step in step with the Spirit of God that any of us are actually transformed into the same image from glory to glory. It’s the Spirit led life that brings spiritual formation.

What a gift, what a savior, what a glorious reality it is that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom and he brings us the gift of our unveiled faced, to look more and more like our living God.

Numbers 6:24–26 ““May the Lord bless you and protect you; may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.” ’”