The Process of Spiritual Transformation

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The Process of Spiritual Transformation

• Part One
• Forsaking the Father Losing our First Happiness

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Seminar Overview

• Our present condition A glorious Ruin
• Our ultimate destiny The Image of Christ
• Our journey home A long obedience in the same
  direction

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Foundational Assumptions

• God has revealed himself to us through the Holy
  Scriptures
• There is no other source of true and accurate
  information about God and his ways
• A correct understanding of the process of
  spiritual transformation must be grounded in the
  teaching of Holy Scripture

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Foundational Assumptions

• The experiences and ideas of believers, past and
  present, can provide helpful insights to us
• However, they must be weighed in light of
  Scripture and cannot of themselves be
  foundational to our understanding of the
  transformation process

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Foundational Assumptions

• If we do not have a solid biblical foundation
  from which to evaluate spirituality, we will
  gravitate toward personal preference
• Thomas Merton went into Zen

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Foundational Assumptions

• What is spiritual formation?
• Spiritual formation is the daily process of being
  shaped, formed and molded by our thoughts,
  desires, actions and experiences
• As such, it is either shaping us to be more like
  Christ or in some other direction

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Foundational Assumptions

• This is a very ambiguous phrase and can have a
  wide range of definitions
• Biblically
• Spiritual formation is the work of the Spirit of
  God, through the word of God and the people of
  God, to form the children of God to the Image of
  God, which is Jesus Christ our Lord. (Gal. 4.19)

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Biblical Perspective for understanding Spiritual
Formation

• Creation
• Fall
• Redemption
• Consummation

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Who is God

• The most important thing about a person is what
  comes to his mind when he hears the word God.
  (A.W. Tozer)

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God is Creator

• In the beginning, God created the heavens and
  the earth (Gen. 1.1)
• Universe is fifteen billion light years across
  and expanding

11
God is Awesome

• Behold, the nations are like a drop from a
  bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the
  scales. (Is. 40.15)
• It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
  and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, (Is
  40.22)

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God is Loving Good

• God describes himself this way The Lord, the
  Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger,
  and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
  keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving
  iniquity and transgression and sin,

13
God is Just Righteous

• but who will by no means clear the guilty,
  visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the
  children and the childrens children to the third
  and fourth generation (Ex. 34.6-7)
• Study and meditate on this passage

14
God is Holy

• I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and
  lifted up and the train of his robe filled the
  temple. And above him stood the seraphim...And
  one called to another Holy, Holy, Holy is the
  Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his
  glory (Is. 6.1-3)

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What is Holiness?

• What is Gods holiness?
• Holiness as it relates to God especially
  denotes Gods moral perfection and absolute
  separation from evil, and freedom from
  imperfections and frailties common to man.
  (Mounce, 337)

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Who is God

• God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal and
  unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power,
  holiness, justice, goodness and truth.
  (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q 4)

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Who is God?

• As believers, we can say God is our creator and
  Father in heaven, holy and loving, perfect in
  goodness, moral purity and justice infinite in
  knowledge, wisdom and power eternal in duration
  and unchanging in his nature and character.

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Gods Good Creation

• Original Innocence
• A good and loving God creates all that is seen
  and unseen
• Man and woman enjoy friendship and intimate
  communion with God and with one another
• Created sinless and were able not to sin
• All their needs were provided
• No sin, sickness or death
• Man given authority over creation

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Fall

• First fall Through pride, Lucifer revolted
  against God and was cast out of heaven, along
  with a third of the angels
• Second fall Now called Satan (Hebrew
  adversary), he appeared in the garden in the form
  of a serpent to tempt our first parents

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Fall

• Through the second fall, Satan gained domination
  of mankind and earth, inaugurating this present
  evil age (Gal. 1.4). He claims authority over
  the kingdoms of this world (Mt. 4.8)
• Jesus described him as ruler of this world (Jn.
  12.21 14.30), and Paul as the God of this
  world (2 Cor. 4.4)

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Fall

• Also called the devil (Greek diabolos,
  accuser), the evil one (1 Jn 2.13), tempter
  (Mt. 4.3), the enemy (Mt. 13.39), father of
  lies (Jn. 8.44), deceiver (Rev. 12.9), prince
  of the power of the air (Eph. 2.2)
• He is ruler over army of evil spirits that wars
  against God and man (Mt. 12.25)

22
Fall

• Satan approached Eve with deception and lies
• Challenged Gods word to inculcate unbelief
• Impugned Gods motives to arouse resentment
• Encouraged a desire to be like God, to
  stimulate pride

23
Fall

• Eve and Adam
• Embraced autonomy and self-exaltation
• Yielded to Satan's temptation to disregard Gods
  command
• Sin entered the world as disobedience,
  transgression of Gods will

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The Tragic consequences of Rebellion Against God

• Through their disobedience, Adam and Eve
  discovered that the good and loving God who
  created and blessed them is also a holy, just and
  righteous God, who must judge their sin against
  him
• They also plunged all humanity into incalculable
  suffering

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The Tragic consequences of Rebellion Against God

• God judged their sin
• Woman will suffer in childbirth and seek to rule
  over man but be ruled by him
• Man will labor hard to survive and will die and
  return to dust (with woman)
• Both are banished from Eden and barred from
  returning
• Yet God shows mercy
• clothing them and delaying their death

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The Tragic consequences of Rebellion Against God

• Within the self
• Alienation from God (spiritual death)
• Guilt, fear, anxiety, etc.
• Self-centeredness curving in upon self
• Complex of sinful ideas, attitudes, desires and
  behaviors
• Physical death (eventually)

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The Tragic consequences of Rebellion Against God

• With one another
• Other-centeredness vanishes
• Me-centeredness appears
• Self-protective blame-shifting begins
• Interpersonal conflict emerges as self-interest
  in its many and varied forms dominates relational
  life

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The Tragic consequences of Rebellion Against God

• Within society
• Fallen, sinful nature is hereditary
• Cain murders Abel from jealousy
• The first couple one son a murdered, one son
  banished
• Population growth brings increasing sin
• Corruption of society deepens
• ...the wickedness of man was great in the earth
  and every intention of the thoughts of his heart
  was only evil continually. (Gen. 6.5)

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The Tragic consequences of Rebellion Against God

• Within the created order
• God curses the ground (Gn. 3.17) and the creation
  is put in bondage to decay (Ro. 8.20-23)
• Nature become red in tooth and claw.

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The Tragic consequences of Rebellion Against God

• Image of God in man is corrupted
• Thinking
• Feeling
• Willing
• Desiring
• Doing
• Relationships/community
• Gods Image is not totally obliterated but has
  become a glorious ruin

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Summary of Mans Plight

• Alienated from God
• Spiritually dead
• Self-centered nature
• Inclined toward evil
• Unable not to sin
• Burdened with guilt
• Alienated from other people
• Subject to devils influence

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Summary of Mans Plight

• Immersed from birth in a world of values,
  attitudes and behaviors that take little if any
  account of God
• Raised by fallen parents who are corrupted by sin

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Gods Grace After the Fall

• Grace is Gods unwarranted kindness to
  undeserving people.
• God initiated a plan to overcome the fall,
  restore communion with man and consummate his
  kingdom
• Promises a deliverer who will bruise the
  serpents head
• First Covenant Abraham, Israel
• Second Covenant Jesus, the church
• Salvation is by grace

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Redemption in OT

• The First Covenant
• God raises up a deliverer to free his people from
  enslavement to Pharaoh
• Establishes a covenant at Sinai
• Provides a way to deal with sins
• Promises to bless them and provide a land of milk
  and honey
• Requires them to fulfill their covenant
  obligations to him

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Redemption in OT

• Mans obligations to God
• And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God
  require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to
  walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the
  Lord your God with all your heart and with all
  your soul, and keep the commandments and statutes
  of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for
  your good. (Dt. 10.12-13)

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Key Points

• Out of his goodness and love, the holy God took
  the initiative to establish his covenant with man
  and to provide covering for mans sin
• God asks man to respond to his love with
  reverence, love, wholehearted devotion,
  principled obedience and faithful service

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Spirituality in OT

• Primary OT resources to help man fulfill his
  covenant obligations to God
• Gods word to instruct
• Gods Spirit to assist
• Gods people to encourage
• Sacrificial system to regulate

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Spirituality in OT

• Primary OT Practices of spiritual formation to
  nurture life with God
• Sabbath observance
• Worship in Tabernacle, Temple
• Hearing and meditating on Gods word
• Obedience to Gods word
• Prayer and confession

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Spirituality in OT

• Key heart attitudes for spiritual transformation
• Fear of God (reverence and awe)
• Love for God
• Trust in God
• Obedience to God
• Humility before God
• Love of neighbor

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Spirituality in OT

• Major dangers to the Soul
• Irreverence
• Whoredom (idolatry)
• Unbelief
• Pride
• Disobedience
• Hardness of heart