-
The Focus of Discipleship
The goal of following Christ is not about doing the kinds of things Jesus did. Not alone. If we focus on what needs to be done, we end up in the trap of the Pharisees. It’s all about actions. The goal of the Kingdom is to become the kind of person from which the deed of the Kingdom naturally flow.…
-
The Kingdom of God is the Sweet Life!
Jesus unpacked the power of the Kingdom of God in the Sermon on the Mount. It is a fuller explanation of what he proclaimed at the end of Matthew 4. The Kingdom of heaven is at hand! (To which we would say, “What does that mean?”) The Sermon is not disconnected statements. Each part leads to the overall picture of…
-
The Importance of Salt and Light
I’ve been going through Dallas Willard’s book, The Divine Conspiracy, and currently reflecting on his view of the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are not about what we can do. They are statements of spiritual conditions that exist to point out, basically, this: “Blessed are the spiritual zeroes because the rule of God can come to them.” That doesn’t mean we “attain”…
-
No One is Beyond Kingdom Blessing
In Dallas Willard’s book, The Divine Conspiracy, his whole point with the Beatitudes is they are not something to “achieve.” They are examples of current conditions. It’s “Exhibit A” of the Kingdom being able to touch even the outcasts of society. As soon as my friend reads this he will know I am referring to him, so I want to…
-
The Teaching Model of Jesus — True Change
Our teaching models today are mostly about information. I have some, you don’t. I give it to you. You can do with it what you want. Jesus did not teach that way. It was not the way of most teachers in Jesus’ time period, either. It was not just passing along information, or impressing the hearers with how smart one…
-
What to Do with the Beatitudes
Dallas Willard’s handling of the Beatitudes in The Divine Conspiracy simply flipped my world upside down. I had not considered his approach before. He is probably not original to the thought, but the first time I saw this approach it was from him. How do we see the Beatitudes in Matthew 5? I remember the title to an old Robert…
-
The Great Beauty of Jesus
Moving my way through The Divine Conspiracy as a refresher, I gain wonderful reminders of how to communicate exactly why I follow Christ. It is not to punch my ticket and get out of hell. It is not to save the world or solve the issues of poverty. Jesus, quite frankly, is the smartest person who ever lived. He is,…
-
Sin-Management and Getting Back to the Gospel
When we get more obsessed with what people do or don’t do, we’ve moved into the gospel of sin management. We are “white-knuckling” our way through life. If you’ve ever been a bit afraid on that first huge hill the first time on a roller coaster, you understand “white-knuckling.” You grab onto the hand bar in front of you and…
-
The Goal Should Be LIFE Transformation
More and more in American Christianity we struggle with what “success” is all about. As Willard has pointed out, on one side it would seem to be “the decision.” We pray and at that point in time we punch our ticket to stay out of hell. The goal then becomes for the Church help as many people “punch that ticket”…
-
The Gospel of Sin-Management
The process of following Christ is often thought of in terms of outward change. There should be something that look different in the believer. On the “conservative” side of Christianity, sin management is found in having our sins forgiven. (Maybe you’ve seen a bumper sticker that says, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.”) On the “liberal” side of Christianity, sin management…
Category: Spiritual Formation
