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| Rev. Brent Russett |
Pastor of Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
http://www.sunnysidechurchottawa.com/ _______________________________________________________
PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, January 28th, 2017:
Broadcast Notes:
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Becoming Spiritual Formed
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I would like to
thank Bruce Newman for sponsoring this program. And I know that one of
Bruce’s favourite ministries is Jericho Road. So I would like to give a shout
out to them. They are a local charity that exists to serve the poor, the
addicted and the mentally ill. It really is an amazing ministry.
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I know that some of you who are
listening have been followers of Jesus for a long time, and I know that others
of you think of yourself as spiritual, but you are not really sure of this
Christian thing, and I know others of you just curious how people of faith
think. I trust that wherever you are on yours spiritual journey, that you will
find this program interesting and informative, and I believe that for those of
you desire it, God can use a program like this to take you another step closer
to Him
One
of the things I am interested in is how people are spiritually formed. I have
read a lot of books on the subject. I have talked with a lot of people on the
subject. I have done a lot of writing on the subject. What I have found is that
in some ways it really simple. If you are going to be spiritually formed – you
need to follow Jesus and do what he says. In other ways it is really
complicated because we all enter this world with a sinful nature and in
brokenness. But we are all broken in different ways.
Sometimes
I feel like I am following Jesus and yet I am walking with a limp. There are
things that drag me down. Circumstances, personality issues, challenges,
particular life choices have made me what I am. Some of them have made it
easier to follow Jesus and others have made it harder to follow Jesus. In the
middle of life is the question how do we become spiritual formed? Or to put it
another way, how do we walk in relationship to God so that we are living out
the life he intended us to live – abundant and full – a life that makes a
difference?
Becoming
spiritual formed is a journey. The first step along the way is you come to a
place where you give your life to Jesus. You ask Jesus into your heart. You ask
him to forgive you of your sins. You choose to follow him. That is what the
bible calls being born again. You are given the Holy Spirit. You are adopted
into the family of God. You are transferred from the kingdom of Darkness to the
Kingdom of light..
When
that happens, you are just a babe in Christ. There is so much growing and
maturing to happen. There is still a long journey.
Jesus
told about a farmer who went to his field and sowed. The seed fell on a path,
rocky ground, amongst weeds, and in good soil. As you might guess they grew
very differently – here is how Jesus explains the point of his story.
Matthew
13:18–23 (NLT)
18 “Now listen to the
explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds: 19 The
seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the
Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the
seed that was planted in their hearts. 20 The seed on the rocky
soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy.
21 But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long.
They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing
God’s word. 22 The seed that fell among the thorns represents
those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by
the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced. 23 The
seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand
God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as
much as had been planted!”
Some
hear the gospel, but they don’t respond. Others year the gospel and the run with
it for a little while, but when the going gets tough, their spiritual life
withers and dies. Some people continue to grow, but they have weeds that grow
along side of them, and they get choked out. Some thrive.
If
you are going to be formed spiritually as a Christian, you have to start by
receiving the good news. The good news is that God loves you. And he has done
everything that needs to be done so that you can have a relationship with him.
We have been so warped by sin that we can’t connect to God. But Jesus came into
the world and took our sin and gave us his goodness. If you will receive the
work that Jesus did on your behalf – by faith, Jesus forgives your sin and
gives you life. That is the good news, the gospel in a nutshell.
But
even when you receive Jesus, you have to be spiritual formed. You have to grow
up spiritually
So
how are we spiritually formed. How do we grow up in Christ?
Well the reality is that a lot of
Christians don’t. You may have been a Christian for 30 years, but that does
not mean that you have matured spiritually. I used to know a preacher who said,
if people went to the Sunday School class that was based on their spiritual
maturity we would have a lot of 50-year-olds in the primary class.
A lot
of people don’t grow up spiritually and it is sad.
I
have been looking at American Evangelicalism and following my Facebook feed and
there is just this sick feeling that comes over me. If you have been spiritual
formed, you – as the bible says – hate what is evil – and cling to what is
good. Notice it doesn’t say hate those who are evil. I see more hating of
people and less hating of evil – that is not what it means to be spiritual
formed.
When
People refuse to grow up spiritually – it ends up giving Jesus a bad name – and
he so doesn’t deserve that.
Canadian
Christians are not immune. Our sins are just nuanced different. But the amount
of Christians in Canada who don’t know their bibles are staggering. You can’t
be spiritually formed – at least Christianly, if you are not into scripture.
The amount of Christians who set themselves up as judges of the word of God
rather than the other way around is incredible.
Canadian
culture is slanted towards the common good. So we sometimes deceive ourselves
with how enlightened we are – but I wonder how we will handle life if and when
it gets hard.
When
Christians fail to grow up spiritually it has a way of giving God a bad name. I
know a lot of people who when they get to know him, love Jesus – but they are
not so sure of church people. That is really sad.
So
the question is, how do I grow up spiritually?
There
are basic things like pray and read scripture. There are important things like
connecting with other believers – and learning to love one another.
But
this morning I want to walk you through some of the things that get over
looked. I am hoping that these things will be really helpful in your spiritual
journey.
Before
we go there let’s listen to Pray put to music
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I
want to take you
Romans 8:1–4 (NLT) first
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong
to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power* of the life-giving
Spirit has freed you* from the power of sin that leads to death..
When it comes to being spiritually formed –
here is the starting point. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus.
When
it comes to spiritual formation as a Christian, you start and you live in a place
of acceptance by God. You start in a place of being loved by God. You start in
a place of being forgiven by God.
And even when you sin,
when you fail, that does not diminish God’s acceptance of you. There is
therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
Becoming spiritual formed is not about you
being accepted by God, it is about you loving God and returning his love for
you – and then in that love becoming all that you were meant to be.
Does
that diminish horrible nature of sin. No. Jesus died because of our sin. Sin is
something that can never be taken lightly. But in spite of our sin and failure
we are accepted by God.
******
I
know some of you struggle to try to please God. Can I urge you just to ask God
the question, what would I look like for me to just love you? God loves you so
much and what he longs for is your love in return. He is not a God who you try
to pacify with your behaviour, he is a God who you love with your heart. He has
done everything so that you can have a relationship with him.
Don’t to earn his favour. You have that. It is
not about being good enough for God, it is about loving God. Just love God
****
That
is the first thing you need to know, don’t worry about performing for God, just
love God.
The
second thing I want you to know is that your spiritual life has a lot more to
do with your body than you might think.
I
know we tend to think or our spiritual life, or our hearts first. When you
become a Christian you give your heart to God. But to be formed as a Christian
– it has a lot to do with what you do with your body
Come with me to
Romans 6:12–14 (NIV)
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body
so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself (Gr.
your body) to sin as an instrument of
wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought
from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of
righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not
under the law, but under grace.
When
Paul talks about how to live out our spiritual lives it starts with the body.
Romans 12:1. I beseech you therefore brethren, to present your bodies as a
living sacrifice.
Prayer
is important. Scripture reading is important. How we think is important. But
Paul starts out with our bodies.
He
says don’t let sin reign in your body. Don’t offer any part of your body to
sin.
Well
what does that mean? There of a number of ways to think about your body. You
can think of your body as how you bring your will to bear on this world. You
can do good or evil with your body. So when it says don’t let sin reign in your
body – don’t use your body to do sinful things.
Well
duh – that is not profound. Don’t do evil.
But
not only does your body bring your will to bear on this world, but it goes the
other way too. Your body shapes your
soul. Your body is the input
apparatus for your soul.
Or to put it another way, much of what affects
your soul comes through your body’s 5
senses.
• Sight
• Hearing
• Touch
• Taste
• Smell
When it says “don’t offer any part of your body to
sin” one of the ways of thinking about that is, “don’t offer your senses to
what is sinful”
Your body is the doorway to your soul. Your
soul is formed by what it sees and hears and touches and tastes and smells.
Don’t offer your senses to sin.
***********
The
problem is of course that we live in a world where evil is very close. The
internet has given us the ability to offer our bodies to sin through the simple
act of a click.
Think
about what you see and hear in the media and magazines and Facebook and politics.
A lot of what they do is promote the seven deadly sins: Pride Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, Lust, Sloth and Greed.
Now
here is the thing about sin. Sin is always goodness distorted. All those deadly
sins start with a kernel of beauty and of truth but they get inflated and
distorted. We are surrounded by good things that have become distorted, and it
affects us. Our body is the doorway to the soul, and being surrounded by these
things has a way of forming the soul.
So
what do we do? In a world that is steeped in sin, how do we keep ourselves by
being spiritual formed by those things?
There
are various ways of distancing our bodies from sin. There is the Amish way, or
the way of the hermit, where we try to withdraw from the world. Not many of you
are going to go there, although a few of you would like to get a cabin in the
woods and hibernate.
There is the cluster
method where we surround ourselves with everything Christian. We only have
Christian friends and listen to Christian radio and read Christian books. There
are some of you who choose to go there.
The
problem with those solutions is that it is very hard to be salt and light in
our world, if we are not in our world.
When
there are so many things around us that can form our soul in a warped way, -
how do we handle that.
What
I have noticed is this. When people start to understand that what they do with
their body matters – their first response is often legalism. They make rules
for themselves. I am going to only watch x amount of tv in a week. I am only
going to go on Facebook x times a day. I know from experience that that is not
helpful. The way forward is not to somehow withdraw from the world, or somehow
manage the sin around you
The
way forward is to engage in goodness. Instead of figuring out what you are not
going to do, figure out what you should do instead.
Lent
starts in the middle of February. Some of you will choose to give up something.
Chocolate seems to be a favorite, although, some give up Facebook etc. There is
something good about fasting. It reminds us that our bodies are not the boss of
us.
But I
would urge you to take up something good as well. It may be scripture reading,
or serving a neighbour, or caring for a friend. Learning new habits godly
habits are the better way to go in dealing with our bodies. When you are
engaged with what is good, you don’t have to be near as concerned about being
surrounded by what is bad.
The
start of spiritual formation, is knowing that you are accepted by God. The way
of spiritual formation, is understanding that what we do with our bodies forms
our souls.
Now
let me take you to the spiritual formation of our minds and hearts. Or to put
it another way – what do you do with your desires.
Romans
8:5–8 (NIV)
5 Those who live according
to the flesh (Sinful Nature) have their minds set on what the flesh desires;
but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what
the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death,
but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The
mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law,
nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh
cannot please God.
Your
are going to be dominated by one of two things, your sinful nature and your
spiritual nature. And it is going to depend on what you focus on as to which
one wins.
You
have two natures. The sinful nature wants to take the things God meant for
good, and repurpose them for evil. It wants to push us towards the seven deadly
sins. And there will be times when your desires push you in that direction.
Instead
of being glad about who we are and our own success, we become proud as we
become self focused and think ourselves better than others as we compare
ourselves to others.
Instead
of being satisfied with what we have and building on that, we want what other
people have. We envy.
In
stead of being angry over injustice in this world, we get angry when life isn’t
all about me. That is wrath.
You
get the idea, our sinful nature wants to distort what was meant for good. That
sinful nature runs deep in all of us. You can focus on that. The result according
to the scriptures is death.
Instead of living your insides will shrivel.
You will become hostile to God. You will be unable submit to God. You can’t
please God.
But
if you are a Christian, your sinful nature is not the real you.
Put
simply the very definition of a Christian is one in whom Christ dwells. And if
Christ lives in you, then that is the most important thing about you. The
Spirit of Jesus living in your, goes deeper than your sinful nature.
But
your spiritual formation will depend on what you choose to focus on. You will
find that the Spirit has put good desires in you: to love, to rejoice, to be
patient, to be good.
So
you have a choice -and it is a real choice, which nature are you going to live
out of. Choosing to live out of your sinful nature – it brings death. Choosing
to live out of your spiritual nature brings life.
Here
is what the bible says about your spiritual nature.
Romans
8:14–16 (NIV)
14 For those who are led by
the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you
received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the
Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba,
Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that
we are God’s children.
At
the core of who you are Christ lives there – and with that you are led by God
and loved by God.
When
you are led by God – you will get this deep sense about what is right and
wrong. You get this sense, some call it a check in their spirit. Some call it
sense that they should do something. But that is part of God at work in you.
That is your spiritual nature.
The start of spiritual formation, is knowing you are
accepted by God. The way of spiritual formation, is understanding that what we
do with our bodies forms our souls. The challenge of spiritual formation is
focusing on the good desires that God has put with in us.
There
is a steep price to pay for not growing up as a Christian. God is calling you
to grow in him.
God
wants you to know love and peace and joy. He invites you into a relationship
with him, He also wants you to grow up in him – so that you can experience all
that he has for you. My question is --Will you cooperate with him on the
journey?
Lord Jesus, I pray for those who have been thinking
where they’re at in their spiritual journey and that they want to be
spiritually formed.
I’m asking, Lord, that you would take them another
step closer to you.
I’m asking, Lord, that you would allow them to see you
for who you are; and that they would be led by you; that they would know that
they belong; that they would know how to live well in this world; and that they
would focus on what is good and true to the desires that you put in them.
I pray this in Jesus’ name, AMEN.
And Thank you for listening to Good
News in the morning.
This program is on the air by the
grace of God and donations of many faithful people.. Again thanks Bruce Newman
for sponsoring this program.
My name is Brent Russett, and it has
been a privilege to bring you Good News in the morning.
By Rev.
Brent Russett
Pastor of
Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
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PODCAST
LINK to the CFRA broadcast:
