Date post: | 10-Apr-2018 |
Category: |
Documents |
Upload: | trevor-garrett |
View: | 220 times |
Download: | 0 times |
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 1/35
THESPIRITUALLIFE
ASpiritualTheologyoftheChris<anLife
TrevorGarre@
SpiritualForma<on1801
MDivCohort7
September22,2010
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 2/35
NOTETOTHEREADER
I recognize that this effort has gone far beyond the term paper boundaries of being “no longer than 15
pages.” However, upon seeing the possibility of leveraging this spiritual theology to follow up my most
recent sermon series on The Sermon on the Mount with a series detailing the path of spiritual progress, as
well as providing the basis for training leaders this Fall, I determined to do a more expansive effort
including the full text of numerous scriptures for use in these efforts.
I apologize for the additional material and hope it will not be too onerous to review.
The term paper formatting guidelines do not specify a requirement for either landscape or portrait
orientation so this paper is submitted in landscape format to facilitate on-screen projection for training
purposes.
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 3/35
TableofContents
...................................................Introduc*on 1
Method:TheRedemp<veStory 1
Measures:FourRela<onships 1
Movement:ProgressiveRevela<on 1
Means:Fourspaces 1
Conclusion 2
.............................1.TheMethodofMaturity 3
Redemp<veHistory 3
TheRedemp<vePa@ern 4
..........................2.TheMeasuresofMaturity 7
Rela<onshipWithTheWorld 7
Rela<onshipWithGod 8
Rela<onshipsWithOtherPeople 8
Rela<onshipWithSelf/Des<ny 10
.......................3.TheMovementtoMaturity 11
WorldRevela<ons 13
GodRevela<ons 14
PeopleRevela<ons 18
Des<nyRevela<ons 21
.............................4.TheMeansofMaturity 25
TheIndividual 25
TheFriend 25
TheSmallGroup 25
TheLargeGroup 25
.........Conclusion:Implica*onsforPreaching 27
Preaching 27
UsingAllTheSpaces 28
LeadingtheChurch 28
Appendix:APost-modernPost-note 30
Bibliography 32
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 4/35
Introduc<on
What follows here is a Spiritual Theology: A description of the
Christian life, its goal, its motive and it’s progression as I see it. This
progression towards spiritual maturity will be described in terms of the
method of maturity, the measures of maturity, the movement to maturity, and
the means of maturity.
Method:TheRedemp*veStory
The method of maturity is rooted in the Christian story, which is framed
not just an expeditionary adventure story but as fractal ––a story that no only
spans the scope of history but recurs throughout history and within our lives.
The redemptive pattern of revelation, trials, crisis of faith then fulfillment
and celebration is a pattern we find in history, in scripture and in our lives.
Measures:FourRela*onships
The measure of maturity is expressed in terms of four key relationships:
A person’s relationship with the world, with God, with other people, and
with themselves in terms of their progress towards their destiny. These key
relationships are not independent but interrelated as will be demonstrated
scripturally.
Movement:ProgressiveRevela*on
The movement towards spiritual maturity is presented in terms of a
number of progressive revelations related to each of the key relationships.
While these revelations are not held as strict stage-gates whereby further
revelation is not possible until completion of the prior stage, each is
presented as vital for progressing from being in the world into a relationship
with God (without of course leaving the world altogether), then moving
from a relationship with God into community as part of the Body of Christ
(building on one’s personal relationship with God), and finally building on
spiritual community to move into one’s personal destiny of transformation
into the likeness of Christ and then back into mission in the world.
I have attempted to present salvation as fully trinitarian, a work of all
three persons of the trinity and not just the Son: A work of the Father as
God’s presence in and through creation; a work of the Son’s saving effort on
the cross, and a work of the Spirit filling the Body of Christ and fulfilling
God’s mission in the world. These revelations are presented separately for
the sake of clarity knowing this is a singular work.
Means:Fourspaces
In terms of practical structures that can help our progress, four “God
spaces” are identified, each of which lends itself to different roles in the
disciple’s progression: The personal or individual space, the friend or two,
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 1
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 5/35
the small group and the large group. Each space is proposed as necessary but
not sufficient.
Conclusion
Finally, the impact of this spiritual theology is analyzed in terms of
preaching, but also suggests that the larger impact will be on how all the
God spaces work together to advance the disciple, not just the large group
meeting.
It should be noted that as a Spiritual theology this effort is designed to
be a conceptual framework comprehensive enough to include a variety of
religious experiences with all components coherently related to each other.
But it is also recognizes that the world is complex and diverse1 , and this
work is constructed in response to a certain context, namely church-planting
on the edge of one of the largest metropolitan areas in North America at a
point in history characterized by wealth, freedom and intense secular social
forces. Part of that context is also my own affordances: my identification
with sacramental, liturgical and contemplative spirituality through my Jesuit
formation, my identification with evangelical community through a personal
decision for God resulting in baptism and membership in a protestant
church, and finally my identification with the “surprising works of God”2 as
a Pastor and participant in the pentecostal-charismatic tradition3.
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 2
1 Simon Chan, Spiritual Theology: A Systematic Study of the Christian Life (Downer’s Grove, Il: Intervarsity, 2006), 36-38
2 Simon Chan, Spiritual Theology: A Systematic Study of the Christian Life (Downer’s Grove, Il: Intervarsity, 2006), 38
3 These statements are a response to Chan who presents the formal criteria for a spiritual theology as comprehensiveness, Coherence and evocability, as well as material criteria the global-contextual criterion, the evangelical criterion, and the charistmatic criterio n.
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 6/35
1.TheMethodofMaturity
My starting point for a life in God is the redemptive story. History and
human life can be seen as an unfolding adventure story, a divine narrative
playing out across history but also across and within history and within our
individual lives. All the elements of a great expeditionary tale are here: An
important goal or quest what will require endurance, skill and courage to
complete, loyal companions to rely on throughout the journey, facing danger
and enduring losses together until the ultimate success of the adventure4.
I take this great adventure and mission of God in the world to include
not only the redemptive work of the Son, as mighty as that is, but the whole
scope of the triune mission of Father, Son and Spirit working in concert to
accomplish the divine purpose:
God wanted to have a race of men whose members were gifted
with a spirit whereby communion would be possible with himself,
who is Spirit. That race, possessing God’s own life, was to
cooperate in securing his purposed end by defeating every possible
uprising of the enemy and undoing his evil works. That was the
great plan. 5
This broader definition of God’s purpose will become important later in
terms of the articulating the destination of the Christian life and properly
positioning personal salvation along the total curve of human spiritual
maturity. It is important to keep in mind that the human race was not created
in order to be redeemed. God the Father had a straight-line vision in mind
from the beginning, God the Son saved that vision and the Holy Spirit is
fulfilling it. So my emphasis here is not on what humanity is being saved
from but what humanity is being saved for.
Redemp*veHistory
In the sweep of the cosmic adventure story, five strategic or kairotic
points in the narrative are of specific interest here:
1. Creation, with God speaking forth a race of people capable of
relationship with Him;
2. Fall, where God’s children choose a life independent of God
resulting in the entrance of sin, death, and difficulty;
3. Redemption, where Christ’s death and resurrection deals not only
remedially with humanity’s guilt and sinful nature, but is also
creative, releasing Christ’s life in a form that can be received by
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 3
4 Diogenes Allen, Spiritual Theology: The Theology of Yesterday for Spiritual Help Today (Cambridge, MA, Cowley Publications) 21.
5 Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life trans. by Angus I. Kinnear (Wheaton, Il: Tyndale House Publishers Inc, 1977) p. 208
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 7/35
humanity so that Christ’s one life it will emerge as many lives, a
level of life beyond the physical life of Adam and Eve had and
which we inherit naturally;
4. Fulfillment, where we are now in history, the Holy Spirit forming
the many Christian lives into the Body of Christ, an expression of
the Son’s life and God’s tool for the transformation of the world;
and,
5. Eternity, where the Son returns for
his Bride, the Body of Christ and
history culminates in a great
marriage celebration.
TheRedemp*vePaern
I believe the redemptive story is more
than merely a macro-description of history.
This story constitutes a redemptive pattern
that can be found in the great stories of
scripture, in human events, and in individual
human lives. Like God, this redemptive
pattern is both transcendent and immanent: It
transcends our lives, but is also a nearby reality to be experienced. We are
not just playing a part in the story, the story is being played out in us:
We become part of what what once took place for our salvation.
Forgetting and losing ourselves, we, too, pass through the Red
Sea, through the desert, across the Jordan into the promised land.
With Israel we fall into doubt and unbelief and through
punishment and repentance experience again God’s help and
faithfulness.6
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 4
6 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1954) 53.
God the Son!(SAVES)!
Sent, Lived Among Us
Restores Relationship With God
Teaches The Kingdom
Equipped His Disciples
Multiplication
Leads Us
Life In All It’s Fullness
God the Holy Spirit!(FULFILLS)!God the Father!
(CREATES)!Creation
Relationship
Paradise
Walked with God
Multiplication
Dominion
Tree of Life
TheHolySpirit
TheBody
Adam & Eve
Disciples
Jesus
Fall!The!
Cross!
Sent, into The World
Love One Another
Live The Kingdom
Make Disciples
Be Fruitful
Leadership
Fully Alive
Creation!
Fulfilling !
Eternity!
Crisis! Redemption!
Holy
Spirit!
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 8/35
While we cannot force the movements of God into any rigid formula,
this redemptive pattern appears and reappears consistently in God’s moving
in history and in the lives of people. This pattern can be expressed more
generally as:
1. Revelation, when God speaks, reveals or invites;
2. Trials, where, either by circumstance or obedience to the invitation,
God’s revelation introduces great difficulty;
3. Crisis, where we reach the end and even exceed our measure of
faith, doubting God;
4. Fulfillment, where God meets us in the crisis, often in a surprising
or inexplicable manner; and,
5. Celebration, we rejoice and worship God in celebration for how He
has met us in the crisis and fulfilled His will7.
This is the story of Abraham, Joseph and Moses, of Jesus, and of us.
And it is not just the overall story of our times, but of our lives, and the
pattern repeats within our lives. In this sense the redemptive pattern is
fractal ––a pattern that repeats at different levels within itself. We receive
different heights of revelation, different intensity of trials, different depths of
crisis, and varying deliverance resulting in variety of celebration.
It is this pattern of progressive revelation, trials, crisis, fulfillment and
celebration that is the method of spiritual progression.
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 5
7 This redemptive pattern is my own synthesis taken largely from various readings but most notably Blackaby’s work in Experiencing God highlighting that God is always the initiator with his revelation, and Nee’s description in The Normal Christian Life of revelation
and experience as “a wicket gate” and “a narrow path”
!"# $ %
& % ' ( )
* +#
,"#-./('0#
1"#2./0/0#
3"#45'6''7%+8#
9"# 2 % ' %
: . ( ) *
+#!"#$$%#&#'()*#$$+,-#./$
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 9/35
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 6
!"#$%#&'()*)+,-./'
!"#$%&'()*+# !"#(,)#-./+# !"#.*#0%1/+#
Fractals in Nature. As demonstrated by this fern, fractals are common in nature. Fractals in Theology. The spiritual theology presented here is also fractal, with the redemptive pattern repeating
within itself .
Fractals as a Repeating Pattern. The fractal is created by starting with a triangle and then repeatedly adding a smaller and smaller triangles to each resulting side.
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 10/35
2.TheMeasuresofMaturity
If this redemptive pattern describes the method of spiritual growth and
progression, with the goal of this growth process is ongoing personal
transformation into the likeness of Jesus according to Romans 8.298, what
then are the measures of spiritual growth? In what ways do we mature?
I see spiritual growth as occurring in four vital and interconnected
relationships: Our relationship with God, our relationship with people, our
relationship with our world, and our relationship with ourselves, or our
destiny. These key relationships are different but not independent of each
other. Growth in one area affects the others; failure to grow in one area will
limit the growth in other areas.
Rela*onshipWithTheWorld
Every person has a relationship with the world in which we live. God is
revealed directly in creation, as beautifully revealed in Psalm 104:
O Lord, what a variety of things you have made! In wisdom you have made them all.
The earth is full of your creatures...
May the glory of the Lord continue forever!
The Lord takes pleasure in all he has made!
(Psalm 104:24, 30 NLT)
And not just in nature, but God loves all the unregenerated people that
are in the world as well:
“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only
Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have
eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world,
but to save the world through him.
God loves the world and never takes his hands off it. So it is important
to reject any false dualism of “spiritual” things something separate and
higher than material earthly concerns. They are inextricably intertwined. To
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 7
8 Romans 8:29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
Relationship with
The WorldRelationship with
People
Relationship withSelf/Destiny
Relationship with
God
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 11/35
grow spiritually is to grow in relationship to our world, in engagement with
both the natural creation and “The World” (kosmon) where we live our daily
lives and participate in God’s mission.
Rela*onshipWithGod
Through the saving work of Jesus Christ, human beings can relate
directly and personally to God:
But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to
become children of God. (John 1:12 NLT)
We can enter into another kind of life by God’s Holy Spirit:
The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.
And just as he raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your
mortal body by this same Spirit living within you. (Rom 8:11 NLT)
This life in the spirit is something different and higher than mere human
life:
Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives
new life from heaven. (John 3:6 NLT)
It is the Holy Spirit that produces the fruit of the Spirit in us, a sure sign
of spiritual maturity:
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
and self-control. (Galatians 5:22 NLT)
To grow and mature spiritually is to grow in our individual relationship
with God, experiencing increasing levels of intimacy and trust, becoming
more and more confident in the unseen reality of God our Father as
described by Jesus in His Sermon in the Mount (Matt 5-7), and the Fruit of
the Spirit increasingly evident in our lives.
Rela*onshipsWithOtherPeople
While spiritual life is essentially personal, spiritual life is also
“essentially relational without ceasing to be particular9”. Our relationship
with God cannot be separated from our relationship with other people as
clearly shown in James 2 and pointedly illustrated in Jesus’ description of
the final judgement in Matthew 25:
“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one
of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to
me!’ (Matthew 25:40 NLT)
“And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help
the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help
me.’ (Matthew 25:45 NLT)
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 8
9 Simon Chan, Spiritual Theology: A Systematic Study of the Christian Life (Downer’s Grove, Il: Intervarsity, 2006), 53
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 12/35
It is vital to emphasize that the ultimate expression of God’s presence
in this age is not the individual, but The Body, the ἐκκλησία, a community
of people formed, led, and together filled by the Spirit:
Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God
and that the Spirit of God lives in you? (1 Cor 3:16 NLT)
All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of
it. (1 Cor 12:27)
Spiritual growth and maturity is measured not only by securing
the personal relationship with God that is made possible through
Jesus’ salvific work, but in the kind of relationships we have with
each other as a result of Jesus’ commands to love one other:
So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other.
Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for
one another will prove to the world that you are my
disciples.” (John 13:34-35 NLT)
“ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your
soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest
commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your
neighbour as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the
prophets are based on these two commandments.”
(Matthew 22:37-40 NLT)
This spiritual love, this ἀγάπη love, is entirely different from human
love, as Bonhoeffer notes:
Human love is directed to the other person for his own sake,
spiritual love loves him for Christ’s sake.10
It is maturing in this kind of love that proves to the world that we are
Christ’s disciples.
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 9
10 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1954), 34
!"#$%"&'(&)*"&+#,%-&
!"#$%"&'(&.#-&
!"#$%"&'(&/#001(')2&
!"#$%"&'(&)*"',&3"45(2&
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 13/35
Rela*onshipWithSelf/Des*ny
Within the context of relationship and community, the individual
appropriates a deeper self-awareness and self-knowledge, a deeper
understanding of personal calling, mission and purpose. This personal
calling is not individual and separate from spiritual community but is
directly related to it:
Now all of you together are Christ's body, and each one of you is a
separate and necessary part of it. (1 Cor 12.27 NLT)
Fulfilling our individual purposes and contribution within the context of
the Body of Christ is part of maturing and growing spiritually:
Then we will no longer be immature like children…[we will be]
growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head
of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together
perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other
parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full
of love. (Ephesians 4:14-16 NLT)
Sometimes rather than referring to this as a person’s relationship with
themselves, this aspect of spiritual growth is referred to as a person’s
relationship with their destiny11, to include a more missional, outward-
focused and forward-oriented expression.
It is important to note here that I am using the widest understanding of
spiritual calling to include, as the Reformers did, that any vocation or
activity and not just specifically religious vocations, that “socially useful
occupations were fully spiritual vocations.12” The pinnacle of personal
purpose is not, in what I will describe here, to become a religious
professional like a Pastor or a Missionary or to go into “full time ministry.”
The goal is to fully mature as a disciple of Christ, living out the fullness of
what God has purposed in us in whichever sphere of life we are called.
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 10
11 Destiny |ˈdestinē| From the Old French destinee, from Latin destinata, feminine past participle of destinare ‘to make firm, establish.’
12 Diogenes Allen, Spiritual Theology: The Theology of Yesterday for Spiritual Help Today, (Cambridge, MA, Cowley Publications, 2002), 11
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 14/35
3.TheMovementtoMaturity
With the redemptive pattern of revelation, trials, crisis, fulfillment and
celebration established as the method of spiritual growth, and with our
relationship with God, people, our destiny and our world established as the
measures of our growth and maturity, we can now consider our movement
along the trajectory of spiritual growth.
It is here that we consider more specifically the development of the
individual disciple towards maturity. The disciple moves from the world
into a relationship with God, then moves from an individual relationship
with God into spiritual community, then from spiritual community into their
destiny, and from their destiny back out into the world in mission. Clearly
this movement is not a case of moving entirely out of one relationship and
into the next, but a case of each progression building on and related to the
others. A person moves into relationship with God but does not, strictly
speaking, move out of the world. It is now quite common to find Christians
who have a personal relationship with God and carry on with their
relationship with God in isolation, unaware of the necessity of moving into
spiritual community in order to deepen their relationship with God. It is also
quite common to have people who have a relationship with God and who are
committed to a church, but are passive consumers of ministry never
producing any ministry or spiritual live from themselves. These people need
to move into their destiny, not leaving the world, God, and the spiritual
community behind, but building on each of these, crea ting what I will
describe here as an expeditionary adventure up a mountain.
And so as a Pastor and church planter, in the process of creating a
disciple-making and disciple-maturing spiritual community near one of the
largest metropolitan areas in North America, this section documents the key
redemptive revelations that I look for in order to help people progress
spiritually.
While these revelations cannot be said to be strictly serial, they are
progressive: For example, claiming that Jesus Christ is Lord (a revelation of
the Son), without believing in God (a revelation of The Father) would be
curious if not suspect. Claiming to have a revelation of the Holy Spirit
without a revelation of Christ would similarly raise suspicion. These are
obvious examples. But also a person who has not had a revelation of
Lordship will be subsequently limited in their ability to give, share and
submit to authority in spiritual community. Or someone claiming to have a
revelation of their calling, especially a call to leadership, when they don’t
have a revelation about authority and accountability can be dangerous.
Accordingly, the following is a series of progressive revelations of a
maturing disciple. The associated trials, crises, fulfilling and celebrations
associated with each revelation are implied and will not be discussed within
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 11
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 15/35
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 12
!"#$%&
'"%&
()"*$)&
+),-./&!"#$#%&'()*+,-(-./)0$-.$,11#2,)3,2,('4-5))'1)!"#$#%&'()6,2,(-"7,5%)
!"#$%01)2&
3#)4-".&
56)&74$$&56)&7486)#&
56)&9".&56)&9*1#18&
+1,:1*$),61*&
;"#%,61*&
3"<<=.18/&9)#01.>&
964#1.>&?=86"#18/&
@)1.>&9).8&
7#=1A=$.),,&
B)*#"%=:-".&
94:#1C:)&
+)486&
3,2,('4-5))
;1D)&
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 16/35
the scope of this paper. And I recognize that the possible revelations of God
are manifold and endless. What follows is merely what I have experienced
as the critical path.
WorldRevela*ons
If a person is “in the world” or does not not yet seem to have a
revelation of Christ or of God or even of things spiritual, I wa tch for, expect,
and dialogue about the following revelations:
WORLDVIEW
Does the person realize that they have a worldview, that they see things
a certain way, that their worldview was handed to them or created around
them and aspects of it may or may not be true? Do they have any framework
for spiritual or unseen realities? Are they open for discussion about
possibilities? This is in accordance with Jesus’ continual asking if there is
“Anyone with ears to hear…” (Matt 13:9 NLT)
This revelation can continue to increase even in Christians who have
gotten trapped in having all the answers, or have a knowledge of the Gospel
that may be incomplete, biased, or unbalanced.
CREATION
For as the waters fill the sea, the earth will be filled with an
awareness of the glory of the Lord. (Hab 2:14 NLT)
They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to
them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the
earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see
his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they
have no excuse for not knowing God. (Rom 1:19-20)
There is a certain level of revelation of God that is possible simply from
observation of the natural order. Nature is the first, easiest, undeniable clue
that there is something else going on behind the scenes. Willard observes13
:
Paul himself explains that all human beings remain responsible,
no matter how far they fall, because of the clear way in which God
stands forth in natural reality. “Since the creation of the world” he
says, “Gods’ invisible nature is clearly present to their
understanding through what has been made” (Rom 1:19-20)
FALL
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths
to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.
(Isa 53:6 NLT)
Does the person have a revelation that something has gone terribly
wrong in the world, that there is a human condition and the lust, greed,
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 13
13 Dallas Willard. The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering our Hidden Life in God . (San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins, 1998), 327
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 17/35
anger and selfishness which, if unmitigated, naturally takes hold of human
beings and ultimately destroys them? And do they understand that the
problems are not just with “those people, out there, the ones who are
interfering with me and my life” but that the problem is in them as well? Do
they have a revelation of their personal need?
This is a revelation which often needs to be built on even in Christians
who often fail to understand the segment of redemptive history in which we
currently live: Not the Garden and not Eternity––we live in a fallen world,
and despite its ongoing redemption, one should adjust expectations
accordingly about how people are going to naturally behave, particularly
when outside their controls and accountabilities.
THEFATHER
“I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in
God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned
for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.
(John 5:24 NLT)
If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is.
From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”
Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet
you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen
the Father! (Jn 14:7-9 NLT)
Salvation is often expressed in terms of “believing in Jesus” as if it were
solely a work of the Son. I have chosen to express salvation as triune, a
revelation of the Father, the Son and the Spirit. This is important because it
is possible to have a revelation of the Father without having a revelation of
The Son. A great many people “believe in God” without in the least
believing in Jesus. This constitutes a certain level of revelation of the Father.
And even with Christians this revelation can be expanded until we
know, as Jesus knew and explained in Matthew 6 and 7 as part of His
Sermon on the Mount, what the Father is really like as a statement about
reality, particularly the truth about unseen reality.
The realization that the message is True and not just true for them, that
this is an objective and not a subjective reality, is important because
realizing that this is True constitutes a worldview change. And if the
worldview doesn’t change people will put on or take off their relationship
with God as it suits them. But if something is believed to be true, it is much
harder to put aside.
GodRevela*ons
The next revelations have to do with someone who is a Christian, who
is “In Christ” rather than “In The World”
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 14
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 18/35
THESON
“I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in
God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned
for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.
(John 5:24 NLT)
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in
your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right
with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are
saved. (Rom 10:9-10 NLT)
This is the revelation that is commonly held to be salvation, or “getting
saved,” the moment of crossing over from death to life or “making a
decision for God,” typically in the form of confessing personal sin and
shortcoming and inviting Christ into one’s heart as Saviour and Lord. This is
the traditional gospel message which recognizes that salvation is essentially
personal, and that what it means to be a Christian is to have a personal
relationship with Christ. Often here the focus is on forgiveness of personal
sins, but in light of our highly individualistic culture it is important to avoid
the kind of “revivalism” where being a Christian is solely identified with a
conversion experience.14
The scope of someone’s revelation of The Son is a key indicator of their
progress on the journey: Have they made a personal decision or have they
just grown up in the church? What is their concept of salvation? Is it
oriented around the afterlife or a whole-life commitment to becoming a
student of Jesus?
A key sacrament that recognizes a visible sign of this commitment, and
needs to be mentioned here, is baptism.
THESPIRIT
They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again he said,
“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending
you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy
Spirit. (John 20:20b-22 NLT)
When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria
had accepted God’s message, they sent Peter and John there. As
soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new believers to receive
the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of
them, for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord
Jesus. Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers,
and they received the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:14-17)
It is difficult to express salvation as a triune event. While all three
persons of the Trinity work in together, there do seem to be special works
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 15
14 Diogenes Allen. Spiritual Theology: The Theology of Yesterday for Spiritual Help Today (Cambridge, MA: Cowley Publications, 2002), 15
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 19/35
emphasized by each: The Father in creation, The Son in redemption and The
Spirit in fulfilling.
And so, while the Holy Spirit is clearly involved, for example, in
someone making a decision to give their life to Christ, there is a separate
and subsequent revelation of the Holy Spirit we recognize as part of the
pentecostal-charismatic tradition that is subsequent to salvation, described as
follows by Chan:
Pentecostal spirituality is characterized by an awareness of and an
openness to the “surprising work of God.” It seeks the intimate
presence of God, which usually involves an initial “baptism in theSpirit.” This baptism represents a sort of quantum leap in spiritual
consciousness, evidenced by, among other things, glossolalia and
a new boldness and urgency to engage in the mission of God.15
Being filled with the spirit in this way represents a crisis of separation.
These surprising works of God have a high chance of being perceived as
weird, irrational or unacceptable in a culture where rationality and intellect
and the values of the enlightenment are held sacred. And there is the
potential for significant marginalization not just within Western secular
society but even within the Christian community.
And so, the extent of someone’s revelation becomes important: What is
the role of the Holy Spirit in their spiritual life? Is it merely to bring
revelation through scripture? To provide promptings? Do they speak in
tongues? How open are they to surprising works of God? Or works of God
that may marginalize them or affect their worldly reputation?
DISCIPLESHIP
Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you
how to fish for people!” And they left their nets at once and
followed him. (Matt 4:19-20 NLT)
After the threefold revelation of the Father, the Son and the Spirit, that
there is a God, Our Father in the Heavens, and by grace alone Jesus has
made a way for us to live under His Kingdom reign, transforming us into the
likeness of the Son, what comes next is the revelation of discipleship: The
invitation to be a full-time apprentice to Christ in how to live life.
Within the revelation of spiritual discipleship is the revelation of
spiritual disciplines ––the activities of a disciple. Since we cannot simply
“make ourselves like Christ” and produce the fruit directly, we do other
things like pray, study, read, intercede, worship, fast and spend time in
silence and solitude which produce the fruit of the spirit indirectly. The
expected result of apprenticing ourselves to Christ, studying Him and being
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 16
15 Simon Chan, Spiritual Theology: A Systematic Study of the Christian Life (Downer’s Grove, Il: Intervarsity, 2006), 38
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 20/35
in his presence is the ongoing transformation of our character into the
likeness of Christ as evidenced by the fruit of the spirit in our lives:
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
and self-control. (Gal 5:22-23a)
In the gospel of grace this is where effort finds its place. Since we
cannot produce the fruit of the spirit directly in our lives we produce it
indirectly by applying the disciplines. This is part of what it means to be a
disciple. The distinction between being a disciple and being a Christian is
important because in our culture it is possible to be a Christianwithout being
a disciple:
Non-discipleship is the elephant in the church. It is not the much-
discussed moral failures, financial abuses, or the amazing general
similarity between Christians and non-Christians. These are only
effects of the underlying problem. The fundamental negative reality
among Christian believers now is their failure to be constantly
learning how to live their lives in The Kingdom Among Us. And it
is an accepted reality. The division of professing Christians into
those for whom it is a matter of whole-life devotion to God and
those who maintain a consumer, or client, relationship to the
church has now been an accepted reality for over fifteen hundred
years.16
So the question will arise regarding someone on the path to spiritual
maturity: Do they consider themselves a disciple? A full-time apprentice to
Jesus? Do they practice any of the spiritual disciplines of a disciple? If so,
which ones? When then comment on the church direction, or the sermon or
the worship, are they doing that out of a consistent prayer life and ongoing
revelation or is it their opinion? Have these efforts produced the fruit of the
spirit in their lives? What is the state of their character? Do they demonstrate
virtue?
LORDSHIP
Jesus replied, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all yourheart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ (Matt 22:37)
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple
must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For
whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their
life for me will find it. (Matthew 16:24-25 NLT)
Similar to the discipleship question is the lordship question: Has a
person made Christ their Lord as well as their Saviour? Are they at the
disposal of their Lord? Are they prepared even to “waste” themselves on
Him if so required? Have they given over the whole of their life to Christ?
Their time? Their talent? Their treasure? Their attention? Their energy? This
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 17
16 Dallas Willard. The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering our Hidden Life in God . (San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins, 1998), 301
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 21/35
is the natural result of being with Jesus. What evidence is there of lordship?
In what ways has this been tested?
The natural result of this lordship decision is worship.
PeopleRevela*ons
The next set of revelations deal with interpersonal relationships and
being in community as part of the Body of Christ. While salvation is
personal in nature, “spiritual life is essentially relational without ceasing to
be particular.”17 It is here that we recognize, in a culture of deep
individualism, that God’s expression in this age is not the individual but the
Body:
The vessel through which the Lord Jesus can reveal himself in this
generation is not the individual but the Body. True, “God hath
dealt to each man a measure of faith” (Romans 12:3), but alone in
isolation man can never fulfill God’s purpose. It requires a
complete Body to attain the stature of Christ and display his
glory.18
COMMUNITY
All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of
it. (1 Cor 12:27 NLT)
Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special
function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one
body, and we all belong to each ot her. (Rom 12:4-5 NLT)
He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does
its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the
whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
(Eph 4:16 NLT)
Despite the reality of the Body of Christ, within our highly
individualistic society it is possible to be a Christian and decide not to
participate in any corporate life or spiritual community. However this kind
of approach is prone to failure:
It can become too individualistic and can be turned into a system
to support self-indulgence. The corporate life could become a
purely voluntary and dispensable matter. The all-important issue is
“my own personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” All other
relationships become secondary.19
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 18
17 Simon Chan, Spiritual Theology: A Systematic Study of the Christian Life (Downer’s Grove, Il: Intervarsity, 2006), 53
18 Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life trans. by Angus I. Kinnear (Wheaton, Il: Tyndale House Publishers Inc, 1977), 216
19 Simon Chan, Spiritual Theology: A Systematic Study of the Christian Life (Downer’s Grove, Il: Intervarsity, 2006), 47
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 22/35
Accordingly, in a society of consumer Christians, church shoppers and
church hoppers, key questions about maturity arise around a person’s
revelation of community: Have they committed to a particular fellowship of
believers? What is there level of commitment? Are they known in that
fellowship? Do they have accountable relationships in that community or are
they effectively anonymous? What has been their response to being pressed
or held accountable? How do they trade off their individual desires with the
greater good of the group?
The natural result of the revelation of community ismembership and the
sacrament of communion as the ongoing sign of this relationship.
SERVING
But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader
among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first
among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man
came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a
ransom for many.” (Matt 20:26-28 NLT)
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the
source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we
serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the
same God who does the work in all of us.
A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.
(1 Cor 12:4-7 NLT)
Central to the maturity of a disciple is the attitude of a servant: The
ability to apply their gifts, talents and capabilities to the needs of others in
community. Specifically here is a revelation of spiritual gifts as a gift to the
body and not for personal gain.
It is not only important for the individual that they serve, it is vital to
the survival and success of the community:
In a Christian community everything depends upon whether each
individual is an indispensable link in a chain. Only when even the
smallest link is securely interlocked is the chain unbreakable. A
community which allows unemployed members to exist within it
will perish because of them. 20
Questions include: Does the person demonstrate the attitude of a
servant? Are they passive or active in their serving? Do they passively wait
until asked or do they actively look for ways they can contribute? When
there’s problems in the community do they hold back and critique or jump
in and help sort it out? Are they able to regularly lay down their own agenda
to serve the agendas of others? Or do they come with their opinions,
preferences and their own vision of how things should be? Can they serve
outside of their known gifts when required? Have they experienced the
empowerment of the Holy Spirit to serve in ways that are outside their
experience and comfort levels?
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 19
20 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community (New York: Harper & Row, 1954), 94
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 23/35
SHARING
And all the believers met together in one place and shared
everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and
shared the money with those in need. (Acts 2:44-45 NLT)
Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or
clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm
and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or
clothing. What good does that do? (James 2:15-16 NLT)
But even as a person serves and helps, there remains the question: Are
they open to a common life with other people? Do they share their life with
others in the community? What do they share? Are they over-protective of
their own time/money/assets/leisure/comforts/life? How do they practice
boundaries? Where are they strict on their boundaries and where are they
loose? Are they strict with church but loose with work? Do they distance
themselves from members of spiritual community but dedicate themselves
unreservedly to other unhealthy relationships?
This idea of being together can be daunting in our culture. It means
sharing our lives and opening oneself to others who may ask for something
we have, who might impose on us, perhaps repeatedly, who might infringe
on our much-treasured personal wants and freedoms. The previously
unknown levels of private wealth we enjoy have created the the opportunity
for the creation of individual kingdoms and personal cocooning that leaves
the individual undisturbed in the midst of extensive personal preferences.
The side-effect of this is tremendous isolation and loneliness as we live
more technologically connected but without real community and authentic
relationships. We ignore those around us and their needs at our peril:
The exclusion of the weak and insignificant, the seemingly useless
people, from a Christian community may actually mean the
exclusion of Christ; in the poor brother Christ is knocking at the
door. 21
AUTHORITY
Then there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon and his angels. And the dragon lost the battle,
and he and his angels were forced out of heaven. This great
dragon—the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one
deceiving the whole world—was thrown down to the earth with all
his angels. (Rev 12:7-9 NLT)
I know this because I am under the authority of my superior
officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say,‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my
slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were
following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith
like this in all Israel! (Matt 8:9-10 NLT)
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 20
21 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community (New York: Harper & Row, 1954), 38
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 24/35
Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones
who love me. (John 14:21 NLT)
Even if a person has committed to living in accountable relationships,
and serves and shares in that spiritual community, there is a question of their
heart and attitude that is a pre-requisite to any sort of leadership or
responsibility: How do they respond to authority? Can they be lead? Are
they open to correction? Are they open to correction from an imperfect
leader or Pastor? Has this ever been tested in a meaningful way? How did
they respond to that correction?
Des*nyRevela*ons
Movement here is movement into one’s individual destiny, but as we
have pointed out, one’s individual destiny is not isolated from the whole but
emerges as part of the collective destiny of the Body of Christ together
fulfilling God’s mission in the world. It is here that the disciple’s ministry
begins to shift to equipping and possibly into the various levels of
leadership:
Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the
prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their
responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up
the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come
to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will
be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete
standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like
children. (Eph 4:11-14a NLT)
BEINGSENT
“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending
you.” (John 20:21b NLT)
But Jesus said, “You feed them.” (Luke 9:13 NLT)
The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them
ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit.
These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the
workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the
harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.(Luke 10:1-2 NLT)
Serving, giving and and successfully coming under the authority of
another leader begins to qualify the disciple for a vision and responsibility of
their own. Increasing levels of responsibility are a key aspect of maturity.
We expect children to grow and take responsibility first for themselves, then
for their assigned work, and then perhaps ever-increasing circles of
responsibility as they are capable. The same applies to the disciple: Are they
willing to take ownership and responsibility for some task or call? Are they
able to cross over from “just helping out” to taking ownership for the work
that needs to be done to fulfill the vision? It should be emphasized here that
God’s call is not limited to strictly religious activities, like taking ownership
of the Children’s ministry at church or taking responsibility for the vision
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 21
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 25/35
for a new building project. Maturity develops as we embrace and take
responsibility for whatever God has called us to in the church or in the
world.
FRUITFULNESS
When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This
brings great glory to my Father. (John 15:8 NLT)
A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad
fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t
produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit
is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can
identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their
actions. (Matt 7:17-20 NLT)
As the disciple takes responsibility for something, whether it is a call, a
need, a project or a ministry, the question emerges: Are they fruitful in that
task? If so, what kind of fruit and to what degree? In many cases the
disciple moving into his or her destiny will have a great passion or desire to
do or accomplish something for God. There can be many motivations for
this, seen and unseen. Unbeknownst to them they may be motivated by a
past wound, a desire for attention, or some other inner need that God may
want to meet another way. As people move into their authentic destiny we
can expect fruitfulness. If there is no fruit this is cause to step back, re -
assess, pray and seek God for insight and direction.
REPRODUCTION
“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same
works I have done, and even greater works…” (John 14:12a NLT)
Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority
in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and
the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the
commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you
always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt 28:18-20 NLT)
As reproduction is a natural outcome of maturity and intimacy in the
physical realm, so it is spiritually. The next question facing the mature and
fruitful disciple is whether they produce that fruit in and through others and
not just in themselves. Can they pass it on? Can they raise up other fruitful
disciples? Other fruitful leaders? Can they train and equip other people who
do what they do and be what they are? Do they mentor people? Do they
invest themselves in the lives of others? If so, what is the extent and quality
of the reproduction?
SACRIFICE
Another said, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say
good-bye to my family.” But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a
hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of
God.” (Luke 9:61-62 NLT)
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 22
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 26/35
“If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are
not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more
than me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you refuse to take up
your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you
cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for
me, you will find it. (Matt 10:37-39 NLT)
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of
many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith
develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that
you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James
1:2-4 NIV)
We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed.
We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down,
but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are
not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in
the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our
bodies. (2 Cor 4:8-11 NLT)
While I am personally unfamiliar with these levels of discipleship, it is
clear both from the life of Christ, church history, and the lives of the saints,
that increasing levels of discipleship means increasing levels of sacrifice and
suffering as required. The process of sanctification involves not a
eradication of unique personality but a total laying down of the will, the self
and preferences in favour of God’s will, God’s mission, God’s preferences.
In our culture of comfort and in light of our highly held pursuit of personal
happiness, the question needs to be asked: What has our apprenticeship to
Jesus cost us? What sacrifices have we made? In what ways have we
suffered for the sake of the Kingdom and our call? Life is measured not in
what we have accomplished, amassed or achieved, but in what ways we
have given of ourselves in love.
DEATH
I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil
and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new
kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. Those who love their life
in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in
this world will keep it for eternity. Anyone who wants to be my
disciple must follow me, because my servants must be where I am.
And the Father will honour anyone who serves me.
(John 12:24-26 NLT)
Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill
Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of sour wine was sitting
there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and
held it up to his lips. When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is
finished!” Then he bowed his head and released his spirit.
(John 19:28-30 NLT)
Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who
believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me
and believes in me will never ever die. (John 11:25-26)
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 23
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 27/35
I tell you the truth, anyone who obeys my teaching will never
die!” (John 8:51 NLT)
At the end of the day, the mission will take everything we have. “No
one is getting out of this alive” as the old saying goes. We honour the
martyrs for valuing God more highly even than their physical life. But death
as expressed here is nothing like what is commonly meant by death, not
“ceasing to exist” or “The End” but merely the door to a different level of
life. We experience all sorts of of deaths in our lives, losses, changes, all
generating grief and requiring mourning. But these too are doors to a
different level of life that help shape us into the image of Jesus. The
pinnacle of discipleship is the kind of person we become, the kind of person
who, as Jesus explained in Luke 19:17 and Matthew 25:21, is the kind of
person who is the “good and faithful servant” transformed and equipped to
reign with Him.
LIFE
Death is not our end. That is the great and fractally repeating message
of the story. There is life on the other side. It is not Jesus’ death that is our
hope, but his death and resurrection.
And so we must ask ourselves these questions: Have we given our lives
for the mission? Have we valued God more highly than anything? And what
kind of person have we become? Have we passed through our various deaths
into an eternal kind of life?
Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be
raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were
crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives.
We are no longer slaves to s in. For when we died with Christ we
were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ,
we know we will also live with him. (Rom 6:5-9 NLT)
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 24
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 28/35
4.TheMeansofMaturity
While the scope of this paper prohibits extensive discussion, some
mention needs to be made of the means of maturity, as this has direct
relevance to how we structure our spiritual communities and church planting
efforts. I see four “God Spaces” that are essential for facilitating the
movement to maturity: The individual or personal space, the friend or two,
the small group and the large group. The failure to have any of these spaces
will limit the ability of the disciple to progress. Each of these spaces will
lend itself to certain activities and efforts as follows.
TheIndividual
We have recognized that salvation is personal and implicit here is an
ongoing, moment-to-moment interactive relationship with God. This is an
appropriate space for most of the spiritual disciplines, silence, study, prayer
and fasting, and by definition, solitude and secrecy require individual space
with God.
TheFriend
An important part of our maturity and development is the need to
process the specifics of what we are learning in our lives. When we meet
with a spiritual friend for mutual encouragement and to discuss our
problems the dynamic is entirely different than our personal devotional time
with God. This is the ideal space to practice fellowship, accountability and
confession as well as prayer and study.
Jesus highlights the unique dynamics and potential of this space in
Matthew 18:
“I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning
anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For
where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there
among them.” (Matt 18:19-20 NLT)
TheSmallGroup
The small group of 10-12 believers is the ideal space for “doing life
together.” This size of group is still small enough that everyone can ta lk, but
there is also a diversity of personalities, gifts and resources that create the
possibility for community and not just relationship. Here the disciplines of
fellowship, service, worship and celebration emerge more fully in addition
to prayer and study together.
TheLargeGroup
Larger groups naturally become more gift-based and when the Body of
Christ gathers in larger groups it gives rise to a different experience, as the
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 25
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 29/35
larger group creates the opportunity to exercise spiritual gifts that pertain to
large groups, for submission to leadership, for a wider fellowship, a different
level of worship in terms of “Kingdom Immersion22” and the experience of
being part of something much larger than ourselves. These large group
opportunities range from the weekly meeting of a local congregation, to
trans-local conferences, to regional, national and global gatherings.
Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and
good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some
people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day
of his return is drawing near. (Hebrews 10:25 NLT)
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 26
22 Donald Goertz, Toward A Missional Theology of Worship (Toronto, ON: Tyndale Seminary, 2009), 3
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 30/35
Conclusion:Implica<onsforPreaching
This view of the method, measures, movement and means of maturity
has direct implications for preaching and also how the church is organized
and mobilized.
Preaching
The first thing that needs to be recognized in light of everything written
here is that preaching will have to be less like putting gas in everyone’s tank
every week so they can keep on going as they always have, and more like
inspiring and motivating people to move on from where they already are
into further stages of spiritual maturity.
First, the people will need to be clea r on what the bargain is. There are
all sorts of conceptions of what church and preaching should be, what they
want, and what they expect when they turn up at church. Being clear about
this will sidestep confusion when, for example, you try to hold someone
accountable for their actions only to realize they have not agreed to be held
accountable and don’t recognize you as any sort of accountability-holding
authority. There must be agreement on what is going to happen. We will
need to be clear about the revelation, trials, crisis, fulfillment and celebration
that we expect.
Second, I think there’s going to have to be some clear communication,
not once but ongoing, about the nature of spiritual progression and the role
of effort in the spiritual life. It has been my experience that a good portion of
evangelical community is constantly on the lookout for heresy in general
and anything they perceive might undermine salvation by faith in particular.
The great worry being that they might fall into some sort of salvation by
works. From what I can tell there is little or no actual danger of people
trying too hard in their spiritual progression, but the concern runs deep. A
solid and communicable linkage between effort and spiritual progression
under the Gospel of Grace will need to be held at the ready.
Third and perhaps most challenging is recognizing the heterogeneous
nature of the maturity of the congregation. Spiritual maturity varies widely.
Somehow the message is going to have to move everyone: Educating them
about the path, encouraging them along the way without presuming any
specific level of revelation, and without putting anyone above anyone else.
In my current congregation there is typically a widespread revelation of the
Son, but even then we often have visitors who may not have that revelation.
Perhaps the secret is to have something for everyone, always having some
elements of the basic gospel for those that are in the world, discipleship and
lordship elements for those who are in God but not in the church, and then
missional and leadership challenges for those moving into their destiny.
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 27
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 31/35
What is important to consider is the question, “Where are these people at?”
and go from there.
UsingAllTheSpaces
Nevertheless it seems clear that preaching will not nearly be enough.
It’s unreasonable to expect to meet everyone where they are at and move
them to their own next level all in one big meeting with one message. For
sure the large group meeting has the atmosphere and opportunity for
revelation and celebration, but the trials, crisis and fulfilling rarely occur in a
church service. For these the other God spaces are required: Personal
disciplines being practiced in individual lives; a spiritual friend or two to
lean on, to talk through the trials and to take the phone call in the crisis of
faith; and a small group to support in the crisis, to come a round and pray
through to fulfillment.
Leveraging the personal, friend and small group spaces also helps
manage the heterogeneous nature of the congregation’s spiritual maturity.
Rather than 100 people together in a service, 10 groups of 10 people creates
the opportunity for customization based on where people are at, to split up
for example, into a seeker group, a new Christians cell, a ministry team, and
a leadership team. My one concern here is that when the the Christians who
self-perceive themselves as “mature christians” make their own group to
cater to their own interests and spirituality, self-focus, isolation and
cliquishness can occur to the detriment of the mission.
The role of preaching then is to cast vision for the adventure, engage
people on the journey, motivate them, and encourage them by highlighting
the progress of their peers and betters. In this way the large meeting
becomes the hub which provides access to all the other opportunities and
relationships required for progression.
LeadingtheChurch
The impact of thinking of the spiritual life in terms of progression and
maturity will have a significant impact on the overall leading and managing
of the church, as the question changes from how we produce services and
programs to how we move people into increasing maturity as disciples.
As shown in the diagram on the following page, everything the church
does can be geared to moving disciples forward in their maturity, whether in
big or small groups, in relationships or in individual lives. Measures can be
applied to the the different stages of maturity and our efforts to move and
mature people who are in the world, in God, in community or moving into
their destiny.
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 28
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 32/35
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 29
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 33/35
APPENDIX:
APOST-MODERNPOST-NOTE
While spiritual progress has been presented here a linear, we know that
life is characteristically dynamic, complex and non-linear. Accordingly,
some consideration was given to a non-linear metaphor appropriate to
express spiritual growth and progression as described here.
It was this thought that I came across a certain Moleskine product.
Moleskine is a manufacturer of the type of journal used by Vincent Van
Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway, characterized by an elasticized
closure and an inner pocket. More recently Moleskine has marketed what
they describe as a “City Notebook”: A journal that is designed around a
certain city (for example Venice or Paris), and is made up of journal pages
interspersed with city maps, subway guides, zone indexes, detachable
sheets, clear overlays for tracing routes, and notched pages for capturing
stories, places, legends, names, faces, encounters, art, books, movies, wines,
and meals. It is a journal that is also a guidebook, or rather a self-guidebook,
or maybe even a guidebook in the middle voice: It gives insight into a city in
such a way that the traveller finds their own route through the city and
accumulates their own experiences.
When I saw this I thought that spiritual growth and progression is like
exploring a city. There are insights and maps that can be given, but the
traveller must find his or her own route through the city, travelling through
different zones, with different goals, perhaps taking different routes,
capturing stories, places, faces names, encounters, books, revelations, trials,
crises, fulfillments and celebrations as they go.
As a subsequent effort it would be interesting to express the revelation
and relationships described in this spiritual theology non-linearly as a city to
be explored, and perhaps even create an interactive Moleskine journal to
help guide people in their exploration.
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 30
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 34/35
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 31
8/8/2019 Spiritual Theology - Progressing in the Christian Life
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-theology-progressing-in-the-christian-life 35/35
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Allen, Diogenes. Spiritual Theology: The Theology of Yesterday for Spiritual Help Today. Cambridge, MA, Cowley Publications, 2002
Blackaby, Henry, Blackaby, Richard, and King, Claude. Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God. Nashville, TN: B&H 2009
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1954
Chan, Simon. Spiritual Theology: A Systematic Study of the Christian Life. Downer’s Grove, Il: Intervarsity, 2006
Goertz, Donald. Toward A Missional Theology of Worship. Toronto, ON: Tyndale Seminary, 2009
Kelsey, Mark. Progressing People. Oxford Falls: C3 Church, 2003
Nee, Watchman. The Normal Christian Life. Translated by Angus I. Kinnear. Wheaton, Il: Tyndale House Publishers Inc, 1977
Willard, Dallas. The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering our Hidden Life in God . San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins, 1998
The Sp i r i tu a l L i f e Tr evo r Ga r r e t t | Cohor t 7 32