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Spiritual Disciplines and Practices, #3. The Spirit of the Disciplines. Counting the Cost. Character Transformation. A Holistic Salvation. Spiritual Life - Willard.
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Spiritual Life - Willard That range of activities in which people cooperatively interact with God and with the spiritual order, which flows from and through God’s personality and action.
Spiritual Person - Willard One whose life is correctly integrated into and dominated by God’s Kingdom.
What spirituality is not • A lifestyle • An attempt to correct social and political injustice • A commitment • A social or political stance
Elton Trueblood What we are beginning to learn is that asceticism is a valid part of religion or of any other important enterprise.
Dallas Willard Somehow, the fact that “mortification”—self-denial, the disciplining of one’s natural impulses—happens to be a central teaching of the New Testament is conveniently ignored. . . . The result is our almost universal inability to understand what the disciplines for the spiritual life are.
However… Jesus showed that spiritual strength is not manifested by great and extensive practice of the spiritual disciplines but by little need to practice them and still maintain full spiritual life Dallas Willard
Simplicity • What do you think of when you hear or see the word “simplicity”? • An attempt to define • Brings freedom and generosity • Cultivates the great art of letting go • Aims at loosening inordinate attachments
Simplicity • Why should disciples practice simplicity? • To live an uncluttered life • To live out of the “Divine Center” • To stake one’s identity in God’s love rather than in possessions
Simplicity • “True simplicity makes us conscious of a certain openness, gentleness, innocence, gaiety, and serenity, which is charming when we see it near to and continually with pure eyes”—François Fénelon • The practice of simplicity • Spiritual Classics (114, 137) • Spiritual Disciplines (74-77)
Solitude • What is solitude? • An attempt to define • An inner fulfillment • The other side of the “loneliness coin” • A “container discipline” for the practice of other spiritual disciplines • A companion to “silence”
Solitude • Why should disciples practice solitude? • To give God time and space without competing distractions • To rest and refresh • To think with God • To allow for the experience of the “dark night of the soul”
Solitude • “Settle yourself in solitude and you will come upon Him in yourself”—Teresa of Ávila • “Let him who is not in community beware of being alone. . . . Let him who cannot be alone beware of community”–Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Solitude • The practices of solitude • Spiritual Classics (149-50, 156-7) • Spiritual Practices (107-13)
Submission • What is submission? • An attempt to define submission: • The ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get one’s own way • The attitude with which one views and values others • The giving up of one’s rights
Submission • Why should disciples submit to one another? • To be freed from the need to control • To esteem and honor others • To be set free from a rebellious spirit • To lose one’s life in order to find it in Christ • To learn to deny oneself, take up one’s cross, and follow Jesus
Submission • “Never think [that] in lowering yourself you have less power for good”—Charles de Foucauld • “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all”—Martin Luther
Submission • The practices of submission • Spiritual Classics (178, 194) • Spiritual Practices (118-120)
Service • What comes to mind when you hear the word “service”? • An attempt to define follows: • A way of offering resources, time, treasure, influence, and expertise for the care, protection, justice, and nurture of others • The outworking of the grace of humility • The ministry of the towel
Service • Why should disciples practice servanthood? • To say “no” to the world’s games of promotion and authority • To abolish the need for a “pecking order” • Not to do away with leadership and authority but to allow them to be redefined and rearranged
Service • “When we choose to be a servant, we give up the right to be in charge. There is great freedom in this. If we voluntarily choose to be taken advantage of, then we cannot be manipulated. When we choose to be a servant, we surrender the right to decide who and when we will serve. We become available and vulnerable”—Richard Foster
Service • The practices of service • Spiritual Classics (217-23) • Spiritual Practices (144-7)
