Meyer Whole Life Transformation

1. Auflage 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8308-6745-5
Verlag: InterVarsity Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 220 Seiten

Ministry to others and growing the church were the center of Keith Meyer's life. And yet he was arguing with his wife about how many nights a week he was spending in meetings. His temper was short, and he was exhausted.Keith writes: 'I can see that I was pursuing a twisted idea of 'success'--not in the secular forms I regularly preached against, but in the sanctified activism and workaholism sometimes called 'professional ministry.' A growing church, defined mostly by higher attendance at church services, more and more programs, and bigger budgets and buildings were the marks of a successful ministry in the clergy circles I ran with at that time.' In the midst of his pain Keith discovered a new way of living--one that truly depended on Christ to redeem and reform his character. And then as he was transformed, he discovered that the change in him was changing the way that he was pastoring and leading others. Drawing from the riches of church history and the experience of contemporary ministry, Keith Meyer writes with the voice of a prophet and the heart of a pastor.If you're ready to stop trying to follow Christ and start training to be a Christ follower, this is the book for you.

Keith Meyer (D.Min., M.Div.) has served three churches as senior pastor and as the executive pastor at Church of the Open Door. He is an adjunct professor at Denver Seminary and is a senior teaching fellow with the Renovaré Spiritual Formation Institute. He is one of the authors of The Kingdom Life: A Practical Theology of Discipleship and Spiritual Formation. (NavPress). Meyer is also a speaker, teacher, and retreat leader through his organization, Becoming the Change Ministries. He provides individualized coaching for the personal formation of pastors and leaders and consults with staff teams, churches and Christian organizations for developing corporate plans for becoming communities of formation and mission. He also provides training for leaders to develop plans of regular soul care for themselves, their staff and congregations.Meyer is a contributing editor for Leadership Journal and also for the academic journal of Biola/Talbot's Institute of Spiritual Formation, the Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care. He and his wife live in the Minneapolis area. Meyer invites you to visit and contact him at his website, www.keithmeyer.org.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Meyer, Keith

Leseproben

1

The Transformation Gap

How could I be so sure of being saved and on the way to my home in heaven when I was so far away from home in my present life? And how did the gap between the two develop in the first place?

My conversion to Christ had brought an initial spurt of change but soon settled down into basically the same old life when measured by my experience of anger, rage, worry, pride and self-centeredness. I wasn’t partying hard, but neither were most of my non-Christian friends. What was the difference between them and me? Was it just that I was forgiven? I was leading people to Christ and doing many good things for people, but something was missing. While I preached on loving our enemies, I too often lived in contempt of anyone who got in the way of my ministry goals, and now that included my own wife!

This led me to a reexamination of what the Bible calls “the abundant life.” I concluded that there was indeed a difference between the kind of life exemplified by Jesus and Paul, and which Jesus calls us to, and what my expectations were for life in Christ. In my ministry I became aware that most people don’t believe the life exemplified by Jesus and Paul is possible today. At best it may have been possible for a few “star athletes,” biblical heroes who no longer exist.

But to my surprise I found in my study of church history that deep and radical life change was not only possible but was expected of believers as recently as the late nineteenth century. The transformed life was seen as the church’s main mission, and without it others wondered whether a person was saved or if the church was still on task. Somewhere after the Second Great Awakening (1790-1840s) the expectation of transformation was diminished. Among evangelicals the transmission of new life in Christ by example, imitation and training in a “living faith” was reduced to a weakened understanding of discipleship. Disciples of Jesus were no longer made, just converts who were Christian in name and doctrinal beliefs only.

The Transformation Gap Appears

Henry Ward Beecher, a great preacher and national leader of the late nineteenth century, exemplifies the shift in Christian expectations. He struggled with his marriage and was at least inappropriate with several women under his ministry. He caused a national scandal by having an affair with a business associate’s wife. Much like the biblical King David, Beecher tried to cover it up and intentionally ruined the jealous husband’s career, which tarnished Beecher’s national work toward abolishing slavery.

Underneath his hypocrisy was a strong belief in the God of love, but not the God who loved him enough to deliver him from sin. Sometime before his affair he expressed the dilemma his theology created in regard to God and his sins, “I know that he will forgive them—but will he deliver me from them?” he asked. “It is not a want of faith in Christ for the past that I lack—but, O, that I might have a Christ who should assure me of rescue and purity in every period of my life to come!”

It is uncertain whether he really came clean and owned up to his sin. He ended up being ridiculed but blindly supported by his church during a civil trial that held the nation’s attention. The preacher was acquitted due to a “he said, she said” morass of circumstantial evidence.

His pitiful cry captures the growing ambiguity today regarding what change is possible for the followers of Jesus in this life. This tortured example of the fall of a well-known and productive Christian figure is one that has been repeated many times since. Sadly such behavior is not as shocking now as it was then. We do not flinch when famous or not-so-famous pastors fall. Pastors were once respected and trusted more than all other professionals but now fall just behind politicians and dangerously close to lawyers in the polls. How did this change come about?

Historian and theologian Richard Lovelace has correctly identified a gap or hole in current evangelical theology and experience. He termed it the “sanctification gap.” The gap falls between God’s initial work of justification and his final work of glorification. Sanctification is the process of becoming progressively more like Christ by cooperating with God to become holy. In terms of Christian spiritual formation, it is the life change or transformation that occurs after conversion and before death. In church history, sanctification is the element missing for the last one to two hundred years, at least since the last of the great American revivals. It is a “caught” more than “taught” living faith and is the “spiritual capital” of the church. Lovelace makes the point that, historically, revivals or awakenings resulted in radical change of life for individuals and for the society they lived in.

The Gap’s Lowered Expectations

Since the appearance of the sanctification or transformation gap, the American church has experienced many more figures like Henry Ward Beecher. And these figures mirror what the average Christian now believes is possible for their own character development and growth in Christlikeness. Leaders like Billy Graham, whose lives evidence integrity, now seem to be the exception rather than the rule for church leaders. And their life is not viewed as the norm for the lives of ordinary believers.

At a conference on formation I recently attended, one speaker shared his sadness and disappointment that his fellow speakers were referring to “nominal evangelicals,” those who didn’t share the heart and life of the gospel of Jesus but still claimed to be born again. The expectation of the average Christian for the sanctified life has been lowered. We are in need of leaders who once again set the bar high and personally evidence whole life transformation as normal and expected for all Christians. Until the recent past, the church has had these kind of leaders, who were the source for inspiration and revival.

At a time when the church was being domesticated by the Roman Empire, Augustine of Hippo was delivered from sexual promiscuity to pen a confession that has helped so many to settle their restlessness in God’s presence and love. And when the medieval church was in ruins, Francis of Assisi, a notorious and well-dressed disturber of the peace, took vows of poverty and peacemaking, and single-handedly attempted to stop the Crusades. And at a time when the church needed reformation, Theresa of Ávila, a beautiful and self-centered young woman, turned her body and soul into a castle ruled by God and was overcome with the love of Christ for her. Through her writing many have been introduced into that same intimate love.

Amazing Grace is the title of a Hollywood film about the life of William Wilberforce, the English evangelical who led parliament in a thirty-year fight for the abolition of slavery in British Empire, which cost him his health and wealth. The self-proclaimed former “wretch” and slaver trader, John Newton, who wrote the hymn “Amazing Grace,” is featured in this film, which recounts the changed lives of these men and their powerful influence on their world and culture.

The church also has a body of literature that recorded exemplary Christians’ way of life for others to imitate. The fourteenth-century classic on formation titled The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis, was instrumental in bringing John Newton to faith and to a radically new life in Christ. This book calls for transformation of life as the sign of genuine conversion and is second only to the Bible itself in Christian literature. It addresses tangible changes in behavior (e.g., forgiving our enemies and keeping the tongue from slander and gossip). It expects a change of life for those who know Christ and specifically calls into question those who can articulate theological concepts like the Trinity but show little evidence of trinitarian life and love. It is no wonder that it had an effect on Newton’s conversion, leading to change in his character, occupation and worldview.

Today, leaders and books calling for and expecting significant change in believers are rare. Instead, we find award- ceremony testimonies of celebrity athletes or stars who thank God for their success, calling it his blessing. Some writers even suggest that significant progress in obedience in this life is not possible. There is a growing acceptance of the transformation gap being the normal Christian experience. Grace settles our eternal destiny, but we will have to wait until we get to heaven for it to do much more for us. Our life on earth becomes more of a waiting room than an adventure or journey with God.

Sadly, now even pastors and leaders no longer expect significant life change for Christians. The kind of life Jesus presents in the Sermon on the Mount—free of worry, lust, anger, contempt, gossip and greed—is not seen as possible. As the bumper sticker says, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.” Progress in holiness is not expected in this life despite the many Scriptures that admonish us to grow in grace. It seems that God’s amazing grace is not so amazing; it just offers us unconditional acceptance and freedom from guilt and shame.

The Gap Revealed in Our Gospel

I have found that the transformation gap is best illustrated in the message we communicate when we share the gospel. And even more significant is how we tell it, our tools and methods. I believe our reduced expectations of life change comes from a reduced gospel. This reduced gospel has impoverished and unhealthy results, both for those sharing it and those receiving it....