Spiritual Formation

Challenging questions can be just the ticket to stimulate ones thinking about the tenets of ones faith and perspectives.  I’ve had those along the way in regards to what I really mean by spiritual formation.    Here are a few thoughts I’ve had recently in response to such questions.

For starters, let me lay out the biblical basis for my understanding of spiritual formation and how it shapes that part of our ministry here at Fellowship.  In doing so, I’d like to offer a few different perspectives and definitions of Spiritual Formation which are given in my class on Spiritual Disciplines.  

Spiritual formation is based on the reality that when we come into a justifying relationship with Jesus Christ (justification) our lives still require the daily abiding presence of Christ in our lives to become transformed into His likeness (sanctification).  Being born again, we are like babies in Christ at first, and in the course of our time on earth He seeks to change those things in us that are more likely to resembled the world, flesh or demonic rather than Himself.  This is the process of growing us up into Him (Eph 4:15).  Both the process and its end result glorifies God through our lives…as we become transformed, conformed, shaped, and molded in the process.  This is spiritual formation.

Scripture gives us images of clay and pottery to help us see how God is actually working on and in our lives for His purposes.  In fact the terminology of ‘formation’ is largely taken from this stream of thought in scripture.  When we are saved, it’s like God puts us on the potter’s wheel and begins creating a piece of pottery for noble purposes (Romans 9:21…but see also Is. 64:8, Jer. 18:1-6, 2 Cor. 4:7).  To do so he must form our inner being into the kind of person He created us to be.  The lump of clay cannot stay the same and become pottery for noble purposes.  

Through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we become transformed…slowly over time…where we begin to understand and embrace all of life from a new covenant perspective, realizing we are on a pilgrimage (Ps 84:5-7), continually being transformed and growing in our ability to perceive God and God’s glory in such a way it continually etches deeper into our spirit and affects the core of our life.  This is truly an amazing work of the Holy Spirit. (2 Cor 3:18) 

Additionally, we see the same idea in one of Paul’s great instructions to the Roman church when he says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.”  (Ro. 12:2)

We see another aspect of spiritual formation in Phil 2:12-13 where right alongside the exhortation to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” we also see the truth that “it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”  There is something that is changing us, shaping us, transforming us and preparing us to increasingly walk by faith and to walk in the Spirit.  This whole operation is what I mean by spiritual formation.

We even see spiritual formation happening corporately upon the body of Christ as well.  “In Christ we who are many form one body” (Ro 12:5) and “the body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.” (1 Cor 12:12)

So hopefully this provides important clarification of what we mean in reference to spiritual formation.

There was a second part to the question regarding Spiritual Disciplines…but I’ll leave that for another entry on another day.