Okay, two chapel talks ahead on Eph 2.10 and spiritual formation. Here is a draft of talk #1:
“A child's success can't be measured in IQ scores,
standardized tests or vocabulary quizzes, says author Paul Tough. Success, he
argues, is about how young people build character. Tough explores this idea in
his new book, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity
and the Hidden Power of Character.
"For some people, [the] path to college is so easy
that they can get out into life and they've never really been challenged,"
he [Tough] tells NPR's David Greene. "I think they get into their 20s and
30s and they really feel lost — they feel like they never had those
character-building experiences as adolescents, as kids, that really make a
difference when they get to adulthood."
Paul Tough goes on to explain why character is more
important than IQ scores, academic achievement and athletic prowess. His
observations are unfortunately confirmed everyday in the stories of
“successful” people whose character is marred through bad decisions.
In Ephesians 2:1-10 the Paul addresses the “character” of
the church in Ephesus believing that it is essential for the church to
understand who it is before exploring its purpose. In many ways this has also
been the purpose of college in American Higher Education – the formation of
character. Academic achievement and athletic performance were evaluated in
light of a person’s character. A person’s character reflected on the character
of his or her fellow students as well as the institution. Character has always
matter; unfortunately in the church and society character is often devalued.
In Ephesians 2:1-10, Paul
writes:
2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
2 in which you used to live when you
followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the
spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the
cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the
rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
4
But
because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
5 made us alive with Christ even
when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
6 And God raised us up with Christ and
seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the
incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ
Jesus.
8 For it is by grace
you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift
of God—
9 not by works, so that
no one can boast.
10 For
we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God
prepared in advance for us to do.
[2]
This passage explains how God and the out workings of
God’s work form our character. Ephesians 2;10 is in essence a summary of the
previous nine (9) verses. This passage is not about individuals; it is about
the people of God. It is here that one of the key counter-cultural truths of
Scripture slaps us aside the head, reminding us [plural] that spiritual
formation or how the Holy Spirit is shaping our character is a corporate
experience. Paul is addressing the church in Ephesus as a whole; the individual
believer is understood through the lens of the community. A loose paraphrase of
this passage for our setting might be as follows:
As for the
Montreat College academic community, you were dead in your transgressions and
sins, 2 in which you used to
live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom
of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us [the faculty, staff and
administration] also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of
our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we
were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But
because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when
we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace the entire Montreat Academic Community
[Faculty, staff, administration and students] have been saved. 6 And God raised us up [spiritually] with
Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages
he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness
to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For
it is by grace you [Faculty, staff administration and students] have been
saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we [the Montreat College
Academic Community] are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good
works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
No one is
spiritually formed apart from other believers; just as no one becomes an
“honor” student or “MVP” by him or her self. We are spiritually formed as God
through his Holy Spirit works through the scriptures and the faith communities
in which we live. Spiritual formation is about the formation of character; the
formation of a person’s being in light of God’s original intent: dependence,
interdependence and intentionality.
Dependence. Paul reminds that it is
God that saved us. The gift of faith is the gift from God. This resonates
deeply with the scriptural story. Early in Genesis we learn that God is the
creator and we are not. We are creatures and not the Creator. The scriptures
continually remind us of this fundamental truth. God works continually in the
lives of us people to remind them of this reality.
Interdependence. Pauls’ use of the
plural “you” and “we” were already noted. In Genesis 2 when the woman was
fashioned from the man we learn that a she was formed around a “rib” from the
man. “Rib” refers to an aspect of personality; in essence man is only “whole”
with the woman. In addition, the term “helper” whom God is creating is one that
brings something necessary to the relationship. This particular term for
“helper” only describes God in its other usages. From the very beginning the
man and woman were dependent on each other to fulfill their intended purposes.
Paul echoes this, noting that God is at work through the church in Ephesus.
This stands counter to one of the great lies of our age, the individual is more
important than the community; and in the church that individual spiritual
formation is more important than the formation of the community of faith. God
is primarily concerned with the formation of his people.
Intentionality. We, the Montreat
College Academic community are a specific type of community of Christians
brought together to be spiritually formed by the grace of God. Whether one
professes to be a follower of Christ or not; you are here through the work of
God. The man and woman in the Garden of Eden were created to care for God’s creation
and worship him. Caring for creation was an expression of worship. Why? The
tree of the knowledge of good and evil provides a needed clue. The man and the
woman were to develop a God-like knowledge of good and evil. God’s knowledge of
good and evil is that the good is loved so much that anything contrary to it is
repulsive. The man and the woman were to learn to love the things that God
loves in word and deed in the way that God loves. To be spiritually formed as a
community is to learn to love the things that God loves in word and deed in the
way that God loves. It involves more than action or service; it is a living out
of our core identity in Christ. God has brought this community together for a
specific purpose – spiritual formation or the formation of your core identity
using curricular and co-curricular elements – for God’s purposes. He is the
work person; we are the one’s in which he is at work.
[2] The Holy Bible: New International Version.
1996 (electronic ed.) (Eph 2:1–10). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Though the curricula provide helpful leaping off places for discussion, there were two elements missing. These missing elements undermine the overall intent of the curricula and leave one feeling that the issues are merely "hot" topics within "pop" Christianity (i.e. evangelicalism). The first missing element is a lack of historical grounding. The church has a long history and it has at times contributed constructively to culture, and even led the way. A clear example is the work of Arthur Guinness described in Stephen Mansfield's, The Search for God and Guinness: A Biography of the Beer that Changed the World. This lack of historical grounding is addressed quite nicely in Jamie Smith's Letters to a young calvinist.
