Stage 6 The Life of Love
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The Life of Love This is our final look at this series on The Journey of Faith. For the last several weeks, we have been tracing this journey as described in the book The Critical Journey by Janet Hagberg and Robert Guilich. I have found this book particularly helpful in my own journey. I have a feeling that a number of others have also found it helpful, mainly through my interpretation of the book through this message series. This group of messages has generated more feedback from people than any other message series over the last 22 years. This indicates to me that the whole concept of understanding our Christian life as a journey has resonated with at least a few of you. The purpose of running through this description of the journey is twofold: 1. I think it is important for us to understand where we are in the Journey of Faith. When we are at the early stages, we might be tempted to think we have arrived at what it means to be a believer. Understanding the stages of the journey will alert us to the fact that we have further to go. When we are going through the muckiness of Stage 4, we might be tempted to think it’s all falling apart. Understanding that this is simply one stage in the journey gives hope that there really is light at the end of the tunnel. 2. I think it’s also important to understand the stages so that we can better understand where others are. It’s really easy to look at someone who is at a different stage and be critical of how they are approaching matters of faith. Understanding the journey helps us see where others are and to be more appreciative and accepting of their journey of faith. Each week, we have been running through a brief overview of the Journey of Faith before continuing on to the stage we are looking at for the day. So, for the last time, let’s take a flyover of this Journey of Faith.
Overview · Stage One: The Recognition of God. Stage one is where we become aware, in a real way, of the existence of God and we begin the journey of faith. The overwhelming sense in stage one is awe. We are in awe of the greatness of God as seen in creation, and we are in awe of the love of God as seen in the cross. · Stage Two: Learning & Belonging. Stage two is a time for forming who we, and what we believe, in the context of those who teach and disciple us. In this environment of belonging, we also learn who we are and what we believe. · Stage Three: Productive & Serving. Here we learn that God has equipped us with certain abilities and gifts, and we want to contribute to the group by using those gifts. The emphasis is serving and being productive for God. Most people stop at stage three. It is comfortable. We feel productive and we are getting positive reinforcement from those around us. · Stage Four: The Inward Journey. Stage four is almost always preceded by some kind of crisis. We are full of questions and not many answers. We question who we are and why we do what we do. We question what we have been taught about God. It is an intensely lonely and painful stage but one which is shared by quite a number of biblical heroes. · The Wall. Towards the end of Stage four is the Wall. The Wall is where our will meets God’s will face to face. We face God. We also face our own ugliness and all of the ways in which we have asserted our own egos, while still claiming to follow God. · Stage Five: The Outward Journey. Having been through the Wall, we have seen ourselves at our worst and have accepted and received God’s unconditional love. We are aware of our faults, but we are more aware of God’s grace. We have a looser grip on ourselves and a greater desire to love and accept others in the way God has loved and accepted us. · Stage Six: The Life of Love. This can only be described as total Christlikeness. It is a life of complete humility, obedience and service.
We now look at the Sixth stage of the Journey of Faith – The Life of Love. I have to admit that I find talking about this stage the most daunting. I have logged a number of years in the first three stages. I have spent a good portion of this year in the chaos of Stage 4. I have also seen glimpses of Stage 5. Stage 6 is something very different in that I readily confess that I am not there. Not only am I not there, I know very few people who are there. In talking about the previous stages, I have used thoughts from The Critical Journey as well as including things from my own observations and experiences. Now, because Stage 6 is not a part of my own experience, I am going to rely almost totally on what the authors have to say about it. Then I will give, from my own experience, some quick suggestions for those of us who may be tempted to think that The Life of Love is unreachable. From The Critical Journey… The Life of Love is easily summarised. At this stage we reflect God to others in the world more clearly and consistently than we ever thought possible. We let our lights shine in such a way that God is given the credit and the thanks. … We are selfless. This factor allows us to do extraordinary things. We may figuratively wash other people’s feet or give our very lives in the service of God… We are at peace with ourselves, fully conscious of being the person God has created us to be. Obedience comes very naturally without deliberation because we are so immersed in God’s work… We give our all without feeling that it means surrender or sacrifice. We are at one with the Spirit of God, who is our head and heart… We can live openly and vulnerably with others, because we do not need self protection. Consequently, at this stage we are involved intimately in the lives of others to whom God calls us. In constant dialogue with God, our lives are permeated with unconditional love. The Critical Journey. Pages 152-3 They go on to give some of the characteristics of The Life of Love.
CHARACTERISTIC 1 Christ-like living in total obedience to God The whole motivation of life is obedience to God, regardless of the cost. It might mean giving up jobs, control, positions, family, friends and security. There is no ambition for being well-known, appreciated, successful, rich, noteworthy, effective or even spiritual. The person at this stage is simply an open vessel for God to use in whatever way He sees fit, even if it’s really trivial or simple.
CHARACTERISTIC 2 Wisdom gained from life’s struggles Someone at this stage of the journey still experience the wounds and disappointments of life. They can still be hurt or frustrated by others. They can still become angry. At the same time, though, they fully experience God’s grace and presence. They don’t fear setbacks, pain or even death because they know they are facing those displeasures in fellowship with God. Life’s struggles are seen as opportunities to gain wisdom and understanding.
CHARACTERISTIC 3 Compassionate living for others This is the kind of compassion that not only shows grace to those we like but also to those “who may have hurt, repulsed, or even been repugnant to us.” This is done out of God’s love overflowing in the believer. It’s not just a duty: “I have to love this person because Jesus said so.” It’s not a challenge: “I am going to make it my goal to love them.” It is a natural and authentic outpouring of love.
CHARACTERISTIC 4 Detachment from things and stress Basically, this means that as we become aware that the more we have of God, the less we need anything else. It’s not so much that a Stage 6 person denounces material possessions and lives in a cave, but rather that they learn that having things is really not all that necessary. They may still appreciate nice things, but they are not attached to nice things or to things in general.
CHARACTERISTIC 5 Indifference to the spotlight The authors call this “Life underneath or on top” What they mean by this is that, for someone in Stage 6, it doesn’t matter whether they are led by God to do big up-front things or lowly servant things. In fact, a Stage Sixer can do the most menial things with great love and do the most significant things with great humility.
CHARACTERISTIC 6 Abandoned life Someone who is not at Stage 6 looking at someone who is in Stage 6 may get the impression that the Stage Sixer has let themself go. They don’t care all that much for their personal possessions and might be seen to be giving a lot of stuff away. They don’t seem to care for their appearance and may seem to have no idea or concern for fashion. Those things have become secondary to the whole motivation of loving and serving others.
Somebody living the Life of Love may look to others like they are totally out of touch with the real world. They have the ability to give up anything for the sake of God and others. In fact, the whole concept of “giving up” does not even matter. It’s not seen as a sacrifice. They seem completely disconnected from so much of what is seen to be important in our culture and even in our churches.
What do we do with all that? My assumption here is that the majority of us are not at Stage 6. In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that anyone who thinks they are at this stage probably isn’t, simply because the humility demonstrated at Stage 6 would most likely prevent us from making that sort of announcement. In my life, I have known only a very few people whom I think might be Stage 6 believers. The big temptation here, for the majority of us, is to see The Life of Love as being unreachable. We are often so ruled by self-will and insecurity that we don’t think we will ever get this stage of the journey. I’ll be honest, the further I go in this whole Journey of Faith, the further I see myself from really living out the Life of Love. The temptation is to simply say, “I could never do that” and settle for living out our days in survival mode in the stage where we are right now.
SUGGESTION NO. 1 Never Say Never The first step is to eliminate that word “never” from your vocabulary. The reality is, we may never reach the Stage 6 Life of Love. My opinion is that most believers never get there. I don’t know of any scientific method to determine what percentage of believers fully living the Life of Love, but my own observations indicate that very few truly get there. At least that is my experience. So, the reality is that we might not get there. On the other hand, the moment you say, “never” you shut the door of possibility. And when we shut the door of possibility, we deny the words of Jesus. We shut God out. There is an exchange between Jesus and his disciples in Mark 10 where Jesus informs them… It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!" Mark 10:25. NLT I know there has been all kinds of speculation on what a camel getting through the eye of a needle means. The most common suggestion has to do with a really small gate (called the Eye of the Needle) in the Jerusalem wall which required all baggage to be removed and the camel to go through on its knees. The only problem with that explanation is that there is no archaeological evidence that such a gate ever existed. What I find more interesting is the response of the disciples and Jesus’ answer. The disciples ask… "Then who in the world can be saved?" Mark 10:26. NLT Jesus responds… "Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God." Mark 10:27. NLT The moment we say “never” we cut off the possibility that God might want to do something in us that we do not see happening. It is humanly impossible. We can’t see it happening. That’s okay, but don’t rule out the work of God in your life.
SUGGESTION NO. 2 Look for God at Work The good news in this is that we belong to God at whatever stage we find ourselves. We can rejoice at whatever stage we find ourselves. · The Stage 1 believer can rejoice that they have discovered the awesome power and grace of God… · The person at Stage 2 can rejoice that they have found (or been found by) a group of fellow believers who will accept them and impart to them many of the precious foundations of belief… · The believer serving at Stage 3 can rejoice that they are using their abilities and spiritual gifts in the service of God and others and that they are genuinely making a difference… · The questioning believer at Stage 4 can rejoice that they are digging down through the shifting sands to find a real foundation for their lives… · The Stage 5 believer, having discovered that God loves and accepts them in spite of their baggage and junk, can rejoice in the amazing grace… One of the goals of the spiritual direction I have having right now is to see God at work in everything we face along the Journey of Faith. That’s fairly easy when you can clearly see God at work. It becomes harder in those times when the work of God is not so obvious. · When others wound us. We get hurt in life. People don’t live up to our expectations. Sometimes they hurt us passively but not coming through when we want them to. At other times, they hurt us actively by deliberately doing or saying something that wounds us. Is it possible to see God at work in situations where we are hurt by others? Let me ask it another way. Is it possible that God was at work when wicked people nailed the only perfect example of humanity to a cross? God was clearly at work through Jesus’ death on the cross. · When we mess up. Maybe nothing is more debilitating than those times when we face our own failures. Guilt and shame are devastating. The Gospels give us a picture of two different disciples of Jesus, both of whom failed him dismally at his greatest hour of need. Judas is the one who betrayed Jesus. He went to the religious leaders and agreed to sell Jesus out for a few silver coins. Peter, didn’t betray Jesus, but when the time came to stand up for Jesus, it was Peter who denied three times that he even knew Jesus. Both men, it would appear from the biblical text, were overcome by feelings of guilt and shame. However, they handled their failures differently. Judas took his own life, while Peter allowed himself to experience grace and was reinstated. One of the realities of Stage 5 is the discovery that God can and does work through us in spite of our weaknesses and failures. In fact, God often will use our very weaknesses for holy purposes. Can you see God at work when you are weak? When you fail? Paul wrote this in his first letter to the Christians at Thessalonica… Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. NASU That is a great challenge for us who are believers, to look for God’s presence and God’s grace in every situation, even the rotten ones – maybe especially the rotten ones. In one of my visits to my spiritual director I shared with him a situation which had really annoyed and hurt me. He then led me back through that circumstance and helped me to see God in that environment. In one part of that environment, God was teaching me about compassion. In another part, He was teaching me about the danger of being rigid and uncaring. In still another part, God was wanting me to learn to accept people without putting my expectations on them. We have a theological belief that God is present everywhere. It’s called the doctrine of omnipresence. What we need to seek to do is translate that head knowledge into a heart experience.
SUGGESTION NO. 3 Keep Looking at Jesus One of the statements in The Critical Journey, describing the Stage 6 Life of Love, that stood out to me was this one. At this stage, Christ’s life represents not just an example but a model for our lives. The Critical Journey. Page 153 That’s a statement that is worth pondering for a while. What is the difference between seeing the life of Jesus as an example and seeing his life as a model for our lives? Matthew records the time when Jesus invited him to become one of the disciples. Matthew was a tax collector and was actually sitting at his tax collecting desk when Jesus walked up and spoke two words to him. "Follow Me!" Matthew 9:9 This was not an invitation to believe a set of beliefs about Jesus. It also was not an invitation to join a group of people who all believed in Jesus. The invitation to discipleship was an invitation to learn to do life in the way of the disciple. The offer was to become a learner (that’s what the word disciple means) who becomes an apprentice of the master in order to learn how to do life just like that master. The goal of a disciple was to become, in every way, like the master. Matthew and the others did this through a three year intensive day-by-day living experience with Jesus. They walked and talked with him. They ate and rested with him. They watched him in action. They were sent out on short term ministry trips. The goal of it all was to become like him. Now, they were imperfect in their execution of being like Jesus. So are we. But the invitation remains the same. Listen to Jesus… Watch Jesus in action… Model our lives after his…
As we wrap this up, I am interested in three questions… 1. How has understanding the Journey of Faith helped you understand yourself? 2. How has it helped you understanding others and their journey? 3. What is the next step for you?
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