A PRAYER TO START
Sometimes we need to speak what we believe in order for what we believe to be more than just belief. Pray with your faith family and our faith family throughout history this prayer adapted from Tertullian today…
There is but one God, and he alone is the creator of the world, who by the sending out of his Word in the beginning brought the entire universe into being out of nothing;
and this Word, called his Son, was seen in various ways in the name of God by the patriarchs, was heard always in the prophets, and last of all was brought down into the Virgin Mary by the Spirit and power of God the Father, he was made flesh in her womb and was born from her as Jesus Christ;
Jesus demonstrated the fulfilled law in love and proclaimed a distinct promise of the kingdom of heaven at hand, Jesus worked miracles, healed the broken, told stories, enjoyed meals, exposed distorted religion and invited all to follow his way. He was nailed to the cross, was resurrected on the third day, was taken up to heaven to sit at the Father’s right hand and to send in his place the Holy Spirit to guide believers as they continued to follow him still today,
And Jesus Christ will come again in glory, uniting heaven and earth, to bring us into the enjoyment of life eternal fully and forever. Amen.
GETTING THOUGHTFUL
The phrase “experimental living”, when expressed in a religious context, often is met with more concern than curiosity. We have been conditioned through routine, structures, and traditions to perceive the life of faith in a particular manner; often a rather concrete picture of what the church is and what following Jesus is not. Add to our experience the pressure of living by faith at a time in history where faith is more-often-than-not asked to be checked at the door of our daily responsibilities and interactions, and it is no wonder that “experimental living” causes many brothers and sisters in Christ to squirm a little.
And yet, the apostle Paul exhorts us to live a uniquely distinguishable life together in Christ, through experimentation. Read Romans 12:2 again,
Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed [literally, “given a completely different form or appearance”] by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you many discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
How do we live differently? How does His kingdom come on earth, in east Dallas, as it is in heaven? Through experimental living!
The “testing” that Paul is referring to is not the standardized kind we were accustomed to in our schooling. He does not have in his imagination multiple choice answers and number two pencils. No, Paul is referencing the type of testing that occurs in the laboratory of life, the subjecting (or “presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice” if you’d prefer) of our motives, mindsets and movements to the elemental compounds of grace (Hebrews 5:11-6:2) in order to determine how well life in God’s kingdom really works.
What does life become when I relate to God and others through Jesus, like Jesus? What does work entail when I actually work in-line with God’s glory in the common good? What does parenting become when I present my children to our Father as offerings and not for just protection, raising them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord? What does life with others following Jesus (i.e., Gospel Community) produce when I submit myself to the interdependence in which I was created?
These are the questions that we are encouraged, with strong conviction and sure confidence, to find the answers to through action. Not merely the discussing of the topic over super or around a semi-circle, but lab-coats-on, praying-continuously, hand-in-hand testing living by the mercies of God. Experimenting certainly means that there is a level of risk in our acting on what we believe, but that is no reason to fear. After all, Paul assumes that it will be only through testing that we will be able to find what it is we are looking for in a life of faith. This is the way are minds are renewed, made new. Experiments, by their nature, can cause unexpected reactions; and perhaps that is the point!
REFLECTION
Too often I am guilty of timid testing. Fearful to mix-up my movements either because of what I have come to know as acceptable or because I cannot know the outcome. Yet Paul’s encouragement is that we have already received all the grace and gifting (see verses 3-6) we need to truly be and live something so much more than we can ask or imagine.
Use the questions below to help you prayerfully reflect individually and/or discuss as a DNA group.
One of the primary ways we “conform to this age” is by expressing desire for something good but failing act upon that desire. Jesus says such desirous inaction is like the gracious gospel seed landing in the soil of our lives, but finding little depth to take root; whether our fruitfulness succumbs to the difficulties or to the comforts of this world (Matthew 13:1-23).
What are a few of the faithful desires you have, that you are not putting to the test?
(For example, You desire to know your place in our faith family or the world at large but you haven’t taken advantage of the Giftedness Discovery Workshops. Or, you desire to have a heart like Christ’s for the needy, put keep finding reasons not get out of your normal routine. Or you desire to invite others into a life of faith with Jesus, but you have yet to invite them to Gospel Community or dinner with some GC friends. Or you desire a fruitful faith that goes beyond the routines of “church institution”, but you don’t pray for your neighbors or spend time regularly engaging with God in his word. Or you desire deep faith friendships, but you haven’t taken responsibility to help those around you know and follow Jesus.)
What will you do (or stop doing) to start experimenting with at least one of these?
Who will you tell you are doing so?
REVERBERATIONS
Speaking with the conviction that the world can be different, and the affection that the world should be different, Wendell Berry pens these words. Words that can just as easily be embraced for those of us whose convictions and affections are for a transformed life and society today. Let these words reflect off the walls of your mind, the chamber of your heart, and the actions of your hands this week.
…if one loves it, one must make the attempt; if one loves it, the attempt is irresistible.
(Wendell Berry)