Slides for chapter 1 from class and discussion about Dallas Willard's Renovation of the Heart. Slides by Kyle Boerstler.

1. Chapter 1
Introducing Spiritual Formation

2. Intro Section
 The heart drives us. It is the seat of our being, and our lives are almost
entirely a product of the formation of our heart over time.
 “In today’s world, famine, war, and epidemic are almost totally the outcome
of human choices, which are expressions of the human spirit.”
 Therefore, the only hope we have is a renovation of the heart. To have our
inner being reshaped and remade in a different image, one that derives from
a source that is higher and greater than anything we have encountered in our
present lives.
 Just as this world and our choices within it have *formed* our hearts, so now
our focus on Jesus and His Way can *transform* our hearts, our inner being, to
be more like Him.

3. The Revolution of Jesus
 Jesus sending his disciples out to create more disciples began a ‘perpetual world
revolution.
 This revolution is not accomplished via social institutions or laws (which only
influence the outer actions), but rather this is a revolution of character, of inner
being. Their inner being is changed via relationship with God and Jesus.
 However, social structures and laws will inevitably be transformed if the people
working to create or uphold them have been transformed in their inner being.
 “This impotence of ‘systems’ is a main reason why Jesus did not send his students
out to start governments or even churches as we know them today… they were,
instead, to establish beachheads of his person, word, and power in the midst of a
failing and futile humanity.”
 “Churches are not the Kingdom of God…” but instead are the result of the
transformation of hearts in the process of creating disciples of Jesus.

4. The Human ‘Within’
 What makes our lives the way they are? Many answer that it is what is within
(that which flows from our inner self or being) rather than a culmination of
our merely outward acts.
 These are our thoughts, feelings, and emotions (and whatever else might be
deeper and beyond these things). “But the thoughts, feelings, and intentions
we are aware of are, after all, only a small part of the ones that are really
there in our depths; and they often are not the ones most revealing of who
we actually are and why we do what we do.”
 This is why forecasting our behavior in future, hypothetical situations is often
wildly (and to the predictor, quite surprisingly) off. Even our own hearts are
often inscrutable to ourselves, and so we need more than ourselves to truly
transform our inner most being.

5. The ‘Spiritual’ Aspect of Man
 For all of our focus on facts and science, the spiritual and that which lies
beyond the scope of science remains a popular and relevant part of our
culture.
 In a certain kind of way, our character and our intentions are not physical
manifestations which are measurable by science (though many would dispute
Willard’s point here).
 Because these ‘spiritual’ aspects are so important to humanity, and because
science has been revealed as an empty answer to the meaning of life, the
reality is that the renovation of our heart as a home for the Spirit of God and
Jesus is our only hope.
 “The spiritual renovation and the ‘spirituality’ that comes from Jesus is
nothing less than an invasion of natural human reality by a supernatural life
‘from above.”

6. Spirituality and Spiritual Formation as
Merely Human
 Spiritual formation is often today merely seen as a matter of human effort.
Positive thinking, therapy, and a can-do attitude is seen as sufficient to
achieve a good inner life (or at least enough to save us from life-destroying
habits and addictions).
 Certainly there is good in some of this, and whether we like it or not our spirit
is being formed by something. “The most despicable as well as the most
admirable of persons have had a spiritual formation. Terrorists as well as
saints are the outcome of spiritual formation.”
 And we are failing at this endeavor, miserably. “Societies the world around
are currently in desperate straits trying to produce people who are merely
capable of coping with their life on earth in a nondestructive manner… In
spiritual matters there really is no ‘Third World.’ It’s all Third World.”

7. Reaching Beyond the Merely Human
 So this is an inescapable problem with no human solution available. “…it lies
beyond the reach of programs of inner transformation that draw merely on
the human spirit—even when the human spirit is itself treated as ultimately
divine.”
 However, public Christianity at large is doing a horrendous job of displaying
what the Gospel is capable of regarding spiritual transformation. The vast
majority of ‘Christians’ the world sees display an incredibly low or empty
‘spiritual life.’
 There are movements within Christianity (at-large) that are noticing this
discrepancy, and have turned their focus wholly on spiritual transformation.
“Christianity has not been imparting effectual answers to the vital questions
of human existence…hope springs once again for a response to the need that
is both deeply rooted in Christian traditions and powerfully relevant to
circumstances of contemporary life.

8. God Moves Forward
 Times God has moved within and through His people to effect major cultural
or world change: the Exodus; the Exile, Jesus, Paul and the Gentiles,
Christianity overcoming paganism in the Roman Empire, monastic movements,
the Protestant Reformation, Pietism, Wesleyan and American revivalism, and
others.
 At each of these times, people’s hearts on a wide scale were transformed.
And now, Willard believes we are on the cusp of such a transformation based
on the perceived bankruptcy of modern Christianity that so many are
beginning to notice.
 Answering the question ‘Am I a Christian?’ is no longer satisfied by merely
citing a denomination or creed, but instead must be answered by reference to
something deeper: It must be answered by our heart in relation to God.

9. Distinctively Christian Spiritual
Formation
 “…spiritual formation for the Christian basically refers to the Spirit-driven process of forming the
inner world of the human self in such a way that it becomes like the inner being of Christ himself.”
 “Christian spiritual formation is focused entirely on Jesus. Its goal is an obedience or conformity to
Christ that arises out of an inner transformation accomplished through purposive interaction with
the grace of God in Christ. Obedience is an essential outcome of Christian spiritual formation.”
 When the process of spiritual transformation becomes the focus, the process will fail. Behaving,
dressing or organizing ourselves correctly simply do not produce spiritual transformation, and miss
the point.
 “…as abundant experience teaches, to strive merely to act in conformity with his expressions of
what living in the kingdom of God from the heart is like is to attempt the impossible. And it will also
lead to doing things that are obviously wrong and even ridiculous—such as self-castration as a
presumed act of devotion to Christ, which unfortunately has repeatedly occurred in Christian
history.”
 “The ‘outward’ interpretation of spiritual formation, emphasizing specific acts as it does, will
merely increase ‘the righteousness of the scribe and pharisee.’ It will not, as we must, ‘go beyond
it’ to achieve genuine transformation of who I am through and through—Christ’s man or woman,
living richly in his kingdom.”

10. A Way of Grace and Rest
 Christlikeness of the inner being is not achievable by human effort. It is a gift of
grace.
 This doesn’t preclude right action, rather when right action is coupled with the
presence of the Holy Spirit and focused attention on Jesus, the resources for our
spiritual formation extend far beyond human effort.
 “But—I reemphasize, because it is so important—the primary ‘learning’ here is not
about how to act, just as the primary wrongness or problem in human life is not
what we do. Often what human beings do is so horrible that we can be excused,
perhaps, for thinking that all that matters is stopping it. But this is an evasion of
the real horror: the heart from which the terrible actions come.”
 Love is a good example. We know that love is patient and kind, so we act patiently
and kindly in order to act lovingly, but this leads us to despair and defeat
(specifically when an outcome we were seeking does not come about due to our
efforts to ‘love’). Instead, our heart needs to be transformed in such a way that it
loves as God loves, which makes acts of patience and kindness flow freely from it,
and leads to other fruit rather than despair.

11. The Present Opportunity
 “The present moment is not an occasion to keep on doing the same things
Christians have been doing in the recent past—except now ‘really meaning it.’ It is
time to change our focus, individually and in our Christian groupings.” (wow)
 “God has provided a methodical path of recovery (renovation). Grace does not
rule out method, nor method grace. Grace thrives on method and method on
grace.”
 In other words, there is a way to walk this path, though walking it successfully will
require more than our own two feet. Receiving this grace of transformation is not
something we passively get, but rather actively seek (though not merely by
outward actions).
 “Spiritual formation is something we human beings can and must undertake—as
individuals and in fellowship with other apprentices of Jesus. While it is
simultaneously a profound manifestation of God’s gracious action through his Word
and Spirit, it is also something we are responsible for before God and can set
about achieving in a sensible, systemic manner.”

12. Matters for Thought and Discussion
 1. How do you understand Jesus’ promise about the ‘water’ he gives and about our never thirsting
again (John 4:14)? What does it mean for you practically? For others you know?
 2. Can you describe in some detail the spiritual (nonphysical) side of you? And how that side of you
affects your actions and life? Try extending your description to the spiritual side of a saint (such as
Mother Teresa of Calcutta) and of a committed terrorist.
 3. Do you agree or disagree with the idea that Jesus and his apprentices intend perpetual world
revolution through character transformation?
 4. Can it be true that ‘spiritual’ does not automatically mean ‘something good’?
 5. Compare ‘spiritual formation’ as a merely human reality and project with distinctively Christian
spiritual formation.
 6. What are some of the issues that have driven the recent widespread interest in spiritual
formation, both in the broader society and among Christians?
 7. What dangers lie in an ‘outward’ or ‘external’ interpretation of spiritual formation? How is this
related to legalism?
 8. Does the recent emergence of spiritual formation offer a genuinely new opportunity for
advancing the cause of Christ and blessing human life in our time?