Cleaning the Inside of the Cup

A guy joins a monastery and takes a vow of silence: he’s allowed to say two words every seven years. After the first seven years, the elders bring him in and ask for his two words. "Cold floors," he says. They nod and send him away. Seven more years pass. They bring him back in and ask for his two words. He clears his throats and says, "Bad food." They nod and send him away. Seven more years pass. They bring him in for his two words. "I quit," he says. "That’s not surprising," the elders say. "You’ve done nothing but complain since you got here."

In times past, monasteries were used in the pursuit of spiritual transformation through a variety of disciplines and communal living. But for many Christians, their perception of a spiritual formative process of sanctification has become as antiquated as the idea of mass monasteries. Religion has taken the place of true relationship with God and many act as if Christianity is a spectator sport.

Spiritual formation is the process of transformation of the inmost dimension of the human being, the heart, which is the same as the spirit or will. It is being formed (really, transformed) in such a way that its natural expression comes to be the deeds of Christ done in the power of Christ. It is the lack of this transformation that has often put God at odds with His people. In Ezekiel, the prophet describes in vivid detail as God reveals the hypocrisy of the people in coming to the Temple to offer their sacrifices, all the while worshiping other gods. This is also the major contention between Jesus and the religious leaders of His day. These people were lifted up, by themselves and others, as pious paradigms that all should hope to become to please God. Jesus points out that this was but an outward show. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence… first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also…So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matt 23:25-28).

Paul, the most prolific writer of the New Testament, does not let an epistle leave his pen without emphasizing the contrasts of a transformed life. In Romans, it is the “old man of sin,” compared to the one “walking in newness of life.” In Colossians, it is the “old self” and the “new self.” Even in his letter to Philemon, Paul pleads on behalf of Onesimus, the slave turned Christian, that he should now take him back because he is a changed man. In fact, Paul gives us the most succinct definition of spiritual formation, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:28-29). Our purpose as Christians is to be transformed toward the image of Christ. Too often, Christians rely upon their justification in Christ by declaration to the ignorance of the sanctification process. The result is miserable Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, but deny him with their lifestyle. Even the Jews countered Jesus’ challenge for transformation with “[But] we are children of Abraham.”

The formula for spiritual transformation is relationship and discipline. Jesus did not die so people could live life going through a bunch of mindless motions. Rather, He died so that a person’s relationship with God could be reconciled. All relationships require discipline to be maintained and grow. Jesus has done all that humans could not do to establish this relationship, but they must do the rest to maintain that relationship with God. No one would suggest that true and healthy relationships do not talk a lot of work. The culture is replete with example of broken marriages, victims of neglected covenant relationships.

This writer has always taken and shared the example from Scripture of the first Christians. In Acts 2, there is the secret to the success of those pioneers of the faith led by the spiritually wise apostles.

“They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:42-47).

The emphasis of this record provides for a clear picture of how spiritual transformation occurs. It is discipline in nurturing the relationship with God through talking to Him in prayer, He talking to His children through His Word, and having fellowship with Him at His Son’s table. Furthermore, because God dwells with His people, the early Christians were with one another daily and shared with all. What a far cry from the picture of the modern church, who punches a slim spiritual time clock of an hour or two a week. It is simple: the modern church does not achieve the closeness with God and success of the early church, because she does not do what the early church did.

What would happen to the culture if the church was a close community, living in submission to God, practicing the simplicity of discipline in reading the Bible, praying and meditating on what they read, in an effort to have God transform them from the inside out? “The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him. I will try my utmost to be that man.”