What is Spiritual Renewal
WHAT IS SPIRITUAL RENEWAL? LECTURE NOTES
WHAT IS SPIRITUAL RENEWAL? Notes from Richard Lovelace’s Dynamics of Spiritual Life RICHARD LOVELACE (1931- ) •
Longtime professor of church history at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
•
Educated at Yale, Westminster, Princeton
•
An expert in spiritual theology – the study of Christian spiritual experience
•
Spent decades studying spiritual awakenings throughout church history
•
Wrote Dynamics of Spiritual Life (1979) in order to lay out “a general theory of individual and corporate spiritual health” and to provide a field manual for the work of reformation & renewal.
•
Tim Keller: “I took several courses with Richard Lovelace at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, including the first course ‘Dynamics of Spiritual Life’ in Fall of 1972… Anyone who knows my ministry and reads this book will say, ‘So that’s where Keller got all this stuff!’”
FOUNDATIONAL ASSUMPTIONS •
“It is my assumption that growth in faith is the root of all spiritual growth… true spirituality is not a superhuman religiosity; it is simply true humanity released from bondage to sin and renewed by the Holy Spirit” (p. 19).
•
Two complementary aspects of revival: reformation of doctrine and spiritual revitalization. These “advance together in alternate moves like the footsteps of a walking man” (p. 52).
THE DIAGNOSIS: What keeps us from revival & renewal? •
The Old Testament seems to show a cyclical pattern of apostasy and then spiritual renewal. For example, in the book of Judges: 1) a new generation arises; 2) they fall into apostasy and enculturation; 3) God brings some sort of national affliction; 4) the people show repentance and agonized prayer; 5) God raises up a leader who brings restoration.
•
In the New Testament, since Jesus the True Leader has finally come, shouldn't we expect continuous renewal? This seems to be what we see in Acts – relentless success and ongoing spiritual vitality. Why, then, does church history reveal a return to a cyclical pattern of decline and revival? What happened after Acts?
•
One possible answer: God's people have failed to follow Jesus diligently, even as many people in the OT refused to follow godly leaders like Joash and Hezekiah. Maybe the root issue is simple disobedience.
•
Lovelace suggests that this answer is too simplistic. "What is involved in the church's periods of recession is something deeper than a simple refusal to follow its divine leader."
•
What keeps us from ongoing spiritual renewal is a lack of gospel clarity. Here is the key paragraph that lays out the heart of Lovelace’s thesis: "The redemptive work of Christ did not consist in a magnified regent issuing a clearer set of laws to follow. Redemption is participatory, not imitative. It is grounded on grace appropriated through faith, not merely on obedience. Spiritual life flows out of union with Christ, not merely imitation of Christ. When the full dimensions of God’s gracious provision in Christ are not clearly articulated in the church, faith cannot apprehend them, and the life of the church will suffer distortion and attenuation. The individual Christian and the church as a whole are alive in Christ, and when any essential dimensions of what it means to be in Christ are obscured in the church's understanding, there is no guarantee that the people of God will strive toward and experience fullness of life” (p. 73-74).
•
This is a massive insight. Lovelace is saying: o Redemption is rooted in union with Christ by FAITH. o FAITH requires understanding - knowing who Christ is and what he has done. o When all the dimensions of the gospel are not clearly articulated, FAITH is hindered. God's people cannot rest fully in Christ. Aspects of his person and work are obscured from their vision. Therefore, they will fail to experience spiritual vitality. o To say it another way: Unbelief (resulting from failure to understand rightly any of the dimensions of union with Christ) will lead to distortions and deficiencies in our spiritual vitality.
The PRESCRIPTION: How can we experience continual renewal? •
Through “depth presentation of the gospel,” and working out the gospel in the church’s life.
•
By “depth presentation of the gospel,” Lovelace means helping people really grasp the reality, richness, and importance of four main things: justification, sanctification, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and authority in spiritual conflict. These he calls “primary elements of renewal.”
•
Additionally, he identifies five secondary elements of renewal “which derive in part from primary factors, as secondary colors derive from mixtures of the primaries.” These are mission, prayer, community, disenculturation, and theological integration.
•
“Since spiritual life is rooted in faith and missing elements are usually replaced by misapprehensions which amount to unbelief, failure to understand rightly any of the primary or secondary dimensions affected by our union with Christ inevitably produces distortions and deficiencies in the church’s experience” (p. 79-80).
•
Below is Lovelace’s own diagram which gives a clear picture of his model of renewal.
WHAT IS SPIRITUAL RENEWAL? Notes from Richard Lovelace’s Dynamics of Spiritual Life RICHARD LOVELACE (1931- ) •
Longtime professor of church history at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
•
Educated at Yale, Westminster, Princeton
•
An expert in spiritual theology – the study of Christian spiritual experience
•
Spent decades studying spiritual awakenings throughout church history
•
Wrote Dynamics of Spiritual Life (1979) in order to lay out “a general theory of individual and corporate spiritual health” and to provide a field manual for the work of reformation & renewal.
•
Tim Keller: “I took several courses with Richard Lovelace at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, including the first course ‘Dynamics of Spiritual Life’ in Fall of 1972… Anyone who knows my ministry and reads this book will say, ‘So that’s where Keller got all this stuff!’”
FOUNDATIONAL ASSUMPTIONS •
“It is my assumption that growth in faith is the root of all spiritual growth… true spirituality is not a superhuman religiosity; it is simply true humanity released from bondage to sin and renewed by the Holy Spirit” (p. 19).
•
Two complementary aspects of revival: reformation of doctrine and spiritual revitalization. These “advance together in alternate moves like the footsteps of a walking man” (p. 52).
THE DIAGNOSIS: What keeps us from revival & renewal? •
The Old Testament seems to show a cyclical pattern of apostasy and then spiritual renewal. For example, in the book of Judges: 1) a new generation arises; 2) they fall into apostasy and enculturation; 3) God brings some sort of national affliction; 4) the people show repentance and agonized prayer; 5) God raises up a leader who brings restoration.
•
In the New Testament, since Jesus the True Leader has finally come, shouldn't we expect continuous renewal? This seems to be what we see in Acts – relentless success and ongoing spiritual vitality. Why, then, does church history reveal a return to a cyclical pattern of decline and revival? What happened after Acts?
•
One possible answer: God's people have failed to follow Jesus diligently, even as many people in the OT refused to follow godly leaders like Joash and Hezekiah. Maybe the root issue is simple disobedience.
•
Lovelace suggests that this answer is too simplistic. "What is involved in the church's periods of recession is something deeper than a simple refusal to follow its divine leader."
•
What keeps us from ongoing spiritual renewal is a lack of gospel clarity. Here is the key paragraph that lays out the heart of Lovelace’s thesis: "The redemptive work of Christ did not consist in a magnified regent issuing a clearer set of laws to follow. Redemption is participatory, not imitative. It is grounded on grace appropriated through faith, not merely on obedience. Spiritual life flows out of union with Christ, not merely imitation of Christ. When the full dimensions of God’s gracious provision in Christ are not clearly articulated in the church, faith cannot apprehend them, and the life of the church will suffer distortion and attenuation. The individual Christian and the church as a whole are alive in Christ, and when any essential dimensions of what it means to be in Christ are obscured in the church's understanding, there is no guarantee that the people of God will strive toward and experience fullness of life” (p. 73-74).
•
This is a massive insight. Lovelace is saying: o Redemption is rooted in union with Christ by FAITH. o FAITH requires understanding - knowing who Christ is and what he has done. o When all the dimensions of the gospel are not clearly articulated, FAITH is hindered. God's people cannot rest fully in Christ. Aspects of his person and work are obscured from their vision. Therefore, they will fail to experience spiritual vitality. o To say it another way: Unbelief (resulting from failure to understand rightly any of the dimensions of union with Christ) will lead to distortions and deficiencies in our spiritual vitality.
The PRESCRIPTION: How can we experience continual renewal? •
Through “depth presentation of the gospel,” and working out the gospel in the church’s life.
•
By “depth presentation of the gospel,” Lovelace means helping people really grasp the reality, richness, and importance of four main things: justification, sanctification, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and authority in spiritual conflict. These he calls “primary elements of renewal.”
•
Additionally, he identifies five secondary elements of renewal “which derive in part from primary factors, as secondary colors derive from mixtures of the primaries.” These are mission, prayer, community, disenculturation, and theological integration.
•
“Since spiritual life is rooted in faith and missing elements are usually replaced by misapprehensions which amount to unbelief, failure to understand rightly any of the primary or secondary dimensions affected by our union with Christ inevitably produces distortions and deficiencies in the church’s experience” (p. 79-80).
•
Below is Lovelace’s own diagram which gives a clear picture of his model of renewal.
