Transforming Moment / Transforming Journey

In times of pastoral transition, I often have the privilege of sitting on the platform and engaging in a conversation with a prospective pastor as the congregation listens in. In the course of our dialogue, I sometimes ask, “Transforming Moment or Transforming Journey?” I’ve never needed to explain the question to a pastor. They immediately grasp the meaning. It highlights the creative tension between crisis and process in spiritual formation.

Of course, in our tradition, the answer can be “Moment” or “Journey” or “Moment and Journey.”  The best answer is “Both.” We find our discipleship lacking when we disregard either one.

As a child of the American Holiness Movement, I have always appreciated and gravitated toward the transforming moment. Transforming moments are specific occasions when we experience God’s grace in a profound, life-altering way – we are converted, or filled with the Spirit, or called to ministry, or make a covenant, or receive divine guidance, etc. Most of the transforming moments in my life have taken place at an altar.

Altar calls are important because they provide space for defining moments and milestones in a person’s spiritual journey.  (Pastors, don’t become discouraged if altars are sometimes barren. It can take a while for seeds to emerge after they are planted.) One of the reasons why camps and retreats and revivals are so important is because they provide opportunities for transforming moments.

We must be aware of, and sensitive to, opportunities for transforming moments.  But we must also be aware of, and sensitive to, the importance of a discipleship process that intentionally helps people grow in their faith—the transforming journey.

Transforming moments are critical, but so is the transforming journey. The Israelites left Egypt in a defining moment, but they still had to journey to the Promised Land.  And even after crossing the Jordan in a single event, they still needed to inhabit the land. The reason this metaphor resonates with holiness folks is that it captures the dynamic relationship between crisis and process, between transforming moment and transforming journey.

As important as the camp, retreat, and revival is, the ongoing week-by-week ministry of the local church is equally important. Small groups, Sunday School classes, mentoring conversations, the regular preaching of the Word, daily devotions, service opportunities—all contribute to the transforming journey that helps form us into Christlike disciples.

It’s always fascinated me that God didn’t create everything at once. There is a progression, a process to the work of Creation. Granted, every day is markedly different from the day before. There are definitely transforming moments, such as when light, water, and life appear. But there is also a transforming journey—a day-by-day process to Creation. The same is true of New Creation.

Transforming Moment or Transforming Journey?  Both!  Thanks be to God.

A Pure Heart

You have to read halfway through the Old Testament before the idea of a human having a pure heart is even suggested as a possibility. Prior to Job and Psalms, the only things referred to as “pure” are gold (about 40 times), frankincense (4 times), and water (once).

 When we get to Job, his “friends” comfort him by suggesting—about ten times—that if his heart were pure, he would not be enduring the terrible tragedies that have befallen him. Their theology is even less helpful than their consolation.

 It is David, in Psalm 51:10, who first voices the longing for a pure heart, acknowledging that we all come into this world with a murky one. He recognizes we cannot purify our own hearts any more than gold can purify itself. It takes a work of God’s grace to make a human heart pure. The very desire to have a pure heart is a work of God’s grace.

 “Pure heart” carries both negative and positive connotations. Negatively, pure implies that whatever is impure has been removed. Like precious metal that has been refined, a pure heart is one that has been cleansed from all that contaminates. What Wesley liked to call “inward sin” is cleansed when hearts are made pure. 

 Positively, pure carries the thought of something filled with goodness. A “pure heart” is one filled with unadulterated love. When a bride and groom stand at an altar and commit to love each other, each is in essence saying, “My heart will not be divided, but devoted. I’m all in. Forever.” To truly love one’s spouse is to have one’s heart so filled with devoted love that there is no room for inappropriate affections. Truly loving God results in the same undivided devotion.

In his most famous sermon, Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” I always understood “they will see God” to mean one day the pure in heart will go to heaven and their eyes will behold the Almighty.  But maybe “they will see God” means the pure in heart will see God right here and right now. Maybe the pure in heart see God, here and now, in a way that others don’t yet see God. Maybe like Moses, the pure in heart get a glimpse of God that others aren’t privy to, and rather than setting a face aglow, it sets a heart aglow with holy devotion. Maybe “they will see God” is not just an eschatological promise signifying something good to come, but a present reality signifying something good has come. Something good, like a pure heart. 

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

Where’s the “Beauty” in Holiness? Part 2: The Name of the Lord

While beauty can be “in the eye of the beholder,” it is usually recognized by most of us. We admire beauty, are drawn to beauty, appreciate beauty. 

The first mention of “the beauty of holiness” in the Psalms links that beauty with the name of the Lord: “Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness” (Psalm 29:2). 

Have you noticed what happens when a congregation sings about Jesus? The worshippers usually lean in a bit, sing with stronger voices, feel the song more. It’s beautiful.

There is a beauty—a holy attraction—in the name of Jesus. This has implications for the ways we evangelize. Talking with someone about Jesus is usually more productive than talking with someone about the church. When I say “Church of the Nazarene,” the Uber driver’s eyes sometimes glaze over. When I introduce Jesus by name, the conversation often takes a surprising turn. The dialog becomes delicious. The ride becomes holy ground.

How beautiful is the holiness you live? I must admit, there are times when our expressions of holiness are far from attractive. When holiness is expressed as legalism, or as a form of Christian elitism, or as a standard to be achieved rather than a relationship to be treasured—on those occasions we peddle a cheap imitation, more petty than pretty.

In a very real sense, to be “Called to Holiness” is to be “Called to Beauty.” You are I are called to be beautifully holy. There is an attractiveness about holiness that is to be reflected in us. Our lives reveal the beauty of God’s holiness as we are restored in his image and his identity and purpose are reflected in our lives.

The beauty of holiness is part of God’s strategy to attract a broken, angry, ugly world to himself, and to beautifully transform his Creation by his grace.  

Jesus is the attraction. His person, his work, his name, embodies the beauty of holiness. What a beautiful name it is – the name of Jesus Christ, our King.

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me -

All his wonderful passion and purity!

O Thou Spirit divine,

All my nature refine

Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.

(Albert Orsborn, 1886-1967)

Where’s the “Beauty” in Holiness? (Part 1: Creation’s Witness)

It is noteworthy that both the Psalmist and the Chronicler choose to describe holiness in terms of beauty—"Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” (1 Chronicles 16:29; 2 Chronicles 20:21; Psalm 29:2; 96:9). Which begs the question, “What’s so beautiful about holiness?”

Perhaps two indications are found in the Psalms references, where the beauty of holiness is first linked with the name of the Lord: “Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness” (Psalm 29:2). Then, in Psalm 96:9, holiness is linked with creation: “Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. Tremble before him, all the earth.”  

All Creation is called to give witness to the beauty of holiness.

Creation itself can have a beauty that, when encountered, causes a catch in your breath—a snow-capped summit, a fawn bedded down in the woods, a full moon on a snowy night, a frolicking golden retriever puppy, the sun rising over the Atlantic, a perfect red rose. I grew up in West Virginia, known for its scenic mountains, rolling hills, and white-water rivers. The beauty of Creation has always been a means of grace for me.  

How does God’s work of Creation give witness to the beauty of holiness?

Have you noticed how often the word “separated” appears in Genesis 1? The story of Creation contains a series of separations, both explicit and implicit:  

·      The heavens and the earth are separated

·      Light and darkness are separated

·      Day and night are separated

·      Evening and morning are separated

·      The water above is separated from the water below

·      The land is separated from the water

·      The light of day is separated from the light of night

·      Woman is separated from man 

·      Finally, rest is separated from work

These separations have nothing to do with morality or goodness. They have everything to do with identity and purpose. The earth becomes beautiful as identity and purpose emerge and everything finds its intended purpose. The beauty of holiness is reflected when identity and purpose become perfectly aligned with God’s intention. 

Creation was originally good. All good. Very good.  The Garden of Eden before the Fall must have been an incredibly beautiful place – pure, pristine, perfect. 

All creation was beautiful, especially Adam and Eve, who in addition to being created “good,” were also created in the Image of God. When the Image in them was marred by sin, God commenced his good plan for the redemption and restoration of his Creation—his re-beautification plan, so to speak.  

The call to holiness is the call to see the beauty of Creation restored. Persons made beautifully whole. Relationships made beautifully whole. Ultimately, Creation made beautifully whole.  

That kind of beauty doesn’t just make you catch your breath; it makes the whole earth tremble.

Holiness and Entire Sanctification

We believe that entire sanctification is that act of God, subsequent to regeneration, by which believers are made free from original sin, or depravity, and brought into a state of entire devotement to God, and the holy obedience of love made perfect.                Article 10, Manual, Church of the Nazarene

If holiness is a beautiful diamond with many striking facets, as has been suggested, then the distinctive facet the Church of the Nazarene has gazed at the most, spoken of the most, written of the most, and pointed the attention of others to the most, is the facet called “entire sanctification.” From our origin, the Church of the Nazarene has understood that God raised us up to emphasize this distinctive doctrine.

We believe that sanctification is a lifelong process of spiritual growth, marked by two special moments:

Initial sanctification: When a person is born again and becomes a Christian.

Entire sanctification: When a Christian becomes entirely devoted to God, freed from original sin, and filled with perfected love.

One thing the Bible makes clear is that God is “all in.” His gives himself fully to Creation, and once sin enters the world, he gives himself fully to our redemption.  He makes provision—in Jesus Christ—not only for our sins to be fully forgiven, but for our hearts to be totally cleansed and completely filled with the Holy Spirit. God is “all in.”

Another thing the Bible makes equally clear is that God invites humanity, the crown of His creation, to love Him totally—with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength—and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are called to be “all in.”

Our part is our consecration. Just as repentance precedes justification, consecration precedes sanctification. We present ourselves as living sacrifices, never more fully alive than when we are completely dead to self.  God’s part is our sanctification. He sanctifies our sacrifice—cleansing our hearts, filling us with the Holy Spirit, setting us apart for his service. 

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. - 1 Thessalonians 5:32-24

It is our privilege to both experience this grace and to invite others to experience it.

Holiness and Sanctification

We believe that sanctification is the work of God which transforms believers into the likeness of Christ.  - Article 10, Manual, Church of the Nazarene

Sanctification—the act or process by which something or someone is made holy—begins when the human heart first responds to grace.

Because sin is two-fold in nature—referring to both what we do and who we are—God’s remedy is also two-fold in nature. In justification we are forgiven of the acts of sin we have committed. But even after being “born again,” the essence of sin remains. While what we’ve done has been forgiven, who we are now needs to be transformed into the likeness of Christ. Sanctification is the way God deals with the essence of sin within us—reformatting our “default setting” as it were.  

The goal of sanctification is Christlikeness—our renewal in the image of God.  Wesley believed sanctifying grace to be God’s cure for the personal and shared ills of humanity.

A Coin with Two Sides

Sanctification can be seen as a coin with two sides—a positive side and a negative side. This is most clearly seen in Galatians 5. On the negative side, it is freedom from (removal of) inward sin. On the positive side, it is freedom for (renewal of) perfect love. Generally speaking, the American Holiness Movement has tended to polish the negative side of the coin, and Wesleyan theology has tended to polish the positive side. It takes both sides of the coin to understand the whole and reflect the full image of Jesus Christ.  

Transforming Journey and Transforming Moment

I have found it most helpful to understand sanctification as a transforming journey (process) marked by transforming moments (crises).  H. Ray Dunning says sanctification is both a pilgrimage and an event, a quest and a gift. While sanctification cannot be reduced to a single moment in time, neither can the importance of such moments be dismissed. Wesley was able to keep a proper balance between the process and the moment, something his theological offspring sometimes find difficult to do.

Sanctification is a lifelong process (transforming journey) that includes a specific occasion (transforming moment) in which the process begins (initial sanctification) and a specific occasion in which one is filled with perfect love. To that moment Wesley gave the term entire sanctification. And to that term we will turn next.