Choosing the Right Influence: Living Under the Cross

 

Summary

Living under the influence is an inevitable part of our existence. We all have an innate desire to make a significant impact in the world, to live a life that matters. This drive for significance often leads us to seek inspiration and guidance, but the crucial question is: under whose influence are we living? If we are not careful, we may find ourselves under the wrong influence, leading to destructive outcomes. The story of a woman in Portland, Maine, who drove her car into a police garage under the influence of something other than her GPS, serves as a poignant reminder of the consequences of living under the wrong influence.

The history of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) offers profound insights into this struggle. A pivotal moment in AA's history involved a man named Roland, who, despite treatment from Carl Jung, found himself unable to escape the grip of alcoholism. Jung suggested that a vital religious experience could be the key to overcoming such a powerful influence. This idea of a spiritual battle, spiritus contra spiritum, highlights the need for a higher influence to combat the destructive forces in our lives.

The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, contrasts being drunk on wine with being filled with the Spirit. This comparison underscores the idea that substances like alcohol are poor substitutes for the transformative power of the Holy Spirit. The book of Acts further illustrates this point when the Holy Spirit empowers the disciples, leading some to mistakenly believe they were drunk. The true influence they were under was the Spirit, not alcohol.

Michael Gorman's concept of cruciformity emphasizes living under the influence of Christ, shaped by the narrative of the cross. This involves embracing sacrificial, self-giving love, which transforms our lives and aligns us with the story of Jesus. To be "in Christ" means to live within His sphere of influence, allowing His power to conform us to His image.

Today, we have the choice to live under the influence of the cross, marked by self-giving love, forgiveness, and humility. By submitting our desires to God's will and trusting in His power, we can make our lives count and become part of a greater story. Let us ask God to influence our thoughts, words, and actions, so that we may live under the influence that truly matters.

Key Takeaways:

1. The Influence We Choose: Every person is influenced by something, and the choice of influence determines the direction of our lives. Living under the right influence, such as the Holy Spirit, leads to transformation and fulfillment, while the wrong influence can lead to destruction. [00:41]

2. Spiritual Battle: The struggle between different influences is a spiritual battle, as Carl Jung noted with spiritus contra spiritum. This highlights the need for a higher spiritual influence to overcome destructive forces in our lives. [04:26]

3. Cruciformity and Transformation: Michael Gorman's concept of cruciformity emphasizes living under the influence of Christ, shaped by the narrative of the cross. This involves embracing sacrificial love, which transforms our lives and aligns us with Jesus' story. [06:29]

4. Living 'In Christ': To be "in Christ" means to live within His sphere of influence, allowing His power to conform us to His image. This involves a reversal of worldly values, where weakness becomes strength and servanthood becomes greatness. [07:41]

5. Choosing the Right Influence: Today, we have the choice to live under the influence of the cross, marked by self-giving love, forgiveness, and humility. By submitting our desires to God's will and trusting in His power, we can make our lives count. [09:07]

Youtube Chapters:

- [00:00] - Welcome
- [00:28] - The Desire for Significance
- [00:57] - Influence and AA's Framework
- [01:27] - A Story of Misguided Influence
- [02:12] - The Founding of AA
- [03:08] - Carl Jung's Insight
- [04:12] - Spiritus Contra Spiritum
- [04:56] - Paul's Teaching on Influence
- [05:27] - The Power of the Holy Spirit
- [06:14] - The Thirst for Transcendence
- [06:29] - Cruciformity Explained
- [07:25] - Living 'In Christ'
- [08:15] - The Reversal of Values
- [09:07] - Choosing the Right Influence
- [10:08] - The Invitation to Live Under the Cross

Study Guide

Bible Study Discussion Guide: Living Under the Influence

Bible Reading:
1. Ephesians 5:15-18 - "Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit."
2. Acts 2:13-15 - "Some, however, made fun of them and said, 'They have had too much wine.' Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: 'Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!'"

Observation Questions:
1. What does Paul contrast with being filled with the Spirit in Ephesians 5:18, and why might this contrast be significant? [04:56]
2. In Acts 2:13-15, why did some people think the disciples were drunk, and how did Peter respond to this assumption? [05:42]
3. How does the story of the woman in Portland, Maine, illustrate the consequences of living under the wrong influence? [01:27]
4. What role did Carl Jung play in the history of Alcoholics Anonymous, and what was his insight about spiritual thirst? [03:41]

Interpretation Questions:
1. How does the concept of "spiritus contra spiritum" relate to the spiritual battle between different influences in our lives? [04:26]
2. What does it mean to live a "cruciform" life according to Michael Gorman, and how does this relate to being "in Christ"? [06:29]
3. How does the narrative of the cross challenge or reverse worldly values, according to the sermon? [08:15]
4. In what ways does the sermon suggest that living under the influence of the Holy Spirit can lead to transformation and fulfillment? [05:11]

Application Questions:
1. Reflect on your current influences. Are there any that you recognize as potentially destructive? How can you begin to shift towards more positive influences, such as the Holy Spirit? [00:41]
2. The sermon mentions the importance of a "vital religious experience" in overcoming negative influences. Have you experienced such a moment in your life? How did it impact you? [03:08]
3. Consider the idea of "cruciformity" and living under the influence of Christ. What practical steps can you take to embrace sacrificial love and humility in your daily life? [06:29]
4. How can you actively choose to live under the influence of the cross, marked by self-giving love, forgiveness, and humility, in your interactions this week? [09:07]
5. Identify a specific area in your life where you feel a "thirst for transcendence." How can you seek fulfillment in this area through the influence of the Holy Spirit rather than worldly substitutes? [06:14]
6. The sermon suggests asking God to influence our thoughts, words, and actions. What is one specific prayer you can incorporate into your daily routine to invite God's influence? [10:21]
7. Reflect on a time when you felt under the influence of a negative force, such as the need for approval or revenge. How can you replace that influence with a focus on God's will and power? [05:58]

Devotional

Day 1: The Influence We Choose
Living under the influence is an inevitable part of our existence. We all have an innate desire to make a significant impact in the world, to live a life that matters. This drive for significance often leads us to seek inspiration and guidance, but the crucial question is: under whose influence are we living? If we are not careful, we may find ourselves under the wrong influence, leading to destructive outcomes. The story of a woman in Portland, Maine, who drove her car into a police garage under the influence of something other than her GPS, serves as a poignant reminder of the consequences of living under the wrong influence. [00:41]

"For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." (Galatians 5:13, ESV)

Reflection: What influences in your life are leading you away from God's purpose, and how can you begin to replace them with influences that align with His will today?


Day 2: Spiritual Battle
The struggle between different influences is a spiritual battle, as Carl Jung noted with spiritus contra spiritum. This highlights the need for a higher spiritual influence to overcome destructive forces in our lives. The history of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) offers profound insights into this struggle. A pivotal moment in AA's history involved a man named Roland, who, despite treatment from Carl Jung, found himself unable to escape the grip of alcoholism. Jung suggested that a vital religious experience could be the key to overcoming such a powerful influence. [04:26]

"For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds." (2 Corinthians 10:3-4, ESV)

Reflection: Identify a destructive influence in your life. How can you invite God's power to help you overcome it today?


Day 3: Cruciformity and Transformation
Michael Gorman's concept of cruciformity emphasizes living under the influence of Christ, shaped by the narrative of the cross. This involves embracing sacrificial, self-giving love, which transforms our lives and aligns us with the story of Jesus. To be "in Christ" means to live within His sphere of influence, allowing His power to conform us to His image. This transformation is not just about personal change but about participating in the larger story of God's redemptive work in the world. [06:29]

"And he said to all, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.'" (Luke 9:23, ESV)

Reflection: In what ways can you practice self-giving love today, and how might this transform your relationships and community?


Day 4: Living 'In Christ'
To be "in Christ" means to live within His sphere of influence, allowing His power to conform us to His image. This involves a reversal of worldly values, where weakness becomes strength and servanthood becomes greatness. The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, contrasts being drunk on wine with being filled with the Spirit. This comparison underscores the idea that substances like alcohol are poor substitutes for the transformative power of the Holy Spirit. [07:41]

"For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power." (1 Corinthians 4:20, ESV)

Reflection: What worldly values are you holding onto that need to be reversed in light of Christ's teachings, and how can you begin to live out this reversal today?


Day 5: Choosing the Right Influence
Today, we have the choice to live under the influence of the cross, marked by self-giving love, forgiveness, and humility. By submitting our desires to God's will and trusting in His power, we can make our lives count and become part of a greater story. Let us ask God to influence our thoughts, words, and actions, so that we may live under the influence that truly matters. [09:07]

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:2, ESV)

Reflection: How can you intentionally submit your desires to God's will today, and what steps can you take to ensure His influence guides your decisions?

Quotes


I want to talk to you today about uh living under the influence we were made to count we want to have a significant impact we want to make a difference we want the world to be different as a result of our having lived in it for a while that's a good thing you have a drive to be significant and we're all influenced we all have a craving for inspiration for guidance for some assurance that our life will be worth living we're made to live under the influence but if we don't live under the right influence we will live under the wrong influence. [00:19:64]

there was a story this past year this one is true sometimes there's Urban myths about what people will do Under the Influence but there was a woman in Portland Maine this year who who drove her car into a police garage across a pedestrian walkway and then tried to drive her car down the stairs literally tried to drive the car down the stairs obviously it could not make it and when the police went to came to talk with her cuz it was their stairs that she was trying to drive down she blamed it on her GPS she said she was just following her GPS she wasn't following her GPS she was under the influence of something but was not that and those stories whether they have both tears and laughter or only tears uh only lead in tragedy as often they do depends on whether or not we are able to come under a greater influence. [01:21:20]

one of the founding moments in the history of Alcoholics Anonymous and this will relate to all of us whether you think you have an addiction or you not although I don't think any of us are not addicted attached to in the grip of under the influence of something one primary moment came back back in 1932 when a man named Roland who is a hopeless alcoholic went to see Carl Yung you may know this story Jung treated him for a year he thought finally he understood his problem and he was free from that influence but when he left Jung to come back to the States before he got to the boat he was hopelessly drunk and he went back to Yung again and Yung said uh I know of nothing that can help somebody like you and Roland felt like the gates of hell were clanging shut and he asked nothing and you said well there is one thing I know some people who have had a vital religious experience. [02:16:20]

Yung wrote about Roland his craving for alcohol was the equivalent on a low level of the spiritual thirst of our being for wholeness he said expressed in in medieval ancient language for that it's the thirst for Union with God for Transcendence then Yun goes on alcohol in Latin is spiritus the word for spirit and it's interesting Even in our day we will talk about alcohol as Spirits alcohol and latinist spiritus Yung said you use the same word for the highest religious experience as well as for the most depraving poison The Helpful form formula is spiritus Contra spiritum in other words Spirit against Spirit In other words this is a battle at the spiritual level of one Spirit battling against another Spirit which spirit will I come under the influence of. [03:50:00]

Paul when he's writing to the church at Ephesus says be careful how you live as wise not as foolish for the days are evil Redeeming the time and then he says don't be drunk on wine which leads to destruction corruption loss debauchery but instead be filled with the spirit there is something about using a substance like alcohol to try to change our mood to try to influence our posture in the way that we feel about life that is kind of uh uh a poor imitator of what it is to be filled with the spirit. [04:49:28]

I was thinking about the second chapter of Acts when the Holy Spirit comes on a group of human beings and they begin to speak in a way and with a power and an impact that they never had before and people are looking at them and one of the things that some of the scoffers say is they must be drunk and Peter stands up and says no it is not true it's 9:00 in the morning these people that you see are not drunk they are filled with the spirit so what influence will I be under today will it be the influence of alcohol or the influence of a substance or the influence of my thirst for people's approval or for revenge or for indulging wallowing in a sense of inadequacy or a thirst for Transcendence and inspiration that can actually be filled by the spirit. [05:27:68]

I have been reading a book by Michael Gorman called cruciformity and thinking a lot about it that's a bit of an odd word but it's become very important in new test studies over the last couple of decades and the idea of that word cruciformity has to do with the influence that we're under part of what Gorman writes about is that the Apostle Paul isn't just somebody who wanted to have people affirm certain beliefs like we often think he was a pastor and he was most concerned about people's lives and having their lives changed or transformed having a certain kind of spiritual experience that people would have and what Gorman says is at the heart of that is a story it's a narrative and at the heart of that story is the cross sacrificial self-giving love that changes everything and it helps us to live a cruciform life which is the only way to satisfy our thirst all other approaches that bypass the cross are like shortcuts to Eden that will not work. [06:18:59]

here's part of what Gorman writes he writes about how the phrase that Paul uses over and over and over again scores of times is in Christ to be in Christ and this is what he says the vast majority of those uses refer to existence in Christ the language is not so much mystical as it is spatial to live within a sphere of influence the precise meaning of the phrase varies from Context to context but to be in Christ principally means to be under the influence to be under the influence of Christ power especially the power to be conformed to him and conformed to his cross cruciform by participation in the life of a community that follows his lordship. [07:35:00]

he says that the world shaped by the cross viewed through the cross experiences a strange reversal of values so that weakness is found in strength greatness is found in servanthood people who die to themselves in their own egos find themselves coming to life becoming the victim of evil and wrongdoing can elicit a response for me not of retaliation but of forgiveness and love that everything about Jesus is marked by this trajectory this Arc this narrative that Finds Its ultimate expression and Central brand in in the cross in the power of self-giving self-sacrificial love that then triumphs in the resurrection. [08:22:00]

today you get to choose starting right now what influence will I live under and the great invitation if we want to make our day count if we want it to have significance Beyond ourselves is to let it be part of that great story you know everybody's life is marked by some story folks will talk about how people grew up in the Great Depression are marked by that narrative that story so they're always afraid there won't be enough or they hide money under a mattress they don't hide banks in a thousand different ways Our Lives is shaped by story particularly by a master story a meta narrative and the invitation is for that to be the story of the Cross self-giving love forgiveness humility death to self placing my desires in submission to what will be better what is truly good trusting depending wholly on God finding his power when I come in strength. [09:12:00]

We Are The Fellowship of the withered hand I can't he can I think I'll let him to be under that influence today today ask God God would you influence me would you let me live in the sphere of your influence and power would you influence the very thoughts that go through my mind would you influence the very words that come out out of my mouth would you influence the images that my mind see as I look around me at the beauty of your world and particularly at the mystery and wonder of other human beings would you influence my actions would you influence my rest today you will live under the influence live under the influence that alone can make our lives count. [10:10:08]

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Transcript
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