Wednesday 07/2o/16
Series: The Pursuit of God
Messages – Chapter 9b – Meekness & Rest
Chapter 9 Meekness & Rest
For Discussion
- Tozer brings up two things in the closing of this chapter which we will make the focus of our entire evening…
- Pretense – This is almost entirely an outward expression. It is the projection of a “false-self” we believe will be more to our advantage than who we actually are. We do this almost instinctively by exhibiting an image of ourselves which we believe will make us more appealing to others and so attract their acceptance, honor and praise – OR – by causing people to stand at a distance and so protect ourselves from vulnerability. In either case, we do it for a false sense of safety. Again, and this is important enough to repeat…we do this almost without realizing it. It is not malicious it is instinctive to our survival.
- Artificiality – This is almost an entirely inward problem. It is the desire behind pretense. A desire to actually BE someone different than we are based upon a fear that we will someday be discovered to NOT be the person we project to the world in our pretense. This is more insidious in that it is more deliberate, is assuming the right to “re-create” ourselves in another image and is there willing participation in a prideful lie.
Both of these are symptoms of greater problems. We love and genuinely feel the need for the acceptance of man. We desire man’s praise and favor. Jesus told us that this makes it impossible to have genuine faith in God. By examining this statement of Jesus, we will uncover why these two issues are so sinful and destructive.
So, why is it that desiring man’s admiration compromises our ability to trust God?
- Faith (trust) in God requires not only honesty from God (meaning that He can be genuinely known), more importantly it requires honesty from us. Why is this true?Discuss this in light of our tendencies towards pretense and artificiality.
- Tozer makes the comparison between adults and our pretentious, artificial ways and those of a child before they take on those learned characteristics.As much as possible (and don’t get too bogged down here) go back in your mind to a time before you felt the need to live out of a false self.
- What was life like then?
- What precipitated the change?
- In honesty and vulnerability, examine and discuss your reaction.
- Spend some time describing the rest Jesus was referring to in the passage Tozer quoted.
- What about Jesus’ invitation, if genuinely understood and believed, would have changed your childhood reaction as discussed in question 3?
- Soul salvation is a slow and progressive work. That is doesn’t HAVE to be that way is clear from the instantaneous change we will all experience upon seeing Him at the resurrection. This snail’s pace change is the result of several things. One of them is because we are all hiding from something. True, unfettered intimacy is completely undoing and there are simply too many things in us we are protecting to allow that to occur all at once. At the core, MOST of our desires to “grab a fig leaf to hide behind” is tethered to who we believe ourselves to be. Spend some time in smaller groups discussing this and PLEASE do not gravitate to the same person you always do. Let’s make this a maturing process as well.
Blessings!
This is where we ended our discussions on chapter 8c , Restoring the Creator Creature Relation of A.W. Tozer’s book, The Pursuit of God. We will be progressing further into the chapter next week…Blessings!
I hope this teaching will challenge you and encourage you to place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
You have a special place in God’s family & kingdom. If you do not know Him, please use our ‘Contact Us‘ page and reach out so we may have the privilege of introducing you to the Lord. Attendance at our church will NOT even be mentioned nor will money.
If you have been spiritually fed by this ministry and wish to give, we truly appreciate that and you may do so here, but all outreaches of this ministry are FREE for you and anyone to enjoy at no cost.
Blessings!