The great preacher and founder of the Methodist movement, John Wesley (1703-1791), was once approached by a man who came to him in the grip of unbelief. “All is dark; my thoughts are lost,” the man said to Wesley, “but I hear that you preach to a great number of people every night and morning. Pray, what would you do with them? Whither would you lead them? What religion do you preach? What is it good for?” Wesley gave this answer to those questions:
You ask, what would I do with them? I would make them virtuous and happy, easy in themselves, and useful to others. Whither would I lead them? To heaven, to God the judge, the lover of all, and to Jesus the mediator of the New Covenant. What religion do I preach? The religion of love. The law of kindness brought to light by the gospel. What is this good for? To make all who receive it enjoy God and themselves, to make them like God, lovers of all, contented in their lives, and crying out at their death, in calm assurance, “O grave where is thy victory! Thanks be to God, who giveth me victory, through my Lord Jesus Christ.”
His answer is a beautiful and succinct description of the good and beautiful life.
But those answers are not what you might hear today. We seldom talk about virtue these days, but Wesley knew virtue was central to developing a vibrant, joyful life. How do people become virtuous? Wesley understood that the Christian gospel is the fundamental building block of the life we long for. We yearn to know and be known by God. But not just any understanding of God will do. Wesley describes God as the judge—God is holy—and yet he also calls God “the lover of all.” We were designed to be in fellowship with a loving and holy God. Yet we cannot merit this on our own, so Wesley says he would lead his hearers to Jesus, the mediator of the New Covenant, a covenant of forgiveness and regeneration through which we become people in whom Christ dwells and delights.
And what is the religion Wesley prescribes? Not a religion of laws or ceremonies or mystical knowledge, but of love and kindness. Our world is badly in need of people who love, and it is hungering for people who demonstrate genuine kindness. We are so deprived of it that we are astonished when we encounter it. And what is the point of this religion? To get us to heaven? No, to get heaven into us. To help us discover a relationship with God wherein we enjoy God and are easy in ourselves. If we can discover such a life, Wesley believed, we can even face our death with calm assurance and the certainty of a joyful eternity.
The Apprentice Series of books, of which this is the second volume, is designed to do exactly what Wesley is describing. This book, its predecessor and the third volume have a single aim: to draw people into the divine conspiracy of love and transformation. The first book, The Good and Beautiful God, focuses on the God that Wesley described: loving, holy, forgiving and joyful. This book shifts the focus onto our own lives, hearts and character. It contains a method of growth toward a virtuous life of gladness and kindness. The third book, The Good and Beautiful Community, endeavors to help readers apply the principles of kingdom living into their everyday lives: in their homes, at work, in their communities and in their world.
How Does Jesus Think?
One of the central principles of the Apprentice Series is that we live at the mercy of our ideas and our narratives. What we think determines how we live. If we think God is an angry accountant frowning on us and would love us if only we are good enough, that narrative will be seen in how we live. Or if we think that being an angry person or hating our enemies are good things, then that too will be expressed in our day-to-day living. A lot of false narratives about God and human life are perpetuated in our world, sometimes even in our churches. The solution is to examine what Jesus thought, even before we look at what he did.
Jesus, the second member of Trinity, is intimately connected to God the Father and God the Spirit. Jesus reveals to us the character and nature of God, and his testimony is the best and most reliable the world has ever seen. So I believe that the key to beginning a good and beautiful life is to adopt the narratives of Jesus. I discovered that as I replaced my old, false narratives with the narratives of Jesus, my life began to change in many ways. I fell in love with the God Jesus knows. I began to see myself as someone in whom Christ dwells, as sacred and valuable. I started to treat people differently as I entered the kingdom, and learned that I really can pray for my enemies and bless those who curse me. Some of them even stopped cursing me!
The Four Components of Change
The mind and the ideas and stories that are imbedded in it are the beginning place for change, but transformation involves three other components as well. We need the practice of the spiritual disciplines, which are designed to cure the soul, not earn merit in heaven. Each chapter in this book ends with a soul-shaping tool that is designed to help embed the narrative of Jesus. I am convinced that while we can change by renewing our mind and practicing disciplines on our own, we find deeper and more lasting change within a community. We need others to help us see who and whose we are.
The mind, the disciplines and the community are foundational aspects of change, but the real change agent is the Holy Spirit. The Spirit leads us to Jesus, reveals the Father, exposes falsehood, offers correction, and gives us the needed encouragement that make growth and transformation possible. The Spirit helps us change our narratives by leading us into truth, enlightens us as we practice the disciplines, and binds us together in community. If not for the work of the Holy Spirit, transformation simply will not take place. But we must participate in this process. By serious reading and reflection, by practicing the spiritual exercises and by entering into community, we create the condition in which the Spirit can transform our character. Figure 1 offers a visual understanding of the relationship of the four components. The Apprentice Series is built on this model.
Figure 1. The four components of change
How this Book Came to Be
This book is the culmination of twenty-five years of learning from two great men, Richard Foster and Dallas Willard. Richard has been my mentor since I was his student in college. And I met Dallas and eventually served as a teaching assistant for a little over ten years. The idea for this book took shape soon after I began working with Dallas. He kept talking about the need to create “a curriculum for Christlikeness” for individuals and churches. His blueprint for such a curriculum can be found in the ninth chapter of his The Divine Conspiracy. Even as he was developing that chapter, I queried, “Can this really be done, Dallas?” He said, “Yes, of course.” Then I asked, “Why don’t you do it?” and he responded, “Because I think you should do it, Jim.” No pressure.
In 1998 I began working with his simple blueprint for a course in learning to live as Jesus taught, and slowly created a curriculum. In 2003 I asked the church leadership board of Chapel Hill United Methodist Church in Wichita if I could invite some church members to go through this curriculum with me. They agreed, and I led twenty-five people through the thirty-week course. Midway through that year I began to suspect that Dallas was right. Genuine transformation into the character of Christ is possible.
Since that time I have led another seventy-five people through the curriculum, and the results have been the same: significant life change. One woman’s response is typical: “What are you doing to my husband? He is a different person! He is more patient and more attentive to our whole family than ever before. I don’t know what is going on, but you can be sure I am taking the course next year.” This series also has been used in youth groups and on the college campus. Who is the target audience for this material? Anyone who longs for change—young or old, new Christian or mature Christian, male or female, it doesn’t matter.
The Issues Addressed in This Book
This book is aimed at your heart. Your heart is the center of your life and is revealed in your actions and solidified in your character. Spiritual formation is ultimately character formation. This book begins by looking at human life in general and asks, Who is living a good life? Chapters two and three explore the essential message of Jesus and who he is addressing. Both chapters introduce the available and unshakable kingdom of God and explain its importance in our lives.
The remainder of this book is an exposition of the Sermon on the Mount and follows Jesus’ outline for how to develop a genuinely good life. Chapter four deals with anger, followed by chapters on lust, lying, blessing those who curse us, vanity, avarice, worry and judging others. Chapter twelve provides direction and encouragement for how to live in the kingdom of God day by day, with a specific focus on how to live one day closely with God.
I encourage you to proceed with hope and certainty that you are engaged in something that can make a positive difference in your life. I am confident that God, who has begun a good work in you, will bring it to completion. So move forward with the assurance that you can and will be changed, and as you change, those around you will see it and be inspired. May God change your mind, heart and life, and use you to change the world.
