Dallas Willard, Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God...some quotes and comments

Dallas Willard is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California. He also wrote The Divine Conspiracy, among many other books. He is one of my favourite writers...juicy and rich.

Hearing God was first published in 1984 by InterVarsity Press. It is a thoughtful, non-wild-eyed-charismatic exploration of how we humans can actually hear God and act on our hearing responsibly.

Here are some bits that caught my attention. First, this comment on Jesus and our human need (italics are Willard's):

While l was teaching at a ministers' conference, one minister asked me what was the human issue, irrespective of church life or religion, that Jesus came to address. This is the question facing the Christian church today. My answer was this: Jesus came to respond to the universal human need to know how to live well. He came to show us how thorough reliance on him we can best live in the universe as it really is. 212

How to live well: I like that. That is what I'd like StB to be about...living well transcends mere happiness or prosperity. Living well is about deep joy, faithfulness in suffering and the abundant life of which Jesus spoke.

I also like the way Willard views the Bible, its inerrancy and the need to according to its teachings :

The Bible is one of the results of God's speaking. It is the unique written Word of God. It is inerrant in its original form and infallible in all of its forms for the purpose of guiding us into a life-saving relationship with God in his kingdom. It is infallible in this way precisely because God never leaves it alone . 141

The inerrancy of the original texts is rendered effective for the purposes of redemption only as that text, through its present-day derivatives, is constantly held within the eternal living Word. Inerrancy by itself is not a sufficient theory of biblical inspiration because as everyone knows, the Bible in our hand is not the original text. Inerrancy of the originals also does not guarantee sane and sound, much less error-free, interpretations. Our dependence as we read the Bible today must be on God, who now speaks to us in conjunction with it and with our best efforts to understand it. 142

In light of our discussions so far it is clear that while the Bible is the written Wond of God, the word of God is not simply the Bible. The way we know that this is so is, above all, by paying attention to what the Bible says. 142

That we lack the desire to receive God's word merely for what it is, just because we believe it is the best way to live, is also shown by a disregard of the plain directives in the Scriptures. Sanctification from sexual uncleanness (1Thess 4:3) and a continuously thankful heart (1 Thess 5:18) are among the many specific things clearly set forth in God's general instructions to all people. It is not wise to disregard these plain directives and then expect to hear a special message from God when we want it. 198

The book has good, practical, down-to-earth instructions on actual listening and what to do if we don't (or think we don't) hear anything from God:

James Dobson has given some of the best practical advice I have ever heard on how someone who really wants the will of God and who has a basically correct understanding of it should proceed. Describing how he does it himself, he says, "I get down on my knees and say, 'Lord, I need to know what you want me to do, and I am listening. Please spaak to me through my friends, books, magazines I pick up and read, and through circumstances'" 199

But suppose that no such specific word has come to us on some matter of great importance to our lives. For example, should we enter this school or that? Should we live here or there? Should we change employment?) Does this mean that in the matter at hand we cannot be in God's perfect will or that we can be so only by chance, following some anxiety-ridden guessing game about what God wants us to do? 206

Most assuredly it does not. We must resolutely resist the tendency to blame the absence of a word from God automatically on our own wrongness. And we must equally resist the idea that it means we must be somewhat off the track and living in something less than God's perfect will. lf we are living in sincere devotion to the fulfillment of God's purposes in us, we can be sure that the God who came to as in Jesus Chsist will not mumble and tease and trick us regarding any specific matter he wants done. 206

In those cases where God does not speak to you on the matter concerned, take the following steps:
a. Ask God to inform you, in whatever way he chooses, if some hindrance is within you. Be quiet and listen in the inner forum of your mind for any indication that you are blocking his word. But do not endlessly pursue this. In prayer set a specific length of time for the inquiry about hindrances: normally no more than three days. Believe that if a problem exists, God will make it clear to you...
b. Take counsel from at least two people whose relationship with God you respect, preferably those who are not your buddies...
c. If you find a cause for why God's word could not come, correct it. Mercilessly. Whatever it is. Just do it.
d. If you cannot find such a cause, then act on what seems best to you after considering the itemized details of each alternative. If certain alternatives seem equally desirable, then select one as you wish. This will rarely be necessary, but your confidence, remember, is in the Lord who goes with you, who is with his trusting children even if they blunder and flounder...214-215

Good stuff.

Look for it in the StB library in the new year.

Some thoughts on Leadership: with reference to Dallas Willard and the Acts 29 guys.

Dallas Willard, Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God (InterVarsity, 1984):

To manipulate, drive or manage people is not he same thing as to lead them. The sheepdog forcibly manoeuvres the sheep, whereas the biblical shepherd simply calls as he calmly walks ahead of the sheep. 81

That resonates with some Acts 29 stuff on leadership which I reproduce here:\

- Leader’s define and defend the mission
- If my mission is fuzzy, I can’t fail.
- Leaders umpire—they decide what’s on mission
- Unless we have leaders over the mission there’s no way to stay on mission
- Leaders lead the mission (knowing that bad experiences will be all my fault)

Leader’s are called to:
- Teach people how to participate in the mission in a meaningful way.
- Connect every task to Jesus and the mission
- Say to the people: “I don’t have a job for you, I’m on a mission and I need you to join me. We’re going to kick butt and take names.”
- Call people rather than trying to "sell" them on the mission (but we don’t want to call because we don't want to depend on people—to need them—to feel like we’ll owe them)
- Say to the people, "I want you to follow me on this mission," because that’s what Jesus did. 

Leaders, they say, must have written philosophy of ministry arising from such questions as, "Who am I? What bothers me?"

Here's a stab at, a-first-draft-of-a-work-in-progress-of-a, philosophy of ministry for me:

Life is like a journey down a highway. We’re born and we set out for our final destination—the home God intends for us (heaven). The trouble is, sin has destroyed the bridge (for now) which was to deliver us there safe and sound. Where the bridge was, there is now a great yawning chasm at the bottom of which is destruction (hell). People come upon the chasm, expecting the bridge to be there, but find that it’s too late to stop, so they plunge off the highway of life into the chasm and they die.

I know the bridge is out. It’s just around the bend. People can’t see it from where I meet them. They have to take my word for it.

I don’t want them to drive into the chasm and die. I want to warn them about the bridge being out and to tell them about the way (Jesus) which will lead them to safety. This is what God has put me here for.

Everything else pales beside that fact. If I feed people, baptize their children, marry them, visit them in hospital and deliver pastoral care but neglect to warn them about the bridge being out, I’m failing them. Well fed, happily married people with baptized children can still plunge into the chasm where they expect the bridge to be. My job is warn them and help them to the way of safety.

We can have the best music ministry in the world, the best ACW, the best Altar Guild, the best Bible studies and Small Groups there ever were, but unless they’re all connected to Jesus and helping people to find the way to safety and home that He represents, we’re missing the point.

I know I am not responsible for the decisions people make...they may choose to ignore my warning. I am, however, responsible for finding ways to get their attention and telling them the bridge is out as convincingly and clearly as possible, using language they can understand. In order to do that I must live my life and present myself in a way that makes me credible—to maximize the possibility that they will stop, or at least slow down, so they can hear what I have to say.

...so, I ask myself, to where am I being called to calmly walk, and what should my simple call be?