Gospel of Peace
Week #7
In Life Without Lack, Dallas Willard explains the typical faith progression. Our earliest experiences are likely those Willard refers to as the ‘Faith of Propriety.’ Here, we learn to follow the rules and rituals of religion. This serves many of us well for a time. But ultimately, we encounter situations in which the faith of propriety proves to be inadequate. We lose jobs and have to change careers. We lose loved ones and find ourselves drowning in grief. We receive a terrifying diagnosis, get stuck in an addiction, or experience a betrayal that tears at our soul. Suddenly, all of the strategies that have worked so well for us in the past prove useless in these new and horrible circumstances.
But hope is not lost. Because our most difficult situations hold the potential to propel us into a new level of faith—the ‘Faith of Desperation.’ And while our experiences of desperation are not at all enjoyable, they are important spiritually.
According to Willard, if we can consistently turn our hearts toward God in the midst of the pain and struggle, we can begin to live with the “Faith of Sufficiency.”
Consider these quotes from Dallas Willard’s Life Without Lack
“You can live completely without fear. God is the kind of being who, if you will place yourself in His hands, in trust, will ensure that nothing can ever happen to you that will make you say, ‘I’m afraid’ or ‘I don’t have enough.’”
“Trust is sloppy. It’s out there on the street, in the field of battle. Trust is where Satan and God are struggling for the soul of man!”
“…when you have nowhere else to turn except to God, and you turn to him, your faith of desperation will meet the fullness of God, and you will taste the life without lack as you discover the depths of the faith of sufficiency.”
Discussion Questions
Opening Question:
Which quote stands out most to you?
Core Question #1:
What do you think about Willard’s concept of our faith growing from the “Faith of Propriety” through the “Faith of Desperation” to the “Faith of Sufficiency?” Have you experienced any of these stages personally? What were these experiences like for you?
Core Question #2:
A compelling argument from Willard’s Life Without Lack:
“This is the key to the life without lack, that we would have the mind of Christ—our Shepherd, who knew firsthand the complete and perfect sufficiency of our magnificent God.”
“Jesus’ basic idea about this world—with all its evil, pushed to the limit in what he went through going toward and nailed upon the cross—is that this world is a perfectly good and safe place for anyone to be, no matter the circumstances, if they have placed their lives in the hands of Jesus and his Father. In such a world we never have to do what we know to be wrong, and we never need be afraid. Jesus practiced what he preached, even as he was tortured and killed. And multitudes of his followers have chosen to do the same.”
Do you believe that Jesus was able to find peace even in the midst of his torture and death? Why or why not?
Core Question #3:
Do you believe the struggle between Satan and God was hardest for Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, during the torture, or as he was dying on the cross? Why?
Core Question #4:
When/Where is the struggle greatest for you?
Concluding Question:
What is peace? What does it look like? What does it feel like?