Frank Viola | Beyond Evangelical

Official Blog of Author & Speaker Frank Viola. Digging below the surface and moving beyond the shallows in today's Christianity.

Learning to Live by the Indwelling Life of Christ

It’s great to be back in 85 degree weather here in Florida. Some of you wanted to know why I didn’t blog Thursday or Friday.

Last Wednesday, I flew to Orcas Island (where I met rain and 45 degree weather). Leonard Sweet (whom I affectionately call Lynyrd Skynyrd) kindly invited me to be the guest speaker/facilitator for his 2-day Spring advance in his home in Orcas Island.

This was the second time I made the uncommon journey to Orcas. To give you a flavor of what that trip is like, let me rehearse the first time I visited Sweet. After arriving to his home in November 2010, the first thing I said to him was, “Which mob boss did you rat out? This is clearly part of the witness protection program!”

That first trip made me feel as though I were living out a deleted scene in Trains, Planes, and Automobiles.

I flew from Florida to Atlanta, and was laid over for several hours in Atlanta. Caught the red-eye in Atlanta to Seattle, WA (a 6-hour trip). Then there was the 2+ hour drive from Seattle to catch the ferry (someone picked me up and drove me, which was nice).

We missed the ferry, however (which I understand is not uncommon). So we sat in the car for 3+ hours waiting for the next ferry to leave (it was freezing outside). Then the 1-2 hour trip on the ferry to Orcas (I can’t remember how long it was as I believe I repressed the memory). Then the car ride from the ferry drop-off to Sweet’s home.

Yep, witness protection program.

Back to the event over the weekend.

It was a fun time. I especially enjoyed the new people I met. Most were in ministry of some sort. There were Methodist, Nazarene, Lutheran, and Reformed pastors, an Episcopalian priest, and others in different kinds of ministries.

One of the things I spoke about was the reality of an indwelling Christ, and that living by the life of Christ was possible. As you know, living by the resurrection life of Jesus is a major keynote of moving beyond evangelicalism, yet it’s the missing ingredient of present-day Christianity. Despite the fact that it’s central to the New Testament and lies at the heart of the gospel.

Ever since I’ve been preaching about living by Christ’s life, I’ve noted four main reactions from listeners:

  1. Some have no idea what I’m talking about, but don’t care enough to ask about it.
  2. Some assume they know what I’m talking about, filtering what I’m saying through their own experience. (For example, some mistakenly think that I’m talking about reading and obeying the Bible. Others mistakenly think that I’m talking about “hearing” God’s voice or walking in the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit.)
  3. Some know what I’m talking about and have experienced it. So they find what I’m saying to be encouraging, inspiring, and confirming, as well as giving them additional language for the experience.
  4. Some realize that they don’t know what I’m talking about and have the humility to admit it. In addition, they are hungry to experience it, so they ask questions.

A good number of the emails and letters I receive come from people in the fourth group. And for that I’m enormously thankful.

As many of you know, my books Jesus Manifesto, From Eternity to Here, Epic Jesus, and Revise Us Again contain sections about living by the indwelling life of Christ.

But beyond what I’ve written there, the message entitled Living by the Indwelling Life of Christ is where I suggest people begin.

It’s a free download.

If living by the life of Christ is a subject that interests you, feel free to share this post with your friends.

The message is a large-dose introduction to the topic. The rest of the messages are contained in my 10-audio discipleship course.

Related:

Epic Jesus: The Christ You Never Knew (audio message)

Jesus in a Dilemma

Living by the Tree of Life

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Comments

  2. P.S. You can thank — circa 1975, for the collection of turning old songs into “new.”

    I am from near there.

    • Actually, that’s not true. Christian groups have been rewriting songs since the days of William Booth. The person whom you mentioned picked up the idea from a movement he was involved in well before 1975. It’s important to do one’s homework. 😉

  10. Frank, a few years ago my prayer was Philippians 3:10
    [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly]~ Last year i “stumbled upon” Epic Jesus & my life has been turned upside-down to say the least. My spirit jumped for joy & i knew that i knew that i knew that i was right when i felt that there HAD to be more to this Christianity stuff! Thank you doesn’t even begin to explain the indebtedness that i feel, but thank you, my brother, thank you!

  14. Viola, you are amazing. This online course should be exactly what I am looking for as a Christian. Can’t wait!

  15. Great Stuff. I am likewise in the 4th camp and have known about this stuff for a long time. I’m always in search for more reality when dealing with the divine life of Christ and living it out GENUINELY. Great topic and the heart of just about everything that really matters within the Christian world. Looking forward to real touching and experiencing divine life in love!

  17. Mr. Viola,
    I’m definitely interested in your online course/workbook idea for this. I’ll be checking in this fall. I hope it comes together!

  18. Hi Frank. Yes, I would love to live by the Indwelling life of Christ. Thank you for enrolling me.

  19. Definitely interested the book and the series of living by his life. THANK YOU VERY MUCH for your work in this area ….

  24. Have been waiting for this course for a long time……Thank you. Sign me up and we’ll see how far it can be spread in Atlantic Canada and Northern Maine

  25. Please let me know when the full teaching/course is available, I would be blessed to have access to this! Thanks.

  27. Hey Frank,

    Let me now when the online course is available.Thanks and God bless you brother.

  28. I’m very interested in the online course! Please let me know when it’s available. Been scratching at that door for awhile…would appreciate the handle.

  29. Wow! Just listened to the audio and I’m left breathless! Thank you!
    I will be listening to it again and sharing it with many others.
    Please let me know when the rest of the messages are available.

  33. Please notify me when this workbook/seminar for the indwelling life of Christ is available please my brother! I have introduced you to so many people and it is a great thing to see people excited about the Gospel. Your podcast you released recently in Texas on Galatians really fired me up and really hit home for me. As a believer since the age of 9, things just never did add up. How do we live this life? I loved the image you painted of the golden door, but no handle. I appreciate your heart man and you are a distant mentor for me that I hope, shoot, I know I will get to hug you and thank you personally. You are the man!

  34. That’s great news!!! Let me know if something can be done for Spanish speaking people. I’ll be more than happy to help you.

  35. Please notify me when the series and workbook are available. What are the other 3 books that are to be released before? Theography, and?

    Thanks.

    Also we would love to have you visit in Alaska, especially in Moose Pass.

    May the Lord Bless You.

  36. I met you at Conference 2:20. Thanks again for Pagan Christianity which was a real eye-opener for me. I look forward to hearing and reading the rest of this series about “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Please notify me when the other messages and workbook are available, thank you.

  38. Fifteen years ago I was a frustrated Christian. I loved God deeply but kept doing things I didn’t want to do. I told God, I can’t do it. I can’t live a life that shows how beautiful you are. You made me, You are going to have to do it. I quit. At the time I had no idea that was His intention all along, but from then on whenever I read the scriptures the Holy Spirit would shine a light on all the parts that revealed His plan. I was finally free from my list of do’s and don’ts, free from hyper-focusing on myself and others. I could now focus on Him, and He is easy on the eyes, if you know what I mean.
    I typically get a blank stare when I bring this topic up, so I’m looking forward to the class to help deepen my understanding and so I can better communicate the Christ in you life to others.

  40. Frank, I’m VERY MUCH looking forward to the upcoming book on ‘Living by the Indwelling Christ’.

    I’ve read Pagan Christianity, Reimagining Church, From Eternity to Here, Revise Us Again, Epic Jesus, and currently working through Finding Organic Church. However, where this topic has been brought up in your books I still feel like I’m missing a fuller explanation on ‘how’ someone ‘lives out’ the indwelling Christ (either that or I’m expecting something more complicated). You contrast doing what Jesus ‘would do’ with allowing Jesus to be the person He is inside of me. But in a nutshell, what should a believer VOLITIONALLY DO (or not do) to allow this to happen? Will you (like many) be advocating the classical spiritual disciplines as the path of Jesus’s being ‘formed’ inside the believer?

    • Mike. The answer to the “classic spiritual disciplines” question is “no” as I’ve found those to be largely ineffective. And they are in books everywhere.

      • Frank, thanks for the reply and thanks also for being so accessable–I was not expecting an actual reply :). I’ll be listening to the podcast (“Living by the Spirit”) you suggested on today’s blog post. It sounds like this will start me in the right direction.

        Thanks to the Christ who lives inside of ‘us’ for the insight He’s giving to us through you.

  41. Thanks for directing my attention to this audio; it was among several podcasts I had queued up and it was terrific. I came by the blog to find out where the following sessions were (so keen to hear them); naturally, I see all my questions have already been asked and answered. Many thanks, Frank, for the resources you make available.

  44. I’m actually connected to one of the groups who were represented at Len’s. Our doctrine reads like group 3, but our pulpits teach like group 2 (reading and obeying).

    Incidentally, Frank, I found out about you last fall when I was looking for podcasts featuring Leonard Sweet. And through you, about the Organic Church movement.

    But this understanding, about Christ living his life through us – not living WWJD?, but What Is Jesus Doing? – has been more important to me than learning the nuts and bolts of how others do Church outside the box.

    • Thanks David. That’s why this blog is not about a certain way of doing church, but about the deeper Christian life. So the message is for all believers. That’s the case with the next 4 books that I’m writing as well as my speaking and travels. I blogged about this recently in “Is Your Ministry Due for a New Season?” Sometimes the focus of a ministry must change for a season. God has opened doors of ministry to Christians in all denominations and leaders of all stripes in this particular season, and for that I’m thankful.

  45. i think i fall into category 5 as well 🙂
    I like that you said ‘giving them additional language for the experience’… as the biblical authors had several ways of describing this experience and the resulting fruit. I have met many people who would not use this language but clearly they are learning to abide in him. Their lives are increasingly transcendent, full of love and compassion.
    I so agree about the ‘hearing gods voice’ thing… a stream I was part of used to heavily promote hearing gods voice then acting in obedience on those directions… the trouble was emphasizing hearing his voice + obedience without also emphasizing that he will live out his life through us actually becomes a heavy burden full of frustration or pride.

  47. It has the be Witness Protection. No one CHOOSES to live in Washington, do they? You have to be forced. But I could say the same thing about my own state 🙂
    I can’t believe I’ve never listened to “Indwelling Life”. I thought I listened to all your stuff.
    I can only listen to sermons or books when I’m driving or my mind will wander…(maybe I’m visual…)

  48. I’ve been listening and listening to the audio and always feel blessed. But I must admit that though I started discovering something strange happening in my innermost being before listening to the audio, I still find the trouble of coping with following the Lord’s leading. What will you suggest to me, Frank?

  49. Dude that’s so tight that you get this Frank. The entire aspect of our existence,the reason for the very cosmos, is living out the life of the Godhead that Christ invites us into. It’s so important that we get this reality of the indwelling Christ, without it we miss the point of it all. “God was made man so that Man would be made God” – St. Athanasius.

    • Thx. I know what Athanasius was trying to say there, but hearing that statement on its own sounds heretical. We “partake” of the divine nature (2 Peter. 1:4); we don’t become divine. I say this for the sake of those reading the quote and not understanding the context. I certainly wouldn’t put it that way.

  50. I’m with Stepanie on this one–definitely category 5 (oooh, that sounds like a hurricane); wouldn’t that be great. Wipe out all our humanly-built religious “sanctuaries” and let them be replaced by the building “made without hands” by the working of the Holy Spirit in and through His Ecclesia.

      • I was going to ask the same thing. 🙂 As you know, I’m Deaf so I sometimes wish we had more access to audio resources like that. I’m relieved that you will have the talks in that book. I look forward to it. Thanks!

  52. Thanks for posting this. Sweet has been a great Jonathan-force in my life and I’ve always wanted to attend an Advance weekend.

    I have to honestly say, I’ve been at all four of those stages in my own life….so I’m streaming the audio right now…

  54. Can’t help pulling your leg on this one, Frank. You’ve totally blown Len Sweet’s cover – well, ALMOST totally. 🙂

    Now they’ll have to move him again…

  55. What about a 5th group: a combination of groups 3 & 4. These would be the people who do know, who have had glimpses (or more) of what it is like but are striving for more/better understanding. And maybe that’s where we should all end up. If we are in group three and start thinking that we’ve “arrived” then it can be easy to slip into complacency or pride.

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