There was a time in the early church, when the care of the soul became a self  aware pursuit. So Jesus Christ raises from the dead 33 AD, the first 150, 200  years the church is filled with persecution, martyrdom, and the church was  largely very poor, but the church spread. And as it was spreading more and  more critical mass, where a large number of the Roman world became  converted, and Christianity was growing, and eventually by Constantine 313,  area, Christianity had gotten to the point where even the Emperors  acknowledged Christ. So that was the context. Christianity spread it spread  everywhere. So as it spread, and the church became more and more wealthy,  more of the upper class became Christians. There was a challenge, a perceived  challenge by many of the sincere believers, that their souls were being carried  away that they were being cluttered So soul cluttering set in, as the church grew. So at the same time that this was happening, there was a push from a gnostic,  lifestyle, a denying the flesh, there was an aesthetic lifestyle that actually was  old going back to the Essenes. 2, 3, 400 years earlier. That's where the Dead  Sea Scrolls came from. So there was always this sort of tension of in the world,  not of the world, out of the world. So all of this was operating. So around the  300s, 400s and forward, as Christianity became more widespread, there were  those who really seriously thought about the care of their souls, and the choices  they made, were to go away, get out of life. Now we know Jesus said, Go into  the world and make disciples of all nations. And that's our passion here at  Christian Leaders college and Institute and the Alliance. That's, that's our goal,  we want to reach reach more and more people. But we don't want to reach  people, if by reaching them, we fill our lives with such clutter, that our souls, that  is our body and spirit is not connected to God, we want to both reach people,  but also care for our souls and keep our souls decluttered. So what I want to do  is show you the historical movement in a brief way of the monastic movement.  Now, not that we are going to become monastic, but what I liked about that  movement, and we can point a lot of wrong about it. And there is like they went  out of the world, they didn't stay in the world and all of that, that they were they  in the sense withdrew rather than proclaim the gospel that we know, based upon the gospel to go out and to all nations. And but I think what was interesting is  they really cared about their soul. And I love that, that thought, you know, Jesus  once said, if your eye causes you to sin, cut it out. His point was, Do you care to get into the kingdom of heaven, you'd rather get into the kingdom of heaven with one eye and get in than to lose yourself and have two eyes. And that's what the  monastic movement did. So I want to just go through this. And in talking about  the first Christian monks who had developed a vision for asceticism, so that was that idea of getting out of the world appeared in Egypt and Syria, notably  including St. Anthony so a lot of the early Catholic leaders, the founders of  Christian monasticism, they appeared as solitary figures who for desire for  further and more advanced isolation, established themselves in tombs and 

abandoned, half deterioted human settlements in caves and in the wilderness of the desert to battle against the desires of the flesh and the wiles of the devil.  Soon there are great numbers of desert anchorites living solitary lives of  devotion to God and coming together for weekly prayer services. The pious  lifestyle of these earliest holy men attracted numerous imitators and admirers.  So that's the context. The context was the church was growing in some really  felt that their souls were being cluttered by the world, even though Christianity  was spreading all over the place. So what did the monks and then later on nuns  want, they wanted a living and healthy soul devoted to God, they did this by  intentionally avoiding or disassociating themselves from the world or their  communities, many wanted to serve and make great impact for the kingdom of  God. Now, to be fair, it developed where many did not just want isolation, they  were working on monastic leaders who their whole thing was get out there and  work and those were themes, but the one thing that's in common is the care of  the soul. So very briefly, I'm going to just refer to some of these and, and I do  this partially because Christian Leaders Alliance does not have a monastic  movement. We're not going to have a monastery. We have the idea, you get in  to the fight of the gospel of Jesus Christ and you go out there into all the world,  you live it in your seven connections, your personal life, your marriage, your  family, your small group, your church, the kingdom as it builds and evangelism  everywhere, okay? So that's our culture in our space. We believe that's the  Bible's the New Testament, you know, the book of Acts, Acts 2 your sons and  your daughters will prophesy and Acts 1:8, you know, you'll be my witnesses. So that is our thinking. But we do want to learn in church history from the monastic  movement, and see these various groups of people that Basilians found in 356.  Notice that date. These monks and nuns follow the rule of Basil the Great. Nuns  worked in hospitals, schools, charitable organizations, the Benedictine founded  by the abbey of Monte Cassino in Italy around 550. They, technically they did  not begin a separate order. Monasteries followed the Benedictine rules  spreading England, much of Europe, North and South America. Eventually,  Benedictines asked includes nuns. The order was involved in education and  missionary work. So we see they're going out there but they were definitely they  wanted to be apart from marketplace apart from normal daily life. They wanted  to be set aside for their missionary work. The Carmelites founded in 1247, the  Carmelites include friars, nuns and laypeople. They follow the rule of Albert  Arvogadro which includes poverty, chastity, obedience, manual labor, silence for  much of the day. Carmelites practice contemplation and meditation. Famous  Carmelites include the mystic John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, and Teresa of  Lisieux. The Carthusian and eremitical order founded in 1084, this group  consisted of 24 houses in three continents, dedicated to contemplation except  for daily Mass and a Sunday meal. Much of their time is spent in a room a cell  visits are limited to family or relatives once a year. The Dominicans, the Catholic 

Order of Preachers founded by Dominiak. Dominic, around 1206 follows the rule of Augustine. consecrated members live in communities take vows of poverty,  chastity, obedience, women live in cloister may live cloistered in a monastery as  nuns or maybe apostolic sisters, who work in schools, hospitals and social  settings. The Franciscans founded by Francis of Assisi, about 1209. Franciscans include three orders Friars Minors, Poor Claires or nuns, and a third order of  laypeople. Friars are further divided into Friar Minors come into all and Friar  Minor Conventional and Friar Minor Capuchin. The conventional branch owns a  property monasteries, churches schools, while the Capuchins closely followed  the rule of Francis. The order includes priests brothers nuns, who wear brown  robes. The Augustinians found in 1244 this order father was Augustine. Martin  Luther was Augustinian by the way, but was a friar, not a monk. Friars have  pastoral duties and outside. In the outside world, monks are closer to  monasteries. Augustinians wear black robes symbolizing death to the world  include both men and women. Norbertine often known as Premonstratensians.  This order was founded by Norbert in the early 12th century in Western Europe  includes Catholic priests, brothers and sisters. They profess poverty, celibacy,  obedience, and divide their time between contemplation and community work.  You know, what's interesting, about you know, went over, like the Catholic  Church's monastery, a monastic mentioned different groups. And, and I am not  advocating this and again, we can spend a lot of time pointing out why we don't  do it that way. But what I do like is they really cared about being devoted to  Christ and that we all share. And that is something that is powerful, and we all  remember, it's important for our soul. And so here's just some things that can be  put together from the monastic movement, a close devotion to God worship and  prayer, Bible study, learning and ministry training. Avoid distractions of the soul,  gentle lifestyle of restoring your soul in limiting sin. Practice minimalism,  moderation, contentment, Declutter Your Home and lifestyle. Declutter your bad  company, stay busy doing the work of the Lord, avoid idleness, community  accountability, gets your life mission on track. So we'd have a little introduction  to the monastic movement, and also contemplating some of the contributions  that these ecuministry Christians made in their devotion to follow Jesus Christ.  And what we're gonna do in the next few presentations, is talk about those  specific things we can learn and get practical on how even though we're not  going to a monastery, we're out in the world, not of the world, that we are  ministers who have who avoid idleness we are out there proclaiming Jesus  Christ, whether we were Volunteer Ministers, part time minister, full time  ministers, but the care of the soul is something in that in enthusiasm for the soul, that is the body and spirit be connected to Jesus Christ is something we share.  And we want to care deeply about the health of our soul. And we want to be of  the people that communicate to the world that like Jesus said, You know, it's  better to make it into the kingdom of heaven, where your soul is connected to 

God and name is written in the book of life, rather than to have your life cluttered in the world to the point where you lose yourself into the idolatry of the world. So we're going to now get into some of the nuts and bolts of this in future sessions.



Last modified: Monday, August 7, 2023, 8:04 AM