Structure

As a young person, who was also new in recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous, I always used to bristle when I heard the word structure used.

There were elder statesmen, and women, or people who had been sober a long time and had a lot of experience practice the steps and principles behind our program in general, who would be invited to come speak on a variety of topics, or simply to share their own personal stories as to how they had recovered from a hopeless state of mind and body. Regardless of whatever differences they had from one another, men or women, old or young, black or white, or regardless of how their individual stories manifested and took shape, there seemed to be some strong and common themes in and throughout that these staunch veterans of recovery could absolutely agree upon, absolute truths that had been tested and proven through the crucible of their own personal experiences.

One of these such themes, was the idea of structure. There is a line in the big book, which is the basic text of the society of Alcoholics Anonymous, thay says, "We alcoholics are undisciplined, so we let God discipline us in the simple way that we have just outlined." That aforementioned "simple way," that they spoke of was referring to the outlined twelve steps for personal recovery found in the first 164 pages of the Big Book, but many an experienced member would also often refer to the word structure within the context of having a home group, a place where they were given a service job, amd the opportunity to make friends there, and ultimately be a part of something much bigger than themselves.

This bristling with antagonism at the prospect of the word "structure," is a very common reaction for alcoholics, such as I was and am, who are newer to the personal program for recovery, and to find the idea to be smothering, and ultimately repulsive.

But as I reflect back further upon my experience and ask myself why it is that I had such a strong and negative reaction against this idea, yes it was the fact that I was newer in recovery, and relatively inexperienced practicing the principles behind the twelve steps, and yes I was also younger in life as I was in my late teens, and early twenties.

But, there was also something within me even after I totally surrendered to the the twelve steps to the best of my ability, and got well in Alcoholics Anonymous, that was still at least somewhat rebellious at, and antagonistic towards this idea of structure.

There are two principal reasons, other than just my alcoholism, for this reaction.

1.) I really think that the fact that I have been a Musician for over half of my life, and have an extremely creative personality in general, has something very real to do with this reaction as well.

And again, it wasn't that I hadn't seen the value in structure, of course I had. There would be no way on earth that I could have been committed to going to many of the same meetings, and have taken all of the personal inventories, and fifth steps, and sponsored all of those people, and had let alone stayed sober for the past fifteen years if I didn't, right!? Of course not. I saw it's incredible value, and it showed through years of dedication, and action.

But again, because I have always had such a sensitive, and free-flowing personality, one that depends on openness, and emotional and mental flexibility in order to do my job well, the idea of structure just always had more or less seemed like an idea that the lawyers, doctors, or financial advisors etc, had invented and try to oppress me with because it had jived with their personalities more easily than it had with my own, and I think that I had always secretly resented that.

It wasn't until recently, as in within the past couple of years, that I really felt like God had given me the outpouring of a special grace, and revelation, and ability to see this idea from a fresh, and entirely new perspective.

There is even, if one is again willing to look from a different perspective, a structure in Music itself! Most of us modern musicians don't use that terminology at all, but we could definitely use that word if we needed to.

In all forms of even popular music, Blues, Rock 'n' Roll, or even Jazz, Country, Americana, etc, the songs within each of these specific genres are composed of basically what we would call a chord progression. This chord progression is then set over a time signature, or a beat, and is played with a distinct rhythm over that beat etc. This serves as the basic STRUCTURE for the song!

This idea opened up an entirely new set of possibilities as I considered its application as it peratins to all other forms of art that I know and love.

If we were to take screenwriting for example, and look at that art form through the same lense. Is there a structure involved there? Of course there is! In fact, many people struggle with that form of writing, because no matter how talented of a writer you might be, if you don't write a screenplay within the parameters of what is considered to be industry standard formatting, if you were to submit a script that did not adhere to those standards, a reader at any particular major film studio wouldn't even get through the first page without throwing it in the "no" pile! That is how seriously they take the STRUCTURE of a screenplay, and for good reason. Given that the particular artistic medium that we are referring to is watched on screen, and ultimately mediated through the eyes and decisions of a director, if there are no directions given for when to cut to where, and when, how will the director or anyone else know how it might look on screen if they decide to make it!?

Even if we take football for example. Is there structure there!? Well, of course there is! Anyone who has watched the game over the course of years has seen again and again, that no matter how talented the players of a particular offense or defense might be, if the offensive or defensive coordinator doesn't draw up a scheme to put a particular player or players in a position where their strengths allow them to be successful, especially against a given match-up on the other team that is either advantageous or a disadvantage, then that particular team, or side of the ball simply will not be successful, and many times leave people wondering how in the world they have underperformed so much.

It is again largely through these analogies that God began to reshape my perception of the concept of structure, and not perceive it as something to be dreaded, but actually desired, and enjoyed when used in the right context!

Well, that then begs the question, what IS the right context?

That leads me to reason number:

2.) Bad role modeling from a Kingdom perspective

Now please, hear me out as I make this first disclaimer. I still love and am grateful for many of the people that God used in Alcoholics Anonymous to help save, and ultimately change my life! For that I will be forever grateful. However, the operative phrase used above is, that GOD USED. It was never God's will for the people in Alcoholics Anonymous to use God to help me become more reliant on them. It was however, His will to use people to help me become more reliant on HIM! 🙏🏼( Thank You Jesus! )

There is obviously a HUGE difference between the two, and unfortunately as much is right with the program of Alcoholics Anonymous, there is a lot wrong with the FELLOWSHIP of Alcoholics Anonymous, as it has become so increasing secular that are times it appears to be unrecognizable in comparison to how it was first presented, and even as it flourished say up until the 2010s. It founders loudly declared that it was an unapologetically rooted in Christian and Biblical truths and ideals. Nowadays, that is practically illegal to declare, even though the fellowship's own literature still contains the accurate historical record, as we can read in Dr. Bob and the Good Old-timers, "We got the ideas for the twelve steps from the Good Book, (The Bible,) and nowhere else" declared AA's co-founder Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith.

But, particularly as many of the Old-timers who were strong Christians passed away, the AA fellowship has sadly allowed the surrounding world and its culture to slowly erode the Biblical and eternal principles on which it was based, and has caused them to be cast aside, much like the country in which its birth took place, my homeland, the United States of America.

This subtle, yet obstinate rebellion against the Faith of Christ then comes with obvious consequences, and repercussions. "If God is not mocked; whatsoever a man sows that will he also reap," and if "Where the Spirit of The Lord is there is liberty," are both true, then it makes absolutely perfect sense that there is less and less liberty being found in AA, whether from a genuine spiritual perspective, or liberty from the bondage of the obsession of the mind or addiction of the body to drink, as well.

It seems so simple, but the reason it never occurred to me before, why this concept, although I recognized intellectually as indispensable, I felt internally that I was being attacked by a spirit of oppression and religiosity, was because in order for structure to FEEL GOOD it has to be imbued or filled, with The Holy Spirit!

Any other time that structure had been given or introduced to me, yes the people who were giving it to me ultimately meant well, and God still used it powerfully, to alter the course of my recovery and life, but why did it end up becoming so cumbersome, and oppressive?

Because even as Faith without work is dead, works without Faith are dead too!

And even when Christians believe in structure, which without question is a very valuable thing, there are different levels to our Faith. ("Faith to Faith and Glory to Glory,") And, when well meaning believers try to superimpose principles and STRUCTURE on the life of their followers without first teaching them about how to receive the baptism, or a more full indwelling, of the Holy Spirit, principles end up taking up that empty space left by the enormous vacuum where The Holy Spirit should be, and end up far exceeding their intended purpose.

Principles, and structure, like any other created thing, whether it be money, sex, food, or anything else for that matter, make great servants, but horrible masters.

But The Holy Spirit is no created thing at all, no in fact HE is the very Third person of The Holy Trinity, and triune Godhead Himself!

See the difference?

When we not only allow, but invite God to be in His proper place in our lives, which is on the throne and in first place in our lives, then He honors that humility and worship by Blessing everything else that we do, for our good and for His Glory!

So, now that God has given me that fresh perspective on how to make structure palatable, where does it actually fit, or now that you are filled with far more of The Holy Spirit, why does structure even matter? Good question, self!

Now that we have established the "first things first" aspect of this subject, let's look at second things

Just because something is a "second thing," doesn't mean that it's unimportant, no not at all! That would be like saying when you're building a home, "Ok, we've laid the foundation, Good job everybody! We're done here let's go home." Uhhh, wait, what if it gets cold, or starts raining? How will we keep ourselves dry and warm, or even survive for that matter?

Yes the foundation is critical, for without it, any attempt to build further will be completely in vain. However, IF ALL YOU HAVE IS JUST THE FOUNDATION, then your home, or SPIRITUAL structure, is woefully incomplete, wouldn't you say?

For those who may be tempted to think that this is just clever wordplay, or my own philosophy, let's look and see how the Bible itself only reiterates, and echoes my point loudly, as that's the very place I got it!

2 Peter 5-8 We see a big one:

"In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone."

Hmmm, 🤔 wait, so I'm supposed to supplement my Faith? Dang right you are! 🤠 You can see that we are instructed and admonished to supplement our faith with a whole host of other virtues, not the least of which is knowledge, and this list creates a STRUCTURE of its own for us as believers to continuously try to pattern our lives after. Very helpful! PTL

Is there anything else that the Bible has to say about structure?

Yes there is an awful lot! We simply don't have time to get into them all but let's take a quick look at a couple more of them.

In Ephesians 4: 10-13, the Apostle Paul describes clearly the STRUCTURE that Jesus Himself has established, and continues to intend for us as the church to be aligned with, so we can function with His Power flowing through us to accomplish our call in the world, and the very purpose for which we were created,

"He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

For our last example, let's take a look at 2 Timothy 13-14 of the Amplified Version of Scripture

"Keep and follow the pattern of sound teaching (doctrine) which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard [with greatest care] and keep unchanged, the treasure [that precious truth] which has been entrusted to you [that is, the good news about salvation through personal faith in Christ Jesus], through [the help of] the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

And what is that "pattern of sound teaching" but a STRUCTURE of sound doctrine that we are to reverently hold fast to for the the profession of our faith, and the spreading of the most precious thing in any of our lives, The Gospel Of Jesus Christ! 🙏🏼 Can I get an Amen somebody!? 👏🏼🙌🏼

So there we have it. Again, this is not an exhaustive, or all-encompassing list of every time that the idea and principle of God given structure is mentioned or discussed in the Bible, but it is more than sufficient for our purposes here today to begin to smash home the importance of the biblical concepts of structure, and how, yes Faith is absolutely number one in our lives as believers, and supreme when it comes to our justification, but faith alone is insufficient to our overall SANCTIFICATION, and building the lives that The Lord would have us build for His Kingdom, for our good, and for His Glory!

So, in closing, this Rhema Word that God gave to me has, again, revolutionized my perspective on structure, and if you've struggled with, or haven't thought much about it all all, I hope that it will help, nurture, encourage, and equip you as you, by The Power and Grace of The Holy Spirit, endeavor to "build your house," not on the sand but "on the rock" of Christ and of His principles!

Reflection and application:

1.) What do I think about the concept of God having a fundamental structure for my life, and how does that make me feel?

2.) Has their been a time when I practiced implementing God's structure in my life, and was it beneficial to me? In What ways was it beneficial?

3.) Was there ever a period in my life when after practicing and applying God's structure to my life that it "dried up" due to a lack of The Holy Spirit in my heart and life?

4.) What do I think about and how do I feel about the baptism of The Holy Spirit? Have I ever experienced that before, and if not, why?

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Inspired, Living, and perfect Word. Lord we also thank You so much for loving us so much that You have, time and time again given us pictures and patterns in and throughout your Word that act as a blueprint for Your will to be done in our lives, Lord.

Help us, Father, by the Revelation and Power of Your Holy Spirit in all the fullness of Him that you have for us, to see what you would have us see, and not just be hearers of The Word, but doers of it also, as we by your grace and empowerment, strive to implement not just a part of your truth, but practice Your whole truth in our lives, as best we can, one day at a time, for our good, and for Your ultimate Glory, in Jesus' Holy and mighty name we Pray, Amen!