Spiritual Disciplines: Introduction
January 6, 2008
1 Timothy 4:7-8
John 10:10
{Video of me shooting free throws and talking about spiritual disciplines}
Not a bad basketball player, even when the camera is on me. I was hitting in crunch time, the pressure was on and there were no retakes. Just me live on camera, shooting baskets. Now, you know this is not all about free throw shooting and basketball, this is an introduction into spiritual disciplines.
You see, when crunch time comes in our lives, are we going to be able to stand up under the test, or will we just crumble and hide in a corner? What resources will you and I use to stand up to whatever situation and circumstance we find ourselves stuck in? I don’t care if your situation was created by yourself, someone else or you seem to be an innocent victim of circumstance. What are your resources that you will hold onto? That is the question.
My proposition is that over the next 11 weeks, we will begin to practice ways which will draw us closer to Christ. We will practice different spiritual disciplines which will also help us give up some of that control we crave, and give it back to God as we begin to practice and learn about Spiritual Disciplines. This is part of my major project for my doctorate.
It’s a project I have been holding onto for over 3 years, and I cannot tell you how excited I am to finally be starting it, and doing it with you. It’s awesome, and my hope, my prayer, my expectation is that when all is said and done, we will be a church that is more passionate about Jesus Christ. We won’t give lip service, but it will be accomplished in our actions, in our words, in our attitudes . . . because through the next 11 weeks we will gain a greater awareness of who God is calling us to be and how we are to draw closer to God, stay connected to God and celebrate individually and corporately who God is calling us to be.
When I came to FBC, I spoke about what it means to follow what Jesus said in John 15:5, when He said, "I am the vine, you are the branches, if you abide in me, and I in you, you will bear much fruit, apart from me, you can do nothing." What does that mean about our spiritual life? Can we accomplish anything apart from Jesus on a deep Christ centered spirituality, if we are not connected to Jesus?
My answer would be a resounding NO. Many of us would say we want to be connected to Jesus, but we just aren’t sure how to do it, and maybe even the prospect of drawing closer to Jesus is a little scary. Because if we come closer to Jesus, what is He going to want from us. Does that scare you a little. I mean, if you really got close to Jesus, that would be great, and you would not only feel great about it, but you would be demonstrating this amazing joy and peace and love to others. So . . . what stops us on the path to Jesus? Ourselves.
Over and over again, Jesus calls us to follow Him, but to do that we must come to Him. And there are the passages which are so wonderfully comforting, passages like Matthew 11:28, when Jesus said, "Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." Doesn’t that sound great!? Yet, let me ask you to be brutally honest for a moment, ‘how many times have you come to Jesus, expecting to find rest and comfort . . . and . . . nothing? Yup, you experience nothing from Jesus. And you wonder, ‘what’s this all about? Why nothing?’ Where is God when I need Him the most?
These questions are similar to the ones the Psalmist asked in Psalm 77, consider these - - -
7 "Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again?
8 Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time?
9 Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?"
Those are powerful questions.
How many times have you come to Jesus when you were feeling depressed?
How many times have you come to Jesus when you were overwhelmed with life?
How many times have you come to Jesus when you were facing illnesses and surgeries?
How many times have you come to Jesus when your relationships were not right?
How many times have you come to Jesus?
How many times have you come to Jesus?
How many times have you come to Jesus?
We could all stand up and say something about this. You come to Jesus and you wait to experience the good news, the healing balm, the medicine that the Great Physician is going to bring to you, and you are left laying or sitting, maybe even crawling, waiting for your answer . . . and it does not seem to be coming? Why?
Well, I don’t want to say I have the magic answer for it all, but I do believe I am gaining a much better perspective on why we often remain stuck. I believe it has to do with the fact that when we come to God, we have not been abiding in God.
Let me explain. When we are in trouble, when we are sick, when our kids mess up, when our marriages are struggling . . . what do we do? We come to Jesus, we petition Jesus, but we often do it and ask for results on our own terms? When sick, we want to be made well, when our marriages are stuck, we want God to fix the marriage, or him or her; when our kids mess up, we want God to heal our kids afflictions; and when we are in trouble, we just want to get out of it.
What I am driving at is when we come to God, we usually have not been abiding or remaining, stuck to the vine. We’ve been off doing our own thing . . . sure we’ve said our prayers or did our Bible reading, but have we really given up control of the branch and said, "God, I’m yours, you do what You do best, and I’ll accept it and be ready for my next assignment, whatever it is, wherever it is."
Are you with me on this? It may sound a little confusing, but I need to tell you God does not want us to sit around and wonder. He wants us to experience the glorious life He has promised us.
Consider what Jesus said in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” What does that mean for you and I? And how do we get that abundant life He promises us?
Consider for a moment what Jesus is telling us about this life. He is telling us HE came, not anyone else, not your spouse, your best friend, your children, or your parents, BUT Jesus came to give us LIFE — — a real and genuine life right here on earth, a life active and vigorous, a life which is devoted to God, who is the source of life.
Then Jesus tells us He wants to give us an abundant life. Remember the word abundant literally means — —
1. over and above, more than is necessary, superadded
1. exceeding abundantly, supremely
2. something further, much more than all
2. superior, extraordinary, surpassing, uncommon
1. more eminent, more remarkable, more excellent
Can anyone say AMEN to that?!
Folks that is the life Jesus tells us is available for us. But are we really living that life?
So, let me go back to the previous question . . . how do we get that abundant life? I would say, the first thing is to believe in Jesus as Lord, Savior, Leader and Forgiver of our lives. That goes without saying. That is always my assumption.
But once we believe in Jesus, what do we do? We need to start practicing the spiritual disciplines. We need to engage God, to move toward God in our relationship with Him. So we begin to practice, even to experiment with the different disciplines. By doing this we might find that there is one or more than one which really help lead us to Jesus, in all seasons of our lives.
By regularly practicing spiritual disciplines we find ourselves in a better rhythm in life. By that I mean you are practicing your faith on a regular basis, a daily basis. You saw me shooting free throws in that video. When I am shooting free throws I try to get myself in a rhythm. Once I start to make free throws, I just keep going. Yes, I do miss, but I make far more than I miss, and it is because of two things I am doing - - - I practice free throws, it is a regular routine I am trying to do, especially this year to keep in shape and run up and down the court, and secondly I have fun doing them. Often times we think that spiritual practices or disciplines should not be much fun, but that is silly. Just like worship, we should enjoy engaging God as we draw closer to Him.
The last thing I want to say about spiritual disciplines comes from Paul’s words to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:7-8, when Paul said, “exercise yourself toward godliness. 8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.”
You see, we are to exercise or practice our way toward godliness. Now, this does not mean spiritual disciplines will earn us brownie points or give us more credits with God. But, spiritual disciplines will help us to move closer to God, to better understand the plan He has for us, to help us in times of need, because we have already learned ways to experience His presence.
Paul understood godliness is profitable in all things. Another word for godliness is holiness. . . and we are to strive to be holy, because the Lord our God is a holy God. Paul seems to be echoing the words of Jesus when he explains godliness is profitable for us in the life that is now . . . why? Because God has promised us this super abundant life, so as we move toward God, we experience more and more of this great life which comes through joy and love and peace and grace and more.
And the other benefit Paul explains comes in our death when we remain or abide with Jesus in heaven. We can’t lose, we have God in this life and we have God in the life that is to come.
Our goal for the next few months is to grow spiritually. Our spiritual life is not just a separate section of our lives which is removed from the other parts of our life, like our financial, emotional, physical, work, or school part of life. Our spiritual life delves into every section of our lives and the hope is that our spiritual life controls every other aspect of our lives because of our close relationship with Jesus.
Oswald Sanders said, ‘we are as close to God as we choose to be.’ How close to God are you?
Over the next weeks, we will have the opportunity to learn and practice the following spiritual disciplines - journaling, service, Bible Study, prayer, fasting, worship, celebration, confession, silence and solitude, meditation, and fellowship.
Not only will we read (Bible Study), but we’ll write (journaling).
Not only will we withdraw (silence and solitude), but we will advance (service).
Note only will we feast on God (prayer, but we’ll fast from food (fasting).
Not only will we grieve our sinfulness (confession), but we’ll rejoice (celebration).
I have so much more to say, but for now, join me. You don’t have to take the spiritual discipline surveys to participate in Sunday school classes or in worship. My greatest hope in the end is that each of us is streteched just a little more than before and we use this time to grow in Christ, to be transformed more and more into that new creation, doing it all in the name of Jesus.
Would you pray with me.
