All Things New-Week 3-DISCIPLINES

Last week, we talked about how we’re supposed to do regular things differently. how as new creations, we have the path of the servant to follow, the cross in front of us, and eternity as our future.

But today isn’t about doing regular things differently.

We’re called to do ‘different’ things regularly

What do I mean by that? It’s a phrase called ‘Spiritual disciplines’. Things that are different than what we’d normally be doing, that we should be regularly doing because we’re new creations.

Let’s lay the foundation for this first:

We don’t earn God’s acceptance by our actions.

We show God’s free acceptance of us through our actions

Romans 6:17–18 NIV

But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

This sounds like a contradiction! We are free as slaves.

But we believe that we are only free when we are in Christ. And we are freely invited there, freely welcomed. But the ‘remaining in Christ’ is the key part.

Romans 6 talks about how we’re all slaves to something - because ‘being a slave’ is about offering yourself to something, and we all do that. We all have some THING that at the end of the day, this is the thing we live for.

But living in Christ isn’t about acting a certain way to say, ‘I have no choice, I’m forced to or i’m out’.

It’s about saying, ‘I’m acting this way to show that this is who my life belongs to.’

So -

What sort of habits should we have?

Read the bible yourself

SO MANY SCRIPTURES

Psalm 119:11 NIV

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

John 15:7 NIV

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Psalm 119:105 NIV

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

Reading our bibles - ourselves - as much as we can needs to be an absolute basic priority.

And nowadays, with the advent of technology, and so many different ways that the bible can be taken in (EXAMPLES)- we really have no excuse.

Your faith will only ever be as strong as the amount of truth you have to stand upon

And I was careful in how I phrased this. I said, ‘read the bible YOURSELF’.

But pastor Jon, you’ve had tons of bible training. Granted. but...

John 14:26 NIV

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

Jesus taught that it was the Spirit that enables people to know, to remember, to understand. And we see that (DISCIPLES WERE DENSE, BUT WITH THE SPIRIT THEY FINALLY UNDERSTOOD).

The bible has a word for people who only want the truth fed to them directly - newborn babies. Paul says, the mark of maturity is that we should be able to feed ourselves - and others! And we’ll never get to that point until we crack open the scriptures ourselves, on our own time.

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Pray Constantly

1 Thessalonians 5:17–18 NIV

pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

And I’ve heard people give the argument, we have to clean up what we pray. It has to sound right, and holy, and good.

STORY - Praying with kids in toronto at meal. What are the words i’m supposed to say?

If we’re angry at God, we can’t ever talk about it. If we feel a certain way about a situation, we can’t be transparent with God.

DISCIPLES ASKED JESUS HOW TO PRAY

Luke 11:5–9 NIV

Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

This phrase, ‘shameless audacity’. Shameless means, don’t care how you look - specifically talking about not caring about wrong or foolish behaviour.

Audacity means ‘taking bold risks’ and it even means ‘rude or disrespectful behaviour’.

FEEL LIKE GOD DOESN’T WANT TO HEAR IT? This is the kind of person he says to act like when it comes to prayer.

God wants you to have the kind of prayer life where you aren’t concerned with only bringing him the good and polished stuff.

God wants to hear everything from you in prayer, and

God wants you to be the kind of person that wants to bring him everything - no matter what, or when, or why

STORY - My kids love making drawings for me. It’s an effort NOT to keep them all.

I want my kids to have the kind of relationship with me that they think, OF COURSE DAD WANTS TO SEE THIS.

Try Fasting & Meditation

Fasting is all the buzz in some diets. But here, we don’t mean just food. And we don’t mean just giving something up.

Lots of times in the bible, people fast as an extra expression towards God. It would be paired with repentance, a change of clothes, etc. And it was with a goal in mind - we’re here to repent, or prepare ourselves, or express our devotion to God.

In order to fast

Practice temporarily giving something about YOU up, and taking something about God on

It can be food - skip lunch once a week, and spend that time reading your bible or praying instead.

It can be other things - replace your nightly social media scrolling for a month with prayer, or watching a church sermon. Reduce your spending on entertainment for a while, and give extra to your church.

Take something you use for you - and put it aside for a little while, and do something specific for God in it’s place.

Meditation is a scary word to some people.

But it has a simple definition. It just means to dwell on things. And you see that word a lot in the bible.

Psalm 77:11–13 NIV

I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.” Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God?

In fact, God created so many celebrations, festivals, practices, etc for the jews, just so that they’d constantly be reminding themselves and meditating on something God has done.

God doesn’t want us just to be able to answer questions we’re asked about what the Bible says.

He wants us dwelling on how we can live by the Bible

Here’s a great example.

Matthew 6:31-33 “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Knowing the bible means being able to quote that.

Meditating on it means taking that, and asking, ‘ok, what does it mean about ME?’ (Do I worry about where my stability is coming from? Do I trust that God knows what I need - and better than I do?) and ‘how can I do what it’s asking me to do?’ (What if i pray more about my finances when i’m worried? What if i get myself a devotional and make a point of going through it in the mornings? What if I challenge myself to give more, to ‘test’ how God is going to help me more?).

My last point:

Pick one, and do more of it

The goal isn’t to land in a good routine that works for you. God is about blowing up our boxes and our routines and our ways of making him seem smaller and more manageable.

I’m not trying to help you feel content. I’m hoping to spark in you a kind of holy discontent. A desire that just enough isn’t enough. That whatever we get, whatever we do, whatever we bring or give - we have that fire inside to want to do more. Not to have to - to want to.

Being a new creation isn’t about comfort - it’s about radical changes and radical living

So pick one, and give it a try. Maybe you pray every morning, or every night. Good! Try putting aside a time after lunch for a little while and commit to extra.

Maybe you’ve never read a bible before. So start somewhere! Read a single verse every day. Sign up for a devotional service. Find a study on rightnow media and just watch it. Ask a trusted friend to message you a verse few times a week.

Commit to giving up social media for a month, or your morning news-watching routine, and replace it with listening to worship music or reading your bible.

But pick something, something real and practical - and just do it.