Spiritual Disciplines

What are spiritual Disciplines?

The main question we want to ask first is what are spiritual disciplines. It does us no good to have a class on something we cannot define. Donald Whitney defines the spiritual disciplines as “those practices found in Scripture that promote spiritual growth among believers in the gospel of Jesus Christ.” So, let’s start by breaking this definition down.

“practices.” This word implies that these are things we do or partake in either privately or corporately. There is an active sense to this word that means there is something we are actively doing or working at.

“found in Scripture.” These practices are found throughout Scripture and they are practiced by the people of God throughout the whole of Scripture. Here are some examples of prayer.

2 Chronicles 7:14 “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Jeremiah 29:12-13 “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”

Matthew 6:5-13 ““And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

“promote spiritual growth.” They are practices that are intended to help us draw nearer to God. What is the point of prayer? 1. to commune with God 2. to promote spiritual growth and maturity.

“among believers.” These are practices intended for those who personally believe in Christ as their Lord and Savior. This does not mean that an unbeliever cannot pray, because they can, but their prayers are empty words devoid of the gospel and salvation of Christ.

“the gospel of Jesus Christ.” These are practices rooted in the gospel of Christ as he stands at the center of all we do and practice. Everything we do is to be rooted in the gospel, this is gospel centrality all to the glory of God.

Why Spiritual Disciplines?

The second question we want to be able to answer after today is, “why spiritual disciplines?” Why do we practice these things? How do we practice these things? In order to answer both of these questions I am going to make two points.

Spiritual disciplines are the means of godliness.

In the New Bible Dictionary godliness is referred to as “A God-honoring manner of life, issuing from a true knowledge of God and his grace in Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 3:16; 4:7–10; 2 Tim. 3:10–12; Tit. 1:1; 2:11–12). A genuine devotion to God that transforms relationships and behaviour in every context.” - The New Bible Dictionary

Spiritual disciplines are actions taken by every individual that builds upon the truths of God for the purposes of godliness. If we truly seek to have a transformed life, in all areas of life, then spiritual disciplines will be a priority in our lives.

Discipline is the secret of godliness. You must learn to discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.

Jay E. Adams

Without spiritual disciplines there will be no godliness. Without spiritual disciplines, your nothing more than a functioning atheist, also known as a religious atheist. The way that I describe this type of person, and maybe you have heard me talk about this before, is that the religious atheist, or functional atheist, is full of head knowledge but has no heart knowledge. They know the things of God but do not act on the things of God. Stephan Charnock simply refers to them as hypocrites!

A hypocrite may well be termed a religious atheist, an atheist masked with religion.

Stephen Charnock

We don’t want to be a people seen by others as hypocrites. Telling others to pray when we ourselves don’t pray. Telling others to read their Bibles when we ourselves don’t read our Bibles. We do not want to be a people full of head knowledge, knowing what we ought to be doing, and failing to do it.

The great need in the Christian life is for self-discipline. This is not something that happens to you in a meeting; you have got to do it!

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Spiritual disciplines are the will of God for Christians.

1 Timothy 4:6-8 “If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” God desires godliness in his people. The whole purpose of sanctification is that we are constantly, from one degree to another, being transformed into the image of Christ. Godliness is important to God and it should be important to us. Let us move into the first and greatest of the disciplines that we will talk about.

Bible Intake

Now that we have answered a few questions and are able to define spiritual disciplines we want to begin looking at some of the primary spiritual disciplines. The first and probably most important discipline we can have is Bible intake. Without the Word of God in our lives we would not have much of anything as a Christian and all other spiritual disciplines would fall flat.

No spiritual discipline is more important than the intake of God’s Word.

Donald S. Whitney

What is Bible intake? Simply put, Bible intake is the private and corporate study of God’s Word. But, it is not simply reading God’s Word and then turning away from it. Remember, we do not want mere head knowledge, we want heart knowledge.

Bible intake as seen in Scripture.

Bible meditation.

Turn to Psalm 119 and we are going to look at the first method of Bible intake found throughout Scripture. In this Psalm alone there are eight references to meditation, each of them refereeing to the meditation of God’s words. Ricky will get a little deeper into this in a little bit but I want to scratch the surface here.

First lets look at Psalm 119:15 “I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.”

The word here in Hebrew, “meditate,” simply means to “ponder and so give serious consideration to information, or a situation.” So the Psalmist here is saying that he gives serious consideration to the “directions” (precepts) of God.

Next is Psalm 119:23 “Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes.”

Again there is the word “meditate.” The psalmist is saying that he will mediate on God’s decrees or laws (statutes).

Then we have Psalm 119:27 “Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works.”

Here he is saying he wants to know and understand the ways of God and that he will meditate on the works of God.

In the NT we see passages such as Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

This is the NT model of meditation. To think deeply about everything good coming from God.

And Colossians 3:2 “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”

Again this is the NT model of meditation. To think about the things of God rather then the things of this world.

That word “meditate” in Hebrew is “syh” which means to think about enthusiastically or to ponder and give serious consideration to. Meditation is more than simply thinking about a word or topic you see in Scripture, it is thinking about it deeply and with joy. Paul tells us in the NT that we should think about these things often, to set our minds on these things, because they are good, worthy, and excellent.

Praying the Bible.

How many of you have ever heard the phrase “pray the Scriptures?” Now, how many of you actually knows what that means? Maybe I am just big a dumby, but I remember after I got saved, hearing people talk about praying the Scriptures. I never knew what they really meant by that. Then I read a book called Transforming Prayer, which is all about praying the Scriptures and watching your prayer life and personal godliness transform. It changed the way I prayed from that point forward.

“Above all,” says Whitefield (while at Pembroke, Oxford), “I began to read the Holy Scriptures on my knees, laying aside all other books, and praying over, if possible, every line and word. This proved meat indeed and drink indeed to my soul. I daily received fresh life, light, and power from above.”

J. C. Ryle

This is praying the Scriptures. Taking the very words of God and praying through them with joy, as spiritual food for our souls. Start by taking a word or concept in the passage that you have been meditating on and pray through that concept with praise and thanksgiving to God. Thats it. No need to make this hard and difficult. But the idea is that we first spend some time reading His Word, then meditating on His Word, then praying through His Word, and finally contemplating his Word (REPEAT).

Corporate Bible study.

This is that study of Gods Word that is done corporately, or together, as the body of Christ. Here at Redeemer Borger this happens in a few different ways. 1. The gathering of the saints on Sunday mornings, to worship, pray, and take in the preaching of the Word. 2. It also happens as we gather together in our gospel communities. 3. A third way is simply like we are in this very moment, gathering in a Redeemer Equips class in order to study and learn as a corporate body.

Spirituality is often assumed to be a personal if not private matter, and spiritual growth is assumed to be individual rather than corporate … Spirituality that is personal and not corporate is sure to be unfruitful, because maturity is fundamentally corporate in the New Testament.

Stephen D. Lowe; Mary E. Lowe

What is meant here is that we too often assume that our spiritual disciplines, those habits we make for godliness, are to be kept and done in private. But, not everything is meant to be kept purely private. Our habit of showing up to church every Sunday morning is not a private habit, nor should it be. Worship, prayer, the preaching of the Word, these are all corporate aspects of our spiritual disciplines and they are not only beneficial for ourselves, but also for those watching us. Don’t just sit here and nod your heads on Sunday mornings, be engaged and help others to see the benefit of corporate study.

Private Bible study.

There is also a time for private study and practice of the spiritual disciplines.

Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified.

A. W. Tozer

What I believe Tozer to mean here is that our public religion shines more brightly when our private religion is made more pure. In other words, what we do in private carries over into our social realm. It shows when we are feeding ourselves a healthy diet of God’s Word. It reveals itself in all aspects of life. When something happens, life gets hectic, a friend needs our help, the way we are feeding ourselves in private will show in the way we deal with those situations. We need private Bible study, more than anything, we need private devotion in God’s Word to build us up.

Discipleship with the Bible.

Discipleship happens with open Bibles. I am not saying that there aren't good and helpful books to sit down and go through with other people. But Jesus Did not call us to sit in coffee shops and join a book club. Jesus instructs in the greatt commission, Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” “Make disciples by teaching them all that I have commanded.” This entails having open Bibles in our discipleship relationships. Another way of looking at this point is to say that discipleship without an open Bible is nothing more than a bookclub or social gathering.

Closing comments/questions on spiritual disciplines.

Remember that spiritual disciplines are “those practices found in Scripture that promote spiritual growth among believers in the gospel of Jesus Christ.” All of the things we are going to be talking about are just things that help us grow closer to God, grow us in maturity, and drive us closer as a family. First and foremost remember to keep Jesus and the Bible central to all other spiritual disciplines. Jesus brings us into the faith and the Word of God helps to keep us grounded in the faith. Everything we do in life, including our spiritual disciplines, are driven by a constant focus on the Word and Jesus himself. So, if there are any questions feel free to ask now or you can wait until the end and ask any questions you have.