The outward Disciplines Dave)

The Outward Disciplines

Intro:

I once heard renown Spiritual formation expert Dallas Willard giving a lecture and he said.

Jesus cured people of leprosy, he healed the lame, he cured a man born blind, he raised the dead. But have you ever noticed that he never cured anyone from lying?

His point was that the work of Physical healing could be done in an instant but the work of the character is a slow process that involves the will.

The desire to become more like Jesus takes time and effort

And what we have to remember is that

Effort is not opposed to grace…Earning is

It takes effort to live in growing allegiance with Jesus

Last week Pastor Bethany talked about the Inward Disciplines

Meditation

Prayer

Fasting

Study

And we talked about the importance of disciplining yourself to grow

In the same way if you want to get in shape you have to discipline yourself to go to the gym, to run to work out.,..Really you need a routine

I am leading a class on Monday nights right now called foundations and I asked everyone if they had a daily routine for growing in Jesus. Many people answered and had different routines and it doesn't matter that they all did different things what really matters is that they had one!

So what really matters is that you have a plan for growth that you live out every day!

The old Motivational Speaker Zig Ziglar used to say

‘If you aim for nothing, you’ll hit it every time”

If your question is why am I not experiencing this full life with God?

Why am I not experiencing God’s presence

Why am I not experiencing transformation?

What are you aiming for?

What is your routine?

I would hope that everyone coming seeking life with God is aiming for a life of constant breakthrough…where they have a living and dynamic relationship with Jesus. And what I want to tell you is that the disciplines are a way to give your life a constant routine of following Jesus…

Ok I want to tell you a Joke then lets get into the disciplines:

A number of years ago in a British newspaper a person wrote in and said…

”I’ve been going to church for the last 15 years and I can’t remember a single sermon…”

The next day another man wrote in with a reply and said, “For the last 15 years my wife has been cooking me breakfast lunch and dinner every day and funny, I can’t remember a single one…but I have this sneaking suspicion that had she not cooked or had I not eaten, I would have been dead long ago…”

The point is obvious…That your life with God matters…I dont remember what I read for my quiet time yesterday! In fact I have been doing quiet times for longer than I have been a pastor and I probably couldn’t pick out a single one…But the point is they sustained me for the day! and every day I do them I grow just a little bit

so as we continue into 2024: What is your routine? What is your plan for transformation?

So we are going to get into the outward disciplines now and your first fill-in

Simplicity: removing complexities from your life so that your main focus is the kingdom of God

At the heart of simplicity is being the kind of person who tells the truth.

It means living a truthful life

When we are living more truthful lives then our whole appearance is more frank and natural.

You will have an openness about you because you will have nothing to hide.

The reality is that there is nothing that will clutter up your life quite like lying!

I find that one of the best places to start here is speech…If you want to get your whole life to simple start with your speech…Here is what Jesus says

Matthew 5:33–37 NIV

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Jesus taught his disciples to live in the truth. A simple yes and no…rather than elaborate promises or oaths…just a simple yes or no would do…

It is the simplest way to live, you just say what you really think and you dont live in any duplicitousness

I think speech is so significant because language creates culture…The way that people speak actually sets culture

One of the things that I have noticed is that honest people live simple lives…Their lives are not cluttered with secrets!

See the thing about simplicity is that it is an inward reality that creates an outward life style

With simplicity it starts with being truthful…then it can move to the material world…

Simplicity really is captured in this verse by Jesus

Matthew 6:33 NIV

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

and what is Jesus saying here?

If we were to go back and study Matthew 6 then what is Jesus saying

Matthew 6:19–21 NIV

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

So the reason why we cultivate a discipline of inward simplicity is because it spills over to our our outward lives!

Jesus warns us about this stuff! the stuff that will begin to take over our lives so much so that the stuff owns us and we become worshipers of the stuff rather than the one true God.

I love what Jesus says afterward and this is where we get the idea to just seek first God’s kingdom

Matthew 6:25–34 NIV

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 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. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

See i think what Jesus is warning us about is that we tend to seek God as if He is just one more thing on the list..Ok…I need new clothes, a good car a house I need all these things and a relationship with God too…

But Jesus tells us that there is a ton of worry attached to that life…He says seek first him and his kingdom and righteousness and everything else will come along!

See all these things that people worry about clutter up their lives…Don’t let your life get all cluttered up! …

So an inward simplicity and commitment to the truth shapes you into the kind of person who can live an outwardly simple life

A life freed up from the troubles and trends of this world just so you can focus on God’s kingdom

So as you are here this morning, maybe ask yourself if you are overly complex…If your life is cluttered…what is a practice that you can do to bring about simplicity……

Practice: Tell the truth. Give things away

Next

Solitude: the practice of intentionally being alone for a period of time

There are some that hear this and you just think! Yes! I love this

It is easy for me to seek out solitude and I need it

While the rest of humanity actually has a pretty profound fear of being alone…and that fear of being alone or loneliness drives us deeper and deeper into the noise…

The irony is that as we drive deeper into the noise we are looking for inner fulfillment but what we find is more and more emptiness

Solitude is about finding your worth and value in Jesus rather than in others

Jesus was alone a lot! What was jesus doing while he was alone?

Luke 5:16 NIV

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Luke 22:41 NIV

He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed,

He was spending time with his father so that he could truly only do what the father had directed him to do

Closely connected with solitude is the discipline of silence.

Now the discipline of silence doesn’t mean that you dont speak at all, it just means that you listen

Just as a disciplined basketball team can work together in the last minute of a game to get the points they need to win, a person who is under the discipline of silence can say what needs to be said when it counts.

If we are silent when we should be speaking then we miss the discipline of silence and if we speak when we should be silent then we are not practicing silence

See taking time to be in solitude and not speak is actually teaching you self control over your tongue!

See the tongue is our most powerful form of manipulation

often times we are living in a constant stream of modifying our public image

So learning to be silent is actually huge for us

because in learning to be silent, we let the Lord justify us!

when we practice silence and solitude then we will have a deep inner connection with the Lord and

We have the freedom to not straighten others out

Practice: Take time away to listen to the Lord, try not to speak..

Next

Submission: an attitude of yielding or surrender

People hate the word submit. Right now even when I had you fill in the word submission some of you cringed.

I can not tell you how many times that I have sat across from a couple I was going to marry and they said, Pastor…do whatever you want in the ceremony, just so long as you don’t use the word submit!

And my thought is…I know your not married and you know everything, but you can’t have a marriage without submission, it just doesn't work! …

Just think of what the opposite of submission is…It is rebellion…Ok so when I have couples who tell me this I just say…so if you’re not going to submit to one another, are you going to rebel against each other?…

Can you imagine being married and saying…No I am going to do what I want not whatever you’re saying…This is a recipe for disaster…

Submission is key to human relationships

And it is key to our relationship with Jesus

This is what he calls his disciples to!

Mark 8:34 NIV

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

Submission means dying to yourself!

There is a huge freedom in submission, and its not immediately obvious..

It is a terrible burden to have to get your own way all the time

and in submitting to Jesus in your walk with God and submitting to your spouse…You can be freed up from that burden of always having to get your own way.

You need the freedom to give in to one another

Every fight it whatever area of life you are in is because we refuse to let someone else have their own way

Scripture itself doesn't set up hierarchical relationships but communicates inner attitudes of mutual submission

When you learn to submit to others thats when you really begin to value them

You value their

Self denial is not self hatred…it is simply coming to the understanding that we dont have to have our own way…

Our happiness is not dependent on getting what we want……

This is what the discipline of submission gets us to

Its why in the marriage relationship Paul calls husbands and wives both to submit to one another

Ephesians 5:21 NIV

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Because in marriage it works out better when we are surrendered to one another

Maybe your a person who has to get their own way. or it just has to be done the way you want it done

or your force your opinions on someone else…

You need to learn to submit, I want to challenge you to pick a day this week, and the entire day, do not get your way…even if someone wants to do something and its wrong, do it their way…This is a discipline we desperately need

Because it will train us in prayer to submit to Jesus and to say, Lord not my will but your will be done

Practice: Practice not getting your own way. For one week, actively try and do things someone else’s way.

Service: Helping or assisting others

There is a great deal of pretentiousness that needs to be dealt with in the human heart

This is what service does.

Lets look at these two verses real fast here

John 13:14–15 NIV

Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

Matthew 6:1–3 NIV

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

What service does for us inwardly is it beats the pretense out of us…It takes the arrogance out of us…

The sense of self importance the clouds our minds and our judgment

It helps us in a slow and mundane way to give the importance that we would normally heap on ourselves to others

Practice: Pick a person and serve them in secret

All of these things are disciplines

They are inward practices that create an outward reality

What will you peruse?

What area do you need to put yourself under discipline