The Discipline in Spiritual Disciplines

Introduction

Everything in life takes work. I think that an entire generation has forgotten this truth. People want to come to work and talk all day and expect to get pain even though they didn’t work. We are also a generation of instant gratification. We want what we want right now. There is no room for waiting or putting in the work over the long term to get where we want to go.

Statistically, they say it takes 10,000 of correct, purposeful practice to develop a skill in your life. That is a lot of work. If you want to become a better photographer, you have to go out a take more photos, focusing on the right things and improvement. If you want to learn to paint, you must practice your color blending, your strokes and broaden your imagination. For some it comes easier for sure, but it always takes work to get better at something.

I remember when I was learning to play soccer. I had a disadvantage in that I could not use my left foot to kick the ball. This is normal, most of use can’t use our non-dominant foot very well; but it is a skill that can be developed. I practiced trapping the ball with my left foot, I practiced dribbling using my left foot and I practiced passing with my left foot. I would say now I can do all of those things decently well and can even kick the ball into the goal towards the ground with my left foot. I still would not be able to power kick it into the upper corners with my left foot, but I was able to develop the skill.

Why is it that we think spirituality is any different? Did God not create this as a general rule for how life should operate? Wouldn’t it make sense that God is not going to just change things up? But you see how easily it could be to slip into legalism, thinking that I can make myself more godly just by performing a set of actions. This is why I spent two weeks laying the foundation of grace in what we are calling the habits of grace.

If I am going to grow spiritually and become more Christlike that is going to take more grace. These habits of grace or spiritual disciplines are merely putting us into a position to receive more grace. Tonight though I would like to focus on the other part of that title habits or discipline. Those words are not there by accident because it takes effort to become more godly. We are looking at the discipline of Spiritual disciplines.

Grace and effort are not opposed to one another.

It can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that effort is opposed to dependance on the Spirit to change us, but this is a failure to see that the tool the Spirit uses to change us is effort. I spoke about this when we talked about Abiding in Christ last month. Abiding in Christ is not Let go and let God in the sense that we do nothing.

Rather it is like the boy who is climbing a rock face, but just can’t reach it on his own. His father is there to help him, but he needs to just jump trusting his father will be there to catch him and help him do what he can’t do on his own.

Notice the connection of grace and effort in:

1 Cor 15:10 “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”

Paul was who he was because of God’s grace

Paul worked hard, toiled, agonizingly labored by the grace of God.

Everything Paul was and everything Paul did were the result of the grace of God, but that did not excuse him to sit passively by doing nothing. I am firmly convinced that God gives us the strength and ability to do what we need to do when we step out to do it. Sometimes we want that strength before we step out, but it doesn’t work that way.

I know Katy is afraid of heights and under normal circumstances she would never have gone on a zipline, but a few years ago, she went with the ladies to a retreat at Southland. Southland has this big huge zipline that crosses over the lack and then lands on the bank on the other side. I don’t know how she worked up the courage to go on that zipline, but I know this: before she got on she didn’t think she could do it. But she took the step and found that she could.

I am actively working on controlling my responses to people and situations I don’t like. I can get flustered, come down too hard and be critical at times. For a long time, I thought I can’t do it. It is beyond me and it is beyond me to do it, but I made a conscious effort to begin working on my responses and though I still fail, I have seen victory in this area because I took a step out trusting God to give me the strength.

1 Cor 9: 25-27 “And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”

Why is effort so necessary?

We don’t naturally want to do what is right.

Romans 3:10-11 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.”

We do not naturally want or seek after the things of God. It is against our human nature the flesh to pursue after these things. For the Christian that flesh can be rendered powerless, but the battle against it does not go away. Paul goes on to say in Romans 7:15 “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.” There is a ruler warring in our members to bring me into subjection to the flesh.

2. God does not override our wills to make us do something.

Matt 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” God has not made us robots. He doesn’t force us to do what he wants us to do; rather, God works through our wills to accomplish his sovereign will.

There is a connection between discipline and spiritual maturity.

Hebrews 5:12-14 “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

1. They had become lazy

Starting in vs 11, this is an aside. He has just been talking about Jewish High priestly ministry but he stops because they cannot handle the deep truth he is trying to teach them. They are dull of hearing. The word are here literally means have become and dull means lazy, sluggish like an out of shape athlete.

2. They needed to be retaught the first principles or the basics of their faith.

The Spiritual disciplines may seem like they are pretty basic to most of us. I am not asking you do you know you should be practicing them although some do not, but are you practicing them?

3. They were like this because they had not been exercising.

The author uses three words to describe their lack of effort:

unskillful- lacking practical experience or training in something. It is one thing to know you ought to do something, it is another entirely to actually do it, to know how to do it and to have gained experience from a life lived doing it. Because of their inattentiveness to the first principles they had not developed any experience in them. He describes them as being like babies who can only handle milk and not the strong meat of the word. People don’t become mature adults overnight and we understand that, but it is possible to be immature when you should be a mature adult. 1 Cor 3:1-3 “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?”

by reason of use- those who are mature get their according to the author of Hebrews by reason of use. The Greek word here literally means practice or habit. A Mature Christian gets their by practicing habits of grace over and over again in his life. They become second nature to him. This may seem constricting at first because it takes effort and discipline, but the end result is liberty and freedom. A man who aspires to be a basketball player must practice basic drills for quite some time, but eventually, he will have developed those skills and can focus on enjoying the game.

exercised- This word is the same as we will see in our next major passage. It is our word for training and is the word from which we get the word gym.

There is a connection between spiritual maturity and discipline. These men who had been attached to the church long enough that they should have been teachers, were still immature. The author of Hebrew’s point here is that these believers had gotten out of shape spiritually; they were not growing like they should because of lack of use or exercise. Spiritual maturity according to him comes from reason of use and exercise. If we are going to grow spiritually it is going to take some effort. It is with this in mind that Donald Whitney defines the spiritual disciplines as:

The Spiritual Disciplines are those personal and corporate disciplines that promote spiritual growth. They are the habits of devotion and experiential Christianity that have been practiced by the people of God since biblical times.

We exercise ourselves toward godliness by putting off wrong thinking and behavior and putting on correct thinking and behavior.

The classic passage on spiritual disciplines is:

1 Tim 4:7-8 “But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.”

The same principle that the author of Hebrews expounded is presented here that godliness, spiritual maturity requires discipline. If we desire God’s work of grace in producing godliness in our lives it is going to take exercise, training, effort. The word exercise is that same word from which we get gym that we saw earlier. But this passage gives us a glimpse into how we get there:

Put off wrong thinking and behavior- I can’t exegete the entire passage for you tonight, but notice that Paul starts off this verse with these words: refuse profane and old wives fables. Refusing is the idea of rejecting and staying away from. There are wrong ways of thinking which lead to wrong ways of feeling which often lead to wrong ways of behaving in our lives. Paul recognizes that wrong thinking will lead Timothy away from Godliness, so he tells him to reject, put off that wrong thinking.

Put on correct thinking and behavior. Paul then challenges Timothy to extend the effort needed to develop godliness in his life.

Other places where this principle is found:

This principle of putting off and putting on is scene throughout scripture. Keeping with the athletic imagery we see in

Heb 12:1 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”

1. We are told to put off the things that are holding us back. We are told to lay aside two things: weights and sins. Weights might be things that are good but not best that are holding us back and sin is something that is pulling us the wrong direction.

2. Let us run with patience- Rather we must put on patient endurance looking unto Jesus.

Col 3:8 “But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.” Compare with Col 3:12 “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;”

We are told to put off anger, wrath, malice blasphemy and unclean speech

We are told to put on mercy, kindness, humbleness, meekness and longsuffering

Conclusion

I began our study on walking with Christ by preaching on the necessity of prioritizing being over doing. This may seem like it is confusing because spiritual things are things you do, but these are things you do so that you can be. The focus of all of them is on communion with Jesus Christ: being in a deeper closer walk with Him so that He in His grace can transform you into the image of Christ.

There are a lot of things that could be added to my list of spiritual disciplines with this in mind, but I want to keep our list limited to what the bible commands or is modeled by the examples of godly men in scripture. But God has a plan a pathway for us to draw closer to him so we can receive more grace, but it all points to him.

1 Tim 4:8 “For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.”

Habits of grace, spiritual disciplines are profitable, beneficial in every area of our live. Paul says it benefits the life we now live and the one that is to come. It is accompanied by a promise of life which includes many things, but I think it is fair to say it includes the promise that Christ will live His life through me. The practice of spiritual disciplines done with the right motives and in the right way will produce fruit in our lives.