Introducing The Christian Disciplines | Christian Disciples #1

Introducing The Christian Disciplines | Christian Disciples #1 | 1 Timothy 4:6-9

Introduction:

I want to start the lesson today with a statement that I hope to prove: Without direction, discipline is drudgery.

Imagine an eight-year-old boy named Jase, whose parents have enrolled him in piano lessons. Each day, he slouches while playing through simple tunes that he does not enjoy, while looking outside and wishing he was doing something else. Suppose that one day, Jase is visited by an angel during practice. The angel transports him to a music hall, where the boy is mesmerized by a classical pianist. Though Jase was usually bored by music, the beauty that flowed from the pianist’s fingers took his breath away. He takes in everything. Jase never imagined playing a piano could be so wonderful. “What do you think?” Asks the angel. The answer is simply, “Wow.” The angel transports Jase back to his room. He tells him “the musician you saw is a vision of you 15 years from now. But you must practice.” With that vision, do you think Jase will feel differently about practice?

What changed in the story? Perspective. Jase still had to play the same simple songs each day. He still had to strengthen his fingers and memorize chords. He still had to spend time, doing the same things over and over again. But now, he knew what the discipline was all about: now he had a direction.

Discipline without direction is drudgery. But discipline with direction makes the discipline meaningful. This is true not only in music, but in every area of life. School. Sports. Mastering your trade. It also happens to be true in Christian spirituality. As Christians, we have our own disciplines, our own exercises: and they are for an end. That end is godliness.

Read 1 Timothy 4:6-9. Even though he was a Christian, and a pastor mentored by Paul the Apostle, Timothy needed to practice, to exercise in order to be godly. And so do we.

I have been wanting to do a study on basic Christian disciplines for a while so we are going to take a look at some of those in this class for the next few weeks. Truth is, most of us understand the basic disciplines expected of God’s children.

Things like prayer, Bible-reading, and church attendance. Many of us already know that Christian disciplines are things we are supposed to do. We are not going through these simply to be told that we should be active in the disciplines - although being told that is part of the study. Instead, the lessons will focus on the why and the how.

Why have Christians always done these things? What are we actually trying to accomplish by doing these things? How can I read the Bible thoughtfully and understand it? How can I pray and actually enjoy it? How do I worship at church?

In our hypothetical story about Jase, he didn’t need a different set of disciplines: he just needed to know what the goal was for the things he was supposed to do all along. To see a glimpse of where those disciplines would take him was enough to change how he felt about them.

It’s the same with us. Christians have a rich heritage of disciplines: but we need to think carefully about how to do them well and where they are taking us. Our discipline needs direction.

So before we tackle specific disciplines, we will try to answer two important questions. These answers will help us going forwards. Here they are:

#1 What are the Christian disciplines?

#2 What are the Christian disciplines for?

What Are They?

First question: what is a Christian discipline? Answer: a Christian discipline is any practice rooted in Scripture that contributes to spiritual growth in a believer in the gospel.

First, Christian disciplines are practices.

The disciplines are practices, not one-time events (like baptism). They are habits, or ongoing activities that have been practiced by God’s people since biblical times. The disciplines are not attitudes (like joy or peace). They are things we do, not simply emotions we experience (though the two are related).

Second, Christian disciplines are both personal and interpersonal.

For example, you should study the Bible on your own (personal) but also listen to the preached Word with your church (interpersonal). You should pray privately (personal) but also corporately (interpersonal). Jesus spoke of praying in a closet (Matthew 6:6) but Peter was released from during during a corporate prayer meeting (Acts 12:5-19). Some disciplines are only personal (meditation) and others are only to be corporate (communion). Because spiritual disciplines are both personal and interpersonal, spiritual growth is both personal and interpersonal.

Third, the Christian disciplines we will study are those rooted in Scripture.

The sufficiency of Scripture should cause us to not define anything and everything as a Christian discipline necessary for our growth in Christ. According to 2 Timothy 3:16-17, through the Scriptures we can come to perfection (meaning maturity). When we say the Bible is sufficient, we don’t mean it contains all the information there is to know. But it is sufficient for this specific goal: our maturity in Christ. Limiting the disciplines to those that are rooted in Scripture also keeps us from labeling whatever we happen to being doing as a spiritual discipline. Someone could say “That’s great that some Christians are into Scripture memorization and meditation, I prefer gardening as my spiritual discipline!” This is a very dangerous thing. We do not want to become the arbiters of what is good for our spiritual growth.

Fourth, the Christian disciplines are means and not ends.

This is important for us to grasp. Reading the Bible is not to be done simply for the goal of having read the Bible. We do not pray simply so we can say “I got that out of the way.” Perhaps you have felt like this in your Christian life when it comes to the disciplines. If that is the case, you may have felt quite similar to the young pianist in our story earlier. He couldn’t see the point of what he was doing, so the disciplines were ends in themselves. The Christian disciplines are not ends in themselves, instead they are means to spiritual growth, Christlikeness, or godliness. And that leads us to our next question, what are Christian disciplines for?

What Are They For?

We need to think about our destination to understand our direction. For every Christian, God’s ultimate destination is Christlikeness.

Read Romans 8:29-30. Read 1 John 3:1-2.

Here is our destination: Christlikeness, godliness: closeness with God and conformity to God. That is where the Lord is taking us: this is where the wonderful journey ends.

But wait, if this is the destination, why do we need the disciplines? In fact, why do we need to do anything at all? If God has promised Christlikeness, why not just coast into our eternal Christlikeness and forget about the disciplines?

If you are still in 1 John, did you notice verse 3? (Read 1 John 3:3). Christians are people that God will finally and ultimately change. But Christians are also the ones growing into that change while here on earth. And God has ordained our practice of godliness, through the disciplines, as a way to help us grow.

It is both/and, not either/or. We become godly by God’s grace, and we become godly by the disciplines he has given us.

We see this balance in another New Testament letter. Read Philippians 2:12-13. It is important that we take both of these verses, and not isolate either.

If we accept verse 12, and ignore verse 13, we can assume that the Christian disciplines are the means to gain favor with God. We pray so God is not mad at us. We go to church so we can be on good terms with Him. We look at godliness as only our responsibility. If we accept verse 13 and ignore verse 12, we are in danger of assuming growth is simply giving up the self-will and flopping onto the Holy Spirit, who gives us some mystical victory when we stop trying to do anything with effort. This view causes us to look at godliness as only God’s responsibility. We become godly by God’s grace: we don’t merit our way into holiness, we never earn the right to become more like Jesus. But that godliness does require effort and obedience.

We find this same idea expressed in Colossians 1:29. Paul illustrates how the efforts of a Christian and the work of God occur simultaneously in a person indwelled by the Spirit. Paul was working to help others become mature in Christ, and said that for this “I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.” So who is working toward Paul’s godliness? Well, Christ is. And Paul is.

Conclusion

Have you thought of your spiritual health in only its personal dimensions, neglecting the interpersonal? Or have you done the opposite, thinking that if you have enough public Christian activity the private life is not important? Have you looked at the Christian disciplines as only things to do, without thinking carefully about where you want them to lead you? Do you see your godliness as both a gift from God and a responsibility for you?

We become godly by grace, through the paths that our gracious God has given us. Studying the Christian disciplines is taking a closer look at those paths. Where are they taking us? To closeness with and conformity to God. To maturity in Christ. To the life that bears more fruit and makes much of God. Do you see the end in view? Are you willing to take the paths that lead there?