Spiritual Disciplines pt 1

Let’s this afternoon, after our annual meeting, I tell you that I want to head to. I invite you to come along and you get in the car with me and we make our way to 95. So far so good. But then I get on 95 heading north toward Boston. And immediately you question and say hey, we’re going the wrong Providence is south not north.I brushed that off and say no of course we’re heading to Providence. This is just the way I take. I keep heading north getting more and more concerned that I have no idea is. But I become more and more convinced that I’m driving toward Providence I know which way I’m going. At what point would you no longer believe that I’m heading toward Providence?

Our actions are descriptions of what we believe. I may say I’m heading toward Providence, but at some point, you can no longer believe that that is the case. The way that we act in life, the things that we do are descriptions of our beliefs.

Our actions are descriptions of our beliefs.

The Christ follower is called to be formed in a specific way. To a specific person. Within a particular community, the church. To do anything less than that is to give way to all sorts of other ways that will definitely want the front seat to form you but will not lead toward life.

What shape is your taking this morning? The things that we do, the time that we spend the generosity we show the people were connected with all determined and determined by our beliefs.

Our actions, our time spent are all formed by and form our beliefs

You and I are both being formed. And if we are not intentional, we will be formed by most anything.

Those who follow Christ make certain declarations about what is true. About what is right. About who we follow. That means that we are called to be formed by Christ and His church.

And in that bend our lives around the God continually breaking into our lives. To look forward to watch for to pay attention follow who has made himself available to people for life and salvation.

Look at this passage in 1 Timothy. Paul who was part of the early church, who wrote much of the NT had this to say to his protege Timothy

1 Timothy 4:6–10 ESV

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. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

Paul says train yourself. Be formed by something. But be formed by godliness. And Paul is reasonable. Listen he admits that training for the body is of some value. He admits that it is worthwhile taking care of your body. But it is contrasted to godliness. HE says, take care of the body, it is of some value. But godliness is of value in every way.

I like the way he puts that. That godliness is of value in every way. It contains the promise of this life and is the promise of eternal life. Meaning that if you train for godliness you will not be disappointed in the training.

Because it works in the present life and the life to come. There is not a place where it is not valuable.

This word, godliness, means a loyalty or a reverence to God. It means committing to not only trust Him but also to be near Him.

We act in this way to keep our hope set on the living God.

Many of us want to live this way. To understand a life filled with the goodness that comes from God. That we put our hope in God Himself. But it is sometimes hard to set our hope on the living God.

Things go upside down and south

We mean to zig and we zag.

We are mistreated and hurt.

We are tired.

We are sad and depressed or angry and upset.

And it’s in those times that we want to just give in to those kinds of formations. Because those are formations as well. The anger and hatred of the world. The enemy of our souls. We’ve been hurt so we hurt. And we are formed to the easy ways of the world.

We act in ways consistent with our beliefs. The question is not always why did you do that? But rather what is it that you believe about the world?

That you deserve hurt or what you got?

That others deserve pain? That the world is just chaos and people are trying to survive? If you believe that you will act accordingly

But those ways do not bring life. They don’t even promise it.

Christ has come to bring life and bring it completely. We are called to embrace Him and describe that life through word and action

We were created to live in a way that is a response and awareness of the work of God in the world and in our lives. The Spiritual Disciplines form us around that reality.

The spiritual disciplines are the habits, activities, and patterns that shape our lives and align action with belief. They are the patterns that hold the promise for the present life and the one to come

For the next two weeks we are going to look at 8 of those disciplines. 3 this morning and 5 next week

when we participate in these disciplines we are agreeing with God. We are looking to Him for life. We are cutting through heartache and frustration and sadness to say with our actions that there is life and life comes from Christ.

These patterns and disciplines needed because they can become reminders of Who God is in the world, because it’s some,times easy to forget

There are times with love faults, and that love for God is difficult. When love for God is costly when that happens we turned to him through the spiritual discipline and remind ourselves that Christ is the source Christ is the life. Life comes only through the God who breaks into our own life, who enters into through his own way by the cross. The Spiritual disciplines help us to arrange our lives not our our own conveniences and complaints but around Gods ongoing work and gift to us in Christ.

Spiritual discipline are the ongoing recognition, reminder and declaration that help comes from outside of ourselves.

The three disciplines we are going to look at today are Scripture reading, prayer, and fasting.

Reading Scripture

We read scripture because our understanding about where life is and who speaks life into us is not found in our arrangement of words, but in God’s word to us.

Part of the foundation of spiritual disciplines and our forming around the God who comes to us is to listen to what God sounds like and see what God acts like.

That happens through the Scripture. It is how we hear what God says and how we understand what God does. God is our authority and His Word is His instrument of His authority.

Reading Scripture is the reminder of who God is in the world and in our lives.

God has given us enough to know what He is like and His likeness is found in the person of Jesus. And we know what Jesus is like and what He has said based on the revelation of His word to us.

God is indeed working and He is indeed breaking into our lives but we have to understand what He sounds like and how He acts in the world. We are witnesses, which means we have witnessed something incredible about God. But what we witness has to be understood through the living Word of God.

To know God is to know the word of God.

If its true that the Scripture is

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Then when we read the Scripture and understand what it means, we are trained for the very thing that God says is good for everything.

We want 100% of the people at FAC to be in the Scriptures. To know the voice of God and to be able to respond to it.

We go through reading plans during the year, we have one starting next Sunday. Download the you version app and go to faithall.org to sign up for the plan. WE would love to have you be a part of it.

Find a way to get into the Scriptures on a daily basis. psalm in the Old Testament every day. in proverbs every day. Read a section in the gospel of Matthew in the mornings.

Prayer

Again, we are touching on different practices you can take part in to frame your life around the God who is breaking into our lives.

We pray because we have trusted and continue to trust in the end, God breaking into our lives. The Christ is shown up and revealed himself in the incarnation, and God by his spirit continues to break into our lives to remind us of all the Jesus is done and the power us for ministry . Prayer is our ongoing conversation with the God who is always moving.

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 ESV

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Prayer is the invitation to interact with and experience God, it is the means through which we are able to hear from and respond to God.

Prayer is the expression of our relationship with Him.

 Prayer is our response to God’s ongoing work in our lives. It is our ongoing response to God who is always interacting with us.

Years back I was on a multi day hike and I was thirsty. Like we had been hiking for hours without water. It was hot and we had run out of water. We would fill up with our filter when we came across streams or ponds but there was nothing nearby. But then I heard it, I heard water in the distance, what sounded like a giant river. We couldn’t see any water, but heard it. So we kept walking faster, toward the sound. We oriented toward the sound of water.

Prayer is learning to hear the sound of water. It is recognizing that in Christ we do not go without, there is always water nearby. to pray is to constantly move toward life giving water.

Engage with God in prayer. If you want to learn more about prayer, come up after the service and we will pray for you. Or join the weekly prayer meeting every Wednesday at noon here at the church. Or join our worship nights every month on the fourth Saturday at 7:00pm here in the sanctuary. Or pray with us before service at 10. We usually meet at the bubbler in the cafe so that we are easy to find. God is already engaging with you, find a way to engage with Him in prayer.

Fasting

Fasting is a bit of a deep cut. It doesn’t get as much press as Scripture and prayer but it is a committment to live dependent on the sustaining work of God in our lives.

Fasting is probably the most direct reminder that we are not dependent on bread alone. That there are larger things at stake, but there are more important things in our lives and in the world. And that our need is not satisfied by material things, but only in primarily and the God who came to us first.

To fast is to give up something that is necessary for life. Mostly fasting has to do with giving up food for a season. You choose to say no to food and you learn to say yes to God.

Fasting is the reminder for how quickly we settle for the next thing on the menu. (I’ll calm down as soon as I get a burger. I was just hangry).

Fasting is the reminder that we necessarily depend on God who sustains all things by His work and will.

Matthew 4:4 ESV

But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

You may have never fasted before but it is good way, though hard, to connect with God. I would invite you to try it if you are following Christ and have never fasted before.

But start small. Assuming your body is able to, start with fasting a meal this week.

During when you would normally eat your meal, spend that time in prayer and Scripture.  Maybe take a few minutes to listen to some worship songs and then find a chapter or two to read.  

Change out when you would normally eat and take in the food of the Scripture.

The goal is to arrange your day in some of these disciplines in such a way that not only agrees with the who is interacting with you, but who sees and responds to the who is interacting with you.

Find a way to read scripture daily, find a way to pray daily. Find a time to fast a meal and to focuson the one who is eternal and who is focused on you.

Paul says that the promise of life is in training for godliness. If what you do is a reflection on what you believe, then reading prayer and fasting a declaration of belief in the One who has come to us in the person of Jesus and is a commitment to remain with him.