Being Disciplined F.R.O.G

Spiritual Disciplines - this week you guys will explore, think through, and be prepared to reflect on Spiritual Disciplines. How you are practicing and disciplining yourselves for the purpose of godliness?

I want to make very clear that it is not your doing good in your disciplines that make you right with God, but because you have been made right with God through Christ and given His Holy Spirit you desire to learn and grow in Christ.

You guys will get to read a summary this week from Donald Whitney and in his book Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian life he walks through 10 spiritual disciplines that shape us to be Christ like:

Reading the Word

Prayer

Worship

Evangelism

Serving

Stewardship

Fasting

Silence and Solitude

Journaling

Learning

It is not Spiritual disciplines that save us, Christ saves us, but spiritual disciplines help grow our love for the Lord and follow Him closely. This comes form 1 Timothy 4 as Paul tells young Timothy Train yourself for godliness.

So lets jump in there this morning:

Here is the deal:

Godliness - being christlike should be our aim as a disciple of Christ.

Our aim should not be to amass a following.

Our aim should not be to be liked or accepted.

Our aim should not be to be seen as good or be in the spotlight.

Our aim should not be to look good. Story of a guy I worked out with.

Our aim is to be like Christ. When our aim for the Spiritual disciplines are right, Discipline builds intimacy and not drudgery.

So how do we grow more like Christ. Listen to the words Paul uses to Timothy here:

Train 1 Timothy 4:7

Toil and Strive 1 Timothy 4:10

Devote 1 Timothy 4:13

Do not neglect. 1 Timothy 4:14

Practice 1 Timothy 4:15

Watch Closely 1 Timothy 4:16

Persist 1 Timothy 4:16

Paul used these strong words to Timothy to help him understand that training ourselves in Godliness is hard and takes discipline.

CSB Study Bible: Notes Chapter 4

The word train is the Gk verb gumnazō, from which we get gymnasium. It requires discipline, hard work, and sacrifice.

Paul wrote something similar of His training in godliness… 1 Corinthians 9:23–27 “I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

No one ever drifted their way into godliness. - George Ross

Laziness is not just at odds with training for godliness it is at odds with the Gospel. People who have been changed by Christ are not called or okay with laziness, but are called to work.

Growing in Godliness doesn’t just happen. When we are not disciplined our tendency is to naturally drift and we are prone to wonder. And if we are disciplined but not aimed at Christlikeness we head down the steep road of error and legalism. 1 Timothy 4:1, 2 Timothy 3:1

Discipline is difficult because our sinful flesh and the Spirit want different things. The scripture is very clear to that, and that is why Jesus tells us in Luke 9:23–25 “And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?”

Our flesh wants self-pleasure, The Spirit leads us to self-denial.

Because what we want is no where near what God wants and longs for us. God’s will and way is far greater than ours.

Because what we want is often from a temporal perspective rather than an eternal perspective.

The difference here in this text from physical exercise and spiritual exercise or godliness is in the value.

The text says, Physical exercise has some value. Godliness is of value in every way. Not just in this life, but also for the life to come.

In Romans when Paul was speaking of following the Spirit and putting to death the deeds of the flesh, he realized it was hard and it meant suffering, but He said. Romans 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

The full value of training in godliness will only be seen through perseverance.

If you discipline yourself, and train for godliness for only one week and then forsake the disciplines, No wonder you thought to yourself man I am not getting stronger, I can’t hear the Lord.

Going to the gym for a week you may see little to no results, but year, 2 years, and so on you witness the benefit.

How does discipline build intimacy rather than drudgery?

Our Hope is set on the living God.

His Presence Helping you. You are in consistent communion with the Spirit.

His Presence awaits you. You have perspective of the outcome.

If Spiritual Disciplines just become about doing, rather than depending and communing they will always become distasteful and dull.

“Wherever the Holy Spirit dwells, His holy presence creates a hunger for holiness. His primary task is to magnify Christ, and it is He who gives the believer a desire to be like Christ. In our natural condition we have no such passion. But in the Christian the Spirit of God begins to carry out the will of God to make the child of God like the Son of God.” - Donald Whitney

Excerpt from Spiritual disciplines of the Christian Life:

“Discipline” has become a dirty word in our culture. . . . I know I am speaking heresy in many circles, but spontaneity is greatly overvalued. The “spontaneous” person who shrugs off the need for discipline is like the farmer who went out to gather the eggs. As he walked across the farmyard toward the hen house, he noticed the pump was leaking. So he stopped to fix it. It needed a new washer, so he set off to the barn to get one. But on the way he saw that the hayloft needed straightening, so he went to fetch the pitchfork. Hanging next to the pitchfork was a broom with a broken handle. “I must make a note to myself to buy a broom handle the next time I get to town,” he thought. . . . By now it is clear that the farmer is not going to get his eggs gathered, nor is he likely to accomplish anything else he sets out to do. He is utterly, gloriously spontaneous, but he is hardly free. He is, if anything, a prisoner to his unbridled spontaneity. The fact of the matter is that discipline is the only way to freedom; it is the necessary context for spontaneity.[10] Does the farmer’s day remind you of your spiritual life—spontaneous but sporadic? Do you flitter from one thing to another with apparently little effect or growth in grace? Certainly we want spontaneity, but spontaneity without discipline is superficial. I have several friends who can improvise beautiful melodies on a keyboard or a guitar. But the reason they can play so “spontaneously” is because they spent years devoted to the disciplines of playing musical scales and other fundamental exercises. Jesus could be so spiritually “spontaneous” because He had been the most spiritually disciplined man who ever lived. Do nothing and you will live spontaneously. But if you desire effective spontaneity in the Christian life, you must cultivate it with a spiritually disciplined faith. For many—perhaps most—believers the failure to practice the Spiritual Disciplines is not so much due to the desire for spontaneity as it is a struggle with finding time. But if you desire to be godly, you must face the fact that you will always be busy. To do what God wants most, that is, to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as you love yourself (see Mark 12:29-31), can’t be done in your spare time. Loving God and others in word and in deed will result in a busy life. This is not to say that God wants us to live hectic lives, but rather to affirm that godly people are never lazy people. So if you’re telling yourself you will practice the Spiritual Disciplines when you have more time, you never will.

I want to end it here…Again, discipline may not sound grand to you, but Paul makes it very clear to be Spiritually Discipline, and to train yourself for godliness is worth it.

What is the thing you want the most right now in your life? Is it to be more like Christ?

Are you willing to sacrifice self-pleasure for Christlikeness?

Are you willing to sacrifice what you want for what God wants?