Spiritual Disciplines: What, Why, How?

Introduction:

Let’s take a quick review of last week’s lesson. The question we answered last week was “What does it mean to delight in the law of the Lord?” It is the disposition (characteristic) of the “Blessed Man.” Because of who He is positionally, this man does what he does. After we are blessed by having Christ, we then will be the people who delight in the law of the Lord because the law is our SCHOOLMASTER to bring us to Jesus!

Today: Should we discipline ourselves spiritually? If so, why?

Philippians 2:12–13 KJV 1900

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Two Positions:

There are a few possible positions that people take on this. (1) There are those who don’t think we need to live disciplined lives so that we will be acceptable to God. (2) Then, there are those who know they are acceptable with God and they don’t think that they need to feel the difficulty of discipline.

gives to the servant of Jesus Christ a clear command: “exercise” - this means to train. The object of the command is “thyself”. The goal of the command is “unto godliness.” Godliness is piety, devout practice. It is more than correct behavior (). It is the changed inner life because of the gospel () which results in a changed outer life. One man says, “It is closeness to Christ and conformity to Christ.” (Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines, p. 9)

So, it becomes clear that the servant of Jesus Christ is to train himself for the goal of displaying outwardly what is already true inwardly! This is applicable for all Christians.

Illustration:

There is nothing quite like having your expectation met. I was returning home from a 10 plus day trip to three countries. My expectation was that my wife and two children would pick me up at the airport. Not having seen them for an extended period of time, it was great when that thirst was quenched.

So it is when someone is truly born again. There should be a spiritual thirst for the Lord that is within the heart of those who are His.

(1) Reception: It is impossible to be trained in this godliness if you have not received the gospel -

(2) Rejection: This kind of training for godliness is part of refusing false doctrine -

Illustration:

Please don’t get the wrong idea that you know what false doctrine is and force it upon the text. We have quite a few people who are fighting battles that they should not be fighting. In the end, they will appear quite foolish when the time examination comes.

Several years ago, we had a Valentine’s Banquet where the college class put on a skit. It was a Mr. Bean skit. Mr. Bean is a man by the name of Rowan Atkinson, and he is a British actor. In one of Mr. Bean’s comedies. He is all too confident for an exam that he is about to take. He arrives in the room with others where they receive the exam and a pencil.

As soon as the exam begins, it becomes apparent that he’s prepared for the wrong exam. He’d been studying the wrong material.

There are many Christians today who really think that when they get to Heaven, the Lord is going to pat them on the back for what they perceive to be the battle worth fighting. How foolish. Note what false doctrine looks like.

Note: false doctrine - (i) doctrine that causes devalues others (ii) doctrine that looks down on others (iii) doctrine that leads to lack of service for others

Transition:

Please don’t get the wrong idea that you

Reception: have you received the gospel?

Rejection: are you understanding what is really false doctrine?

(3) Education: This kind of training for godliness assumes that we need to learn: a spirit of humility (teachable) - ,

(4) Expectation: This kind of training for godliness is for the keeping of a long-term perspective - , ,

How do I train for this godliness?

(1) Are you alive in Jesus?

You don’t exercise dead bodies. Have you been purged from your sins? Is your position settled. , ,

“If we fail to see these disciplines and habits as responses to divine grace, we will slip into the trap of thinking that they have value in themselves.” (Boa, p. 79)

Illustration:

It is pretty amazing that when someone dies, they do not take the body to a gym with hopes of exercising the body. They take the body to a morgue, to a hospital, or to a funeral home...

Transition:

You must be alive in Jesus.

(2) Is there evidence that you are equipped for the training?

“The greatest danger of neglecting the Spiritual Disciplines is the danger of missing God — forever; not because personal piety earns anyone a place in heaven, but because it characterizes those who are on their way there.” (Whitney, p. 16)

One of the evidences of the Spirit’s work in the life an individual is “self-control.” Notice:

and

What is amazing about this is that God has given to us this Spirit, which means that if you are a true Christian, you have received that which is necessary to train for godliness. .

“…we must see these disciplines as external practices that reflect and reinforce internal aspirations.” (Boa, p. 80)

Illustration:

The first time I did what was called a Romanian dead lift. I had never heard of such an exercise, but my partner instructed me and then guided me in doing the exercise.

In similar fashion, the Holy Spirit is the One who guides in the scriptures to train us and conform us into the image of Jesus Christ.

Transition:

Are you alive in Jesus?

Is there evidence that you are equipped with the Spirit of God?

(3) Do you have a workout plan?

Some lists contain 12 disciplines from the scriptures. Others contain as many as 20.

Every workout plan has to have some basics. The basic spiritual discipline plan has to have the word of God. .

Whitney, “There simply is no healthy Christian life apart from a diet of the milk and meat of Scripture.”

There are a few problems though:

(a) Some are intimidated by the Bible when they read it. They don’t get anything out of it.

(b) Some read the Bible with a very self-centered approach rather than Christ-centered approach.

(c) Some read the Bible and cannot keep their minds from wandering off to every other thing.

Illustration:

When I first started working out, my workout partner showed me all kinds of equipment that I had seen before, but he showed me how to use them, and he came up with a plan that I adopted for my own. He knew where I was, and he came up with a plan to gradually build me up. One of the exercises was a deadlift. I had never done that in my life. Form was important. Weight was important. Position was important. Knowing how to use the equipment was important.

In many cases, many of you know the equipment, but you don’t know how to use the equipment or you have been taught how to wrongly use the equipment. You don’t need to try to come up with a custom plan for you. You should take a spiritual workout plan that you can begin with and apply it:

#1 Start simple (Psalms, Proverbs, Mark…etc)

(i) Rotate the type of literature regularly

(ii) Ask other what they are reading

#2 Ask questions

(a) In one sentence, what did the writer say?

(b) In one sentence, why did the writer say this?

(c) In one sentence, what does this tell me about God, Jesus, or the Spirit?

(d) What should be my prayer because of this?

(d)

#3 Talk to other Christians who have a Christ-centered view of the scriptures

Transition:

Are you alive in Jesus?

Is there evidence that you are equipped with the Spirit of God?

Do you have a workout plan?

(4) Do you see the immediate benefits of training?

Sometimes we think that the immediate benefit of money is more important than the immediate benefit of godliness. We tend to believe that money brings freedom, but it does not.

Elizabeth Elliot said, “…freedom and discipline have come to be regarded as mutually exclusive, when in fact freedom is not at all the opposite, but the final reward, of discipline.” (Whitney, p. 18)

Quote:

(5) Do you see the eternal benefits of training

“Engage in the Spiritual Disciplines given by God in the Scripture so that you are continually shown your need for Christ and the infinite supply of grace and mercy to be found by faith in Jesus Christ.” (Whitney, p. 20).

Illustration:

Each year before I go out to hunt, we have to take time to go to the range for a very important purpose. We take our guns and sight them in. This means that we position ourselves about 25 yards from the target to see if the aim is still true. After shooting a couple times, we make some adjustments and shoot again. The reason for this is because through the moving around of the guns in the cases, the guns sitting for such a long time, the scopes can get off.

In like manner, each morning, you need to get sighted in. Because each day, we live in a world that is sighted in differently, we need to get sighted in on things above. We need to get sighted in on the long term.

The great thing about this is that there are immediate impacts to our life now. Let me explain. When our sights get focused on the immediate and we forget that we’ve been purged from our old sins, we tend to make idols of things of this life. These idols enslave us, and we begin pursuing temporal things. They become distractions to the ultimate goal and we don’t stay the course.

Illustration:

When I was first learning to drive, I was told to keep my eyes looking straight in the distance and not at the road right in front of the car. This allows you to keep the car true to the direction you are going.

Illustration:

I was swimming the other day, and as I was doing a back stroke, the instructor told me that if I don’t have the same motion with my left shoulder and right shoulder then I would end up running into the wall.

In like manner, staying on course in this life requires that there are disciplines in place that keep us on course and in line with who we really are in Christ.

Conclusion:

Do you want to get started?

Penitence: Repent of your nearsighted approach to life.

Position: Remember that you were purged. There is no more favor to be gained than what you have in Christ.

Practice: Give diligence to add. Get to it.

What then really is godliness? It is ultimately conformity to Christ. That is the goal.

When will this disciplined pursuit be complete? When we see Jesus -

1 John 3:2–3 KJV 1900

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Start purifying yourself through the spiritual disciplines today!

Repent, Remember, Practice