Another Introduction to Spiritual Discipline

The Life Abundant

I want to avoid the hypocrisy of Pharisee-ism in my newfound way to know God. I want to train in righteousness, not self-righteousness. God wants me to know Him, to know His story and to live my part in it, my life in His abundant story.

Last week we learned about what it means to be a good Christian and that, to me, it is not someone reading their Bible everyday or telling everyone they see about Jesus. It someone that knows God and I believe that, as they grow to know Him, some of the works that are so stressed by many Christian leaders will flow naturally out of the relationship with Jesus. (I use God and Jesus and Christ interchangeably, though I know that there is a difference theologically, they are also one being theologically and I tend to focus on the whole of things, as you may be able to tell). I tried to explain that the spiritual disciplines are not ends in and of themselves. They are a means of being a better Christian, of knowing God.

I skipped over a part last week, mainly because you insisted on making fun of my picture. Well, I experienced something this week that may be better than my drawing, though it will be tough to do. I met a modern day Pharisee, like the ones that Jesus came down so hard on in Luke 11:39-44. Only this guy was an electrician. We were building a wall and he came marching in. “This all has to come out. We can't have those wires in there like that.”

“That's how they were...”

“I don't care how they were. They can't be like that now. It's against code.”

“Has the code changed in three months? Because we just installed the other one next door and it was like this.”

“I don't care. I am not going to do it. It's against code.” Now he was probably right, and the other way would have inconvenienced him, even if he made up the code thing. But he didn't need to march in all high and mighty and start barking orders. I figured he had just finished reading the codebook and wanted everyone to know it. Turns out I was right. I overheard this a little later on, “I get paid to think. That's why I spent five years in school.” Now, I spent more than that in school, but by the first year I was being taught not to be a pompous jerk. Later he walked up to a couple of Mexican workers, “Kay paso, my amagos. Yeah, I speak Spanish. I'm going to be teaching the other guys soon, get me out of the field. I'm too old for this.” He was about thirty-three. He was the classic self- righteous guy we all love to hate.

I don't want to be that man. I want to know God, but I don't want this knowledge to lead to some sort of elitism. I want to love God and love my neighbor as myself. I want to clean the outside and the inside, to practice what I preach. I don't want to tell you what all I know, just introduce you to who I am beginning to know.

Alright, hopefully that was a little more clear than my drawing form last time. Let's read 1 Peter 2:21-25.

You were running around in circles like a dumb animal, but now you have a shepherd. I love that, mainly because it makes so much sense to me. When we don't know the good shepherd, we are lost. When we meet him we are timid because we are not sure how he will react when danger comes, what he will expect us to do. But as we spend more time with him and know him, we know what to expect, what he wants, and even when surprises come, we know he will be there.

The first part of that verse comes from one of my favorite books growing up: In His Steps by Charles M. Sheldon. I read this book around age twelve and have read it a couple of times since. I was excited in the time of the WWJD? bracelets, because I had read the story, because I got the meaning, and because it was cool to wear one. The story is about a group of people that decide to do nothing in their life, business, love, or leisure without first asking if Jesus would do the same in their situation. It's a beautiful story and it simplifies the work of being a Christian into one question: What would Jesus do? The people in this story, in my mind, are what a good Christian is. They are doing what is right; they are seeing the work of God happen before their eyes; they are living in His presence. There are two sad things about the story. One is that it is just a story, work of fiction. These people do not exist, did not exist (to my knowledge) and in a story anything can happen, like people can feel the presence of God.

I want you to remember that you, as a Christian, have also felt God's hand in your life and in some way, you have answered His calling you to Him.

Do you remember? What was it like? Were there any other times?

I have felt them, too, and I have come to a conclusion. They all seem to happen when I get out of the way of God. When I forget about what I want and focus on Him. Church camp, for instance, is famous for this. The kids, go, get away from the world and are immersed in Christ, His ideals, His love. They come back pumped, ready to take on the world.

And then what happens without fail?

I can tell you what happened to me. I would come back, get back in the flow of life and school and soon forget everything I knew I should do. I would forget about Jesus and go back to life as usual. The same goes for youth minister conferences, Christian get-aways, and new years resolutions. They last until life in the real world happens, then they, in most cases, and I might argue always in my case, fade away. (This is why I think monks are cheaters. It's easy to follow God in isolation. When the world happens things get tough). I would begin to live my old life. This does not sound like the abundant life Jesus said He came to give in John 10:10.

Read Galatians 5:19-21.

There it is. Forgetting all I learned and decided and felt about my Savior and my God I would be swimming a pool of this death. I don't want to drown in death. I want the next part: Galatians 5:22-25. That's the stuff: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, self control. Walking in the Spirit or, as I called it earlier: feeling the hand of God on my life.

Read Luke 9:23-26.

Take up my cross daily and follow Christ. The verse from In His Steps (1 Peter 2:21) says that Christ is our example and I am to follow that example, walking in His steps. That's the other sad part of Sheldon's story. In the situations the people, though they may struggle with it, make the choice to follow Christ. They can, somehow, do the right thing each time. I cannot do that. I, if I am going to walk in Jesus steps, need practice and training. I, like Timothy, need to discipline myself for godliness (1 Timothy 4:7-8 - 7 But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; 8 for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come1).

Read Hebrews 12:11.

That's what I'm after, the fruit of righteousness. The love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. Be it discipline from God or my personal training in godliness, it may not (and will not) be fun at the time, but it the results will be walking in the steps of Christ with His hand on your shoulder, feeling His love and living in His presence. Luke 6:40 says that a student is not greater than his teacher, but once His training is complete he will be like that teacher. We will be able to live out of God's way, in His will. We will be like Christ. We will be able to live in constant communion with God.

There are many disciplines that Christians have devoted themselves to over time. I have chosen the following for this course:

BIBLE INTAKE AND STUDY

PRAYER AND FASTING
WORSHIP

EVANGELISM

SERVING

SACRIFICE AND STEWARDSHIP

SILENCE AND SOLITUDE

CONFESSION

These do not make a full list or a list that you have to do all of all the time. These are exercises to free you to live the life that God has for you.

Let's do this. What do you think the purpose of each discipline listed is, keeping in mind our goal of knowing God? Are there others that we could study or that you would rather? What are they?

I cheated and had time to think it over, but here is what I came up with. If you are not content and this distracts you from knowing God's love, you could serve those less fortunate and see how blessed you are. If you have a deep sin that you can't kick, confessing and being accountable to that can help free you. If you struggle to hear God and feel His presence, tell Him, skip a meal or a television show and talk to Him. Be silent and alone and listen. If you have trouble appreciating your struggles then read God's answer to Job's suffering and realize that He has understandings that you never will. If you constantly try to do your own thing and ignore what God has for you, worship Him, read a Psalm, focus on Him and not on yourself. You see, these are not things to make you a better you, but to free you from the sin that so easily entangles us and allows us to know Christ, to do what Jesus would do.

I want to finish up with a thought that I have been mulling over recently. The thought is this: We are not the hero of our own story. It's an unpopular, un-American thought, but I think that it is true. Eugene Peterson says that the people in the Bible, even those that we call the heroes, are flawed and selfish people. We all are (For all have sinned and fall short of God's glory). When I heard this, I began to wonder who the hero is. It doesn't take long to figure it out. God is, Christ is. The entire Bible is the story of God and who He is and what He has done for us, in spite of us. He is our hero, the only hero.

I think that we forget this. We don't know it. We think that we are most important, best, that we are the hero. But this is not the case. The Bible tells us the story of God, and how mankind fits into that story, how we can have a place in it.

Have you ever seen a movie where there is something in the background that doesn't make sense? In The Princess Bride there is a scene where a crew member can bee seen behind the bow of the boat. This is really distracting, once you see it, and you can't help but look for it when the scene rolls around the next time and the next. It's out of place, not a part of the story, like a watch on Bigfoot.

That's us. When we run around, trying to be the hero of our own story, we are a watch on Bigfoot. We are the crew member in the background. These disciplines, as we have hopefully begun to see, and as we will see in greater detail give s our spot in the story of God. We are given the plot and a new set of clothes. We learn our lines. We can join in the story, as long as we remember that it is not a story about us.

Next week we will get the screenplay, the story as told by Moses, David, Isaiah, Matthew, Paul, and many others. We will learn the importance of reading, memorizing, and living in the word of God and see clearly how the story flows and how we can walk in the steps of the hero.

1 New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

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