2020.03.15 Future Church: Practicing The Faith

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NASB

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 NASB

24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. 25 Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

Future Church: Practicing The Faith

Future Church: Practicing The Faith

Are you superstitious?

Now, TRUE superstition is not Christian. To think that doing a particular action will bring about a particular result is a pagan religious concept, not a Christian one.

But I grew up playing baseball and basketball … and I had lots of routines.

I liked to wear the same socks to each baseball game - Serena Williams wears a single pair of socks for each tournament … and she will NOT allow them to be washed in between matches! My mom would NEVER have allowed that part!

When I played second base, after every batter, I would turn to the outfield and announce how many outs. Then I would turn toward the plate and dig my feet into two ruts I’d dug into the dirt. My routine was a hazard for anyone rounding first a little too deep.

In the batters box, I would dig my back foot in so deep that the next batter would have to fill the hole.

But my batting routine was tame in comparison to some

Video of Nomar Garciapara

I was never very good at basketball, but when I shot free throws I had a routine (get basketball and demonstrate). I may do other stuff, but the routine always ended with the same moves:

backspin bounce in front

bend - two dribbles

spin ball in hand

inhale - exhale

shoot

I’m not alone in having a free throw ritual, either...

Jeff Hornacek is one of many NBA superstars who had or have a free throw ritual

Video of Jeff Hornacek

So…if superstition is not a Christian belief, why would I tell you about my routines, and show you superstars with their routines?

People are superstitious for a reason. Whatever they’re doing has worked at some point, and they’re trying to replicate that prior success.

When I dug in at homeplate, I hit the ball … so “I’ll do that every time!”

My free throw percentage went UP when I developed this routine … so “I’ll never shoot another free throw without this routine!”

And I would imagine Nomar Garciapara’s elaborate batting glove, foot tapping batting ritual started similarly.

I can’t explain the sock thing … that’s just stupid.

In my experience, I would say that athletes seem more prone to these routines than we non-athletic types. I’d like to propose a reason for that.

When you think of elite athletes, what do you think of?

ability

money

fame

How about practice? How about training hard? How about discipline?

I’ve said before that we often make the mistake of thinking all discipline is punishment.

Discipline (noun)

Sure, punishment comes into the equation, but the first and third definitions are lost when we think of discipline as only punishment:

Look at that third definition:

training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character

1 a : control gained by enforcing obedience or order

b : orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior

c : self-control

3 : training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character

Discipline (verb)

1a : control gained by enforcing obedience or order b : orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior c : self-control 2 : punishment 3 : training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character

1 : to punish or penalize for the sake of enforcing obedience and perfecting moral character

2 : to train or develop by instruction and exercise especially in self-control

3 a : to bring (a group) under control

b : to impose order upon

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discipline

Title Slide

Future Church: Practicing The Faith

I never played organized football, but I love watching pro football. When a team is being called for a lot of penalties, the commentators ALWAYS remark that’s a sign of a lack of DISCIPLINE!

They aren’t saying the coach needs to punish the players more. They’re saying the players haven’t trained regularly enough, so when a play falls apart or the unexpected happens, their default is to commit a penalty. If they were better trained, they’re default would still be playing within the rules of the game.

The Scriptures are useful for ‘training in righteousness’ - for discipline!

My free throw regimen doesn’t make the ball more likely to go through the hoop! But ME going through the routine is a habit, and it makes me more likely to duplicate the successful shots of the past as a completion of that patterned routine. I don’t have to think through the mechanics of shooting a proper free throw. My muscle memory takes over, and I just shoot without my head getting in the way. THAT’S DISCIPLINE - THAT’S TRAINING!

A foot race was THE sport for the people of Corinth. So, Paul’s passage about running a race are, for them, like me talking with you about baseball, basketball, or football.

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 NASB

24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. 25 Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

1 Corinthians 9:27 NASB

27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

1 Corinthians 24:

Training in righteousness is about self-control… one of the characteristics of the Fruit of the Spirit in .

We talk about ‘practicing’ our faith, but many of us just walk around in the hopes that faith might fall on us like a safe in a Roadrunner cartoon.

Wile Coyote slide

But this is not how faith happens. It’s not how faith deepens. It’s not how growth in faith happens.

Growth in your faith takes DISCIPLINE!

Shooting Range pic

I had a conference last week at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy. On the facility tour, we were told a little bit about the State Police training regimen. Each trainee will shoot AT LEAST 5000 rounds during their training! That’s the MINIMUM!

Spiritual Disciplines graphic

It takes a lot of repetition and practice to get good at something … to get good at ANYTHING!

It takes a lot of repetition and practice to get good at something … to get good at ANYTHING!

There are literally thousands of disciplines that would help grow your faith, but the most elementary of them … is a regular Bible Reading. I’ve said before that I don’t like devotionals. I may have said that more strongly … I may have even used terms like “despise” and “hot flaming hatred”. The reason I don’t like devotions is that most of them include a blurb of Scripture followed by a paragraph or more of someone’s opinion or interpretation of that Scripture. I have always felt like that draws me closer to the author of the devotional than the God of the Scriptures.

Reading Plan (delayed click)

So I’ve changed my devotional practice to include more Scripture. In fact, I quit using devotionals altogether and have begun a daily Scripture reading discipline instead. [click here] Currently, Annette and two friends of ours and myself are working through a one-chapter-a-day Reading Plan that’s free on the Bible App “youversion”. You can find the app and their thousands of reading plans for free at bible.com.

Reading Plan

Future Church: Practicing The Faith

As we’ve said before, Future Church will be a very different experience for all of us. Just like an athlete, if we are disciplined in our faith, when we’re faced with something unexpected, we’ll naturally follow Jesus as our default reaction. That’s the benefit of discipline. The angry Christians we talked about last week, are reacting to unexpected events and decisions in the world by lashing out in FEAR.

Future Church: Practicing The Faith

As we’ve said before, Future Church will be a very different experience for all of us. Just like an athlete, if we are disciplined in our faith, when we’re faced with something unexpected, we’ll naturally follow Jesus as our default reaction. That’s the benefit of discipline. The angry Christians we talked about last week, are reacting to unexpected events and decisions in the world by lashing out in FEAR.

They are demonstrating their lack of discipline. Their faith is based on their own past instead of being based on the Word of God! And they’ll continue to demonstrate their lack of discipline until they sit for training in Biblical:

Discipline (noun)

b : orderly … patterns of behavior

c : self-control

They won’t like hearing me say this … and some of them are no-doubt here today. But the truth is a biblical one.

Future Church: Practicing The Faith

The angry person who is lashing out is fearful of losing something, and is stuck in dying Historic Church. Future Church people aren’t fearful of losing anything! They’ve been given biblical promises that are guaranteed, and that’s where we must hang our hats.

This lack of fear will propel us to courageous outreach and a willingness to take risks for the sake of God’s Kingdom. We’re not talking about making foolhardy decisions. We’re talking about taking calculated risks in order to win the opportunity to share the Gospel with every man, woman, and child in this community and beyond!

Next week, our District Superintendent Dave Neckers will be preaching for us. He’ll talk about what it means to live life “on mission”. He’ll teach about people who are like sheep without a shepherd and he’ll encourage US to introduce those people to the Shepherd we’ve found.

From here, this series moves from us learning and growing in Scripture to being changed people in the world, so that others may find out about Jesus and respond to him.

But we can’t do that as well as we should if we’re stagnant in our own faith. Our turn at bat is here. If you’re not prepared to face the world’s curve ball, it’s time to start practicing, and that begins with a beginning. What commitment are you willing to make today? Where are you willing to start?