DiscipleShift Part 5: Disciples are Disciplined

RECAP

Answering the Call

Stages of Growth

Spiritual Death

Spiritual Infancy

Spiritual Childhood

Spiritual Adulthood

Spiritual Parenting

A disciple of Jesus, a true follower of Jesus, is more than one who pays Jesus lip service. Their lives are growing more and more to be like Jesus. A disciple is one who is learning the ways of Jesus and growing to make the ways of Jesus, the way of their own life.

This kind of life does not come easy. Being a Christian is not easy! Being a disciple is not easy!

It takes built in disciplines into our lives that separate us from our old lives that are based in our flesh and sinful desires.

It takes built in disciplines that help us to grow into the new life that we are given when Jesus becomes Lord and the Holy Spirit fills us.

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 ESV

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.

1) Spiritual Disciplines must be active in our lives. (“...so run that you may obtain it.”)

We cannot merely talk about spiritual disciplines. We need to live them out in our lives!

Illustration: John Bunyan’s Book Pilgrim’s Progress

Three men walking on their journey towards the heavenly land: Christian, Faithful, and Talkative:

“Talkative quickly impressed Faithful with his fluent words and contagious enthusiasm, so Faithful stepped aside to speak with Christian privately as he had been walking alone all this time. He lowered his voice and said, ‘What a brave companion we have here! Surely this man will make a very excellent pilgrim.’ Christian smiled modestly and said, ‘This man that you are so captivated with can charm anyone he meets.’ Faithful was surprised, ‘Then you know him?’ ‘Know him?’ said Christian with his wide eyes. ‘Oh yes, better than he knows himself.’ Faithful glanced back at Talkative walking behind them and said, ‘Then, seriously, tell me who he is.’ ‘His name is Talkative, and he lives in our hometown. I’m surprised that you do not know him, but of course it is a rather large town.’ ‘Who is his father, and where does he live?’ ‘He is the son of Say-well and lives on Foolish-Talk Row. Everyone who knows him calls him Talkative of Foolish-Talk Row. And despite his eloquent speech, he’s a repulsive person.’ ‘Well, he seems to be a rather charming man,’ said Faithful, glancing back at Talkative again. ‘That he is to those that are not acquainted with him. He appears good at a distance, but up close, he is quite the opposite. Your description of him reminds me of a painting that’s best seen from a distance as up close it become noticeably unpleasant...’ ‘If this is so, then I’ve been greatly deceived by this man,’ said Faithful. ‘Deceived? You may be sure of it!’ Christian said emphatically. ‘Remember the proverb, ‘Do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.’ He talks of prayer, repentance, faith, and the new birth, but he only knows how to talk about them...’ ‘Well,’ said Faithful, feeling a little foolish, ‘I see that words and actions are two different things, and from now on, I will better observe this difference.’ ‘They really are two separate things. In fact, they are as different as the body is from the spirit,’ said Christian. ‘Perhaps it would help if you thought about it like this: The body without the spirit is dead, so the same can be said about words without action. The spirit of true faith is a transformed life. It’s written that ‘Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.’”

As disciples of Jesus, our lives must actively be filled with spiritual disciplines.

No one can be a true follower of Jesus just by knowing the word, we must also be doers of the word.

James 1:19–25 ESV

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

Our devotion to Jesus must be active, or it is no devotion at all.

Jesus must be shaping our lives through His Word being lived out, or we are still being shaped by the world, even if we have a head knowledge of spiritual things.

2) Spiritual disciplines help to keep our sinful flesh under control. (“...I discipline my body and keep it under control...”)

1 John 2:15–17 ESV

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

John shares with us three things that we must keep under control through the power of the Holy Spirit producing fruit in our lives:

Desires of the flesh...

Our sinful desires from within ourselves…our own self-determination of what will make us healthy and complete apart from God.

Desires of the eyes...

The temptations of things outside of ourselves…what we allow to influence and feed our misconceptions and sinful desires. We are prone to desire and want things that have no true substance.

and the pride of life.

Our urge to make something of ourselves in order to show what we have done, rather than allowing God to make us and work through us.

The urge to be a self-made rather than Christ-formed.

We are all prone to these temptations. It requires strict discipline for us to keep let the Holy Spirit have His way in us so that what we desire is what God desires…that what we long for is what God longs for…that who we are is shaped and determined by God and not ourselves or the world.

When we hold to the discipline to keep our focus on God, we diminish the folly to keep the focus on ourselves.

3) Spiritual disciplines give us purpose and intentionality. (“…I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.”)

So many people live their lives shifting from one purpose to another.

Too often, people are suffering from depression and a lack of value, because what they buy into is temporary and perishable.

Paul tells us that we discipline ourselves, because our purpose is imperishable.

When we are disciplined spiritually, we live lives that matter! We live lives that have meaning and substance!

1 Peter 1:13–16 ESV

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

We are called to a higher purpose and passion. We must not conform to the previous passions, but rather we must passionately pursue holiness.

CLOSING