The Goal

Hebrews 12:14 CSB

Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness—without it no one will see the Lord.

INTRO—

Healthy habits…include… [Apple Watch...handwashing video!]

HABIT = manner; custom; practice; ‘defining practice’

Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life Chapter One: The Spiritual Disciplines … for the Purpose of Godliness (v. Raymond Edman)

Imagine six-year-old Kevin, whose parents have enrolled him in music lessons. After school every afternoon, he sits in the living room and reluctantly strums “Home on the Range” while watching his buddies play baseball in the park across the street. That’s discipline without direction. It’s drudgery.

Now suppose Kevin is visited by an angel one afternoon during guitar practice. In a vision he’s taken to Carnegie Hall. He’s shown a guitar virtuoso giving a concert. Usually bored by classical music, Kevin is astonished by what he sees and hears. The musician’s fingers dance excitedly on the strings with fluidity and grace. Kevin thinks of how stupid and klunky his hands feel when they halt and stumble over the chords. The virtuoso blends clean, soaring notes into a musical aroma that wafts from his guitar. Kevin remembers the toneless, irritating discord that comes stumbling out of his.

But Kevin is enchanted. His head tilts slightly to one side as he listens. He drinks in everything. He never imagined that anyone could play the guitar like this.

“What do you think, Kevin?” asks the angel.

The answer is a soft, slow, six-year-old’s “W-o-w!”

The vision vanishes, and the angel is again standing in front of Kevin in his living room. “Kevin,” says the angel, “the wonderful musician you saw is you in a few years.” Then pointing at the guitar, the angel declares, “But you must practice!”

Suddenly the angel disappears and Kevin finds himself alone with his guitar. Do you think his attitude toward practice will be different now? As long as he remembers what he’s going to become, Kevin’s discipline will have a direction, a goal that will pull him into the future. Yes, effort will be involved, but you could hardly call it drudgery.

Our habits help us to become certain types of people…when we are rightly motivated & rightly focused.

As Christians (Christ-followers), what is our goal? I believe that Romans 8.29-30 clearly defines our goal for us...

Romans 8.29-30 “For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.”

Essentially, we want to see Jesus in our lives!

We Want to See Jesus

…in our country, our community, our church, our lives.

[Let’s take a minute and honestly ask ourselves: Which of these areas do we have the most immediate influence to impact? Granted, we can and should in every area of our lives, but the most practical/logical place for us to emphasize our effort will be in ourselves—then our family, our church, our community, our country, our world.]

So…TO SEE JESUS, We need to:

PURSUE HOLINESS [ἁγιασμός]

Hebrews 12.14 “Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness—without it no one will see the Lord.”

“Pursue”— Chase; Strive toward; Do with effort

“Holiness”— Consecration; Set-apartness; Sanctification; Pure (heart)

“Without IT no one will see the Lord” [Matthew 5.8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”]

TRAIN YOURSELF IN GODLINESS [εὐσέβεια]

1 Timothy 4.7 “But have nothing to do with pointless and silly myths. Rather, train yourself in godliness.”

“Train”— Practice; Workout (gumnazo)

“Godliness”— Piety; Character

“Yourself” [1 Timothy 4.8 “For the training of the body has limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”]

We Need Healthy Habits

HEALTHY = Holiness & Godliness (Healthy SPIRITUAL Habits)

HABITS, which are…

Personal & Interpersonal

Luke 5.16 “Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.”

Luke 4.16 “He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. As usual, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read.”

Activities, not Attitudes

Galatians 5.22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.”

Biblical

Habits we find EXPRESSLY prescribed or exemplified in Scripture. [Psalm 119.11 “I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.”]

Derived from (not Divorced from) the Gospel

These habits are not beyond or instead of the Gospel…they are grounded in and return us (often) to the Good News!

Sufficient for Knowing/Experiencing God

2 Timothy 3.16-17 “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Means, not an End

“As an end” = The problem of the Pharisees [Matthew 23.23 ““Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, and yet you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These things should have been done without neglecting the others.”]

CONCL—

Developing good, healthy habits can be challenging. After all, we may have spent years entrenching ourselves in unhealthy habits…BUT (remember):

Matthew 11.29-30 “Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.””

“Going to the gym” = Wednesday nights @ 6.30pm!!!

Matthew 11:29 CSB

Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.