Spotlight on Spiritual Disciplines

This Sunday marks the half way mark in our sermon series: Mirrors to Windows. We are learning that God wants us to reflect Jesus in our own frontlines. Jesus wants His followers to have a rich and vibrant faith that is more than ideas in our heads but that acts itself out in our every day lives: in our families, at work, and in our neighborhoods. Moreover, like a mirror’s reflection, Jesus calls us to reflect Him in the places outside these church windows- in those ordinary places of our lives we can see God do extraordinary things in us and through us as we join Him in drawing people to Himself.

So, in the first week of this series, we presented the following main ideas:

MAIN IDEAS

God wants you to reflect Jesus in your own frontline.

To best reflect Jesus in our own frontlines we must first become more like Him. (and)

To best reflect Jesus in our own frontlines we must allow Him to saturate every aspect of our lives.

Last week we put a spotlight on the last of those ideas as we learned that we best reflect Jesus in our own frontlines when we allow Him to saturate every aspect of our lives by abiding in Him.

We learned that we abide with Christ by receiving and believing in all that Jesus has done for us. He gave us a way to have a relationship with us but it is our decision, our choice, to grow that relationship- to fellowship with Him- to have real intimacy with Him.

But that brings us to the very important question of how. How do we have real intimacy with Him? The answer is as simple as it is challenging and is our first point this morning:

SERMON POINTS

1. To best reflect Jesus in our own frontlines we must develop intimacy with God through spiritual discipline.

Ah, yes. I know, the word discipline is almost tabu in our society.

But consider this story by author and speaker Donald Whitney,

“Imagine six-year-old Kevin, whose parents have enrolled him in music lessons. After school every afternoon, prompted by his mother, he slouches into the living room and strums songs he must practice but doesn’t like 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 transported 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 on the strings with fluidity and grace. Kevin thinks of how stupid and clunky his own hands feel when they halt and falter 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 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. When it comes to discipline in the Christian life, many believers feel as Kevin did toward guitar practice—it’s discipline without direction…

There is an invitation to all Christians to enjoy God and the things of God through the Spiritual Disciplines. All in whom the Spirit of God dwells are invited to taste the joy of a Christ-centered, gospel-based, Spiritual Disciplines lifestyle.”

As 1 Timothy 7a-8 advises (NASB),

1 Timothy 4: 7b-8 (NASB)

1 Timothy 4:7–8 (NASB95)

...discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness;

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 come.

That brings us to our second point this morning:

2. To best reflect Jesus in your own frontline pre-decide to commit to the personal spiritual disciplines.

Friends, as many of you may already know, our following Jesus routines, or spiritual disciplines are both external and internal. We can do many of the spiritual disciplines together as a group. In-fact, as you join us this morning- either in-person or online, you are joining us in the spiritual disciplines of cooperate worship, fellowship, and hearing God’s Word. When you attend a Bible study or small group you are doing the same. Something powerful happens when we live out our faith together and when we worship with one another. Jesus hinted to this when He said in

Matthew 18:20 NIV

For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Matthew 18:20 (NIV),

“’For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.’”

This morning, however, I want to focus on our personal or private spiritual disciplines.

Growing up, my father taught me over and over again, “Kimo, the most important thing in the world is your personal relationship with Jesus.” My wife Kristin also heard this but from her Grandmother, “Kristin,” she would say, “nothing in this world is more important than your personal relationship with Jesus. For He loves you more deeply and completely than anyone else ever can.” You see, my Father and Kristin’s Grandmother knew that faith is not just about church, or intellectual learning about spiritual things, or about principles, or traditions, or doctrines, or even applications- instead, as we shared last week, there is a personal even intimate side to this.

Pastor Andy Stanley puts it this way,

“It is about waking up every morning with a sense of personal accountability to my Father in heaven. Nobody else may know what is going on, but my Father in heaven knows what is going on. Nobody else may care what’s going on but my Father in heaven cares about what’s going on. Our personal relationship with Jesus Christ is the most important thing in our lives- not a doctrine, not a belief system, not a label, not a church. It takes us back to the very intimate invitation Jesus extended then and extends now. He says, ‘I want you to follow me.’ There has to be something personal about this. This is something daily, it is something minute by minute, it is all encompassing.”

Friends, is your Christian faith something that you just believe, like an answer you would give on a test? “What religion are you,” (mime checking a box off) “I’m Christian.”… (pause) Or is Jesus the personal Lord of your life? Do you know and love Him personally? Or are you just going through the motions of faith? When we pre-decide to grow our personal relationship with Jesus, the disciplines, the routines of our faith, change from ought tos into want tos.

Using the marriage relationship as an analogy. A Christian that is not committed to the personal spiritual disciplines is like a marriage of convenience. You go through the motions but there is no love and affection enriching each other’s lives. But a Christian who pre-decides to grow his or her personal relationship with Jesus is like a person who is deeply in love with their spouse. He or she enjoys the other’s presence, enjoys delighting them, enjoys doing what brings them joy. They do it out of love not duty. The same can be true about your relationship with Jesus.

There are several spiritual disciplines such as experiencing the Bible, prayer, private and cooperate worship, acts of service, and percentage giving. Over the next few weeks we will explore several of these. But this morning, I want to take a few moments to talk about the first of these disciplines and what I feel is the most important. And that brings us to our final point this morning:

3. To best reflect Jesus in your own frontline, pre-decide to experience the Bible every day.

The Bible is a unique book, that is in-fact, a collection of books bound together in one volume. Each of its individual books were written by a variety of authors over hundreds of years. What makes the Bible so special is that each of its many human authors were inspired by its divine author.

Dr. Tony Evans shares,

“The Greek word for “inspired” means “God-breathed.” These words that carry God’s breath are words that can change and transform our lives. 2 Timothy 3:16 reminds us that all of the Bible is “inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness ….

If we want to understand who God is, what His purposes are, and how He has made Himself known to the human race, we cannot afford to ignore the Bible.”

Because God reveals Himself to His creation primarily through Scripture. The study of the Bible is therefore the primary way to experience God and to ascertain His purposes for our lives and for the world in which we live.

There are several ways to experience God’s Word. You can hear it, read it, and study it.

Thanks to technology you can now download a Bible app, like the Bible Gateway app. These apps provide many Bible reading and study tools. Through the app you can even have the Bible read to you. If English is not your first language, the app offers the Bible in many different languages as well. You can also use a daily devotional that can be found online. Such as (list provided for slide and handout)

Devotionals Online

a. Dr. David Jeremiah’s Turning Point Daily devotionals https://www.davidjeremiah.org/magazine/daily-devotional

b. Dr. Charles Stanley’s In Touch Daily devotional: https://www.intouch.org/read/daily-devotions

c. Dr. John Piper’s Desiring God daily devotions or devotional app: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles

If electronic sources are not your cup of tea, there are devotional books and study Bibles. If you do not currently have a Bible, please let us know and we can make sure you get one.

Now right about now, some of you may be asking one of your wonderful questions…

How often should I experience God’s Word?

Well, author John Blanchard gives us the answer,

“Surely we only have to be realistic and honest with ourselves to know how regularly we need to turn to the Bible. How often do we face problems, temptation and pressure? Every day! Then how often do we need instruction, guidance and greater encouragement? Every day! To catch all these felt needs up into an even greater issue, how often do we need to see God’s face, hear his voice, feel his touch, know his power? The answer to all these questions is the same: every day!”

There is something meaningful about starting each day by opening up the Bible and hearing what God has to say to YOU that day through His Word. When you take the time to start each day experiencing the Bible, God uses that dedicated moment to make the Bible personal for you. This is how you get to know God- what pleases Him, what hurts Him, and what He wants for you- what He wants for your life- it is all in here (pick up the Bible) waiting for you and that quite moment alone with God.

So I am giving us the following challenge- There are 28 days in the month of February and there are 28 chapters in Matthew’s gospel. So I am challenging each of us to read one chapter of Matthew each day in February. I encourage you to share what God is showing you about Himself as you read and spend time with Him each day. You can do so through text, email, over the phone, or on social media. I will be sharing on Facebook, and I look forward to see what God will do in and through each of us as we commit to experiencing His Word every day.

Let me close this morning with an illustration by Dr. David Jeremiah. In a Turning Point Daily Devotional he shared:

“During the mid-twentieth century, one of the most recognizable brand icons in America was a dog sitting in front of an old-time gramophone, head cocked, listening to the sound. That iconic image, owned by the RCA Victor record company, was taken from a painting by English artist Francis Barraud.

The dog, Nipper, had been owned by Barraud's brother, who had recorded his voice on early phonograph records. After the brother died, Barraud inherited Nipper and the gramophone and records. Whenever the records with Nipper's master's voice were played, the dog would sit in front of the gramophone listening to his master's voice.

That's a beautiful image of the relationship between Jesus Christ and us. He has gone away from earth, so we can no longer hear His physical voice. But we sit in front of His Word, and kneel before Him in prayer, and listen for our Master's voice.”

Let us pray.