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Future Church: Practicing The Faith
2 Timothy 3:16-17 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
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.
And paganism is a specific category of religions, not a generic term for anything unchristian.
Superstitions are pagan concepts.
But I grew up playing baseball and basketball … and I had lots of … uh … er … “routines” … yeah, that works.
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 washed clothes before they even got dirty, so she 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 actually a hazard for anyone rounding first a little too deep.
In the batter’s 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
It’s not just tennis and baseball, either:
Other sports are full of superstitious routines.
Jeff Hornacek is an NBA coach now.
But before that, he spent 15 years as a player for 3 different teams.
When he went to the free throw line, he looked at the basket; held the ball in his left hand; and used his right hand to slowly wipe his cheek 3 times … EVERY TIME HE SHOT A FREE THROW!
I was never very good at basketball, but when I shot free throws I had a routine, too.
(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
So … if superstition is not a Christian belief, why would I tell you about my routines, and tell you about various 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.
At some point, when I dug in at home plate, 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 Serena’s sock thing … sorry 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?
We often make the mistake of thinking all discipline is punishment.
Webster: Discipline (noun)
Sure, punishment comes into the equation, but the first and third definitions are lost when we think of discipline as only punishment:
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)
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
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 well enough, so when a play falls apart or something unexpected happens, their default reaction 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’ - that’s 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 is, for them, like me talking with you about baseball, basketball, or football.
Training in righteousness is about self-control… one of the characteristics of the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5.
We talk about ‘practicing’ our faith, but many of us just walk around in the hopes that faith might fall on us like an avil 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
As a State Police Chaplain, one of our meetings was held at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy.
On the facility tour, we were told a little bit about the 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!
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] In the past, I’ve used several reading plans that are available free on the Bible App “youversion”.
You can find the app and their thousands of reading plans for free at bible.com.
Future Church: Practicing The Faith
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.
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