Theology - Spiritual Discipline --The Ordered Life
Romans 12:1,2
by Pastor Eldon Reich
Continuing on -- Living what we Believe – A working Theology
Today we look at the Theology of Spiritual Discipline
What is Spiritual Discipline or Spiritual Formation?
How can we apply it to our lives?
What difference will it make?
We all have a need for discipline
Be it in our lives, homes work.
The new bride was anything but a tidy housekeeper.
It didn't bother her much until one evening when her husband somewhat
dismayed, called from the hall: "Honey, what happened to the dust on
this table?”
She said I cleaned it
He said; “Well, I had a phone number written on it."
I. WHAT IS SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE
Spiritual
Discipline is a formulated action to develope
a deeper
spiritual life in the body, mind, and spirit of a Christian.
Spiritual
formation is to dedicate our lives for the purpose of glorifying God.
John Wesley said: we should live our lives
“As tenacious of
inward holiness as a mystic, of outward holiness as a Pharisee.”
Spiritual discipline is not busyness:
During
the summer 9 year old Melissa,
flew
first class to
spent
the Fourth of July on the Queen Mary,
swam in
the
toured
Then, at
the beginning of the school year,
when her
teacher asked her to draw her favorite summer memory,
Melissa
drew a picture of herself on a backyard swing, eating a chocolate bar.
A recent TV “60
Minutes” said:
The new generation
that is coming up is called the Echo Boomers.
They are a direct
echo to the Baby boomer.
They are barely out of college, and the youngest are
still in grade school.
They are the first to
grow up with computers at home,
a 500-channel TV universe.
They are
multi-taskers with cell phones, music downloads,
and Instant Messaging
on the Internet.
They are totally plugged- in citizens of a worldwide community.
They are kids who have had soccer Monday,
Kung Fu Tuesday,
religious classes Wednesday,
clarinet lessons
Thursday.
Whose whole lives have
really been based on what some adult
tells them to do,"
says Dr. Mel Levine.
They spend $170
billion a year of their own and their parents' money.
Almost none of it is spent on boring things like mortgages and medication.
And the world is
falling all over itself trying sell them things.
Five out of 10 echo
boomers say they trust the government,
and virtually all of
them trust mom and dad.
Echo boomers are the
most watched-over generation in history.
Most have never ridden a
bike without a helmet,
ridden in a car without
a seat belt,
or eaten in a cafeteria
that serves peanut butter.
"Sometimes, they don't know what to do if they're just left outside and
you say,
'Well, just do something
by yourself for a while,'"
"They'll look
around stunned. You know, 'What are we supposed to do now?'"
Spiritual
discipline is not about being busy but being
A. Intentional.
Intentional in developing a spiritual relationship with God.
I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be
holy, because I am holy…I am the LORD who brought you up out of
Echo Boomers have been trained in every area except the spiritual.
And most believe that any religion will do.
Even though their values are very traditional.
Their tolerance is stretched by their trust spirit.
The emphasis of spiritual living is not about doing devotions, or spiritual studies,
Or stewardship of time and talents surveys, but using these things
Intentionally to build a relationship with our heavenly father.
They are not entities unto themselves.
Spiritual formation is about
B Wisdom
Wisdom of the spirit of God not of the world.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God (Not to the world, or ourselves)--- this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12: 1-8
Reader’s Digest
carried a story about a woman who traveled fifty miles to visit a friend. When she went to the
car to go home, she discovered she had locked the keys in the car. She didn’t
know what else to do, so she telephoned her husband long distance. He was
exasperated with her, but he said, “You just stay there and I’ll drive out and
bring my keys to you.” The woman went back to her car and found that actually
one of the back doors was open. She raced back into the house and telephoned
her husband, but he had already left. This was before cell phones and “On
Star.”
He friend said to her: “What are you going to do when your husband arrives?”
“He’s going to be mad
when he find out he came out here for no reason.”
And the woman said,
“I’m going to do what any red-blooded American wife would do.”
Need I tell the rest
of the story!
And she went out and
locked the door and slammed it shut!
You don’t get that
king of quick thinking without discipline.
Without dealing daily
with that person you love.
It's critical
we peak with-and not about-our heavenly Father. Helmut Thielicke
Psalm 142 I cry to you , O Lord: I say, “You are my
refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”
Spiritual discipline is a
C. Lifestyle Discipline
It is not a marathon to
complete but a lifestyle to exercise.
The Bible if full of
individual who started out good,
but failed to reach
their goal.
King Saul was a great warrior and king.But he failed
miserable in his life.
Samson was a great man of God, but got involved in
the local Canaanite girls
and lost his sight,
his ministry and his strength.
Annanias and
Sapphira started in the inner
circle of the early church
but Greed got the
best of them.
The New Testament
calls to a lifestyle of the disciplined life.
John Wesley’s concern was that we grown toward the mind of Christ.
Paul said: “Christ in you the Hope of Glory”
Colossians 1:27
He said: The soul and body make a
man; and the sprit and discipline make him a Christian.”
II. WHAT DOES SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE REQURE?
It requires steady contact with God’s grace.
Wesley
was so confident of this that he started the societies, class meetings,
where
Christian could nurture and grow in their faith.
Wesley
said “if we don’t grow in our faith, and discipline ourselves we will fall
into lukewarmness and even into sin with none to lift him up. He may even fall
lower than that, yes into hell (The works of God in
We
don’t want to turn discipline into an end in itself.
The disciplined life is not the goal
The goal is to stay close to Christ.
That
will keep us from a salvation –by-works pattern.
We
are not saved by disciplines; we are saved by grace through faith.
How
can we apply it to our lives, if we are to mature into wholeness?
Jesus said: “Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and you
shall find;’ knock, an dit shall be opened unto you; for everyone that asks
receives’; and he that seeks; finds; and to him that knocks it shall be
opened. Matthew 7:7-8
Spiritual discipline requires
A. A PRAYER LIFE.
Through
prayer we must avail ourselves to the Means of Grace which Christ and the church
provide.
2 Do not conform
any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
your mind. Then you will be able to test
and approve what God’s will is---his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2
Spiritual discipline
requires
B. AN
UNDERSTANDING OF SCRIPTURE.
John Wesley group was
referred to in the early days as “Bible-moths”
He was as crazy about
the Bible as a moth is about a light.
He was a man of one
book and he wanted Methodist to be Bible people.
We believe that
through the bible God gives, confirms, and increases true wisdom.
Paul wirtes “
But as for you,
continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you
know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the
Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in
Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may
be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
II Timothy 3:14-17
It is Gods’ word
learned from infancy,
That is able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Wise so were not trick by the world and its deceit.
Spiritual discipline requires
C. AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE LORD’S SUPPER
Jesus said: “Do this in remembrance of me.” Luke
22:19
Paul said: “For as often as you
eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he
comes. I Corinthians 11:26
Wesley believed that the Lord’s Supper was not only a confirming experience,
It is also a converting one.
His mother Susanna, received the gift of assurance at the Lord’s table.
Wesley wrote: “The
Lord’s supper was ordained by God to be a means of conveying to person either
preventing, justifying, or sanctifying grace, according to their particular
needs….No fitness is required by a sense of our state of sinfulness and
helplessness. (WORKS. I
pp 279)
Spiritual formation requires
D. AN
UNDERSTANDING OF FASTING
We don’t know or do must about this discipline.
Wesley practiced the fast from the evening Supper to the
A time when he prayed and meditated on God’s word.
Fasting gets us back in touch with our human weaknesses and dependencies.
Do not
think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather thing of yourself with
sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Romans 12:3
Spiritual formation requires
E. A CONNECTION
TO THE CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
John Wesley said: “the Church was the dwelling place of the wonder of Christian fellowship.” He was talking about group sharing in which true koinonia,
Christian fellowship could take place at all the church meetings. He said:
III. WHAT ARE THE
PRACTICAL RESULTS?
OF A SPIRITUALLY DISCIPLINED LIFE?
In Spiritual
Discipline
A. We take responsibly for our own lives.
A mother asked her small son what he would like for his
birthday. "I'd like a little brother," the boy said. "Oh my,
that's such a big wish," said the mother. "Why do you want a little
brother?" "Well," said the boy, "there's only so much I can
blame on the dog."
A mature Christian
takes responsibility for his own spiritual formation.
One, doing no harm;
Two, all good you can
do.
“Hebrews 12:14-15
Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the
Lord. See to it that no one fails to
obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes
trouble, and through it the many become defiled.
In
Spiritual discipline
B. We take responsibility for our relationship with others.
Like the song says:
They will know we are Christian by our love.
To
act as a Christian become a means of grace.
Unsaved
people see in us the life that they want to live.
They
see the peace and the joy.
The
patience and forgiveness.
A Neighborhood center called the Bread of life,
Feeds and shelters and serves food weekly for those less fortunate.
At Christmastime. A 28 year old man was in dire need.
He had been unemployed for months and couldn’t find a job.
One of their Sunday school classes had provided a special offering
for him as an act of mercy. But the same week a little girl had been stabbed to death in that community. The unemployed man, though his need was desperate, refused his gift and directed it to be given to the mother of the stabbed girl.
Mercy begets mercy.
In Spiritual
Discipline we take
C. We take responsibility for the church by exercising our spiritual gifts.
A fully developed
Christian in full use of his gifts for the grace of God.
Is one of the more
beautiful sights in the church.
6We have
different gifts, according to the grace given us.
If a
man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.
7If it
is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach;
8 if it
is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing the needs of others,
let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it
is showing mercy’ let him do it cheerfully.
Acting as a Christian expresses itself in what we do,
And in what we refuse to do.
If our Christian life is a means of Grace for others.
Could it not also not be a means of grace for us.
There is a sense in which we can act our way into more Christ- like-ness.
Every Christmas a family would gather their children and read the nativity story from the family Bible. When their little girl was old enough to talk she asked her Mother, “What is a stable? Her mother struggled a moment how to explain it to her so her little mind could understand and then she said: “Well its’ something like your Brothers room, but without a computer.”
So what we do or refuse to do in obedience to God
becomes a challenge
of God’s grace to us and to others.
There is a sign in Latin over the doorway in St.
Anthony’s Catholic Church in
A young mechanic from
got drunk, was rolled, and ended up in jail without a penny.
In jail, he learned of St. Anthony’s and went there for a meal
A women began cleaning the adjoining table.
“He said: When do we have to get
down on our knees, lady?
“You don’t here” she said:
Well he winks and said: “When do we
get the sermon, the lecture?”
“Aren’t any” she replies.
“What’s the
gimmick?” He persist.
Now he looks a bit uncomfortable.
The well –dressed woman brushes her hair back,
Points to the Latin inscription over the entrance. “Caritate Dei.”
The brash young traveler at the unfamiliar words.
“What’s it mean Lady?”
She says: “Out of
love for God.”
And moves off to clean another table.
Out of love for God.
That is what Spiritual discipline or formation is all about.
Living our lives so that what we do a say and what we are
Point others to the Love of God.
Is your life disciplined enough.
To deal with your pride to serve tables
To pick up trash for others.
To refuse to listen to destructive gossip
Refrain from treating any person as less then God’ creation
To go the second mile.
To give up the racial bigotry of those around us.
To refuse to treat any person whether a mate, an employee, a neighbor as a thing rather than a person.
Then we are one the road to Spiritual formation.
Today as we come to the communion table let us examine ourselves,
Forgive those who have hurt us and
Intend to practice Spiritual Discipline in 2005
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