Spiritual Disciplines

INTRODUCTION

For most of us, our spiritual nature is so weak and impotent that (1) we are incapable of engaging in the simplest form of spiritual efforts (like a few moments of prayer) for any prolonged period, and (2) our Christian nature exerts virtually no influence on our day to day living -- even to the point that the fact of eternal salvation has almost no perceptible influence on our daily affairs.

The purpose of this class is to study how we can build up our spiritual fitness so that both problems are addressed: (1) we will be more able to nurture and encourage our spiritual lives; and (2) those strengthened spiritual lives will then manifest themselves in transformed living.

A spiritual life "consists in that range of activities in which people cooperatively interact with God." (Willard, 67). It is another reality. It is not "commitment" and it is not a "life style." It is not a social or political stance.

Disciplines are the activities of mind and body purposefully undertaken to initiate and nurture the spiritual life.

Objectives:

• Understand the general basis of (and need for) spiritual disciplines
• Study a few of the disciplines to understand them and how they are practiced.
• Engage in a few disciplines to provide a little practical experience. (Individually and in small groups.)
• Emerge with a resolution to a more disciplined life.

Why discipline? Two reasons:

1. Godly living requires spiritual fitness.

We tend to think of a Godly life as having two components: (1) relationship with God (joyfulness, freedom from the burdens, disappointments, and troubles of life) and (2) relationship with others (love, kindness, charity, patience, forgiveness, meekness, etc. "Turn the other cheek," "bless them that persecute you," "give unto them that ask," etc.)

• Both of these, however, including the "acts" directed towards others, are really outward evidences of an internal condition more than "conduct" in which we engage.
• I.e., there is a three-way unity of spirit (our internal spiritual condition), and mind (our thoughts and feelings), and body (our actions).
• There is a tendency to think of "spirituality" as some "superior" mode of existence, disengaged from the concrete world and ordinary life.
  • We create an artificial distinction between "being" and "doing," between what we are and what we do.
  • We believe that Christ’s commands are merely "ideals" to which we should aspire, in an abstract way; we don’t really have to "follow" him or "take up his cross."
• This has the effect of relegating our Christianity to "special acts" to be engaged in on rare occasions. We have special charity days; we think it makes sense to talk about ways of "taking Christ into the workplace."
• The Church then follows suit, becoming the sponsor of "special acts," even going so far as to affirm that "special acts" are all that is required.
• Which in turn fuels the divorce between spirit and living even further.
• Problem is: we’ve become so used to this style of life that we are hardly aware of it. We say things like, "I do live a Christian life ... I spent 6 days last year on Habitat houses!," while the whole of our existence is indistinguishable from that of nonbelievers.

Fundamentally, all of this reflects a spiritual shortcoming. Our spiritual existence is so atrophied and weakened that it is incapable of exerting prolonged, effective influence in our lives.

2. Spiritual fitness requires spiritual disciplines.

It is not crazy to say, "I cannot live constantly as a Christian. It is too hard; the burden is too great." It is -- without two things: (1) The action of the Holy Spirit; (2) A level of fitness sufficient to sustain the effort. What do we know about attaining that level of fitness?

• Jesus himself followed a regimen to keep himself spiritually fit. Moreover, he assumed others were undergoing the same regimen.
• Lesson of other endeavors. Watch e.g. runners: stride, grace, endurance. Not produced during the run itself. Training, effort, hours per day over years. Imagine someone saying, "Want to be a great runner ... easy ... three times a year go run real fast, preferably sub-3:50 miles." Fast times are the evidence of a life spent in preparing for excellence, not the means of excellence themselves.
• An irony of being fit is that it is remarkably liberating. Another analogy to exercise: ever heard people say, "I’m too tired to exercise"? Irony is that exercise creates energy, does not drain it. Likewise, most people are spiritually enervated and don’t realize that the lack of spiritual energy derives from a lack of spiritual exercise:
  • Enervated by superficiality. Everything seems to trivial and unworthy.
  • Enervated by modernity. E.g., tendency to see meditation not as a form of communion with the divine, but as a form of psychological self-manipulation ==> so we tend either to avoid it or practice it in such a way as to render it impotent.
  • Enervated by self-interest and self-absorption. Runs into the paradox of selfishness: the more one focuses on himself, the more unhappy he becomes -- until in the end he is focused only on himself and is completely miserable. For that reason, trying harder and harder to be self-focused in the pursuit of happiness is fruitless and exhausting!

By nurturing our spiritual existence, we can know deeper truths, have a vibrant relationship with God, and be genuinely carefree and happy. This is not the reason to practice discipline, but it is an undeniable benefit none the less.

Assumptions going forward:

• Everyone here is saved;
• Everyone here, in his heart, wants to be a disciple, wants to be transformed, wants to be the kind of person who can knock the world off its hinges;
• Most of us are, maybe in all ways but at least in some aspects, spiritually out of shape (a little "flabby"); and,
• There is here a level of commitment to get fit and to apply the level of spiritual discipline necessary to do so.

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7/12/97