In a few days the church of which I am a pastor is sponsoring a 5K race. People from the community will pay $35 each to run in our race. We will use that money to help fund some relief projects in Haiti. My job in this race will be to help at the First Aid station.
You might wonder why I am not running in the race.
The fact is that I am out of shape and it would take me months of serious training to build up the stamina to do a race like that. I'd have to do practice runs every single day. I'd have to change my diet. I'd have to do some other exercises.
Spiritual formation requires practice, too. There are training practices (or "disciplines") which the church has found helpful for building up spiritual stamina. And if we really want to develop enough stamina to run the Christian race we will subject ourselves to some of these training practices.
Of course, we're not talking about doing these things to earn God's favor. These are not things we do to impress God (or other people!). They are not legalistic obligations or measures or spirituality. They are merely exercises.
John Ortberg writes in his book The Life You've Always Wanted (a book that I highly recommend):
I devote this chapter to the single most helpful principle I know regarding spiritual transformation. It is by no means original with me. People who are wise in the ways of spiritual growth have understood it for centuries. I came across it at a time when I felt frustrated and stagnant in my own life with God, and through it I gained a firm hope that I really could grow. Through it -- in a way I didn't recognize at the time -- God was speaking to me. Here is the principle: There is an immense difference between training to do something and trying to do something.Dr Ortberg then goes on to remind his readers that:
I wish I could describe the hope I felt when I first came to understand this truth. I found it in Dallas Willard's book The Spirit of the Disciplines, and most of this chapter flows from the spirit of understanding that underlies his work. For much of my life, when I heard messages about following Jesus, I thought in terms of trying hard to be like him. So after hearing (or preaching, for that matter) a sermon on patience on Sunday, I would wake up Monday morning determined to be a more patient person. Have you ever tried to be patient with a three-year-old? I have -- and it generally didn't work any better than would my trying hard to run a marathon for which I had not trained. I would end up exhausted and defeated. Given the way we are prone to describe "following Jesus," it's a wonder anyone wants to do it at all.
Spiritual transformation is not a matter of trying harder, but of training wisely. This is what the apostle Paul means when he encourages his young protégé Timothy to "train yourself in godliness." This thought also lies behind his advice to the church at Corinth: "Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever."
Athletics was familiar imagery to Paul's audience. Corinth was the site of the Isthmian Games, second only to the Olympics in prominence in ancient Greece. Paul himself had probably been in Corinth during the games of AD 51 and, according to Gordon Fee, may even have made tents for the visitors and contestants needing accommodations. That a competitor would strive for the crown by simply "trying really hard" apart from training was unthinkable. In fact, any athlete who entered the games was required to undergo ten months of strict training and could be disqualified for failing to do so. Paul said he, too, had entered a life of training, "so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified."
Respecting the distinction between training and merely trying is the key to transformation in every aspect of life. People sometimes think that learning how to play Bach at the keyboard by spending years practicing scales and chord progressions is the "hard" way. The truth is the other way around. Spending years practicing scales is the easy way to learn to play Bach. Imagine sitting down at a grand piano in front of a packed concert hall and having never practiced a moment in your life. That's the hard way.
This need for preparation, or training, does not stop when it comes to learning the art of forgiveness, or joy, or courage. In other words, it applies to a healthy and vibrant spiritual life just as it does to physical and intellectual activity. Learning to think, feel, and act like Jesus is at least as demanding as learning to run a marathon or play the piano.
For me, this truth brought light to the darkness. For the first time as an adult, I found the notion of following Jesus a real, concrete possibility. I could do it. Following Jesus simply meaning learning from him how to arrange my life around activities that enable me to live in the fruit of the Spirit.
The traditional term for such activities is "spiritual disciplines." But for many people, that term carries associations of legalism, or attempting to earn God's goodwill, or something like New Year's resolutions -- good intentions that are neither practical nor world-changing.
Richard Foster's book, Celebration of Disciplines, discusses twelve such activities for spiritual growth. When I first read that book years ago, my immediate response was, "I already feel guilty about not reading the Bible and praying enough; the last thing in the world I want is ten other things to feel guilty about not doing."
My next response was to draw up a very ambitious plan for spiritual advancement that would immediately incorporate all twelve practices into my life so I could feel good about my spiritual growth. I tried this strategy for a few weeks, but I soon felt overwhelmed and exhausted by it. And my response after that was to give the whole project up as something practical only for monks and saints.(1)
- Spiritual disciplines are not a barometer of spirituality.
- Spiritual disciplines are not necessarily unpleasant.
- Spiritual disciplines are not a way to earn favor with God.(2)
In the next few sections we are going to look at a sampling of some important spiritual disciplines. As Dr Ortberg described them, these are practices that we undertake as training tools. Although we will only have time to look at a few disciplines, here is a list of many of the training exercises that Christians use to develop spiritual stamina.
- The practice of celebration
- The practice of slowing
- The practice of prayer
- The practice of scripture reading and mediation
- The practice of secret giving
- The practice of confession
- The practice of simplicity
- The practice of study and education
- The practice of solitude
- The practice of fasting
- The practice of service
- The practice of radical fellowship
I am not going to be running the 5K race this coming Saturday. Frankly, running a race like that is not important enough to me that I would want to rearrange my life to prepare and practice for it. We adjust our schedules and routines -- our practices -- for those things which we find important.
If we really believe that spiritual formation is important we will start to look for ways to integrate some of these practices into our lives.
SECTION #23 NOTES
(1) John Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted, expanded edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan) pp. 42-44.
(2) Ortberg, pp. 44-46
SECTION #23 ASSIGNMENT
1. Write three paragraphs describing some kind of training (not spiritual training) to which you have subjected yourself. What was it like? Why did you do it? How long did you train? Was it worth it? (10 points possible)
2. Write three paragraphs explaining which of the spiritual disciplines listed above you have tried. What have your experiences been like? Why did you do it? How long did you train? Was it worth it? (10 points possible)
3. In your own words, what does Dr Ortberg mean when he says that "Spiritual transformation is not a matter of trying harder, but of training wisely." What do you feel about that idea? Do you agree with all of it? Some of it? None of it? Why? (10 points possible)
4. BONUS: Let's say that you struggle with the sin of gluttony, one of the Seven Deadly Sins mentioned in Section #22. In order to work on overcoming that particular sin which of the disciplines listed above might you use to train yourself toward spiritual stamina in that area? Explain your answer. (10 points possible)
Again, email your answers to me at bboydston@piu.edu. Write your answers in the email itself -- or if you use a word processor, copy and paste the answers into the email. Make sure that your name, the name which you used to register for this class, appears at the top of the work.
I will respond to you as soon as possible. Do not wait for a response from me before you start working on your next assignment.
