Have you ever done a 5k run? My first 5k run experience was back in 2006 when I just came to the US to study my M.Div. program. At that time I hadn’t exercised in a while since my discharge from the military, but I thought a 5k run was a piece of cake. Without any training or preparation, I participated in it. Throughout the first half I was running in the leading pack, but then I already used up all my energy. Throughout the second half I had to walk and barely reached the finish line. From that experience I learned a simple truth in that I cannot expect to be fast or skilled without training for my sport. This is kind of common sense. We need exercise and training to be physically fit. This same principle applies to spirituality. We cannot expect to be spiritually fit without spiritual training.
Are You Spiritually Fit?
Are You Spiritually Fit?
How spiritually fit are you today? In order to answer this question, we need to know the standard, the goal of our spirituality. Then, it can be assessed how spiritually in shape or out of shape we are. Today’s passage clearly tells us what the goal of our spirituality is. In verse 15 Paul says, “We must grow up in every way into Christ” (Eph 4:15). Our spiritual journey is a lifelong process of conforming our minds and hearts to the mind and heart of Christ. It’s a journey to becoming more and more like Christ. But it doesn’t happen automatically. It doesn’t have to do with how long we have been a church member. Our spiritual journey to becoming Christlikeness requires intentionality – intentional effort and discipline. Dallas Willard rightly says, “To undertake the disciplines was to take our activities—our lives—seriously and to suppose that the following of Christ was at least as big a challenge as playing the violin or jogging.”[1] In this respect, physical fitness, musical practices, and spiritual disciplines have in common that they take intentionality.
Spiritual Disciplines
Spiritual Disciplines
But there is a crucial difference between spiritual disciplines and all the other practices and trainings. All the others are the practice of ascending; it is to achieve, acquire, master. It is to be faster, farther, and higher. But spiritual disciplines are the practice of descending. It is to be led, guided, mastered. It is to be humbler, lower, and emptier. Why? It is because being spiritually fit means a growing conformity to the mind of Christ, who humbled himself and emptied himself. In Philippians 2 Paul tells us in detail what our goal of spirituality looks like:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death--even death on a cross!So our spiritual journey is the way of the cross. It is the journey from self-exalting, self-saturated, self-centered life to Christ-exalting, Christ-saturated, Christ-centered life. But our human nature doesn’t like this change. We just don’t want to take this journey – the journey of dying to self, the journey of self-denial. Not only do we not have desire, but also we don’t have power to complete this journey by ourselves. We need the supernatural power – the power of the Holy Spirit, who transforms our minds and hearts. Then, how do we invite the Holy Spirit and experience him in our spiritual journey? The answer is through spiritual disciplines. Spiritual disciplines themselves do not transform us, but they are means of grace that create opportunities to open our hearts and minds to the Spirit who transforms. I like the way Henri Nouwen describes what spiritual discipline is and what it isn’t:[2]
Thus discipleship cannot be realized without discipline. Discipline in the spiritual life, however, has nothing to do with the discipline of athletics, academic study, or job training, in which physical fitness is achieved, new knowledge is acquired, or a new skill is mastered. The discipline of the Christian disciple is not to master anything, but rather to be mastered by the Spirit. True Christian discipline is the human effort to create the space in which the Spirit of Christ can transform us into his lineage.Our Lenten Journey
Lent is a perfect time to access our spiritual health – as individuals and as a church. Lent is a perfect time to ask ourselves important, hard questions: Where am I? How close am I to God or how far am I from God? How spiritually fit am I? How spiritually fit are we? In the early church, Lent was a time to prepare new Christians for baptism. They were taught, guided, equipped, trained, disciplined during those 40 days. Then, on the early Easter Sunday morning they were baptized before other Christian brothers and sisters. And they were officially welcomed as a church member. And for the first time they joined the Communion. As I was praying and preparing for Lent this year, God gave me desire to follow and restore this beautiful early church tradition. During this Lent we will explore what it means to be a church member. My prayer is that all of us in this room may be taught, trained, mastered by the Holy Spirit and that we may be able to find our church membership in a meaningful way. Making membership meaningful!
For United Methodists, in our membership vows we commit ourselves to practice at least five spiritual disciplines in order to grow up in every way into Christ. Those five spiritual disciplines are prayer, presence, gifts, service and witness. This morning we will briefly explore what they are and how we may practice them during this Lent. And from next week we will explore each spiritual discipline one by one.
Prayer. The first discipline is the discipline of personal and corporate prayer. The ultimate purpose of prayer is not to change our circumstances. The ultimate purpose of prayer is to change us. Prayer leads us to the heart of God. If we take the discipline of prayer seriously, we have to start by actually setting aside a time and a place to be with God, not once in a while, but daily. During this Lent, there will be a 3-week special prayer gathering, starting from March 18 to April 5 at noon-time. I exhort us to reserve time for prayer in your calendar, so that we can say to those who want to see us at that time, “I am sorry, but I have a previous engagement.”
Presence. John Wesley said that there is no such thing as solitary Christianity. When we were “born again” in Christ, we were “born into a new family” with brothers and sisters who are given to us in God’s love. So the discipline of presence is basically to show up. Particularly, in the local church context it is to show up for corporate worship and small group community, because those are the two main places where we experience the fullness of Christ’s presence. So I commend us to commit ourselves to show up for Sunday worship service and for small groups especially during this Lent.
Gifts. Money matters. Because it tells us where our heart is, how our eyes are, and whom we serve. Generosity as spiritual discipline is essential, because it is the only antidote to greed. Generosity is intentional. It doesn’t just happen. We don’t become generous unless we plan for it. Then, where do we start? Tithing is a good place to start cultivating generosity. In his book A Disciple’s Path, James A. Harnish says, “The biblical practice of giving the first 10 percent of what we earn for God’s work in the world is a spiritual discipline that enables us to build consistent generosity into our financial lifestyle and becomes the base line or beginning point for a generous life.”[3] So I encourage us to practice tithing during this Lent, and see what happens. Tithing and giving don’t change God. They do change us.
Service. Every Christian has been given a gift. When we discover and use our gifts for the common good, we become coworkers with God. Have you discovered your gifts? How do you use them to build up the church and love others? During this Lent, let us prayerfully discern our gifts and intentionally use them, so that every member of the body may grow up together into the Head, Christ.
Witness. Life begets life. Disciples beget disciples. Evangelism comes from the root word meaning “good news.” When we see a good movie, when we have a great meal at a new restaurant, we just can’t wait to tell our friends about it. That’s evangelism – sharing good news. When was the last time you shared the good news of Jesus with others? Why don’t we pray about it, share the good news with someone we care for, and invite that person to church on Easter Sunday?
Between Trying and Training
We are called. We are called to grow up into Christ. We are called to grow up into Christ by practicing spiritual disciplines – disciplined life of prayer and Scripture, faithful presence in worship and in community with other disciples, radical generosity in the stewardship of our financial gifts, energetic giving of our lives in service to others, and courageous witness to our friends and family.
In his book The Life You’ve Always Wanted, John Ortberg makes a helpful distinction between trying and training. He says that anyone can try to run a marathon, but only those who train for it will actually accomplish it. In the same way, anyone can try to be a follower of Christ, but the only people who actually discover the life to which God has called us are those who train for it. Ortberg concludes, “Spiritual transformation is not a matter of trying harder, but of training wisely.”[4] As we practice our spiritual disciplines wisely during this Lent, may the Holy Spirit transform our hearts and minds, and conform them to the heart and mind of Christ, so that Christ, the Head, will be exalted and the Church, the Body, will be strengthened. Amen.
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[1] Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1990), 24.
[2] Henri Nouwen, The Selfless Way of Christ: Downward Mobility and the Spiritual Life (Orbis Books, 2007), Kindle Locations 374-8.
[3] James A. Harnish, A Disciple's Path Companion Reader: Deepening Your Relationship with Christ and the Church (Abingdon Press, 2012), Kindle Locations 1083-7.
[4] Ibid., Kindle Locations 1512-6.
For United Methodists, in our membership vows we commit ourselves to practice at least five spiritual disciplines in order to grow up in every way into Christ. Those five spiritual disciplines are prayer, presence, gifts, service and witness. This morning we will briefly explore what they are and how we may practice them during this Lent. And from next week we will explore each spiritual discipline one by one.
Prayer. The first discipline is the discipline of personal and corporate prayer. The ultimate purpose of prayer is not to change our circumstances. The ultimate purpose of prayer is to change us. Prayer leads us to the heart of God. If we take the discipline of prayer seriously, we have to start by actually setting aside a time and a place to be with God, not once in a while, but daily. During this Lent, there will be a 3-week special prayer gathering, starting from March 18 to April 5 at noon-time. I exhort us to reserve time for prayer in your calendar, so that we can say to those who want to see us at that time, “I am sorry, but I have a previous engagement.”
Presence. John Wesley said that there is no such thing as solitary Christianity. When we were “born again” in Christ, we were “born into a new family” with brothers and sisters who are given to us in God’s love. So the discipline of presence is basically to show up. Particularly, in the local church context it is to show up for corporate worship and small group community, because those are the two main places where we experience the fullness of Christ’s presence. So I commend us to commit ourselves to show up for Sunday worship service and for small groups especially during this Lent.
Gifts. Money matters. Because it tells us where our heart is, how our eyes are, and whom we serve. Generosity as spiritual discipline is essential, because it is the only antidote to greed. Generosity is intentional. It doesn’t just happen. We don’t become generous unless we plan for it. Then, where do we start? Tithing is a good place to start cultivating generosity. In his book A Disciple’s Path, James A. Harnish says, “The biblical practice of giving the first 10 percent of what we earn for God’s work in the world is a spiritual discipline that enables us to build consistent generosity into our financial lifestyle and becomes the base line or beginning point for a generous life.”[3] So I encourage us to practice tithing during this Lent, and see what happens. Tithing and giving don’t change God. They do change us.
Service. Every Christian has been given a gift. When we discover and use our gifts for the common good, we become coworkers with God. Have you discovered your gifts? How do you use them to build up the church and love others? During this Lent, let us prayerfully discern our gifts and intentionally use them, so that every member of the body may grow up together into the Head, Christ.
Witness. Life begets life. Disciples beget disciples. Evangelism comes from the root word meaning “good news.” When we see a good movie, when we have a great meal at a new restaurant, we just can’t wait to tell our friends about it. That’s evangelism – sharing good news. When was the last time you shared the good news of Jesus with others? Why don’t we pray about it, share the good news with someone we care for, and invite that person to church on Easter Sunday?
Between Trying and Training
We are called. We are called to grow up into Christ. We are called to grow up into Christ by practicing spiritual disciplines – disciplined life of prayer and Scripture, faithful presence in worship and in community with other disciples, radical generosity in the stewardship of our financial gifts, energetic giving of our lives in service to others, and courageous witness to our friends and family.
In his book The Life You’ve Always Wanted, John Ortberg makes a helpful distinction between trying and training. He says that anyone can try to run a marathon, but only those who train for it will actually accomplish it. In the same way, anyone can try to be a follower of Christ, but the only people who actually discover the life to which God has called us are those who train for it. Ortberg concludes, “Spiritual transformation is not a matter of trying harder, but of training wisely.”[4] As we practice our spiritual disciplines wisely during this Lent, may the Holy Spirit transform our hearts and minds, and conform them to the heart and mind of Christ, so that Christ, the Head, will be exalted and the Church, the Body, will be strengthened. Amen.
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[1] Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1990), 24.
[2] Henri Nouwen, The Selfless Way of Christ: Downward Mobility and the Spiritual Life (Orbis Books, 2007), Kindle Locations 374-8.
[3] James A. Harnish, A Disciple's Path Companion Reader: Deepening Your Relationship with Christ and the Church (Abingdon Press, 2012), Kindle Locations 1083-7.
[4] Ibid., Kindle Locations 1512-6.
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