All scripture references are NIV.
I grew up in a Christian home. I made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ when I was 15. I became a communicant member of my congregation at 18. I was called into ministry at age 21. I was recommended by my Presbytery as a candidate for ministry, certified by them, was licensed and ordained in 1977. And through all of those processes there was one question, to the best of my memory, that I was never asked, “How is your devotional life”? In other words, I was never asked about my spiritual practices and how they were helping me to become more like Christ. I was never asked how I would live out 1 John 2:6, “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did” or how I would “live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Ephesians 4:1) or how I planned to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).
Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.” – Richard Foster
As I reflect on those unasked questions, I realize that there was a great assumption. Let me call it the “Christendom assumption.” During my childhood, youth, and early twenties, Christendom was still a powerful, if declining, force. The assumption was that if you grew up in a Christian country, in a Christian home, went to Sunday School, youth group, church camps and conferences, you would find your own spiritual way. You would know, for example, how to pray, how to read Scripture, and how to share your faith with others. Yet, as I reflect back on all those experiences, I have concluded that Christian formation was always assumed, it was never explicitly taught. It was never laid out in a clear and detailed manner that left no room for confusion and doubt.
The year after I was ordained to ministry is the year that Richard Foster wrote his classic book “Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth” (1978). The very first chapter of that book began with the sentence, “Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.” Although I would not discover Foster’s book for another 12 years, I often had a sense of that superficiality in my personal life and in the lives of many of the Christians I met and minister amongst. I also found that the answer to most things in church life appeared to be “begin a program.” Now I am not against church programs, but they often have us buy into the idea that if we are living “busy” church lives, we are growing in our faith. That is another assumption that few of us test and seems to be a contradiction to Psalm 46:10 (NIV) where we are invited to, “Be still, and know that I am God.”
How can pastors and teachers ‘equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up’ if they themselves have never been grounded in, and equipped to practice, the spiritual disciplines?
It has always fascinated me that the word “disciple” appears 294 times in the NIV New Testament but that discipleship is not a key emphasis in so many congregations today. I suggest that the real need in the church is not more money, more people, bigger buildings, more technology, or more programs, but more disciples who do not confuse the word “Christian” with the word “disciple.” We need more “deep” Christians and fewer “nominal” ones. Discipleship, as Dallas Williard suggested, is “apprenticeship”, it is learning to be obedient to Christ as we learn from him how to live a Christ-like life in every aspect of our existence. As Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commands” (John 14:15) and “You are my friends if you do what I command.”
I am not against church programs, but they often have us buy into the idea that if we are living ‘busy’ church lives, we are growing in our faith.
However, we mislead ourselves and others if we suggest that obedience to Christ’s commands are easy. As Jesus said to his sleepy disciples on the night of his betrayal, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mark 14:38). And surely the Apostle Paul spoke for all of us when he observed in Romans 7:18-20, “For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” Thankfully, Paul spoke about God’s amazing grace by concluding in verses 24-25, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Yes! Thanks be to God that it is “by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:5b). But is that it? Does that mean that we have nothing to do as we “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18)? And if it does, what role does obedience play, because Jesus clearly calls us to be obedient to him? How do we hold the “Amazing grace” we so fondly sing about, with the “Trust and obey” we also sing about. Surely, James was right that “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James 2:17). Grace is a wonderful gift. It is surely by grace we are saved and certainly the Holy Spirit accompanies us on our journey of faith, but the Spirit accompanies us, counsels us, guides us to do what? Surely it is to help us live out Paul’s instruction to the Philippians in 2:12, “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”
The real need in the church is not more money, more people, bigger buildings, more technology, or more programs, but more disciples.
How do we do that? How do we deepen our walk with Christ so that we move from being spiritual children to becoming mature children of God? The answer is to live a disciplined Christian life. Now the moment one uses the word “discipline” many people think “legalism” and the practice of following rigid rules. But that is not the intent. The intent is captured in First Timothy 4:7-8, “ train yourself to be godly. Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” This is where our understanding of grace once again enters the picture. Our salvation cannot be earned, it is God’s gift. But that is not the same as recognizing that becoming Christ-like never happens without intentional action on our part. This is where the obedience part comes in. And this is where the “spiritual disciplines” can be a wonderful way of helping us to grow in Christ. This is how we take our spiritual formation seriously.
The classical spiritual practices, as outlined by Foster, fall into three sets of practices that he defines as “The Inward Disciplines” (Meditation, Prayer, Fasting and Study), “The Outward Disciplines” (Simplicity, Solitude, Submission and Service), and “The Corporate Disciplines” (Confession, Worship, Guidance and Celebration). Many of these are not unknown to Christians. Prayer, Study of Scripture, and Worship are the regular practices of many Christians. Although they may not see them as disciplines, at some level it is understood that these practices are foundational to the Christian life. If that life, our life as disciples, is to model the life of Christ, then he already has demonstrated that these were all practices that he engaged in regularly, and so should we. Other practices will also be recognized as necessary to our Christian growth, but knowledge does not imply practice.
How do we deepen our walk with Christ so that we move from being spiritual children to becoming mature children of God? The answer is to live a disciplined Christian life.
What we have to recognize is a sad reality. Most of us, unlike those Christians who lived in the first centuries of Christianity, simply do not know how to go about the practice of the spiritual disciplines. We don’t know how to explore the inward life. If we did, perhaps we would not be so resistant to being part of a small group or attending a Bible study. Although certain colleges and seminaries have made advances in the area of teaching Christian formation, many have not and the “Christendom assumption” – the unasked questions – are still with us. The metric of “bums in the pews” still outweighs the “number of folk being disciplined.” This may sound harsh but how can pastors and teachers “equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (Ephesians 4:12) if they themselves have never been grounded in, and equipped to practice, the spiritual disciplines?
As we all struggle to adapt with the realities of post-COVID church life, could this be an opportunity to help the people of our congregations grow deep into the Christian life? Is this the time and season to see discipleship-making as the great task of the Church, now set free from the assumptions of Christendom where Christian and disciple became seen as the same thing by most Christians? Where the church will no longer be seen by our culture as a building, but as a movement of God’s people? To use an illustration from Ezekiel 31:4 that uses the picture of a tall and beautiful cedar, can we envision a time when it will be said of our personal spiritual growth:
Most of us, unlike those Christians who lived in the first centuries of Christianity, simply do not know how to go about the practice of the spiritual disciplines.
“The waters nourished it,
deep springs made it grow tall;
their streams flowed
all around its base
and sent their channels
to all the trees of the field.”
Could it be that the upheaval that the pandemic caused in the spiritual lives of believers exposed for them a much deeper need, not for a return of church programs or a busy Christian life, but for a deeply personal experience with Jesus Christ that goes far beyond simply being known as a Christian?
