Training to godliness...
July 16, 2005
At Harbor we value living in community. Frequently I hear comments about how far short we fall in being the kind of community that our vision declares. I usually agree with these comments and acknowledge that we are in our infancy as a Christian community. Today I've been pondering what is required for our community to mature - to be more loving and less judgmental, more missional and less self-absorbed, more kind and less angry. Would you read the following thoughts that came out of those ponderings for me?
In I Timothy 4:7 Paul tells Timothy to “train (the Greek word for train is gumnaze from which we get our word gymnasium) yourself unto godliness.” Paul did not have to explain or argue for the importance of this training. It was commonplace to the developing Christian church, as well in the surrounding culture, whether Jewish, Hellenistic, or Roman. So believers who read his letters did so with a deeply held set of assumptions that the spiritual disciplines are in a real sense, exercises unto Godliness. They allow us to take the teachings of Jesus and Paul and turn them into actual practice in our community.
Somewhere along the way the church has lost this commitment to training to godliness. The result is that all the talk of following Jesus is emptied of practical meaning. What is missing is an actual strategy of living our day-to-day existence in a way that allows us to do what Jesus did. We want to love our neighbor, but because we haven't practiced the disciplines that make that possible, when they act unlovingly, we respond in kind.
The ability of the early disciples to love and serve rested on their experiences. And the experiences in turn resulted from how they arranged their daily lives. In their daily lives they practiced prayer, fasting, solitude, worship, and service - to name some of the spiritual disciplines. These daily practices formed their experience and shaped their ability to respond. The only way to overcome our inability to live the kind of life that Jesus calls us to is by entering into the actual practices – the daily disciplines – that Jesus and Paul practiced - the spiritual disciplines.
The dominant message of our culture today stands in sharp contrast to a life of discipline. Our culture virtually screams a message that says that our unrestrained natural impulse is in itself a good thing and that we have an unquestionable right to fulfill our natural impulses so long as “no one gets hurt.” Our world is thickly populated with people who are neurotic or paralyzed by their devotion and willing bondage to how they feel. Our culture is also filled with magical thinking that says without any daily practice, I can magically respond to the hard challenges of life by just trying hard in the moment.
I challenge you today to press into our community. Listen to people. Serve people. Care for them. As you do you'll find that your own places of immaturity or brokenness will be put on display. In those moments I urge you to hear that still small voice that calls you to quiet places where the spiritual disciplines open the door for trusting your heart to Him. There he will heal your wounds and increase your capacity for effective action. As as more and more of us take personal responsibility for encountering God, our interactions with those around us will mature as well. Then our community will begin to look more like our vision for it.