Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life

Donald S. Whitney

Foreword by JI Packer

Foreword by JI Packer
Who is JI Packer?

Foreword by JI Packer
Who is JI Packer? - he encourages Christians to read the book 3 times!

Foreword by JI Packer
Who is JI Packer? - he encourages Christians to read the book 3 times! - suggests an interval of one month between each reading

Foreword by JI Packer
Who is JI Packer? - he encourages Christians to read the book 3 times! - suggests an interval of one month between each reading - the rst reading tells you what you should be doing, the 2nd and 3rd ask how well are you doing it?

Foreword by JI Packer
the doctrine of the disciplines (Latin disciplinae, meaning courses of learning and training) is a restatement of classical Protestant teaching on the means of grace (Word of God, prayer, fellowship, and the Lords supper)...they are cemented in the Bible and spelled out by the Puritan and older evangelical masters...they are evangelical but not legalistic...he calls us to practice the disciplines out of gratitude for grace not out of self-justifying or self advancing effort. As I pass you over to Don Whitney I would say to you, Now friend prepare for the workout. And you will nd health for your soul.

Acknowledgments
Whitney declares his thanks to... The Puritans...They are spiritual giants on whose shoulders I stand. Thanks to Jonathan Edwards, CH Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. My life and ministry are immeasurably better because of theirs. He also thanks some contemporary friends for their help, encouragement and enrichment in writing the book.

Acknowledgments

WEBSITE OF DON WHITNEY: HTTP:// BIBLICALSPIRITUALITY.ORG/ BIOGRAPHY OF DON WHITNEY: HTTP:// BIBLICALSPIRITUALITY.ORG/ ABOUT/BIOGRAPHY/

Key Verse
1 Timothy 4:7 ...Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. (NIV) But have nothing to do with worldly fables t only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; (NASB)

Spiritual disciplines...for the purpose of godliness

V. Raymond Edman, "Ours is an undisciplined age.The old disciplines are breaking down... Above all, the discipline of divine grace is derided as legalism or is entirely unknown to a generation that is largely illiterate in the Scriptures.We need the rugged strength of Christian character that can come only from discipline."

Discipline without direction is drudgery For many Christians they think of spiritual disciplines as drudgery - it is the fact they have no spiritual direction that makes it drudgery prayer, meditation, fasting all seem to many believers to be unclear in their benets. We need to understand Gods vision for us, Rom 8:29, For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, This is so we will be like him (1 Jn 3:2)

Understand that God has a desire for us to be like him - however we are not to wait for this holiness but to pursue it, Heb 12:14, Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. How do we do this? Back to our key verse, 1 Tim 4:7, ...train (discipline yourself, NASB) yourself to be godly. Practice of the spiritual disciplines help us to become mature and godly.

The spiritual disciplines: The means to godliness

Spiritual disciplines have been practiced by Christians for millennia and include: Bible intake, Prayer Worship, Evangelism Service, Stewardship Fasting, Silence Solitude, Journalling Learning - and many more... Confession, accountability, submission, simplicity, spiritual direction, celebration, sacrice...

The most important aspect of any spiritual discipline is its purpose - for the purpose of godliness. God gives us spiritual discipline that we might pursue him. Whitney lists many famous Christians all of whom were disciplined in their pursuit of spiritual maturity: Muller, Spurgeon, Calvin, Bunyan, Susanna Wesley, Whiteld, Sarah Edwards. Godliness comes through discipline

God uses 3 primary ways to change us - only one do we have any control over: 1. People - Pr 27:17 Iron sharpens iron,and one man sharpens another. Hebrew: sharpens the face of another Friends, enemies, parents, children, wife, coworker, teacher, neighbour, pastor, preacher...

2. Circumstances - Rom 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,for those who are called according to his purpose. 3. Spiritual Disciplines - here God is working from the inside out, and God gives us a measure of choice here - we can choose to read the Bible etc. We usually cannot choose people and circumstances.

We have to balance the fact that even our greatest, most determined efforts will not make us more holy (as this is a gift of God, Jn 17:17, 1 Thess 5:23), and yet we can further the process and grow in grace through spiritual disciplines. In this process we place ourselves before God in order that he might work in us. The word we use for discipline comes from a Greek word from which we get gymnasium and it means to exercise or discipline.

Spiritual disciplines place us in the path of Gods grace similarly to Bartimaeus (Lk 18:35ff) and Zacchaeus (Lk 19:1ff). Our hope in all of this is transformation, 2 Cor 3:18, And we all, with unveiled face,beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

I must take care above all that I cultivate communion with Christ, for though that can never be the basis of my peace - mark that - yet it will be the channel of it. Charles H. Spurgeon The job of a football coach is to make men do what they don't want to do, in order to achieve what they've always wanted to be. Tom Landry.

We pursue spiritual disciplines in order to become more like Jesus Christ; that is all we have wanted to be.

The spiritual disciplines: The Lord expects them

We have seen from 1 Tim 4:7 that these are not an option. Consider Pr 23:12, Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge. (NASB) Apply your heart to discipline This is also understood (or at least implied) in the words of Jesus;

Matt 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, Luke 9:23 And he said to all, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Such practices leads us to Gal 5:22-23 - which includes a Spirit produced self control (discipline) If we care to observe we see that Jesus modeled the disciplines for us:

My central claim is that we can become like Christ by doing one thing by following him in the overall style of life that he chose for himself. If we have faith in Christ, we must believe that he knew how to live. We can grow more like Christ. Spiritual transformation is authentically possible through faith and grace if I am willing to arrange my life around the activities Jesus Himself practiced in order to remain constantly at home in the fellowship of His father. Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines

Many Christians are spiritually undisciplined - the result is a lack of maturity, power and fruit in their lives. Whitney describes these people as being, a mile wide and an inch deep - there are no deep channels of God in their life, they dabble and have a little knowledge but lack any depth. Many people will discipline their life to grow in other areas (sport, business etc.), but ignore spiritual disciplines and the sacrice needed to grow and succeed.

The gold of godliness does not lie on the surface but has to be mined from the depths of Christian faith.

More application
1. There is a danger in neglecting the spiritual disciplines, William Barclay says, Nothing was ever achieved without discipline; and many an athlete and many a man has been ruined because he abandoned discipline and let himself grow slack...

Coleridge is the supreme tragedy of undiscipline. Never did so great a mind produce so little. He left Cambridge University to join the army; but he left the army because, in spite of all his erudition, he could not rub down a horse; he returned to Oxford and left without a degree. He began a paper called The Watchman which lived for ten numbers and then died. It has been said of him: "He lost himself in visions of work to be done, that always remained to be done. Coleridge had every poetic gift but onethe gift of sustained and concentrated effort. In his head and in his mind he had all kinds of books, as he said himself, completed save for transcription...

...I am on the eve," he said, "of sending the press two octavo volumes." But the books were never composed outside Coleridge's mind, because he would not face the discipline of sitting down to write them out. No one ever reached any eminence, and no one having reached it ever maintained it, without discipline. We all have spiritual gifts - the question is will we use them and bear fruit?

2. There is freedom in embracing the spiritual disciplines Richard Foster calls the disciplines the door to liberation - these disciplines produce liberty in our lives. Watch a gifted musician and they can play anything - how? because of the years of disciplined practice which produces such freedom.

Elton Trueblood We have not advanced very far in our spiritual lives if we have not encountered the basic paradox of freedomthat we are most free when we are bound. To one who would be an athlete, but who is unwilling to discipline his body by regular exercise and abstinence, is not free to excel on the eld or the track. His failure to train rigorously denies him the freedom to run with the desired speed and endurance. With one concerted voice, the giants of the devotional life apply the same principle to the whole of life: Discipline is the price of freedom and I would add - freedom is the reward of discipline.

Freedom and discipline are often considered mutually exclusive in fact one is the result or reward of the other. Consider the freedom of, - being able to quote the Bible - spiritual sensitivity through fasting - deliverance from self centredness through service and worship We should remember such a process is not an overnight affair - it is a lifelong process.

3. There is an invitation to all Christians to enjoy the spiritual disciplines Freely given by the Holy Spirit to all believers.