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Purpose of Spiritual Disciplines
Open your Bibles to Psalm 1.
We’re in a series titled Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life.
Our key verse is
"... train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 1 Timothy 4:7–8
Godliness is not only beneficial in this life, but how we live affects our eternal life with God.
We train ourselves for Godliness through Spiritual Disciplines.
And these disciplines are the means in which we build our lives around Jesus.
And that really is the goal – to live a Godly, Christ-centered life – knowing that how I live in this world has bearing in the next.
One of the disciplines is Bible Intake (which we started last week).
The consumption of God's Word is paramount to live the Christian life.
The Christian cannot live as a true disciple of Christ apart from God’s Word.
Jesus makes that clear in Matthew 4:4 ESV But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
It's like being a doctor.
You can't be a true doctor apart from studying anatomy, medicine etc.
And it’s not just a one-time deal – it is a continuous study of the medical sciences.
If that’s true for a doctor, what makes the Christian think they can live as a Christian without the continuous study of God’s Word?
I want to clarify something from last week.
Last week I asked if this was the inspired Word of God.
The answer is yes and no.
Is this the inspired Word?
Absolutely.
This Bible is the Word of God.
It is trustworthy, it is true, it is reliable.
Now the "no" part is in reference to the English translation.
What I meant to convey was this – that the English translation, or any translation is not the standard?
The Hebrew and Greek texts which the Bible was originally in, are the standard by which all other translations must conform.
Hope that makes better sense – if not, come chat with me.
Back to the consumption of God’s Word.
Perhaps one of the reasons why the Bible often sits idle on a shelf or coffee table, is because we've been told that Christians pray and read their Bibles.
We hear this everywhere.
So we read the Bible, not much happens, not a lot of change and so we're like - what's the point and we give up.
What’s the problem?
Is it us?
That we’re not spiritual enough or smart enough?
Is it that we’re lazy (for some, that’s true, because it requires work).
But for many Christians, the problem is not the person, but the method.
Reading the Bible is good and necessary, but the Bible was never meant to be just read.
It’s not a newspaper or textbook and we can’t read it as such.
We read newspapers and textbooks for what?
Information.
Q - Why do we read the Bible?
Many read for information.
How to fix a marriage.
How to find God’s will.
How to comfort someone.
So we treat it as a ‘how to’ manual.
Those are benefits of reading Scripture, but that’s not why we read it.
We read the Bible to know the author.
We don’t read a newspaper to know or engage the author, but we read our Bibles to know and engage the Author.
So rather than just reading, the most critical aspect of knowing God is through Scripture meditation.
So I want every person to stop reading their Bibles, and start meditating on the Word.
What does that mean?
What's this meditation?
There are many passages we can look at, but this morning let's look at Psalm 1
The Book of Psalms, by the way, really is a song book.
I’m not sure the writers had that in mind, initially, but over time it became a song book used in Jewish worship.
Here's an interesting fact, Jesus mentions the Books of Psalms in Luke 20:42.
Now, I’m not going to do this Psalm justice this morning because the intent is to talk about Biblical meditation, and not so much the Psalm itself.
So keep that in mind.
Psalm 1
Now I just read that.
Did that change anyone's life?
Maybe, but probably not.
Some people are initially changed by the reading of the Word – I get that, however, 99% of the time, Spiritual transformation comes from the application of what was read, and application comes from meditation.
So let's meditate on this for a moment.
I'll explain meditation a little later, but for now, follow me.
The first thing we see in verse 1 is "Blessed is the man."
We have to ask ourselves some questions.
What does blessed mean?
How do I receive blessing?
Where does this blessing come from?
This is where study Bible come in hand.
The word 'blessed' in this passage means happy or happiness.
Well, what does happy mean?
A lot of us would agree that happiness is somewhat synonymous with being peaceful, or enjoyable or when I'm happy, it means “life is good.”
When I'm in my happy place, that means I'm in my 'life is good' place.
How does one receive this happiness or 'life is good' place?
The author first gives us the negative.
Here's how NOT to be happy.
He says don't walk, stand or sit with the wicked, with sinners, or with scoffers.
What does that mean?
In Scripture, to walk typically refers to what?
How one lives and behaves.
So how am I living?
According to God’s counsel or according to the “wisdom” of godless people.
Whose advice am I following?
Next it says don’t stand with sinners?
Turn to your neighbor and say, “I don’t stand with sinners, but I’m sitting next to one.”
So what does that mean?
To stand means to stay put, it means to linger.
Am I lingering too long with sinners?
Meaning, am I hanging out with sinful influence too much?
Of course to sit is the next step in this downward spiral of moving away from God – meaning, I’ve become really comfortable with the advice from wicked and godless influence.
As a matter fact, I’ve moved beyond being influenced, and now I find myself joining in mocking God, having contempt for God.
As we meditate on this, it should come clear that there is this progression from casual walking, to “hey, let’s stand and talk a while,” to let’s sit together ….
And the next critical step of mediation is to turn this into prayer.
“Lord, show me if I am walking, standing, sitting with ungodly influence.”
And then use this as a catalyst to pray for others.
“Lord, help so and so, they’re walking with ….”
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