Setting Yourself Up for Spiritual Success

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Maybe, over the course of summer, you have found yourself less engaged with God than you would like. Today is a call to "set yourself up for spiritual success" by re-engaging or deeping your spiritual disciplines.

Notes

Transcript

I listened to a book last week that some of you may be familiar with: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. In it, he talks about how NYC in the 80’s was in the middle of an epidemic of crime. The murder rate reached its peak in 1990, then it tipped and crime started to plummet. Murders dropped by 2/3, felonies by half. On the subways, by the end of the 90’s, there were 75% fewer felonies than there had been at the start of the decade. What changed?

There were some major systemic issues that contributed for sure: a major reduction on the illegal distribution of crack cocaine, an economic recovery and a large chunk of the population that committed those crimes got older. But even though the rest of the US improved economically, that wasn’t the case in NY. The poorer neighbourhoods became even poorer in the early to mid 90’s. And even though the baby boomer generation was aging, reducing the amount of 18-30 year old males who make up the bulk of criminal, the population demographic in NY actually got younger with new, young people moving to the city. And while the reduction in the crack cocaine industry factored in to the decline of violent crime, the war on drugs meant that the industry had been in decline for a while and it doesn’t tell us why the crime rate dropped so dramatically in the early 90’s. So why the sudden drop in crime over a few short years?

A man named David Gunn was brought in to oversee the Transit authority and do a multi-million dollar upgrade. Against the advice from his peers, Gunn began by focussing on graffiti. He didn’t want to spend millions of dollars on new subway cars that would be vandalized in one day. His view was that the graffiti was the symbol of the problem called the broken windows theory. This theory stated that when people saw a building with a few broken windows, that even people who wouldn’t otherwise will pick up a rock and break more windows. So they spent about 6 years from 1984-1990 cleaning up or repainted all the cars.

In 1990, William Bratton was hired to oversee the transit police. Even though violent crime on the subway lines was at an all-time high, Bratton focussed on fare-beating (people who jumped the turnstiles or otherwise didn’t pay the subway fare, which, at the time was about $1.25. It was estimated that 170,000 people per day entered the system and didn’t pay the token. Before Bratton, the transit police didn’t care much about the fare beaters because there were far too many other, more serious crimes happening on the trains and in the stations.

But Bratton was a believer in the broken windows theory and he saw the problem differently. After figuring out which stations had the most fare-jumpers, he assigned up to 10 plainclothes officers at each station. They would catch fare-beaters, handcuff them to each other on the platform in front of everyone until they had enough for a “full catch.” They signalled to everyone that they were taking fare-beating seriously.

While they were arresting the fare-jumpers, Bratton insisted they run a check on every one of them. It turns out 1 out of 7 arrestees had a warrant out on them for other crimes. And 1 out of 20 had a weapon on them.

Later, Bratton was appointed head of the NYPD. He applied the same principles, cracking down on squeegee wipers who harassed drivers for money at stop lights, on people who peed in the street and on other things that affected quality of life. Shortly after implementing this new way of policing, and after the subways had been cleaned up from the grafitti, violent crime and felonies plummetted in NY dramatically.

In both areas, on the subway and in the city at large, making a few small changes snowballed into major transformation. Malcom Gladwell calls these changes, the tipping point.

It got me thinking about spiritual transformation. What are the tipping points that lead us to a deeper, more transformative, spiritual experience? Here, at North Park Communtiy Church, our vision statement says, “We believe God desires that all people experience the love and grace of Jesus, and with this invites His people to participate creatively with Him in His work of transformation.” What does it look like to creatively participate with Jesus in His work of transforming our lives?

That’s what I want to look at today: how we can set ourselves up for spiritual success by developing some holy habits, if you will, where we experience the love and grace of Jesus and allow those things to transform us.

Can we all agree that summer is a very odd season? The rhythms of life that we become used to often get thrown out the window in summer, especially if you have kids at home. And many, if not most of us, take some vacation time in summer, which is great and important, but again it can actually throw us off and contribute to a sense of disconnectedness from Jesus as it is hard maintain our connection to Him when our rhythms are disrupted.

What I am afraid of, is that for far too many of us, we will carry that sense of disconnectedness deep into the fall and winter, or even farther - leading us to an empty spirituality that is devoid of vitality, that can’t hear God’s voice anymore, that defines our faith by going to church on Sunday and not by the intimacy between us and God. So my hope for us today is that we set ourselves up for spiritual success by either engaging or re-engaging with some spiritual disciplines, or holy habits - that we pick a few tipping points that lead us closer to Jesus.

This past summer, when we went on a family vacation, I got to live out a small dream of mine. I got to run up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, made famous by Rocky Balboa. In the first Rocky movie from 1976, Rocky, at the beginning of his training to fight the world champion Apollo Creed, can barely make it up the steps, as they culminated at the end of an over 5 mile run. By the end of the training montage, he sprints up the stairs, showing us he is ready to face the champ. If you watch any sports movies, you know the importance of a good training montage. We love to see our heroes work hard to become better, to become able to rise up to the insurmountable challenge ahead of them. Without the training, they can’t win.

The same is true in our relationship with God. If we want to become stronger in our faith, if we want to be able to more closely hear God’s voice, if we want to experience more spiritual vitality, we need to train. The Apostle Paul, in writing to Timothy, a young man he mentored who is now pastoring the church in Ephesus, says,

1 Timothy 4:7–8 NLT

Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales. Instead, 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.”

So what is the training regimen that we should embrace in order to see our lives transformed? What are the tipping points that will help us become closer to Jesus, more in-step with the Holy Spirit, more obedient to the Father? In his classic book, Celebration of Discipline, which I highly recommend, Richard Foster outlines 12 disciplines. Out of love for you and respect for the time we have today, I have chosen four of them that I believe will, when incorporated into your life, will set you up for spiritual success.

1. Meditation

For some, the idea of meditation connotes images of New Age mysticism - sitting cross-legged under a waterfall, becoming one with the universe. And, hey, for a lot of people in the world, that’s exactly what it means. But meditation actually has biblical roots. There are 42 references to meditation in the Bible and the word can be used to mean “to consider, to reflect upon, to contemplate, to think upon, etc.” Meditation, in the Biblical sense, is about putting away all our distractions for a time and purposefully quieting and focussing our minds so that we can hear God’s voice and respond.

Philippians 4:8 NLT

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

This isn’t an “emptying” of our mind so that there is not thoughts at all. This is a “de-cluttering” of the mind and actively choosing to contemplate on three things:

1. Meditate on God

We contemplate - we ponder - His character, what he has done and what he will do. (EXPAND)

The attributes of God, the redemptive work of God and our future hope in God are all worth thinking about - they are worth meditating on because they are the anchor for our souls and the lens by which we interpret our lives.

Psalm 145:5 NLT

I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor and your wonderful miracles.

2. Meditate on Yourself

Growth happens when we contemplate our inner selves - our emotions, our circumstances, our choices. (EXPAND)

Lamentations 3:40 NLT

Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the Lord.

Without Christian meditation on our emotions, our circumstances and our choices, we can easily drift farther and farther from becoming the person God wants us to be, which means when God confronts us about these issues, it will be that much more of a painful correction for us. But when we practice self-examination as part of our Christian meditation we see where we are misaligned with Jesus and we can make the changes to re-align ourselves.

3. Meditate on Scripture

Reading the Bible isn’t helpful to you. I know. Pastors are all saying the exact opposite. But just reading the Bible isn’t overly helpful. Internalizing the Bible and allowing it to transform your mind, your heart, your relationships, and your ethics is helpful. More than just reading it, we need to meditate on it.

Psalm 119:11 NLT

I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

The scriptures are meant not to entertain you, but to confront you and invite you to know and follow God AS HE IS, not as we would want Him to be. This means we have to internalize the Bible and meditate on it, not just get through it. As your pastor, I don’t care if you read the whole Bible every year. While there is some value in seeing the whole story of redemption laid out, I would prefer that you read it more slowly, that you would memorize some key passages, that you would use it to examine your heart and mind. You would be better served spending a year in one book of the Bible than zipping through the whole thing. Don’t just read the Bible, meditate on it.

I’m convinced that if you carve out some distraction-free time to meditate on God, on yourself and on the scriptures, you will find that your intimacy with God will deepen exponentially.

2. Prayer

While we have taught this before, a few times here at North Park over our three years, I am still convinced that the acronym ACTS is a great framework for prayer, whether you are new to the faith or you have been following Jesus for decades. When we allow our prayers to move beyond “Dear Jesus,” and start encompassing these four traits, our prayer times will start to feel more enriching and effective.

Adoration

In adoration, we declare to God our love, our fidelity, our praises. There are a lot of people who only pray in order to get something. By starting with adoration, we place relationship over blessing, and we recognize the pure awesomeness of our God. Psalm 63 is a great example of this:

Psalm 63:1–5 NLT

O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory. Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy.

Our prayers need to begin not with our own needs and desires, but in humble, submissive worship of God - our creator, our sustainer, our heavenly parent, the lover of our souls and our redeemer.

Confession

So often, our sin and pride get in the way of us praying properly. Psalm 51 says, "My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise." James, the half-brother of Jesus, reminds us that "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." And John, writing to Christians, teaches us in 1 John 1:8-9 that "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Confession re-aligns us relationally with God and expresses humility before our Holy God.

Thankfulness

Note that all these take place before we have asked for anything from God yet. He is our King, our friend, our God, and before we bring our requests to him, let us be thankful for all He has done in our lives so far.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT

Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

I think God enjoys it when we are thankful. Last week, when I was serving burgers and hot dogs on Camp Sunday, everytime a kid said thank you when I gave them their food, my heart brightened a little bit. And honestly, for each kid who didn’t, I fought a bit of a scowl. That’s because I value thankfulness and I think God is the same way. Instead of prayers for more for ourselves, being thankful helps us realize how much God has already provided for us. Instead of lamenting how God seems silent, being thankful helps us realize how he has been with us all along. So say thank you quickly and repeatedly in your prayers.

Supplication

Finally, we are ready to bring our requests to him. But there should be a specific attitude that comes with our requests. And that's why we use the word "supplication." To supplicate is to ask or pray humbly. It is a request born of an unequal relationship. You are not equal to God. He is the Alpha and Omega, the eternal one, the creator of the universe. You and I are not. So we do not make demands of God, and we do not assume of God. We humbly pray and recognize our need for Him. And with that spirit, in accordance with God's will, we ask God to help us in our lives.

Philippians 4:6–7 NLT

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication. A four-part harmony that will help you get stronger in your prayer life and know God more intimately.

3. Fasting

Richard Foster defines fasting as the “voluntary denial of an otherwise normal function for the sake of intense spiritual activity.”

Fasting from food has been an exercise that people have practiced for centuries, experiencing clarity, physical health and spiritual revelations. It is practiced by most of the world’s major religions and in the Bible, fasting goes at least as far back as Moses. Many of our heroes of faith have participated in fasting - Moses, Elijah, Esther, David, Hannah, Ezra, Nehemiah, Paul, Barnabas, Martin Luther, John Knox, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Finney, Billy Graham - They all fasted at some point. Most notably, and perhaps most importantly, Jesus, the one we are supposed to pattern our lives after, also fasted.

In the Bible, fasting was a regular practice that many Jewish people practiced and it was a regular part of Christian worship as well. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says...

Matthew 6:16–18 NLT

“And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get. But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

When we fast, we end up feasting our souls on the word of God and on the presence of God. Many people who practice fasting find that their minds become clearer, their spirits are lifted and they feel more connected to God. When we fast, we create more time to pray and meditate on the word of God. We hear his voice speaking to us more clearly. Our devotional time is sweeter when we fast.

We also become more attuned to ourselves. We notice our feelings more acutely and are able to perceive their sources bette. Many people experience spiritual and emotional breakthroughs when they fast. The truth is that the spiritual discipline of fasting can bring breakthroughs in the heart and mind that will not happen in any other way. It is a means of God’s grace for our continuing formation into the likeness of Christ.

4. Study

Over the summer, we did a teaching series at both North Park campuses called “The Bible According to…Me - Misunderstanding Scripture.” and it was all about some of the commonly misunderstood Bible verses that Christians adopt. Through that whole series, we emphasized the need to look past the simplistic interpretation and take into account the different contexts that these verses were written in. To understand what God was really saying through them, we needed to understand the literary context, the narrative context, the historical context, the geographical context and even the theological context. And when we looked at those contexts, the passages actually pop out and teach us so much more than they ever could if we keep a superficial understanding.

Part of the Christian journey is to truly study the Bible so that you can understand what God is saying to you, so you can discern truth from error and so that you can pass on the truth to others in your lives because the truth sets people free.

2 Timothy 2:15 NIV

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

In order to be someone who correctly handles the word of truth, you need to do more than just read the Bible and even more than just meditate on it. You need to study it. You need to understand the meta narrative and how each passage fits into it. You need to know what the passage meant to the original audience. You need to interpret the OT in light of Jesus and his redemptive work. You need to know the contexts so that you can extrapolate what God is trying to tell you, not what you want to hear.

“But, pastor, we pay you to do that for us” you might say. But while it’s true for me, it’s also true for you because we all pastor someone. Some of you are a pastor to your friends, some of you to a spouse, some of you to your kids or grandkids. This passage is for all of us. We all need to practice the spiritual discipline of study so that we can be conformed to the image of Jesus as he is, not as we would want him to be.

Meditation, Prayer, Fasting and Study - four inward disciplines that, when practiced, will set you up for spiritual success.

Conclusion

I like to think I have a pretty healthy self-image. I am not overly down on myself for not being where I wish I was and yet I am also self-aware enough to know that I have lots of growing to do. But in those times when I sense I need to make changes, one of two things often occurs. 1) I see the enormity of what I need to do and I feel overwhelmed by it so I just resign myself and don’t try. Or 2) I take it on with gusto and try to do everything all at once and then quit after a short time. Neither of these strategies work well for me. And the best example of it is exercise. I will often start a new exercise regime and on the first day, I go so hard, that I lose the ability to bend, or sit, or stand, or do anything because I am too sore. So then I take a rest day, and then two, and then I forget about it while the gym continues to charge me. Is anyone else like that?

When it comes to our spiritual transformation, instead of seeing the mountain ahead of us, or instead of trying to do everything huge at once where you spend 2 hours a day in prayer, read the whole Bible every other week, and do a 40-day fast every month, I want us to incorporate these disciplines in small amounts. Create a space for 15 minutes of meditation before bed. Read 1 chapter of the Bible every day with breakfast. Once a month, plan on skipping a breakfast and lunch to take extra time for prayer. Maybe write in a journal the acronym of ACTS and write a one word prayer or short phrase for each section.

And remember that as you do these disciplines, that they often melt together. While you are meditating, God brings a person to your mind to pray for. While you are studying a passage, you meditate on what it means for you. While you are fasting, you spend extra time in prayer and meditation. They are all interconnected, like a spider-web.

Just as cleaning the graffiti, dealing with fare-jumpers and the squeegee people led to a massive transformation in the amount of violent crime in NYC in the 90’s, doing these small practices will lead to a transformation of your relationship with God, empowering you to know him deeper and follow him better. Implementing these tipping points are how you can set yourself up for spiritual success.