Most NFL players hate going to play in Mile-High Stadium in Denver Colorado. It’s not because the home team (the Bronco’s) are great, they aren’t. It’s not because the fans are unusually hostile, they’re not. It’s not even because it can get cold there, which it does. The reason players would rather not play there is because the stadium is a mile-high. It’s a mile higher than sea-level and the air is thinner there than in other stadiums. For the home team, it’s less of an issue because they have adjusted. Their lungs have come to accept the thin air as normal, the way it’s supposed to be. For visiting teams however, that thin air makes them feel like they are unconditioned and ill-equipped to play their game. They make it to half-time and their breath is short and they feel like they’ve already played a full game. Without the help of oxygen machines they wouldn’t make great competition for the Bronco’s come the 4 th quarter.
When Jesus began his ministry he began by announcing that heaven – a far-off, hard-to-imagine reality – was actually close at hand… close at hand but hard to breathe in. In fact, he spent the next three years proving both that it was close at hand and that we could breathe in it. He started relationships with regular everyday people and began to lead them into another reality… a reality they were overlooking.
He was answering everyone who asked the question: “Is this all there is to life?” And he was answering with a resounding “No, there’s so much more!” “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” he said. God and his realm are closer than the air you breathe. To be fair, many people couldn’t wrap their minds around what he was saying. Quite often I can’t get there but that doesn’t make me desire it less. “Eternal life began yesterday…” Jesus said, “What are you waiting for?” “It’s not way over there it’s in front of you.”
I desire it because the proposition is staggering for me. Half a glimpse of heaven on earth and I salivate. To live on earth except on heaven’s plain?
- To live amidst the rubble but to transcend it all at once?
- To hear the cries of injustice and the comforting voice of God at the same time?
- To experience the hurt of living while also being pulled through by an undying and powerful hope?
- To live where jealousy flies around like daggers but not to be penetrated by it?
- To rub shoulders with mean people but seeing through their devious ways and loving them?
- To be on the target end of verbal bullets but standing in front of them with the humble confidence of a child in their mother’s arms?
- To watch God attacked and his glory smothered in lies only to watch Him unveil himself in more powerful ways?
- To see and hear the sights and sounds of destruction all around but to see even more clearly Christ’s great work of restoration and healing?
Ya, I desire this. Most days I don’t live here. But on the days I do, it’s intoxicating… the air is sweet.
On the hard days I ask, “Really, Jesus?” “Heaven… here and now?” Isn’t heaven a place we go after we die – a big stadium somewhere past Pluto where we sing songs and wear a perma-grin? Isn’t heaven on the other side of life on earth? I ask these questions and then His words recorded in scripture echo in my mind: “The kingdom of heaven is within you”; “The kingdom of heaven is among you… it’s at hand, turn around and look.”
To be honest, I accept this proposition from Christ by faith but even though I’m grateful for his love in my life I often feel like heaven on the earth I’m living on is inaccessible. Heaven often does feel far off. It often feels like I’m trying to live as a fish out of water. I’m desperate for heaven’s air but trying to breathe it hurts and it feels unnatural.
The church has coped with this apparent contradiction for thousands of years. We’ve often missed the mark in our efforts to reconcile these words of Jesus. And instead of grasping for the reality behind Jesus’ words we have relegated the realm of heaven to a far-off space – that’s easier… we’ve cut and hacked away earth and our present reality from the definition of heaven because trying to breathe in heaven while on earth has hurt our lungs and it’s easier to say it’s for later, after we die.
To be fair, it will be easier later when God’s enemies are out of the picture… to be fair.
But to be truthful, Jesus never said it was easy to live in his kingdom here and now… in fact he said it would often be hard.
Thankfully, over the last couple thousand years there have been people who have lived in this kingdom with Christ in their hearts and have not let go of Christ’s proposal. In their tenacity to live in God’s kingdom here and now - In their tenacity and God’s mercy these people have developed lungs… lungs to walk on earth but breathe in heaven. They’ve lived and learned. While living on earth they learned that Christ’s words were not crazy-talk but that the heavens – the realm of God – can be accessed this side of death and this side of Pluto.
During this semester at encounter we’re going to investigate spiritual disciplines. The disciplines of a spiritual life are our oxygen machines. They change the way we breathe so we can breathe heaven’s air on earth… making heaven our natural state. And over the last 2 thousand years, those Christ-followers who have lived on earth and breathed in heaven have been exercising these spiritual disciplines.
There’s often a stigma attached to this term: spiritual disciplines. Sounds kinda like going to military school: performing lifeless, cold, repetitive duties in order to become disciplined people. And to truthful, if we proceed with them the wrong way they will become lifeless, cold duties that drain instead of fill us.
Richard Foster proposes that “superficiality is the curse of our age. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.” And one thing I’ve noticed about myself is that whenever I think of myself as deep, I am so not. The practice of these disciplines results in an “all-of-a-sudden-ness” where instead of patting ourselves on the back for becoming deep and arriving at sainthood, we humbly hold on to dear life because God is taking us for a ride in the heavens – a ride we soon learn we do not want to get off.
So what are spiritual disciplines?
My college prof, Darrell Johnson didn’t like calling them spiritual disciplines so he began to abbreviate a new name for them – a name that better describes what they really are. He calls them MSA’s:
Make
Self
Available
He says The disciplines come down to three things: relationality, friendship and intimacy with God.
Spiritual disciplines are not meant to be heavy in our relationship with God. They’re not intended to feel like military school. The essence of these actions is more like spending quality time with the one you love and asking them to tell you all their thoughts… guys know about this because we’re always clamoring for more quality time… its time spent that leaves you able to finish the others’ sentences and feel what they feel. It’s when you are totally tuned in.
It would be misleading though to think of the disciplines as an equivalent to pure romance - And just like romance isn’t the basis for a relationship with our spouses or girlfriends or boyfriends; it isn’t all elation and warm fuzzies in our relationship with God. The disciplines land somewhere between romance and duty. The intensity of growing in a relationship is too painful to be pure romance and they are too compelling, too vibrant to be drab duty.
So, spiritual disciplines are a means. They are the way we put ourselves in a position to grow in relationality and intimacy with God – it’s the way we acclimatize to a different kind of air to breathe. Richard Foster describes them by comparing us to a seed that God needs to plant and then nurture:
“The disciplines are God’s way of getting us into the ground; they put us where he can work within us and transform us. By themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done. They are God’s means of grace. The inner righteousness we seek is not something that is poured over our heads. God has ordained the disciplines of the spiritual life as the means by which we place ourselves where he can bless us.”
Richard Foster – Celebration of Disciplines
Dallas Willard explains them this way:
“A discipline for the spiritual life is, when the dust of history is blown away, nothing but an activity undertaken to bring us into more effective cooperation with Christ and his Kingdom. The disciplines are activities undertaken to make us capable of receiving more of his life and power... When through spiritual disciplines I become able heartily to bless those who curse me, pray without ceasing, to be at peace when not given credit for good deeds I’ve done, or to master the evil that comes my way, it is because my disciplinary activities have inwardly poised me for more and more interaction with the powers of the living God and his Kingdom. Such is the potential we tap into when we use the disciplines.”
Dallas Willard – The Divine Conspiracy
We know what spiritual disciplines are… Spiritual disciplines are a means of putting ourselves in a position where God will transform us with his power so we can hear his voice and gain his power to live in the Kingdom of heaven on earth“.
So what does it look like when these disciplines give us lungs for heaven today, here and now?
Here are two results that also serve as motivation for us to pursue the practice of these disciplines of Making ourSelves Available to God in these ways.
The first has to do with the basis for any relationship – it’s developing the ability to listen to God.
1. The disciplines tune us in to the voice of God. We talk about this a lot but think about the benefits of being tuned into God:
- Instead of hearing the clamor of life; drowning in the needs of those around us, the demands of our work, the tasks in our homes, the relationships that merit attention… instead of the clamor we hear guidance.
- Instead of being bombarded by the overwhelming current affairs issues in our world; the state of unrest in Haiti, the war in Iraq, the crystal meth problem in Saskatoon, the violence of gangs, the worry over AIDS, cancer and a potential flu pandemic… instead of only hearing overwhelming news we hear assurance from the one who’s in control.
- Instead of listening to the lure of hollow satisfaction and resting in false comfort and security… instead of being drawn again and again to an empty well we hear secrets for life from the one who satisfies.
- Instead of being consumed by the need to be accepted by those around us… instead of needing acceptance from others, being consumed by the unconditional invitation into the presence of the God of the universe.
- Instead of bumping our heads against the same wall of defeat repeatedly, instead of dead ends we hear correction and experience restoration.
A couple weeks ago I’m driving with Alyson and we hear this song come on the radio. Immediately I start to sweat but I don’t know why. I start to sweat and in my head I start hearing every kind of warning device – alarms, bells, air-horns – and I tense up. I take a deep breath and in the back of my mind amidst the alarms I hear this voice yelling: “Dude, grab her hand, hurry!” So I immediately try my best at a confident romantic gesture, reach over and grab Alyson’s hand and hold it. I take another deep breath. Silence. A moment passes and she says this: “I though you might have forgotten.” This starts another conversation in my head… this time it’s me yelling at the voice at the back of my mind: “What have I forgotten? What is this song? I’m so confused.” By this time I’m also hearing a time-bomb ticking down and just before it gets to “ka-boom” it all comes together and I say: “How could I forget the song we danced to at our wedding?” It was the song for our first dance… by the skin of my teeth.
If were better tuned into my wife and our relationship - if I took regular time to think about our relationship and ask her questions and dig into her desires… if I were that guy I likely wouldn’t have alarms going off in my head very often – as it is, I’m a walking of gong-show of bells and sirens.
In his mercy, God makes alarms go off in our lives. He is continually trying to awaken us to the better life. Through spiritual disciplines we have the option of living in a way that doesn’t call for alarm bells – living so that we are tuned into the voice of God, navigating life with divine insight and guidance.
The second benefit and motivation is found in the prospect of living powerfully in a world that is hard to live in. This is going beyond being in tune with God to holding the power of God. Once he’s gotten us to the sidelines he’ll not only coach us but he’ll refresh us and getting breathing so that we are more powerful for the challenges ahead.
2. The disciplines benefit us by giving us a deep strength for deep struggles. This is training for extreme conditions because life is extreme.
Dr. Jack Groppel did an interesting study on disciplines. He ran one study twice with two different groups of people. He did the study in Florida and the first group he led through it was professional football players from the NFL. These guys were huge and powerful and athletic. He gave them what seemed to be a very simple task. In a group, they were to leave the compound they were in and casually run through some fields, trees and thickets to a fence at the end of the property and then run back. Simple enough, right? But as these giant athletes were preparing to head out he explained a few more details about the terrain. He encouraged them to stay clear of the snakes that could be found in the fields and that when they went near the swamp areas to be wary of the alligators. But most of all, he said, stay out of the way of the wild boar because they weigh as much as you guys do and they have razor sharp teeth. But hey, these were the biggest, toughest guys in North America. They’re fast, strong and are even more powerful in a group. So they began their jog toward the fence. They stayed close together, didn’t talk and kept their eyes peeled. What they didn’t know was that they were being set up. Half-way through their jog were a couple of guys hiding behind some bushes and one was holding a video camera. As these giant athletes were approaching the bush, the guy without the camera shook the bush frantically and did his best wild boar imitation.
Without a moments hesitation these mighty men tucked their tails between their legs, turned on a dime and sprinted back to the shelter of the compound where they started.
The second group of participants in the study was FBI agents. They weren’t particularly big or fast or even great athletes. They were given the same objective with the same cautions: snakes, alligators and dangerous wild boar. So the FBI agents made their way toward the fence like the NFL players before them and at the same location behind the same bush were the two men hiding. And just as the FBI agents approached the bush the man without the camera shook the bush and roared intensely while the other guy video-taped the reaction of the agents. Their response was totally different. Instead and turning and running, these well-trained agents stopped and squared off to the challenge in the bush ahead… not so much as flinching.
In the seconds that followed, the pranksters behind the bushes stopped smiling, threw up their hands and walked out of the bushes, hoping the agents hadn’t brought their guns on their jog.
The disciplines the NFL players undertook were different than those the FBI agents trained with. As Dr. Groppel concluded, we will respond to any life challenge the way we train. How are we training?
One of the benefits of the spiritual disciplines is that they prepare us for life’s extraordinary challenges. Think of life’s storms – the ones you’ve gone through, the ones you’re presently in and the ones on the horizon: Would you like to be able to respond totally differently than you have or are? Regardless of what’s up ahead hiding behind the bushes, the disciplines put us in a place where God strengthens and readies us for whatever extraordinary trial is ahead. Johnson says the disciplines are like vitamins: You don’t notice them immediately but they give you strength when you need it. The fruit of the discipline isn’t found in the moment of the discipline but later on when you need it most. The disciplines benefit us by giving us a deep strength for deep struggles. This is training for extreme conditions because life is extreme.
There are different disciplines that we can apply in our lives in light of several circumstances: Our present struggles, our personality and the culture we live in.
- Richard Foster divides the disciplines into three movements of the spirit and he shows how these contribute to a balanced spiritual life.
Foster:
- The inward disciplines of meditation, prayer, fasting and study offer avenues of personal examination and change.
- The outward disciplines of simplicity, solitude, submission and service help prepare us to make the world a better place.
- The corporate disciplines of confession, worship, guidance, and celebration bring us nearer to one another and God.
- Dallas Willard divides the disciplines into disciplines of abstinence and engagement.
Willard:
- The disciplines of abstinence:
- Solitude
- Silence
- Fasting
- Frugality
- Chastity
- Secrecy
- Sacrifice
- The disciplines of engagement:
- Study
- Worship
- Celebration
- Service
- Prayer
- Fellowship
- Confession
- Submission
Over the next weeks we’re gonna look at these closely. We’re gonna learn how to make ourselves available to God using various disciplines so that we develop lungs for Heaven – we’re gonna speak very plainly about how we can do these things.
The primary requirement for using the disciplines is a longing after God. This is what I’ll be praying for over the next weeks for me and for all of you – a longing, desire.
In closing, it’s probably appropriate to acknowledge the season entered today as our calendars flipped to March 1 st. We’re in a season called Lent and today is Ash Wednesday. Lent runs for 40 days from March 1 st to April 15 th and it’s one of the oldest observations on the Christian calendar. The purpose of this time has always been self-examination and contrition demonstrated by self-denial, in preparation for Easter. During Lent you generally find something in your life to give up, to deny yourself of so that you can push back some noise, some busy-ness some distraction in order to grow in resolve in your following of Christ. For the last couple years my wife and I have been wading into this tradition and I’ve had varying degrees of success. We’ve struggled to give up TV and treats – things that are part of our everyday lives. My wife was going to give up coffee for Lent this year until she found out Tim Horton’s was going into the “Roll up the Rim to win” season. I’ve decided to give up watching TV while in my home – pray for me, I love watching sports highlights and it’s nearing the play-offs in hockey. If you haven’t practiced Lent or if you haven’t decided on it for this year yet, take some time tonight and ask God what you could give up for Lent.
We believe that speaking about spiritual disciplines while going through this season is a combination that can take us with momentum into a close-at-hand reality called the Kingdom of Heaven.
It’s not far off beyond Pluto and it’s not just for after we die, it’s close at hand. And to be truthful, Jesus never said it was easy to live in his kingdom here and now… in fact he said it would often be hard – like a fish out of water.
Spiritual disciplines are a means of giving us a new way to breathe - putting us in a position (with God – relationality, friendship and intimacy) where God will transform us with his power so we can breathe – so we can hear his voice and gain his power to live in the Kingdom of heaven while on earth.
Before I pray I want to recommend four books to you in case you want to go deeper into this on your own:
Celebration of Discipline – Richard Foster
The Spirit of the Disciplines – Dallas Willard
The Life You’ve Always Wanted – John Ortberg
The Sacred Way – ask Cathy the name of this dude or chick |
