Deuteronomy 6.1–9

“We are at this moment as close to God as we really choose to be. True,
there are times when we would like to know a deeper intimacy, but when
it comes to the point, we are not prepared to pay the price involved.”
(J. Oswald Sanders)

I’ve been looking forward to this series for a long time. I had planned
to teach this series last year during Lent, but decided to do something
in correlation with the release of the movie, “The Passion of the
Christ.” So I am excited be be talking about the habits (disciplines, practices) of growing disciples (Christ-followers).

“Habits are to the soul what the veins and arteries are to the blood, the courses in which it moves.” (Horace Bushnell)

I want to begin by talking about why this is important to me, and why I
think this is important for us. And to do that I need to share a little
bit about my faith journey.

I grew up in a Christian home that was very active in the life of the
church. My grandfather was a preacher who was dedicated to God and the
church. During my teenage years, however, I drifted away from God and
my spiritual heritage. It was my mom’s death when I was 19 years old
that became a turning point in my life. I immediately returned to the
church, and within months had recommitted my life to Christ. And I have
been following Christ ever since!

Those early years of following Christ were especially passionate, and
the spiritual growth was quick and intense. Thankfully, I grew up
around people who were extremely passionate about God. Some of these
people were willing to go wherever God led them, and to do whatever God
called them to do. They were passionate people — passionate about God!

Now, my passion is to know God, and to lead others to know and follow
God, too. I want to travel with passionate, revolutionary
Christ-followers on this amazing adventure we call life. It is in this
context that I begin this series of talks on “the habits of growing
disciples,” which seeks to answer the question: “What kinds of habits,
disciplines, spiritual practices do passionate Christ-followers live
out?”

The Torah
From the time of Moses, when God gave the Law (Torah), the Torah
was been the centerpiece of life for God’s people. In those days, most
people had the Torah memorized. The Torah is not just a collection of
rules and regulations; it was called “the Way.” If you wanted to know
the best way to live, you went to the Torah.

Habits for Followers of ‘The Way’

As we begin, I want to emphasize the importance of guarding against compartmentalizing our lives — work, worship,
recreation, play, and so on. In the Hebrew language (the language of the Old Testament), there’s no word for
“spiritual.” Using the word “spiritual” implies that some things are not spiritual. And for
followers of the Way, everything is spiritual. IOW, God can be
worshiped in anything, by doing it to honor God!

John Wesley’s 3 General Rules …

• Do no harm, avoid evil of every kind
• Do good of every possible sort
• Attend upon all the ordinances of God (i.e. practice the spiritual disciplines)

“Cultivate only the habits that you are willing should master you.” (Elbert Hubbard)

1 — Love God
This should sound familiar. This is the most important
commandment, according to Jesus. Disciples love God in everything they
do.
We express our love to God in many different ways — worship, prayer,
honoring God in any way we can. The ways of loving God are endless!

2 — Internalizing Scripture
For early followers of the Way, internalizing Scripture usually meant
memorizing the Torah. For us, it means getting as much Scripture in us
as possible, through reading, meditating, reflecting, listening, and studying.

I love Deuteronomy 6.6-9 in The Message — “Write these
commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get
them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about
them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk
about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall
into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder;
inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates.”
3 — Pass on what you’re learning
Not only get Scripture inside of yourself, but also inside your kids
and your family. Passing onto others what we are learning and
experiencing is an important part of our growth.

4 — Ooze the things of God all the time

In fact, don’t just get Scripture inside you and your family, but ooze God and the things/ways of God all the time.

5 — Love people
Though the text doesn’t specifically say, “Love people,” I think it’s
implied. If we’re going to pass on the ways of God, we must love
people! We pass on
the things of God to benefit and encourage others.

6 — Find ways to keep our focus on God

For early followers of the Way that meant writing Scripture on pieces
of parchment and tying it to their clothes. For us it could mean
listening to the Bible while we’re traveling, or writing out a passage
of Scripture and posting it on the refrigerator or on the door so you
see it when you go out into the world.

It takes commitment
Follow the Way with all your heart, all your soul, and all your
strength. It takes commitment and dedication! Now, we all have habits.
As Christ-followers, we need to work at developing the habits that will
help us grow in our walk with God.

That may involve neglecting some things, even some good things. Someone
once asked a concert violinist in New York’s
Carnegie Hall how she became so skilled. She said that it was by
“planned neglect.” IOW, she planned to neglect everything that was not
related to her goal of being the best violinist she could be. If you
and I are going to be the most devoted Christ-followers we can be, we
must learn to neglect a lot of things that distract us from our goals.

“Good habits result from resisting temptation.” (Ancient Proverb)

Why develop the habits? … To build character

“’Reputation is what folks think you are. Personality is what you seem
to be. Character is what you really are.” (Alfred Armand Montapert)

“Sow an act and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny.” (Unknown)

Let’s finish with six question from “The Disciple-Making Church” (Glen McDonald) …

6 Questions

1. Who is your Lord? (everyone serves someone or something)
2. Who are you? (who has God called and gifted you to be?)
3. Who is your Barnabus? (who is your encourager?)
4. Who is your Timothy? (who are you mentoring)
5. Where is your Antioch? (small group)
6. Where is your Macedonia? (mission; where is God calling you?)

I am grateful that I’m not on the journey alone. There are many
others traveling with me — Barnabuses to encourage and
spur me on; Timothys to encourage to continue on the
journey; and, Macedonias to go to, to do God’s work. So, I’m
grateful for your companionship on the journey. And, I’m grateful for
God’s presence on the journey as well. I’m glad it’s not dependent on
my strength, but on God’s grace!

Job 1.13-22; 2.7-10

Matthew 5.1-12 - The Beautitudes

A college student wrote the following note home:

Dear Mom and Dad:
I’m sorry to be so long in writing. Unfortunately, all my stationery was destroyed the night our dorm was set on fire by the demonstrators. I’m out of the hospital now, and the doctors say my eyesight should return — sooner or later. The wonderful boy, Bill, who rescued me from the fire, kindly offered to share his little apartment with me until the dorm is rebuilt. He comes from a good family, so you won’t be surprised when I tell you we’re going to be married. In fact, since you’ve always wanted a grandchild, you’ll be glad to know that you’ll be grandparents next month.

P.S. Please disregard the above practice for my class in English Composition. There was no fire, I haven’t been in the hospital, I’m not pregnant and I don’t even have a steady boyfriend. But I did get a D in French and an F in Chemistry, and I just wanted to be sure you received this news in the proper perspective.

Things don’t always go the way we want them to go in life. And sometimes we have some tough things to touch our lives. The first four of the Beatitudes speak of such times:

3Blessed are the poor (in spirit),
4Blessed are those who mourn,
5Blessed are the meek,
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst (for
[Luke does not include the parenthetical.]

Lacking what we want or need
Many times we find ourselves in situations where we don’t have what we want.
Being poor is not having the money or possessions we want. Being poor in spirit is knowing our reliance upon God and his grace.
Mourning is have lost something/someone of value: loss of a loved one, loss of income (job, demotion), loss of health/activity, even the empty nest syndrome when the last of the children have moved out of the house and all is quiet.
Meekness is to be lowly, to not have status, admiration, respect, approval; at the extreme, pride, arrogance, self-importance.
Hunger and thirst is lack of food, the very necessity of life; hunger and thirst of righteousness is a longing for justice, for things to be made right.

Desiring these characteristics
These groups seem to represent less than perfect situations, but Jesus lifts them up as desirable.

You could say they are desirable because if you have them, then you get good things:
the kingdom of heaven; comforted; inherit the earth; will be filled.

Perspective, Attitude, Response
I think the little story I opened with, the letter from the college student, very much points us in the right direction. It is all about perspective. It’s about attitude. It’s about how we respond to the bad things that happen in life.

Romans 5.3-4
3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope.

The benefits of suffering
Suffering can accomplish something in our lives, if we let it.
~If we choose to persevere through the tough times (the ability to handle pressure),
~our character will be developed (character is what the Beatitudes is about, who we are inside, about being reliable)
~and we will have hope. Hope is about having Christ, relying on his strength and power.

And in the Beatitudes it’s about those good things: the kingdom of heaven; comforted; inherit the earth; will be filled. There are promises attached.

Many of our troubles are only temporary. And we act as if it is the end of the world. We can choose to complain or get angry, or grow bitter. Or we can choose to persevere, knowing that God is with us and knowing that he will bring good of this situation. And we will bring good of every situation, even if our suffering is not temporary.

Now, I am not diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, nor do I have any physical challenges, so I don’t speak from personal experience; but, even in that kind of suffering or trouble, God does not desert. God is there and at work in your life, if you allow him. If you persevere. Someone with cancer voiced his basic attitude as one of if he beats this cancer thing, great and if not he knows where he’s going. Paul’s words (in the midst of his suffering) came to mind, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.”

Hope is knowing the whole story. It’s knowing that there is more than this life. Hope is knowing that even when health alludes us in this life, there is an eternity where we will be well. That even if I am treated unjustly in this life, there is an eternity, where all will be well. I may be sad for a period here, but I can rejoice, because there will be a time when there will be no more sadness.

That’s keeping perspective! And that influences our attitude and response to the troubles we face today.

The story of Job
Job was a good and righteous man. He lost all that he owned: all his animals and servants (representing his livelihood and wealth); he lost his sons and daughters, and then his own health. His own wife said “curse God and die.” But Job retained his integrity. At the end of the book, in chapter 42 we read:

5 My ears had heard of you
     but now my eyes have seen you.

Even a righteous man like Job, had something to learn from his trials and suffering. He emerged from his suffering closer to God, seeing God more clearly, gaining perspective in life.

Jesus instructions in the Beatitudes is for us to develop this kind of character: poor, mourning, meek and to hunger and thirst.

“This is what you should be like…”
I have never heard anyone set out to be in poor in life. We used to laugh at my little cousin, he was an unexpected baby, and when he was probably as young as 6-7, he would say he was going to be rich. Our society respects and honors success.

And I am not telling you to go try to be poor. Jesus’ words remind us that we have nothing when we stand before him. Maybe a better way for us  to understand is to ask ourselves, “What makes us rich?” “In what do we place the highest value?” “What or who do we yearn for?”

Emptying ourselves and yearning for God
Lent is a time of emptying ourselves of the things of the world. It is a time of to “Give up and Take up” as is stated in Bishop Jane Middleton’s Lenten letter. We give up the things of the world to take up spiritual things. Fasting is giving up physical food, so that we realize that we “don’t live by bread alone.” So that we might yearn for God and be filled with spiritual food.

In reading Marva Dawn’s book, “A Royal Waste of Time: the splendor of worshipping God and being church for the world,” I was challenged to give up tv for Lent. And already I am reaping the benefits. There are spiritual benefits and also it is more quality time with my spouse.

This Lent, don’t just give up something this year, take up something, something that will nurture or awaken your yearning for God. Seek to be poor, [to mourn], to be meek, to hunger and thirst … after God.