2008.02.17 Running with Perseverance: Study

Scripture: Romans 12:2

One of the oddities of doing a sermon series on Spiritual Disciplines is that there does not seem to be enough time for each one to sink in. Last week, we looked at Prayer—remembering why prayer is important and noting three things in Jesus’ prayer life that can help us strengthen our prayer life. That was only a week ago, which is enough time to have tried at least one of those things, but not nearly enough time for it to have become an integral part of our prayer habit.

Yet it is Sunday again, and it is time to look at a 2nd Spiritual Discipline. As I mentioned last week, it is impossible to take three steps at one time. You could take two steps at one time—it is called hopping. However, to run the race of faith with perseverance—to run and not grow weary—we just need to start with one step at a time.

So last week was about prayer, and this week is about study. At the end of the sermon series, you will have heard about six different disciplines. Take what you hear and ask God to help you figure out which one you need to work on right now. Baseball players train differently than football players. There is some overlap with the basics, but the athletes have different gifts and different callings. What does God need YOU to do for your spiritual training right now with YOUR gifts and for YOUR call?

Okay. So this week we’re looking at the spiritual discipline of study. Let’s start with today’s Scripture from Romans 12:2:

2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

This is not the only Bible verse that relates to study.

In the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, we are told to love God with all of our hearts, souls and MINDS.
Matthew 22:37
37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'

In the Letter to the Philippians, we read that “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--THINK about such things.”
Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

In the Letter to the Corinthians, Paul notes that when we pray and when we sing, we do so with our spirits and our MINDS.
1 Corinthians 14:15
15So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.

Contrary to popular accusation, the Christian faith is not for the mindless. The Christian faith is not for the unthinking. The Christian faith is not for the ignorant.

We are called to use our minds—our God-given intellect—as an integral part of our faith.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world.” What IS the pattern of this world? There are millions of books, magazines, TV channels and websites that vie for our attention. They contain zillions of facts, observations, theories and opinions. There are dozens of people that you come into contact with each week. They hold different perspectives and approach the world in varied ways.

So how can we single out one pattern in the midst of such diversity? The old-school answer is one word: sin. But in case that one word doesn’t do it for you—I’ll give you a phrase. The pattern of this world is a disrespect for God.

For example, in recent years, I have noticed that calendars have begun placing Monday as the first day of the week. It is, after all, the first day of your work week. The implication is that Saturday and Sunday are the week-END (emphasis on “end”). This takes away from the idea that you start your week with God—that honoring God on the Sabbath, at the beginning of your week, is what orients the other 6 days. Instead, we become conditioned to view the two days at the end of the week as ours—to relax from work, to shop, play sports, even attend birthday parties. The pattern of this world is a disrespect for God.

Another example, from the news this past week: Roger Clemens, a famous, popular and highly successful baseball pitcher testified before the government’s special committee on Wednesday about steroids. Yet even before Clemens took the oath on Wednesday morning, nearly all news analysts had cast him as guilty and liar. This is the country where you are innocent until proven guilty, but not if you’re the 47th big-name athlete to be linked to steroids. Assuming that Clemens’ story ends up being the same as Marion Jones, Lance Armstrong or Barry Bonds, what happens is that you get to become a news spectacle for a few weeks, your career is ruined, and we never hear from you again—in fact, we don’t want to hear from you again. The pattern of this world is to convict you of your sin and not give any attention to forgiveness or restoration. This is, in fact, a disrespect for God because it goes against the love that we are called to exercise toward one another.

Whether it is something as small as a calendar design change or as big as the current news headline, the pattern of this world points in one direction—away from God.

What we as Christians are called to do are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
How do we renew our minds? We renew them by paying attention to what we expose our minds to.

On the negative side, this means paying attention to what we should NOT expose our minds to. Many years ago, my brother and his roommates were avid watchers of a TV show called The X-Files. At some point, I joined them on Sunday evenings to watch the show too. Then there was an episode about a guy who was kidnapped and had his eyes taken out. That following week, I had a dream that I was that guy. It was a weird dream b/c even though my eyes had been taken out, I could still see what was happening—being kidnapped, watching a bunch of aliens crossing a bridge, etc. Actually, it was a very vivid dream and I can still picture parts of it now, although it has been over 10 years since I had it.

I told one of the guys about my dream because I found it a little freaky. He listened and then told me that I couldn’t come over to watch the X-Files any more. That was effectively banned from the house for that one hour on Sunday evening. Why? Because, in Christian wisdom, my brother’s roommate recognized that my mind could not and should not be exposed to the visual imagery in that TV show. I am a strongly visual person. I can recognize a person’s face better than I can remember their name. In order to think on things that are true, noble and pure, I have to exercise caution in what I watch. …What do you expose YOUR mind to—whether it is visual or auditory (which are our two strongest senses)—what is your mind being exposed to that it should NOT be? What takes your mind away from dwelling on things that are true, noble and pure?

Then there is the positive side of paying attention to what we expose our minds—that is, what we SHOULD expose our minds to. This is where the discipline of study comes in.

Last year, I was at a PTA gathering where one mom, who I know to be a Christian, was sharing her anxiety about an upcoming decision. Another person, a man who I think is a Christian, responded with some encouragement: “Hey—just remember, God helps those who help themselves.” The mom quickly agreed, and the conversation continued.

What?? “God helps those who help themselves”?? That didn’t sound right, but I didn’t think that that was the appropriate time to pick a theological argument. I went home and found that that quote is from Benjamin Franklin. However, I also found out that nearly 80% of born-again Christians think that you can find that quote in the Bible. And thus the positive reason why we need to exercise the spiritual discipline of study: We need to know what the Bible says.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” In order to work against the pattern of this world, in order to renew our minds, we need to avoid things that take away from our wholeness with God and we need to turn toward things that encourage us in knowing God.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.” In order to love God completely, we need to study the Word of God.

So then the question is, how do we do it?

Well first of all, we need to find our Bibles. Some of us haven’t used our Bibles in so long that we probably need to devote a good 15-20 minutes to locate where it is in our home.

Once we find it, there are actually two different ways that we can read the Bible. This is from the Christian writer Eugene Peterson:

“In the study of Scripture a high priority is placed upon interpretation: what it means.
In the devotional reading of Scripture a high priority is placed upon application: what it means for me.

All too often people rush to the application stage and bypass the interpretation stage: They want to know what it means for them before they know what it means!”

-Eugene Peterson, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth

Daily devotional reading is GREAT, but it only gives us snapshots of this book that we claim to base our faith upon. It’s like looking at a photo album versus reading a book that includes the same pictures—which one would give you more information, the photo album or the book?

As Christians, we are people of the Book, so we should be spending time reading this Book. Daily devotions are good but we also need to be giving time to study—to sitting down and reading the Bible for understanding, for interpretation.

And yes, there parts of the Bible that are difficult to understand. Peterson in the same book points out that the Apostle Peter, in his 2nd letter, wrote the following:

3:16 [The Apostle Paul] writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

Even Peter, the rock upon which the church was built, notes that some of Paul’s letters are “hard to understand.” And Peter lived in Paul’s time. He didn’t need to read the footnotes at the bottom of the Bible for context or cultural explanations.

We need to give dedicated time to reading and understanding what it is that is written in the Bible. We need to make opportunities to study with attention so that we do not rush to application and instead spend more time in interpretation. What is this text saying and why? It is, quite frankly, like preparing your own mini-sermon, digging into the text, examining the words and using other sources to get more information.

There was a time long ago where the church became corrupt and pastors (or priests) were held the power of the church, including the interpretation of the Word. This is not that time. The average American household has at least 4 tangible Bibles, but an internet connection will provide you with hundreds more, in any version you may want. You also don’t need a special “pastor’s i.d.” to purchase or borrow a Bible commentary, dictionary or book. Every resource is available to us to help us study the Bible. The biggest obstacle therefore, is not access, but it is us.

Because really, once you’re out of school, who wants to study any more?

Yet truthfully, would you want to be treated by a doctor who is not still studying his or her field? Would you listen to a sermon from a pastor who is not constantly examining and reflecting on the Bible? Would you allow a mechanic who only knows diesel engines to work on your 2007 hybrid? No, you wouldn’t.

You wouldn’t because you expect these people to know their field. Well guess what? If you are a Christian, your field is the Christian faith, and that faith is founded on the Bible. You need to know AND understand God’s Word because that is how you grow; that is how you mature; that is how your faith moves from what someone else says is true to you knowing that it is true..

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

How many times have we asked the question—“what does God want?” How many times have we prayed, “may your will be done”? In case you have not already realized it, it is actually possible to know what God’s will is— Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—we can know God’s will, we can test it and we recognize it when our minds have been renewed, when the direction of our lives has been transformed to point toward God and not the other way.

We do this by protecting our minds to from things that are not true, noble and pure and instead expose our minds to things that allow us to think on things that are true, noble and pure; things that do not conform to the pattern of this world but instead renew our minds to point toward God.

So this week, consider the spiritual discipline of study; take an honest assessment of how much your mind dwells in God’s Word. The importance of study will become apparent as soon as you do it.

A mind that dwells on God’s Word translates into a life that lives God’s Word.

Prayer and singing pour forth from your spirit and your mind.
Love for God comes from your heart, soul and mind.
God’s will becomes recognizable.

A mind that dwells on God’s Word translates into a life that lives God’s Word.

(Pastor SKA)

2008.02.10 Running with Perseverance: Prayer

Scripture: Luke 11:1, Matthew 6:9-13; Mark 1:32-39

As we start our Lent sermon series, the image that I want us to hold on to—the big picture, so to speak—is running with perseverance. In this past week’s email, I noted that the past week was a busy one for our nation—Superbowl XLII, Super Tuesday, Chinese New Year, Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras and related to that last thing,, Ash Wednesday, which marked the beginning of the season of Lent. This year our preparation for Easter will focus on spiritual disciplines—training exercises that can teach us how to run the race of faith with perseverance.

Today we’re going to start with the one spiritual discipline that is the central of all the disciplines—prayer.

There is a really great book that I read called Prayer—Does it Make Any Difference? by the Christian writer Phillip Yancey. I thought it was a great book because, more than anything that I have read on the topic of prayer, the material was honest. In the first chapter, Yancey points out that prayer ranks high on surveys of theoretical importance—meaning, most Christians, if not all Christians, are in strong agreement that prayer is important. In fact, it is fundamental to living a life of faith.

However, prayer ranks low on surveys of actual satisfaction—meaning, regardless of how important we think prayer is, we have a much more difficult time actually doing it, and even then we have doubts as to whether it is really effective.

Assuming that we at New Hope follow these same trends—high on theoretical importance but low on actual satisfaction, I want divide our time between two Scripture passages. The first reminds us of why prayer is important and the second gets us starting on learning how to pray.

In Luke 11:1, it says:
11:1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."

When I read this, it sounds like the disciples don’t pray. That up to this point they have seen Jesus praying but they haven’t be doing the same. Yet that is not right. Being the good Jewish men that they were, the disciples were raised in a culture of prayer. It was customary for Jews to pause in whatever they were doing each day about 3:00 pm to offer prayers in conjunction with the evening sacrifice in the temple. Prayers were also a part of meals and they were an intrinsic part of what happened at the local synagogue.

So when the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray, just as John taught his disciples, Jesus’ disciples are asking for a model, a basic template that they can use based on Jesus’ knowledge and experience of prayer. They have seen something unique in the how, when, where and why Jesus prays, and they ask him “Teach us how to pray like you.”

There was something about Jesus and prayer that the disciples wanted. So Jesus taught them what we now call The Lord’s Prayer. I’m using the version found in Matthew, Chapter 6:

Matthew 6:9 [Jesus said,] "This, then, is how you should pray:
" `Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.'

In this prayer, Jesus demonstrated 3 things:

1. Prayer is communication with a loving God.
The word here is Father, which is also Abba in Greek. Abba is a word that child would use, like Daddy and Abba is also a word that adults used when speaking to their fathers or a respected older male. Either way, it conveyed that our conversation is with one who loves us, cares for us and is personally involved with us.

2. Prayer allows us to remember what is important.
Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done. These are all statements that point to what we ultimately (in the big picture) want God to be doing—making his name holy, bringing his kingdom here and exercising his good and gracious will in our lives

3. Prayer addresses our specific needs.
Give us today our daily bread--Give us what we need for right now,
Forgive us our debts--forgive us for the ways we mess up,
As we also have forgiven our debtors--help us forgive others by exercising the same grace you give to us
Lead us not into temptation--give us strength to do the right thing.

There are volumes of works written on the subject of prayer, and many of them focus only on the Lord’s Prayer. So I’m making broad strokes today, and I will summarize the importance of prayer with these three things. Prayer is important b/c it is
1. Prayer is communication with a loving God.
2. Prayer allows us to remember what is important.
3. Prayer addresses our specific needs.

Starting from Jesus’ resurrection, the early church prayed all the time. References can be found throughout the New Testament and even beyond. The reformer Martin Luther said, “I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.” John Wesley, who founded the Methodist denomination, said, “God does nothing but in answer to prayer” and demonstrated this conviction by giving two hours each day to prayer. This past week I included a quote from Bill Hybels, pastor of a large church outside of Chicago, who forces himself to get out of bed each morning knees first so that he focuses on God first.

So if prayer is that important to the Christian life, how do we get better at it? How do we get better at communicating with our loving God, sharing our needs but also listening to God so that we can remember the big picture—your kingdom come, your will be done

First, let me take us back to the idea of running the race of faith with perseverance. You can’t become a marathon runner overnight. And the life of faith is for long haul; it is, essentially, a marathon, not a 100-yard sprint. So you pace yourself, and you train.

How do we train to be lifelong pray-ers?

Mark 1:32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33 The whole town gathered at the door, 34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.
35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!"
38 Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else--to the nearby villages--so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." 39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

There are three general principles we can draw from this passage:

1. We need to change our perspective about prayer.

If you had a busy night where “the whole town gathered at the door,” where you were healing people and driving out demons, what would you do? Me, I’d probably sleep in—get a little extra rest to recover from the night before. Not Jesus. Instead, very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he went to pray. Why? Prayer was what Jesus did to recharge. This should remind us of the quote from Luther, who said that he has so much business to take care of that he needs at least 3 hours of prayer to do it. To recover from the night before and prepare for the day ahead, Jesus needed to pray.
Do we consider prayer from that perspective? Do we consider prayer to be a vital part of our lives, something that must be done—like showing up for work, checking on your kids or drinking that first cup of coffee. Is prayer one of the non-negotiables of your day—you can’t get on without it?

If it is not, we need to consider changing our perspective about prayer.

2. We need to change when and where we pray.

Notice that Jesus went to a solitary place. No distractions. No multi-tasking. Just prayer. He was so well secluded that the disciples had a hard time finding him: “Everyone is looking for you!” I have often heard the advice that we should pray whenever and wherever we are. I agree with this, but I also think that there is much value ALSO in having a dedicated time of solitude—not praying while I am driving or folding the laundry. It was just a couple of weeks ago that I realized that I should probably stop praying while I’m driving b/c I pay a lot less attention to the cars around me, which of course, makes me a higher risk for an accident. We need to make a time—a regular time, b/c we are creatures of habit—and a place—a place with minimal to no distractions to pray.

Two notes about this. There is a book called The Life You’ve Always Wanted, and in it, the author, John Ortberg gives two practical pieces of advice:

Regarding the time of day: “What if morning is your worst time of day? You may be the kind of person even Jesus doesn’t want to talk to in the morning. Give him your best time. God created all kinds of people. Not all of them are morning pray-ers.”
Regarding the solitude: “Does your mind ever wander when you pray? Mine does… Something about praying often seems to push my mind into a kind of Spiritual Attention Deficit Disorder. Sometimes this indicates a need to pause and refocus my attention. But over time I have learned that if my mind keeps returning to a particular topic during prayer, it is probably an indication that this is the topic that is of most concern to me and I need to talk to God about.”

So find the best time of day for your prayers. And make sure it is a place of solitude. If mental distractions occur, offer those to God in prayer because they may very well be the topics that are closest to your heart that you need to express to God.

1. We need to change our perspective about prayer—that it is energy source not an energy drain.
2. We need to change when and where we pray—giving God our best time and our honest attention.

Lastly,

3. We need to change what we do with prayer.

When the disciples found Jesus, he had finished praying. His first response to them is “Let us go somewhere else so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” Jesus’ time of prayer has helped him to reenergize—he is ready go AND it has helped him to remember his focus—or the big picture of what he has come on earth to do. “Let us go somewhere else so I can preach there also. That is why I have come”. This goes back to why prayer is important. Earlier, we said that prayer is important because
1. Prayer is communication with a loving God.
2. Prayer allows us to remember what is important.
3. Prayer addresses our specific needs.

Oftentimes, our prayers are like letters to Santa Claus. Please bless my family, please heal this person, please help me get this job, please help me figure out what to do. Asking is great—Jesus told us to ask. But if that is all that our prayers are about, if all we are doing is telling God what we want, it is like being with a whiny 3 year old.
In order for the exercise of prayer to help us remember what is important, what our focus is, we need to listen and not just talk the whole time. Sometimes, I imagine that I’m just flinging prayers up at God—I need this; please help this person. That is not communication. Jesus spoke in prayer and Jesus listened in prayer. Listening—just being still, allows the Holy Spirit to work to help us remember what is important.

In summary, we want to run the race of faith with perseverance. To run the race, we need to train. As with any sort of training, it all starts with just one step. Today I pointed out three things that we can consider. I’m not asking that you do all three at once—you can’t take 3 steps at the same time. Listen and consider if there is one that seems the most fitting for you—what is the first step or the next step that you need to take in learning to pray?

1. Changing our perspective about prayer—that it is energy source not an energy drain.
2. Changing when and where we pray—giving God our best time and our full and honest attention.
OR
3. Changing what we do with prayer—using the Lord’s Prayer as a model, trying to experience the fullness of prayer: that it is communication; that it helps us remember what is important; AND that it addresses our specific needs.

Each one of us is at a different point in developing our habit of prayer. Confucius wisely said that “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Some of us have taken a few steps; others a few dozen.

My challenge to you is to look back over this passage in Mark 1: 35-39 and thoughtfully consider what is the next step you need to take in your training for prayer. And perhaps you can share that with someone over lunch today so that we can, as a church, encourage one another on this journey.

(Pastor SKA)