The Training of our Souls (III): Putting On
Welcome.
Day of Solitude postponed.
We’ve been saying that we do not naturally turn toward God, trust God, enjoy God. I haven’t met anyone who says they find themselves praying throughout the day without even trying. We naturally are self-focused, performance-based, and self-reliant, and so we need to train our souls to turn toward and trust in God.
The metaphor we’ve been using is that these spiritual disciples that we’ve been discussing are ways to train our souls to catch the wind. Let me give another metaphor:
Spiritual disciplines are the conveyor system. Spiritual disciplines are “the means of grace.” It’s the channel, delivery system. The contents of that conveyor system, the “baggage” is the Gospel, the vision of who God is and what He does. Spiritual disciplines are ways of seeing, tasting, resting in God.
If you have the Gospel, but no conveyor system, then there’s no way to deliver that Gospel to our souls. It’s “outside” us. It remains abstract, impersonal theology and bible knowledge. God and His gospel never penetrate, never become real to our souls.
But if you have a conveyor system (spiritual disciplines), but the contents is legalism or antinomianism, if it’s self-focused and performance-based, then we’re not living the Christian life. Other religious people may have great spiritual disciplines (conveyor systems), but their content is different, and that makes all the difference.
We had spent months on the content—the Gospel from Galatians. And now for these 4 weeks, we’ve been addressing a bit of this conveyor system.
We want to be careful that we don’t get too caught up in the conveyor system that we forget what it’s for. These various practices are not for their own sake. There’s no need to boast about a great conveyor system. They are means toward an end. We want to celebrate the grace and love of Christ poured into our lives.
Last week we had discussed how spiritual disciplines help remove obstacles. We addicted to various types of sin, and given the temptation, we’d give in all the time. If you’re an alcoholic, you need to get out of the bar. So we discussed how solitude helps break our addiction to people’s approval, how giving breaks our addiction to money, how fasting breaks our addiction to food, etc.
The other strategic side of spiritual disciplines from removing obstacles is doing what helps us gain a clearer vision of Christ. Remember, the purpose of these practices is to gain the content, i.e., to see more of Christ. And in seeing Christ, in seeing His grace and love, His power and sovereignty, His faithfulness and holiness, in seeing Who He is and What He does, we find that we are safe, significant, rich beyond our wildest dreams, glorious on a heavenly scale, loved, useful, accepted.
We believe God is present here with us in this service. More than you just listening to me, I want to more intentionally have you interact with Him. That’s what worship is supposed to be, but today I’d like to be explicit about this. We’ll do some 4 spiritual disciplines, and in the process, I hope we can all catch a glimpse, we can see Him a little more clearly.
As we do this, let me recommend, pen and paper. Because my mind can wonder and lose focus, I find it help to put different thoughts, prayers to writing.
I want us to first affirm that we desire more of God, we desire to see Him more clearly, we desire to rest in His goodness and celebrate His mercies.
O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land where there is no water. (Ps 63:1)
Meditation and Memorization of God’s Promises
I know I sound like a broken record, but I recommend meditating, memorizing and praying through the Promises of God as the simplest most direct way of seeing Who He is and What He does.
How do we gain a clearer vision of Christ? Look at His Word.
Starting next week, Lord willing, we want to look at excerpts from the life of David (back to expositional preaching).
Regarding memorization, Willard writes,
Bible memorization is absolutely fundamental to spiritual formation. If I had to—and of course I don’t have to—choose between all the disciplines of the spiritual life and take only one, I would choose Bible memorization. I would not be a pastor of a church that did not have a program of Bible memorization in it, because Bible memorization is a fundamental way of filling our minds with what they need. (Willard, The Great Omission, 58)
But more important than Willard’s word, we see the Scripture emphatically affirms its own value for our spiritual formation:
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. (Jesus; John 17:17)
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. (Ps 119:11)
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers. (Psalm 1:2-3)
The power of memorization is that it gives our minds something of God to hold onto. When we try to picture God, we may only have generalities, that God is loving and good, is often too vague to be helpful. It helps to have a verse, a verse you can pray, you can claim, you can say, God, this is Your Word. You’re a lot more likely to think about the verse, to use it. And it helps us meditate, to plant that truth deeper in our minds, to ponder its implications, to personalize its message.
What I’d like to do is spend 4 minutes memorizing and meditating on 1 verse. Spend time committing the verse to memory, and also reflect on what kind of God do you see in this verse.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Ro 8:28)
If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:12)
The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. (Ps 145:8)
[4 minutes of music]
Repentance
Christ is more clearly seen in the context/background of our sin, guilt, failures and shame. We need to ask God to reveal and convict us of our sin, and in that broken and contrite Spirit, we more clearly see and recognize His mercy and grace.
Who is Christ? Christ is our Savior, our Redeemer. He is the one who died for our sins.
This is not just at that one time we first received Christ, but in the reality of our daily struggles with sin. The Gospel isn’t just a one-time-event. Or to use Galatians, we don’t just start in the Gospel, we live in the Gospel.
We have an amazing ability to deceive ourselves, we have blindspots, we instinctively protect ourselves. We’re usually very quick to justify ourselves, to list our excuses, to feel we have a legitimate defense for all our sins.
Ever since Adam and Eve, we’re always shifting the blame. We’re always the “victim.”
With marriage counseling, every feels like a responder—the other person started it. They’re just responding to the other person’s offensiveness or rude tone. “That other person is so unbearable!”
I see it with my kids, “Elijah did this, Caleb did that, Noah messed things up.”
It’s my boss, my roommate; it’s the traffic, the weather; it’s stress, it’s the kids, it’s the dog.
But no one says, “It’s me. I’m selfish, I’m self-centered, I’m unloving, I’m lazy, I’m arrogant. I always think I’m right. I can spend hundreds of dollars on myself without a second thought, but then seriously hesitate about giving $10 to someone in need. I have an anger problem, I’m immature, I have a critical spirit, a manipulative heart. The problem is me.
Maybe for some of us, one reason why it’s hard to see Christ more clearly is because we don’t see our own sin. Jesus is not that gracious because we’re not that unworthy.
We do this as part of our worship service: we have a time to confess our sins. I’d like to invite us to be honest with ourselves and with God.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)
Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.
Our most significant confessions are when we realize that we have sinned against God. We have not loved him or trusted him as we ought, and so we’ve offended, insulted, and belittled him.
Lord, you’re not enough.
(I need . . . popularity, grades, wealth, a beautiful wife/handsome husband, well-behaved kids, etc.)
4 minutes [music]
Thanksgiving
I’ve mentioned this before, but it is good to meditate on God’s promises of faithfulness, protection and provisions, and then to look at the specifics of our lives and recognize the dozens and dozens of ways He has kept those promises. It is good to consider how God has been working all things for our good, to consider how He is gracious and compassionate, and for us to count the ways that this is true in our lives.
Thankfulness is a mark of someone who believes they’re received more than they deserve. Thankfulness is a mark of someone living in the Gospel.
Living in the Gospel involves a profound shift in our view of God and our view of ourselves.
Repentance reveals your view of yourself: do you see yourself as a sinner?
Thanksgiving reveals your view of God: do you see God as gracious, loving and kind?
We live in the most affluent society of human history, we have freedoms and opportunities beyond the vast majority of the world. Yet, we grumble and complain. That says a lot about how we view ourselves and how we view God.
We have spiritual blessings that cause the writers of Scripture to erupt in praise. The Apostle Paul did not live a comfortable life. He was criticized, despised, persecuted. He did not live a comfortable life with a nice home, wife and 2 kids. But in Eph 1, Paul goes off on how God chose us, adopted us, redeemed us, forgiven us, lavished the riches of His glorious grace! Frequently Paul would erupt in praise. That says a lot about how he views himself and how he views God.
We need to recognize how good God is, and more particularly, how good He is to us.
Take 4 minutes [music] to consider the many things we should give thanks for, and look upon your gracious, generous, kind God who delights to give good gifts to His children.
Celebration
God is good to us. He is a good Father who gives us good things, and those good gifts were meant to be enjoyed. We give thanks, and enjoy His good gifts.
Sometimes we’re too busy trying to get to the next thing, that we fail to enjoy what is before us.
We’re too busy trying to do our school work to enjoy the privilege and joy of learning
We’re too busy scarfing down our meal to get to our next appointment that we’re not enjoying the food.
We’re too busy feeding and bathing the kids to enjoy them.
We’re too busy trying to serve in various ministries to enjoy the joy of using our gifts, the privilege of serving Christ, the sweetness of those ministry relationships.
I have to confess I’m like this. I’m far too busy and practical to stop and smell the roses. I probably wouldn’t even notice they’re there.
Noah is 2.5 years old, and sometimes I want him to grow up a little faster and catch up to his older two brothers. But just the other day, I was noticing how much more Noah has been talking. And he says some really funny things. I stopped to say, Paul, you used to say how eager you were to see Noah talking, and now he’s talking. Enjoy it. Enjoy this stage. Don’t just be waiting for the next stage. This time is a season to be savored.
Reflect on what a gracious God he is to have thought of these gifts. Take the time to experience and savor joy, then direct your heart toward God so that you come to know he is the giver of “every good and perfect gift.” Nothing is too small if it produces true joy in us and causes us to turn toward God in gratitude and delight.
In general, I believe we have underestimated the importance of pleasure in spiritual formation. (Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted, 75)
We need to practice joy. Let me encourage us to enjoy and celebrate God’s gifts: a beautiful sunset, a fun day at the beach, a good cup of coffee, a perfectly cooked steak, a good game of basketball, a good Eagles game, a beautiful piece of music, a soul-connecting conversation with a trusted friend, a fun moment with our kids/spouses, a meaningful evening of making love (for the married). These are all gifts of God. Our temptation is to love the gift more than the Giver. But we’re to see the Giver in the gifts.
As I was working on this, I was listening to some praise music, and I really enjoyed the songs. They were so uplifting, God-ward, and emotive.
I was at home and the kids were playing with each other and laughing and having so much fun. I paused to enjoy how sweet and warming that laughter was for me.
But let’s be careful. This is not just existentialism: live in the moment.
This is not just hedonism: enjoy the pleasure that you can.
This is worship. This is enjoying God in the enjoying of His good gifts. Because God is good, and He is good to me. In a thousand ways, He is good. The Scripture rejoice, sing, dance, shout for joy over God.
Pause for a few minutes now [music]:
Stop and enjoy this moment, that we can gather with fellow believers and worship our God.
Stop and enjoy this moment of seeking God, longing for God, that we have an invitation and access to the sweetness of fellowshipping with Him.
Stop and enjoy that sense of thankfulness, the forgiveness of our sins, the preciousness of God’s Word.
We need to train our souls to turn to God, trust and love Him.
We need to develop our conveyor system so that the Gospel becomes real to our souls, so that God becomes real to our souls.
He is gracious and compassions, One who works all things for our good.
He does forgive all our sins and wash them white as snow.
He has lavished us with thousands of gifts to enjoy.
He is a good God.
We’ll end with praise, thanking and celebrating a God of mercy, grace, faithfulness and love.