Spiritual Disciplines

The Five Things God Uses to Grow Our Faith #4 Spiritual Disciplines

This morning, we are continuing in a series called, “Five Things God Uses to Grow Our Faith”. If you happened to miss one of the previous few weeks, you can listen online at our website.   Check it out!

This series, is about five ways in which we can draw closer to God. Here is what I know about this congregation. Each and every one of us wants a closer, more intimate relationship with God. We are all searching to know God better. Here is the cool thing about this congregation, we are all in this together. We are all wanting to grow in our faith.

When I have talked to people and I have heard their faith stories, people have shared how these five things have grown their faith. These five things have helped many people grow in their faith with God.

See, I believe that God wants a relationship with each person here. God is not hiding from us. God wants to know you better. God is actually in the business of drawing us closer to Him. God wants to grow our faith in Him.

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September 20, 2015
Spiritual Disciplines
Pastor David Pranga, Brewster Baptist Church

This is what this series is all about: We are examining the five things God uses to Grow our faith….

1. Practical Biblical Teaching – when we open the Bible, we read it, and we say to ourselves,” This actually makes some sense.” It’s when we take what we read from the Bible and then apply it to our lives. I believe that the Bible will change our lives…

 

2. Providential Relationships – God brings people in our lives to help us grow. God will bring people into our lives, to help us take the next step in our faith. It could be in a small group or mentoring relationship in which we are around people that will help us grow in our faith.

 

3. Personal Ministry… I believe our faith grows when we step up to the opportunities to serve. God wants us to use our gifts, skills, and talents for His purpose. Our faith is increased when we serve other people and when we have to rely upon God to show up.

 

 

4. Private Spiritual Disciplines – which we will talk about today…

 

5. Pivotal Circumstance – next week…

Today, we are going to be talking about “discipline”. Yes, the dreaded “D” word. Discipline is that thing we often want to ignore. What is a discipline…it is doing something we are supposed to do, even though we may not want to do it.

Society tells us there are a lot of good disciplines we should do: to exercise more, eat healthy, eat less, go to bed early, save more money and spend less, and spend quality time with your children. I don’t want to miss the most important one…call your parents. The discipline list could go on and on. These are all good disciplines for your life.

The interesting thing about disciplines and most of us have lived long enough to know this, disciplines can lead to very pleasant habits.

I can remember the first time I went with a group of guys biking. I got on my bike and started peddling. It was fun at first. Then after 10 minutes, it became work. Climbing that first big hill required some energy and work. However, as I went out biking again and again, I learned to go faster and longer. The activity may have started out as a discipline, I wanted to get in shape, but over time I start enjoying the experience and the habit.

I know many in the room play or have played a musical instrument. Whether it was a piano or trumpet you had to practice. You may have hated to practice. Your parents may have had to get on you again and again. As you built up the discipline of practicing over and over again, something inside you, changed. You began to enjoy the instrument.

There are many things that begin as a discipline in our lives, that over time, our attitude changes and we see now as beneficial. Some of these things that started as disciplines even turned into hobbies for some of us.

This is what I know about all types of disciplines…When we start something, it is tough at the beginning. It is hard to get going on. Often we want to quit. But when we persevere and work at the discipline, we will always see progress. Over time we see results. And many times that discipline becomes a lifestyle that we enjoy doing.

Let me go back…What is a discipline? It is doing something we are supposed to do, even though we may not want to do it.

This morning, I want to talk about disciplines. I want to speak to you about them in the spiritual context – “private disciplines”.  I want to share with you two disciplines that will help you grow in your faith and your relationship with God. These disciplines require hard work.

The first discipline is meeting with God. Sometime, Christians use the term having a “quiet time” with God. I have heard people refer to it as a “personal devotional time”.

One of the first things people learn is that they need to set aside time in the day for God. For some it is morning, others during the day or for others it is in the evenings. It is a conscious decision, to carve out time in the day for God. It is a process that one goes through to draw closer to God.

A second discipline that people have shared that increased their faith deals with money. When people learned to give, their faith increased. Giving is hard. No question about it. For many of us here, we have to learn to give. It does not come naturally to us. It requires faith in God. Giving usually begins as a gut-wrenching, sheer discipline that we have to practice. As we do, we see God show up.

See I believe God want to see our faith grow in Him. I believe, God uses the two things: money and time because we hold on to them most. God wants to see us grow. God want us to trust Him.

Let’s turn our Bible to Matthew 6:1

Let me put this conversation into context. Jesus is speaking to his disciples on the mountainside. Jesus is teaching the disciples and the large crowd about how they are supposed to live, how they are to behave and about their attitude. Then we come to Chapter 6 where Jesus brings up two important disciplines.

 

Matthew 6:1

Be careful not to practice your ‘righteousness’ in front of others to be seen by them.

Here Jesus is saying, “Be Careful”.   Jesus is setting up a warning to the people. This is what you should not do….

Do you see that part of the line – “Righteousness”.   What Jesus is referring to here is our “private disciplines”.

Why you may ask? Why would Jesus say this to the disciples and to the crowd? Why would Jesus care about “acts of righteousness” or our “spiritual disciplines”? Why is this a big deal to Jesus? Let’s continue and find out…

Matthew 6:1b

If you do, (what? Righteousness or Spiritual Disciplines in front of others) you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

What is Jesus saying?. Jesus is simply saying, I want to talk with you about two specific things. Jesus is saying these things are private things. These things are things you should not do publicly. Jesus, is telling them, the crowd and disciples, I don’t want you go around telling everyone. I don’t want you showing this off to people and becoming proud. I don’t want you drawing attention to yourself. If you do draw attention to yourself, there will be no reward.

Jesus is saying these “righteousness or spiritual disciplines are between you and me. I know when you are doing it for me.

Here Jesus is going to mention the 1^st discipline…

Matthew 6:2

So when you give to the needy,

Let me tell you what Jesus is simply sayin. Many of us read this and we focus on the needy. Jesus does talk about helping the needy a lot. But in this verse Jesus is talking about our giving. It all about our money.

Let me give you some history, the Jewish people were on the way to the temple to pay 10% to 20% of their money for the building and upkeep of the temple and for the priests. This was considered their tithe back in the day. On the way to the temple, the Jewish people would see people (lame, poor, and beggars) line up wanting money.

Let me say this, giving to the needy was not part of their tithe. People brought more money for these people. This was above and beyond their tithe back to God.

I want you to think back to the old movies about Jesus. Remember, when Jesus was going to the temple or synagogue. Do you remember, who was there outside the temple or synagogue?

You would see baggers, poor people, and the lame people. People that could not work. They were helpless people. These people needed a helping hand. These people could not survive by themselves.

When people would go the temple or synagogues. People would bring extra money to help them. Many people would bring extra money, just out of the mercy and out of the tenderness of their hearts.

Many would give to help, but I am guessing there were some people who gave and made a spectacle.

Jesus was sharing with these people…. Now, as you’re going to the temple and you see these people with all these needs, when you give… And then Jesus tells us specifically what to do when we give…

Matthew 6:2

“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.”

Well, if you look at this verse, you can see the reward the people who pride themselves received in full. What was their reward? The reward was the honor of others.

People may say, WOW, he is so generous. She is so generous. Look at how generous that couple is. Jesus, is warning us.. That he or she is getting their reward. Their reward is being honored by others here on earth.

Matthew 6:3-4

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Jesus simply spells out to us how we should give. We should give in secret. We should not create attention upon ourselves. If you give in a way, that does not draw attention upon yourself, you will be rewarded!

I know what many of you are thinking? How will I be rewarded?

Let me just say that Jesus does not tell us in the text.

This is what I can tell you….Just as men got there reward from people on the street, Jesus says, “When your heavenly Father sees you give, He is going to honor you.”

All I can say, is that Jesus will keep His word. There will be a reward. When we give in secret and do not draw attention to ourselves, then God will reward us.

Let me ask you a question about the passage this morning…. What is Jesus trying to teach us this morning through this passage? Remember, this really isn’t about helping the poor. There are other passages about that. This passage deals with you, God, and rewards.

The issue here is our faith in God.

What if …you really believe those words that Jesus spoke? What if … you really believed that God saw your private generosity, and God decided to honor you, and reward you, because you gave away some money?

How many of us really believe that God would reward us for our giving? How many of us really believe this would matter to God?

This passage is really about our confidence in God. Do we really believe that God will keep His word? If we really did believe, what Jesus says about giving, wouldn’t we be more generous in our giving? We would look for opportunities to give.

We would give to the needy.   We would give in the form of a tithe or offering to the church. This passage makes it clear to us, when we give (to the poor or tithe to the church), God promises a reward. God, will reward us.

Yet, we don’t give. We struggle with giving. I struggle with giving.

Why, do we struggle with giving? Money is one of those faith issues. Money is an emotional topic. Money, really should not be emotional. Really, what is money, it is paper bills with numbers on it and a dead president’s face on it.

But as a society, we are told to put our trust in it. Money, represents security to many of us. It is a source of trust. We believe that if we have enough of it, no one can hurt us. We begin to believe that money is our source of protection.

I believe we struggle, in giving money away because we trust more in ourselves. We begin to think we are self-sufficient. Our trust is limited with God. We may fear God will not reward us.

What I believe God is saying to us is “I want you to give and still trust that I will take care of you. I want you to depend on me.” When you depend upon God and give, He will show up. You will begin to establish faith in Him.

It all goes back to our faith. It’s having faith that God will take care of us, when you put Him first. That is the issue when it comes to growing your faith. God wants your faith to grow. But for our faith can only grow we trust Him with our most valuable possession – our money.

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Let’s move on to second illustration….

Matthew 6:5

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

Once again Jesus is warning the people, if you go around praying and drawing attention to yourself, your reward will once again be by others and not from me. Your reward will be the praise of others. Jesus tells us they will get what they want.

 

Jesus moves on to the second discipline which is our time. Jesus starts talking about when you pray.   Jesus is now focused on the people’s time. How much time are you giving to Me? How much time, do you plan to devote to God? If you want to see your faith increase, it is all about giving God time in your life.

 

Let’s continue to Matthew 6:6

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Jesus is not talking about our prayers that we say when we are going 100 mph in our life. We all do this… Lord, help me with this situation at work or with this co-worker… When your kids are going out the door… God, please be with my kids today…may they have a good day or When you are driving along 6A and you see a cop along the side of the road. We often say a prayer…”Lord, please don’t have that cop pull out right now. Please God, I will do anything. I will go to church, I promise you that I will be here…. I don’t believe Jesus is talking about “on the go” prayers. Anybody here have those “on the go” prayers?

What I believe that Jesus is talking about when he says, go into your room and close the door….is, Jesus wants us to give him a piece of our time. See our time is our most valuable asset we can give God. Our time is precious to us. God knows that. We guard it. We guard it and we don’t want to waste it.

Jesus understands our most valuable asset, which is our time. What Jesus is saying, I want you to take a piece of that time.  I want you to devote some of it to me. Jesus is saying, I want to be part of your life. I want to be in fellowship with you.

But what is our excuse? God, you simple don’t understand. I am so busy right now. Work or school right now is so hectic. God, you just don’t understand. I have projects that are due. People are counting on me. I don’t have time for you right now.

These are some of you that may be saying… God, you don’t understand my family. God, have you seen my family. The kids are needy. I have to pack their lunches, take the kids to school, go to work, get the kids, fix supper, and then deal with homework.

I think we can come up with excuses.

I want you to think about this for a minute. Jesus, is saying, I want you to give me a chunk of time for just you and me. I believe God is simply saying, I want you devote some time for us to be together. I want your full attention. I want to be in relationship with you. Take some time out with me.

Some of you may be wondering, What does this look like? I cannot even pray for 2 minutes and here you want me to go into a room and close the door and begin to start talking with you. God, are you crazy? What am I going to say to you?

Let me tell you, God know our uncomfortableness. God, knows we may not have a clue what that looks like. What God wants is our time and commitment.

There is something honoring to God when you take time; a slot out of your busy day and put Him first. (Repeat)

The busyness of life is all around you. We are busy with work. We are busy with family. We are busy with friends and hobbies. See the busyness is all around you.

Yet, when an emergency happens to us today, I would beg to say, that we make time in our day. We find time, we carve out time to be with God. Why? Because, we know we are dependent upon Him.

This is what Jesus is saying to us in this passage. I want time with you.

When you have 50 things to get done today. God is saying, slow down. Take some time today, give me a time slot in your day. Let God know that you are dependent on Him. When you are busy with work or school; and you have deadlines that are due, God is saying, come to Me. Instead of doing everything in your own strength, let Me help you.

I believe Jesus is saying, when you take the time with Me, I will reward you for it. If you take time out of your day, I will make it worth it. I will reward you.

How does God REWARD US?

Let me just say as a pastor, I have talked with a number of people who have taken this discipline to heart. They take time out of there day to meet with God. Some do it in the morning before work, others do it at lunch time, and I know others who spend time with God before bed.

When we spend time with God in prayer or have a devotional time with God or read Scripture for 10-15 minutes every day; when I intentionally take time out of my schedule and focus on God; my heart changes.

I have found my heart beat slows down. My focus changes from myself to God. It may change from myself to serving other people. There have been times, when I have felt His assurance that everything will be ok. Other times, I have just felt His peace come upon me.

Sometimes it is hard to put into words but it is real. I just know that God is with me. When I meet with God, I learn my trust is not in myself. I am putting my trust in God. When I pray to God, I am trusting God. I am asking God to join me in whatever I am going through at that moment or in that day.

Summary:

These two disciplines are huge indicators of our faith with God. God knows our most valuable asset which is money. God knows our most valuable possession which is time. I really believe God wants our faith to grow. God uses both our time and money to build our faith and to grow our faith. God wants us to see our dependence on Him grow.

Our faith cannot be about our money. Our money does not really offer the security we are led to believe. We like to believe it does. But God sees and knows everything. God wants a relationship with us.

God wants us to spend time with Him. When we spend time with God our focus changes. We begin to take the focus off ourselves and on to God and other people.

Here is our challenge this week.

I want to challenge you to give God your first few minutes of your day and your first few dollars. I believe when you give God your time (it could be the first few minutes of your day or the last fifteen minutes of your day), something will happen with your walk with God. I believe your walk with God will grow stronger. Your faith in God will grow stronger. When you spend time with God, you will feel His presence in your life.

The first challenge is your time…Give God 10 to 15 minutes, each day. You pick the time, but give God your time.

The second challenge deals with money.

Let me tell you, I have heard unbelievable stories when people put God first in their finances. Here is the thing. Do you believe your money can last longer, when you are in control of 100% of it? Or do you believe your money is more effective when you have 90% of it, but you give God 10%. And you have God on your team.

The question you may need to ask yourself…Do you trust only in yourself or is your trust in God?

Guys, I know this week is the hardest week we had. The time issue and the money issue; they are both faith issues. You want your faith to grow? You want to grow closer to God? God is saying to us today, trust Me. Trust Me with your time.  Trust Me with your money. If you trust Me, your faith will grow.

Let us pray….

“Five Ways God Grows Your Faith”

“Private Spiritual Disciplines”

Matthew 6:1-4, 5-6, Mark 1:35

Questions for Reflection or Discussion:

 

1. When it comes to discipline, in what areas of life do you struggle most?

 

2. In Matthew 6:1-4 what guidelines does Jesus give for it? What style of giving did Jesus command us to adopt?

 

3. How easy is it for you to be generous when confronted with a specific need? Why?

 

4. The real issue in giving is trust – our faith in God. Why do we struggle with God with our most coveted assets? How can we change and learn to trust him more?

 

5. In Matthew 6:5-8 and Mark 1:35 what guidelines does Jesus give towards prayer?

 

6. If God knows what we need before we ask, why should we pray?

 

7. God wants us to trust him with our time and with our wealth. When we do, he will reward our faith. How can we this week start in doing this?