12 Jul Swim in Deeper Waters
Richard Foster says in the opening sentence of his classic book, Celebration of Discipline, “Superficiality is the curse of our age.” He said that 40 years ago. How much more is it true today? Biblical doctrine has been substituted for relational connection. Social media has now become the primary platform for people to be seen, heard, and known. Feelings have overtaken thinking as the primary catalyst for thought and behavior. And those “feels” have now become a substitute for people thinking they have experienced the Holy Spirit. Selective obedience to God’s Truth is now accepted because we might be called “intolerant.” Music has taken over the preeminent place in corporate worship gatherings as the Word of God takes a secondary role in many churches. Postmodernism is now a reality. (While Postmodernism means a variety of things, at its fundamental core, it says there is no absolute truth. Truth is relative and you can decide what is right and wrong. You be you, live your own truth are common mantras.) In 40 years our culture, and perhaps church culture, with some exceptions, appears to have moved to the shallow end of the pool.
Foster goes on to say that “the desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.” I couldn’t agree more. If anything has been exposed during the tumultuous year of 2020, perhaps it is the lack of spiritual and biblical depth of so many who call themselves followers of Jesus Christ, beginning with myself. How quickly I want to react, how quickly I become frustrated, my desire to get back to normal and return to my comfort, my need to be heard and understood, my need to control, my need to want my opinion to be heard by others, living out of my feelings, the need to confront or correct other people who I think are wrong, and more. Like Paul says in 1 Cor 9:27, my need to “pummel my body (and mouth, added) and make it a slave” is a constant battle. Charles Spurgeon said, “God still has a great many unwise children. You can easily find one if you look in the right place – I mean in a mirror.” OUCH!!!
So why such shallowness? Why do so many “professing” followers of Jesus seem content to swim in the shallow end of the pool? Where is the hunger and thirst for righteousness and the righteous One? When we realize what it takes to swim toward the deep end of the pool, we understand why so few go there?
In Luke 9:23-26 Jesus says, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will save it. For what does it benefit someone if he gains the whole world, and yet loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and that of the Father and the holy angels.” Oh yeah, that’s why? That deny yourself, take up your cross, lose your rights, and don’t be ashamed of anything Jesus says even if the world calls you hateful, narrow, and intolerant; thing.
It always seems to come back to this. We live in a western culture where having rights and the freedom to demand those rights are our highest virtues. The idea of denying myself anything seems foreign. We try to spiritualize fleshly desires. Our comfort masquerades as the peace God, overprotective parenting hides fear and a lack of trusting God, ambition is used to soften the sin of covetousness, and amassing material wealth is called security and prudence rather than greed. When will we awaken to the fact that conformity to a sick society is just sick? Until we see how unbalanced our culture has become and how deeply anti-Christ it truly is, we will not be able to deal with the worldly spirit within our own hearts, nor will we desire and seek the Kingdom of God above everything. We will continue to swim in the shallow waters, swimming in the same direction as the culture.
How do we step toward the deeper waters and against the current of culture? Here we are again, DENY SELF! And some of the best ways to deny self is to embrace the spiritual disciplines as a consistent part of our daily journey. The spiritual disciplines that our church fathers and mothers have practiced for thousands of years, but in a superficial culture have been placed in our spiritual attics with the other unpopular, uncool, non-essentials. Silence, fasting, solitude, meditation, prayer, simplicity, celebration, service, study, confession, true worship, etc., have become archaic language. Outside of prayer, bible study and worship we rarely hear about spiritual disciplines. For many the practice of these top three disciplines have been altered to something very different from the biblical definition.
The goal of spiritual disciplines is very simple, Godliness, Christlikeness. Ultimately to be conformed to image of the Son, (Rom 8:29). They are very practical ways we can deny ourselves, gain victory of our flesh, and walk by the Spirit. Allowing the Word of God and the Spirit of God to use the refining fire to transform our duplicitous hearts and double mindedness.
Spiritual disciplines are activities that helps us win the battles of our flesh, desires, cravings, and appetites. When we live in a culture that encourages us to feed these appetites, we need the spiritual disciplines to call us back to Christlikeness. A visual I like to use is a 2 X 4 board that is crooked. If you want to straighten the crooked board, you don’t bend it back to center. You have to overexaggerate and bend the board past center in the hope that it will come back to a straight board. Since our desires and appetites want to control us, we have to overexaggerate and bend our flesh way past center. If we struggle with something, it is difficult to go immediately to moderation. We need to bend it toward the opposite extreme.
If your tongue (social media post) gets you into trouble, practice the spiritual discipline of silence. If your eating is out of control and has become an idol for comfort and control, practice fasting. If materialism and the praise of people has taken control of your daily life, practice simplicity. If you struggle with depression and self-pity, practice celebration. If you always have to have your way and bend toward narcissism, practice the discipline of serving other people. If you don’t know what the Bible says about an issue or topic, practice the discipline of study. I believe living in the Zambian culture is an extreme bend in the opposite direction of the American culture. I see things that are valued through an American lens that I now see as a barrier to following Christ.
It is super helpful when you bunch several of the disciplines together. For example, while fasting, spend your mealtimes in meditation, prayer, and solitude. Meditate on a Scripture you want the Spirit to show you what it means. Meditate on a problem or issue that you want the Spirit to shine light on to help you get a holy perspective. Praying and listening through times of solitude and meditation.
Practicing the spiritual disciplines is like a reset, especially if you consistently commit to practice them. If you have ever watched Cesar the dog whisperer, there are times when he is training a dog and it gets fixated on something and just locks in. Cesar will take his knuckle and jab the dog in the rib cage to break its focus. Now that Cesar has the dog’s attention, he can train it. As humans, we get focused and fixated on things and we can’t seem to let go. A hurt, revenge, imaginary conversations we wish we would have, unforgiveness, fear, an appetite wanting to be fed, and we become obsessed. But if every Wednesday you are going to fast during lunch, it is the Spirit’s opportunity to take his knuckle and jab you in your spiritual ribs. It’s the Lord’s opportunity to say, “wake up, come off that, focus on something else, let me have your attention. Now I can teach you, show you, train you in godliness.” Scheduling the disciplines is a built-in reset. Whatever your number one fleshly desire, craving, appetite is, embrace the discipline that overexaggerates it and make it a consistent part of your life.
One last thought, if fasting has not been a part of your spiritual journey, I highly encourage you to consistently practice it if you are physically able. Since all of the appetites and cravings are connected together, there is nothing that seems to expose the deep desires of our heart, or set us free from those desires, like fasting. There seems to be something deeply spiritual about denying your body something it needs to survive. Making Jesus and His Word the only bread you will eat for a period of time. Treasuring Jesus and His Word more than your stomach treasures food. Even Jesus said there are some things that just won’t happen without prayer and fasting. (Mark 9:29, KJV)
What a great time to embrace the spiritual disciplines. At a time when there is so much confusion, chaos, self-centeredness, and sharing of opinions, the follower of Jesus can swim against the cultural current and go to the deeper waters of Christlikeness and loving others. And instead of hearing what we think, they will see a Christ follower who is letting his/her light shine before others and practicing such loving good works, that just maybe, others may see those good works and give glory to their Father who is in heaven. (Matt. 5:16)
Let us not be known as superficial. Start swimming to the deep end by denying yourself and embracing the spiritual disciplines. Perhaps if we swim against the cultural current, and start moving toward the deeper waters, others will join us, and Christ Jesus will be glorified.
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