I have noticed three major movements within the hearts of American Christians. First, in the beginning of our country we were still working through our new religious and political freedom and had high structure, integration into culture and a works based theology. This high structure developed into formalized denominational boundaries. So, what was critically important to people was what denomination they belonged to. Christians defined themselves as Methodists, Presbyterian, Baptist, Catholic etc. rather than as “followers of Jesus.” The second movement I will call the cheap grace movement. We started to recover the blessing of grace and highlight it, but in the process we lost the importance of spiritual disciplines and works and adopted several subtle but deeply wrong ideas. A couple of these wrong ideas were the idea that we are just human and the idea that to be a Christian one only has to believe in Jesus, but not actually live like Jesus. Both of these ideas had detrimental affects on the spiritual growth of believers. And finally I believe we are in the midst of another major heart movement. Many people have given up the idea that they can live and be like Jesus, while others down deep inside are pretty comfortable, thinking they are good enough and do not really desire nor want to be like Jesus. They just want to admire Jesus and get the benefits of Jesus, but not put in the spiritual discipline it takes to be like Jesus. All of this raises a very important question:

Do we want to live like Jesus?

To follow Jesus was never just to believe in Jesus, but to learn to live like Jesus. This is why Jesus and the Father sent forth the Holy Spirit into our hearts. But are we willing to do what Jesus did so we can live and be like Jesus?

“We cannot behave ‘on the spot’ as he (Jesus) did and taught if in the rest of our time we live as everybody else does.” -Dallas Willard

1 Timothy 4:7-8

⁷ … Rather train yourself for godliness; ⁸ for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

We are excelling in so many different areas of training and discipline today but not in the areas of character formation, sanctification and the pursuit of holiness. Why is the pursuit not exciting to people? Why do we not see righteousness, holiness and godliness as things to be pursued? Maybe we do not see them as attainable. Maybe we have a wrong or skewed idea of what that kind of person is like. Maybe we are holding onto a lie that we are just human. We must hold fast to the truth that we are a new creation and the Spirit of God is inside our soul. We have not taken Jesus’ words and promises seriously. For we can be like Him and we are suppose to be like Him. We cannot be salt and light to the watching world without radical character transformation. It is possible because Jesus did the impossible for us and sent forth the Spirit to make this new life happen inside us and through us. So, how did Jesus train Himself in godliness? The scriptures tell us that he grew up in the wisdom of both man and God. I believe most, if not all, of the spiritual disciplines, which Jesus practiced fit into one of these three categories.

Word Time

Worship Time

Works Time

Jesus from the age of 5 until He started His public ministry at 30 was a student of the Torah and submitted Himself to intense study in preparation for His public ministry. Jesus modeled “worship time” by regularly spending time alone in prayer with the Father. All of His preparation in “word time” and “worship time” prepared Him for His “works time”. His works time was His public ministry to the disciples, the crowds and ultimately His death, burial and resurrection.

The Spiritual disciplines are not about working harder, they are about making space for God to move and speak into our lives.

Here is a list of some of the more important spiritual disciplines that we should be practicing so we can be training for godliness to become more like Jesus:

Word Time

Reading Scripture

Memorizing Scripture

Praying Scripture

Studying Scripture

Discussing Scripture

Journaling with the Scriptures

Worship Time

Solitude with God

Praising God

Thanking God

Listening to God

Silence before God

Asking God

Interceding for others in prayer

Worshiping with the Church family

Praying with others

Fasting

Works Time

Sharing our faith with others

Ministering to others

Teaching others

Using spiritual gifts to bless others

Serving others

Celebrating with others

Mourning with others

Praying with others

Making disciples

It is our Word and Worship Time that prepare us for our Works Time. This is what Jesus modeled for the disciples and for us. Word, Worship and Works Time are primarily developed in the context of regular deep discipleship not reading on our own, not regularly attending church, not going to seminars or conferences and not even going to seminary. Jesus modeled and taught His disciples the disciplines of Word Time, Worship Time and Works Time. And He commanded them to model and teach others to do the same.

Discipleship is doing what Jesus did with His disciples.

Discipleship has two key components. First, we must be discipled ourselves before we are ready to make disciples. The goal of discipleship is that we would encourage each other to become more like Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit as we train in godliness through the spiritual disciplines. This deeply relational process is the primary avenue for character formation and clarity on our purpose in life. Jesus gave the Great Commission to His disciples right before He ascended back into heaven.

Matthew 28:18-20

¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Are we preparing for Greater Things?

It is amazing to think that God has prepared “Good Works” for us to walk in. (Ephesians 2:8-10) And Jesus even says that we will do even “Greater Works” than He! So, the question we all have to ask:

Are we making space for LIFE?