Disciplines of the Christian Life — Mike Attwood

Way and it's about 1 15 in the morning there right now so my body clock may not exactly be on eastern time zone and so we'll just see how this goes this evening. We got back late Wednesday night had Thursday to kind of unpack and repack and then left at 3 30 this morning from Missouri to get here.

Yeah so if I fall asleep during the message you understand the reason why. But anyway it is a joy to be with you. So first Timothy 4 please verse 7 and 8 it says this. But refuse profane and old wise fables and exercise thyself rather unto godliness for bodily exercise profiteth little.

But godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come and God will bless that short and concise reading of the word of God to us this evening.

The Christian Life as a Life of Spiritual Discipline

But we want to think about back to the basics and I thought kind of a way to deal with this is to talk about the disciplines of the Christian life. And I want to talk about really four things. Tonight you want to look at prayer as a discipline of the Christian life.

And then tomorrow afternoon we're going to look at the the believers relationship to the word of God and our our response to the word of God so the scriptures. And then the third session we look at life in the assembly and and how important that is for the believer.

And then on Sunday we'll talk about sharing our faith and witnessing. And so you're not going to hear anything new this weekend. In fact we could retitle this a refresher course in the basics. Sometimes we just need reminding of things that we already know and maybe have got kind of lazy and haven't been practicing so well.

And so that's kind of our goal is to to kind of stir us up now if you think of the Christian life there's different ways to look at the Christian life. Often say this to people that the Christian life is a wonderful life and and yet there's different aspects to it.

Yeah for one uh it's the dependent life. It's a life where we're we're acknowledging we don't have it all together and we're we're living a life dependent on someone else. So even our salvation it begins by acknowledging nothing I can do to save myself.

I have to depend on what someone else did for me on Calvary's cross in order to be saved. Right. It's a it's a from the very get-go. The Christian life is a dependent life. I'm saying I can't get to heaven on my own strength.

There's no way I can't pull myself up by my bootstraps. I can't I can't change myself Lord you've got to do something and you did something through your son the Lord Jesus. I believe and I trust in his finished work.

And so I begin the Christian life expressing my dependence on what someone else has done for me. But I continue the Christian life independence. Really because I can't live this life in my own strength.

It's not possible. I need the the indwelling Holy Spirit to manifest the life of Christ through me. So I have to depend on this indwelling heavenly guest on a moment-by-moment basis. Right. It's a dependent life.

It's also a devotional life. It's a love relationship with a living person. Christ is not only my savior he's my bridegroom. Right. I'm I'm in love. It's kind of a he's a friend in Ireland used to preach in the open air and he should get everybody's attention.

And he would say folks I want to tell you I'm in love with another man. And everybody thought oh he's one of those. And he said yeah Jesus Christ. And aren't we here tonight because we're in love with the Lord Jesus.

And so it's a divorce a love relationship with a living person who is altogether lovely. There's nobody like him nobody to be compared with him. He's marvelous and so we're in love with this person. So it's a devotional life.

But it's also a disciplined life. And so Paul says here that in this disciplined life and he's kind of using the language really of physical exercise. He's using that kind of language. He often uses things like Olympic games or Greek games or whatever that in his illustrations.

And so what he's saying is that for an athlete to be successful there are things that he has to refuse. Right there there are things that an athlete if he's going to win an event that he does not eat frozen custard three times a day right.

I mean there's things that he has to say no to. Right. So he tells us the things that we have to say no to if we really want to be successful in the Christian life there things we have to refuse. And he says profane.

Profane is an interesting word. Profane means no sanctuary. A profane person is somebody who has no sanctuary in his life. There was no place for God in his life. Remember Esau was that profane person no place for God in his life.

He was hunting and and that was his thing you know but he had no place for God. So profanity is saying I don't have any place for God. And so we want to refuse profane. And then old wives fables and this is kind of you know all the garbage of the world the soap operas all this kind of stuff whatever way you look at it today the stuff that if we want to really go on with God we need to say I don't need that stuff.

It's just junk. Refuse profane anything that doesn't have a sanctuary in it. Old wives fables. And then he says exercise thyself rather unto godliness. Now this word exercise in verse seven is a very interesting word.

It's a word which we get our English word gymnasium from. That's why the King James translators use the word exercise right. Because when you go to the gym usually it's to get exercise right. And so what he's saying is that if you want to become a godly person there has to be some exertion of effort and energy like that you got to as it will go to the spiritual gymnasium to become a godly person.

And you know if you're going to have the perfect body like there's a discipline involved in that isn't there. Like I don't go to the gym very often it's very obvious you can see that by looking at me.

But but people that do you can tell I was there's a guy on the flight today and his muscles I don't know what he did but by this guy obviously is you know kind of doing his exercises he really was and he looked like a bit like Mr. Universe.

And of course he's wearing a kind of a little uh kind of vesty thing because he wants everybody to see how magnificent he looks. But he didn't just get that way by waking up one morning and thinking you know I'd love to have muscles.

No he he made a decision and that decision was a costly decision. It affected his diet it affected his his exercise regime. And so even in Florida you know we don't go to gym in Florida but most people go to physiotherapy.

But it's the same idea is to exercise muscles. You know it's kind of to try and keep living right. You do that kind of stuff. And so what he's saying is this you will never drift into a life of godliness.

It's not going to happen. In fact let me tell you this if you don't have any discipline in your Christian life you will drift but it will not be towards godliness. You'll drift in the opposite direction.

Whenever you drift you always drift away from the lord. You never drift towards him right. Isn't that true. There's a discipline needed in the Christian life. And so he says exercise thyself rather unto godliness.

Discipline yourself unto godliness. Bodily exercise profits little but it does have value. It's good. I try to walk every day. I find it very good to do that. It helps my mind to stay clear and focused.

And it's good to this profit. There's little profit but there's profit in it. But godliness is profitable to all things having promise of the life that now is and that which is to come it has eternal benefits doesn't.

And so we need to become disciplined in the Christian life. Now let me say this there's nothing that requires more discipline than prayer. It really does take concentration of mind and will to be a person of prayer now I can guarantee this if any one of you have ever sat down to pray.

If you're anything like me the first thing that happens when you sit down or kneel down or whatever you do when you're going to pray you get in that condition where you're going to pray. And then all of a sudden what happens kind of me to-do lists come in my mind I need to do this and I need to do that.

I need to go see this person need to do this. And and it's like all of a sudden I'm there to pray. And like all the cares of the world have come upon me instantaneously and I literally have to force myself to go back to why I'm there.

I'm there to pray. And so there's a discipline in prayer. And so if we're going to become a people of prayer we have to be disciplined. And many of us are busy people and we've always got to be on the move and doing and to stop and go in the closet to pray is hard for us to do in the very first place isn't it.

If in fact if we're honest if we were to do a survey here and I was to ask you in all honesty what is the weakest area of your Christian life. I'd say most of you don't have too much difficulty getting a quiet time in and reading your bible.

But how's your time in the closet. How's the prayer time. It's hard isn't it. And and so we really need to become disciplined. And prayer is certainly vital to the Christian life. How do we know that prayer is so important in the Christian life.

Prayer’s Biblical Importance and the Example of Christ

Well first of all I want to talk about the frequency of the mention of prayer in the bible. Now I'm just running these figures off for you. But the word pray is used 336 times in the King James Bible prayer is used 110 times prayers 26 times.

So just using the word pray prayer prayers we get 472 times. But then there's other words that I use supplication right for instance and other descriptions of prayer. And so it's just like you can't read the word of God without seeing that throughout the whole bible prayer plays a very prominent place in scripture.

The Lord Jesus prayed. Now that should just strike us right like here's the Lord Jesus. And particularly you'll notice this in the gospel of Luke which portrays the Lord Jesus as the dependent man the second man the last Adam.

And there's more emphasis on the prayer life of the Lord Jesus in Luke's gospel than there is in the other gospels. And so let me just say this if Jesus as man perfect man saw his need to commune with God in prayer his father who do I think I am to think that I could remotely live a Christ-like life without prayer being a big factor in it.

You get the point like this is to me this is a it's a given fact. Apostle Paul you read his prayers they just permeate his epistles. In fact he'll be teaching and then all of a sudden he'll he'll burst into a prayer that the people will get what he's telling them.

Right. It's just he's a man of prayer and he's always talking about the people he's praying for it. And and he was a man whose life was dominated by prayer. Moses was an intercessor. Elijah was a great man of prayer.

David was a man of prayer Nehemiah Daniel. And then we go into church history and let me say this anybody who was anything in church history was a person who was given to prayer. And so the Lord puts it this way in Luke's gospel chapter 18 verse 1 he says this men ought always to pray and think not.

That's a pretty dramatic statement isn't it. Men are always to pray and think not. Don't lose heart. Don't be discouraged. Keep praying. Look for a minute please to Luke's gospel chapter 11. Well let's do a couple of things in Luke.

First of all let's go back to Luke 3. I just want to show you this. Uh you some of you have heard this before. But it's okay at Luke 3. This is the baptism of the Lord Jesus which was the beginning of his public ministry.

And notice it says this in verse 21. Now when all the people were baptized it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized. And then notice this phrase only given by Luke. You won't find this in Matthew.

You won't find it in Mark. You won't find it in John. Only in Luke it says Jesus also being baptized and praying. The heaven was opened and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him.

And a voice came from heaven which said thou are my beloved son in thee. I am well pleased. So here's just the interesting point. The Lord Jesus public ministry. Everybody said his public ministry began officially at his baptism.

How does he start his public ministry in prayer. Isn't that interesting. What about Saul of Tarsus. How did he start out. Well Ananias was told to go to a street called straight in Damascus where he'd find one Saul and he praying.

Well that's interesting. Isn't it. See maybe a ministry that starts out and don't start in prayer might not amount to much. It started in prayer the Lord's ministry. Now look at Luke 11. Luke 11 and verse one it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place when he ceased one of his disciples said unto him Lord teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples.

And of course he goes on and gives what we call this muddle prayer. But I want you just to notice something here first of all as he was praying. So we get this this little kind of scene Jesus is praying.

And the disciples once he'd finished they said Lord teach us to pray. Now why wouldn't they say Lord teach us to pray. Weren't they Jewish men. Like what did Jews do pray. Right. Generally unless they're liberal Jews.

But generally Jews are praying. And these people grew up praying. And yet they saw something in the Lord Jesus's praying that was different to theirs. And they said Lord teach us to pray. Then they said as John taught his disciples to pray what does that tell you.

Would it tell you that basic discipleship would include teaching somebody how to pray. Right. Because John taught his disciples how to pray. Interesting. And now the Lord's disciples are saying teach us to pray.

Now let me just say this. And I think it's important the Lord's disciples never said Lord teach us how to preach. You notice that they didn't say what you need to develop this homiletics course and teach us how to preach like you preach.

Never did. John the Baptist was a great preacher. But we don't read of his disciples saying teach us to preach. But they they need teaching to pray. That's kind of interesting isn't it. And yet you go to a seminary or a bible school.

I guarantee that there won't be a course teaching people to pray. That's just that should strike us as stunning. So so prayer why is it so important. It's the means by which we express our dependence upon God.

You know there's some assemblies that don't have prayer meetings. They just don't. And even those that do. I'd like to guarantee this that if you were to look at your assembly and say okay which is the most well-attended meeting and then which is the least attended meeting I would suggest to you that generally speaking nine out of ten people would tell you the least attended meeting in the church is the prayer meeting.

Would that be true. What is that saying. You see if prayer is the means by which we express our dependence on God our lack of praying is saying God we can do this thing without you. We got it covered long.

We don't see we're Americans. You see we we Americans you know we're the kind of you know we we took this wilderness and we made it into something and we're we're self-made man. And we we can do this Christian thing.

God we don't need your help now. I know you'd never say that but we're voting with our feet. We're saying we can do this and we've got it covered. Lord don't worry. And yet we're getting what we're voting for powerless Christianity because we're depending on ourselves.

And we're getting what self can produce. And what self can produce is not worth producing. It's not much. And and so prayer is is how we express our dependence on God. Prayer is how we communicate with him.

He communicates to us through his word but we communicate to him in prayer. And communication is vital to any relationship. He speaks to us in his word. We speak to him in prayer. If I said to my wife I love you honey but I don't speak to her from week to week she might get the the hint that there's something bogus about what I'm saying.

I mean if I don't want to talk to her if I don't want to communicate with her. If I if I'm just happy not to say anything she'd think if this guy loves me why don't he talk to me. Right. And so communication is is vital to any relationship.

In fact our relationship began with prayer didn't it. Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. At one point we said Lord save me. I mean I hope you said that right. At some point there was this crying out to the Lord.

That's how it all began and it has to continue. And prayer is how we do that prayer is saying we can't do it ourselves. We need supernatural intervention from the God who is all-powerful who spoke the worlds into existence.

And we're saying Lord I don't have this covered. I can't do this this weekend. I believe that I believe the Lord doesn't come through this weekend. We're just going to waste the weekend if he doesn't bless.

And and prayer is vital. The apostles saw that didn't. They said we will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the word at six four very critical verses many of us I think could say we've said it before in times past many of us could say that honestly we have given ourselves to the ministry of the word.

But few of us could really say that we have given ourselves to the same extent to prayer and the ministry of the word. And I believe if if we had given ourselves more to prayer and the ministry of the word in other words we spent as much time in the closet as we did in the study we would see different results through the preaching of the word of God much more effective.

Private Prayer and Cultivating Consistent Habits

So I want to think about private prayer to begin with and we'll get on to corporate prayer. But I want us to go back to the book of psalms lots of beautiful prayers in the psalms and psalm 55. And I just want you to see something of David the sweet psalmist of Israel and his discipline.

Remember we're talking about disciplines of the Christian life. And this is what he says psalm 55 and verse 17 he says her evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice.

So we see something of a kind of a habit in David's life. He prayed three times a day. Now he starts with evening because the Jewish day starts evening. Doesn't it evening. And the morning with the first day it always starts in the evening.

So so he starts his day in prayer in the evening and then in the morning and then at noon. So three times a day he set aside specific times to pray. Daniel obviously followed the David model. Didn't he do.

You remember Daniel when they tried to find something wrong with Daniel's life and they said we're only going to get him about something concerning his God. And so they said that made this rule that you could only ask the king.

You couldn't ask any any any God or anybody else but the king for a petition. And and Daniel well he just did what he always did three times a day he opened the window towards Jerusalem and he prayed.

And there was a discipline. There was there was a a set time. And so it's good sometimes to to have set times that we set aside if you don't I find if I don't put things in my calendar they don't happen.

Right. We need to have set times when we we get into the closet and pray. And certainly David did this and notice what he did. He says I'll cry aloud sometimes if you if you have problems kind of nodding off when you're praying pray out loud.

Cry aloud to God in prayer. That's okay. It's legitimate. I do all kinds of weird things in prayer just because I want to. I want it to be effective. And so sometimes I'll walk around the room and pray.

And sometimes I'll I'll raise my hand. I don't get worried. I'm not going charismatic or anything like that. But I just I I I love that posture. It's like Lord I don't have anything. I've no bargaining chips.

You have everything. I've got nothing. I need your help. And so I I don't mind doing these things. If it if it helps it's what works right. I want to have a prayer life that's effective and I want something that's going to be going to work.

And so David he cried aloud. And and what an assurance evening and morning at noon will I cry. Will I pray and cry aloud. And and David knew this he shall hear my voice. I don't have to cry aloud because Lord is defective in hearing.

But he knew God delights to hear the cries of his children and and he answers prayer. And so also it's very helpful um in developing good habits in prayer. I don't know about you but everybody ever struggled with bad habits.

Like habits are hard to break. Can't they bad habits. I used to have a terrible habit of biting my fingernails. It took a long time before I actually finally got free of bright biting my fingernails. But it was a it was a it was a habit.

I started when I was a kid and it was was really hard to break. Um and so habits can be a can be a good thing if they're a good habit. Right. And so there are habits we should get into and one of them is making a daily prayer list.

Spending a set time in prayer having having a regular time and even a regular place. It's good sometimes to have a place where you you retired a prayer. The Lord had his place. Right. You can tell me where it was where it's like a lot of like to go to pray.

Garden of Gethsemane. Right. That was a place we often resorted to pray. He had a place and and often at nighttime he would go there. And so it's good to have a time and a place. It's good to have a list.

I find that helpful. I like to pray a lot for different mission fields. And what I do is just to help me. Practically I divide the world up in seven days. And so I just pray through the world. Actually Friday believe it not.

Canada is Friday. Uh and so that's I pray for the Canadian brethren. They need a lot of prayer up there. Uh and uh. And so Saturday I pray for Israel and the Jews because it's their holy day. Uh. And then Sunday I pray for assemblies.

And uh Monday is Europe. Uh you know Tuesday is Asia. Uh Wednesday is uh Christian workers in North America. But I find that it just helps to have this kind of divide of the week in prayer. Go around the world in a week.

It's wonderful isn't it. I mean I travel a lot. I cover the continent in a week every week. But isn't it wonderful that you can speak to the one who sits on the throne of the universe and affect affairs all around the globe in prayer.

And again just good to get into these habits. Private prayer though is work. Let me show how Paul describes some of the experiences in prayer. Look at Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2 and verse 1.

Now Paul had never been to Colossae. Uh it was started by Epaphroditus the evangelist. And uh Epaphros should I say. And uh so he'd never been there never seen them. He heard about them. And he says I would that you knew.

Verse this is uh Colossians 2 verse 1. What great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea. And for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh that their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love so on and so forth.

I want you to get this little word conflict. What great conflict. That great. That word conflict there in the Greek language is a word agonia. You can you can get the meaning of that right. In other words he actually was agonizing over the state of the Christians in Colossae and Laodicea.

Never seen them before now that's hard. I I'll be honest with you my global prayer list is mainly people I've met and I know it's just so much easier for me when I know somebody. But Paul had never seen these guys before.

And he's praying for them. And I find that amazing. And not only is he praying for them he's agonizing over them. It's it's now we know so little of this kind of prayer if we're really honest where we actually agonize over people.

I wonder if we'd see more happen if there was more of that earnest agonizing over souls. I remember I've never forgotten it. I was in a prayer meeting in Northern Ireland and it was during a gospel campaign.

And some of these brethren in their starchy black suits uh you know this is these are gospel hall. They're. They're very conservative brethren. And some of them were laying frost spray on the ground agonizing over souls to be saved in this gospel campaign.

I have never forgotten that. It's just burned in my memory. I've not seen that in chapels. I'll be honest with you I've never seen them. I wish I had. But what a sight. And there's an agony here agonizing over souls because it is it is a warfare in fact Ephesians chapter 6 again speaking just of what goes on in prayer often the battles are won and lost in prayer.

Ephesians 6 verse 12 he says. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities. Against powers against rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places.

And so it's kind of a place where we're actually entering into conflict spiritual warfare. Uh wrestling. A wrestling match. Wrestling not against flesh and blood but principalities and powers. So I want to suggest to you that that Satan is more fearful of Christians on their knees than all our programs all our clever organizational skills all of these things put together.

They do not worry him one bit. But what worries it is when God's people get serious about getting on their knees in prayer because the old testament there's a beautiful illustration. Isn't there. We won't turn there because you're not.

I'm sure everybody knows the story when Jacob wrestled with the angel and he in the midst of that conflict that wrestling match. And it's a beautiful illustration of prayer. And you get this this great statement I will not let thee go until thou bless me.

And so this is what you call prevailing prayer. He's wrestling and he's hanging on and he's not going to quit until he's assured of the blessing. What do you like to be in prayer meetings like that where the saints recognize we're wrestling here.

But we're not going to let go until we have the assurance of the blessing that God is going to. I wonder if we've ever experienced anything like this. Well these are the basics we're getting back to the basics.

These are the what we call the basics of the Christian life. Prayer is one of them. It's a discipline. It's an important discipline. And it's I find it so much easier to complain than to pray about life in the assembly.

I mean it's so easy to complain instead of praying. You look at the bulletin you see who's scheduled to preach. And you think oh lord not him again. Yeah you probably never have those kind of bad news.

But you know sometimes it's like 45 minutes can be a life sentence. You know that right. And you think in law. But instead of complaining why not just get on your face and say lord give that brother a message like he's never had before in his life.

Let him speak as the oracles of God. And and and you can do these things. You can speak to a donkey lord you can do this. This is not too hard for you. And so again instead of complaining let's pray. Prevailing prayer.

Examples of Persistent, Joyful, and God-Centered Prayer

Lots of examples in the word of God. The Lord Jesus loves to give these examples of people that just will not give up. Just some we're familiar with these. I'm just going to mention them. Luke 18 great passage on prayer and just delightful to think of it.

It says he spake a parable unto them to this end that men are always to pray and not faint saying there was in a city a judge which feared not God neither regarded man. And there was a widow in that city and she came unto him saying avenge me of my adversary.

And he would not for a while. But afterwards he said within himself though I fear not God nor regard man. Yet because the widow this widow troubles me I will avenge her lest by her continual coming she weary me.

And the law said hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect. Which cried day and night unto him though he bear long with them. I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.

Nevertheless when the sort of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth. So what he said is. And it's good to remind ourselves we're not coming to an unjust judge. We're coming to a loving heavenly father.

What a difference. And yet this woman the Lord is telling us learn the lesson. This woman she didn't quit she didn't give up. She she had to have what she needed. And and so she came with that determination that persistence.

And the Lord gave her as an example James 5 16. We're encouraged by the example of Elijah a man of like passions such as we are. I love that he's made of the same cookie dough as you and I just like you and me.

He's not. Sometimes we put these people on such a pedestal. And God is telling us don't put him on a pedestal. He's just like you has the same ups and downs. And you look at the life of Elijah. He had his downs.

He had days that he was so depressed he wanted to die right. He he he went through the the whole gamut of emotions. He's just like you and he's just like me. And yet the Lord tells us the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

How much can be accomplished if we get serious about prayer. We're encouraged to joyful praying. Uh Paul uh a great example of joyful praying uh. Philippians chapter 1 and verse 4. Isn't it a joy to just think that I can speak to my Heavenly Father.

Enter into the holiest of all at any time. The merits of the Savior. And so Philippians 1 40 says. Always in every prayer of mine for you all making requests with joy. And it is a joy. Isn't it as I pray for different ones that I've come to love and appreciate.

First of all it's just it's a joy to think of them personally as I bring them before the Lord. It just it brings back happy memories to think of these dear saviors bring them into the presence of God knowing that he loves them more than I could ever love them.

And to bring my request what a joy it is. And there is a joy in prayer. There's a joy because there's always a joy in obedience as well. We know we're doing the right thing. James says. A very staggering thing though.

In James chapter 4 and verses 2 and 3 he says this. He says. You lust and have not. You kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you have. Not because you ask. Not you ask and receive.

Not because you ask and miss. I consume it upon your loss. One of the things he's warning about really is prayers that are all about getting my needs met. Right. My wants my. When you think of the prayers the Lord's prayer that he gives us in his example prayer how does it begin with.

It doesn't begin with our needs. How would be thy name thy will be done. Right. Uh it's it's about him. And then it dissolves down to our needs. And sometimes our prayer meetings are all about our needs not about his glory and his honor.

And so we come to prayer meetings and often it's an extended sick list. What we're praying is whatever you do. Don't let these people go to heaven. Right. I mean they might be 99 you know and barely existing.

And we're saying oh Lord please keep sister come on let her go. I mean one second after she dies you're gonna think why were they praying for me. This is better than anything right. With price is what that's power cream far better.