The Path to Spiritual Growth
Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:8)
Dear Friends and Members of IBC,
This Summer, we are going through a selection of Proverbs in our Sunday sermons, whilst on Thursday evenings, as part of our IBC Central Bible Study, we will be going through a five-part seminar series on some of the Spiritual Disciplines. Specifically, we will consider the disciplines of Scripture reading (over two sessions), service, simplicity, and celebration. Everyone is welcome to join! In these next Word for the Week’s, I intend to share more on the spiritual disciplines, starting today with a short introduction of what the disciplines are, and a book I would recommend for those interested in going further.
The spiritual disciplines are means not ends. We don’t practice fasting or solitude for the sake of being alone or simply going without food. We practise them to know God more, to be more like Jesus, to pursue godliness. Galatians 6:8 is a good verse for the spiritual disciplines. We might think of them as ways of sowing to the Spirit, instead of sowing to the flesh. Ways to keep in step with Spirit. They don’t prove how spiritual we are, God simply uses them to help us grow in Christ.
It is also important to recognise that the spiritual disciplines are practices that are found in the Bible. They are things that God has revealed in Scripture that can help us grow in Christ. So, they are not only for spiritual giants, for the real serious folk, or monks. They are for us ordinary humans, people with jobs and families. Anyone can do them. And this leads to another important reason to practice the spiritual disciplines – Jesus himself modelled them. So, if they were important for Him, they must be important for us.
In 1978, a book was published that brought about a mini revival in the Christian world regarding people’s attitude towards the spiritual disciplines. Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, helpfully and practically outlined 12 spiritual disciplines (including some of the ones I have mentioned here) and why they were so necessary for the Christian journey. One of the reasons the book was so influential is that the disciplines had taken a bit of a backseat in recent years. In his chapter on fasting, Richard Foster points out that he couldn’t find a single book written about fasting between 1861 to 1954. People were crying out for this kind of book.
Personally speaking, this book was also quite formative in my own Christian walk. It drew on a wide range of interesting literature, and was full of practical, personal examples. Foster explained how all of the disciplines were rooted in Scripture and were long-held, Biblical practices that Christians saints had been carrying out for centuries. I was inspired to try some, and discovered on a personal level how beneficial they are.
My hope is that we would also discover some of these ancient, Biblical spiritual disciplines and grow in our knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
God bless you
James