Spiritual Disciplines (Part 2)

By Pastor Chad

Last week, we began our series on spiritual disciplines. Spiritual Disciplines are exercises that help cultivate our spiritual life (1 Corinthians 9:27; 1 Timothy 4:7). Disciplines are training tools to help us grow in depth and strength spiritually. The key to understanding spiritual disciplines is that these are a means of grace given to us by God, but there is a cooperation that happens between the one who is saved and He who saves. Spiritual disciplines are exercises enacted by cooperating with the grace of God.  

As we discussed Sunday morning, inability or lack of assistance or lack of the needed resources is not an excuse for spiritual stagnation. We have what we need to grow in our faith. God has given us what we need to grow in holiness. As 2 Peter 1:3-4 says, through God’s divine power, Christians are granted “life and godliness.” By “life”, Peter is referencing salvation. God has granted Christians salvation through His divine power. But God not only grants salvation, He also provides the grace needed to grow in that salvation–He provides us with what we need to grow in godliness. God has granted us what we need to live as He has called us to live. For example, in 1 Peter 1:16, Peter writes, “he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” The call to holiness is not a call to a phantom state. It is a call to live in accordance with the will of God. And it is a call fueled by God’s good means. 

But why? What is the point of giving Christians grace so that we may grow in our walk with the Lord? What is the point of this whole process? What is God doing to us? Answering these questions will also give us the primary point of spiritual disciplines. God has saved us so that we might be like God. That doesn’t mean we will be part of God or be gods. It means that we will be holy. Indeed, godliness itself literally means “being like God.” Thus, spiritual disciplines are tools or means of grace given to us by God so that we may be conformed into the image of Christ. We are called to reflect the life and character of Christ. 

You see, we aren’t saved simply to rescue us from hell. That certainly is part of what salvation does, but that isn’t the main goal. God saves mankind so that mankind can reflect God–so that mankind can be holy as God is holy. 

God's goal for our lives is that He may rescue us from the pits of sin and death; thus, renewing us into a picture of who He is. All of humanity was created in the image of God. Sin, however, has tainted and distorted that image in us. God’s focus in salvation is to restore that image of God within us, so that we may glorify Him with our lives and actions.