Let me tell you straight up that this book, Celebration of Discipline, is not light, bedtime reading. If you try to just sit down and read it in a hurry or expect the author to entertain you to keep your attention, I guarantee you will come away from this work frustrated and disappointed. If you try to read it so, you will likely not make it halfway through the first chapter for this is anything but your average, run-of-the-mill, mass-market, sugar-coated, hold-your-hand Christian book. This book isn’t milk; it’s thick, red meat. It’s a “deep water” read, designed to give you a serious “workout” to challenge your thinking, call you to thoughtful reflection, and see you to come to practice what is taught. We’re deliberately raising the bar with this study. Dig down and find strength equal to the task. Remember: faith is a journey and thinking is required.

Let me put it this way: for those of us who read Francis Chan’s Crazy Love or viewed the Crazy Love video series, and found ourselves convicted in heart, think of Celebration of Discipline as a logical follow-up to that study. Crazy Love brought us to our knees and Celebration of Discipline will help us get up and walk again, this time with a stronger purpose. Consequently, we’ll need to read Foster’s book slowly and thoughtfully to truly absorb and digest what is being said. In fact, ideally it would be best for us to read only a few paragraphs of each chapter each day for we’ll will want to let the contents of each chapter slowly brew in our brains each week so let’s mull over a few paragraphs each day.

If you’re a part of the 20/20 class, let me urge you, if you haven’t already, to read chapters 1 and 2 before tomorrow night since we’ll focus on an introduction to the spiritual exercises, and meditation in particular, this coming Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. But again, don’t try to read chapter one and two in one sitting. If you have a copy, bring your book to class with you along with your Bible.

There are additional aids for your study that I am providing in addition to Foster’s book. My blog post series “What can I do to truly build myself up in Christ?” is the prime example. Part 9 in that series will appear in tomorrow. Also on the Internet, starting later today, you can watch for my daily Facebook (www.facebook.com/preachersmith) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/preachersmith) updates. Watch for my Facebook and Twitter posts that start with the designation “SD” (i.e. – spiritual disciplines). For those of you who may want to dig deeper into the spiritual disciplines, watch for my mention of other resources (primarily books) as we study each discipline each week throughout the course of this quarter.

If you’re discontent or downright unhappy with where you are in your life with the Lord these days, this study is just what the doctor ordered. Take the medicine. If you’re content and growing in the Lord, this work will help keep you on the trajectory. If you’re new to faith and don’t have a clue as to where to begin in working to deepen your faith, this study will start you off and take you down the right road.

Exercise your soul. Work up a spiritual sweat. Feel the burn of spiritual fervor grow. And smile in the Lord who causes you to grow in Him! (2 Peter 3:18)

And the Spirit Jesus sent us declares: “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” (1 John 2:6) Now though we know we can’t stop sinning completely, just how are we to fulfill this “must” in our life, to “live as Jesus did?”

Answer: by daring to feed on every word, not just some of the words, that comes from the mouth of God. Whether it’s a word that is virtually new to me, strange to me, or nearly unpracticed around me. Whether it’s a word I’ve heard before but never truly considered, is a word I’ve considered but thought was only for others, or is a word I’ve deliberately ignored. Somehow, someway each of us must get to the place where we live by every word that God breathes out to us.

Take for example Psalm 1. Who doesn’t love this brief, wonderful psalm that sets the standard and tone for the one hundred and forty nine that follow? Rehearse the first three verses:

Blessed are those who do not walk in step with the wicked, or stand in the way that sinners take, or sit in the company of mockers, but who delight in the law of the LORD and meditate on his law day and night.

They are like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever they do prospers.

Now what specifically did this ancient/current word from God say makes a person “blessed,” enables them to not live like the world of people around them, and makes their life truly  beautiful and beneficial to others, akin to the way a healthy, productive fruit tree would bless an Israelite farmer of old? Did you catch it?

In a single word: meditation.

Ask yourself: “How different would my life be if I literally, consistently practiced the heart of this so rarely mentioned passage, to ‘delight in the law of the LORD and meditate on his law day and night’? “

If you did so, this would be a spiritual thing, no? And if you did so, it would come about only because you made it your discipline, true? Ah, and so we have a clear, direct word from God for the disciplined shaping of our life to His glory. And the word is meditation.

And so, just how much Christian teaching have you seen come your way, or you have deliberately sought out on your own, on this matter, meditation? That’s what I thought. It’s past time; way past time. And that is why every Christian should seek to know more about, and come to practice spiritual disciplines.

Jesus Christ is our Savior, but He is also our Lord. As our Lord, He has truly great expectations of us, His disciples. He does not offer us suggestions; He gives us direct commands. His words are not merely good human advice, but are the words of our Creator speaking to us, His creation. With that in mind, consider afresh the height, the depth, and the width of just eight of His words of expectation of us:

“… do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)

“Forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (Matthew 18:35)

“Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:40)

“No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62)

“… having done everything you were told to do, you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” (Luke 17:10)

“Stop judging by mere appearances.” (John 7:24)

“As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34)

Any one of those expectations, standing alone by itself, would be – is – a daunting responsibility! Go back through the preceding, pick any one at random, and then linger over it, considering just how well you’re honestly doing with it.

Humbled? Me too.

Yes, His power works in us and on us toward all of this. Yes, His Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. But those truths do not alter the big question for us as His disciples: “If this is the shape my Lord expects me to be in, what exactly is my exercise program like?”

And that is why we all so deeply need to incorporate spiritual discipline of many kinds into our daily habits.