1-13-2018

Holy Habits Holy Habits Jay / General Holy Habits Spiritual disciplines help us intentionally, repeatedly place ourselves before God. To nurture a deeper, fuller inner life.   Habits Whether you realize it or not, last time you got out of the shower, you probably dried off your body in the exact same order, with the exact same movements you’ve used the last hundred times you showered. Whether you realize it or not, last time you brushed your teeth, you probably brushed them in the same order, with the same pressure, the same movements, and the same amount of toothpaste as the last hundred times you brushed your teeth. Habits are powerful. They automate your life. Fold your hands, interlacing your fingers. Now, try to fold them the other way. Feels weird, right? But what would happen if every day over the next month, morning and evening, you consciously folded your hands the “wrong” way and left them like that for a minute? Would it still feel weird after the month was up? Holy Habits This month, we’re talking about “Cultivating Holy Habits.” Last week, we looked at Philippians 4:1-9 and saw Paul urge his listeners to: • Stand Firm • Settle Your Differences • Rejoice in the Lord Always • Have a Gentle Spirit • Pray About Everything • Think Holy Thoughts Did Paul intend for them to do these things one time? Or did Paul intend for them to create a new lifestyle where standing firm, rejoicing in the Lord, praying about everything, thinking holy thoughts were a habitual part of their everyday lives? As Christianity developed, a series of Holy Habits developed to help people intentionally, repeatedly place themselves before God. These were meant to nurture a deeper, fuller inner life. Inward Spiritual Disciplines: Prayer, Fasting, Meditation, Study Outward Spiritual Disciplines: Simplicity, Solitude, Submission, Service Corporate Spiritual Disciplines: Confession, Worship, Guidance, Celebration Now these Spiritual Disciplines (Holy Habits) are not righteousness. Righteousness is morality, virtue, justice, uprightness. Micah 6:8 ESV He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? In Isaiah 58:6-7, the people had gotten confused. They thought that fasting was righteousness. That a holy habit of abstaining from food made them “good people.” But God says, NO! Isaiah 58:6–7 ESV “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? If it’s not to “get credit” for being holy, why practice the spiritual disciplines? why pray? Why fast? Why study scripture? or meditate? or worship? If the Spiritual Disciplines aren’t the main point of Christianity, why do them? Because the spiritual disciplines help us intentionally, repeatedly place ourselves before God. To nurture a deeper, fuller inner life. — Interactive: What is one habit someone needs to develop if they’re going to be successful at your job? What is one habit someone needs to develop if they’re going to be a successful student/ architect/ nurse/ roofer/ dentist/ plumber/ carpenter? Is this the main part of your job? Is it necessary to the success of your job? — There is a certain freedom to habits. When you’re learning a difficult piece on the piano and you’re thinking about every note, every dynamic nuance, how you’re sitting, how you’re breathing into the phrasing, the angle of your elbow to get it JUST RIGHT… It’s hard. It’s work. It’s practice. But there comes a time (hopefully before the recital) when it just clicks and flows. You know it cold. You don’t have to think through the notes, dynamics, physicality any more. It has become automatic. Muscle memory has taken over. — My son has been competing in Gymnastics for the last several years. He’s currently the California State Champion for his division on Double Mini. [video] That’s dangerous. I’ve seen a kid hit the bar and botch the landing. I’ve seen another kid land on his neck. It’s not much to watch at first. When they start Double Mini, they run, jump on, jump again, and jump off. yay. But they’re learning first skills. Then they will run, jump on, tuck their knees up, and then jump off. Slowly, but surely, they are developing new “safe” habits, creating new neural pathways. The last thing you want an athlete doing during competition is trying to remember how to do that skill again or worrying about safety. Ideally, it needs to be muscle memory before competition. FREEDOM. — So we have our Spiritual Disciplines - Our Holy Habits. Inward Spiritual Disciplines: Prayer, Fasting, Meditation, Study Outward Spiritual Disciplines: Simplicity, Solitude, Submission, Service Corporate Spiritual Disciplines: Confession, Worship, Guidance, Celebration Should we expect that we’re going to be masters at them when we first start practicing? No. We’re probably going to have to start off small and basic. A new habit of prayer shouldn’t start out at an hour. Maybe try a daily habit of 5 minutes, and then after a week, increase it to 10 minutes. Don’t start out with a 5 day fast. If you want to start fasting, start with a 2 meal fast with clear liquids - 24 hours. Once you get the hang of that, 3 meals is a 36 hour fast… And no habit is independent of other habits. They all form a kind of behavior chain. In 2017, I decided I wanted to go to bed by 11pm. Some nights I’d been staying up until midnight or even 1pm. And I wanted to change that. So I decided to go to bed at 11. This year, I’ve decided I want to get to bed by 10pm. So I put away the computer by 9:30 and pick up a book. Then I go brush my teeth at 9:50 and start getting ready for bed. There are multiple habits at work here, supporting and depending on other habits. In the Bible, you often see fasting and prayer together. You’ll also see study, prayer and meditation together as a set of habits. Last week, we saw during the communion service, Jesus put the spiritual habits of submission and service together as he celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples. — In his best-selling book, The Power of Habit, author Charles Duhigg talks about getting rid of bad habits. And what research has shown over and over again is that new habits must be formed that push out the old ones. If we do not establish new habits, the old ones are so strong that they’ll re-assert themselves and take over. Jesus told a story like this: Matthew 12:43–45 ESV “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.” What if, instead, that demon came back and found the house occupied by angels? He wouldn’t have been able to move back in with seven of his demon friends. So Charles Duhigg seems solve the problem of breaking our bad habits by crowding them out with good habits. What if your good habits were: Inward Spiritual Disciplines: Prayer, Fasting, Meditation, Study Outward Spiritual Disciplines: Simplicity, Solitude, Submission, Service Corporate Spiritual Disciplines: Confession, Worship, Guidance, Celebration Do you think those could crowd out some bad habits? After I read that in the Power of Habit, I decided to try something. I have this habit of getting up to scrounge around the kitchen. When I’m bored or hungry or for whatever reason, I’ll go look in the fridge and the cupboards… And, surprise, surprise, I’d often find something to snack on. So I decided to make one little change. I still get bored or hungry or whatever, so I’m still triggered to walk into the kitchen. But my new habit is, every time I go into the kitchen, I drink a glass of water. Every time. And guess what? My indiscriminate snacking is down. Why? Because I tried to break a bad habit? Or because I used an existing trigger to start a new habit? That’s why last week we saw Paul say: “Do not worry about anything, but instead, pray about everything.” Here, Paul is simply saying, Fill your life with so much prayer that it crowds out the worry. Later in that text he says, fill your mind with so much goodness and truth and beauty that it crowds out all the rest. — As Christians, we are people saved by Grace through Faith. We are not saved by our good works or by how well we practice Holy Habits. We are saved because Jesus loves and saves us. There are two ditches on the side of the road: One ditch is legalism, moralism, do everything, will. The other ditch is libertinism, antinomianism, do nothing, law. In the middle is habitually placing yourself before God so he can transform us into what he wants us to be. In the middle is us saying yes to Jesus and his word and his life and letting him fill us. The spiritual disciplines are not righteousness. They do not save us. They must not be made some kind of law. The spiritual disciplines help us intentionally, repeatedly place ourselves before God. To nurture a deeper, fuller inner life. Page 7. Exported from Logos Bible Software, 5:18 PM January 20, 2018.