Introduction
When I became a Christian at the age of 17, well-meaning people gave me three simple rules to live by. They told me,- read your Bible every day
- pray every day
- tell someone about Jesus every day
Your reaction to those rules may range from, 'seems simple enough,' to 'Good grief, that's hard.' My reaction, almost 43 years later, is that they somehow missed the point.
My church in those days had all sorts of unwritten rules. We didn't smoke, didn't drink, didn't go to the cinema, or the theatre, or football matches, didn't dance or engage in anything that might be considered 'worldly'. One might well wonder what on earth we did do...
That's easy to answer. We went to church. Twice on Sunday, prayer meeting Tuesday, youth meeting Wednesday, bible study Thursday, and a bless-up meeting at a nearby church on a Saturday night.
The trouble with rules is that they lead on the one hand to legalism, with its associated misplaced guilt, and on the other to religion, with its empty, powerless, deluding formality.
We're called to be followers of Christ, not followers of rules.
Jesus didn't die on the cross to replace one lot of Pharisaical regulations with another. He came to restore relationship between God and man so we could know God and walk humbly with him.
What we need is relationship.
If you want to develop a meaningful relationship with anyone you have to communicate and spend time with them. It should come as no surprise that if you want to develop a relationship with God you will have to communicate with him and spend time with him.
Now, those three simple rules I started with were not particularly bad ideas. They were just couched in the wrong terms. They need to be understood as practical tools which help us communicate with God, and give us opportunities to spend time with him and get to know him better.
So let's have a different look at these things.
Read your Bible
2 Timothy 3:14-16'… continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.'
The Bible is one way that God has of talking to us. It's an incredibly valuable resource for the Christian. It's inspired by God himself and so must be worth our attention.
It sets out the way of salvation.
It teaches us what God is like and what a relationship with him looks like.
It teaches us what we are really like, so be prepared to read some unpalatable home truths.
It teaches us how to sort out the issues in our lives.
It teaches us how to be all that God wants for us, and equips us to do the things that God has shaped us for.
In my early Christian life, it was no hardship at all to be told to read the Bible every day. I inhaled it. I hardly ever read anything else.
As time went on, especially when I went to University and had to read other things, Bible reading fell away as an all-absorbing interest. The truth is, it can be hard to read scripture when you spend your day reading.
Furthermore, I discovered that my life moves in cycles. I would go days without reading scripture, and then spend hours at a stretch reading scripture.
During and after a bout of clinical depression, I went a number of years without reading it much at all. Strangely enough, that episode resulted in a kind of reset to my thinking which means I can now read scripture without being influenced by denominational diktats.
We need desperately to read Scripture but, as we are all different, we each need to find ways and patterns that help us to do it. For me, and currently, I find that the easiest time is between eating my breakfast and heading off to work; it's much more beneficial than breakfast television. For you, especially if you have children to get school, some other time of the day may be better. For you, reading scripture may be more beneficial than watching 'East Enders'. Other soaps are also available.
So, how do you read Scripture? You could start at one end and read through to the other. Or start with the New Testament and read through that first. Or alternate between an Old Testament book then a New and so on. Getting hold of a Bible reading plan may help you decide what to read and when.
Experiment. Find out what works for you. But read it because you need it. And always ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand what you need to understand at this point in your life. Don't be surprised when you find God speaks to you through Scripture, but be delighted that he does!
Pray
1 Thessalonians 5:17'Pray continually.'
Ephesian 6:18
'… pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.'
Romans 8:26-27
'… the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.'
Pray every day, they told me but, as we've just read, that's not what the Bible says. Pray continually! How on earth am I expected to do that?
We have to come to some understanding of what prayer is. So often for us, it can amount to presenting God with a list of things we want him to do for us, which is a very pagan approach to prayer. God is not some Fixer-in-the-sky whose job it is to see that we have everything we want. We can be like badly-mannered children telling God, 'I want...' We can be like well-behaved children asking God, 'Please may I have...' But the end is the same: a shopping list.
Over the years, I've come to think of prayer in its most basic form as simply talking things over with God; bringing my concerns honestly before him, asking for his help and listening for his advice. That may be relevant verses of scripture coming to mind, or an impression in my spirit of what God thinks about the matter. Sometimes a very definite thought out of nowhere comes in direct response. Bear in mind that God's responses are always in keeping with scripture, so always test things like impressions or 'words'. And, of course, it's a big help if you know your scriptures...
In Philip Yancey's recent book on prayer, I came across a delightful phrase for prayer: 'Keeping company with God.' With that understanding it is possible to pray continually. I involve God in my day. I talk to him when driving to work. At lulls in concentration at my desk, I talk to God. Sometimes during my work, especially when I can't solve a knotty problem, I tell God what I'm doing.
When we are not occupied, we can talk to God. When we are only physically occupied, like when washing up, or painting walls, or mowing the lawn, we can talk to God. In this way we can become increasingly God-focussed in our thinking. I think that's what Paul meant when he wrote, 'Pray continually.'
Prayer is not a religious practice; it is an expression of relationship.
Of course, Scripture, and therefore God, encourages us to bring all kinds of requests to God. Prayer isn't only having a chat with Father. There is a very definite place for bringing specific and dire need to him, whether our own or another's. It's amazing that we can be in a position to influence God(?).
But how do we pray about big things? How do we know what to ask for? How can we pray in ways that are not selfish? The reading from Romans gives us a clue. It's encouraging to realise that even Paul didn't always know how to pray. He tells us what he did at those times: he relied on the Holy Spirit. We can do the same. Sometimes we don't have the words. It doesn't matter. We can bring the need and just groan, trusting the Holy Spirit to understand what we feel, what God wants, and somehow to bring about the best outcome.
Be Committed to Fellowship
Hebrews 10:24-25a'… let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another …'
Now, those of you who are still awake may have noticed that this point was not in the three rules I mentioned in my introduction. I've slipped this one in because I think it important.
You may have gathered from my introductory remarks that I'm not about to tell you that you should be at every church meeting going. If so, you'd be right. But...
We are family. We need each other. Actually, we can't really do this without each other. And yet, we spend so little time together. The Sunday morning service is only about one hour—that's less than 1½ percent of our leisure time, if you work a 40 hour week and sleep eight hours a night. And we can so readily skip church if we think there's nothing we'll get from it, or we get what looks like a better offer. We are ready to vote with our feet if the style doesn't suit us, or the wrong speaker is coming, or some facility isn't available.
Church is as much about giving as it is about getting, if not more. Church is a place of grace, where we learn to bear with one another, to encourage one another, and to spur each other on to better things.
I tell you, it really encourages me when I see this place full. It really encourages me when I can share life with others who believe what I believe (more or less). And, yes, I've been in church and found I didn't know half the hymns, and the hymns I did know had tunes I didn't know, and I've wondered why I bothered. But then I've discovered a conversation afterwards was a real pick-me-up to the other person. I may not have got anything out but I've been able to put something in!
You see, church is not just about Sunday services. We are still church when the service itself is over; and when we meet in other contexts.
Personally, I miss church when I don't come. Last month, because of parental illness and a holiday I was only here one Sunday. I really felt the loss of your company. You are my family. I need you.
There's a very old analogy that bears repetition. Coals gathered together on a fire will keep each other glowing. Take one out and set it on its own and it soon goes cold.
Being church together gives us a measure of accountability in our discipleship. It helps to keep us going in our relationship with God. So let's be committed to fellowship. Perhaps some people need to hear this. If you are such a person, you're probably not here...
Be Ready to Share your Faith
1 Peter 3:15'… in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect …'
Colossians 4:5-6
'Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.'
Faith is meant for sharing. It's not something to keep to ourselves.
But what about, 'Telling someone about Jesus everyday'? Well, in my early days as a Christian, 'witnessing' made me very unpopular at school. I was a bona fide member of 'The God Squad.' It became more difficult once I'd left school and had to forge new relationships and earn the right to be listened to.
Sharing our faith should be an inevitable consequence of our discipleship, not a rule we must obey. There is no quota to fulfil.
It's true that we're Christ's ambassadors in this world. We are his hands, his feet, his mouth, eyes and ears. We do have a role to play in telling others about him. But we have to be wise in how we go about things. It's counter-productive to develop the reputation of being someone who artificially contrives to bring every conversation around to God. Much better if the way we conduct ourselves and the way we speak, or even the way we don't speak, promotes interest and questions.
Opportunities do present themselves. I admit I'm not good at spotting them always, or tend to be too analytical in deciding if it is an opportunity. And where I work people are generally not very open to God anyway. But when we get an opportunity, what do we say?
Giving a reason for the hope that you have is really explaining what you believe and why you are convinced about it. It's about your current relationship with God, not the hidden depths of theology. I cannot prove the existence of God but I can give personal examples of why I know he's real.
If we live in relationship with God, someone will notice and opportunities will arise. Doing justly and loving mercy promotes interest. Don't be shy. What's the worst that can happen? What's the best that can happen?
Summary
So there we are: four simple practices to help us grow, to help us walk humbly with God. Remember, there's no merit in the practices themselves; there are no brownie points for practising them. They are the means to an end, not the end in themselves.Our walk with God is not about following rules, it's not even about being religious. It's about relationship. Relationships take time and effort to develop and grow. We need to be committed to our relationship with God and to avail ourselves of any help we can get.
Our reading from Ephesians told us about people that God has given to the church to help us grow to maturity: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. People in these roles have great responsibility under God but, at the end of the day, whether we grow as Christians is not really up to them. We need to learn from these God-given people but our growth is very much a matter of our choice, our behaviour. As the saying goes, 'You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.'
We have the responsibility for our own growth. It's very important that we mature. I have seen churches in disarray because of the behaviour of immature Christians who always seemed to get caught up in the next spiritual fad.
Jesus wants his church to be a fully functioning body, fully mature, showing his love and doing his work.
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