Spiritual Practices: “We Talkin’ About Practice?”

02/04/18—Highland—Meute

Spiritual Practices: “We Talkin’ About Practice?”

Deuteronomy 6: 1-9; Matthew 7: 24-27

Pearl: Spiritual practice brings faith to life (knowledge to life).

Function: To excite and encourage listeners to use spiritual practices to give depth, height, and breadth to the life with Christ.

Tonight is the big game! The Super Bowl is now about the biggest sporting event in the United States. Super Bowl Sunday comes in second to Thanksgiving as being the biggest food consumption day of the year. It should be a very good game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots!

1. Incidentally, someone pointed out on social media that Eagles are mentioned 33 times in the Bible, Patriots are mentioned 0 times. Many are taking that as a sign, I think.
2. Speaking of Philadelphia sports, several years ago when Allen Iverson was the superstar, and franchise player for the 76ers, he gave an interview one time when he was in the dog house for missing a team practice and for not seeming to be all that enthusiastic about practice.
   1. He spoke on and on in this interview and began saying repeatedly, “We talkin’ about practice!?” He said, “We aren’t talking about the game, we talkin’ about practice!”
   2. He asked people in the media, “Do you come to the games? Don’t I give 100% in the game? I give my heart and soul, each and every game but we talkin’ about practice?!”
3. Allen Iverson was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in 2016. He was one of the best to play the game. I saw him play and he had amazing gifts!
   1. In that interview he admitted that he needs to show a good example. He was not trashing practice.
   2. But at the same time he was incensed that the media wanted to talk to him about practice! In reality the consensus is that he truly didn’t believe that he needed much practice to be great in the game. His natural abilities were really that good!
   3. At the end of the interview he asked, “How can I make my teammates better by practice?” He was such a gifted player that he really didn’t understand that practice would make his whole team better and more competitive. He believed you could either play or not. He really didn’t understand the benefit of team practice.
   4. By the way, as good as he was, the 76ers won no NBA championships while he played for them.
      

 

Jesus was God on earth. Jesus had quite literally all of the talent in the world!

1. Jesus had every natural gift, skill, and talent that exist.
2. Jesus possessed complete knowledge of God and total knowledge of humanity.
   1. And yet, Jesus believed deeply in the importance of practice!
3. It would be a valuable exercise for you to think about the ways in which Jesus used spiritual practices in his own life.
   1. The first thing that comes to my mind is how he would get away for solitary time alone with God the Father.
   2. And consider his way of prayer. His way of praying was such that one of his disciples asked him one time to teach them how to pray the way that he prays just like John taught his disciples (Luke 11:2-4). He then gave the framework for prayer which we call the Lord’s Prayer.
   3. Jesus worshipped in the synagogue.
   4. Jesus gave alms.
   5. Jesus prayed for people directly.
   6. For Jesus his practice of his faith was constant and thoroughgoing. You could argue that everything that he did was a spiritual practice. So closely united was the pulse of his life in God with his living of life.

The adage “practice makes perfect” may well go back to a teaching of Jesus himself. From an earlier chapter in Matthew we read: “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (5:48).

1. Not that we ever attain perfection. But if perfection is our aim, it keeps us practicing, doesn’t it?!
2. Christ-likeness, Godliness are the course of perfection that was begun in us when we were baptized.
3. There are many dimensions to this biblical concept of “perfection.” The Greek word translated “perfect” is a form of “teleios” from which we get the word telescope. We see distant things with a telescope. So in Christ we always have our eye on the distance. We realize that the life in Christ is a long-distance event.
4. Perfection demands constant adjustment, maturing, change to become what we are destined to be.
   1. Never think that you have arrived. You all have a long way to go.
5. Constant practice is our life-long calling.
   

 

Jesus said, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock” (Matt. 7: 24).

1. The other night in choir rehearsal Rachel Ayres mentioned a church which is off of Route 273 driving from MD into DE. Rock Presbyterian Church is a beautiful little church quite literally built upon monolithic granite rocks. That church will not fall down when the wind blows upon it and when the rains pour down from the sky.
2. Jesus said that when you practice his teachings you live a life of integrity.
   1. Building upon solid ground gives a building integrity.
   2. Living a life of integrity comes from putting into practice Jesus’ Way.
      1. His Way of goodness;
      2. His Way of justice;

• His Way of trustworthiness;

1. His Way of dependability;
2. His Way of honesty;
3. His Way of joy;

• His Way of life, and so on.

3. When you live a solid life of integrity you are able to support others so that the structure of the whole community is healthy and sound.
   1. A life of integrity is a life that can be depended upon.
   2. A life of integrity comes about through spiritual practice.
   3. Spiritual practices should be repeated over and over.
      1. Jesus continued what was handed on down through many generations and maybe he had these words of Moses from Deuteronomy in mind:
      2. “Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Dt. 6: 6-9).

• Putting into practice what we believe is embedded in our DNA by God himself. It is the way in which we build our integrity.

In a few moments we will join together at the Table of the Lord.

The integrity of the Community of Christ at the Table demands us all to be working together at the practice of the life with Jesus Christ.

We talkin’ about practice?!

We surely are!