Missio Dei Communities

Paul writes this to the Hebrews (Hebrews 12:10-11):”Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we  may share in his holiness...    it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

So, what is this discipline and how do we step into the middle of it and co-operate with what God is already doing in us? The Greek word paideuo , used in  Hebrews, means to discipline in order to educate someone to conform to divine truth.  So, spiritual disciplines are activities, or practices, that have developed in the church to help us conform to divine truth.  In his letter to the Romans, Paul states we are predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus. This is certainly God’s work, but spiritual disciplines are the means by which we ‘choose’ to participate in that activity. 

Richard Foster, in his book “Celebration of Disciplines” ( a book from which you will hear much over the next few weeks), writes this  ‘Neither should we think of the Spiritual  Disciplines as some dull drudgery aimed at exterminating laughter from the face of the earth. Joy is the keynote of all the disciplines.’  Joy is the keynote of all disciplines. As we conform to divine truth, it only makes sense that the fruits of the Spirit become more evident in us.  It was once mentioned to a great scholar that a certain man had indicated he was once a student of the scholar. He responded ‘He may have attended my lectures, but he was not one of my students.’  William Barclay writes in his commentary on Luke. ‘It is one of the supreme handicaps of the Church that in the Church there are so many distant followers of Jesus and so few real disciples.’

Disciples are marked by discipline. Are we the few real disciples?