Spiritual Exercise

Today’s article was first motivated by a conversation that I had with a young man that I met at the health club where I work out. I had seen Patrick often and we would wave at each other and greet one another with pleasantries and continue on our courses. On this particular Friday morning Patrick and I spoke and introduced ourselves by name. I said to him: “There are two reasons that people should work out or do something to exercise their bodies.” First, many people do not know how their body functions. Many people live a sedimentary life. We do not think about the muscles in our legs that enable us to walk. We are unaware of the coordination between the arms and legs when we are walking. We learned to walk at an early age and walking is just something that we do without much thought. Strenuous exercise makes us aware of our muscles and how different muscle groups interact with each other in different movements. Second, strenuous exercise and sports teaches us how to push through those times when we feel very tired. At times like these we feel exhausted, and we are tempted to give up, feeling that we can do no more. Through exercise we learn to do what we need to do instead of what we feel like doing at the time. Marathon runners learn to push through the feeling of exhaustion. They refuse to stop running. They push through and suddenly they feel new energy and renewed strength. This is called “getting a second wind,” and the runner is able to finish the race. We will return to these two ideas later. So, what does all of this have to do with “Spiritual Exercise? The New Testament writer, Apostle Paul, often compared spiritual life to physical life. Paul writes the following to Timothy, his son in the gospel: “But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of which is to come” (1 Tim. 4:7-8, KJV). Now let us see how the American Standard Bible translates these two verses. “But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Tim. 4:7-8, NASB). Did you notice that the word “exercise” in the KJV is translated “discipline” in the NASB? Did you notice that “old wives’ fables” in the KJV is translated as “worldly fables” in the NASB? In this passage of scripture, Paul is giving Timothy instructions and advice on how to deal with false teachers with their false doctrines in the church. We will see that the false teachers are emphasizing physical disciplines and worldly philosophies as a means to a more spiritual life in order to gain the favor of God. Paul describes the source of this teaching as coming from men who “fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons” (4:1-2, NASB). The content of their teaching is a call to discipline along lines of worldly philosophies. They are “men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared by those who believe and know the truth” (v. 3). As we will see, there is a great deal of adopting worldly philosophies in the churches today while at the same time deemphasizing the Holy Scriptures as instruction for Christian living. Today, there are a lot of Christians that believe that God manifest His grace to believers by showering them with material gains and increased status in the world. On the other hand, Paul tells Timothy that reaching spiritual maturity and intimacy with God in the present life and resurrection to new life in the age to come is based on faith in Jesus Christ. Thus, the goal of Christians is to strive to gain godliness. Christians strive to be like Jesus in their thoughts, speech, and behavior. Paul tells us that bodily exercise or discipline does little to help us grow in spiritual maturity. He says that we grow in spiritual maturity by practicing spiritual disciplines. Bible scholar Donald S. Whitney has listed nine spiritual disciplines or exercises that Christians are to do in order to obtain spiritual maturity. He list “Bible Intake,” “prayer,” “worship,” “evangelism,” “stewardship,” “fasting,” “silence and solitude,” journaling,” and “learning” (Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian L.I.F.E. [Colorado Springs, CO: Navpress, 1991]). In the forward to this book scholar J. I. Packard comments on the use of the term “Spiritual Discipline.” He writes, “The doctrine of the disciplines (Latin disciplinae, meaning courses of learning and training) is really a restatement and extension of classical Protestant teaching on the means of grace (the Word of God, prayer, fellowship, the Lord’s Supper” (Ibid, 7). In verses 11-16 Paul tells Timothy the urgency for practicing spiritual disciples. So, we must ask ourselves what is the goal that we have in mind? What are we trying to accomplish? What do we hope to gain? The goal is intimacy with God. We are trying to accomplish a life that is pleasing to God whereby we become effective witness to the Gospel. Our hope is to gain eternal life. God promises eternal life to those who put their hope in the resurrection of Jesus which gives us the assurance of our salvation now and our resurrection to life eternal when Jesus returns. Our growth in spiritual maturity is the result of spiritual exercises or spiritual disciplines. Bodily exercise profits little. Jesus explains this to Nicodemus when He says: ‘“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6, NASB). Bodily exercise or being disciplined by worldly philosophies and placing emphasis on disciplining the body above developing and growing in spiritual exercises does little to give us an advantage in this life; and certainly bodily exercising offers no hope for eternal life. Now, let us return to the beginning of this article. I stated that a person should be engaged in some sort of physical exercise for two reasons. They need to know how the body functions. They need to learn to push through in times of struggles. The same things that are said of the physical body are true for our spiritual maturity. It does one little good to be an active participant in church and community activities as far as salvation is concerned. These things may benefit the operation of the church and be of great benefit to humanity, but again, they offer no intimate relationship with God. There is no salvation in works. The message of the Gospel is that salvation and a right relationship with God comes by faith alone. We learn how to function spiritually by doing spiritual exercise daily. We learn to push through when life’s trial and tribulations weigh on us so heavily till we feel like giving us. Have you noticed that worldly philosophies offer no hope and assurance when we meet troubles such as diagnosis of an incurable disease? The gospel tells us that regardless to what happens to us in this life there is nothing that will be able to separate us from the love of God (see Rom. 8:37-39). We need to learn to hold on to our faith and press toward the goal that lies ahead for us. The Christian life is often a difficult life, one that is constantly being opposed by people who trust in worldly philosophies and practices. The Christian church must be spiritually disciplined if it is to reach its goal of spreading the Gospel throughout the world (Mark 16:15; Matt. 28:18-20; Luke 24:46-47; Acts 1:8). Finally, Christians must endure many hardships in this life. Christians practice spiritual disciplines so that they can persevere in all circumstance of their lives.