Training vs. Trying
Every year, around the time Easter rolls around, I look outside, and I look at the back porch, and I decide that it is time for me to rediscover my golf clubs. This is how it works. I turn on the television, and on Easter weekend I see the green grass and the beautiful flora and fauna of a little golf course in Georgia. I see these golfers grab their clubs, and hit 300 yard drives off of the tee, pitch and put for birdies, and contend for the Masters championship. I watch Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jack Nicolaus in years past, and I tell myself that what these professionals are doing does not look all that difficult. As a matter of fact, I am confident that although I am not as good of a golfer as they are, that I am capable of replicating what they do on a simpler course, like perhaps Cottonwood Links. So I find time to go out and golf.
Strangely, my golf game does not go as I imagine it. I can't hit my driver straight. The putt that looks simple I misread. Those short irons seem to go the right distance but I cannot hit the green. I mumble to myself and pout. I try really hard not to cuss, because nobody wants to hear a preacher cuss. Most of the time I am at least successful at controlling my tongue, but that is only because I catch myself after the first syllable. And I try not to throw or ground my clubs, but deep in the recesses on my mind, I know my father would be disappointed if I did that. I tell myself I was raised better. I have to wrestle against my temptation to give myself a 10 foot putt as a "gimme". And my afternoon of glory, beauty and accomplishment has turned into an afternoon of frustration, temptation and disappointment.
It wasn't that I didn't try hard. In fact, I put a lot of effort into golfing and golfing well when I went out and played. I put effort in warming up, practicing my putting, checking my stance, analyzing my swing, swinging hard—and on and on and on. But there is a huge difference between training and trying.
This seems fairly simple, but a lot of us have a hard time noticing this. I can go out and see a piece of land and try and build a home on it. And it may come time to do the wiring and electrical work. And I could look at two electricians to do the job. And if one said that he had no training in electrical work, and the other said he was a master electrician, I would choose the guy who had trained to be an electrician over the guy who had not done any of the training necessary but promised to try really hard.
What is true of the rest of our life can be true of our spiritual life as well. As I shared in a children's message several months ago, it is important to train and not simply to just try. Let's look at what the apostle Paul says about this in I Corinthians 9: 24-26 First in our pew Bible, since I promised to use that when I preach:
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.
25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.
26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
I know the training is hard to hear there. But remember verse 27, where it talks about disciplining his body and bringing it into subjection so that he is prepared for the race. That is where Paul compares being a disciple to being an athlete. And as Paul speaks, he begins talking about an athlete that not only tries hard, but trains, conditions, and practices his craft so that he can be the one that finishes the race and receives the prize. What this is telling us in part is growing in Christ is not simply a matter effort. If we want to grow in Christ we need to train, discipline and condition ourselves spiritually if we are to grow. Listen to how the NIV states the same passage, which better gets the gist of what the apostle Paul is trying to say here:
24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
One of the reasons we have spent 6 weeks on the Lord's Prayer this year is to help encourage us and strengthen us to train in righteousness. That is also part of the reason we have been looking at different pathways to growth in recent weeks. Being still and silent before God is a kind spiritual training that helps you grow stronger in your faith when you practice it. Serving one another is a way of spiritual training as well. We choose to worship because it trains us to look at God as our example and as the one we give praise and priority to, and that trains us to be more like Jesus. When we are sharing our faith and our testimony, like we did during the worship service on the backyard mission project, it helps us to grow as well. So does our attitude, and what we choose to make our top priority. Even the habit of coming to the table, examining ourselves, and recommitting to follow Christ once a month is part of the training we put ourselves under to be more like Christ. That is why we are looking at each of these habits, and I am encouraging you to adding these "spiritual training" techniques into your toolbox for spiritual growth.
This is not the only place where Scripture talks about spiritual training. Listen to these other verses
7Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 8For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. (I Timothy 4:7-8)
And
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, (2 Timothy 3:16)
And
13Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:13-14)
And
10Our 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. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:10-12)
So we don't just practice these spiritual practices that we have been learning about in Sunday School and in the sermons because they make us feel better about ourselves or because they are a part of some system that works. We learn about these things and live them because they help us become like the master teacher, who is Jesus.
The word disciple describes a person who has a certain kind of relationship with someone else. It comes from the same word as discipline, which is what someone does when they choose to train. A disciple is someone who finds a master teacher, and wants to be just like them. So they go where the teacher goes, and they seek to do what the teacher does, just the way that the teacher does it.
For example, if you knew someone who was a master fly fisherman, and you wanted to be a good fly fisherman yourself, you would do well to figure out how to imitate him. You would try and learn how to cast like him, set a hook like him, you would learn how to discern where the good fishing holes are, and you would learn why kinds of flies in what kinds of environments he used. And you would try to do the same as that fisherman did.
In other words, when we chose to follow Jesus we choose to be his disciple. And when we choose to be his disciple, we choose to train to be like him. Being a Christian, in a sense, is being an apprentice to Jesus. We become the spiritual apprentice, and Jesus is the master teacher. We learn to practice the habits he taught and lived. We learn to trust his way of doing things. In process, we learn to do things like him.
But in order to be like Jesus, we have to be with Jesus. We have to be connected to him, to spend time in his presence, to hear his voice and know what he would do.
Our ways of learning today often get away from this model. If you wanted to, you could find a way to get a bachelor's degree, master's degree, and doctorate and never leave your home. I think. We think learning is a matter of gathering facts and being able to spit them out. This is not a biblical model of learning. A biblical model of learning is about an apprentice not only figuring out the technique of the master, but about doing what the master would do because they have spent enough time with them, been connected enough to the master, that they know what the master would do.
This is why Scripture tells us in farming terms how important it is to be connected to our master teacher as Jesus' apprentices. To be connected to Jesus. As a matter of fact, Scripture commands that disciples abide with, or live with Jesus. This is what John 15 says,
1 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away;[a] and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will[b] ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
So, let us recap. First, Scripture really calls us not simply to try hard if we are to grow, we are commanded to participate in spiritual training. Like an athlete we are challenged to be train in a way that will help us to grow and get stronger spiritually. That training means practicing certain habits, or disciplines, that will make us stronger in our faith. Those habits include things like prayer, service, worship, and evangelism that we have looked at, as well as other habits we will look at in the coming weeks.
And now we learn, as a Christian who is training to be like Jesus, we need to be in the presence of Jesus. These techniques of training are not the goal of training. The goal of training is to be in the presence of Jesus so we can be like him. And as we seek to learn from him and follow him by being in his presence and doing what he says, we find that we grow, we learn, we mature spiritually. We not only want to know what Jesus does, we want to know how he does things, what his heart is like, what he thinks, and how he feels. We want to be like the master in those intangible ways as well.
So we come to this table. And we come here to examine our hearts. We come here to recommit ourselves to being apprentices to Jesus. We recommit to going where he goes, doing what he would have us to do, and following his training regimen. We remember HIS love, and commit to train to love a little bit like him. We remember his sacrifice, and we remember to offer our lives as living sacrifices. We remember his grace, and we remember to accept his grace. We come to this table, and we remember Jesus, and we take this time to be near to him. To remember that our life is in Him. His blood shed for us. His body broken for us. That he offers us life, and life more fruitful and abundant than we could ever imagine.
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