Sermons for the Month
Habit One: Study
DATE: September 10, 2000
TEXT: James 2:1-10, 14-17“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? You have heard me say and I say again that the mission of the Christian church is first and foremost to take up Jesus' "Great Commission-to go and make disciples, teaching them everything that He has commanded." The book of James from which our text today is taken was written for that very reason. For James, the first step in being a disciple of Jesus and fulfilling Jesus' Great Commission, is to learn what that lifestyle is for we can not teach what we do not ourselves know. So then what is it that we are to teach others? What are we-as disciples ourselves-to share that others might discover for themselves the marvelous life that is being a part of Jesus Christ? And probably just as important, what does it mean for us to live as faith-full disciples? For we cannot give away what first we do not have. We cannot share with others what first we have not experienced. This then is the first habit of an effective disciple of Jesus Christ. For the next few weeks I would like to take us through the seven habits of highly effective Christians: study, encouragement, witness, giving, prayer, service and worship. Rev. Tim Crouch from OPEN M will be here to talk of the last two and Dr. Leland Elhard of Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, my doctoral advisor will be wrapping it all up on Reformation Sunday, October 29 at the one service that day at 10:45 PM. Before we get started, let us pray.. "Jesus, you have called us as your disciples to go and make more disciples for your kingdom. Our vision here at Faith is to then transform followers into disciples with a faith the works in real life. Our hope is that with your help that will become such a habit in our life that it will be as natural as breathing and eating. We grow as we learn and we learn as we teach. Teach us your ways, O Lord. AMEN." Every morning during the school year, I have the habit of getting up one or two minutes before the alarm goes off. Before Linda is up, I put the water on to heat for coffee, head down to the mailbox, pick up the morning paper, make a cup of instant, lay out a little breakfast (which she never eats) then sit down to read the paper. After Linda has left for work, I read a chapter of the Bible then make the bed. Call it routine; call it a practice; call it a habit. But it is what I do almost every morning before leaving for work. It is an action or activity that I habitually do which in part orients my day, perhaps even my perspective. In the same way, there are actions or activities that daily help shape me as a disciple of Jesus Christ, that orient not only my day but also my perspective to life. Habits are learned. They tell me that it can take up to two years to break and then replace it with a new habit. When I was in elementary school I took piano lessons. I really enjoyed the playing the piano except for one thing. I hated practicing and the primary reason was that after school I was never really in the mood to come home and practice. So my teacher suggested that I practice before going to school. That meant getting up before everyone else in our home to practice. The first few days I tried this was awful, trying to change my habit of sleeping until the very last moment. But after a week or so I discovered something much more exhilarating. I was free, free indeed, every night and that made all the difference. My parents enjoyed waking up to my practicing. In fact, they came to rely on me to be their alarm clock. I remember my father being late for work because I forgot to wind my alarm clock and it didn't go off at 6 AM. Forty years later, that habit still goes on. Today, as my wife will attest, I very naturally get up early habitually even though I don't have to practice. To acquire a habit involves four stages: 1) the awareness a present habit is counterproductive (I knew that if I wanted to be anyway decent on the piano, I had to acquire a new habit of practicing); 2) the self-conscious attempt to acquire a new habit (I ran through a variety of alternative possibilities after school); 3) perseverance (I had to stick with my new habit for quite some time before it became natural); 4) a natural habit (In the end of was waking up one or two minutes before the alarm would go off-I still do!) For the next few weeks I would like to take us on journey through the "seven habits of highly effective Christians." Jesus put a lot of emphasis on living the faith: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. We are going to look in turn at the seven time-tested actions, habits, those "faith practices" that shape Christian disciples on their journeys. They are study, encouragement, inviting others, giving, prayer, worship and service. While most Lutheran congregations put a strong emphasis on teaching and preaching, we sometimes soften our emphasis on the doing of the faith-the habits of discipleship. We soft peddle these habits because we are wary of setting up standards of behavior that might seem to indicate arrival at certain ranks of accomplishment. We are wary about giving the impression that what someone does contributes to God's acceptance of that person. As a result, we may talk a great deal about living the faith, but offer little guidance for the believer-especially the new believer-in what it actually means to live as a disciple of Jesus. We have already been engaging in the first habit of a highly effective Christian: study. Going back to my piano playing days, along with just putting the right fingers in the right place at the right time, my teacher Barbara Kearney wanted me to learn about music, to acquire an appreciation for its beauty and nature. So we not only studied technique, we also studied music history by learning the background of the piece. I spent time learning about the composer, the circumstances of his or her life, and so on. My teacher knew as we all do that if I wanted to be an effective on the piano, in one's job, as a parent, as a spouse, as a human, you have to be willing to learn and grow. If you don't, promise of a full, rich life rapidly passes you by. In the ancient church, most new Christians were adult converts to Christianity. They went through a process of initiation into the faith which involved the study of Scripture, instruction in various forms of prayer, and explanation of the symbols and actions of worship. The process culminated in the Easter Vigil, where the new Christians were baptized, anointed with holy oil, and given their first communion. As the practice of baptizing infants became more and more prevalent in the fifth and sixth centuries, this process of initiation disintegrated. Baptized at birth, medieval generally illiterate Christians were taught visually; statues, paintings, altar pieces, and the various symbols in the church taught them the language of faith and the stories of Scripture. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the invention of the printing press and the growing number of people who could read provided access to the printed word as a tool in religious education. Saddened by the state of Christian education in a visit to all the churches in Saxony in 1527, Martin Luther prepared the Small and Large Catechisms for instruction in home, school and congregation. Christians were to be lifelong learners. Study informed discipleship. Luther envisioned his Small Catechism as the foundation of learning for life. It told Christians what they were to do (the Ten Commandments), what God had done for them (The Apostles' Creed), and finally, what and how to pray (The Lord's Prayer). The Small Catechism could be easily memorized. Today, unlike Luther's parishioners, we own Bibles and can read them on our own. In addition to its place in private prayer, Scripture offers us stories of the ordinary saints Luther so loved to describe in his biblical commentaries: Joseph, Mary the Mother of God, the prophet Isaiah, and others. Entering the world of Scripture initiates us into a story-shaped world and offers us a way to understand our own. Study of the Catechism and Scripture mark the life of Christian discipleship. When was the last time you needed to refer to something or someone other than yourself to accomplish something? On vacation last summer, did you consult a map or maybe a AAA handbook? Maybe last night you looked up a recipe for a new dish you wanted to try? And how about the TV Guide or Thursday's Akron Beacon Entertainment Guide? Perhaps you consulted someone at the hardware store or the doctor's office or your parent about something that was troubling you. The point is we take guidance from these "informers" all the time. They help us know who we are and where we are and guide us as we seek to accomplish things in safe and healthy ways. A commitment to follow Jesus involves the same king of prompting. We need daily direction and encouragement to "stay on track." If we want to grow in our understanding and devotion to God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, it is vital that we read the Bible and gain ongoing insight and inspiration for daily life. Here are some ideas that might might help you learn more about how God is active through the word in your life: 1) Display symbols of the faith such as a picture of Jesus, crosses, Bible quotes in your home at a level everyone can see; 2) Purchase some Christian CDs, videos and cassettes to provide contemporary interpretations of Bible stories and concepts; 3) Share Bible stories that relation to ongoing events in your life like the feeding of the 5000 on a picnic; 4) Choose age-appropriate Bibles and devotion books to ground your family faith discussions; 5) Learn Bible verses that promote healthy behavior, such as "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord," and post them on your refrigerator; 6) Attend a LIFE group to grow in knowledge and faith with others; 7) Preview movies and TV programming through a faith lens. Questions whether they will enrich your hearts or tempt you to stray from God's way; 8) Memorize the Ten Commandments especially the first three and take them to heart; 9) Visit Susan Summervilles's Christian bookstore in Hartville and check out the CDs or tapes to fill your car time with inspiration and praise; 10) Light a candle on your dinner table with the words of John 8:12, "Jesus said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.'" Teach the others to respond with an adaptation of Matthew 5:15, "May our lights so shine before others that they may see our good works and give glory to our father in heaven." I was listening to NPR on the radio the other day and it was talking about the new paradigm in business hiring practices today. Since, loyalty between companies and their employees has become a thing of the past, the smart job seeker today looks for a position that will help her or him acquire new skills even as they do their work for that company. Realizing that no job is now secure, new workers go after companies that train with skills that will help them remain marketable after he or she is no longer useful to that company. Companies who do not continually provide training for their workers will suffer the loss of valuable employees. Smart companies are learning that job training can no longer be just an entry level requirement. With change being such a constant in our world, job mentoring must be an ongoing requirement. Here at Faith we experienced that phenomenon this summer. Richard Gaylord, our Choir Director but more importantly our Celebration Service Worship Leader found a job in Pennsylvania primarily because we trained him as a worship leader, a skill that enabled him to secure a full-time position as a worship leader in a Presbyterian church. I believe we can be proud that we played in helping him fulfill his call to discipleship. In other words, without study, without learning, without this habit, we grow stagnant, stale and may even atrophy in our relationship to Jesus. But with the habit of study we can be the effective disciples Jesus has called us to be. AMEN