ERT(2012) 36:2, 100-114

The Spiritual Disciplines andChristian Ministry

Beverly Vos

KEYWORDS: Spiritual transformation,solitude, silence, meditation, fasting,celebration, confession.

CHRISTIAN MINISTRY is 'carrying on thework that Jesus himself did'.' Jesusproclaimed and manifested the king-dom of God (Mt. 4:23), and commandedhis followers to 'go into all the worldand make disciples' (Mt. 28:19-20).One of the primary activities of Chris-tian ministry is to make and grow dis-ciples of Jesus. But in order to be ef-fective at making disciples, we needto become disciples ourselves. If, asBobby Clinton says, 'we minister out ofwho we are',^ then our effectiveness inleading others into spiritual growth isentirely dependent upon the extent ofour own spiritual growth. This paperexplores the role of the spiritual dis-ciplines in Christian ministry today for

ministers and Christian believers.WHlard writes of an imaginary

church with a sign out the front declar-ing: 'We teach all who seriously com-mit themselves to Jesus how to do eve-rything he said to do'.' How strange,how ridiculous this sounds. Is this notexactly what the church should be do-ing, so why must we declare it on a bill-board? But our churches today fall farshort of this. Often all we preach is aconversion gospel which says, 'Believein the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved!'Often we give the impression that dis-cipleship is a terribly difficult thing andvery 'costly'.*

Discipleship is not something wecan accidentally drift towards or into.It is something we must give our fuUattention to, intentionally determiningto make ourselves Jesus' apprentices,no matter what the cost.' Being disci-

1 Dallas Willard, Spirituality and Ministry,notes of lectures delivered at the AustralianCollege of Ministries (2007).2 J. R. Clinton, The Making of a Leader (Colo-rado Springs: Nav Press, 1988), 32.

3 Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Re-discovering our Hidden Life in God (London:Fount Paperbacks, 1998), 344-5.4 MTiUard, Divine Conspiracy, 320.5 WiUard, Divine Conspiracy, 327.

Beverly Vos currently Uves in Launceston, Tasmania and is a Paediatric Nurse and Midwife, currently under-taking lier MA in church leadership with the Australian College of Ministries (ACOM). She worships at Doorof Hope Christian Church in Launceston. She has an interest in cross-cultural missions and holistic communitydevelopment. This article has its origins in an MA assignment she wrote for an ACOM course intensive taughtby Professor Dallas Willard in Sydney in July, 2008.

The Spiritual Disciplines and Christian Ministry 101

pies and making disciples is the corebusiness of Christian ministry. We haveJesus' example to prove it.

I Being DisciplesWillard says that Jesus called us 'notto do what he did, but to be as he was,permeated with love. Then the doing ofwhat he did and said becomes the natu-ral expression of who we are in Him.'*We should leam from Jesus how to liveour ufe as he would if he were us. Weshould leam as Paul says, to do eve-rything in the name of the Lord Jesus(Col. 3:17). This means placing a prior-ity on contributing to and understand-ing our own spiritual formation as aftmdamental p¿ t of Christian ministry.Thomas à Kempis states that 'Christcotmsels us to foUow his life and way'and that his life should 'be our firstconsideration'.^

Willard suggests that 'a life of vic-tory over sin and circumstances isavailable to aU of us', through faithful-ness to spiritual formation in Christ, asrevealed in the Bible and many godlyexamples throughout history.* Howev-er, many of us are too distracted withwhat Wülard calls the 'vessel' modeof ministry (how we do chtirch) ratherthan the 'treasure' mode of ministry(what the church should be ahout).' Inthe Great Commission, Jesus showedus where our focus shotild be. This isbasically the 'principles and absolutes'of the New Testament church.^"

6 Willard, Divine Conspiracy, 204.7 Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ(London: Penguin, 1952), 27.8 Willard, Divine Conspiracy, xi.9 Willard, Divine Conspiracy, 26-27.10 Willard, Divine Conspiracy, 28.

It is all about spiritual forma-tion—^becoming like Christ! 'The callof Christ today is the same as it waswhen he left us here. That caU is to behis apprentices, alive in the power ofGod, learning to do all he said to do,leading others into apprenticeship tohim, and teaching them how to do eve-rything he said.''' He calls us to be his(¿sciples. Ludowyk and Moore define adisciple as 'a person who follows theteaching of a leader'.'^ Willard saysthat 'if I am Jesus' disciple that meansI am with him to leam from him howto be Mke him'." We must spend timewith him. The Bible provides us withall the teaching we need to leam to Uveour lives as God desires for us." Petersays, 'His divine power has given useverything we need for life and godli-ness through our knowledge of him'and he goes on to encotirage us to'make every effort' to ctütivate godlycharacteristics in otir lives so that wedo not hecome 'ineffective and unpro-ductive' (2 Pet. 1:3-8). He says, 'if youdo these things, you will never fall' (2Pet. 1:10).

The best way to become like Jesusis to live as he ¿ved, and be as he was.MUard calls this 'the secret of the easyyoke'.'^ It involves following Jesus in

11 D. Willard, Renovation of the Heart: Puttingon the Character of Christ, (Leicester, England:Inter-Varsity Press, 2002), 202.12 F. Ludowyk and B. Moore, The Austral-ian Oxford Paperback Dictionary, 2nd edition,(South Melbourne, Australia: Oxford Univer-sity Press, 1996], 22413 Willard, Divine Conspiracy, 303.14 Wûizzi, Divine Conspiracy, 311.15 Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines:Understanding How God Changes Lives (Lon-don: Hodder and Stoughton, 1988), 6.

102 Beverly Vos

the entirety of his Ufe and not just try-ing to behave as he wotdd on the spurof the moment. That means practisingthe disciplines he engaged in and evenmore, because we are not God as heis, but htiman, and therefore prone tomany weaknesses and character flaws.

II Transformed by theSpiritual Disciplines:

Willard describes spiritual disciplinesas tried and true activities undertakenin order to give our spirits more con-trol over our bodies, by moulding andshaping our embodied selves.^' Wil-lard states that 'we grow in spirituallife and in ministry by well directedeffort'' and nothing else will sub-stitute for this. However, no effort ofsheer wiU power on its own can trans-form our sinful desires, attitudes andbehaviours.'* Our normal response todeal with ingrained sin is to rely onwill power and determination." HeiniArnold states that 'as long as we thinkthat we can save ourselves by our ownwill power, we will only make the evilin us stronger than ever'.^"

We need God's grace acting in ourUves to accomplish what we cannot doon our own. This is what grace is allabout. As Willard says, 'if we had nev-er sinned we would stOl need grace'."Foster explains that 'the disciplines al-

16 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 86,92.17 Willard, Spiritualty and Ministry, 20.18 Willard, Renovation of the Heart, 121; Fos-ter, Celebration of Discipline, 4.19 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 4.20 Cited in Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 4.21 Wûlaià, Spiritualty and Ministry, 14.

low us to place otirselves before God sothat he can transform us'.^^ They putus in a position where we can receivehis grace more readily. Henri Nouwensuggests that we must 'create a spacein which God can act'."

Many Christians act and speak asif effort on our part is pointless andeven offensive to God. They respondwith statements such as, 'God's graceis a free gift which covers our sins' cind'there is nothing you can do to earnGod's favour'. It is true that righteous-ness cannot be earned by humcin effortor will power—all of the New Testa-ment attests to this, but the distinctionmust be made between 'earning' and'effort'. As Willard states, 'grace is notopposed to effort, but to earning''^ (em-phasis added). Paul tells Timothy to'train yourself to be godly' (1 Tim. 4:7).

In 1 Corinthians 9:25-27, he speaksabout going into strict training, andeven beating one's body to make itone's slave. As any great athleteknows, training certainly involves asubstantial amotint of effort! Patil callsus to follow his example as he followsChrist (1 Cor. 11:1). By themselvesspiritual disciplines wiU achieve verylittle; they only put us in a place whereGod's grace can change us." WMe weare self-reliant and other-reliant for otirpersonal and spiritual formation, weare totally God-reliant for otir spiritualtransformation.

We need to be transformed spiritu-

22 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 6.23 Cited in P. Yancey, Prayer Does It Make AnyDifference? (London: Hodder and Stoughton,2006), 278.24 Willard, Spiritualty and Ministry, 20.25 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 6.

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ally if we wish to minister to people ef-fectively Wrthout it, in otir sinfulnessand brokenness we wiU only do moreharm than good. Ortberg says that theprimary goal of our life as Christiansis to become transformed spiritually. *This means our ministry should havelittle to do with simply asstiring peopleof where they will go when they die, orjust getting to heaven. People's spir-itual transformation in this life shouldbe our goal. Most of us want to change,but very few of us actually see trans-formation into Christ-Hkeness happen-ing at any observable pace." WiUardsays we must be intentional about spir-itual transformation otherwise it wülnot happen as a regular feature of ourministries.^* It may happen acciden-tally, and once it does happen, we wiUnot know how to make it happen again.

He says to become spiritually formedin Christ we must have: (1) a vision ofwhat that means; (2) an intention tocarry it out; and (3) intentionally ap-ply means for achieving those ends.^'When we are spiritually awakened intoa state of transformation, God's com-mands are not biurdensome (1 Jn. 5:3).It is then that we become good treesthat carmot bear bad fruit (Lu. 6:43).Willard says that 'ordinary people incommon sxuroundings can live fromthe abimdance of God's kingdom, let-ting the spirit and actions of Jesus bethe naturd outflow from their lives'.'"

26 J. Ortberg, The Life You've Always Want-ed: Spiritual Disaplines for Ordinary People(Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1997), 21.27 Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted,29.28 Willard, Renovation of the Heart, 62.29 Willard, Renovation of the Heart, 59-61.30 Willard, Renovation of the Heart, 24.

He insists elsewhere, that 'we canbecome like Christ in character andin power and thus realize our highestideals of well-being and well-doing'.''C. S. Lewis suggests that we do not de-sire the things promised to us enoughbecause we are 'half-hearted crea-tures'.'^ 'Like an ignorant child whowants to go on making mud pies in aslum because he cannot imagine whatis meant by the offer of a holiday at thesea. We are far too easily pleased.'"We should take up the promises of-fered to us through a life guided byspiritual disciplines.

Disciplines of prayer, meditationand study of scripture have often beenthought of as indispensable to the jour-ney of faith. Referring to such disci-plines, Bonhoeffer says, 'for the pastorit (prayer) is an indispensable duty andhis [sic] whole ministry will depend onit'." The spiritual disciplines help usto identify the duplicity cind malice bur-ied in our character and will, so thatGod's word and Spirit can work in usto rid us of these destructive feelingsthat arise." Such feelings and sinsare often hidden by our habits of self-deception and rationalisation.'*

Many of the spiritual disciplineshelp us to deal with these sins head on,as the piurpose of spiritual disciplinesis the transformation of one's entire

31 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, ix.32 C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters: WithScrewtape Proposes a Toast (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 1942), 4633 Lewis, The Saewtape Letters, 26.34 D. Bonhoeffer, Life Together (London: SCMPress Ltd., 1949), 66.35 Willard, Renovation of the Heart, 121.36 Willard, Äenouaiion of the Heart, 121.

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person." According to Ortberg, follow-ing Jesus means learning from Jesushow to organise our lives around prac-tices which enable one to 'live in thefruit of the Spirit'.^* Ortberg describesa spiritual discipline as 'any activitythat can help me gain power to hve asJesus taught and modelled it'. For thisreason there is no exhaustive list ofspiritual disciplines.^'

Ill Listing the Disciplines:The following is an exploration of com-mon spiritual disciplines and their rolein the spiritual growth and ministry ofdisciples of Jesus Christ. Numeroustimes in scripttire we hear of Jesuspractising solitude and prayer, goingoff early in the mornings to pray byhimself (e.g. Mark 1:35). Wulard de-scribes the discipline of prayer simplyas 'talking to God about what we aredoing together'.*" Ortberg suggeststhat prayer is the discipline that peo-ple feel most guüty about not practis-ing enough, because they believe thatprayer should be effortless if we aretruly devoted to God." However, thiswas not the case even with Jesus' dis-ciples, for they asked Jesus to teachthem to pray (Luke 11:1).

1 PrayerPrayer is something we learn by pray-ing. Thomas Merton says of prayer,

37 Foster, Celebration ofDisapline, 54.38 Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted,44.39 Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted,48.40 Willard, Divine Conspiracy, 267.41 Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted,95.

'we do not want to be beginners. Butlet us be convinced of the fact that wewill never be anything else but begin-ners all our life!'*^ Foster beHeves thatprayer is the primary way that Godchooses to change us into his like-ness." In prayer, God revels to us thehiding places we have from him, eind hegraciously frees us from them.** Prayercauses our love for others to increase.*'Jesus himself teaches us that prayer isuseful for avoiding temptation when hesays; 'Watch and pray so that you wülnot fall into temptation' (Mt. 26:41).

Willard states that prayer has a'spiritually strengthening effect'** onevery aspect of our personality. It buüdsour faith and confidence in God." To bedone well, prayer wül almost certainlybe linked with other disciplines suchas study, worship, meditation, as wellas solitude and fasting.*^ John Wesleysaid, 'God does nothing but in answerto prayer'.*' We should 'precede, en-fold and follow' everything we do withprayer'.5° Imagine the potential of ourministries if we did this. However, sooften we forget to pray—or is it morethan this? Wulard makes a profoundstatement regarding prayer. He says;

The idea that everything would hap-

42 Cited in Ortberg, The Life You've AlwaysWanted, 96.43 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 30.44 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 30.45 Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted,106.46 WiUard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 191.47 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 192.48 Willard, TheSpirit of the Disciplines, 191.49 Cited in Foster, Celebration of Discipline,31.50 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 40.

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pen exactly as it does regardless ofwhether we pray or not is a spectrethat haunts the minds of many whosincerely profess behef in God. Itmakes prayer psychologically im-possible, replacing it with dead rit-ual at best. And of course God doesnot respond to this. You wotüdn'teither."

We must deal with these psycho-logical barriers to prayer, otherwiseour prayers are sure to be ineffective.Brother Lawrence says of prayer thatthere is not in the world a kind of lifemore sweet and delightful than thatof continual conversation with God'.'What a wonderful way to live one's lifeand cany out one's ministry, in con-stant communion with God. Isn't thatwhat every true Christian longs for?

2 SolitudeSolitude is spending long periods oftime alone with God," and purpose-fully avoiding interaction with others."Foster describes soHtude as a state ofone's mind and heart." The gospelsshow us that Jesus regularly soughtsolitude, particularly before and afterimportant events.

He began his ministry in the desert,and ended his ministry in Gethsemanewith times of soKtude. * Nouwen saysthat it is in 'solitude that we discover

51 Willard, Divine Conspiracy, 268-9.52 Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Pres-ence of God with Spiritual Maxims (Grand Rap-ids: Spire Books, 1958), 44.53 Wïïiaid, Renovation of the Heart, 121.54 WiUard, Divine Conspiracy,loi.55 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 84.56 Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted,84.

that being is more important than hav-ing, and that we are worth more thanthe result of our efforts'." Here we canescape from the forces in society thatattempt to mould us. * Willard explainsthat 'in solitude we find the psychicdistance, the perspective from whichwe can see, in Hght of eternity, thecreated things that trap, worry and op-press us'.^'

Sohtude can help us to see that ourextreme busyness is caused by our in-abüity to trust God or unwillingnessto let others contribute.*" Willard ex-plains that hurry is the enemy of kind-ness and love, and also involves worry,fear and anger.*' He says that solitudecan help us to remember that the worldkeeps going without us, and that thereis more damage done by our unkind-ness and lack of love, as a result ofour hurry, than the benefits to haste (ifthere are any at all!).*^ A life withoutlonely places of solitude can easily be-come destructive without a 'quiet cen-tre'.«

Bonhoeffer** and Foster*^ both makethe point that for one to have meaning-ful fellowship with others, one must becomfortable being alone, and we must

57 H. J. M. Nouwen, Out of Solitiide: ThreeMeditations on the Christian Life, (Indiana: AveMaria Press, Indiana, 1976), 22.58 Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted,84.59 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 165.60 Wßlaiä, Renovation of the Heart, 121.61 Willard, Renovation of the Heart, 29.62 D. Willard, The Great Omission: ReclaimingJesus' Essential Teachings on Discipleship (Ox-ford: Monarch Books, 2006), 29.63 Nouwen, Oufo/So/tode, 21.64 Bonhoeffer, Life Together 58.65 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 85.

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have the fellowship and accountabilityof others in order to be alone safely. 'Insolitude, our heart can slowly take offits many protective devices, and cangrow so wide and deep that nothing hu-man is strange to it.'** WiUard believesthat solitude is one of the most funda-mental disciplines to the beginning ofspiritual life, and must continue to bepractised.*^ In aloneness it is possihleto be silent and still and know that theLord is indeed

3 SilenceIntricately connected to solitude issilence. In fact Foster believes thatsilence and solitude are inseparable.*'To just refrain from speaking withouta heart ready to hear from God, is notsilence.^" We must 'close off our soulsfrom "sounds'".''Noises can be a com-fort to us, whñe complete silence of-ten gives the impression that nothingis happening, and this can be quiteshocking to us in our busy lifestyles.'^Willard claims that only silence canprovide us with the opportunity for'Ufe-transforming concentration uponGod'." Silence can also give us the'quiet, inner confidence' that many ofus desire, and are lacking in our dauylife and ministry.'* Suence teaches uswhen to speak and when we need to

66 Nouwen, Out of Solitude, 45.67 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 166.68 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 166.69 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 86.70 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 86.71 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 167.72 WiUard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 167.73 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 168.74 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 170.

close our Hps. This can be an importantrealisation in Christian ministry.

The discipline of silence can helpus to see that our vocalness in offeringopinions can stem from a contempt ofother people's words and thoughts, or awish to keep them quiet. According toà Kempis, 'It is easier to keep silencecdtogether than not to talk more thanwe should'.'^ This is so tme for manyof us as restraint is something we so of-ten lack. Foster says that the disciplineof silence wül often bring the freedomto let God be the one to justify our ac-tions, rather than being defensive ofthem, and increased compassion andsensitivity to others.'*

Practising silence helps us to havean 'inner distance' that allows us timeto ponder our words and have the selfcontrol to respond graciously, and toalso leam to really listen to others."A person who has mastered the dis-cipline of silence is someone who cansay what needs to be said, and alsohold their tongue appropriately. AVhata benefit this would be to any one ofus! WiUard says that the abiUty to besilent and truly Usten to others may hethe greatest witness and testimony toour faith. ' How valuable the disciplineof silence could be to life and ministryfor Jesus Christ.

4 MeditationMeditation is not a foreign conceptin the Bible, though for many Chris-tians these days it is primarily associ-

75 à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, 50.76 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 95.77 Willard, The Spirit of the Disdplines, 169.78 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 169.

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ated with eastern religions.^' However,meditation is mentioned over 50 timesin the Old Testament.«" Meditation isall about sustained attention.*' The aimof Christian meditation is not simplyto empty one's mind, but also to flUit with thoughts of God and his word.Meditation on scripture should be usedto internalise and personalise scrip-ture.*^ Jesus studied God's word as aboy and was well versed in scripture(Lu. 2:49; Jn. 7:15). If Jesus took thetime to memorise and internalise scrip-ture, that gives us even more reasonto do so. Study, as opposed to medita-tion, is careful observation of objectivestructures which results in a change toone's thought processes.*'

5 StudyIn the spiritual discipline of study weengage our minds with the word ofGod or material about God's word.*^The aim of study is to replace old de-structive habits of thought with newlife-giving habits.*^ It is distinguishedfrom meditation by the fact that studyis analytical and meditation is devo-tional, though the two do overlap.**Study requires repetition, concentra-tion, reflection and humility in orderto be effective in changing the way

79 Foster, Celebration ofDisdpline, 13.80 Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted,189.81 Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted,189.82 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 26.83 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 55.84 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 182.85 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 54.86 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 56

we think.*'' Romans 12:2 says that weshould 'be transformed by the renew-ing of our minds'. Ortberg says that'the goal is not for us to get throughthe scriptures. The goal is to get thescriptures through us.'**

Memorisation of scriptiu-e is one ofthe best ways to transform our mindsand ingrain scripture in our charac-ter.*' Psalm 119 speaks of hiding God'sword in our hearts so that we wiU notsin against him. One of the greatestbenefits of studying God's word is thatit increases our faith, as it penetratesour heart, mind and soul.'"

6 SimplicityOur culture is 'plagued by the passionto possess'." Hamilton and Dennisswrite that although Australia is oneof the world's richest countries, twothirds of Australians still believe theycannot afford to buy everything theyreally need.'^ They state that 'as arule, no matter how much money peo-ple have, they feel they need more'.''Tozer says, 'things have become neces-sary to us, a development never origi-nally intended.'* God's gifts now take

87 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 56-7.88 Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted,188.89 Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted,190.90 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 182-3.91 R. Foster, Freedom of Simplicity (New York:Harper and Row, 1981), 3.92 C. Hamilton, and R. Denniss, Affluenza:When Too Much is Never Enough (Crows Nest,NSW: Allen and Unwin, 2005), 4.93 Hamilton, and Denniss, 407uen2û, 5.94 A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, (Carlisle,United Kingdom: OM Publishing, 1982), 26.

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the place of God, and the whole courseof nature is upset by the monstroussubstitution.'

In our desire for affluence we tendto buy so much more than we reallyneed, and waste so much of what wedo not use. Australians today buy farmore food and luxury items than theycan even use because of an 'insatiableappetite for more things' and this inevi-tably leads to a tremendous amount ofwaste.'^ It is a gross understatementto say that our contemporary culturelacks the reality of simplicity; we haveso much, do so much, and want somuch out of Ufe. It is interesting thenthat authors such as Tabb claim that'the only way to get more out of life isto choose less'.'*

The Bible is clear about God's dis-pleasure towards the accumulation ofwealth and exploitation of the poor.The Old and New Testaments aboundwith examples of God's wrath on thosewho ignore injustice and commandsto care for the poor, the ostracised,the fatherless, and on those who puttheir trust in material things. Even ourChristian culture is affected by the in-sanity of affluence. Foster states thatwe buy things we don't need or evenwant, to impress people we don't evenlike, and which we ultimately don't endup using.'' What is the point? He saysthat western culture falsely says cov-etousness = ambition, hoarding = pru-dence, and greed = industriousness.''

95 Hamilton and Denniss, 100-5.96 M. Tabb, Living With Less: The Upside toDownsizing your life (Nashvule: Broadman andHolman, 2006) xv.97 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 70.98 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 71.

The discipline of simplicity offers adirect challenge to our sinful desiresand affluent lifestyles, resulting in'a life of joyful unconcern for posses-sions'." Our society needs the cor-rective example of godly people whoare not enslaved to the rat race of ac-cumulating wealth and prestige. Thediscipline of simplicity would go a longway in developing such characteristicsin our lives. Jesus Christ is the perfectexample of what it meant to Hve sim-ply loo jjg ¿^¿ jjQ accumulate wealthor become deceived by the things ofthis world, and he avoided competitivepopularity and prestige.

Simplicity as a discipline is an in-ward reality that results in an outwardlifestyle.'"' However, simplicity is noteasy to achieve, neither is it fundamen-tally simple. In fact, it is actually com-plex because it goes against acceptedvalues and expectations.'"^ Both thegreedy and the miserly do not knowsimplicity, as it has nothing to do withan abundance or lack of possessions.""Simplicity relies on receiving all wehave as a gift, entrusting what we dohave to God, and being willing to giveit to others.'"^ But it also requires anoutward expression, as simplicity mustaffect the way that we live. However,there are no legalistic rules as to whatsimplicity should look like.'"^

Foster suggests ten principles fordeveloping simplicity in one's Ufe, in-

99 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 75, 77.100 Foster, Freedom of Simplicity, 3.101 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 69.102 Foster, Freedom of Simplicity, 5.103 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 77.104 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 77.105 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 8.

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eluding buying things for their useful-ness and not their status, rejectinganything that causes addictions, ha-bitually giving things away, appreci-ating creation more, enjoying thingswithout owning them and not buyingthings that may continue the cycle ofoppression for others. One examplewould be choosing to buy fair tradecoffee beans rather than brands whichexploit unfairly paid African people.Through simplicity, followers of Christcan exert a remarkable influence onthose around them, and through them,the entire culture.

7 FastingAs depicted in the Bible, fasting isabout abstaining from food for spiritualpurposes."" Wülard says its purposeas a spiritual discipline is about learn-ing to be free from the desire for food,and experiencing how God directlynourishes us."" There are many ex-amples throughout scripture of God'speople fasting including David, Es-ther, Daniel, Ehjah and Paul to namea few. Jesus fasted for forty days onone occasion recorded in scripture (Lu.4:2). There are just as many examplesof great Christians throughout his-tory who also practised fasting, suchas Martin Luther, John Wesley, JohnCalvin, Jonathan Edwards, John Knoxand Charles Finney.'o^

Jesus taught about fasting in theSermon on the Mount, whüe teachingabout giving and prayer (Mt. 6). Refer-ring to this passage Foster states that'it is as if there is almost an uncon-

106 Foster, Celebration ofDisapline, 42.107 Willard, i?enouflft'on of the Heart,\2l.108 Foster, Celebration ofDisdpline, 42.

scious assumption that giving, prajmgand fasting are all part of Christian de-votion'."" Although Jesus didn't makeany specific commands about fasting itcoiUd be assiuned that he expected hisfollowers to fast.

Wülard claims that fasting willsurely prove humiliating for us, as somuch of our peace is dependent on thejoy of eating."" It can reveal to us howwe use food to distract us from our ownunwise behaviotir and sinful attitudes,feelings of self-worth or meaningless-ness."' It affirms our dependence onGod, and the fact that in him we canfind 'a sotirce of sustenance beyondfood'."^ Through fasting we can trulylearn that it is not just food that givesus life but 'every word that comes fromthe mouth of God' (Mt. 4:4).

Fasting is an important way thatwe can practise self denial, which Je-sus requires of us as his foüowers (Mt.16:24). Wülard says that someone whois weU practised üi fasting will easüybe able to endure many forms of depri-vation with joy.'" Fasting also teachesus self-control and temperance, withreference to all our desires, and so itcan have a great effect in transformingour whole personality."*

8 WorshipTo worship is to ascribe great worth toGod and to see him as worthy.^^^ Wor-ship is a response of otu" heart to the

109 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 46.110 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 171.111 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 171.112 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 171.113 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 172.114 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 172.115 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 184.

110 Beverly Vos

love of God"* which encompasses ourwhole hves."^ We can worship both incommunity and alone."* Worship in-cludes but is far more than just sing-ing, praising, and praying.'" When weworship we contemplate and expressthe glorious radiance, goodness andgreatness of God through various ex-pressions including words, symbolsand rituals.'^" We read in John 4:23that God is actively seeking those whowill worship the Father in spirit andin truth. In worship we praise God forwho he is, and we express gratitude forall he has done for us. '"

Foster says worship is a spiritualdiscipline because 'it is an ordered wayof acting and hving that sets us beforeGod so that He can transform us'.'^^Worship is not true worship unlessit changes us. It propels us towardsgreater obedience, deeper compassionfor others, and compels us to releaseour resentments.'" Foster states that'to worship is to change'.'^* When Godmeets us in worship and reveals him-self to us 'our thoughts and words turnto perception and experience of God'.'"Worship is faith-building and strength-ening for the behever and is thereforean important spiritual discipline for ef-fective ministry.

116 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 138.117 D. Zschech, Worship: Hillsongs AustraliaLeadership Series (Hillsong Australia: CastleHill, NSW, 1996), 21.118 WUlard, The Spirit of the Disdplines,I8i.119 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 139.120 WUlard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 183.121 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 140.122 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 144.123 Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 148.124 Foster, Celebration ofDisdpline, 148.125 WUlard, The Spirit of the Disdplines, 184.

The discipline of celebration usuallyinvolves gathering together with oth-ers to eat, drink, sing, dance and sharestories of God's goodness'^* and so re-flect on how wonderful he is. '" WiUardclaims that it is the completion of wor-ship.' s Foster suggests that it shouldinvolve lots of noise.'^' As there is atime for suence, so there is a time formaking noise! The Bible is full of ex-amples of celebration. In the Old Tes-tament the Israelites were commandedto gather three times a year for periodsof celebration."" Jesus practised fel-lowship and celebration as evidencedby his presence with people and repu-tation as a glutton and a drunkard.

9 CelebrationCelebration fills us with joy, and joygives us strength as Nehemiah 8:10reminds us: 'the joy of the Lord is yourstrength'. Without the joyful festiv-ity that celebration brings, the spir-itual disciplines can become dull anddraining, but celebration provides uswith energy.'" Paul commands us inPhihppians 4:4 to 'rejoice in the Lordalways'. One reason for this commandmay well be that no one wül be at-tracted to a hfe of following Jesus if itproves to be as dull as our faces oftensuggest. Ortberg explains that joyless-ness is a sin that rehgious people areprone to enjoy. "^

126 Willard, The Spirit of the Disdplines,185127 Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted,67.

128 WUlard, The Spirit of the Disdplines, 185.129 Foster, Celebration ofDisdpline, 168.130 Foster, Celebration ofDisdpline, 164.131 Foster, Celebration ofDisdpline, 164.132 Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted,63-4.

The Spiritual Disciplines and Christian Ministry 111

Celebration helps us not to take our-selves too seriously, it prevents us frombecoming weary in oxur quest for godU-ness, and it gives us perspective, andhelps us to laugh at ourselves.'" ManyChristians are cautious about celebra-tion and to this WiUard responds:

The suffering and terror of life wülnot be removed no matter how 'spir-itual' we become. It is because ofthis that a healthy faith before Godcannot be built and maintained,without heartfelt celebration of hisgreatness and goodness to us in themidst of our suffering and terror.'"He says that God is dishonoured just

as much if we fear and avoid pleasure,as when we depend upon it and livefor it.' ^ Uncle Screwtape informs hisprotégé Wormwood that fun is closelyrelated to joy and.

It can sometimes be used, of course,to divert humans from somethingelse which the Enemy would likethem to be feeUng or doing: but initself it has whoUy undesirable ten-dencies; it promotes charity, cour-age, contentment, and many otherevils.''*

Celebration done weU makes aU ourproblems and sorrows seem smaU, andit accentuates the goodness of Godtowards us, so that we have greaterstrength to do his work. Ortberg claimsthat it is a leamed skiU to be joyful. Itis a skiU weU worth practising in theUfe of every minister of the gospel.'"

133 Foster, Celebration ofDisdpiine,168.134 Willard, TheSpirit of the Disdplines,1S7.135 Willard, The Spirit of the Disdplines, 187.136 Lewis, Saewtape Letters, 5Í.137 Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted,66.

The discipUne of service is aboutdoing good things for others, withoutthinking of oxu-selves."' In service wegive of ourselves and our resources topromote the good of others.'^' Althoughservice can be used as a discipline, itdoes not have to be a discipline. It cansimply be a means of showing love toothers, without any thought to howit wül enable one to foUow Jesus het-ter.'*" However, service strengthens usin refusing to conform to the world'sstandards of authority and promotion,whüe resistüig the temptation to con-form to the 'pecking order'.'*'

10 ServiceService can train us to rid oinrselves ofarrogance, envy, coveting, being pos-sessive or resentfxü, particularly if weare üi 'low' positions in society.'*^ Wu-lard beUeves, however, that service isof more benefit to those in higher socialpositions, because it is a greater chal-lenge to serve from such a place.'*' InMatthew 20:26, 28 Jesus says, 'who-ever wants to become great amongyou must be your servant... just as theSon of Man did not come to be served,but to serve'. Wulard says that this ismore of an instmction for those whoare 'great', rather than training on howto become 'great'.'** Jesus gave us anexceUent example of service by wash-ing his disciples' feet Qn. 13:1-17). Heloved them by performing this menial

138 Willard, i?enoyaft'on of the Heari,121.139 Willard, The Spirit of the Disdplines,188.140 Willard, The Spirit of the Disdplines,188.141 Foster, Celebration ofDisdpiine, 111.142 Willard, The Spirit of the Disdplines,188.143 Willard, The Spirit of the Disdplines, 189.144 Wulard, The Spirit of the Disdplines,190.

112 Beverly Vos

and humiliating act which was normal-ly assigned to the lowest of servants inthe household.'«

Jesus' reason for calling us to serveothers was not simply because theyneed help, but because of the benefitsto the individual who serves others."*Pride always lurks in the backgroundfor people who aim for spiritual treins-formation'*^ and although humility is avirtue that we can't gain by trying tobe humble, service is the spiritual dis-cipline most conducive to producinghumility."* Humility is about having a'submitted willingness' and 'involves ahealthy self-forgetfulness'."' In serv-ing, we think of others and give nothought to our own needs and desires.

Service that results from obligationor duty cannot compare to the life, joyand peace that flow's from service mo-tivated by our 'inward person'.'^" Trueservice btiilds community and a senseof intimacy,'^' it requires no service inreturn, and it 'draws, binds, heals andbuüds'.'52 What a benefit the disciplineof service could be to our Christiancommunities and ministry.

145 M. Buchanan, The Rest of God: RestoringYour Soul by Restoring Sabbath (Nashville, Tn:W PubUshing Group, 2006), 25.146 Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted,117.147 Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted,112.148 Foster, Celebration ofDisdpUne,lli.149 Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted,112150 Foster, Celebration ofDisdpline, 122.151 Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted,119.152 Foster, Celebration ofDisdpline,!!^.

11 ConfessionThe discipline of confession can bepractised only within fellowship asit requires trusting others enough toknow our deepest failures cind weak-nesses.'" James 5:16 says, 'confessyour sins to each other and pray foreach other'. Bonhoeffer claims that'he who is alone with his sin is utterlyalone' and 'the more isolated a personis, the more destructive wiU be thepower of sin over him, and the moredeeply he becomes involved in it'.'^*Our sins need to be confessed so thatwe can begin to heal and to change.'"

Confession helps us to abandon self-justification, and when sin is expressedto another person, it loses its powerover us.'^* Bonhoeffer states that 'inconfession we affirm and accept ourcross. In the deep mental and physicalpain of humiliation before a brother—which means before God— we experi-ence the cross of Jesus as our rescueand salvation'.'" Confession buildsour faith that God can provide for ourneeds through his people, it allows usto experience love, and to be humbledbefore others."* Foster says;

Without the cross the discipline ofconfession would be only psycho-logically therapeutic. But it is somuch more. It involves an objectivechange in our relationship with Godand a subjective change in us. It is ameans of healing and transforming

153 Willard,'r/ie Spirit of the Disdplines,!9S.154 Bonhoeffer, Life Together, 86-7.155 Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted,129.156 Bonhoeffer, Life Together, 88.157 Bonhoeffer, Life Together, 89-90.158 Willard, TheSpirit of the Disdplines, 195.

The Spiritual Disciplines and Christian Ministry 113

the inner spirit.'^'Confession is not just about telling

the truth, it also involves acknowledg-ing the pain of the people we have hurt,as weU as God's pain over our sin."° Itaddition, it also involves an intention tochange.'*' It is a grace and a discipline,as it is a 'consciously chosen course ofaction that brings us imder the shadowof the Almighty'.'*2 As Christians, weso often forget that we are all sinnersunder grace, and we hide our sinful-ness behind hypocrisy.

Often, although we pray and evenbeg for forgiveness, we do not feel itourselves untü we have confessed it toanother person. For this reason, Godhas provided other Christians to 'makeGod's presence and forgiveness real tous'.'*' We have been given the author-ity to receive confessions of sins andforgive them in Jesus' name. As John20:23 says, 'if you forgive anyone hissins, they are forgiven'. What a greatministry we have been given! Confes-sion also assists us in avoiding sin.As Wulard says, 'nothing is more sup-portive of right behaviours than opentruth'.'** It buüds community, enablesdeep fellowship, and encourages resti-tution among beUevers.

IV Practising the DisciplinesOur relationship with God allows muchroom for creative individuality and

159 Foster, Celebration ofDisapline, 126.160 Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted,135.161 Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted,138.162 Foster, Celebration ofDisapline, 127.163 Foster, Celebration ofDisapline, 129.164 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 196.

experimentation with spiritual disci-pUnes.'*^ We are limited orüy by thenumber of sins such disciplines canaddress! When we commit to engag-ing in the above mentioned disciplinesfaithfully, we are sure to be changedfrom glory to glory. Willard suggeststhat 'the dupUcities, entanglementsand evü intentions that infect our willcan be eliminated as "we fix our eyeson Jesus, the author and perfector ofour faith'" (Hebrews 12:2), through thepractising of spiritual disciplines.'**

Jesus said in John 14:12 that 'any-one who has faith in me wül do what Ihave been doing. He wül do even great-er things than these.' Wulard saysthat such great acts of power, whichJesus promises we would do, requiregreat character and great character issomething we can grow only slowly to-wards.'*' Through spiritual disciplinesone buüds great character, and there-fore, the disciplines go hand in handwith the power of God demonstrated inone's life.

If one has great power without greatcharacter, pride in one's abuity is cininevitable consequence. It was said ofSatan that he fell into pride when heobserved how well he performed hisreligious acts. Willard goes on to saythat in God's kingdom he intends us tohave as much power as oiu" charactercan bear.'*' Eventually we will evenhave enough power to do whatever wewant; because we will have 'the mindof Christ' and wül therefore do whatGod wants. What an awesome picturethat is!

165 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 198.166 VMaià, Renovation of the Heart, 121.167 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 403.168 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 404.

114 Beverly Vos

The spiritual disciplines deserve a effectively when we leam to be luceplace of prime importance in training Christ. What power and what amaz-for Christian ministry, and practice in ing transformative effects our ministrydaüy life. To make the sort of impact ^°^^ ^^"^^ ^"^^ learned what it meansthat many claim they want to make ^° P''^^ effectively and see God answerin reaching our cities, states, and our us as we spend time each day commun-world for Christ, we need people to be- "^^ ^ ^ ^ - ^\'' ^ ^ ^ ° ^^^ ^ \ ^ '

,..,'.,. f i"" " "^ spiritual disciphnes are essential mcome more hke Chnst. The tned and ^^ ^^^^ ^¿ development as disci-tiiae way to do this is to practise spir- pigs of Christ, and in the ministry ofitual disciplines. We will müiister most disciple making.

1,2,3 John Word Biblical Commentary(Revised Edition) (WBC)

Stephen S. SmalleyThe letters of John, although simple in style, affirm such profound truths

that interpreters throughout history have laboured to explain them. In thisextensively revised edition of his commentary on the Johannine epistlesSmalley updates his work by interacting with recent scholarship on the

letters over the last twenty years. This revision is seamlessly woven into thecommentary.

Stephen S. Smalley has retired from his position as Dean of Chester Cathedral. Heis author oijohn: Evangelist and Interpreter and Hope For Ever.

978-1-41851-424-21216 X 140mm I £29.99

Judges Word Biblical CommentaryTrent C. Butler

This commentary will feature the most extensive text critical notes availablein any modern commentary on Judges. It will present a theological readingof the present text of the book and seek to show that current literary and

source theories attributing various parts and even minute pieces of the bookto a long series of editors over almost a millennium of time are not neededto explain the origin and purposes of the book. This volume of the WBC will

argue for a much earher date of the book in the reigns of Rehoboam andJeroboam and wül show how Judges is designed as a reversal of the structureand achievements of the Book of Joshua, preparing the way for the Davidic

line of kings. The commentary will underhne Judges' ironic presentation of itsmajor characters as heroes and failures. The commentary will wrestle with the

nature and expectations of leadership in Judges.

Trent C. Butler is Vice President of Editorial Services, Christian Board ofPublication. He is a former Associate Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at

the Baptist Theological Seminary, Riischlikon, Switzerland.

978-0-8499-0207-91229 x 152mm I £24.99

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