In our study this week in the book, "Imagine... the fully devoted life," we are learning about how we must be disciplined if we are to grow as a Christian. I find that men, especially, can show great discipline in pursuits that are important to them, while being very undisciplined in the things that will help them in their relationship with God. We can be heroes on the battlefield, ball-field, or in the workplace, but if we are not fully devoted to God then we are "zeroes." Our lives, apart from God, will amount to nothing for eternity if we are not disciplined in things that lead us closer to God. Being involved in a good church is one of the disciplines that we must learn to cultivate. Yet, the average church would have to close its doors if you took the women out of the picture, because they are the most involved and supportive. Men, let us resolve to be disciplined in our church life. What does this involve? Here is an excerpt from one of my favorite books, Disciplines of a Godly Man, by R. Kent Hughes. He has some great advice on being disciplined in this area. It is a great book! Buy it if you don't have a copy.
THE DISCIPLINE OF CHURCH
If the grand and great doctrine of the Church tells us anything, it tells us that whoever you are and however busy you may be (whether U.S. President, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a Fortune 500 business executive, or leader of a parachurch organization), the Church must be at the very center of your life. Church hitchhiking is an aberration! And so is mild commitment.
Men, honestly, are you a hitchhiker, kind of a "free agent" looking for a tentative place on the roster, here for a season, there for another? If so, you will never attain to your full spiritual manhood, nor will your family reach its spiritual maturity.
Men, at the end of the twentieth century both the Church and the lost world need men who practice the discipline of Church.
The Discipline of Regular Attendance
As part of this matter, you need to commit yourself to regularly attend the worship services of your church. Your schedule ought to bow to your commitment. When you travel, you ought to attempt to schedule yourself to be back for church, and if that is impossible, attend elsewhere while you are on the road.
The Discipline of Membership
If you are not a church member, you need to covenant before God to find a good church, join it, and commit yourself to supporting her and submitting to her discipline.
The Discipline of Giving
Your financial support of a local church should take precedence over your parachurch commitments. This should be regular and systematic (10 percent is a good starting-point).
The Discipline of Participation
Your time, talents, expertise, and creativity must be poured into your church, to the glory of God.
The Discipline of Love and Prayer
Timothy Dwight, heir to the Puritans and the greatest president of Yale University, penned these beautiful words:
I loveThy Church, O God!
Her walls before Thee stand.
Dear as the apple of Thine eye.
And graven on Thy hand.
For her my tears shall fall;
For her my prayers ascend;
To her my cares and toils be giv'n,
Till toils and cares shall end.
R. Kent Hughes, Disciplines of a Godly Man, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1991), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 166-167.
