The Discipline Of Meditation Part 1

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Mention meditation to some people, and they envision an Eastern mystic sitting in a lotus position. But real meditation is far different. Today we explore the second of Pastor Erwin Lutzer's, Five Disciplines that Grow Godliness, and hear what God had to say to Joshua about meditation.

From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win, with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, I guess meditation takes time, and people today cram every waking minute with anything and everything but something like meditation. Dave, you're absolutely right, and I want to underline what you said just a moment ago. When we talk about scriptural meditation, what we mean is we fill our minds with content, and we meditate on it. When you talk about transcendental meditation, you're talking about people who want to empty their minds. And Dave, you're also right, we're living in a very distracted age.

When we don't have time to meditate, we run from one thing to another, of course technology has not helped us here. I've written a book entitled, Holy Living in an Unholy World. The subtitle is, Balancing Love, Law, and Grace, because when it comes to holy living, what we need is something practical.

Holiness isn't simply a concept that we like to talk about. It's a life to be lived, and I think that this book will be a great blessing and help you. Here's what you do. You can go to rtwoffer.com.

That's rtwoffer.com, and for a gift of any amount, this book can be yours, or if you prefer, you can call us at 1-888-218-9337. Remember, meditation in the scripture is something that all of us must learn to do. During the next few moments, I want you to visualize and to think about what the greatest obstacle might be that stands between you and really walking with God. What river is it in your life that you always seem to come to and the bridge is blown out and you can never quite get across it? What is it that hinders you and me?

In order to jog your memory or to help you, I may list some possibilities that could be in your life or mine. It might be a painful relationship, either within your family or within your marriage or in your upbringing and it has brought you a lot of pain and you are struggling with forgiveness and bitterness seems to have clouded your soul. Maybe it is a health problem. It may be an addiction, a sin of the flesh that you keep going back to and it has you bound and try as you might, you can't seem to be free. Maybe it is a sin of the past. Maybe an abortion that you had many years ago but you can't get over it. You can't seem to accept it. You can't relish in the good knowledge that God has forgiven you and it is ever before you. Maybe in a moral relationship or having hurt someone very deeply and you know that you can't rectify it. Any one of these things or a combination thereof can stand in the way between us and walking with God and what I want you to do today is to think about that because in a few moments I hope to share with you a plan whereby I believe that your world can be changed. Not your outer world, maybe all of the problems that I've listed, at least some of them might still be there, but your inner world would be so at peace that you can walk with God despite the fact that your outer world maybe has not changed a whole lot.

What if I were to share a plan like that with you? And in a few moments I hope to. You know that this is the second in a series of messages entitled Disciplines that Grow Godliness. Last time we spoke on the discipline of worship, this time the discipline of meditation. And if there would be one verse of scripture that would epitomize what we're trying to get at, it would be 1 Timothy chapter four verse seven which says, be disciplined for godliness. We don't like that word discipline, do we?

We think that it belongs in the same category as martyrdom. We'd prefer to be holy in a hurry, to have some injection of spirituality that will change us and we don't like that word discipline. Yet Paul says we should be disciplined for godliness and holiness. What I want you to do is to take your Bible and to turn to the book of Joshua, Joshua chapter one, and I will spell out a program by which I believe God can change us deeply on the inside.

And after I've done that, you tell me after the message whether or not I have over promised. Sometimes we as pastors do that and it will be up to you to decide. Joshua is about to enter into the land. Moses is dead and now the responsibility falls on this young man and we pick up the text in chapter one verse six.

The Lord is speaking to him. Be strong and courageous for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give to them. Only be strong and very courageous and be careful to do according to the law which Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it for then you will make your way prosperous and then you shall have good success. Have not I commanded you? Be strong and courageous.

Do not tremble or be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Let's paint the context that Joshua faced. Here he was up against a tremendous enemy. All of the cities that were in the land of Canaan, Jericho being first on the map geographically. He was up against people and he knew that he was outclassed, he was outmatched and he was outnumbered.

Just think of the contrast for a moment. On the one hand the Canaanites had much better equipment. Israel had the staff, the staves that they had for some of their animals and that was about all. Whereas the Canaanites actually had iron, they had weapons of warfare that Israel had never even used much less had in their possession. Think also of the fact that they were better fortified. The Canaanites had walled cities that went up to heaven.

Bit of an exaggeration but perhaps 20 or 30 feet high and 10 or 15 feet across. Strong fortifications and if you know anything about battles you know that really the ratio is that it really takes one in ten to hold a fortification, it takes ten to wrest it from the person who is holding it. It is much easier to be on the top of a hill with a few people and to stave off an entire army it can be done. Here are the Israelites in tents, here are the giants in the land in these walled fortifications in these cities and of course that is the other contrast is that the Canaanites were bigger physically. The Bible says that there were giants in the land in those days.

It was so lopsided and it was so ridiculous that in a sense there's no use even trying to exaggerate the contrast because the contrast in itself is mighty and great. That's what Joshua faced. Now think of what some of his options might have been having been put into this predicament. He could have decided that what we should do is to have a town meeting and decide to go back into the desert. There's something safe about the desert. The desert didn't have a whole lot of battles. The desert was had its own lifestyle yes but at least you were not up against the fortifications of the Canaanites. Better to be thirsty in the desert they could have reasoned than to be dead in Canaan.

Let's go back. You know I may be speaking to some people who are in a desert today. You may feel as if you are a Christian but you're wandering around in that desert.

Maybe it's because you've been hurt by other people, you have been betrayed, you feel by God and so you're in a healing process, you're in a recovery process and because we're a large church we oftentimes have people who come and oftentimes they slip in for the services and they say that we just need to be healed before we're drawn into the congregation. And that's fine but we hope that eventually the centrifugal force of our ministry will draw you in. But that would have been an option. Let's go back to the desert. The other possibility might have been partial obedience. He could have said to himself let's try to live in Canaan along with the Jericho's and to simply try to coexist. Let's make an agreement with them. We won't bother them too much if they don't bother us too much.

I don't know about you but I've lived like that. I've lived in that experience where we enjoy Jesus Christ, we enjoy the word but there may be a Jericho in my life that I don't want to really deal with. I want to just keep it there and say that it is too strong for me to tackle. I'll simply live with it.

That would have been a possibility. The third option was to say let's trust God and go for broke. Let us believe his promises. Let us do whatever is necessary to see the power of God that we might be able to overcome the enemy. Now the chief text today as you may know is verse 8. You shall meditate in the law of God day and night. Day and night in the word of God.

Now let me ask this question. What would meditation do for Joshua anyway? What is the great thing, what is the great benefit that would come to him?

Well first of all meditation would cleanse his mind. In other passages of scripture we find that out. The psalmist said thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. When you think of all the impurities of the world there is nothing that will keep our hearts as much as meditation and memorization of the word of God.

Thy word have I hid in my heart. And Jesus said to the disciples now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. The cleansing, the washing of water by the word. When you find your mind polluted by the things of this world you can take the word of God and read it chapter by chapter and it will cleanse and it will take out all the pollutants and it will renew the mind. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

That's what the word of God does. It will cleanse Joshua's mind and yours and mine. It will cleanse his mind. It would calm his mind.

Calm his mind. Notice that the text uses that word courage a number of different times. It says in verse 7 only be strong and very courageous.

And then it goes on to say in verse 9 have not I commanded you be strong and courageous. Do not tremble or be dismayed. In other words let your inner world be calm. Be an island of tranquility even if you are in the midst of an ocean of turbulence. Be tranquil. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. Rivet your mind on God so that no matter what happens to your ship you know that your heart is always at port.

Calmness. How does the word of God do that? Well one of the things that the word of God does is it stimulates faith. It causes faith to grow.

The word comes by hearing. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And our great need, my great need, your great need is always faith.

Always faith. One day Peter decided to walk and to go to Jesus you remember in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. And Jesus was walking on the water so he said I want to walk on the water and Jesus said come which was a very blessed request that Peter gave. He says may I come and Jesus said yes an invitation that was very beautiful and Peter walks on the water to go to Jesus and then the Bible says that he saw the wind and the waves that it was boisterous and beginning to look at them he began to sink saying Lord save me I perish and Jesus scooped him up out of the water and said now why is it that you were doubting?

Now I can imagine that there'd be somebody there with a scientific mind who'd say to himself you know what we need to do we need to analyze the predicament that Peter was in. What we should do is to try to estimate the speed of the wind and do a study of the relationship between the speed of the wind and the height of the waves. I want to tell you today that the real problem that Peter faced was not the height of the waves or the speed of the wind.

The wind could have even been greater, the waves could have been higher and that was not the issue. The issue ultimately was faith whether he was believing Christ when he was walking and that always is your problem and mine because you and I can go down under the slightest wind and under the smallest wave unless we look at Christ and if we look at him we can endure the biggest wind and the highest wave. Our problem is always faith and if Joshua wanted to be able to walk around Jericho without being overcome and have the courage that the Word of God says he can have, be courageous, he needed to focus on God and the Word of God, the law of God would generate faith in his heart. It would also give him that sense of perspective. It would help him to see the big picture because you and I oftentimes become so preoccupied with the present pain we can't see what God is doing throughout the whole spectrum and the difference is between a Polaroid and a movie. The Bible allows us to see the bigger picture as to what God is doing. So the Word of God was going to cleanse Joshua's mind.

It would calm his mind and you might now expect another C here. It would commit his mind. Notice that the text says that thou mayest observe to do according to everything that is written therein. Joshua if you're going to have the strength to do the Word of God you're going to have to meditate in the Word of God.

This cannot be an on and off idea. There must be a commitment to meditation in the Word to do because he had lots to do. God says Joshua I want you to rise up and then he says I want you to walk throughout the land and I want you to stand against the enemy and you're not going to do that unless you've got a lot of courage and a lot of strength and unless your inner man is taken care of and is secure in the midst of all of these problems that are so much bigger than you are. And so the Lord says Joshua even if the giants don't become smaller, even if the walls don't become shorter, then what you can do is to recognize that you will still have your heart fixed on God.

And so that's what Joshua was supposed to do. Well you say Pastor Luther if meditation really does bring this about what is meditation? I hope that you would ask that.

I was kind of wishing that you would and I appreciate the fact that you've done that. So let's spend a moment meditating on the word meditation. Now meditation is not Eastern meditation where they give you a word and then they ask you to blank out your mind and think about nothing. You know it's difficult to think about nothing and yet in transcendental meditation that's what they want you to do. They will even give you a word that maybe doesn't make sense to you so that you think about nothing. The ultimate purpose is by the way the destruction of the mind that you might not think about anything concrete only that your mind might become open and it is then that you have that transformation, that contact with spirits, evil spirits that bring about that transformation of consciousness.

That's not what we're talking about. Biblical meditation says I am going to think about the content of God and his word. I'm going to think very specific thoughts. I'm going to fill my mind with God's thoughts. That's what biblical meditation is all about. In the Old Testament where meditation is referred to most often there are two different Hebrew words.

One is seach which means to go over in one's mind. For example, Psalm 77 12 I will meditate on all thy works. 119 15 I will meditate on thy precepts.

119 97 oh how I love thy law it is my meditation. That's the word that is used. You go over the law of God in your mind and if you go over the law of God in your mind and heart that is meditation. But there's a second Hebrew word for meditation and that is haga and that's the word that is used here.

It means to go over in one's mind but to do so even with a sense of passion. It means that there is a longing in the mind, that there is a thirst in the mind and it is also the same word that is used in Psalm 19. That the person who meditates in the law of God day and night shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth his fruit in his season.

His leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he does prospers. Interestingly this word for meditation is oftentimes associated with speaking. Notice that the text says this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth. It's the same word for meditation that is used in Psalm 19. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight. The words that come out of our mouths should be God's words. It should be the word of God in harmony with what is happening within our hearts as people as we meditate on the law of God. All that by the way is preliminary to what I have to say now and that is how do you meditate?

How do you meditate? Is it true as some of us grew up in Sunday school, is it really true that a chapter a day keeps the devil away? Is it really true that all that you need to do is to take your Bible and read it?

Now that would be an improvement. I read this past week that some wag said that if that the greatest dust storm in America would take place if all Christians dusted off their Bibles simultaneously. Because only about nine percent of all Christians actually read the word of God every day. If I were the devil, which is another way of saying if I were Lucifer instead of Lutzer, what I would do is I would create such roadblocks toward meditation in the word that nobody would do it.

You know this is Pastor Lutzer. I definitely believe it is very important that we have something in our mind that we carry with us throughout the day after we have read the scripture. It is not enough for us to simply read the Bible. We must think about what we have read, carry with us the promises of God, the assurance of God, the instruction of God, and that should be ours throughout the day. I've written a book entitled Holy Living in an Unholy World. The subtitle is Balancing Love, Law, and Grace. I wrote this book because I realized that holiness is not simply a word or a concept. It is a life to be lived. And I think that this book will help you on your spiritual journey.

For a gift of any amount, this book can be yours. Here's what you do. I hope that you have time to get a pen or a pencil and write this down. Go to RTWOffer.com. That's RTWOffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337.

Ask for the book Holy Living in an Unholy World. And from my heart to yours today, I want to thank the many of you who support this ministry. Thanks to you, we are expanding, and the ministry of running to win is touching the lives of millions of people because of people just like you, your prayers and your gifts.

Go to RTWOffer.com or call us right now at 1-888-218-9337. Time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Churches treat baptism in different ways.

Laurie wrote to us at Running to Win with this question. My son is three years old and has accepted Christ into his heart. I'm wondering if there is scriptural support for baptizing him at such a young age. Laurie, the Bible doesn't speak directly to the issue that you've raised, but I think that you should not baptize a three-year-old. When you look at the baptisms of the New Testament, all of them were the baptism of adults.

Now, of course, when it comes to the dividing line as to when we should baptize and when we shouldn't, we have to make an arbitrary decision. Here at the Moody Church, we have sometimes baptized a child as young as 12, perhaps even 11, but generally speaking, baptism is for adults. If you baptized your child at this point, he would not remember it anyway. You know, children think about things at the age of three, but 10, 15 years from now, it's very difficult for them to remember.

Wait until your child, number one, gives evidence of truly being saved and not just having prayed a prayer, and number two, when that child is old enough to remember the decision that he makes, let him make it to be baptized. Thanks so much for your question, and God bless you. Some wise counsel from Dr. Erwin Lutzer. Thank you, Dr. Lutzer. If you'd like to hear your question answered, go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer, or call us at 1-888-218-9337.

That's 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60614. At times during life's race, the winds of change swirl and almost blow us off the track. Next time, more teaching from the Book of Joshua on how meditation in the Scriptures gives us inner resources to face whatever comes our way. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.