Lesson 7: The Image of Christ through Spiritual Training

Note to class leader: Review the eight vital truths from Lessons 5-6 and the six steps for pursuing holiness from Lesson 6. Ask students who are willing to share their personal prayers from Lesson 6.

By the end of this lesson, the student should:

(1) Understand the meaning of 1 Timothy 4:7.

(2) Know why spiritual training is necessary to being formed into the image of Jesus.

(3) Begin putting the principles learned in this lesson into practice.

A young believer struggles to persevere in little areas of obedience. God has powerfully transformed his life and healed him of a painful, self-inflicted spiritual wound; and yet, there are areas of ongoing struggle. He struggles to walk by faith. He’s seeking to gain mastery over his thought life. He wants to be a more attentive father to his young children. He wishes his emotions weren’t so up and down. He wants to be a better steward of his time. He’s finding it hard to be contented in his job and finds himself wishing other opportunities would come along. He called me one day and said, “I believe that God is closing every other door for me during this season of my life so that I can learn the discipline of perseverance. My life up to this point has been a series of unfinished projects; I know that if I am ever going to truly succeed in my relationship with God, I’m going to have to learn to persist and finish what I start. My impatience is a character issue that affects every other area of my life!” I was amazed by my friend’s humility and insight. He’s going deeper and stronger... through exercise!

The big idea of this lesson is that training is crucial to the formation of godly virtue – the image of Christ in us. This training involves adversity, the classic spiritual disciplines (like reading, prayer, fasting, etc.), as well as personal discipline.

Some will argue that my friend mentioned above simply needs the fullness and power of the Spirit in his life. Undoubtedly this is true. But the Holy Spirit cannot fill and empower believers apart from obedience. Just as a harvest of corn or rice is directly related to the faithful cultivation and irrigation of the farmer, so the harvest of spiritual virtue is directly related to the faith-filled efforts of the Christian.

This lesson is calling us to a diligent, earnest, and vigilant walk with God, rooted in faith, and empowered by love.

Two key passages will help shape our understanding of the role of exercise in spiritual formation.

Paul writes,

"But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come."[1]

The key words here are “exercise” and “godliness.” How do you think these two concepts are connected?

Definition of Godliness

► Discuss this term “godliness” with your group. Let each person offer a definition.

In our day, I don’t think we automatically know what godliness is. A glance around our church world reveals a distorted understanding of it. When many people think of a godly person they often think of someone with a solemn personality, someone who always carries a big Bible, speaks with a reverent tone, and spends most of their time going to church.

But godly people come in all shapes, sizes, cultures, and personalities. Godliness is just as comfortable in an old pair of blue jeans as it is in a suit and tie. Godliness does not have a distinct prayer tone or volume. Godliness does not have a particular worship style or musical genre.

Godliness is the beautiful life of Jesus, produced in us by the Holy Spirit. Godliness is knowing, delighting in, obeying, and walking with God biblically, sincerely, and authentically. Godliness is for everyone, everywhere, from every culture, race, and walk of life, because godliness is not a thing, but a person. Godliness is the life of the Lord Jesus.

► Why is it so hard for us to get this right? Why is it sometimes easier for new believers to understand this than for people who have grown up in church?

Paul’s Perspective on Godliness

(1) First, godliness is a journey – “toward godliness.”

Let us not be discouraged. Let us remember that God is patient with us, for, “As a Father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him.” Perfectionism is an enemy many of us have had to contend with.

(2) There are many distractions to avoid in our quest for godliness. “But reject profane and old wives’ fables.”[2]

These fables were fanciful Jewish myths and traditions that involved fruitless speculations, such as the origin of angels and their powers and many other things God has chosen not to reveal. The list of speculations, superstitions, and myths has only grown since then!

(3) Godliness is achievable through exercise, rooted in faith. “But exercise yourself toward godliness.”

The word translated “exercise” is the word from which we get our English word, gymnasium. Exercise brings to mind tired muscles, heavy lifting, burning lungs, and sweat pouring down the face! Wesley says, “Like those who were to contend in the Grecian games, exercise thyself unto godliness. Train thyself up in holiness of heart and life, with the utmost labor, vigor, and diligence.”[3]

We should note that one cannot exercise himself or herself out of willful sin. Willful sin must be “put to death!”[4]

I find it interesting that Paul doesn’t encourage Timothy toward a shortcut to godliness, because there are none. New birth is instantaneous and is simply a matter of believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. The development of godly virtue and character requires effort.

(4) Godliness gained through exercise promises a better quality of life now and in the life to come.

John Wesley comments,

"The man that fears, loves, and serves God has God’s blessing all through life. His religion saves him from all those excesses, both in action and passion, which sap the foundations of life and render existence itself often a burden. The peace and love of God in the heart produces a serenity and calm which cause the lamp of life to burn clear, strong, and permanent…. Thus, godliness has the promise of, and secures the blessings of, both worlds."[5]

In 2 Peter 1:5-8, Peter writes to believers who have “obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ” (1:1), who have “obtained all things that pertain to life and godliness” (1:3), and have “been given... exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature” (1:4). For “this very reason,” they are to “add to their faith”:

"But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love."[6]

Note: Commentators agree that “partakers of the divine nature” means renewal or restoration into the image of God! Adam Clarke comments, “The object of all God’s promises... was to bring fallen man back to the image of God, which he had lost.”[7] This is God’s plan for everyone who trusts in Jesus Christ and in the promises contained in the gospel. God’s nature is the river out of which every grace flows, making more and more godliness possible.

Peter’s Perspective

(1) Peter assures us that while the divine nature is from God, partaking of it more and more is up to us, by his grace.

Peter makes it very clear that building spiritual virtue on the foundation of saving faith requires every effort. One commentator puts it like this: “The oil and flame are given wholly of grace by God, and ‘taken’ by believers: their part henceforth is to ‘trim their lamps.’”[8]

(2) Every believer must be fully engaged and in total earnest to nurture and cultivate the divine nature which has been planted within them.

In the original language Peter is very emphatic. What then are some of the godly characteristics Peter exhorts us to add to faith?

(3) Peter gives us a specific list of virtues we must add if we would not be “barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”[9]

• Add virtue – Moral excellence, especially in times of hardship and persecution.
• Add knowledge – This is discernment of God’s will.
• Add self-control – This is a proper use of all earthly enjoyments, exercising self-restraint, and never allowing the physical appetites or passions to overflow.
• Add perseverance – This is patient endurance in the midst of suffering and hardship.
• Add godliness – A godly person is one who is devoted to God, including his people and his purposes.
• Add brotherly kindness – To godliness we must add generosity, courteousness, and cheerfulness. Godliness is not dreary, sanctimonious, stoical, or sullen!
• Add love – Selfless care, not only for the family of God, but all mankind.

[1] 1 Timothy 4:7-8, emphasis added.

[2] See also 2 Timothy 2:16, 23.

[3] John Wesley’s notes on 1 Timothy 4:7

[4] Colossians 3:5

[5] John Wesley’s notes on 1 Timothy 4:8

[6] 2 Peter 1:5-7, emphasis added.

[7] Adam Clarke’s commentary on 2 Peter 1:4

[8] Jamieson-Fausset-Brown’s commentary on 2 Peter 1:4-5

[9] 2 Peter 1:8

I love to walk for exercise. It has helped me stay in good health. It refreshes my mind. And because I am able to pray while I walk, walking draws me closer to the Lord. I walk when it’s warm and when it’s cold. I’ve even walked many times in rain and snow.

The earth is approximately 40,000 kilometers (24,000 miles) around, and I have a personal goal to walk my way around it, in terms of distance! In other words, before I die, I’m hoping to have walked at least 40,000 kilometers for exercise. I started eight years ago; but if I stay healthy enough, and if the Lord gives me strength, it will take me twenty-two more. After eight years, walking 6.4 kilometers per day (four miles), on an average of twenty-five kilometers a week (sixteen miles) and 1,287 kilometers per year (832 miles), I’ve already walked about 10,300 kilometers (6,400 miles). I still have 30,000 kilometers to go, but I hardly ever think of that. I just (mostly) enjoy the daily walk.

A huge goal, like walking around the world, is only attainable a little bit at a time. It only happens by getting up every day and committing to the exercise of walking. And if I keep going, I’ll eventually accomplish what once seemed impossible.

The life of spiritual formation is a lot like this. We learn in this lesson that being conformed to the image of Christ is a goal we will attain, not only by renewing our mind, but through what the apostle Paul calls “exercise.”

Every godly person I know has had to put forth a lot of effort to be so. Salvation is by grace, through faith; but sanctification – the development of virtue and character – often comes through painful self-renunciation and intentional effort. Paul calls this “pressing toward the goal.”[1] Grace, of course, is at work even in our effort.[2]

Exercise Involves Practice

Becky (my wife) and I have been meditating on the need to cultivate gentleness in our interaction with one another and our children. One day we came across this teaching by one G. D. W. found in Lettie Cowman's devotional, Streams in the Desert:

"The graces of the Spirit (like patience) do not settle themselves down upon us by chance; and if we do not discern certain states of grace, and choose them, and in our thoughts nourish them, they never become fastened in our nature or behavior. Every advance step in grace must be preceded by first apprehending it, and then prayerful resolve to have it."[3]

Practicing virtue? It’s uncommon to find a person who thinks like this, but it’s important to understand.[13]

Let’s remember that the goal of the Christian life is not just doing right things. Believers can do right things for a lot of wrong reasons – including guilt, fear, and pride. God’s objective and priority is to form us from the inside out until we become the kind of people who “routinely and easily obey him;”[4] until our character is transformed; until the fruit of the Spirit becomes a habit.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus invites “weary and burdened” people to unite with him in a restful, easy life of obedience.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke (heavy wooden neck harness) upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."[5]

To Jesus, the yoke can be called “easy” when the inner disposition has been transformed: when the heart is no longer chafing against God’s will but has become “gentle and humble” ‒ terms which in this context speak of acceptance. This is what God wants to do in us.

Exercise Develops Character

Understanding the role of virtue and character in the Christian life is important. Spiritual failure is often directly related, not to a lack of sincerity or desire or devotion, but to a misunderstanding of the role Christian virtue and character play in our walk with the Lord.

While writing this lesson, my wife and I hosted a couples Bible study in our home. During our fellowship, one young mother expressed her frustrating inability to live a consistent Christian life. “This probably sounds really dumb,” she exclaimed, “but the thought has sometimes crossed my mind that perhaps I’m just not one of God’s chosen, that maybe I’ll never be strong no matter how hard I try!”

Now, maybe we wouldn’t say it just like that, but there are many sincere believers who wonder if the highest levels of devotion to God are reserved for “special” Christians or “super saints”! But God is no respecter of persons, and every believer can be formed into the image of Christ. Our problem is often simply a lack of character and an understanding of the role that character plays in our walk with the Lord.

In the same way that rebar (reinforcing bars of steel) strengthens concrete and muscle fortifies the body, character reinforces the virtues of the Christian life. Character fortifies the soul. Character enables love, joy, peace, patience, and all the fruits of the Spirit to be more fixed in our soul. Character enables the believer to abide in Christ and to live in consistent fellowship with and obedience to Jesus. Without spiritual rebar, no matter how earnest and well intentioned we may be, we will crumble against the pressures of life, the winds of adversity, and the waves of temptation. 

The divine nature, through the Holy Spirit, is the source of love; but the act of loving all people (demonstrating respect and acts of mercy) when they are acting toward us in unlovable ways requires training.

The divine seed of gentleness is planted in our hearts by faith, but gentle responses to harsh accusations and gentle answers to quarrelsome individuals are achieved through the training of the tongue. 

The Holy Spirit is the source of peace, but learning to keep our hearts in perfect peace in the midst of tense and stressful circumstances requires the training of the soul. 

Self-control is also the fruit of the Holy Spirit; but temperance in our emotions and appetites requires the practice of self-discipline, especially for those who aren't used to saying “no!” to themselves.

Patience. This virtue is also planted in our souls from God. It is a quality of the divine nature. But the ability to wait for that which we long for, to delay pleasure, and to be still will only be fastened in our character through intentional effort.

Faithfulness is a characteristic of the divine nature; but being on time, working hard, keeping our word, and following through on our commitments requires vigilant training, especially for those who are prone to laziness. 

Humility is a fruit of the Holy Spirit; but the act of considering others better than ourselves, of sitting in the lowest seat at the table, and taking the role of a servant is a skill only achieved through discipline. 

Heart purity is also from the Holy Spirit by faith, but the habit of guarding our heart is gained through diligent spiritual exercise! 

The divine seed of self-control is from God, but taming my tongue and fully mastering my words comes through practice.

Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, but learning to praise the Lord at all times is a trained choice of the will.[6]

Through redemption God gives us all the building materials we will ever need for godly character; but the building of that character, stone by stone, room by room is our daily challenge. Where does grace fit in? Grace is what believers experience when they are busy with training. 

Exercise Involves Adversity, Including Chastening

Adversity trains us. Paul states, “And not only that, but we glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance character; and character hope.”[7] We must look at the difficulty God allows in our lives as his school of virtue.

God’s chastening also trains us. In Hebrews we learn that one must not “despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him; for whom the Lord loves he corrects and scourges every son whom he receives.”[8] We also learn that this chastening is for our good, “that we may be partakers of his holiness.”[9]

Exercise Involves the Spiritual Disciplines

These disciplines train us. The spiritual disciplines are a means of grace. Through the exercise of these disciplines, the Holy Spirit will free us from the tyranny of self, appetite, materialism, and pride, and bring healing to our souls, forming us into the image of Jesus.

In this course, we will only be able to touch on some of the classic spiritual disciplines. We will categorize them in the following way:

The disciplines of devotion

1. Solitude – Spending time alone with God.
2. Meditation – Savoring the Word of God with a resolve to know and please God.
3. Fasting and self-denial – Skipping meal(s), exercising moderation, or denying ourselves certain pleasures for a time in order to seek the face of God.
4. Simplicity – Learning to live with less in order to focus on the most important things.
5. Sacrifice – Giving our time and resources beyond what seems humanly reasonable in order to cultivate a greater dependence on God.

The disciplines of activity

1. Prayer – Holding conversation with God.
2. Worship – Offering uninhibited praise and adoration to God.
3. Fellowship – Meeting with other Christians to give and receive care and service.
4. Confession – Regular honesty and transparency before God and a trusted Christian friend.
5. Submission – Humbling yourself before God and others while seeking accountability in relationships. Relationships train us. The tools God most often uses to shape us into the image of Christ are other people. Sometimes these tools are very painful. But God also uses the spiritual gifts of other believers for the “equipping” or training (same word as used in 1 Timothy 4:7) “of the saints,”[10] until we grow up into the full stature of Jesus Christ.[11]

Exercise Involves Personal Discipline

Self-renunciation or self-mortification trains us. Self-renunciation has to do with one’s commitment to saying a decisive “no” to physical appetites when they become too strong, and especially when they begin to erode one’s spiritual life. Paul said it like this:

"And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things.... But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection; lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified."[12]

There are at least six personal disciplines which we will discuss in this course:

1. Discipline of our tongue
2. Discipline of our thought life
3. Discipline of our appetite
4. Discipline of our temperament
5. Discipline of our time
6. The discipline of personal convictions

Practice, adversity, the spiritual disciplines, and personal discipline: These are the primary training exercises which allow God’s grace to flow in our lives. These will help us keep natural desire in check, produce good habits, and allow the Holy Spirit to reign as he wants to and to bring us into conformity to Jesus Christ.

Why is conformity to Christ and his purposes not happening with more regularity among us? Why are there so many silent struggles going on? Why are some among us disappointed with the Christian life? Because too few Christians have joined God’s spiritual gym class!

[1] Philippians 3:14

[2] Philippians 1:6

[3] Lettie Cowman, Streams in the Desert (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), June 11

[4] Quote from Dallas Willard noted in Lesson 1.

[5] Matthew 11:28-30, (New International Version, emphasis added)

[6] Psalm 34:1

[7] Romans 5:3-4

[8] Hebrews 12:5-6

[9] Hebrews 12:10

[10] Ephesians 4:12

[11] Ephesians 4:13

[12] 1 Corinthians 9:25, 27

[13]Climbing Mt. Everest is not a challenge one can consider easy. The tallest mountain stands nearly 10,000 meters (30,000 feet) high, at its summit there is 2/3 less oxygen than at sea level. Three hundred climbers have lost their lives attempting to climb it. It costs about $75,000 and takes 40 days to make the climb! The Christian life demands commitment, too, and is a journey we cannot consider easy!

While we know that the Holy Spirit can, and does, transform our hearts in instantaneous moments on our spiritual pilgrimage, we also know that he brings us to full maturity through processes. The miracles of new birth and Spirit baptism are amazing and take care of the heart problems, but they don’t automatically solve all our character problems.

To teach that spiritual formation is a process does not take away from those extraordinary moments of revival. Many devoted followers of Jesus have experienced a “divine moment” of complete consecration and surrender beyond new birth and the cleansing of the Holy Spirit as a result. But just as miracles don’t destroy the normal laws of nature, these extraordinary moments or seasons in our journey don’t dismiss the normal processes of maturity God has put in place.

Spiritual Growth Is Usually Patterned after Physical Growth

Infants don’t become adults overnight, but follow a God-ordained process of maturity. The same thing is true of our spiritual growth.

Spiritual Formation Is a Growth Process Because Our Problems Are Deeper Than We Know

We have been shaped by culture, family, experiences, and failures more than we realize. Not all habits are erased by the miracle of conversion. Some Christian mothers still raise their voices. Some Christian husbands act out in anger on occasion. Christian wives sometimes overspend. Christian men may struggle with the wandering eye or mind. Christians often over-indulge, “over-speak,” “oversleep,” etc. I praise God that he forgives sin, makes us new, gives us the Holy Spirit, works miracles, and casts out demons; but there will always be a need in our lives for training.

Spiritual Formation Is a Growth Process Because Certain Habits Are Hard to Break

If you didn’t like to read before you got saved, you’re probably a Christian who doesn’t like to read. You need to exercise your mind to read. If you tend to be negative or judgmental, you will need to train your attitude toward thankfulness and acceptance. If you were a highly emotional person before you got saved, now you’re probably a saved emotional person. You must now get busy training your emotions. If you were brought up with an abusive father or one who had a very low view of women, then you may still struggle to love and respect. Train yourself. If your mom gave your dad the silent treatment when she didn’t get her way, you may still struggle with this bad habit. Get into God’s gym!  If you've been class conscious or prejudiced, you may still suffer pride of race. Train yourself to think of all people in the way God thinks of them. If you’ve never received affection, you will need to put forth effort to show Christian affection.

Bad habits – ways of thinking, expressing ourselves, responding to problems – have often dug deep ruts in our character impossible to get out of without the Holy Spirit and training! Apart from ongoing training, we will not, cannot be conformed to Christ. The disciples are an example of this truth,

"Then he came to the disciples and found them asleep, and said to Peter, 'What? Could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.'”[1]

What an opportunity the disciples missed to share in the suffering of Jesus and to stand with him in prayer in his final hours. What an opportunity to walk in his steps and to conform to his pattern of life. But the flesh was dominant and untrained. Because of this, the disciples abandoned Jesus in the heat of battle.

Someone will argue, After Pentecost the disciples never again fell asleep during prayer but were always watchful! I highly doubt this claim! Pentecost provided the indwelling Holy Spirit, but it did not take away the disciples’ need for self-discipline. Peter, the main character in the day of Pentecost story writes to disciples about the need for earnest training. Remember that Peter is the one who assures us that we have received everything we need for a faithful Christian life, but we must add the building block of training.[2]

[1] Matthew 26:40

[2] 2 Peter 1:5

Professional athletes become skillful through training. They don’t wait until they get on the court or on the field; they don’t wait for the performance. Soldiers don’t wait until they are on the bloody battlefield to learn their weapons. Carpenters become skilled at using their tools through constant use.

In the same way that athletes, soldiers, and carpenters become skilled through practice, so Christians become skilled in Christian virtue – patience, kindness, self-control – through constant practice.[1]

[1]Sow a thought, reap an act;
Sow an act, reap a habit;
Sow a habit, reap a destiny.

Daniel knew the danger of being enamored by Babylon and forgetting God and his beloved homeland. As he was being led away as a captive, he must have wondered how he would keep his heart and mind from being conformed to Babylon. Somewhere early on in his exile, he made up his mind to train himself in devotion to God and his homeland:

"Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days."[1]

From his early days of captivity, Daniel established daily customs – disciplines which would guard his heart from love of Babylon, keep his heart on his homeland, and preserve his affection for Jehovah. 

Daniel’s training resulted in amazing visions, spiritual and secular influence, effective prayer; and he had a profound influence on the exiled Jews. Like Daniel, successful Christians are those who train themselves toward godliness.

[1] Daniel 6:10, emphasis added.

Do you wish you were a stronger Christian? Young men and women often misunderstand true strength. Strength is not the absence of temptation. Strength is not placid indifference to pain, to beauty, to injustice, to sensual pleasure. Strong Christians are not those who are immune to pride, insensitive to words that cut and wound, see nothing attractive in forbidden fruit, or feel no hunger pains for fleshly indulgences. The best word to describe people who sense nothing, see nothing, feel nothing, and taste nothing, is not strong, but... dead! 

True strength is found in:

• The grace to deal decisively with sin and with anything which hinders our spiritual progress
• The grace to get in God’s gym every single day to train toward godliness
• The humble courage to build safeguards in those areas where we are most vulnerable to temptation 
• A commitment to the process of spiritual discipline and strength building 
• Spiritual vigilance to daily and prayerfully put on the whole armor of God
• Being filled with the Holy Spirit!

Our son Jesse, who is blind, has a beautiful guide dog named Nala. Nala has taught me a lot about the advantage of discipline and training. In order for her to become useful to her master – protecting and guiding him – she had to first of all endure eight months of rigorous training. And in order for her to continue to be useful, she must live a disciplined life. Her food and water are carefully regulated. Her sleep and free time are managed. She has been trained not to bark or run after cats! She spends almost every moment of the day either guiding or waiting quietly beside Jesse for his next command. Her training is rewarded with lots of affection, nutritious food, and a daily play time! Nala has an enjoyable and rewarding life... because of discipline.

(1) Take a test based on the material from this lesson.

(2) Spend at least thirty minutes this week reviewing this lesson, including the Scripture references, asking the Holy Spirit for insight.

(3) Record in your journal any specific changes that ought to be made in your life, as the Lord reveals them to you.

(4) Meditate on at least one Psalm in your daily devotional time, and record in your journal what the psalmist says about the nature and character of God.

(5) Record in your journal a personal prayer for spiritual transformation and growth based on this lesson.

(6) Brown’s Daily Prayer Guide in your daily private prayer.

(1) What does godliness mean?

(2) What does Paul mean by “exercise yourself toward godliness”?

(3) What are the seven virtues Peter says we must add to our faith?

(4) What three things does exercise, or training, involve?

(5) Name some of the spiritual disciplines we must practice if we would grow in Christian character.