Personal Discipline
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
I remember when attending Bible College I did a course called Spiritual Foundations where we spent a lot of time learning about disciplines. It was a course that challenged me to this day and discipline is still something I work on today especially in my spiritual life.
Discipline is not something we want to grab onto do we? It is not something we run up and say pick me to be disciplined. Anyone feel out of control at this time while being home? Eating things we shouldn’t? Sleeping more than normal? Working more than normal?
I believe this is a message we need to get behind because we need to regain control in our lives and get back on track with God.
We all have “Stuff” that we would like to get under control. Take some time this morning and assess your spiritual walk, be honest with yourself and before God. Are there things that you struggle with?
We may determine by God’s grace to stop a particular sinful habit - entertaining lustful thoughts, criticizing our Christian brother or whatever. Only to find that all too frequently we do not succeed. We do not acheive that progress in holiness we so intensly desire.
We don’t want to wait or work on anything anymore. We want to snap our figures and we are there. Am I alone in this line of thinking?
We have instant noodles, instant oats, instant rice, instant potatoes, instant meals, intant pots, instant eggs, instant soup. And the list can go on. So why would this not transfer into other areas of our lives?
We want to get Godly instantly. But there is no such thing as instant holiness or instant Godliness.
Godliness does not come that way. The concept of discipline is suspect in our society today. It appears counter to the idea of freedom in Christ and often smells of leagalism and harshness.
Paul tells us that we are to train or discipline ourselves to be Godly
Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.
There is a figure of speech used which talks about the phsycial training that Greek athletes went through.
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
If an athelete disciplines himself to obtain something that is short lived how much more should we as Christians discipline ourselves to work hard towards a prize that will last forever.
Discipline is structured training.
The Webster Dictionary defines discipline as “training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character”.
This is what we must do to pursue holiness. We must correct, mold and train our moral character.
This morning we are going to talk about what we need to do to discipline ourselves towards holiness.
Discipline towards holiness begins with the Word of God.
Discipline towards holiness begins with the Word of God.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
In this scripture the last part of this verse I would like to draw attention to. Training or discipline in doing righteousness.
This is what the scriptures do for us when we use them.
I like the point made in a quote by Jay Adams:
“It is by willing, prayerful, and persistent obedience to the requirements of the scriptures that Godly patterns are developed and come to be a part of us”.
Good habits take time and those that transform our lives for the better are imperative and we need to persist in developing these good habits for our long term benefit.
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Discipline towards holiness begins with God’s Word.
We need to have regular intake of God’s Word and a regular plan for applying it to our daily lives.
We need to have regular intake of God’s Word and a regular plan for applying it to our daily lives.
Cooperation with the Holy Spirit is also very clear here. The Holy Spirit has already done a good part of His work by providing us with Scriptures to discipline us. And as we learn them the Spirit will faithfully bring them to our minds as we need them to face temptations.
As we look to apply the Word of God to daily situations the Spirit of God will work in us to strengthen us but wealso need to respond to what the Holy Spirit has already done if we expect Him to do more.
We must discipline our lives for a regular healthy diet of God’s Word. We need to have a planned time each day to read God’s work or study the Bible. Every Christian needs this and it is vital to your survival and well being. It is imperative in order to make progress in holiness. There is simply no other way.
Satan will always battle us at this point. Making other things look way more attractive to deter us from spending time growing in God. He will try to persuade us that we are too tired, too busy and the list can go on. It seems there never is a suitable time for the Word of God. This means we must discipline ourselves to provide this time in our daily schedule.
Some find early morning best and this is also a time where they can exercise too. There are some who would never miss exercising, hunting season, sports events, daily tv shows or you tube/insta shows but Bible reading is a skipped thought.
Set a time for God and spending time in His word and keep that habit!
A disciplined intake of the Word of God not only involves a planned time it also involves a planned methods.
A disciplined intake of the Word of God not only involves a planned time it also involves a planned methods.
Prayer Journal
Bible Studies
SOAP
Inductive Bible Study
Devotionals or study Bibles/guides
These are just a few ways to work on personal intake where you learn to feed yourself God’s Word.
Another way to intake God’s word is through hearing God’s word.
From your pastor or leaders you can trust.
This is where we need to be careful who we are listening too and not be blown around by every idea or thought that is out there. Make sure you can trust who you listen to and they align with your beliefs and convictions.
Listen to God’s word listen audible recordings or read it out loud.
Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.
Read the Bible yourself
It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees
Memorize key passages
I have hidden your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
All these methods are needed for a balanced intake of God’s Word.
Memorization helps us retain important truths so that we can apply them in our lives.
If we are to pursue holiness with discipline, we must do more than hear, read, or memorize scripture. We must also meditate on it.
If we are to pursue holiness with discipline, we must do more than hear, read, or memorize scripture. We must also meditate on it.
God said to Joshua as he assumed leadership over Israel.
Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
To meditate on scriptures is to think about them, turning them over and over in our minds, and applying them to our life’s situation.
Few of us practice meditation because it may sounds new age or too out there for us. The idea of meditation has not caught on but it was something a busy commander in chief like Joshua and was told to do day and night by God himself.
The practice of meditation on the World of God is simply thinking about it and its application to life. It is a practice we develop through discipline.
Most of us think we don’t have time to do this but there are blocks of time during the day when we can meditate if we develop the habit.
Some have learned to do so when ironing, cleaning, doing dishes, cutting grass. driving car.
When we take time to meditate we learn how to apply scripture to our daily lives and in turn become more Godly.
The objective of meditation is application - obedience to the scriptures. This also requires discipline. Obeying scriptures usually requires change in our patterns of life. Because we are sinful by nature, we have developed sinful patterns which we call habits.
Discipline is required to break any habit.
Discipline is required to break any habit.
If a boy developed the wrong style of swinging a baseball bat he cannot just decide to change instantly. He has to develop a certain habit with much discipline - much correction and training - is required to break that bad habit and develop a new one.
The same is true for our patterns of disobedience to God. We have developed these over the years and they are not easily broken or without discipline. Discipline does not mean grit your teeth and say I won’t do it anymore. You need a plan.
As we read and study scriptures, and meditate on them ask yourself three questions:
What does this passage teach concerning God’s will for a holy life?
How does my life measure up to that Scripture: where and how do I fall short? (be specific don’t generalize)
What definite steps of action do I need to take to obey?
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.
Take for example you are mediating on 1 Cor. 13 the love chapter. As you think about this chapter you realize the importance of love, and you also see the practical ways you can show love. Love is patient and kind and does not envy.
You then ask yourself: Am I patient? Kind? Or envious towards anyone?
As you think about this you realize you are envious towards Sue at work who gets all the breaks. You confess this sin to God and being very specific to name Sue and your sinful reaction to her good fortune. You then ask God to bless her even more and give you a spirit of contentment so that you will not continue to envy her but instead love her.
Then take time to memorize 1 Cor. 13:4 and think about it when you see Sue at work. Then you do the same thing tomorrow and the next day and the next till FINALLY you see God working a spirit of love in your heart towards Sue.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud
This is a discipline towards holiness. You will never put to death that spirit of envy towards Sue without a definitely structured plan for doing it. But it can be done with persistence in God’s word. That plan is called discipline.
You can see that this structured training in holiness is a lifelong process. So a necessary ingredient of discipline is perseverance.
Do not be defeated if you fail. Failure is a part of learning and growing. But don’t give up! You may feel like you cannot overcome that sin but that is exactly the attitude Satan wants us to have.
We must exercise perseverance. Don’t expect instant success. Holiness does not come that way.
Our sinful habits are not broken overnight.
for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again,
but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.
Conclusion:
Rom. 7 is a chapter in the Bible we have most trouble with because it accurately mirrors our own struggle with sin. And we don’t like the idea that we have to struggle with sin. We want instant victory too! We want to walk in the spirit and let Him win the victory. But God wants us to persevere in discipline toward holiness.
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
The more we see the holiness of God and His law revealed to us in His word the more we recognize how short we fall.
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
As we grow in knowledge of God’s holiness, even though we are also growing in the practice of holiness it seems the gap between our knowledge and our practice always gets wider. This is the Holy Spirit’s way of drawing us to more and more holiness. As we progress in holiness we come to hate sin and delight in God’s law. We see the perfection of God’s law and the righteousness of all He requires of us. We agree his commands are not burdensome but are holy, righteous and good.
But at this time we admit our faults and shortcomings and see our own inner corruption and cry out with Paul:
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
We may want to give up but this we dare not do. If we want to succeed in our pursuit of holiness we must Persevere in spite of failure!
Lord I want more of you.