self-discipline
self Discipline • Sermon • Submitted
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Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
The common character in every honest and successful athlete is self -discipline.
Discipline
Loving and corrective training that leads to maturity and responsibility on the part of those who experience it.
What is the definition of discipline for a christian ?
The dedicated training, through the study of Scripture, prayer and self-control, which enables Christians to be more effective witnesses to the gospel, to lead lives more pleasing to God, and to win the crown that awaits those who are victorious over sin.
self -discipline is training oneself to be godly
But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness;
Self Discipline and scripture
Scripture is our guide , instructions manual and text book for
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!
I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
what’s involved in self discipline - Obedience
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
Involves Learning
training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
What needs to be disciplined -the whole person
Our thoughts need to be disciplined
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
Our speech needs to be disciplined
Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;
keep watch over the door of my lips!
For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.
Our behaviour and actions should be disciplined
Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.
Or Body should be disciplined
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
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Self-discipline. Jesus’ ethics of righteousness both fulfill and surpass the stringent code of the old covenant (Mt 5:17–48). Yet Christians are not therefore inherently more legalistic than were the Pharisees. Set free from “the law of sin and death,” Christians have “the law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ” (Rom 8:1–8) to provide a built-in dynamic to fulfill the will of God. Beyond slavish obedience to the letter of the law, believers are enabled by the indwelling Spirit of God to exercise self-discipline. Spiritual transformation is accompanied by renewal of the mind (Rom 12:2), which brings fresh understanding of oneself, one’s motivations, and one’s attitudes.
Over the centuries the church has realized the value of certain “spiritual disciplines” encouraged in the NT. In the Roman Catholic tradition they formed the basis for the way of life of “the religious” (priests, nuns, monks, etc.). Prayer (cf. Lk 6:12; Acts 6:4; Rom 12:12; 1 Pt 4:7), fasting (Mt 6:16–18), study of Scripture (Acts 17:11; 2 Tm 2:15; 3:16, 17), and charity or almsgiving (Mt 6:1–4; Acts 11:29, 30; 2 Cor 9; 1 Tm 6:17–19) have always been included among the spiritual disciplines. Protestants have been less inclined to establish religious orders or communities based on the spiritual disciplines, more often trusting the Holy Spirit to produce self-discipline in individual lives and seeking fellowship and exhortation in the context of the church. Among evangelicals there seems to be a new appreciation of the need for spiritual discipline. A well-ordered, wholesome, liberated life that releases the Christian for service is almost always a self-disciplined life.
Such ideals and the lifestyle they engender run counter to much of the prevalent permissiveness in Western culture. Young people are surrounded by superficial commitments, short-term relationships, instant gratification, the quest for freedom without responsibility, and obsession with self-centered indulgence. Christian parents need to help their children develop the self-discipline to stand against such pressures. Adult self-discipline often has its roots in a biblical pattern of discipline and an appreciation for the desirability of such discipline inculcated in childhood.
