Victorious Values For the 90s V, Discipline

And pick up a much more profound bit of news in this paper today. Would you pick up your Bibles and our text this morning really is just more of a jumping off point because we're going to be all over the word in the New Testament today. First Corinthians chapter 9, ready? First Corinthians 9, I see we need our Bible reminder course. A lot of you don't have your Bibles today, I can't, I don't, got to have them. Tell your wife, honey remind me to bring my Bible, men, men, okay, here we go. First Corinthians 9, 24, do you not know that in a race all the runners run but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 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. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly, I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I've preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. How many of you don't want to hear this sermon? Well you know what, I really didn't even want to bring it. The struggle for this message began on Monday morning, though Monday is my day off and out of the office and so on. I'm already thinking about the next weekend generally. By Wednesday there was a noticeable discomfort in my spirit about this topic, discipline and that's not what I want to be talking about and that's not what you want to hear, let's be honest. It's the Fourth of July. How many of you threw your diet out the window yesterday, it was tubed, right? Thursday morning I picked up my devotional companion called My Utmost for His Highest which I've had for 20 years now, same volume and I was reading through it on that particular day and it talked about a spontaneous love relationship with Jesus. Oh and did that start ringing my bell. I mean talking about passionate devotion to a person, the Holy Spirit being in charge, signs and wonders following my life, hearing God's voice in the intimate details of my life, walking in a way that's pleasing to God and holy. Does anyone else get a little excited about that kind of life? Isn't that where you really want to live? How many of you would like to live there where it's just happening? That morning I said, well Lord that's what you want me to preach about then, passionate love devotion, just the spontaneous things that God wants to flow out of me and I started to think that way and I was so relieved to get off this other message. And so this was the idea, let's put that up first, do we have that one, go ahead slide it over, yeah I know it's complicated, there we go. Spontaneous love, passionate devotion, prosperity in the sense of wholeness in God, overcoming life, holiness, fruitfulness. Let me see, how many of you would like that in your life? Now unfortunately this is what I find is often the case, instead of spontaneous love we tend to have a routine, I mean just kind of like we do this, this, this, instead of passionate devotion many times we have sort of a busyness, you're moving along all the time trying to keep life together. Instead of having prosperity, how many of us are struggling with just struggles and it's a new definition of a problem, a struggle, just constantly weighing things, go on, just take them all off there, battles, sin, fruitlessness. Now this is not meant at all for you to be, like you don't have to put your hand up, but how many of you want to live in the right column but live in the left column a lot more than you'd like to? Well what is the secret to get your life from the left column to the right column, what's the secret? How do we get from the left column to the right column? No, grace. It's grace. I want to commend those of you who have the courage to say something, the rest of these people are just, no, no, no, grace. The grace of God is the only way that we grow as a Christian. Get this down people, it's God's grace at work. In the same way that you came into Christ, keep growing in Him, let's flash that up, Colossians 2.6, in the same way that you began to grow in Him and received Him, continue to live. How many of you came to Him by works and discipline? Hello? How many of you came to Him by grace through faith? It's the grace of God and you must never forget that. God does not, He doesn't work on this, well you do this and I'll do that for you system, that's not the way the Lord works. But the question still remained then, how do I draw on the grace of God to perform the work in me that I so badly want to have happen, how do I get there? How do I write a check on the bank account of grace that Jesus Christ purchased for me? How many of you would like to know that? I mean, there's this enormous, every spiritual blessing, Ephesians 1.3 says, in the heavenly places has already been deposited with my name on it, but somehow I've got to figure out how to write the check to draw on that grace supply. And so I'm musing over all this on a Thursday morning, what's the answer Lord? And then is when the Lord began to show me, in order to live the way Jesus did in those moments when I needed spontaneous love and overflowing power in the Spirit and all that, I need to also live as Jesus lived in the unseen moments. See, the problem here is folks, let's use a baseball analogy. I mean, many of us would love to be able, as some of our professional baseball players, to step up to the plate and whack the ball out, one time out of three anyhow, get a hit, that kind of thing, and really just be up there. But how many of you know those men spent hours and days and weeks and months and years of their life just learning how to do it when no one was watching them in the big games? And it's true, discipline is what you do to get you to the point where you can be spontaneous and flowing and in touch passionately with what the Lord Jesus wants to say to you. You know, in the world, we reward discipline greatly, don't we? I mean, think musically, we all just marvel at some talented people, Christopher Parkinning on the guitar, Kenny G or someone like that, we hear him on the radio, ooh, man, that's one, you know, they don't just pick up their instrument and one day, well, I'm going to play like this. What did they do? For hours and hours and hours, just almost endlessly, they gave themselves to that instrument to be able to play it in that moment when you think it's so spontaneous. I mean, David Edison, every time you think a keyboard is up here just extemporanizing, not exactly a word. But every time you think, he said, they've already thought through it all. They've already planned it out because that's the only way to really do it. Discipline in business and in sports, you know, we reward it, don't we? What is the reward of discipline in music? Well, it's stepping up into a concert hall and wowing everyone and then making a lot of money. What's the reward of discipline in sports? It's walking out in the stadium, seeing everyone cheer, oh, my hero, and making a lot of money. What's the reward of discipline in business? No one knows you at all, but you can still make a lot of money, right? What's the reward of discipline in your physical body? Oh, you get to look in the mirror and say, that's not that bad. Wouldn't that be nice? I kind of like myself. You see, but spiritually, it's the same thing. Spiritually, we find the same principles at work. And folks, I tell you, I see all kinds of disciplined people in the world doing all these things I'm describing, but I don't see that many people disciplined spiritually. I really don't. I mean, I go to a health spa to try to keep myself in a measure of shape and keep my back under control and all that kind of stuff, and I see people there. I mean, every time I'm there, they're there also. I mean, I'll go at 9.30 at night to see, and they're the same people. I think they're paid to just be there, and not the trainers. But some of them are fanatic about headband, Walkman, no smile, going from station to station just doing their thing for hours, because they want that privilege of just looking in the mirror and saying, oh, I like myself. I feel good about how I look. I don't know many people that do that spiritually, and certainly not in that spirit. But what is the objective of discipline? Let's put up 1 Timothy 4 and verse 7. I just want you to see this before we get down to the how-tos here. Here's what discipline will produce. The Bible says, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. To be godly, we must learn how to discipline ourself. No question in my mind that most people in this church want to be godly. But discipline is the only way I know to get there. Let me share with you three simple key points about discipline that maybe will help you. This is in your outline if you're taking notes today. First of all, the key premise about discipline is this. Capture it in two words for you. This is what discipline is about. Here's the key premise. It's called delayed gratification. Everyone say that. Delayed gratification. The scriptural idea is that we pay a price up front to receive a blessing later on. Get the principle? We pay a price up front to reap the blessing a little later on. Galatians chapter 6 and verse 9 says, Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. So we sow, sow, sow up front in order to reap a harvest at the other end. Very, very simple, isn't it? How does it work in everyday life? For example, if you want your body to look good, little delayed gratification comes along. So instead of dumping 5,000 calories of hot fudge sundae and apple pie and pizza and everything that's good in your body, you just hold off on that so that later on you can stand in front of the mirror and say, Well, you know, that isn't all that bad for the way I am. Well, how about with finances? What's delayed gratification mean? You save first and then you enjoy it instead of as many people spending first and trying to figure out how to pay for it and not enjoying it along the way. Or how about delayed gratification and work? What does that mean? Work hard now so that... Yeah, you work hard later too, right? That's the way that seems to work. But it's supposed to allow you more liberty as you go on. Spiritually though, when you invest time in the Lord now, time in the Word, time in prayer and fasting, time in journaling, time in worship, up front, then the fruit of righteousness and passionate devotion and spontaneous love can begin to flow out of your life. How many of you would say this? That when you spend a little time, not always even a lot of time, but a little time with the Lord, early in the day, that that particular day tends to have a little different flavor about it. Not every single time. But you know when you miss that time with the Lord and you start wondering what happened. And you point back. How many of you have ever had that experience? You can consciously say, Well, wait a minute, Lord, I'm not tuned in today and therefore I'm not hearing you and I'm not following you as you would have me to do. Now, it's not to say that God gives you a tick-for-tack blessing. I don't believe that. That's legalism. But I do believe there's a principle. As we invest up front with God, He's then able to get through to us and give us His leading for the day. And that consistent time, you see, that's what Jesus did. He consistently invested time with the Heavenly Father. So that when He got in those moments when He seemed to be so spontaneous. Spontaneous healing, spontaneous deliverances, spontaneous power. When He was put on the spot, He was ready because He spent time up front with His Heavenly Father. And why would I want to do that? Why would I want to invest time now so that later on I could enjoy the benefit? Why? Because you see, there's no other way to do it. I don't know people. I don't know. Maybe you do. Do you know anyone who in just sort of life coming along, they seem to keep growing and growing and growing and growing without any discipline? You know the word discipline in the Greek? We get the word gymnasium from it. And what does that picture create in your mind? What do you think of when you think gymnasium? Yeah, you think working out. You think sweat. You say, well, I thought you said there was this grace, Pastor Jay. You don't have to sweat. It's like the guy who was saying, a salesman came in and was trying to sell him shares to a gold mine. And he kept saying to him, this mine is loaded with gold. I mean, there's chunks just everywhere in the walls. Even some laying on the floor. And he turned to him and said, after about half an hour of the salesman, he said, you mean I have to bend down and pick it up? Folks, listen. This grace that I'm talking about comes to you as you begin to present yourself to the Lord for the purpose of His shaping in your life. Then, then after that initial time, you begin to see that you have a desire to do so. You see, the spirit of the disciplines that we're talking about here is just love. It's, Lord, I want to be available. I want to be like you. The second premise is, the first key is a premise that it's delayed gratification. The second key is the key of practice. Let's talk about this for a couple of moments. What is the key practice of discipline? Well, it's advanced decision making. If you're to be a disciplined person, once you've decided that what your goal is, whether it's to lose weight or to save money or to become more spiritually in touch with the Lord, to be more like Jesus, whatever your goal is, and we've already established that the goal of discipline for Christians is godliness. Once you've made that, then it just simply comes down to a matter of advanced decision making. Lord, this is what I want, and so in advance I'm going to decide to do this. Let's make it up. Let's say, Lord, I want to spend an hour with you in the morning, so I'm going to get up at five o'clock. Now, how many of you know that's an easy thing to say? But three problems tend to arise in all of our lives once we make these advanced decisions. Three little things get in our way. They are called the world, the flesh, and the devil. The world, the flesh, and the devil. Three obstacles. So, let's use the analogy of you and your body and trying to get yourself sort of in shape or whatever it might be. In the world of your body, for the sake of enjoying that little peek in the mirror where you say, I feel pretty good about myself, you make some advanced decisions about what you're going to eat and when you're going to eat it. And then it comes down to lunchtime, and the world says, hey, let's go out to lunch together. You say, oh, I really can't. I'm trying to watch what I'm eating and everything. They say, oh, well, come on, let's go. So you walk out to the restaurant with them. You say, well, I'll just sit and have something little and light. Well, then the folks from your office that you went out with, they roll out this incredible lunch with this giant piece of beef and some baked potato with cheese and sour cream scooped on it and all that stuff or whatever gets you really. And that person happens to be seated right next to you. And then your flesh says, you're ordering a salad with lemon water? What? Give me a break here. I need something to live on. And then, you remember that little voice that Sandy Colgan talked about? Then you hear the little voice saying, listen, one hamburger and French fries isn't going to mess you. You can get back on the road here tomorrow, right? And how many of you know, this is an inane illustration, but how many of you know that's how diets get broken? It's the combination of the world saying, hey, just come on, and the flesh saying, you can't be serious, and the devil saying, ah, it won't matter. That's how it works, folks. Sometimes these things get all tightly wound, and the next thing that happens is we give up. This happens for me physically all the time. In order for me to keep my discipline physically, I have to write it on my calendar that I'm going to go over to the health spa. I usually try to do that around 4 o'clock at the end of the day. It's amazing to me how many things happen at 3.45. My phone starts ringing, people knocking on the door, oh, we've got to get this done, everything imaginable. Then my body starts to say, you don't really want to do this. You're tired. You got up at 5.30 this morning. You'd feel much better if you went home and just took a little rest. And you know what? The way I'm feeling, the body's usually right. I don't really want to do this all that much. And I just keep going through these battles. If I haven't resolved in advance that I'm going to be there around 4 o'clock, folks, I can tell you right now, you can't make that decision in the moment and expect it to stand. It won't happen. Sooner or later, you're just going to start breaking the pattern. And you know what I'm talking about. Let's use the world of finances. How many of you know? You just set a budget with your spouse and you say, well, this is all the money we're going to spend this month. Make that advance decision. You just happen to spend an hour heading down into the mall and, oh, there's that lamp that we wanted, honey. And it's on sale. Oh, gosh. Well, what's the decision about buying the lamp? No, no, no, no, no. We've already made the decision. What was the decision? Can't spend the money. It's easy, you see. It's easy. Or how about in our marriages, those of us who happen to be married? We have a goal out there of growing in our communication and love for each other. So we make an advance decision that every Friday night we're going to spend some time together, just the two of us, without the kids, whatever. And Friday night comes along and, oh, honey, I forgot to get a babysitter. I couldn't get a babysitter. Well, what are we going to do? We've already made the decision we're going to be together. It'll just have to be after the kids go to bed or something. We've already made the decision. Now, listen. Listen very carefully because how many of you spiritually know that what I'm saying can literally make or break your spiritual growth? If you're really serious about growing in those spontaneous, overflowing kinds of things we were talking about, you will know that there are some things you have to decide in advance that you're going to do if you're to grow in Christ. And, folks, trust me. The world, the flesh, and the devil is absolutely intent on discouraging you from those things. I've found for myself there are three things, and I think we haven't overheard, three things that I know I need to do to keep growing in grace. The first one is Hebrews 10, 23 and 25, being together when believers worship. Hebrews says, Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. I find I've got to be with God's people. If I go more than a week or so without being in worship, I feel it. I know that I'm lacking something in my spirit. The problem I find is many people make this decision 8.30 on Sunday morning. Oh, honey, I'm tired today. I don't really want to go to church. Have you ever made that decision? Oh, you know, it's such a nice day. Let's sit on the deck and just, like, commune with God in nature. And you see, those simple decisions over time slow the growth of grace in your life. If you make the decision that's what you're going to do, then you've got to do it. You've got to stick to it. It's not a decision. You get in late Saturday night, you don't say, well, you know, honey, should we sleep in? No, we've already made the decision. We're going to be there. It's part of what life is about for us. It's important to us. Another thing I find is very, very important. It's a time of personal interfacing with God or quiet time. You know, the Bible says in Mark 1, in verse 35, that long before dawn, Jesus rose up to a solitary place. Long before dawn. And can I say to you, you have to make up your mind that you're going to have a time with the Lord that is not interfered with by anything else in your life. You see, if you don't do that, if you don't say it's going to be 6 o'clock or 8 o'clock in the morning or maybe it's over your lunch break, folks, if you don't do it, I guarantee what will happen. When you think you're going to kind of weave it into your daily schedule, what happens? Oh, man, you know, I just, I forgot this report I've got to get done before I get into the office. I can't get that done. Sorry, God, I'll check with you tomorrow. Now, you say, does God shut off from me? No, but you know what I find is over time I don't hear very clearly anymore. I mean, life isn't really, there's missing parts and suddenly my own devotion, my own passion for the Lord starts to wane. And what is a very innocent thing, and I don't want to be legalistic, but over time, folks, that builds up and you'll find yourself drifting, drifting, drifting from the Lord. And you don't even know it. That's the subtle thing about it, isn't it? You don't even know it. It's like the weight that you put on. You don't really know it until suddenly you can't, you know, get your belt around you anymore. The third thing I've discovered, if I'm to grow in grace, is that I need to be giving something of myself on a consistent basis. Turn in your Bibles to John chapter 13. I want you just to see this one scripture. It's very important for the message today. John 13. Look at this. Here the Bible says something that Jesus told his disciples. Verse 12, When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. Do you understand what I've done for you? He asked them. You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. And look at this verse 15. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. You should do as I have done for you. You see, when it comes to growing in grace, I find that I need to be giving something of myself on a regular basis. People say, Well, you know, that's because you're in ministry and that's your job. Do you know why I'm in ministry today? Because when I was working full time as a college graduate, and then in the military full time and so on, I was in ministry more than I was doing those things it seemed like. I just love to do it. I love to give myself, because I have found a little secret, folks, and maybe you have too. The more I seek to give of myself, the more God just pours back into my life. I never am diminished. I get tired. I sometimes can't figure people out. But I find that my life is continually growing in grace as I learn to give. Jesus said, Look, you've seen me do this, disciples. You should do what I've done for you, because I set an example for your life. And more than that, I find that if I don't, I don't grow. People say, Well, how do you keep a routine? Some of my closer relationships will say to me, You have a pretty disciplined life. How do you, every week preparing messages, sometimes two messages a week and so on. Here's a simple reason. If I go home on a Friday night and my message isn't done, Carol will tell you, I just can't relax. I can't think. Because, you see, I've been called to do something. I've been called to follow Jesus and the giving of myself and I'm not content until I do it. That's why some mornings, on a Saturday, I'll be over here at 6.30 in the morning getting ready for the Saturday night service because I can't really be at peace until I fulfill that call in my life. I know that's true for you. You just have to know where it is and get in line with it. Let me quickly just conclude here by talking about the third key and that's the key posture. It's a posture of dependence. Once you've decided you're going to delay your gratification and make some advanced decisions, folks, if you're just like me, you're thinking, you know, I can't do this myself. I need to be helped here and I have some good news for you. There's two ways you can find help. Two ways to be positively dependent. The first one is on the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit wants to help you become disciplined. The Holy Spirit's waiting for you just to say, Holy Spirit, help me to fulfill some of these advanced decisions that I've made. Philippians 2.13 says, The Lord will bring it to pass in your life. 2 Timothy 1.7 says, which by the way is the same Greek word, discipline. Isn't that great? The Holy Spirit's given you the ability to be disciplined. The second way that you can be dependent is a little tougher. It's called accountability. Everyone say accountability. How many of you love to be accountable? Appreciate that, no hands are up. None of us do. It's difficult to have someone say, hey, you said you were going to do this and you told me to tell you to ask about how you're doing and I'm asking you and you're saying, get lost. Folks, if you want to grow in your disciplines, have the courage to go to a trusted friend and usually not your spouse unless you're really willing to get beat on by your spouse and most of us aren't. Go to a trusted friend and say, listen, I've determined that I need to be disciplined before the Lord for my quiet time or for my time of giving of ministry or for my time of presenting myself to him or whatever it might be. And say, would you hold me accountable? How many of you have found that a friend to hold you accountable can do great wonders to motivate you? Very important. I was a college student learning the things I'm sharing with you today. I had a friend that was relentless. I mean, I'd tell him, well, alright, I'd reluctantly say, I'm going to have a quiet time, I'll get up at 7 o'clock and college student, that was pretty early. Well, my first class was at 9 o'clock. He'd be waiting at the door like this. And I'd walk in at 9 o'clock and he'd say, how was your quiet time? I'd say, oh my gosh, now give me a break. He would do that. He did this for months. Just there to lovingly, he thought, say to me, did you do what you said you were going to do? And folks, can I tell you something? I don't think I would have done it had he not been there just to say, did you do it? Did you do it? Did you do it? Have the courage to be accountable to somebody. So, what is the key then to spontaneous devotion and love for Jesus? The key to freedom, it's discipline. Because discipline puts you in the stream of God's grace and lets the blessing of God flow in your life. That freedom has a price. The price is simply discipline. Freedom, you see, we say I want freedom from carnal thinking and carnal thoughts and lust and all that. Well, you have that freedom if you discipline yourself to fill your mind with God's Word. You have freedom from spiritual insensitivity if you have the discipline to fast in your life. You have the freedom from selfishness if you have the discipline of bringing yourself in worship before the Lord on a consistent basis. You have the freedom to obey Jesus and his life in you if you simply take a few steps of discipline. There's a movie that's been released recently called Pistol Pete. Anyone seen that movie? Parents, this is one of the few movies you can rent with pretty good conscience for your kids. Pete Maravich was a contemporary of mine. We were exactly the same age, in fact. He grew up not too far from here. I don't know if you know that. Went to LSU. In case you didn't know, and younger people, you may not have been as familiar, but Pete Maravich was really the guy that introduced into basketball an awful lot of the things that are commonplace today like behind-the-back passing and three-point shooting and that kind of thing. An incredible basketball player. And at the age of 40, 1988, in the age of 40, Pete Maravich died of a heart attack. Unbelievable ending to his life. Premature ending. Here's what he wrote in an interview. Here's what he said in an interview that was written down just before he died. He didn't, of course, know that that was going to happen. Here's what he said. The key to my ability was repetition. I practiced and practiced and practiced again. I gave the sport my total commitment. I tried everything I could in every way I could to perfect my skills. It was like an obsession. It paid off for me as a player. Now, Pete Maravich became a Christian at age 35. Here's what he said. I'm not so sure in life if I had given some of the same devotion then to my faith, which is what I do now, I'd have been a much better person in the long run. Folks, we can be disciplined people. We can delay our gratification, make some advanced decisions, and then, with the Holy Spirit and another friend's help, turn off those impulses that get us in trouble so often or, worse than that, keep us mired in mediocrity. And I want to say, let's believe God. Those personal visions of last week that we talked about, those things that God wants to do through your life, they'll happen as the grace of God comes alive in you as you present yourself to Him in some simple acts of personal devotion. Before we stand and pray, which is what we usually do at this time, think for just one moment, what one area of your life would you be willing to say, God, I want to be disciplined right there. I want to start right there to see your grace start to be released in my life. Bow your head for just a moment and see that area before the Lord. Would you do that?