What s God Say About That

Transcription

1 What s God Say About That Week 2 Proverbs - Discipline Proverbs 3: My son, do not despise the Lord s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, 12 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. Discipline takes time, energy, and a lot of work! It takes extreme discipline in order to become better at anything! Why are we always looking for the easy way to do things when we know that it takes hard work? Is your 1-minute a day Bible reading plan extreme discipline? Is that hard work? Would we consider that extreme? Does a 1 minute practice each day work for anything else, such as sports training or moving up in our careers? Why would it work for our Christian responsibility or walk with God? How can 1 minute each day be enough to have a relationship with the Creator of the Universe? Can you really get to know someone deeply by spending 1 minute a day with them? Why do we expect Christianity to be effortless? Can you name any Christian who has ever lived on this earth who had it perfect all the time with absolutely no effort involved (sans Jesus)? There is no way to godliness except through discipline. Defeated Christians are undisciplined Christians!

2 Proverbs 12:1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid. 1 Timothy 4: If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. 10 That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe. The key to becoming disciplined is motivation. What is our motivation to becoming a more disciplined Christian? What do we have to sacrifice in order to achieve our goal? Are we making sacrifices in order to become more disciplined? Jesus told us it wouldn t be easy! Matthew 16: Then Jesus said to his disciples, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

3 What is it that should motivate us to discipline ourselves for godliness? ~ Eternal issues are at stake! 3 Eternal Issues: 1. Eternity Itself - 1 Timothy 4:8 Why are we more concerned with our outward body instead of our internal and eternal soul? Why do we live for this life which is but a trice of time compared to our eternal lives? We will spend an eternity somewhere, but where? The choice is yours entirely. 2. The living God - 1 Timothy 4:10 We have put our hope in the living God How can we become closer to God without first practicing discipline? Will we ever be able to have a successful and fulfilling relationship with the Lord if we do not learn to obey Him, trust Him, have faith in Him, and yield to Him? 3. Salvation - 1 Timothy 4:10 We have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people. Salvation is our motivation! This is where it all pays off! Can you think of anything better than spending your eternity with the God of the Universe in the most beautiful city anyone has ever seen? Streets of gold! Beautiful pearl gates and plenteous gemstones! No more tears, no more pain, no more sickness, no more death, no more hate, no more churches because we can stand openly before God Himself, no more lying, and no more stealing! BUT instead we shall have lavish mansions, gems and gold, the tree of life, the river of life, God s light shining upon us, and most importantly God Himself!

4 What discipline is and what it is not: 1. Discipline is an ongoing process, not a quick fix. Discipline in Christianity is just like discipline in anything else, i.e. diets or exercise regimens. There is no retiring from Christianity. You don t put in your years or do your part and then be done. You are never done! Not until your final breath continue to praise His name! Continue to spread the Word! Why do some people think that old age is an automatic reason to stop contributing to God s work here on Earth? Is anyone ever too old to belong to a Bible study or life group? 2. Discipline involves hard work. We labor and strive. Paul said we labor and strive! What does this mean? Will we have to deny our feelings in order to achieve higher goals for the Kingdom of God? Will we have to deny ourselves of certain pleasures to achieve higher goals for the Kingdom of God? Would you consider yourself a sorry excuse for a Christian? Would others consider you that way? What about God? Are you impressing Him? Do you put more effort into your job than into your Christianity? Will you have your job in Heaven? Will it even matter one bit? Jesus gave us our job. This job trumps all others. Matthew 28: Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

5 3. Discipline means discarding hindrances. The Greek for hindrance means: egkopé: a hindrance Original Word: ἐγκοπή, ῆς, ἡ Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration: egkopé Phonetic Spelling: (eng-kop-ay') Short Definition: an impediment, hindrance Definition: an incision, a cutting, break; met: an interruption, a hindrance. So it literally means to strip away or cut away anything that hinders our Christianity! Just get rid of it! Some things may not be bad per se, however, they can begin taking away our time from our Christian lives and walk with God. We have many distractions in this age or guilty pleasures but they are really just nice ways of saying sin. Why not choose to walk with God as Enoch did? What do you think the Bible means when it says that Enoch walked with God? 4. Discipline means keeping your eyes on the goal. Our goal is clear godliness. We must fix things in our lives so we can keep our eyes on Jesus. What do you need to fix? Is there anything you need to put aside or let go of that is hindering your walk with the Lord?

6 5. Discipline means managing your time in line with your goals. Sometimes we just have to say no if it interferes with us reaching our Christian goals. Where are you spending the majority of your time? Where ever it is, that is what you ll become good at. Make sure you have your priorities straight and fit God into your schedule. The disciplined Christian enjoys God in ways the undisciplined Christian never can. The disciplined Christian enjoys life more and are closer to God and are happier! Is your schedule in line with your goal of becoming a godly person? 6. Discipline is not being so rigid that you are insensitive to what God is doing. Do not become too disciplined either. It s ok to be interrupted sometimes. God may be sending you that interruption! Remember when the parents brought their little children to see Jesus and the disciples rebuked them? What did Jesus do? Matthew 19: Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. 14Jesus said, Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. 15When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.