WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:08.240 The sermon text reading for today is 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verses 24 through 27. 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:14.480 You can find this passage in the Sanctuary Bible on page 1741. 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:18.239 Please listen as I read God's Word. 00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:25.120 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:28.800 Run in such a way as to get the prize. 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:34.000 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:41.600 They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:46.719 Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly. 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:51.200 I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 00:00:51.520 --> 00:01:05.519 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:07.760 Here ends the reading. 00:01:08.959 --> 00:01:10.480 Good morning, everyone. 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:16.480 It is good to be together with you all on this Labor Day weekend. 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:20.079 If I have not yet had the chance to meet you, I would love to do so sometime today. 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:20.799 My name is John. 00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:25.040 I get to serve as the lead pastor here at Elmwood. 00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:35.359 Before we get into the message, I want to just uh briefly mention, as we have been saying over the last couple weeks, that next Sunday is fall kickoff for us here at Elmwood. 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:37.120 It's the beginning of a new ministry year. 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:45.040 We're starting a new series of messages, and so we would love to uh invite you to join us back here next Sunday for that. 00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:53.680 And we've also been just asking you to consider who is someone that God would have you invite into the life of our church community this fall. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:02:00.560 Might be a friend, neighbor, coworker, family member, might be a roommate or a classmate or someone like that. 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:13.039 Uh, but we just uh we want to be the kinds of people that uh love the people in our spheres of influence enough to invite them into what God is doing and into spaces where they can encounter Jesus and learn more about Him. 00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:22.240 Uh so we encourage you to continue asking God that question this week and uh then be faithful in actually reaching out to that person and asking them. 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:25.680 So invite you to do that sometime this week. 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:30.560 As we come to these verses, let me ask you to uh join me in a word of prayer. 00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:46.800 Lord, as we come to your word this morning and we think about a subject that is so ripe with potential for legalism, Lord, we ask that you would help us by your Spirit. 00:02:47.599 --> 00:03:04.639 God, we ask that you would be present with us this morning, and that you would help us to see what these verses are really getting at, and to do so in a way that doesn't lead to condemnation or legalism, but leads us to freedom, the freedom that truly is represented here. 00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:12.479 So, God help us as we look to your word now, give us uh everything we need, teach us, instruct us, and change us. 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:14.639 We pray this all in Jesus' name. 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:15.599 Amen. 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:22.479 Almost everything good in life comes as the result of disciplined investment. 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:40.080 Surely someone somewhere is going to text me or send me an email with an example of some way in which that is not true, but our life experience tells us that just about every single good thing in life comes with as a result of work and discipline and effort. 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:47.199 If you have been around Elmwood for more than about 10 minutes, you know that uh one of my greatest joys is hiking mountains. 00:03:47.439 --> 00:04:01.199 And I can tell you from personal experience that it is possible a person can go to Montana and hike up and down a very large mountain without having done any training ahead of time. 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:02.639 You can do that. 00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:14.560 And I can also tell you that you won't be able to walk for close to a week afterwards because it requires some amount of training and preparing your body to enjoy an experience like that. 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:19.279 This is also true of other athletics, it's true of academics. 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:27.439 If you want to become a proficient musician, you have to put in disciplined routines of practice and rehearsal. 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:33.839 And your vocation, in order to be successful in your line of work, it's likely that you have had to go through some sort of training. 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:37.759 Maybe it's college, maybe it's grad school, maybe it's PhD level. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:46.480 And nowadays there's a whole lot of fields in which you have to do ongoing training for the rest of your career to keep up with technology and all these kinds of things. 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:56.720 And so you have given yourself in your vocation to a lifetime of disciplined investment in becoming the best employee or the best manager that you can possibly be. 00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:08.879 If you want a healthy marriage, if you want healthy just relationships with friends in general, that requires some sort of discipline and some sort of investment. 00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:15.920 Now we could go through and give lots of other examples of this, but I think that the the point is the point is clear. 00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:20.240 Pretty much everything good in life requires discipline. 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:25.279 And our lives as followers of Jesus are no different. 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:40.000 We've been in a series of messages this summer called On the Heart, and my family's coming back from a few-month-long sabbatical, and so over these last couple weeks, what I've been doing is sharing some of the things that are on my heart as I come back from this time. 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:51.360 One of the things that I shared over the last couple weeks is that uh I on sabbatical, I've wrestled with areas of my life that had become out of balance. 00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:57.519 My doing for God and being with him had in a lot of ways become out of balance. 00:05:57.759 --> 00:06:05.199 On sabbatical, I had to wrestle with areas in which my life had become unfocused or undisciplined. 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:12.959 There's lots of different ways and lots of different areas in which I was following the path of least resistance. 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:24.000 I was going along with well-worn, well uh well-entrenched habits that were just not helping me run the race of faith well. 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:37.920 On sabbatical, I was uh I was provided with an opportunity to recalibrate and to remember the agency that I do have in choosing a life of disciplined investment. 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:42.240 And that's what I want to spend our time exploring with you this morning. 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:54.240 So, as we look at these verses, what I want to do is I want to make two observations and then spend the majority of our time thinking about how do we apply this, what we see in this passage to our lives. 00:06:55.120 --> 00:07:02.800 So the first observation that I'll make with you this morning is this the race of faith requires disciplined investment. 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:05.920 It requires discipline. 00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:15.839 These verses that uh you heard read this morning are one of the places in the Bible that describe the Christian life as a wraith, a race or some sort of athletic competition. 00:07:16.079 --> 00:07:27.600 Now, we all know that sports are deeply embedded and athletics are deeply embedded in our culture, but this is not just true for our culture, this has also been true for other times and other places. 00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:35.519 In fact, the first Olympic Games were recorded in 776 BC, which is almost 3,000 years ago. 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:41.759 So this is a thing that has been widespread throughout the world, but is very prevalent in our culture. 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:52.480 And the the church that Paul was writing to here in Corinthians was in the city of Corinth, and they had this very hugely popular Isthmian games that took place in the city of Corinth. 00:07:52.639 --> 00:08:03.439 And so this picture, this metaphor of an athletic competition was something that would have resonated with them, and it also resonates with us as well in a similar way. 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:07.519 Now, the point of what Paul's saying here is actually pretty straightforward, isn't it? 00:08:07.759 --> 00:08:14.800 What he says is that to win the prize, an athlete puts themselves into strict training. 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:20.800 And those of us who run the Christian race must do the same thing. 00:08:21.199 --> 00:08:38.879 Think about all the kinds of strict training that athletes put themselves through today, from pliability and flexibility to help prevent injury in the first place, to things like weight training and diet and nutrition and repetition and practice and rehearsal. 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:52.000 And even today, especially, there's there's biomechanics, okay, where they like take videos of you and slow it down to help you figure out how you can improve your form to be the best athlete that you can possibly be. 00:08:52.399 --> 00:09:06.639 Both in their world and in our world today, athletes put an insane amount of effort into strict training, and it's all for the purpose of helping them to be in a position to win the prize. 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:15.600 The discipline that Paul talks about here is it's not just strict, it's also focused. 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:17.600 So listen to what he says in verse 26. 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:23.120 He says, I do not run like someone running aimlessly. 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:29.200 So the image here is uh is of a runner who's in, say, a hundred-meter dash. 00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:47.279 And as soon as everyone starts running, everyone's running straight and fast, and there's one person who's sort of weaving back and forth between all the lanes, and and all they're doing is wearing themselves out and slowing themselves down and increasing the distance they have to run and reducing the chance that they can win the prize. 00:09:47.440 --> 00:09:50.720 So Paul says, I don't run aimlessly like that. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:56.559 He also says, Nor do I fight like a boxer beating the air. 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:15.759 So picture a boxer whose opponent is in the middle of the ring, and this boxer is sort of dancing all around the edge of the ring and at further than arm's distance, can't land a punch if he tried, but he's sitting there and he's he's throwing jabs and doing all this, and his opponent standing in the middle is like, Yes, keep doing this. 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:18.639 Because all you're doing is just wearing yourself out. 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:26.960 And Paul says, I don't run aimlessly, I don't fight like a boxer beating the air. 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:32.159 He says, I put myself into strict training. 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:41.440 He puts himself into strict and disciplined and focused training so that he can take home the prize. 00:10:42.159 --> 00:10:48.320 Like anything good in life, the race of faith requires disciplined investment. 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:57.600 Before we go any further, I think it's wise for us to stop and camp on the why behind discipline. 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:06.639 One of the reasons I think this is important is because literally none of us are intrinsically motivated by discipline itself. 00:11:06.879 --> 00:11:13.440 In fact, most of us hear the word discipline and we just like slightly die on the inside because it sounds awful. 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:16.240 None of us are motivated by discipline itself. 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:22.240 There's always some payoff on the far end of discipline, and so we're willing to endure it for what's on the other side. 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:24.960 Sometimes that might be like survival. 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:30.240 Sometimes that is just the satisfaction of knowing that you've been a disciplined person. 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:34.480 But none of us are intrinsically motivated by discipline. 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:39.759 And add to this another reason is that discipline is oftentimes very hard. 00:11:40.320 --> 00:11:42.480 Discipline is difficult. 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:56.399 Being a disciplined person oftentimes means doing difficult things or maybe monotonous things, boring things over and over and over again, and there's no immediate payoff in the moment. 00:11:56.720 --> 00:12:03.759 And so if all we're doing is just running on sheer willpower and self-determination, we are going to quit. 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:08.879 Because no one is motivated by discipline itself. 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:16.159 What Paul says here, he does not tell us that what we should be focusing on is the discipline. 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:25.840 The why behind the discipline, he says, he says, what fuels and motivates our pursuit of discipline in the first place is the prize we will receive when the race is over. 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:32.879 That is what motivates, that is what fuels us to a life of discipline is looking into the future and seeing what awaits us there. 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:42.480 So, yes, the race of faith requires disciplined investment, but also disciplined investment is worth it because it leads to the prize. 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:49.840 Yes, it requires discipline, but it's worth it because it leads to the prize. 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:57.039 He talks about the reward that we receive as an eternal crown, a crown that will never fade. 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:00.799 Our reward is the crown of life. 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:09.679 Our reward is life together in new creation with God, our creator and our savior and our Lord. 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:15.279 That is the prize that we receive at the end of the race. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:20.960 Our reward is hearing him say, Well done, good and faithful servant. 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:23.600 That is the prize. 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:24.559 That is our reward. 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:28.000 That is what motivates and fuels our discipline. 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:32.960 So, in other words, we are not talking about discipline for discipline's sake. 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:41.840 We're talking about a discipline that's fueled by and motivated by the reality of the prize that we will receive when the race is over. 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:47.679 So, what in the world does this all look like? 00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:53.519 How do we cultivate lives of discipline and disciplined investment? 00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:55.440 What is this, what does this look like? 00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:03.519 Well, what I want to do for the rest of our time is sketch a framework for you that I think is uh I'm hopeful. 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:17.120 It's this has been helpful for me, and I'm hopeful is going to be helpful for you in thinking about how do we cultivate lives of discipline and do so in a way that is, yes, we we pursue discipline, but we don't do it just for discipline's sake. 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:20.480 We keep the right thing in mind at the end of the race, the prize we get. 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:22.399 How do we do this? 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:31.600 And I just before I tell you what the framework is, I just want to say there's so much room for freedom and for flexibility and for customization. 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:42.799 So I have no desire whatsoever to stand up here and say that in the minutiae of your life in following Jesus and you being disciplined, here's exactly what it has to look like. 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:45.360 And if you don't do it this way, you're not doing it the right way. 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:51.679 Okay, I'm not interested in laying upon that sort of legalistic way of thinking on you. 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:52.159 Okay? 00:14:52.639 --> 00:15:02.960 So no matter where you are today in your spiritual journey, in your journey of following Jesus, no matter what season of life you find yourself in, this framework can be helpful for you. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:04.960 This can work for you. 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:06.879 So let's look at these. 00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:14.480 It's a three-part framework, and we're gonna look at each one as uh as we move along here, and we'll un unveil them as we go. 00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:23.039 And as you'll see, uh it starts more broad and then gets more and more specific, and it's the specifics where the discipline actually lies. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:23.519 Okay. 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:27.759 So the first part of the framework is the destination. 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:34.559 Okay, so the first thing we have to do is we have to get clear on what kind of person we are becoming. 00:15:35.200 --> 00:15:45.759 Now, if we were to uh spend time and workshop this or you know, brainstorm this together on a whiteboard, we may come up with some different ways of saying the same thing. 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:51.919 But in essence, every single one of us who's a follower of Jesus is headed the same direction in life. 00:15:52.080 --> 00:16:01.679 We are headed to the same destination, which is to become a faithful, fruit-bearing, and maturing apprentice of Jesus. 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:10.159 That's the destination we're headed towards is becoming that kind of person, becoming those kinds of people. 00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:14.799 That's the destination that we're headed. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:24.159 God has called each one of us to be faithful, meaning we have committed ourselves that we will follow him in all of life and for all of life. 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:28.639 We've hitched our wagon to him and we're not, we're not looking back, we're not turning back. 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:31.120 So we are faithful. 00:16:31.519 --> 00:16:38.639 We are called to be fruit-bearing, meaning that you can look at a person's life and you can see evidence of the spirit of God at work in them. 00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:45.519 That they are a different person today than they were five years ago, that they're a different person today than they were six months ago. 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:49.759 You can see evidence of the fruit of the spirit that's at work in that person's life. 00:16:50.080 --> 00:17:04.160 But you can also see the evidence of that person bearing fruit through them in the lives of other people as they serve and love their brothers and sisters and help others learn to follow Jesus and invite others into the life-giving way of Jesus. 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:10.720 So we are called to be faithful and fruit-bearing and maturing followers of Jesus. 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:14.319 Maturing meaning that we are continually growing in him. 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:20.400 Continually, day after day, month after month, we are growing and we are maturing in him. 00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:27.599 We are growing in our knowledge of Scripture, we're growing in an experiential knowledge of communion with God. 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:32.240 We are becoming more wise and more discerning and more grounded in him. 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:35.440 That's what it means to be a maturing person. 00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:42.319 And so this is the first thing we are called to is to be faithful, fruit-bearing, maturing apprentices of Jesus. 00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:47.599 And we have to get clear that this is the destination that we're headed towards, this is the direction our lives are lived in. 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:52.640 Now, there's a lot of different passages in the Bible that's that talk about this. 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:54.480 I've I've listed just a few of them there. 00:17:54.559 --> 00:18:02.559 So if you want to write those down or take a screenshot of this and go back and read those on your own, that'll help you uh think about this a little bit more. 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:08.079 But that's the first part of the framework is the destination, getting clear on what kind of person we're becoming. 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:14.720 And then after we've done that, we can move a level deeper, which is to move from destination to practices. 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:22.720 So we get clear on what kind of person we're becoming, and then we determine what practices will get us there. 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:26.640 Okay, so it in in some ways this is like really not that complicated. 00:18:27.200 --> 00:18:40.400 Okay, you just you just ask yourself, if a person was to become a faithful and fruit bearing and maturing follower of Jesus, if that's if that's what they wanted to become, what kinds of things would that person do? 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:52.559 What kinds of spiritual practices or habits or formational practices would that person implement in their lives to actually become that kind of person? 00:18:54.160 --> 00:18:56.079 So it's really just asking that question. 00:18:56.720 --> 00:19:14.160 Here at Elmwood, we've got a couple of those spiritual rhythms, spiritual practices that we have sort of identified as the ones that we think are the most foundational and the most uh sort of core of those practices, which include Bible, prayer, sabbath, community, and mission. 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:19.599 And so, of course, there's other spiritual practices, other spiritual disciplines, if you want to call them that. 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:24.559 Uh I don't because I don't like the word discipline, as we've identified already. 00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:38.480 Um, but you can uh add other practices to this for sure that would be helpful, but we look at these as some of the most foundational practices that would be good for all followers of Jesus to be engaging in and cultivating in their lives. 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:50.319 Now, if you're here today and you maybe look at that list of five things and you feel overwhelmed, or maybe you are newer to following Jesus and you're like, I I don't know where to start with this. 00:19:50.480 --> 00:19:52.559 You're just giving me five things to do. 00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:54.000 I don't know how to do any of this. 00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:59.119 If you're wondering where where's the place I start, I'll just tell you, start with the Bible. 00:19:59.200 --> 00:19:59.519 Okay? 00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:00.799 Start with the Bible. 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:07.200 And the reason is, we've talked about this a couple times in the past, but I would encourage you to start with just reading the Bible. 00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:13.279 And the reason is that research shows that reading the Bible is a keystone spiritual practice. 00:20:13.599 --> 00:20:27.440 Meaning it's one of the spirits, it's it's the spiritual practice that when a person does it, there's a much higher likelihood that that person is going to be doing other spiritual practices and is going to be growing in their faith. 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:27.920 Okay? 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:34.880 If people don't read the Bible, if we don't crack the book, I can almost promise you, you're not growing in Christ. 00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:42.960 You're not becoming continually a more and more every day a faithful, maturing, fruit-bearing follower of Jesus. 00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:46.559 So this is one of those spiritual practices that that research shows. 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:50.960 Start here, start with this, because this will jumpstart your spiritual growth in Christ. 00:20:51.119 --> 00:20:59.759 And if you're looking for different resources on this, we've got this page on our website that you can head to, Elmwoodchurch.org slash follow-Jesus. 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:09.039 Give some uh helpful resources like Bible reading plans and some books that might be helpful for you to think about as you start out on uh this journey as well. 00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:21.119 But that's the second, that's the second part of this framework is it starts with the destination, where are we headed, and then we move to what are the practices that are actually going to get me there. 00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:26.400 And then we move to the third part of this framework, which is habits. 00:21:28.480 --> 00:21:31.119 You could use the word routines if you wanted to. 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:35.200 You can choose whichever one uh you'll most identify with. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:46.240 But get clear on what kind of person you're becoming, determine what practices will get you there, and then build these practices into your life through habits and through routines. 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:49.680 So this part is where discipline really starts. 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.720 It takes some work to figure out like, okay, how am I gonna you know name the destination? 00:21:54.799 --> 00:21:57.599 You know, what are the practices that I want to specifically implement? 00:21:57.759 --> 00:21:59.759 That requires some work, but almost no discipline. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:00.880 Discipline. 00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:16.799 Discipline begins when you say, How am I going to actually do the practices that I believe are going to help me become a person who is faithful, fruit-bearing, maturing apprentice of Jesus? 00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:26.000 There's times when my wife will ask me to do something, and I will say, Yes, I will do that thing, but I will do it later. 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:29.440 We all know what that means, don't we? 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:43.359 Because my wife is amazing and smarter than me, she always responds by saying, Would you please right now make a plan and put it on the calendar? 00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:54.319 Because she knows that I have every good intention of being the kind of person who can be told once to do something and then I just like will remember and do it. 00:22:55.519 --> 00:22:57.759 She knows that I'm not that kind of person. 00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:06.079 And that every good intention doesn't always translate into actually doing the thing because I didn't make a plan. 00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:08.720 I didn't actually think about when am I going to do this? 00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:10.400 How am I going to do this? 00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:14.720 And so she helps me to uh to bridge that gap. 00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:17.279 And this is the reality of it. 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:22.079 That discipline is the bridge between good intentions and daily behaviors. 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:32.000 Discipline is a thing that takes the good intentions of I want to become a faithful, maturing, fruit-bearing disciple of Jesus. 00:23:32.160 --> 00:23:38.880 Discipline takes that desire and connects it with the daily practices that help you actually become that kind of person. 00:23:39.119 --> 00:23:48.000 And if you don't have the discipline to actually do the things, I love you, and you're probably not going to be growing in Christ, at least not very fast. 00:23:50.400 --> 00:24:01.680 And you'll be missing out on all that God could have for you by not being disciplined or careful in the way that you approach this. 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:13.759 Now, my my assumption, this may not be true of all of you, but my assumption is that the vast majority of you here would say, I want to become a faithful, fruit-bearing, maturing follower of Jesus. 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:14.480 I want that. 00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:18.000 You've got every good intention of being that. 00:24:18.400 --> 00:24:36.640 And I also know that there's probably a lot of you here who are like me who don't always leverage those everyday practices and rhythms and routines to help me actually become the kind of person that I say publicly and privately that I want to become. 00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:51.200 Discipline is the bridge that helps those daily practices and daily routines and rhythms actually bear the fruit in our lives that we would say with our mouths that we want to see in our lives. 00:24:51.440 --> 00:24:53.279 So discipline is that bridge. 00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:59.759 But I do think it's important just to mention here we need to keep discipline in perspective, okay? 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:07.279 Because when you wake up 10 years from now and you recognize that you're a different person, discipline didn't do that. 00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:09.599 The Spirit of God did that. 00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:18.079 Spirit did that, and he used the means of the discipline that you were actually willing to put in place in your life to help you become that kind of person. 00:25:18.240 --> 00:25:22.960 Okay, so we are talking about discipline, but again, this is not discipline for discipline's sake. 00:25:23.119 --> 00:25:31.519 This is putting ourselves in a place where our discipline creates an opportunity for the Spirit of God to do his transforming work inside of us. 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:32.960 That's what we're after. 00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:34.559 Not discipline. 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:44.880 Let me just uh offer a smattering of examples of different ways that discipline could look in the life of a follower of Jesus. 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:56.480 And again, I do this with much fear and trepidation because I really don't want any of this to come across as legalistic or you know overbearing or domineering in any way, shape, or form. 00:25:56.559 --> 00:25:57.519 I don't want that. 00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:03.200 But I think it's we we have to give some examples of like, okay, what could this possibly look like? 00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:23.759 Uh discipline in a person's life could look like deliberately choosing to engage in less entertainment for the sake of having additional time to invest in spiritual practices like reading your Bible or cultivating a life of prayer or other spiritual disciplines. 00:26:24.160 --> 00:26:35.279 Discipline might look like choosing an earlier bedtime so that you can get up before the kids are awake because you know that that's the only time that you have where you're uninterrupted. 00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:46.160 Or maybe choosing to get up early because you know, okay, if I go to work today and then come home and then have all the family stuff, it's gonna be 10 o'clock, and then I'm gonna be tired, and I'm not gonna read my Bible at 10 o'clock. 00:26:46.319 --> 00:26:53.680 So I need to choose to get up 30 minutes earlier so I can spend some time with Jesus in the morning. 00:26:54.319 --> 00:27:10.559 Discipline could look like choosing less screen time and employing different tools, or there's lots of different tools out there to help you curb your screen time and doing that for the purpose of being more present with God and with others throughout the course of your day. 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:18.720 It could look like guarding Sunday mornings and saying, I'm not gonna schedule anything on Sunday mornings. 00:27:18.880 --> 00:27:33.039 I'm not gonna let things creep into my life on Sunday mornings because being with the people of God and singing together and praying together and sitting under the teaching of God's word and receiving Christ at the communion table, it's too important to me. 00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:37.599 It's too valuable, and I can't, I can't miss that formational practice in my life. 00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:42.400 And so I'm gonna guard Sundays against anything and everything that would encroach, encroach upon it. 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:45.920 It could look like setting an alarm on your phone. 00:27:46.079 --> 00:27:48.000 This is like super easy to do. 00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:51.440 Set an alarm that says stop and pray. 00:27:52.240 --> 00:27:56.799 Set an alarm that says sit in silence for five minutes or ten minutes. 00:27:57.039 --> 00:28:02.480 These little reminders of things you can do to cultivate these practices. 00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:15.680 Discipline could look like saying no to good things in your life so that you have the space to be involved in the kinds of relationships that you know will help you become a faithful and fruit-bearing and maturing follower of Jesus. 00:28:15.920 --> 00:28:22.960 So saying no to good things so that you can be involved in a small group or other discipleship kinds of relationships. 00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:28.559 There's almost an infinite number of ways this could look in a person's life. 00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:28.880 Okay? 00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:42.559 And I'm not gonna say any more to try and sort of sketch a picture of this for you, but the point is that we have to be the kinds of people that sit with God and discern what does this need to look like in my life? 00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:54.000 How do I need to exercise discipline in my life so that I can become the kind of person that I know God wants me to be and that I want to be? 00:28:54.319 --> 00:29:00.799 And as you do so, please don't think of this as you know, you're not thinking 10 years in the future here. 00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:05.519 You like figure out what does discipline look like today? 00:29:06.160 --> 00:29:09.200 Okay, what does discipline look like this week for me? 00:29:09.759 --> 00:29:13.839 What does discipline look like in this next short sprint of a season? 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:20.240 Okay, think about this in these little short sprints because you're gonna have to continually re-evaluate and recalibrate, and that's okay. 00:29:20.400 --> 00:29:21.759 That's a part of the process. 00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:28.960 This is the framework. 00:29:29.200 --> 00:29:42.720 Get clear on what kind of person you're becoming, determine what practices are going to get you there, and build these practices into your life through habits and routines using discipline. 00:29:43.440 --> 00:29:47.680 Now, uh I'll be I'll be honest with you, I wish this was easier. 00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:52.160 I wish that discipline wasn't a part of this equation, actually. 00:29:56.880 --> 00:30:02.160 But there isn't a way besides discipline for us to become the kinds of people that God has called us to be. 00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:04.480 And here's why that's true. 00:30:05.440 --> 00:30:10.880 In a sin-scarred world, there's nothing more unnatural than life with God. 00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:27.279 In a world where our lives and our worlds have been tainted and are broken by sin, there's nothing more unnatural than experiencing life together with God and following the design that He has created us to live in. 00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:32.319 The Bible says that both by nature and by choice we resist God's design in our lives. 00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:49.839 And that even after we, through the Spirit of God, are made alive spiritually again, the Bible says that we continue to wage war against what the Bible calls our flesh, which does not just mean our physical, fleshy body, it means our old nature. 00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:56.160 Our old nature is continually trying to lure us back into our old way of life. 00:30:56.960 --> 00:30:59.279 And that's why this takes so much work. 00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:08.000 Because, in a sense, life together with God in our sinful, broken condition, there's nothing more unnatural than that. 00:31:08.160 --> 00:31:13.599 And so it requires effort, it requires work, it is hard. 00:31:15.039 --> 00:31:25.039 But as we go about this process of cultivating discipline in our lives, I want to encourage you to remember this. 00:31:25.359 --> 00:31:29.839 We do not pursue discipline to earn God's love, but because we already have it. 00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:34.400 This is like the most important part of this. 00:31:34.799 --> 00:31:38.160 We don't pursue discipline for discipline's sake. 00:31:38.319 --> 00:31:42.960 We don't pursue discipline because we think that we're gonna earn favor with God somehow through it. 00:31:43.039 --> 00:31:47.200 We pursue discipline because we already have the love of God. 00:31:47.359 --> 00:31:49.920 We've already experienced the grace of God. 00:31:50.079 --> 00:31:56.000 Through Jesus, we have been set free, not just from sin and from death and from the evil one. 00:31:56.240 --> 00:31:59.519 We have been set free for a life of discipline. 00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:12.559 We've been set free for a life where we get to spend the rest of our days putting into practice things that help us become the kinds of people that we want to be and that we know God wants us to be. 00:32:13.279 --> 00:32:15.759 So we do not pursue discipline to earn God's love. 00:32:15.920 --> 00:32:18.160 We pursue discipline because we already have it. 00:32:18.400 --> 00:32:31.119 Our discipline is a joyful response to the invitation of God that we can know Him, that we can be in communion with Him, we can experience Him, we can be changed by Him. 00:32:31.359 --> 00:32:39.599 And discipline is just a way of getting there, it's a way of taking hold of that which God has made available for us. 00:32:40.160 --> 00:32:43.680 So, friends, the good news is that our discipline does not impress God. 00:32:50.559 --> 00:32:52.640 Your discipline doesn't impress God. 00:32:53.359 --> 00:32:54.480 Like at all. 00:32:54.960 --> 00:33:00.079 It doesn't make him love you more, it doesn't make him think less of you, think more of you rather. 00:33:00.559 --> 00:33:04.880 But at the very same time, our failures don't cause him to turn away in disgust from us. 00:33:06.319 --> 00:33:12.880 When we fail, when we live undisciplined lives, he does not turn away from us in disgust. 00:33:13.039 --> 00:33:19.119 No, his grace is enough to sustain us as we fumble our way through the race of faith. 00:33:20.319 --> 00:33:29.359 His grace is enough to sustain us as we fumble through what it looks like to actually live lives of disciplined investment in the kinds of things that make us the people we want to be. 00:33:29.599 --> 00:33:31.039 And we know God wants us to be. 00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:37.920 His grace is enough, and the communion table is a clear example of that. 00:33:38.960 --> 00:33:44.640 Where we come and we we come empty-handed and we receive God's mercy and his kindness towards us. 00:33:45.200 --> 00:33:56.799 And the Bible says that God saved us not when we had become really disciplined and got our act together, but God saved us while we were still sinners living in active rebellion against Him. 00:33:59.119 --> 00:34:03.680 And so the communion table preaches to us God doesn't love you because you're disciplined. 00:34:06.240 --> 00:34:10.880 And so we get to come and receive His grace in that way this morning. 00:34:13.280 --> 00:34:20.960 As we come to the communion table, I invite you to take just a few moments of silence for confession and reflection, and then we will come and receive Christ.