New Covenant Church
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Discipline - choosing between what you want NOW and what you want MOST.
Discipline involves pain. You can choose your pain. Pain now or pain later.
We often choose to defer our pain to later not realizing that pain later is greater than the pain of the now.
We don’t like discipline because we live in an instant gratification culture. Many of us wrestle with what we want now vs what we really want later. So we find ourselves giving up or failing in an area and getting frustrated for doing what we didn’t want to do.
Romans 7:15 NLT - 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate..
Self-discipline is synonymous with self-denial and we don’t like to deny ourselves. But as a follower of Jesus, we are called to deny ourself and follow him.
The root word for Discipline is the same root word as Disciple. It’s a latin word - Discipulus - instruction or learner
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 NLT - Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
- The starting line is packed but the finish line is not. If we want to finish well, we must learn to be disciplined.
John Maxwell when talking about self-discipline says it brilliantly - "Everything worthwhile is uphill. If it’s easy everyone would do it."
MOST PEOPLE HAVE UPHILL HOPES AND DOWNHILL HABITS
• Nothing in this life that’s worthwhile is easy.
• Hebrews 12:1 NLT - Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
3 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF FOR DISCIPLINE
1. WHO DO I WANT TO BECOME?
DETERMINE WHO YOU WANT TO BECOME, NOT WHAT YOU WANT TO DO.
• Who you want to become determines what you do. If you just focus on what to do you’ll give up when it gets hard.
• Self discipline is the bridge between good intentions and good actions. Most people have good intentions...but the good actions come when we are self-disciplined.
• You will view self discipline as either a tunnel or a bridge. If it’s a tunnel self-discipline is heavy. It’s always about what you’re going through.
• Discipline is the bridge that gets you to who you want to become.
2. WHO IS GOING TO HELP ME?
• 1 Thessalonians 5:11 - Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
• When we allow pride to stop us for asking for help - we care more about how we look in the now than who we want to become.
• Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 NLT - Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. 10 If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble
• You don’t have to be perfect. You just want consistency. Progress not perfection.
3. WHO IS MY SOURCE?
There is a difference between self discipline and self dependence. Self dependance is when you think just trying harder will make the difference.
Galatians 5:22-24 - 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
egkráteia - self-mastery, self-restraint, - dominion within, i.e. "self-control" – proceeding out from within oneself, but not by oneself.
Discipline is a combination of me doing my part and allowing the Holy Spirit to transform me from the inside.
I’ve found when I become disciplined in my spiritual life, the things I want to be disciplined in my natural life become easier.
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO CHOOSE NOW TO ACHIEVE WHAT YOU WANT MOST?
