Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Let’s take a quick review of last week’s lesson.

The question we answered last week was “What does it mean to delight in the law of the Lord?”

It is the disposition (characteristic) of the “Blessed Man.”

Because of who He is positionally, this man does what he does.

After we are blessed by having Christ, we then will be the people who delight in the law of the Lord because the law is our SCHOOLMASTER to bring us to Jesus!

Today: Should we discipline ourselves spiritually?

If so, why?

Two Positions:

There are a few possible positions that people take on this.

(1) There are those who don’t think we need to live disciplined lives so that we will be acceptable to God. (2) Then, there are those who know they are acceptable with God and they don’t think that they need to feel the difficulty of discipline.

gives to the servant of Jesus Christ a clear command: “exercise” - this means to train.

The object of the command is “thyself”.

The goal of the command is “unto godliness.”

Godliness is piety, devout practice.

It is more than correct behavior ().

It is the changed inner life because of the gospel () which results in a changed outer life.

One man says, “It is closeness to Christ and conformity to Christ.”

(Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines, p. 9)

So, it becomes clear that the servant of Jesus Christ is to train himself for the goal of displaying outwardly what is already true inwardly!

This is applicable for all Christians.

Illustration:

There is nothing quite like having your expectation met.

I was returning home from a 10 plus day trip to three countries.

My expectation was that my wife and two children would pick me up at the airport.

Not having seen them for an extended period of time, it was great when that thirst was quenched.

So it is when someone is truly born again.

There should be a spiritual thirst for the Lord that is within the heart of those who are His.

(1) Reception: It is impossible to be trained in this godliness if you have not received the gospel -

(2) Rejection: This kind of training for godliness is part of refusing false doctrine -

Illustration:

Please don’t get the wrong idea that you know what false doctrine is and force it upon the text.

We have quite a few people who are fighting battles that they should not be fighting.

In the end, they will appear quite foolish when the time examination comes.

Several years ago, we had a Valentine’s Banquet where the college class put on a skit.

It was a Mr. Bean skit.

Mr. Bean is a man by the name of Rowan Atkinson, and he is a British actor.

In one of Mr. Bean’s comedies.

He is all too confident for an exam that he is about to take.

He arrives in the room with others where they receive the exam and a pencil.

As soon as the exam begins, it becomes apparent that he’s prepared for the wrong exam.

He’d been studying the wrong material.

There are many Christians today who really think that when they get to Heaven, the Lord is going to pat them on the back for what they perceive to be the battle worth fighting.

How foolish.

Note what false doctrine looks like.

Note: false doctrine - (i) doctrine that causes devalues others (ii) doctrine that looks down on others (iii) doctrine that leads to lack of service for others

Transition:

Please don’t get the wrong idea that you

Reception: have you received the gospel?

Rejection: are you understanding what is really false doctrine?

(3) Education: This kind of training for godliness assumes that we need to learn: a spirit of humility (teachable) - ,

(4) Expectation: This kind of training for godliness is for the keeping of a long-term perspective - , ,

How do I train for this godliness?

(1) Are you alive in Jesus?

You don’t exercise dead bodies.

Have you been purged from your sins?

Is your position settled.

, ,

“If we fail to see these disciplines and habits as responses to divine grace, we will slip into the trap of thinking that they have value in themselves.”

(Boa, p. 79)

Illustration:

It is pretty amazing that when someone dies, they do not take the body to a gym with hopes of exercising the body.

They take the body to a morgue, to a hospital, or to a funeral home...

Transition:

You must be alive in Jesus.

(2) Is there evidence that you are equipped for the training?

“The greatest danger of neglecting the Spiritual Disciplines is the danger of missing God — forever; not because personal piety earns anyone a place in heaven, but because it characterizes those who are on their way there.”

(Whitney, p. 16)

One of the evidences of the Spirit’s work in the life an individual is “self-control.”

Notice:

and

What is amazing about this is that God has given to us this Spirit, which means that if you are a true Christian, you have received that which is necessary to train for godliness. .

“…we must see these disciplines as external practices that reflect and reinforce internal aspirations.”

(Boa, p. 80)

Illustration:

The first time I did what was called a Romanian dead lift.

I had never heard of such an exercise, but my partner instructed me and then guided me in doing the exercise.

In similar fashion, the Holy Spirit is the One who guides in the scriptures to train us and conform us into the image of Jesus Christ.

Transition:

Are you alive in Jesus?

Is there evidence that you are equipped with the Spirit of God?

(3) Do you have a workout plan?

Some lists contain 12 disciplines from the scriptures.

Others contain as many as 20.

Every workout plan has to have some basics.

The basic spiritual discipline plan has to have the word of God. .

Whitney, “There simply is no healthy Christian life apart from a diet of the milk and meat of Scripture.”

There are a few problems though:

(a) Some are intimidated by the Bible when they read it.

They don’t get anything out of it.

(b) Some read the Bible with a very self-centered approach rather than Christ-centered approach.

(c) Some read the Bible and cannot keep their minds from wandering off to every other thing.

Illustration:

When I first started working out, my workout partner showed me all kinds of equipment that I had seen before, but he showed me how to use them, and he came up with a plan that I adopted for my own.

He knew where I was, and he came up with a plan to gradually build me up.

One of the exercises was a deadlift.

I had never done that in my life.

Form was important.

Weight was important.

Position was important.

Knowing how to use the equipment was important.