Questions Concerning Christian Liberty and Personal Rights: Inside Look at a Minister Part 2 - Discipline
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
There has never been a time more important than right now to discuss this morning’s topic. In my lifetime, I do not remember such turbulence in this country.
Obviously politics is at the top of the radar right now.
But we have Covid-19 and the upending that this virus has caused. Then if the virus wasn’t bad enough all by itself, the response is hyper-politicized and people are scared and confused. Do I wear a mask, or not? Is a .5% mortality rate really that bad?
Or is there more we could have done to make it lower that? Can we really trust what we hear, no matter where it comes from?
Why can we have two scientists who seem equally qualified have two different opinions and one gets heard and the other silenced?
I have diabetes, and as such I have done a lot of research into my own disease, and there are equally reputable sources that have opinions on how to best treat diabetes and one is the mainstream and one is heretical.
We live in a narrative driven society right now, and the polarization is almost unbearable. News is no longer news, it’s narrative, and narrative is destructive.
My point in all this is not to get political, my point is to say if you want to be informed and in control of your own health it’s important for you to be your own advocate, because sometimes the mainstream creates a narrative and that narrative is virtually immutable.
So what does all this have to do with 1 Corinthians?
1 Cor 9:24-27 says, Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
I know, now you’re really confused.
I’m sorry, let me explain.
In our world, where things are upside down and all turned around backwards, and everything seems so polarized in the world around us we need to become laser focused on winning the prize Paul talks about in this set of verses and that prize has nothing to do with Republican or Democrat, it has to do with the Kingdom of God.
This is our goal. We can and should get involved in the political conversation in our great country. We should be informed and then go vote the values we most closely align with.
However, as Christians our first and greatest attention should be paid to our great God and savior Jesus Christ and how live out our Christian life.
So Tuesday, I want you to go out and vote, but today let’s put aside partisan politics and focus on Jesus.
The Christian Life as a Race
The Christian Life as a Race
Paul’s primary metaphor for the Christian life is that it is like a race.
He tells the Galatian church, You were running a good race, who cut in on you and distracted you. Gal. 5:7
In Philippi he is concerned about running his race for nothing. Phil. 2:16
Hebrews 12:1 says we are to throw off every weight that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles us so that we can run the race set before us.
2 Tim. 4:7-8 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race.
How to Win
How to Win
Discipline is Required
Discipline is Required