Discipline is Essential

 

Phil 3:12, 15-16

 

SUBJECT: Spiritual Progress

THEME: Fulfill God’s purposes knowing discipline is an essential part of completing our prescribed race. 

RELEVANCE:

We must not allow our behaviors to be unruly, disorderly, disobedient, uncontrolled, disingenuous-not serious, or of embarrassing manners that derail our progress in Christ. To be winners who fulfill God’s plan, we must remain discipline throughout our race. By doing so we can fulfill God’s purposes knowing that discipline, restraint, and control are essential parts of completing our specific course.   

INTRODUCTION:

Discipline is the final ingredient in this formula for spiritual maturity and progress. To grasp new heights in spiritual triumphs and finally reach the finish line of life as a winner…that is growing spiritually by making continual progress required discipline.

Though Paul was a spiritual giant in the eyes of the Philippian saints, he wanted them to know that he had not yet attained the goals stated in verse 10. He was still actively pressing on toward them. He had by no means reached the final stage of his sanctification.

Paul’s salvation experience had taken place about 30 years before he wrote to the Philippians. He had won many spiritual battles in that time. He had grown much in those years, but he candidly confessed he had not obtained all this, nor was he yet made perfect (v. 12). He still had more spiritual heights to climb. This testimony of the apostle reminded the saints at Philippi—and it serves to remind believers today—that there must never be a stalemate in their spiritual growth or a plateau beyond which they cannot climb.^[a]

What is essential for winning?  

MESSAGE:

The Essential Quality of Discipline (Phil. 3:15-16).

We are called to share the pursuit of Christlikeness. God wants this for us all, but especially those who are mature (3:15). We are to persistently press on toward that goal—going on with Christ. Every maturing believer should have these ambitions.  

No doubt the greatest need among God’s people is to live up to what they already have in Christ. Most live far below their exalted position in Christ. Paul’s plea to the Philippians was that they live up to what they had already attained, namely a righteous position in Christ.^[b]

But he expresses the confidence that if a person is really willing to know the truth of the matter, God will reveal it to him. The reason we have such an easy-going, complacent Christianity today is because we do not want to know the truth; we are not willing to obey the demands of ideal Christianity. God is willing to show the truth to those who are willing to follow it.^[c]

Discipline Yourself to Run According to Your Spiritual Level.  Phil. 3:16

We must live up to whatever light the Lord has given us. “It would not do to mark time until we came to a fuller knowledge of what is required of us as Christians. While we wait for the Lord to reveal the full implications of the cross to us, we should obey whatever degree of truth we have received.”^[d]

       A.  Don’t Worry About Others.   “Nevertheless”

           1. It’s Not What People Think That Matters!

The issue is not what he thinks or what the spectators think but what the judges say.

           2. It’s What the Judge Knows That Matters!

Romans 14:10-12, But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. [11] For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. [12] So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

One day each Christian will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ (Rom 14:10-12), much like the Olympic bema, the place where the judges gave out the prizes! We must discipline ourselves to obey the rules, and we will receive a prize.

      B.  Know What You Have.  Vs. 16, “whereto we have already attained”

          1. What Guidance Have You Received?

Christian maturity involves acting on the guidance that we have already received.  “Let us walk by the same rule” means to “Live up to a standard” it is a military term meaning "to keep in line" or "to keep step."

                A.  What Have You Learned? Are You Living It?

QUOTE: “Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned and, however early a man’s training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly.” — Thomas Huxley 

                B.  What Have You Experienced?  Did You Grow Through it?

QUOTE: “What you are going to be tomorrow, you are becoming today. It is essential to begin developing self-discipline in a small way today in order to be disciplined in a big way tomorrow.” .... Remember, having it all doesn’t mean having it all at once. It takes time. Start small and concentrate on today. The slow accumulation of disciplines will one day make a big difference. Ben Franklin said, “It is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.”  — John Maxwell

ILLUSTRATION: A reporter once asked the great evangelist D. L. Moody which people gave him the most trouble. He answered immediately, “I’ve had more trouble with D. L. Moody than any man alive.”

QUOTES: The late Samuel Hoffenstein said, “Wherever I go, I go too, and spoil everything.” And there is the classic Jack Paar line, “Looking back, my life seems to be one long obstacle course, with me as the chief obstacle.”                                                   

APPLICATION:  My observation is that more Christians fail because of inner issues than outer ones. Each of us desperately need to learn How to Get Out of Our Own Way.  We all need this tremendous lesson in our own life. “I am my worst problem!”  Most of us can relate to this very true statement: “If you could kick the person responsible for most of your troubles, you wouldn’t be able to sit down for weeks.”

          2. What Responsibilities Have You Received?

                A.  Be Responsible for Who You Are.

The day you take complete responsibility for yourself, the day you stop making excuses, that’s the day you start to the top.  This is a factual statement that we all should heed.

ILLUSTRATION: “That reminds me of one of Abraham Lincoln’s favorite stories about the man who murdered both his parents and then when his sentence was about to be pronounced, pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan! As the politician said to the judge, “It’s not my fault, your honor, I never could have done all that stuff if the people hadn’t elected me!”  —  John C. Maxwell

                B.  Be Responsible for What You Can Do.

It is rare to find a person who will be responsible, who will follow through correctly and finish the job. But when half-finished assignments keep returning to your desk to check up on, verify, edit, and upgrade, obviously someone is failing to take hold of the reins of responsibility.

“I am only one,

But still I am one.

I cannot do everything,

But still I can do something;

And because I cannot do everything

I will not refuse to do the

something that I can do.”

                C.  Be Responsible for What You Have Received.

Luke 12:48, But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

QUOTE: “John D. Rockefeller, Jr., said, “I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.” Winston Churchill said, “It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what’s required.” — J. C. Maxwell

          3. We are all at Different Levels (Phil. 3:15).

Paul knew the believers were in different stages, but everyone needed to be faithful to what they understood.

2 Cor. 3:18, But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.  (See also 2 Peter 1:5-9; Ephes. 4:22-24)

          4. Develop a Healthy Sense of Accountability to the Lord.

Matthew 25:19-20, After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. [20] And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.

               A.  Some of Us May Need to Settle Our Debts with the Lord.  (Matt. 18: 23-35)

               B.  Some of Us May Need to Confess Wasted Opportunities in Service.  (Lk. 16:1-2)

               C.  Some of Us May Need to Heed the Warnings of Hell and Eternal Punishment. (Lk. 16:19-31)

               D.  Some of Us Need to Please the Lord in Matters of Conscience & Liberty.  (Rom. 14:6-12)

      C.  Live Up to What You Have.  Phil 3:16     

First, Don’t Worry about Others, secondly, Know What You Have, and thirdly Live up to What You Have.  Stay in step with what you have.                                  

            1. Live Together, You Have Each Other.

Our church needs to march forward together.

            2.  Live in Truth, You Have God’s Word.

We must live up to what we already have been taught from the Scriptures.

            3. Live in Growth, You Have a Goal.

APPLICATION: As we pressed on toward the goal, we should not use our lack of complete knowledge as an excuse for taking lightly what we knew or for getting sidetracked. We should continue to learn and grow, while at the same time regulating our lives by the light we have already received. Believers, we must live up to what we already know before we can expect to learn more.

ILLUSTRATION:  Bible history is filled with people who began the race with great success but failed at the end because they disregarded God's rules. They did not lose their salvation, but they did lose their rewards (1 Cor 3:15). It happened to Lot (Gen 19), Samson (Judg 16), King Saul (1 Sam 28:31), and Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5). And it can happen to us!

CONCLUSION:

As maturing believers, we are urged to lives pleasing to God (Phil. 3:15–21). We must live up to what we have already attained—a righteous position in Christ. By doing so we can fulfill God’s purposes knowing that discipline, restraint, and control are essential parts of completing our prescribed race.  As we are progressing Believers this must be our ambition.

We must press forward that the Lord Jesus’ purpose for which he saved us might be fulfilled. Paul as a pattern-saint showed what Christ can do in a human life. Though not perfectly conformed to Christ, the ongoing process for us is to deeply apply God’s grace to persist, develop, and increase.

Finally Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, [2] Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

What an exciting experience to run the race daily, “looking unto Jesus” (Heb 12:1-2)! What a “high calling” Jesus’ return to take us to Heaven summons us to! Certainly, the Judgement Seat of Christ will be rewarding! This perspective should motivate us as it did Paul. This must be our character…. Successful believers are willing to do things unsuccessful people will not do. One of those things that makes a difference is whether we are character motivated or emotion motivated.

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^[a] Robert P. Lightner, “Philippians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 661.

^[b] Robert P. Lightner, “Philippians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 662.

^[c] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1976.

^[d] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1976.