DISCIPLINE AND DISQUALIFICATION

“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”  (1 Corinthians 9:24-27 NKJV)

Part of discipline is doing things by the rules. The Christian needs to have a concern for any significant break in the discipline which would take them out of the opportunity to serve Christ and His Body for even a short period of time.

One of the most classic cases in the Olympics of disqualification occurred in the 1908 marathon. Having run through the streets, until finally he staggered into the stadium, falling four times as he made the oval around the stadium, he was finally helped across the finish line by some well-meaning members of his team. He was disqualified as the winner because he had been helped. He had won the race, but the rules had been broken.

There are people in the Christian life who think that the ends justify any means you use. Do anything as long as you get results. The Olympics are telling us that the means are as important as the ends. That disqualification ought to be a concern, and the training and discipline of the Christian life ought always to be part of our experience. 

– George O. Wood in a sermon titled “The Christian Olympian”

#5918

THE GOSPEL IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)  “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our LORD.” (Romans 6:23)  “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

We have Americanized the gospel or spiritualized the American dream. Take your pick. But neither one comes close to the true gospel. When you try to add something to the gospel, you aren’t enhancing it. Any addition is really subtraction. The gospel, in its purest form, is as good as it gets.

We want God on our terms, but we don’t get God that way. That’s how we get false religion. It’s pick and choose. It’s cut and paste. The end result is a false god we’ve created in our image.

You only get a relationship with God on His terms. You can take it or leave it, but you cannot change the rules of engagement. 

-- Mark Batterson in “All In”


#4470

GOD'S LAWS FOR LIVING

"The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple."  (Psalm 19:7 NIV)

There are times when it can be so tempting to 'bend' the rules in certain cases, especially if we don't think we'll get caught. But when we resist the temptation and follow God's laws for living, we'll invariably see that God has just spared us from needless grief.

-- Matt Donnelly,  ChristianityToday.com

#3690

THE TROUBLE SPOTS IN LIFE

In her beautiful novel about Maine, The Country of the Pointed Firs, Sara Orne Jewett describes the ascent of a woman writer on the pathway leading to the home of a retired sea captain named Elijah Tilley.


On the way, the woman notes a number of wooden stakes randomly scattered about the property, with no discernible order.  Each is painted white and trimmed in yellow, like the captain's house.  Curious, she asks Captain Tilley what they mean.  When he first plowed the ground, he says, his plow snagged on many large rocks just beneath the surface.  So he set out the stakes where the rocks lay in order to avoid them in the future.


In a sense, this is what God has done with the Ten Commandments… He has said, "These are the trouble spots in life.  Avoid these, and you won't snag your plow."


-- John Killinger in To My People with Love




#3662

FOLLOWING JESUS

"He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant -- not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."  (2 Corinthians 3:6 NIV)

 

A recent study by the Barna Group found that the number one challenge to helping people grow spiritually is that most people equate spiritual maturity with trying hard to follow the rules in the Bible.  No wonder people also said they find themselves unmotivated to pursue spiritual growth.  If I think God’s aim is to produce rule followers, spiritual growth will always be an obligation rather than a desire of my heart.

“Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith,” Paul wrote, “but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping.”  In other words, it only results in a rule-keeping, desire-smothering, Bible reading, emotion-controlling, self-righteous  person who is not like me.  In the end, I cannot follow God if I don’t trust that He really has my best interests at heart.

The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.  There is an enormous difference between following rules and following Jesus, because I can follow rules without cultivating the right heart.

-- John Ortberg in The Me I Want to Be