Well, gentlemen, today we are in attribute number 4 of a Man of God – Strategizing self-discipline. And as promised, I am going to share a verse with you each time – one from something Jesus did, and something that he said that help us to make this attribute real for us. Something that both Jesus did and said, that makes it an attribute of becoming a man of God.
The first verse I want to draw your attention to is Luke 5:16. This is something Jesus did. It says here in these words, “But he would withdraw to desolate places to pray.” This is what Jesus did. He strategized his self-discipline. Matthew 6:6 though, is Jesus’ commandment to us. He says, “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who isn’t secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
You see, Jesus is not only strategizing his own self-discipline as a man of God. He’s encouraging us to do the same. To make a plan, to build a plan. And to act on that plan, as part of our strategy for disciplining our own life. Here is my description of attribute number 4. A man welcomes and embraces self-discipline. A man welcomes and embraces self-discipline.
He will use self-discipline as a means of accomplishing God’s purposes in his life. Understanding that the flesh prefers indifference over discipline. The goal is to keep the prize in sight while becoming more obedient to the spirit, and less obedient to our flesh. The end goal is always to fulfill the purposes of God. In the private place of a man’s life, he exhibits this in prayer, study, reflection, confession, service, worship, and fasting – as the chief disciplines of his life.
Now, gentlemen, this topic makes me ask the question – what keeps Christian men from living their life with self-discipline? What keeps us from it? I just want you to think about that question just for a moment. Because I assume that there are all kinds of reasons that you have for not being more self-disciplined in your life. Tell me if one of these 10 tickles your fancy on this question.
Number 1 – maybe it’s not just a real priority for you? I mean, honestly, if you were just to get brutally honest with yourself – would you say that maybe one of the reasons that you do not strategize self-discipline in your life, is it’s just not a real priority for you. You’ve never intentionally scheduled anything like this in your life. And there’s plenty of other pressing and urgent issues for you.
Number 2 – maybe you lack accountability? Maybe there’s no real accountability in your life?
Number 3 – maybe you lack motivation? Maybe you’re not very self-motivated, or you lack true heartfelt motivation in your life?
Number 4 – maybe you don’t understand the perceived value of the hard work that is going to pour itself out in your life through self-discipline?
Number 5 – maybe you undervalue community and brotherhood, and maybe overvalue doing life alone?
Number 6 – maybe you’ve fallen for the deception of the easy life? Thinking that maybe – well, earthly values and earthly issues and earthly rewards are actually worth more than the eternal benefits of the long obedience? And it’s just easy for you, and you’ve bought into the lie.
Number 7 – maybe it’s hard? I mean this is a truism of it. Self-discipline is hard.
Number 8 – maybe the rewards aren’t tangible enough for you? I mean you can see the tangible rewards of hard work in this life, but you can’t see the tangible rewards of the hard work and self-discipline – spiritual self-discipline, the pay off later on.
Number 9 – maybe it’s because it’s a marathon and not really a sprint. And so, therefore, the marathon is not as enticing as the short sprints and the short-term rewards. And number 10, well number 10 is this – it’s the internal guilt and shame that we all feel when we have unreal expectations of yourself in the area of self-discipline? Maybe that’s what it is?
It could be any one of these 10 reasons, that maybe strike a chord with you. And maybe 1 of these 10 are 1 of the 10 that you need to address today. I just want you to reflect on this short little anecdote here. It’s from the life of Gary Player, the professional golfer that many of us probably know. Some of us know better than others, but we can all say that Gary Player was one of the most successful international golfers of all time.
And Gary was always approached by how incredible he was at playing the game of golf. Gary Player heard this multiple times I think in his lifetime. And numerous people approached him and said these words. “I’d give anything if I could hit a golf ball like you.” After one particularly grueling day on the course, someone – again – made this comment to him.
And Gary Player just could not resist correcting the man. So he responded somewhat tersely to this guy. He said to him, “No you wouldn’t. You would give anything to hit a golf ball like me if it were easy.” And then he responded and said, “You’ve got to get up early in the morning at like 5 am. Go out, hit 1000 golf balls. Walk back up to the clubhouse, put a bandage on your hand where it’s bleeding. And then go back out and hit another 1000 balls. That’s what it takes to hit a golf ball like me.”
Now, gentlemen, I will say that I can kinda feel the intensity of that moment. That Gary Player was often admired for how he hit a golf ball. But finally, he got fed up with guys walking up to him and saying, “I’d love to be able to hit a golf ball like you.” Finally, he says to them at this moment, “No, you don’t really want to hit a golf ball like me, because you don’t want to do the hard work and engage in the self-discipline it took to get here. What you want to do, is you want to be able to do it and take the easy route to hitting a golf ball like me. But you don’t want to do the hard work. That’s essentially what he’s saying.
Now I love this moment. Because I think every Christian man should really tune in and hear what Gary Player is trying to say to us. Not as a golfer, but as spiritual men. Guys, if Gary Player was speaking to us today about our spiritual lives, you know what he’d say? He’d say, if you really want to be a Christian man, well you would do the hard work that it would take – the hard work that it would take, the self-discipline it would take. To not earn your way to the prize, but to work as if you are earning the prize. For a prize that you’ve already won in Christ Jesus.
And you know guys – honestly, if I can just be straight up with you today, I really think – that gentlemen, the thing that keeps us from really strategizing self-discipline is us ourselves. We have to be honest with ourselves. That really the thing that keeps us from giving all of our efforts and strategizing the self-discipline in our lives is me, and it is you.
I want to read a few words to you today from First Corinthians 9, verses 24 through 27. Where Paul gives us a beautiful, athletic metaphor around which we can understand the spiritual life.
Here’s what Paul says. He says, “Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run – but only one gets the prize. Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last. But we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly. I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave. So after I have preached to others – I, myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
Now I love this descriptive phrase here that Paul gives us. Paul’s clearly in Corinth. He’s looking out at – I would say maybe a training field. He’s looking out at the stadium. He’s imagining in his mind’s eye – with everybody else, the Isthmian Games. He imagines the moment that the Corinthians are all gathered together to watch the competitive games. And in his mind’s eye, he draws a comparison between athletic training and self-discipline – and compares it to, gentlemen – how we must strategize self-discipline in our life.
Four points I want to make from this text today.
Number 1 is this - Is that there is a way to run the life. There is a way to run the life. We run to win, is how we run the life. We run to win. We have to remember here that – although Paul is imagining an athletic event, that he’s imagining us spiritually running in our life event. He says, “We’re going to run in such a way as to win.”
Now here’s the joy of the spiritual life. That we are running for a crown. We are running for a crown. A crown that we will receive in the future. A crown for which we have already won the prize. But we’re going to run in such a way as we are getting the prize. We do not run in this life to earn the prize.
The prize has been earned for us, but that doesn’t mean that we’re lazy and lethargic and not accountable, and not motivated, and don’t understand the perceived value, and don’t understand the benefit of a community. And that doesn’t mean that we don’t believe deceptions and lies on this earth, or that we allow our guilt and shame to get the best of us. This means, gentlemen – that we run with full effort, because we have already won the prize, and we give all of our effort to us.
Number 2 – there is a way to prepare for this. There’s a way to prepare. The word here is strict training. The word in Greek here is, “agonitzimi.” (13:43?). It means to agonize in training. That means that therefore gentlemen – as we run our spiritual lives, that self-discipline is going to be agonizing. Not fun, not enjoyable at the moment. Yes, we are going to have to beat our body. I love the description here.
Paul says he’s going to have to punch himself in the eye – is the literal meaning. Like a boxer not punching after the air. He’s literally going to strike someone in the eye. And who’s he going to strike? He’s going to strike himself. It’s craziness, right? He’s going to strike himself. He’s going to beat his body and make it his slave. And you know what that is? That’s agonizing, and that’s what we must do.
Therefore we wake up in the morning as if we are running to win. But the way that we prepare is through agonizing training. That means it’s not going to be easy, gentlemen. That means every day when we wake up, we’re going to have to do something that we’re going to have to agonize over in our spiritual life, right? It’s going to be hard – pay off later, but it’s going to be hard. Why do we run? Why do we run?
Number 3 – why do we run? We run for a crown that is eternal. It’s not a wreath that we place on our head, that we get at the end of the race when we win, right? It fades away in just a few days. It’s not like the rings that Tom Brady is going to wear on his left hand – all 5 of them. It’s not about those rings. It’s not about those Super Bowl trophies that fade away. We run for an eternal crown. Something that will last forever. Something that we cannot see. It’s not tangible. There are no immediate rewards for it. But it’s an eternal crown that lasts forever, that we have to understand the perceived value around – believe in it, and be motivated to run for the right reasons.
Number 4 – how do I run? How do I run? Well, Paul tells us very clearly how we run here. Number 1, we run purposefully, and number 2 – with self-discipline. With self-discipline. Gentlemen, this means that when I wake up in the morning, there’s a way to run life, a way to prepare – why we run, and how we run.
When I wake up in the morning, I wake up in the morning with God on my mind. That I run my life with purpose and mission. And this mission – it drives me, right? It helps me to live life with purpose. And what do I do when I run? I run with self-discipline. So that I will not be disqualified for the prize that I will receive one day.
Gentlemen, this is the beauty of Paul in this athletic metaphor. We must remember that Jesus Christ, Paul the Apostle want us to strategize our self-discipline. Waking up in the morning with a way to run, a way to prepare through agonizing training. A reason why we run, an eternal crown. And a way to run. It is purposefully and it is purposefully and it is with self-discipline.
And gentlemen, you need to run this life with me. You need to run this life with me. So, guys, I want to encourage you today, to build some self-discipline, in your life. I don’t know what that means to you, or how you need to do it. But your life today needs to change as a man of God. You need to embrace self-discipline in the spiritual life as a man of God. And do whatever you can to run the race differently today than you did yesterday.
