Some jobs require a lot from folks who apply for them. It is essential to find qualified people to fill these jobs.
Illus: A few months ago, there was an opening with the CIA for an assassin. Two men and a woman applied for this job. The day came for the final test to see which person would get the extremely secretive job.
The CIA man administering the test took one of the men to a large metal door and handed him a gun. "We must know that you will follow our instructions whatever the circumstances," he explained.
He said to the first applicant, "Inside this room, you will find your wife sitting in a chair. Take this gun and shoot her."
The man looked horrified and said, "You can't be serious! I could never shoot my wife!" "Well," said the CIA man, "you're definitely not the right man for this job then."
He brought the second man to the same door and handed him a gun. The second man looked a bit shocked, but nevertheless took the gun and went in the room. All was quiet for about 5 minutes; then the door opened. The man came out of the room with tears in his eyes. "I tried to shoot her; I just couldn't pull the trigger and shoot my wife. I guess I'm not the right man for the job." "No," the CIA man replied, "You don't have what it takes. Take your wife and go home."
Now they only had the woman left to test. They led her to the same door and handed her the same gun. "We must be sure that you will follow instructions no matter what the circumstances; this is your final test. Inside you will find your husband sitting in a chair. Take this gun and shoot him." The woman took the gun and immediately opened the door. Before the door even closed all the way, the CIA men heard the gun fire six rounds without stopping.
Then it was quiet for a few seconds and they heard screaming, and banging on the walls. This went on for several minutes; then all went quiet.
The door opened slowly, and there stood the woman. She wiped the sweat from her brow and said, "You guys didn't tell me the gun was loaded with blanks. I had to beat the rascal to death with a chair!"
There are all kinds of jobs that require different thing from us. On these jobs we have a boss man telling us how they want it done.
But some folks do not like working for a boss man, they want to the be their own boss.
But every man can not be their own boss…Why?
Because to be your own boss it requires DISCIPLINE, and that is something that some folks do not have.
But did you know to be successful as a Christian it also requires DISCIPLINE.
HOW CAN WE DO THAT?
We have to be-
I. DISCIPLINED IN OUR DEEDS
To be able to work for yourself you have to be disciplined!!! And some folks are not discipline enough to work for themselves.
The reason a lot of pastors or failure at pastoring they are not discipline enough to be a pastor.
Illus: I’ve read that John Wesley traveled an average of 20 miles a day for 40 years. He got up every morning at 4:00. He preached 40,000 sermons. He produced 400 books and knew 10 languages. At the age of 83, he was annoyed because he couldn’t write more than 15 hours a day without hurting his eyes, and at the age of 86, he was ashamed that he couldn’t preach more than twice a day. He complained in his diary that there was an increasing tendency to lie in bed until 5:30 in the morning.
God does not want us to be CONTROLLED BY SIN, he wants us to be in control of our lives.
Does the Bible teach we can do this?
It certainly does. Look at Romans 6:12 “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.”
God wants us to live a life each day where we are OUR OWN BOSS and we are in control of our bodies.
The devil keeps a lot of folks from being the boss of their lives. He has made slaves out of them.
He puts things before them and tells them:
• What to read…
• What to look at…
• Where to go…
• What to wear…
• What to lust after…
They have no control of their life whatsoever!
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?
When you work for someone they control your life, they tell you:
• What time you are to arrive
• What you will do that day
• When you will take a break
• When you will eat lunch
• When you will go home
Illus: Employees are like human robots. The employers hit the button and expect them to respond accordingly.
When you become your own boss, no one is there to push the buttons. When you are living a disciplined life, you have the control of your body.
Illus: Do you remember the challenge it was when you first started driving a car.
You had to gained control over this 2000-pound monster called an automobile.
It took a while, but you got it all figured out. You figured out-
• Which pedal to push when you wanted to go somewhere.
Which pedal to push to stop this monster.
• Which direction to turn the wheel, and how far
• How to get that beast under control and keep it between the white lines
It was a great feeling when YOU DISCOVERED YOU WERE IN CONTROL! That automobile:
• Did what you wanted it to do
• Went where you wanted it to go
It felt GREAT BEING IN CONTROL.
We all know what it is like to deal with machines and we have no control.
Illus: A man walked up to a vending machine, put in a coin, pressed the buttons labeled, “coffee, double cream, sugar.” No cup appeared, but the nozzles went into action sending forth coffee, cream and sugar. After the proper amounts had gone down the drain, the machine turned off.
“Now that’s real automation,” said the man. “This thing even drinks it for you.”
The religion of Jesus requires personal discipline.
1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
WHAT IS DISCIPLINE?
1) It is one of the fruits of the spirit.
Look at Galatians 5:22-23, we read, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance (SELF-CONTROL): against such there is no law.."
2) It is one of the Christian graces that we are to grow in.
Look at 2 Peter 1:5-6a, we read, "And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance (SELF-CONTROL)…”
Illus: Tom Landry coach of the Dallas Cowboys said, “The job of a football coach is to make men do what they don't want to do, in order to achieve what they've always wanted to be.”
Discipline is that part of our life that says, “I AM MY OWN BOSS and self you can not do what YOU WANT TO DO or even what OTHERS DO if I determine it not pleasing to the Lord.”
Self-control is extremely important because we don’t have anyone telling us what we have to do.
The reason that many pastors are not successful as a pastor is because they have no discipline in their life.
By that I mean as a pastor that I don’t have anyone:
• Telling me how many hours a week I have to read my Bible
• Making me attend all the worship services
• Telling me how many hours a week I ought to pray
• Making me invite my neighbors to worship with me
• Telling me how much I have to give to the Lord
• Telling me I can’t watch a certain TV show or movie
• Making me visit those who are sick
There’s only one thing that will keep me doing all these things when I become MY OWN BOSS, and that is DISCIPLINE!
Paul was HIS OWN BOSS, he knew something about discipline.
He said in 1 Cor. 9:24-27, “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.."
Paul uses the illustration of an athletic contest that the Greeks started. In order to compete in these games:
• Competitors had to take an oath that they had been in rigorous training for at least 10 months before the games.
• Competitors had to state that they had given up certain foods in their diet to enable them to endure the race.
These were not people following the crowd, they took control of their lives and they became the BOSS OF THEIR LIVES!
Why Do We Need to Be Disciplined?
Illus: Max Anders states "Only the disciplined ever get really good at anything."
Everything in life requires some sort of discipline, whether it is:
• Hitting a baseball
• Climbing a mountain
• Playing a musical instrument
• Making good grades
It all comes down to a matter of discipline.
There are people in this congregation could do anything that I just mention, but one thing keeps them from doing these great things.
Illus: The actor, singer Dean Martin said that many days out of a month he will practice singing eight hours a day.
Many people have:
• Ambitions that will never be realized
• Goals that will never be achieved
• Visions that will never materialize
Why? Simply because they have no discipline in their life.
The word DISCIPLINE is a dirty word to some folks, but if we are going to be OUR OWN BOSS and live a successful life as a christian, it is essential!
Discipline, is simply doing:
• What needs to be done
• When it needs to be done
… in order to bring about the desired result.
The Word of God says, in 1 Cor. 10:31, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
To have such control of our lives, we have to be the BOSS OF OUR LIVES and discipline ourselves to do these things.
If what we are doing does not bring glory to the Creator that made us, WE NEED TO DISCIPLINE OUR LIFE.
We need to:
• Stop allowing Hollywood crowd to determine what is popular and unpopular in our life
• Stop allowing others to do our thinking for us
We need to have the discipline to take charge of our lives and become our OWN BOSS!
To be OUR OWN BOSS we need to be DISCIPLINED IN OUR DEEDS, and we need to be…
II. DISCIPLINED IN OUR DOUBTS
WHAT DO YOU MEAN PREACHER, DISCIPLINE IN OUR DOUBTS?
I meant this, every day the devil will fill our minds with doubts if we are not discipline enough to stop him!!!
• How is it that someone can read something in the newspaper and believe it, but read something in the scriptures and doubt it?
• How is it that someone can read a history book written by men and believe everything they read.
God wants us to learn to be disciplined when it comes to the Word of God.
We should be so disciplined in believing the scriptures, that our motivation should be: “If God said it, that settles it!”
WHY DOES HE WANT US TO LIVE A DISCIPLINED LIFE?
Because if God said it, that does settle it.
• You and I might not like it, but that SETTLES IT!
• You and I might not agree with it, but that SETTLES IT!
We all have STRUGGLED WITH DOUBTS.
In John 20:19-31 we read about “Doubting Thomas”.
Thomas heard about the resurrected Savior and doubted that what he heard was really true.
But Thomas is not the only one who has been in trouble for doubting the Lord, many have DOUBTED the Word of God at times.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A “DOUBTING THOMAS”?
According to Webster, a “Doubting Thomas” is a habitually doubtful person.
Many have made a HABIT of doubting the Word of God. They do not come out like Thomas and state they doubt it, but they REALLY DO NOT BELIEVE that …
• God knows what is best
• God does what is best
• God has the best for us in this life
WHY DO WE HAVE DOUBTS?
Let’s see why DOUBTING THOMAS had doubts. As far as I can see, there were two things:
• He is asked to believe something that was supernatural. THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST!
• He is asked to believe something he received SECOND HAND, it was not something he saw. The other disciples had the advantage of seeing Jesus in person a few days prior. But until this time, Thomas has not had an encounter with the risen Savior.
When he heard the news, he probably thought this tale being told by these delirious disciples was a bit unbelievable.
I mean it is not every day we hear about people rising from the dead.
Illus: Suppose one day after having attended a funeral of a friend, someone comes up to you and says excitedly, “You’ll never guess who I saw at Home Depot today. He looks great! I mean to look at him, you’d never guess that he died last week.”
• Think how you would react to that. I think my first concern would be for this person’s emotional well-being.
• My second thought would be about my own personal well being hanging out with someone like this.
The idea that someone would be walking around after having died the previous week, is so far beyond the realm of possibility that I wouldn’t even entertain the thought of it. My guess is that not many of us would either.
And yet, we somehow expect Thomas to accept this news in a matter-of-fact way; as if this was no surprise at all.
BUT WHAT MAKES US BELIEVE WHAT WE HAVE NOT SEEN?
We believe that this Bible is the INSPIRED, INERRANT WORD OF GOD, and if God said it, that settles it!
Illus: Someone said, “You mean you think Jonah was swallowed by a whale, and after three days in a whale’s belly was spit up on the beach and survived!”
Listen, I have no problem with that. I believe what this Bible teaches so strongly, that I would believe it if it said, Jonah swallowed a whale I would believe it!
Why? Because I have faith that this is the inspired, inerrant Word of God, and when God says it, THAT SETTLES IT FOR ME even if it seems to be impossible!
Everyone does not believe that, there are some who say that this Bible that I hold in my hand contains the Word of God, but is not the Word of God.
This crowd confuses me, because I wonder how they can figure out what part is and what part is not the Word of God!
Faith is that crazy thing that allows us to believe when everything else says, “impossible.”
Many live their life each day with NO DISCIPLINE.
Illus: They can read an old history book that tells us all about Columbus, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln and believe every word of it, but when they read the Word of God they doubt it.
We all have had some BOUTS WITH DOUBTS.
The best Christians in the world have had serious doubts.
• Abraham didn’t know if he could trust God (Genesis 15:8).
• Gideon did not know whether God would live up to his promise (Judges 6:17).
• John the Baptist questioned whether Jesus was the Messiah after all (Matthew 11:3).
• Some of the disciples doubted whether God really did raise Jesus from the dead (Matthew 28:17).
Thomas doubted and demanded that he be able to touch Christ’s wounds
before he would believe (John 20:25).
Ultimately, in spite of their doubts, all of them put their trust in God.
Doubting is a common experience among Christians. If you have never doubted anything, it may mean that you have never thought seriously about anything.
If we are going to be BOSS OVER OUR LIVES we have to be DISCIPLINED IN OUR DOUBTS.
The end results should be:
• What I think does not really count
• What others think really does not count
We have to discipline ourselves, to believe IF GOD SAID IT, THAT SETTLES IT!
We need to be –
I.Discipline in our deeds
II.Discipline in our doubts
III. DISCIPLINED IN OUR DESIRES
We read in Gal 5:16-17, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”
Some people will try to convince you that we are born inherently good and moral, however the scriptures tell us that each one of us is born with a sinful nature with a desire to please "Self".
Illus: To prove this, you don’t have to look too far. Just take a stroll down to the toddler’s room. If a child snatch a toy from another childm they will immediately begin to push, bite, kick, scratched, spit and slap on each other with full force.
Those little tots might grow up into ladies and gentlemen, but I am here to tell you parents that it is going to take some discipline to get them there.
They are all born with this sinful nature that produces sinful desires.
WHAT ARE SINFUL DESIRES?
Sinful desires are any desires that are contrary to the Word of God.
Illus: Gorgeous George in the 50’s got gloriously saved. But after he got saved he still had a lot of the rough edges that needed to be smooth.
For example, one day he was witnessing to a hippie about the Lord.
The hippie wasted no time to tell him he did not believe in the Christian life.
George asked him what did he believe?
He said I believe that a person ought to do what he wants to do!
George said you think I should do what I want to do?
The hippie said, “Yea man, you ought to do what you want to do!!!”
George said, “Well, I want to beat you to a pulp, are you sure I should do what I want to do.”
The hippie said, “Man, don’t talk that kind of talk, you are scaring me!”
Listen, we can not go around doing what we desire to do, especially as a christian.
Some people have no discipline to control the evil desires in their lives. We need to be DISCIPLINED IN OUR DESIRES in life. We recognize that we can not live our life the way we want to live it. Our desire should be to please him.
Conclusion:
God wants us to be the Boss of our Life, so we have to be -
I. DISCIPLINED IN OUR DEEDS
II. DISCIPLINED IN OUR DOUBTS
III. DISCIPLINED IN OUR DESIRES
