A Life Marked by Discipline
By Pastor James Harleman

Why do we need discipline when Bill and Ted, Wayne and Garth, Napoleon Dynamite all came out on top? I was raised to believe the goof-off makes good, gets the girl, and saves the world! I just have to be good at video games and I’ll be The Last Starfighter and save the earth from the Kodan Armada. Besides, this is biblical… as a Christian I’m saved by grace, not my works, right? Jesus VALIDATES being a slacker! There’s no reason to be disciplined…

Right?

As we launched the Campus this last fall, we kicked off our live preaching with “A Life Marked by Prayer” anchored in Colossians 4:2-6. I felt led to get us founded and grounded on Jesus in conversant communication with our Creator. At year’s end, we hit “Put to Death, Put to Life” in Colossians 3:1-17 with an admonition to strip away idolatry and sin and put on the things of God. This is marked by prayer and petition for God to transform us and continue to sanctify us by His Spirit, but involves both prayer and discipline – God’s discipline, self-discipline, and interactive discipline as a body and church.

Our third campus-specific sermon focused on redeeming our understanding of discipline so it is not a dirty word but a highlight of our life and relationship with Jesus as scripture dictates. Although a timeless message, as we headed into Easter and a subsequent series on our doctrine and the “discipled life” in the spring, it was a needed lead-in as a newer campus establishing mission.

Using Hebrews 12 as an anchor text, we look at running the race God has given us, the Greek and Hebrew words for “discipline”, why we misunderstand and reject discipline not only because of our individual sin, but also our western culture, and how God’s discipline impacts us directly, through our church family, and through our leaders.

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” – Hebrews 12:5b-6

A Life Marked by Discipline
preached by Pastor James Harleman

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