Balancing Life's Demands - Warning: Discipline Can Be Hazardous To Your Health, Part 1

There is a potential downside to becoming a very spiritually disciplined Christian.

I mean, it can be hazardous to your health, and that's what we want to cover today on Living on the Edge. Stay with us. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Chip's our Bible teacher for this daily discipleship program motivating Christians to live like Christians. I'm Dave Grewe, and if you're new to Living on the Edge, or you just want to learn more about us, go to LivingOnTheEdge.org.

There you'll find hundreds of resources on a wide range of topics and countless programs for you to enjoy. Or if you prefer, the Chip Ingram app is also a great way to get plugged in with our ministry. Well, in this program, Chip continues our series, Balancing Life's Demands, with a clear warning for those who want to be more disciplined in their Christian life. So let's get started.

If you have a Bible, turn now to Matthew chapter 5, and let's join Chip for his talk. I want you to close your eyes. I'm not going to do anything weird, but I want you to close your eyes. I want you to try to remember exactly where you were the last time you heard these words. Please take out a clean sheet of paper and a number 2 pencil. Put everything away.

Clear your desk. Number from 1 to 10. We're having a pop quiz. Okay, now you can open your eyes. Remember the feared pop quiz? That was a tool of accountability, right? It was, did you read the assignment? Are you on track? Are you doing your work?

And the way we will enforce that is when you don't suspect it. And I used to hate that. Please take everything off your desk.

My heart would sink. Number 2 pencil. Well, I'm going to give you a pop quiz. And this is a for real one, okay? So I mean, don't think like, oh, this is kind of a nice illustration.

No, no, no. You'll notice on your notes, it says to what degree, it's a biblical priorities pop quiz, to what degree have you taken specific steps in the following areas? And I told you earlier that I had that moment with Prof Hendricks where he went over to the board and he told us, remember, guys, God loves you right now as much as he'll ever love you.

The issue is, who do you really want to be? And then in big letters, he wrote the word objectives. And then under the words of that, he wrote priorities. And then under that, he wrote the word schedule. And then he wrote discipline.

And then he wrote accountability. Now, as we take this pop quiz, some of you are very intense. You're trying to be very deeply honest. Would you be, you know, give yourself a good grade, okay?

Don't be too hard on yourself. You'll notice, you know, there's a little box. I actually want you to put a number in the box. And so I'm going to give it, you know, the definition on the quiz. And then if you say none, you know, put a one. If you, well, a little, put a two. If you started, you know, and you're kind of doing okay or even making some progress, put a three. If you're making some good progress, and by the way, you know, some of you are so hard on yourself, if you feel like when we get to accountability, oh, I meet with some people and I'm doing some things, well, give yourself a four. And then if you feel like I am vigorously pursuing this, I mean, man, I am intense in this area. And I'm really trying to do what God wants me to do, give yourself a five. So have you got it?

There's the scoring. Question number one, students, number two, pencil. Objectives, moving from vague ideas to specific decisions about the kind of person I want to become and what I want to accomplish. So what are you? Are you moving from the kind of vague ideas to some specific decisions that I want to be this kind of person and these are some things I want to accomplish by God's grace in my life. If you've never thought about it and really don't care, give yourself a one. If you're vigorously pursuing that and you've gone from some general decisions to, hey, you know what, even while I've been here, I've gotten some clarity, then write down a four or five. And the first number that comes, go with it, okay? I mean, let's not overanalyze this. I will be collecting the papers later, however.

No, I'm just kidding. Question number two, priorities. This is about how you spend your time, how you spend your money, the order. Ordering my life in such a way that the important and eternal are not forfeited by the pressing and the urgent. It's that putting first things first, keeping first things first.

Where are you at on that? None, little, started, doing okay, making progress, vigorously pursuing, put down a number. Third, some of you are, I just can't, am I really a three or is it a four?

Just, okay. Third is schedule. Determining specifically how and when I will place the important and eternal in my daily life. Things like where and how am I going to put time with God in my daily life? Where and how in the important relationships that I have responsibility and I want to develop, whether it's my kids or mentoring or a roommate. Where and how specifically are you going to put in your schedule becoming the person, the being that you know God wants you to?

Where are you at on that? Next is discipline. Doing what needs to be done when it needs to be done. Choosing to habitually delay gratification of short term pleasure in order to more fully enjoy long term success.

How are you doing there? Final one is accountability. Enlisting the support of those who love me to help me keep my commitments to God.

Is there some people that you're enlisting or you're already doing that? Where are you at on that? One, two, three, four, four or five. Write it up. You got it?

Good. Now, I want you to do something that might be crazy is put a line under that and I want you to add up those numbers. Just add them up real quickly. There's only one, two, three, four, five.

It can't be that hard. Just add them up. Some of you thought I was kidding about the pop quiz.

I wasn't. We're about a little over halfway through this series together and so I thought we'd do a little evaluation. If you added those up and if your total score was between a 5 and a 10, you have heard but not acted at all. If your score is between 11 and a 15, you've begun to take some initial steps toward what God wants you to be in balancing your life and biblical priorities. If your score is between a 15 or a 20, your life is actually changing. It may not be as much as you would like but your life is changing. If you scored between a 20 and a 25, this message is for you.

I mean, you are vigorously, intensely pursuing. I want to be this kind of person and my priorities and my discipline, my schedule and accountability. If you're between a 20 or a 25, I think God will have a special word for all of us but especially for you. If some of you have struggled with keeping your commitments in the past, that last teaching we did on accountability I think will really help you. If however you find yourself being one of those people who say, you know something, I am really trying to be all God wants me to be and I am pretty intense in pursuing him and yet I have these waves of guilt and I never know whether I'm doing enough and as I've processed some of this, I'm trying to be real discerning but I'm just not sure, then I think this message will be very helpful. We're going to look at two warnings from Jesus. You'll notice even the title of this message is personal discipline can be hazardous to your health. Warning, flashing lights, personal discipline and we talked about how important it is that it's from the spirit of God that we need to be disciplined, right? Now it's time out before you get too focused, too fired up, personal discipline can be hazardous to your spiritual health. There's two great dangers in becoming a highly focused, highly disciplined, authentic follower of Christ.

Danger number one is the danger of distortion. Jesus warns that we can easily distort the purpose of spiritual activities. He was up on a mountain, had prayed all night according to Luke 6 and he knew that he was going to turn over the ministry to a select group of men, not a group of men that most of us would have chosen, most of them blue collar workers, exception of maybe one.

One was a former revolutionary, a couple guys with anger management issues, one a strong leader with a very big mouth, one a betrayer, one a crook and he goes up into the mountain and it's very clear the parallel. He's going to, even as Moses was the great Old Testament hero and as Moses laid out God's economy for the children of Israel from the mountain, now Jesus, the rabbi, the teacher, goes up into the mountain and he prays and we will hear what's commonly called the Sermon on the Mount, but what he's talking to is to his disciples and the crowd is overhearing. And as the text opens up it says he sits down, which is when a rabbi was speaking authoritatively he would sit down and say this is the way it is. You'll notice that you have in your notes Matthew chapter 5 and then in your notes you also see a structure or overview of Matthew chapter 5. The context is verses 1 and 2. Now when he saw the crowds he went up into the mountainside and he sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach them saying.

Obviously in our time together I can't go through all of this in much detail, but I want you to see the structure. Verses 3 through 12 he's going to say the reward and the character of true followers look like this. And then in verses 13 through 16 he's going to say when that kind of character is lived out by the grace of God in relationship with him, you are literally the salt and the light of the world. He's saying be worthy examples. And then after that he's going to have to tie it in because they've spent all their time as little boys in the synagogue listening to the Pharisees teach and Moses is the great teacher.

And so now he needs to say what am I saying and how does that tie in to what you've always heard. And what they've always heard is not only the Old Testament teaching, but there's the Mishnah and that was an oral tradition that, you know, I think someone has said there's about 614 or 13 commands in the Old Testament, clear commands. Well, add two or three more thousand that came out of this oral teaching. I mean they had commands about how many steps you could take on the Sabbath, about this, about, I mean every detail of life. A Pharisee would fast twice a week. They would tithe on their money and Jesus would even say later, you know, down to the kind of the herbs and spices.

They were legalistic down to the minutia. And so Jesus is going to, I mean, he's declaring himself and his message and his followers and then he's going to say where do I and my teaching fit with what you've heard all your life with Moses. And he's going to make a very radical statement in verse 20 and he's going to talk about true righteousness.

So have you got the structure? So with that just listen. Let's listen first to the reward and character of his followers. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. In fact, blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you falsely and say all kind of evil things against you because of me. You see the role he's taking.

Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. And so he gives a character quality, the poor in spirit, someone who sees their need before God and then he gives the reward. The character quality, the reward. The character quality, the reward. He says, this is an authentic follower of mine.

And then he goes from that to impact. What's the role? How do you live? You are. He doesn't say become.

He doesn't say do. You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world.

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and praise your Father who is in heaven. And in their minds when he said good works, the good works that would immediately come to their mind would be the good works of the Pharisees. I mean all the good works, all the duties, all the rules, all the stuff.

And so he begins to build the structure first of the reward and character, then be worthy of examples. And now we're going to get to the part where you're going to really get in trouble if you're the Messiah. He says, do not think, because who are you? Are you the one?

Shall we expect another? Even John the Baptist was asking. He's a teacher like no one else. He speaks with authority.

The lame walk. The blind see. The dead are raised. He feeds 5,000. I mean, so where do you fit in the economy of God?

And he's going to just lay it out. Do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets. I've not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

I tell you the truth. Until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter or the least stroke of the pen will by any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever practices and teaches these commands, did you notice the emphasis?

Practices and teaches. What's his problem with the Pharisees? What's his problem with the religious culture? It's duplicity.

It's the problem we have today. Everyone says I'm born again. Everyone says I love Jesus.

We just don't live that way. Anyone who practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of God for I tell you. And this is the one where I mean their jaws dropped. I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. Now can you imagine hearing this sermon and getting to that part and going, are you kidding? I mean these guys are squeaky clean, squeaky clean, squeaky clean. I mean they have these things on their head and it goes down their robes and the hundreds or thousands of verses that they've memorized. They pray at certain times. They give their money. They fast twice a week. I mean if righteousness is doing the right things, I mean these guys and now this new Messiah tells me unless my righteousness exceeds theirs, I can't even get in.

Right about now I'm thinking there's no hope for me. And then Jesus begins to make the distinction between external righteousness activities, spiritual activities, good activities, doing the right things however for the wrong reason. It's a very silly illustration but it helps me. Can you imagine if someone, maybe it took many, many years and by just great fortune they were able to build, I mean the house of their dreams. After the house was done, there was a little brook and so they needed to build a small little bridge and then a driveway to get into it and then they invite you over. And the last thing they worked on was the driveway and there's you know different kinds of stone and you know the little white fence and landscaping and they bring you over and they say look at this. Can you believe this driveway? Look at this driveway.

You know where we got these stones? Look at this driveway. Look at this driveway. And for like two hours they describe the driveway, the driveway, the driveway, the driveway. And then afterwards they say well it's been really great to have you here.

I'll see you later. What's the purpose of a driveway? To get to the house. It's only a means. What Jesus was saying and what he's going to teach is the practices of good works and religious activities are merely the driveway. True righteousness is always a matter of the heart. True righteousness is always an issue of relationship, not performance. What he was saying to them is your righteousness needs to exceed that of the Pharisees because they've got all the external religious activity but their hearts, remember what he'd say?

Your lips profess this but your hearts are far from me. They weren't poor in spirit. They didn't see their need. They weren't merciful. They weren't pure in heart. They weren't seeing God. They weren't being persecuted.

They were persecuting him. All the things about the character, did you notice that every single thing of those be attitudes, they were be not do attitudes. There were issues of who you are inside, who you are that only God can see, who you are when no one's looking, what's your motives, what matters. Jesus says genuine righteousness is always a matter of the heart. And then we're going to pick it up and notice in your notes it says true righteousness and then he's going to take their oral commands and this phrase is going to be repeated and he's going to apply it to murder and adultery and divorce and oaths and retribution and enemies. But he's going to say, you have heard it said and what he's going to say is, here's the external righteousness that you've been taught since you were little boys and little girls. But I say to you, behind that external thing, this is the spirit. This is God's heart.

This is what he was always after. The Pharisees, each one he's going to, you've heard it said, the focus is external. Jesus will say, no, no, the focus should be internal. The Pharisees, it was always about doing. Jesus will say, no, no, no, no, it's really about being. The Pharisees were pounding people and making people greater sinners than themselves. It was about duty, duty, duty.

Jesus said they missed it. It's about devotion. The Pharisees would say it's performance. Are you doing this? Are you doing that?

Are you doing this? Jesus said, performance, no one can be justified by the law. It's about your relationship. On the Pharisees' side, they manipulated and controlled people with guilt. Jesus said, I want to introduce you to grace. They were focused on the letter of the law. Jesus said, no, no, it's not the letter, it's the spirit of the law. The letter kills, the spirit gives life. Finally, Jesus said, they've got it all in their head.

I want you to know that I'm looking for the pure in heart. And so he applies it. And so we can't go into it in great detail, but let me give you a taste. Let's go through how he applied it. So he starts with murder. Now remember, the context is your righteousness, if you were listening to the sermon by Jesus, it needs to be exceeding that of the most religious, squeaky, clean, got it together, disciplined folks that you could ever imagine. And so he starts, he said, you have heard it said to the people long ago, do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, I say, if anyone says to his brother, Rocca, his anspiral to the Sanhedrin, but anyone says to his brother, you fool, is in danger of the fire of hell.

Therefore, I say to you, if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there, remember, your brother has something against you, leave your gift there at the altar, and go be reconciled to your brother, then come and present your offering. And then he goes on and talks about settling matters. The command was about don't commit murder. What's behind murder? Murder is the last thing you do when you have relational conflict that's unresolved. And where does it start? It starts with anger.

It's when I'm angry, I mean, people don't like have casually wonderful feelings and say, hey, I think I'll kill you today. I mean, it starts with a resentment, and there's anger, or a hurt, or injustice, and the anger builds, and it ends up in the action of murder. And so Jesus says, what's behind that is some relational issues. And he's talking about the value of human relationships. And so he takes it from murder to saying, we don't have time to explain what he meant there, but you fool, very strong word in that culture.

And then he goes, wait a second. In fact, if you don't have something right with a brother, hey, don't come here and give your offering with God. This stuff that you've observed most of your life, where there's hatred and the breakdown in relationships, and yet people do their perfunctory religion, he says, you've missed the heart of God.

Make things right with God. And did you notice he didn't say, if you blew it. If you are aware that there's a problem with your brother, it may be his problem, it may be your problem, it may be 50-50, it might be 90-10, it might be 99% them, 1% you. He says, if you come before the altar and there remember, your brother has something against you.

What's his point? Relational reconciliation and human relationships are the heart of that command. Well, he applies it to the next area. And he's going to, instead of talking about murder, he's going to talk about the sanctity of sex. He says, you've heard it said, do not commit adultery, but I say to you, anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. It's better for you to lose one eye from your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off. Hyperbole here, he's making a metaphor to say the gravity of what you need to do, but what's his point? You know, they got to the point where, hey, you know, did you commit adultery or not?

Is it legal? I'll tell you what, Moses gave a certificate of divorce, and at this point there were two schools of thought, but basically the average guy could say, you know what, she doesn't look very pretty anymore, I don't want her anymore, a woman had zero rights, you're out, I'll get a new one. And Jesus said, wait a second, it's not just the external behavior.

I'm telling you that when your loyalty moves from the fidelity of a covenant marriage to even mentally going to another person before God, you've already missed. In fact, if you have a problem, be as drastic as you need to be. I mean, if you gouge your right eye out, men, how many of us could just lust with one eye? I could. Right?

I could be a left eye luster, right? Or if I cut off one hand, you know what he's saying? He's saying in a figure of speech, be as drastic as you need to be to deal with the issue of the sanctity of sexuality. He goes to the next area, which is having to do with divorce. He says, it's been said among you that if anyone divorces his wife, he must give her a certificate of divorce. But I tell you, if anyone divorces his wife except for marital infidelity, I've just created a new word, I think, causes her to become an adulteress, and again, it's the sanctity of the family.

It's not just the legality. It's the covenant. It's what you committed to.

It's the relationship. He skips down to oaths. Again, I say, you've heard it said from people long ago. Do not break your oath, but keep the oath that you have made to the Lord. But I say to you, don't swear at all, either by heaven, for that is God's throne, or the earth, for it's his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it's the city of the great God. And don't swear by your head, for you can't make even one hair be white or black.

Simply let your yes be yes, and your no be no. Anything beyond that comes from the evil one. And this was a time when they would do business deals.

They wouldn't have a lot of written contracts. I swear by this, and I swear by that, and I swear by this, I swear by that. They had this whole system of swears, and Jesus said, you know what, here's the deal. Just try integrity. If you say yes, I'll do it. You do it. If you say no, just mean it. Stop playing these games and negotiating and trying to attempt to work around kind of religious loopholes.

Be men and women of integrity from the heart. And then he gets to retribution, and you know that classic eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, but I say to you, do not resist evil person, or resist if someone strikes you. And by the way, the striking here on the right cheek, most people are right-handed. This is more of the offense.

It's the slapping. And then he says, if someone asks you to go one mile, the Roman soldiers by law could come to anyone and say, you carry this for a mile. You carry my equipment for a mile. And basically what he says is, you know your pride and your rights, and when you get offended, will they do that to me? I'm going to do that to him.

He said, you know something? There's some law. How about grace? How about we show the world how different and wonderful God is?

Let's give people what they don't deserve. So a Roman soldier says, okay, I command you now in the name of the emperor and the Roman government, you must carry my equipment by law for one mile. And then they had markers.

There's a mile. And you look up and say, hey, do you mind if I go one more? And that soldier goes, what? He says, that's a kingdom citizen. You see the heart? See the difference? Then finally, he said, you have heard it said, love your neighbor and hate your enemies, but I tell you, love your enemies.

And then listen to this. Pray for those who persecute you that you may be sons of your father in heaven. And the idea of sons, especially in Hebrew culture, it has family likeness is the idea. You'll be like your father in heaven. He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good. He sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, duh.

You know, what reward is that? I mean, don't tax collectors and sinners do that? And so he makes this point. He says, I want you to demonstrate to the Romans mercy, I mean grace. And then now he says, what do you do to your enemies? You don't give them what they deserve. Grace is giving people something they don't deserve. Mercy is withholding what people do deserve. And so when your enemies do, he says, I want you to withhold what you would more normally give them.

And I want you to overcome evil with good. You'll never be more like your heavenly father than when you love people who have wounded and hurt and abused and betrayed you. You know, Jesus shocked the people he was talking to when he told them what it looked like to be an authentic follower of Christ. When he framed the world from you have heard it said and all those external righteousness and discipline and performance and religiosity, he threw out the window.

His surgeon skill went to the very heart of the matter. It's about something inside that God is looking for. And as he walked through these various issues of murder and adultery and divorce and oaths and retribution, and then he gets to this one about enemies. And I got to tell you, I can only imagine sitting in the crowd, someone shaking their head saying, you don't understand. You certainly don't mean I'm forgive that person and release that person who's hurt me. I mean, they're my enemy. I mean, think of what they've done to me in the past.

And yet they hear his voice and he says to them, just like he's saying to us, if you're thinking that X mate, if you're thinking of that X boss, if you're thinking that the child who's betrayed you or the parent that abused you or the person that ripped you off financially who said they were a Christian, what he's saying is you need to be set free. I want you to forgive your enemy. I want you to release them.

I want you to learn in my power to love them. And you may just say, God, I just can't. Or I don't know how.

What I want you to know first is you need to make the decision. Lord, I'm willing. I want to do what you want me to do, but I don't know how. And second, I would say that as you pray that earnestly and sincerely, there's a place that we can take you to get some help. I did an entire message that will teach you very specifically how to overcome the evil that's aimed at you. It's the apostle Paul taking this very core text and he explains in detail what to do and how to do it.

And I want you to know that as you take by faith the steps that God will show you, you will be free because good is more powerful than evil. Thanks Chip. The message he just mentioned is called Overcoming the Evil Aimed at You and it's from our popular series True Spirituality, Becoming a Romans 12 Christian. Download the series now free at livingontheedge.org or on the Chip Ingram app by going to the special offers section. Go check it out now and experience that freedom Chip was talking about. You know, a great way to get plugged in with our resources here at Living on the Edge is through the Chip Ingram app. There you can listen to past series, sign up for our daily discipleship and much more. Let us help you experience God in a new personal way, starting today with the Chip Ingram app. Well, from all of us here, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.