The Way of Wisdom: Invite Discipline- July 12, 2026

Big Sky Christian Fellowship Summer Series on Proverbs

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

And in Galatians five. So Proverbs three, eleven and twelve says this my son, do not despise the Lord's discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves. As a father, the son he delights in. That's as far as we'll read. There is an outline in your bulletin. This morning I went out for a hike, and I went up one of my favorite trails. Do you have a favorite trail? You got a favorite trail? Like some of you, Oso Falls, you love Oossa Falls Trail. Some of you, some like another trail. It's called Nunya, like Nanya Business Trail. Anyway, like Nanya Business Trail. There's a lot of locals that are like, I like Nunya Business Trail. Um, we've got a wonderful array of trails up here for biking and for hiking, uh, for just being out on. And we live in a town of trails, don't we? We live in a town of trails. We spend a lot, a lot of our lives on trails, and that's what we've been focused on in this series. I was on a trail this morning and there were lots of forks in the road. And when you get to a fork and you road, you decide like, which trail am I going to go on? Which road am I going to travel on? And that's what we've been focusing on for this series throughout the summer. We are in the book of Proverbs. Want to continue to encourage you, read through the book of Proverbs, 31 chapters. Uh, read a couple of those every single week, four or five every single week, and you'll get through all of Proverbs. I actually, yesterday, was mowing and weeding and working on a lawn, and I listened to Proverbs 1 through 21 in just like a couple hours of doing outdoor work. So you don't even have to read if you're like, I don't like the reading thing. Put those earbuds in, use them, all right, and listen to uh something that will be life-giving. But we've been asking this question about roads, right? Which road should we go on? Because there's two roads, isn't there? There's two pathways. We come to forks in the road, and there are two roads. There is the road of folly, the way of folly, and the road or the way of wisdom. And we don't want to live on the way of folly. We want to live on the way of wisdom. We want to travel along the way of wisdom together, that we might become wise in the ways of the Lord. So last week we said, what's the first step in that? What is the what is the first step in the way of wisdom? Well, we said the first step was found there in Proverbs 1. In Proverbs 1, verse 7, it says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. So the first step in the way of wisdom is that we would fear the Lord. And what we talked about is that we have a lot of things that we fear in our lives. We fear the unknown, we feel fear uncertainty, we fear other people's opinions, we fear what happened in the past or what we don't know about the future. And we put weight into those fears, and we put more weight into those fears than we do into fearing the Lord, revering the Lord, worshiping the Lord, and putting him at the highest point. To fear the Lord is to love the Lord, to love the Lord is to fear the Lord. We don't fear people's opinions, we don't fear the unknown, we don't fear all the things we do not know in this life. No, we put God at the top of these things because this is the first step in the way of wisdom, that we would take that first step in understanding that the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of knowledge is a fear of the Lord. And right on the back heels of this, we want to say, well, then today, what is the second step? What is the second step in the way of wisdom? If the first step is fear the Lord, what's the second step? Well, the second step is this invite discipline. When I say the word discipline, what do you think about? I'll tell you what I think about. I think about a wooden spoon. Anyone else? Raise your hand. Yeah, we got some wooden spoon people up in here. Some of you like younger folks are like, I don't, I don't know. I had a corner where I thought about my feelings. Um, no, we didn't have that my day, right? We had we had a spoon. We had a wooden spoon. And when things got out of line, dad would say, Hey, I need you to go to your bedroom because I'm going to get the wooden spoon, and I'm gonna come and you're you're gonna get a licking, right? And I remember very vividly we had a specific spoon in a specific drawer. And guess what? It didn't even take him spanking us at a certain point in our lives anymore to scare us. He would just walk over to the drawer, right? And I've talked about this now that I'm grown with him. And he used to walk over that drawer and I'd be like, Man, it takes him so long to find the spoon, and it'd be like stuff flying all over the place. And and he said, I was just doing that for a show, Brian. Like I was just reaching around and I was just pulling that spoon out because by the time I got to your room, I barely had to spank it anyway, because you understood what the fear of the Lord. Fear of the Lord, but but you understood this was a moment of correction, a moment of discipline. I'm sure you have a bunch of other pictures in your head about what discipline is, and that's what we want to talk about this evening. We don't want to be those who shy away from discipline. No, if we want to walk in the way of wisdom, we need to actually invite, invite discipline into our lives. And I know I haven't started it easy with you guys, right? Like fear the Lord and then invite wisdom invite discipline. Some of you are not gonna make week three, right? You're like, no, no, no, man. But this is prevalent within the Proverbs. Over 30 times the phrase discipline is used. This is a recurring theme throughout the book of Proverbs, and we see this picture, this proverbial picture of what invite discipline looks like. And what it looks like is what we were just talking about. It looks like parenting, it looks like parenting. Solomon, he is the son of David, he's the king of Israel, and he starts this book by talking about how do we seek out wisdom? And he starts with that idea of fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But then in verse eight, he moves on where it says, This listen, my son, to your father's instructions, and do not forsake your mother's teaching. They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck. So Solomon is talking to his son, and he's saying, My son, my child, my beloved child, listen to what I have to say. Listen to what your mother has to say, because if you put them on, if you wear them, if you invite them into your life, you will live in the way of wisdom. This is the picture. This is a proverbial picture of a good parent. Now, Solomon probably wasn't a good parent all the time, but he had children and he had to direct them and help them and discipline them. And that is the proverbial picture that we have within Proverbs of why we should, why we should invite discipline. Now think about parenting. Okay. For those of you who uh anybody raise your hand. If you had a parent, that's all of you. Okay. That was just a trick question, just seeing if you're awake. Okay, right. So, so either you had a parent, or maybe you are a parent, or you want to be a parent someday, but there's something about parenting and discipline that go hand in hand. The wooden spoon was one facet of that, isn't it? Right? The garland that fits around our neck, uh, uh, this garland of grace around our head, this chain that adorns our neck. Part of it for parents is about correction, isn't it? When we think about discipline correctly, and parenting thinks about disciplining correctly, what it means is sometimes there's moments where a child needs correction. They need to be turned in the right direction, they need to be corrected from the things that they have done wrong. And there are moments where the old one where the stove analogy, where you where a kid goes and goes to reach up onto that stove. And there's two ways to correct that kid. Is there not? There's one way to correct that kid by slapping him on the hand. That's hot, that's gonna hurt, right? That is one way of correction, that's one way of discipline. The other way is what? Let him touch it, right? Let him touch it, and they will learn some discipline in their lives. And so Solomon wants us to understand that this picture of discipline has two facets to it. One is the idea of correction. As a good parent, we want to correct our children, we want to help them walk in the right ways. And the second part of that is we want to help provide for them a disciplined environment, right? We want them to be disciplined kids who can who can handle things in life. It's a marshmallow analogy. Have you heard the marshmallow experiment? So they did this marshmallow experiment over and over again. If you're really bored, go on YouTube and check out the marshmallow experiment. Okay, you'll find it, all right? And what they do is they take a kid and they put him in a room and they put a marshmallow in front of that poor kid and they say, Hey, I'll be back in 10 minutes. If you don't eat it, you get two of them. Right? And if you do eat it, that's fine. But if you can wait for 10 minutes, I'll come back and you'll get two giant marshmallows. And so as the study goes, they leave for 10 minutes, and some of the kids that probably like me pop it in their mouth, right? Like you stare, some of them, the hilarious ones, they just stare at it. Like if they just stare at it, it's gonna go away, right? Right. And then some of them wait and wait and wait until 10 minutes hits. Somebody walks in, and now they have to marshmallow. See, this is this is in a very elementary way about discipline in our lives. Some of those studies go on to follow those children, and there is statistical analysis around the success rates of people who learn discipline and learn how to wait and learn self-control within their lives early, early in their lives. So, parents, discipline your children. Help them live disciplined lives. If you want to be a parent someday, don't shy away from discipline in the same way that Solomon did not shy away from discipline. Because when you discipline them, it is like this beautiful thing around their neck, around their head, and it leads them in the way of wisdom. But it's bigger than just parenting between us, is it not? It's bigger than just parenting between us, because what Proverbs is actually teaching us is something we've been singing about and talking about and kind of threading into the service already, which is this you are a child of God. You belong to him. He is a good father. When we hear the Proverbs about a good and godly father, we're hearing about God. When we're hearing that wisdom is like this mother who invites someone in for a feast in their house, the picture is one of a God who invites us into a feast as a loving father and mother, a parent would to their children. And you, you are invited to that feast as well. You are invited into the way of wisdom rather than the way of folly. How? By inviting discipline. Proverbs goes on. Proverbs 3, verse 11 and 12, the one we read earlier says this, my son, do not despise the Lord's discipline. Do not despise, do not run away, do not get angry about the Lord's discipline. Don't be like, Why are you doing this to me? No, no, no, no, no. Instead, do not resent, do not, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves. Instead, invite those disciplines. Why? Because God loves you, he disciplines you. Not because he's mad at you, not because he hates you, not because he wants what's worst for you. It's because he loves you. So he says, My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline, do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves. As a father, the son, he delights in. Sit in that for a minute. Do you know God delights in you? Do you know that? Do you know that deep in your soul that God delights in you? And for some of us, that gives us these fuzzy feelings that we're like, oh, I love it. Okay. But here's the flip side of it. Because he delights in you, he wants discipline for you. Because he delights in you, he wants discipline for you. And in that same way of the proverbial picture of discipline for a young child is the way that God also lovingly and tenderly guides us as well. Because did anybody wake up in sin today? Anybody need to take communion because you you got sin that happened? Like, you want to raise your hand? Anybody do you want to get real in church? Or you're like, I don't need it, I'm good. Jesus and me, like we're pretty much perfect, right? Like, if you're like me, you woke up and you wrestled with sin today, did you not? You wrestled with selfishness. You you wrestled with your own thoughts rather than God's thoughts. You wrestled with your own intentions rather than God's intentions. Sometimes, maybe even just today, you were confused about which way God would even want you to go, the decisions he would want you to make. Did you miss the mark today? Because I did. I miss the mark today, and I need correction. I need God to lovingly discipline me because he loves me to correct me in the ways that I am wrong. I was having just a conversation with an elder before the service, and we were talking about blind spots. Blind spots are terrible, are they not? Wanna know why? Because you can't see them. That's the worst part, right? I try this big sprinter van thing. And so if I cut you off, my bad. Okay. Because it's got a giant blind spot on one side. And like I have to like turn the signal on and wait, and I look at the mirror because it blinks at me a lot, you know, if I'm like gonna hit somebody and I still sometimes merge and I hear and then somebody waves at me nicely, and it's fantastic, right? Because I am prone to get out of my lane because of blind spots. I'm in need of God's correction in my life. There are ways that I fall short of the glory of God each and every day, and so do you. And so we need to invite God to correct us. We also need the other side of it. We need Him to help us be disciplined in how we live, how we navigate life. Two really helpful books in that Boundaries by Henry Cloud, and then Celebration of Discipline. Some of you were in a Bible study and you are book study, Bible study that you did this earlier in this year. We celebrate discipline because we invite discipline in our lives that we might become more and more and more like Jesus every day. Some of you, some of you run the rut, right? You know what I'm talking about? I think it's in September. Did you run the rut? You ran the rut. When is it? September? Okay. Maren, can I just get out of like get off the couch and then run the 50k rut? Do you think how do you think that would work for me? Probably not. Yeah. It'd be bad. Yeah, it'd be a bad deal, right? I how many do you think I'd make? You said 10. I don't think I don't think I'd make five. I don't think I'd make five. I will okay. It'd be bad. It'd be bad, right? Because why? Because this life needs training. This life requires discipline. When Paul says I've run the race, it's because he was disciplined. He had trained himself in the ways of the Lord. And so we need God to correct us and then also train us in the ways of righteousness, in the celebration of discipline. It talks about prayer, it talks about fasting, it talks about meditating on the word of God. It talks about simplicity, it talks about Sabbath. These are all opportunities for you to invite discipline into your life that it might make you more and more like Jesus each and every day. And we don't run away from that church. If you want folly, if you want foolishness, run away from discipline. But if you want to walk in the way of wisdom, listen, you need to invite discipline into your life because there's a fruit from inviting discipline, is there not? There's a fruit from inviting discipline. The fruit of it is self-control. We invite discipline into our lives and we become self-controlled. We be able to manage things and figure things out and walk through this life without falling off the path. Some of the routes up there on the rut, you end up on this kind of razor edge where if you get off the path this side, it's bad, bad. And if you get off the side this side, it's bad, bad, bad. Okay. And you have to stay on the path, the narrow path in the middle by inviting discipline into your lives by being self-controlled in that moment. You're not going to be stepping here and stepping there and hoping you don't fall off. No, you're going to be very disciplined, very self-controlled as you walk that narrow path. Proverbs says the opposite is when you don't have self-discipline. Proverbs 25, 28 says this. Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control. What's the picture there? It's not a good one. Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person without self-control. Do you know what that means? That means a city without a wall that is intact is unsafe. A city without a wall that is intact is not a place that's going to be stable. It's not going to be secure. It's not going to be a refuge. It's going to be a place that's very dangerous, where dangerous people come and go. It's not going to be a secure place. And in the same way, when we walk in the way of folly, that is not a secure way for us to walk. That is not a self-controlled and a disciplined way to walk. So what's the alternative? Well, the alternative is this fruit of self-control. Paul talks about in Galatians, Galatians 5, when he paints the picture for us of the two roads. Let me read this. I'm just gonna I just want you to listen, okay? So Paul says, I say walk by the spirit. Pay attention to that. Walk by the spirit. We'll go back there. And you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other. So you will, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the spirit, you will not you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissension, faction, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. So does that sound like? It's a way of foolishness, is not. It's a way of folly. But verse 22, but the fruit of the spirit is love and joy, peace, forbearance, or patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness. This and there's a word and self-control against such things. There is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have been crucified, have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires. Paul paints a picture for us that fits within this Proverbs path, right? There is the way of foolishness, the way of the flesh, the way of the things of our heart that are not made into the likeness and image of Jesus, and then the way of wisdom, the way of life, the way that leads to everlasting life. And we want to be those who live in that way. So I need you, church, to invite discipline. And there's a really good question you should be asking at this point, and I'll ask it for you. But how? Because that sounds hard, does it not? Like I could just be like, okay, here's the deal. Get out there and figure it out. Right? Do better tomorrow. Keep a list of all your sins. All right. Check them off as you get rid of them one by one. All that non-disciplined stuff in your life. We're going to get rid of that tomorrow. You're going to make your bed first thing. All right. Then you're going to run a 5K because we're getting ready for the 50K and we're going to live live disciplined every single minute of the day. Anybody want to sign up for this kind of Christianity? You're like, let me in. That sounds awesome. Anyone? Anyone? Okay. That sounds sounds like a lot. So then how do we live this out? How do we invite discipline into our lives? Well, there's this word I wanted you to catch within the passage and within that title. There's a fruit of inviting discipline called self-control. And fruit doesn't produce itself. It is produced by what is it attached to and by what it is nourished by. When Jesus talks about the vine and the branches, Jesus is talking about abiding in him and us in him and him in us that we might bear much fruit. You see, this sermon is hard because what our temptation is going to be is to just get better tomorrow. But that's not the answer. The answer is this: we need to walk with God. We need to walk with God over and over and over in this series. I've been saying to you, the way of wisdom is not a way, it's a person. In fact, it is God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who embody wisdom, who lead us in the way of wisdom, who, when we look at, then we see wisdom. Because even wisdom could be something that we would worship rather than we would worship God. And so Galatians 5 ends by saying this: Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. I am convinced more than ever that God has things that He wants to do in your life that only He can do. And only by surrendering your life to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and inviting His Spirit to empower you, to correct you, to guide you and guard you each and every day that you would walk in the way of wisdom. Cliff came in here a little bit ago, gave me a book. I started reading it already, Cliff. I just got a little bored during the beginning. All right. So I got to January 5. It says a guide for the way. It says this when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth. That's Jesus talking in John 16. And then there's this prayer. And the prayer says this guide me today, Holy Spirit. Show me where you want me to go, whom you want me to talk to. What decision you want me to make. Help me discern your voice over my own and others. Walk closely with me and whisper truth to me. Forgive me when I listen to my own desires and ignore what you are telling me. God, I am so grateful you sent your spirit to empower me. Thank you for speaking to me and working in me. Stay near to me and help me hear your voice. Father, you are good. So good that you did not leave us alone on this earth. You left us your spirit to guide us. Because of your spirit, I never have to feel alone or afraid. You are with me.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

Always. Amen. Let's pray.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Heavenly Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we come to you in need of correction, in need of discipline, in need of things that we struggle with and cannot attain on our own. And we need you to redeem us, to save us, to guide us, to be our refuge. We need you, Heavenly Father, to be a good and loving Father who disciplines his children. Holy Spirit, in this moment, I pray that you would unearth the ways we have gone astray. I pray even in this moment now that we would quietly and in our hearts confess to you where we are rebellious, or we are broken, we are sinful and in need of you. Holy Spirit, tenderly, tenderly turn us to your voice. Guide us in paths of righteousness and lead us in the way of wisdom. Forgive us for our sins. Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within us, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. During this time, we will receive the Lord's meal. And as we worship with this song, what I would encourage you to do is take some time to come forward and receive the body and blood of Jesus given for you for the forgiveness of sins and new life in Him, and that you would allow it to be a moment where you'd allow the Spirit to speak to you, to correct you, to discipline you, that you would invite that in.

SPEAKER_00 29:20

Let us feast together.