A Compelling Testimony: Maintaining a Disciplined Walk, Christlike Character, and Godly Relationships as God's Servant

Ses s i on 3: The Ce l ebrat i ons of a Di sc i p l i ned L i fe 87

congregation, either Roman Catholic or Protestant, is that both are marked, to a great degree, by the presence of sinners. After that the similarity ends, for we think it is nor mal for one man to do all the preaching while the others are audience, whereas in Corinth, many did the preaching. “When you come together,” reported their most famous visitor, “each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation” (1 Cor. 14.26). The ministry of original Christianity was one of its most revolutionary aspects. In contrast to all previous models, the new fellowship emerged as a dynamic force without priest or rabbi or medicine man.

~ D. Elton Trueblood. The Incendiary Fellowship . San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1967. pp. 39-40.

C. A rule that stretches and taxes us: standards that push us to excel with rigor, effort, and sacrifice, (i.e., the overload principle)

1. Exegetical evidence

a. Focused, disciplined, committed exertion to excel so as to win, 1 Cor. 9.24-27 – Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. [25] Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. [26] So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. [27] But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. b. The Christian life is analogous to a fight, 1 Tim. 6.12 – Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

c. Those entering the Kingdom do so by force, Luke 16.16 – The Law and the Prophets were until John;