Discipline leads to freedom. This is true practically and spiritually. Practically speaking – musicians, chefs, and woodworkers all have the freedom to create something beautiful. But that freedom comes through great discipline. We must have the discipline to learn so we can gain the freedom to create and enjoy. Spiritually speaking – if we want the freedom of enjoying healthy, beautiful relationships, then we must have the discipline to build them. This is expresses in our church’s statement of faith: “As stewards of God’s creation, men and women are called to forsake passive self-indulgence and strive for meaningful engagement in family, church, and civic life.“ We must have discipline (forsake passive self-indulgence) in order to gain freedom (meaningful engagement in family, church, and civic life). #1: The gap between confession and experience Every Christian has a gap between the beliefs they confess and what they actually experience. Paul points to this gap in his prayer for the Ephesian church in Ephesians 3:14-21. How do we grow to more fully experience the truths we confess? We need the help of Christian discipline. #2: The heart of Lent The season of Lent is designed to help us anticipate, treasure, and celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The bookends of Lent are Ash Wednesday at the beginning and Good Friday & Holy Saturday at the end. We contemplate the reality that we will die (Ash Wednesday), but we don’t have to be afraid because Jesus died to remove all the punishment of our sin (Good Friday & Holy Saturday). We must identify with the death of Jesus if we want to also identify with His life (Romans 6:5-11). #3: Jesus is enough Lent season helps us see that Jesus really is enough. We practice Christian disciplines like humility, fasting, study, prayer, generosity, and service because they lead us to deeper freedom in Christ: Humility teaches us that Jesus’ righteousness is enough Fasting teaches us that Jesus’ presence is enough Study teaches us that Jesus’ promises are enough Prayer teaches us that Jesus’ kingship is enough Generosity teaches us that Jesus’ riches are enough Service teaches us that Jesus’ eternal life is enough Sample questions for GCs: Notice how Paul talks about God’s love in Ephesians 3:18-19. He describes the massive power and abundance of God’s love using four dimensions: length, width, height, and depth. Every Christian knows that God loves them. But we don’t always experience it. Now discuss this statement: “All of my personal insecurities, worries, and fears come from not really understanding and believing how much God loves me.” Talk about why this is true in your own life. Look at Romans 6:5-11. You can’t add a little bit of Jesus to your “old self.” Your old self must be crucified with Christ so the “new you” can breathe. We keep our “old self” in the grave by practicing Christian discipline. Discuss this question: When have you had to put old habits in the grave so you could form new ones? If right now, in this moment, you fully believed that Jesus was enough in all things, what burden would that lift from your shoulders?