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Biblical Manhood: The Desert Fathers and their focus on Self-Mastery and Inner Discipline · The Hall Hotline

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  Hey, welcome back to day four of our series on
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  biblical manhood and spiritual disciplines today
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  We're confronting one of the most critical pillars
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  of character self mastery Interdiscipline and
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  the hidden battleground of the mind and let's
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  consider Proverbs 25 28 like a city whose walls
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  are broken through as a person who lacks self
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  -control or if we look at the ESV Version it
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  says a man without self -control is like a city
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  broken into and left without walls. So in the
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  ancient Near East, a wall wasn't an aesthetic
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  perimeter or a minor obstacle. It was a civilization's
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  entire survival mechanism. It stood between flourishing
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  life, total destruction from marauding armies,
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  plunderers, and chaos. And a city without walls
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  was a sitting duck. It was easy prey for a roaming
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  adversary. Solomon, he applies that physical
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  reality directly to the human soul. The Hebrew
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  concept behind having rule over one spirit, Mastar
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  carries the weight of active restraint, sovereign
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  discipline, and a muscular ability to say a decisive
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  nob to a destructive impulse. explosive pride
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  and unwholesome desires. You look at the cultural
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  landscape, we have to navigate every day. How
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  many men are walking around as broken down cities?
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  The breeches in our walls don't usually come
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  from battering rams. They come from the form
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  of glowing screens, unending notifications, instant
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  gratification, things we shouldn't be looking
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  at, uncontrolled anger and an obsessive pursuit
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  of comfort. When our internal defenses crumble,
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  we leave ourselves wide open to moral ruin, emotional
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  outbursts as well and spiritual defeat. To rebuild
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  those stones, we have to look back to men, men
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  who really understood what real spiritual warfare
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  demanded. Let's take some lessons here from the
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  desert fathers. In the third and fourth century,
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  the Roman Empire was shifting. Christianity moved
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  from being a persecuted faith, into the halls
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  of being impurely accepted and luxury. Yet as
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  the outward pressure vanished, a different danger
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  emerged. We call it spiritual complacency. And
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  a group of believers, they recognized that this
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  ease, this lifestyle is quietly rotting their
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  spiritual resolve. So led by figures like Anthony
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  de Grey, these men walked away from the comforts
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  of civic life. into the harsh barren Egyptian
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  wilderness, places like Natria and the Desert
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  of Settys. History calls them the Desert Fathers.
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  Now, you know, it's easy for modern thinkers
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  to dismiss their flight into the desert as mere
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  escapism. But Anthony and his contemporaries,
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  they didn't run away to hide from struggle. They
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  went into the desert because they realized the
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  fiercest battle wasn't against political adversaries
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  anymore. It was waged inside the human heart.
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  And the desert offered no distractions. There
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  was no banquets to help with their anxiety, no
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  special pills, no entertainment, the mask, emptiness.
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  So I guess no Netflix and no social acclaim or
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  anything to inflate your ego. It's just you and
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  nature. And out among the rocks and the sand,
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  Anthony, he faced his internal passions head
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  on through three primary weapons. through solitude,
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  through fasting, and third, an unceasing prayer.
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  And they understood a timeless spiritual principle.
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  If you cannot govern your own appetite, your
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  tongue, your eyes, and your quiet thoughts, you
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  can't stand firm when real spiritual opposition
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  strikes. So they didn't seek suffering for a
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  suffering's sake. They sought to create an inner
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  fortress to make their wall strong enough that
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  nothing could external could breach their fellowship
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  with God. So this brings us directly to Apostle
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  Paul's charge to his young protege in 1 Timothy
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  chapter 4 verse 7 to 8. And Paul says, have nothing
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  to do with godless myths and old wives tales.
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  Rather, train yourself to be godly for physical
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  training is some value, but godliness has value
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  for all things, holding promise for both the
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  present life and life to come. So Paul, being
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  the way Paul is in the Bible, he cut straight
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  through trivial noise, rejects the hollow chatter
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  and the distractions of your era, instead focus
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  on the directive, train yourself to be godly.
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  The Greek word Paul uses for train is gymnasio,
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  the root from which we get our modern word gymnasium.
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  In the Greco -Roman culture, training at the
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  gymnasium was intentional, it was demanding,
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  it was rigorous. And it was daily. You didn't
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  drift into physical shape. You stripped off the
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  hindrances and engaged in really hard exertion.
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  Kind of like today. Paul doesn't disparage physical
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  discipline. He acknowledges that hitting the
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  gym, building strength, and keeping the body
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  fit has value. But its scope is, let's just say,
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  it's temporary. It lasts as long as your earthly
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  breath. Godliness, on the other hand, yields
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  infinite returns. It fortifies your present character,
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  it helps you protect your family, and it secures
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  that internal reward. So how does a modern man
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  enter God's gymnasium and begin laying stones
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  upon stones to rebuild those collapsed walls
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  that we've allowed to happen? So I'll give you
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  three quick examples here. The first one is,
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  hey guys, let's reclaim your appetite through
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  through fasting, through biblical fasting. We
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  live in a very on -demand culture. I'm not going
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  to lie, the other night I wanted some ice cream.
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  It's right down the road. You can grab some ice
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  cream, have it even delivered to you like that.
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  So when you introduce regular intentional fasting,
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  whether from food or some habitual comfort, you
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  train your flesh to sit as the passenger seat
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  while the spirit takes the wheel. Okay, your
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  fleshly desire is no longer in control. It should
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  be your spirit. implementing a second example
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  might be implement, you know, digital quiet hours.
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  If your morning begins by scrolling through social
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  feeds and reacting to messages that are sent
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  to you, maybe like, you know, the middle of the
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  night or something, your walls are breached before
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  your feet touch the floor. So make sure let's,
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  let's try and carve out, and I'm speaking to
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  myself, let's try and carve out untouchable margins
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  of silence in the dailies. you know, and let
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  the daily scripture intake before the world gets
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  a say. So let's maybe look at reading the Bible
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  or praying, you know, before we do anything else
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  to get our mind correct and right with the Lord.
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  And then the third piece of advice I could say
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  is try to subdue reactive impulses. You know,
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  when anger spikes, when lust rises up or, you
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  know, when that pride flares up, Don't rely on
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  your raw willpower. Rely on the Holy Spirit to
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  help with your self -mastery. When something
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  comes up, pause, step back, invoke Christ's strength
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  to say no before the breach widens. Spiritual
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  discipline is rarely glamorous. It's built in
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  the hidden, unapplauded moments of everyday restraint.
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  This is something I had to work on. Walking around,
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  angry upset at things and letting that go and
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  you know knowing that Christ is in control it
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  changes everything guys it doesn't happen overnight
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  but it does happen and it allows for a much more
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  peaceful existence realizing that we are not
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  the God of our life and that Jesus is the God
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  of our life and he ultimately has everything
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  in control so as we close out day four let's
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  let's take away some of the theory and let's
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  bring this Let's take this right to our lives
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  right now. Take an honest look. Inventory your
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  perimeter, inventory your wall. First, where's
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  your wall currently broken? Which passion or
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  distraction or unregulated screen time, unchecked
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  temper, secret appetite or desire for effortless
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  ease is ruling you most right now. And then second,
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  what's one specific... non -negotiable discipline
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  you'll put into place starting today as you reclaim
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  your focus and silence. It doesn't need to be
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  an overhaul of your entire life. It needs to
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  be a consistent stone laid every morning. A man
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  without self -control is defenseless, but a man
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  trained in godliness, fortified by the spirit
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  and anchored in truth is a city built upon a
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  hill that can't be shaken. So, you know, set
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  the boundary, put down the distraction and rebuild
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  the wall. Thank you again for listening here
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  for day four as I fill in for John on the Hall
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  hotline. It's an honor. And again, guys, the
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  things that I spoke about, these are suggestions.
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  You can use your own methods to help rebuild
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  that wall. I'm gonna start with tomorrow. I try
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  to get up and read the Bible in the morning.
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  Currently I'm going through, I just finished
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  Acts. I'm going through Romans and I'm finishing
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  up Isaiah. So I try and read. something from
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  the Old Testament, something from the New. There
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  are days that I miss, so my first resolve is
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  to try not to miss any days. So sometimes on
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  the weekends, I do miss because I sleep in a
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  little and then I run out to do family things
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  on the weekend time. But, you know, start with
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  small things. Those small grains of sand turn
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  into larger boulders, okay, eventually to strengthen
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  yourself and build that wall. So again, I appreciate
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  it. I'm just honored to be here. And why should
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  we do it? Well, because it's the right thing
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  to do and Christ is King. And then why listen
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  to this podcast? Because it's the hallway. Thanks
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  guys. Have a good one.