Speaker: Bro. Froilan Hong, Director for Administration, The Lord's Flock Catholic Charismatic Community
“ Christian Discipline”
“CHRISTIAN DISCIPLINE is discipleship that develops a DISCIPLINED CHARACTER of the DISCIPLE through SELF-DISCIPLINE and TRAINING OF OBEDIENCE in the WORD OF GOD.
DISCIPLINE – Discipline has a variety of meanings. To a child, it means being compelled to do something and being punished if he refuses. To a soldier, it means conformity to a set of rules and obedience to orders from superiors. To a student, it means following instructions, submitting papers on time, going through examinations.
To an athlete, discipline means years of continuous training for endurance, skills, and strength. To a musician, it means going through long sheets of musical notes repeatedly.
To a Christian, discipline means discipleship – following the teachings of Jesus – following his word!
To a disciple, discipline is developing a disciplined character through (1) self-discipline and (2) training of obedience in the word of God.
1) SELF-DISCIPLINE
A disciplined character of a disciple starts with self-discipline.
a. Self-discipline is the ability to regulate one's conduct by principle and judgment rather than by impulse, desire, social custom, or peer pressure.
b. Self-discipline is the ability to subordinate one's appetite of the body to the service of the mind.
c. Self-discipline is also the ability to subordinate one's emotions to reason.
God wants all of us to be warm-hearted. But when warmness is not disciplined, it tends to generate irresponsible frivolity, caprice, sentimentality followed by depression, or even worse - flirting and philandering.
Too often, warmness serves only the purpose of devising excuses for what the heart wants to do. The heart needs to be cleansed first and kept disciplined. Then it can become a co-partner with the mind.
Emotions include affections. Friendship when based on mutual respect and understanding is a beautiful gift. True friendship is a matter of increasingly deepening affection. But two friends may gradually become so “thick” in affection that they become possessive and exclusive to each other. Such inordinate affection becomes unwholesome and should be avoided.
A disciple who embraces imposed discipline from authorities is led to self-discipline that in turn develops a disciplined character.
2) T RAINING OF OBEDIENCE
(WORD OF GOD)
Training of obedience fully develops the disciplined character of a disciple.
Training, instructions, and acquisition of knowledge are among the positive aspects of discipline. Sanctions, punishments, and reproofs are among the negative connotations of discipline.
The word of God is a training of obedience . “If you continue to heed the voice of the Lord…all these blessings will come upon you…” (Deuteronomy 28:1-14). For those who observe God's commandments, there will be blessings (the positive aspect of the word).
“But if you do not hearken to the voice of the Lord… all these curses shall come upon you…” (Deuteronomy 28:15-48). For those who do not observe God's commandments, there will be curses (the negative aspect of the word).
A disciple who undergoes the training of obedience and follows and practices the word of God in his life becomes a DISCIPLINED DISCIPLE.
A disciplined practice of Holy Living is what God intends for Christians desiring to be true disciples. “Keep yourselves holy, because I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:44-45)
In ancient Greece , athletes trained and lived separate from the world for ten months before the games. In our own Lord's Flock community, we are set apart from the world in order to undergo training. We learn to obey the word of God, to witness signs and wonders, and to experience the fulfillment of God's promises.
We develop discipline in doing the word of God. We practice discipline whose biblical meaning of its root word is exercising consistently. Just like in physical exercising, we have regularity and repetition – in our obedience, in our forgiveness of others, in our almsgiving, in our fasting, in our tithing, and in every aspect of our Christian way of living.
When we hear the word of God, we sometimes have difficulties in obeying. The problem may not be in obeying the word but in hearing. We listen but we do not hear. We fail to hear the word; we are unable to follow and obey the commandments; we miss God's blessings.
Let us avoid the following blocks in hearing the word:
• When we don't hear the word at all;
• When we are undecided and have to ask others;
• When we are reluctant, unwilling to hear;
• When we are not sure and we refuse to believe until we see;
• When we are not convinced and we post-pone our action;
• When we entertain doubts in our mind;
• When we allow apprehensions to follow our hearing the word of God.
Our training in discipline should include removing these hearing blocks. Our training in obedience is faithfully obeying the word.
Mature Christians habitually hear and use the word of God. They have sensitivity to God's word in all areas of their lives. They draw power from the Holy Spirit and lead effective Christian lives. They are ready for true discipleship.
DISCIPLINED CHARACTER
Through self-discipline and training of obedience, a disciplined character is developed in the disciple. He gains mastery of moods by motivating firmness of purpose and faith and by learning to transcend moods. Moreover, he is able to go beyond the minimum discipline demands of the required tasks.
A disciple with a disciplined character has the following traits:
• He has a clear purpose in life – to live for the glory of God.
• He has a balanced life for his family, for his community and for his work.
• He maintains his poise and grace as a Christian despite attempts of the enemy to steal his joy.
• He has no self-pity even when under trials.
• Adversity does not break him; his spirit is high, it even soars.
• His life reflects the Lord's character, enabling him to suffer and endure with joy.
Let us all be faithful disciples with disciplined character!
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