Speaker: Sis. Techie Rodriguez, Elder, The Lord's Flock Catholic Charismatic Community

" Discipline for Disciples "

Obedience – Key To Discipline

Obedience is the key to discipline. To be a disciple is to learn first to obey. To be a disciplined disciple is to develop a submissive attitude towards righteousness. One cannot be a disciple of Christ unless he submits himself to Christ and his anointed person. Obedience is submitting to authority. “ Obedience is better than sacrifice .” (1Samuel 15:22).

To Serve the Lord –

An Honorable Ambition

To aspire to serve the Lord is an honorable ambition in the life of a Christian. Ambition is a strong desire to attain an objective. It needs determination, perseverance, and persistence.

Most of the time, we are filled with love of God and our fellow men. We abound with joy from the Spirit. There are, however, times when we lose our zealousness and feel coldness in our heart and soul.

Let us ask God to revive us and to give us the strength to go on and finish the race. Life is a great race we must finish. Let us win the race, by aspiring to serve the Lord. Let us ask God to be our coach. His word will enable us to attain our ambition and to complete the race.

Discipline – Training in Self-Control

Discipline involves training to develop self-control, character, orderliness, and efficiency. “Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one.” (1 Corinthians 9:25).

Disciplined Disciples –

Under the Lordship of Jesus

To be disciplined disciples, we must submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ “who is Lord of all.” (Acts 10:36). His name, Jesus, means “ savior ” (Matthew 1:21); Christ means “anointed one”. When we call Jesus “Lord”, our obedience to him is presupposed. However, not everyone who calls Jesus “Lord, Lord,” will enter heaven (Matthew 7:21). It is necessary that all of us who call Jesus “ Lord ” listen to his words and act on them. [Read: The Two Foundations – Matthew 7:24-27; Luke 6:46-49].

Hearing the word of God is not enough . We must obey it. Hearing without obedience is useless; faith without action is dead. “ Faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead. ” (James 2:17, 2:26).

Jesus Christ – Our Lord and Master

To put order in our life, we should recognize that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Master. “You call me ‘teacher' [Lord] and ‘master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am.” (John 13:13).

The disciples of Jesus called him “Master” many times. At one time, they came to Jesus when they were terrified by a violent storm at sea. (Luke 8:23-24).

Like the disciples, we can go to Jesus whenever we encounter tests (time, patience, word, blessings, wealth, persecutions, and others ). We can pass these tests if our foundation is strong and built on the word of God. We will continue to serve the ministry instead of taking a leave of absence, resigning, retiring, or disappearing from the Community. We will emerge victorious from the trials.

Tests and trials should not affect us when we are under the lordship of Jesus. We know Jesus as our Lord; we should obey him always. If in our place of work, we follow our superior; in school, we obey our teachers, then the more we should obey the Lord, our Master and Sovereign King!

What the Word “Lord” Means

1. Lord is “kurios” in Greek. It means having power, supreme in authority, controller .

2. Lord means “master” (Luke 6:24). - It also means “owner” (Luke 19:33) and “Sir” (John 4:15).

3. Lord also means “king” and “emperor” (Acts 25:25-26); it is likewise a title of respect to a father (Matthew 21:30).

4 . “Despotes” is another Greek word which means sovereign master or lord of house who possesses supreme authority. (1Timothy 6:1). It is was used in a personal address to God.(Luke 2:29).

Our declaring “Lord” presupposes obedience on our part because He is master, king, owner, sovereign ruler, King of kings and Lord of lords . (Revelation 19:16).

Our Lord, Jesus, is also called Master of Nature. “ He woke up , rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Quiet! Be still!' The wind ceased and there was great calm.” (Mark 4:39). He made the fig tree wither (Matthew 21:18-21). He enabled Simon to catch a great number of fish. (Luke 5:1-11). He changed water into wine at a wedding in Cana . (John 2:1-11). He raised Lazarus from the dead. (John 11:41-44). If all of nature follows Jesus, why can't all of us follow him as well? Let us all hear his word, follow him, and obey him . Jesus is the Lord of all . (Acts 10:36) .

Jesus Asks – “ Follow Me !”

Our Lord, Jesus, is asking us to follow him: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23).

Let us make Jesus the top priority in our life. As his disciples, we allow him to live within us. He is the true owner of our life. He owns us twice-over: when He created us, and when He bought us at a very high price – his precious blood and his life. (1 Corinthians 6:20) .

We cannot repay the Lord for what He has done for us. All we can do is to surrender totally our heart, mind, and soul to Jesus. As our Lord and owner . He owns all of us .

We should not only call Jesus our Lord. We should obey his commandments and all his other commands about serving in our ministry, giving our time and talents, tithing, etc. As disciplined disciples, we should always be obedient and with self-control. We should be obedient to God. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15).

God wants you to be obedient to our leaders and authorities . (Titus 3:1) “ Obey your leaders and defer to them, for they keep watch over you and will have to give an account, that they may fulfill their task with joy and not with sorrow, for that would be of no advantage to you. ” (Hebrews 13:17).

Obeying God Is Worshipping God

We truly love God when we obey him. And when we obey God, we honor him. Honoring God is worshipping him. Therefore, obeying God is worshipping God!

Every time we obey God, we give him honor, we give him value, we give him the highest praise and glory. Let us be consistent and disciplined in obeying God. When we do, we are being faithful in loving and worshipping the Lord. J esus' command in Luke 14:26 seems very difficult to follow: “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple .”

The original Greek word used in Luke 14:26 is “miseo” meaning “to love less.” It was translated in the English Bible as “hating.” Jesus did not mean being filled with anger or hatred. He meant “loving less” our relatives and ourselves compared with our love for the Lord. Jesus also meant we should not have strong attachments to worldly things, objects, and persons in order not to love or value them more than we value God, for He is a jealous God. “ You shall not worship any other God, for the Lord is ‘the Jealous One'; a jealous God is he. ” (Exodus 34:14).

Let us all follow Jesus. His disciples followed Jesus and left their vocations. Simon, Peter and his brother, Andrew, left their fishing boat (Matthew 4:19); James and John left nets and their father Zebedee. (Matthew 4:22); Levi/Matthew, the tax collector, left his work (Luke 5:27); Philip also followed Jesus (John 1:43).

Jesus is now asking us to follow him and to give our unwavering loyalty to him. Let us say yes to Jesus, the most important in our life.