THE NEED FOR DISCIPLINE

ECCLESISATIES 1:1-END

ISAIAH 23:1-END

PROVERB 4:1-END

God disciplines those he loves so that they don’t go to the grave untimely. A lot of people have been puffed up to the detriment of their lives which is not God’s divine agenda for their existence. These calibers are stiff necked. Job specified about them that even when God correct them they will not hearken to correction:

JOB 36:13

(13)     “The godless at heart will harbor resentment

            They do not cry for help even when he binds

            Them

(14)     They die while still young, spending their life

            among male temple prostitutes

(15)     But God rescues the afflicted during their

Affliction; He open their ear when they are

Oppressed.”

King James Version put it this way:

(13)     “But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath:

            They cry not when he bindeth them

(14)     They die in youth, and their life is among unclean

(15)     He delievereth the poor in his affliction,

            And openeth their ear in oppression”

People like this will resist God’s plan for their lives due to pride. Pride is the quickest destroyer of personalities and great future because God will always resist such persons.

JAMES 4:6

(6)       But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he said,

“God resist the proud and gives grace unto the

humble”

We can site series of cases where God has resisted the proud nations and Kingdom. Tyre was one of the nations that God determined to discipline because of their arrogance and pride:

ISAIAH 23:9

(9)       “Jehovah of armies himself has decided this to profane

            her pride over all her beauty, to humiliate all those who

 were honored throughout the earth”

Remember the adage “Man proposes God opposes, a man opposes himself when he walk contrary to God’s instruction according to his word. The word of God is the light and signal to your destination with God. But when you obey your own self imposed word to his word, there will be trouble. This is why Jesus began to curse the scribes and the Pharisees in the book of Mathew.

MATHEW 23:1-3

(1)       “Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples saying:

(2)       “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in

            the seat of Moses.

(3)       Therefore, all the things they tell you, do and observe, but

            do not do according to their deeds for they say but they do

            not practice what they say

This is where the need for discipline comes; so many gospel preachers are in this shoe today. Remember that Jesus said that they seat themselves in the Moses seat, not even God that seat them there, this is why God says that he that exalts himself shall be humbled but he that humbles himself shall be exalted. 90 percent of gospels today are for bread and butter. The quest for money and gain has triggered even criminals to open mushroom churches, all in the name of prosperity; some even employ black magic all in the name of church, and we have recent incident where human beings were buried in a foundation of a new church as a sacrifice to who they worship which is Satan, making mockery of the gospel. These calibers have invited tradition into church just as Jesus warned the scribes and the Pharisees.

MATHEW 23:5

(5)       All the work they do, they do to be seen by men,

            For they broaden the scripture containing cases

that they wear as safeguard and lengthen the

fringes of their garments

(6)       They like the most prominent place at evening meal

            And the front seat in the synagogues”

See, these people their pride was obvious to people, they like to put themselves first before the people they lead, but this rule does not favor leaders in the Kingdom of God, it can favor the worldly standard of leadership but not the kingdom based leadership. As a servant of God, you put the people you lead in the fore front so that you can be able to monitor them as their leader; your duty as a pastor is to watch from the back, not from the front. Being in the front does not make you a leader in this kingdom except in the world. The Fulani’s herdsmen will chase the ship from the back, to make sure they don’t divert from the designated destination and when there is danger ahead of the ship they will come in the front and show them clear direction to escape the danger. So as a pastor, you are like these herdsmen. So your wiping stick of correction is the word of God and rebuking when needed. You should not discipline with envy, backbiting, gossip , and physical beatings because that will cause more harm than good because your members are not yet ship or goat yet; we use it as illustration here. Use this tactics so you can be able to save them for Christ.

This means you have to tolerate a lot of sheet from your members as a pastor, so you can be able to teach them the right standard of Christ in humility and meekness.

MATHEW 23:12

(12)     “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever

            humbles himself will be exalted”

Look! As a servant of God, you don’t try to discipline those you lead yourself, all you need to do is to teach and correct them especially open rebuke. But as for discipline, God is the one that will do that. A lot of pastors have tried to discipline their followers in their own means and at the end of the day losing them to the world. Look your prayer and teaching as a pastor does everything even more than any tactics you want to use as discipline.

REVELATION 3:19

(19)     “All those for whom I have affection, I reprove

            and disciplines, in fact, he scourges everyone

            whom he receives as a son”

God knows how to correct his own people and bring them back to order:

HEBREW 12:6

(6)       “For those whom Jehovah loves he disciplines,

in fact, he scourges everyone, whom he receives as a son”

It only through discipline and power in the blood of Jesus Christ that what is crooked can be straightened again.

ECLESIASTE 1:15-16

(15)     “What is crooked cannot be made straight

            And what is lacking cannot possibly be counted

(16)     Then I said in my heart; “Look! I have acquired

            great wisdom, more than anyone who was

before me in Jerusalem and my heart gained great

deal of wisdom and knowledge”

So every discipline is to call back attention of the person to what he/she left untouched or ignorantly overlooked. This is why we should always flashback our memories to correct issues with the help of Holy Ghost.

PROVERB 4:1

(1)       “Listen, my sons, to the discipline of a father

            Pay attention in order to gain understanding”