A Christian must be disciplined and orderly

We (as Christians) often preach on the Religion vs. Relationship, I wanna take it a step further beyond the charasmatic goggles and to clear a little bit up to open our eyes a little wider toward the Lord by knowledge and wisdom......




So often as humans we tend to think of discipline as a bad thing, when in actuality it is a GREAT and necessary part of life. If we were never disciplined, we would never be right because we wouldn't have ever been corrected from our own statements and opinions, even our actions. Many people are CRAZY on fire for God, which is totally GREAT! But, when you do not apply discipline to the radical love that you have for God, it is very, very dangerous. Many people are crazy “fools” running around like a chicken with their head cut off, screaming “God is Great!” which God is Great, but also you don’t do this in the middle of Wal-Mart is my point. Paul was a crazy on fire preaching sternly and without fear but, He was a man of discipline, and strong discipline at that. One things that made Paul very annoyed was when Mark had jumped ship when Paul and Barnabas were on their first missionary trip, one thing I believe it was is because Mark was still a rather young man but it was because of the lack of discipline that he had (which as Mark grew into a man Paul accepted him... 2 Timothy 4:11). If you read the scriptures, it says “Paul went to the synagogue and taught there…” meaning that he knew that there was a place for it. In the early church when Christianity was still recognized by Roman authority as still apart of Judaism (which was a legal religion), Paul was by governing law allowed to teach, but many Jews did not accept him and threw him out, but He was still legally allowed to teach. My point is, He taught in synagogues and preaching in synagogues and within closed homes, he didn’t hit up the closest target and scream out “REPENT!!! JESUS IS THE KING, NOT YOUR LAW!!!” Also, all of Paul’s epistles were to rebuke and discipline the churches that he had planted in the name of the Lord. Even John the Baptist and Jesus Himself did say these things, BUT in the culture in which they lived this was proper to teach/preach/prophesied outside, unlike our culture in America today, so to solve this, we can set up outreaches that people already know that preaching and teaching of the Word is going to happen so it is not thrown in someones face. Many of our early church fathers strictly and sternly disciplined the newly labeled believers called “Christians”, to teach them about the life and ministry of Christ; also that it wasn’t just stuck in time, but that He is beyond time and that He is coming back and that we need to turn from our wicked ways and seek the light for He is in the light. So we see a balance between Radical Extremism and Empty Religiousism, which I stand for as well.....Disciplined Orthodoxy.



Discipline is a NEEDED requirement for Christians. First off, it is a fruit of the Spirit and secondly because if we are just running around in an undisciplined way of life, we are living in rebellion to God by means of a rebellious spirit....sounds like Jezebel doesn't it? Even 1 Samuel 15:23a "For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry." We need to live in discipline because we are not getting anything done for the Kingdom we are just loose cannons. We tend to think of God as 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 says and how we equate this to God's love for us, but it should also be our love for God as well, we should be patient with God (as God is with us stated in 2 Peter 3:9 ) we should be kind to God when things don't go our way....and so on and so forth. But then in Revelation 3:19 it states "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent," so we should imitate God and show discipline in ourselves and teach others discipline with Scripture as 2 Timothy 3:16 states “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” One thing that radical extremists (or ‘weird Christians’) say when they are preparing something to speak about is “I’m not going to prepare something at all, but I am going to be led by the Holy Spirit”, WRONG! This is a very wrong approach and is not what is implied when the word says, Mark 13:11, “Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit” but this verse is talking about when you are throne in prison and persecuted because of your faith in Christ Jesus. Now, I do believe that if life is busy for a short time and that you do need to preach something and you don’t know what to talk about, I do believe the Lord will fill in that gap, but to live like this is very undisciplined (which is the rebellious spirit) and very unbiblical. Furthermore, this is a very ungodly attribute because He knows what to say before He says it, so we should imitate Him. But what I am not saying is that we need to fill the entire time up that we have as well, believe that we need to fill it up with the entire message that we feel on our heart to send out, and leave room for the Spirit to move as well, a balance.



A review from www.newcreation.org says about the book entitled Running the Race By John Dunn says, “The idea of sell-control or self-discipline is almost foreign to our culture. This attitude has invaded the church to such an extent that many Christians have no sense of the urgent need for holiness of life and genuine discipleship. Behind this shortcoming there often lies a low view of the grace of God and a shallow understanding of the wonder of his forgiveness.” This discipline that it is talking about is discipleship rather than crazy Christianity. Another review from the same website says “…is a call to Christians to get back to biblical basics in the areas of personal self-discipline, holy living, being Disciples of Christ and having right goals. It looks at the necessity for a consistent walk with the Lord in Bible study, prayer, worship and living in the Spirit. The author urges readers to take seriously the dire necessity to bring one's mind, body and conduct under the authority of Scripture. This affects all areas of living including our attitude to work, the use of time and money, and right conduct within our relationships. Christian self-discipline is shown to be fundamental not only to a right perspective on life here and now, but pivotal in setting our goals so that we will be in step with God's ultimate intention to bring us into glory as His sons and daughters who reflect the character of His Son.” Discipline is in all aspects of life rather than just our Christian walk, we are always living with the authority of God over us rather than us saying we have authority but so many times we don’t acknowledge the one who really has the authority over us because only God is sovereign and we are subject to Him.



Some verses on Christian order are listed in 1 Corinthians 14:26-40. I want to emphasize the verse 40 though, it states, “But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.” The example I used before, screaming “Jesus, That’s my king!” inside of Wal-Mart is not fitting and especially is not order. Paul would have had a fit with many of these “Christian weirdo’s.” Proverbs 12:1 "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, be he who hates correction is stupid." Proverbs 12:15, "That way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advise." Also, 10:17 "He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray." But like my dad used to always say, "I discipline you because I love you, if I let you do whatever you wanted then you would know I don't care about you because I wouldn't stop you from hurting yourself." (compare statement to Revelation 3:19 )



We as Christians have authority in heaven, yes, but running around like a loose cannon is 1, very dangerous and 2, is not showing that we really belong to God because the fruit of His Spirit is self-discipline is it not? His word says in 2 Corinthians 5:20, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us…..” again in Ephesians 5:1, “Be imitators of God, therefore as dearly loved children” and once more in Philippians 2:5 “Your attitude should be the same that of Christ Jesus.” Jesus did do some things that seemed unorthodox but He was a much disciplined man and He knew the true spirit behind the law. Disciplined does not mean a "religious spirit" is over us either, as some extremists may and very well might say to you when you speak to them on disciplined Christianity. First of, where do people come off saying "you have a religious spirit" anyway? Does not the Bible say in James 1:27 "Religion that God our Fathher accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after oprphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" I want everyone to notice something at the very beginning of the verse though, "Religion that God our Father accepts" meaning that God accepts religion. It is empty religion that our Father does not accept and is worthless as the previous verse states. The difference between empty religion and disciplined orthodoxy is that empty religion is forced worship and there is no heart in it, no love, it is not a choice. Disciplined Orthodoxy rather is you are crazy on fire for God, but not acting uncivilized and undignified in the wrong times, there is a time and place for that and as I stated before, in the middle of Wal-Mart is not the time and place for that, but at a huge move of the Spirit within a church body (not necessarily the 4 walls of a church). This also does not mean that you can jump and hang from chandeliers within your church because you “felt the ‘Spirit’ move you to do so…” but as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14:40 “…fittingly and order.” Remember, 2 Corinthians 11:14 "And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light." So we must use discernment because as Jesus said in Matthew 24:24 " For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect." So even spirit filled people can be deceived, so we must use wisdom. But do not worry, James 1:5 says " If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."



We need to set fire to our hearts, and not contain it at all as empty religiousism held down by a "religious spirit" as some call it, but I like to state it as what it just is.....complacency. This is why we need to show a focused and disciplined mindset that shows the nature of God rather than a radical extremist who only has a plan for the moment and has no set smaller goals to achieve larger goals and we need to earn greatness rather than fame. So, discipline is a great thing, and it doesn't always mean we have done something wrong, it is showing that the Lord is training us to be 100% in accordance with His vision; He is training us to be more like Him, but to be more like ourselves....His design for ourselves. We have set ourselves so “apart of the world” that the world cannot influence us, but if the world can’t touch us, how can we touch the world? Christ did say that “we are not of this world” but He also did say “that even though they are not of this world, they are still in the world” and that is why He was praying in John chapter 17 for our protection from the evil one. We need to keep order within ourselves, be a gentile to the gentile (not doing their acts, but living orderly among them as they live orderly) and we need to influence the world not by our craziness or our Jesus t-shirts, but by the glowing of God’s glory from our face, His love from our hearts and His order in our minds. Titus 2:10 says it PERFECTLY "...so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive." We must make the teaching of Jesus Christ attractive to the world, not compromising holiness but not using force either. And this is only done with a motivation of love.



basically, have the passion that you would be willing to scream from the top of your lungs, but with self-control not to so you can "...so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive" Titus 2:10 (NIV) not meaning to be seeker-sensitive, but to show order and self-control....one of the fruits of the Spirit! We do need a passion to be able to shout it from the mountain tops, and use self-control because as 1 Corinthians 10:23 "Everything is permissible' - but not everything is benificial, 'Everything is permissible' but not everything is constructive" so we need to use self-control. As my good friend Chris Davis said one day, "Unbridled passion is cause for concern, but passion controlled is beauty at its best," very true, expresses Christ's heart for order and togetherness in His bride!



Now, if some have fallen on the empty religiousism horn, pray for passion. That God may stir your heart to movement, that you do not fall under what Jesus said in Matthew 7:21,23 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' But let us not fall into the other horn of the argument of Radical Extremism so that we are attractive to unbelievers as Titus 2:10 has stated. We must not be seeker sensitive but also not overbearing, we must not be crazy christian weirdos but we must not be pew fillers but have no heart for Christ to spread His truth and do nothing to stand up for Him when attacked. We must have a disciplined mindset, because that is what is truly orthodox.



Finally, remember just because the Bible says that we are a "peculiar people" doesn't mean that gives us an excuse to be a bunch of weirdos.