Does the Christian life require discipline or can we live like we did before we were saved?
Life is about discipline. Discipline is what molds, shapes and directs our behavior. Self-discipline is a useful and necessary quality in life. Without it we would wander aimlessly not sure of where we are going. In high school I was a long distance runner. It required a bit of self discipline to get up every other morning at 5 a.m. to go for a five mile run, especially after a late night beforehand. Sometimes discipline comes from outside sources. I was a better runner because I had a coach who planned and directed my afternoon workouts. He was a necessary part of the equation that led to my successes on the track and cross country course.
The Christian life is also about discipline. As the Holy Spirit changes us through the Means of Grace, our lives change in how we act, perceive sin, and react toward God and godly things. St. Paul in Romans Chapter Twelve writes,
“I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will” (12:1,2) [emphasis added].
St. Paul compared the Christian life to that of an athlete in training (I Corinthians 9:24-27). He makes it clear that we discipline our selves so as to not be disqualified for the prize. No one enters into training with the idea of simply being mediocre. You train to do your very best so that you win! Similarly, God does not call us to mediocrity. We become our utmost for His highest. In fact, I challenge anyone to find in the Scriptures a place where God calls us to lackluster performance rather than to give Him our best. I challenge anyone to find a verse that calls us to remain the same, unchanged sinner we were before the gift of the Holy Spirit. You will not find it. As St. Paul tells the Ephesians, God calls you “to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (4:1).
Like with all things concerning our faith, we are thankfully not left to our own devices. If our salvation or even the maintaining of our faith were to be dependent upon our own effort or our self-discipline we would find ourselves in a whole bunch of trouble fast. Faith, its beginnings, its being sustained and its growth, are the work of the Holy Spirit. Just as with an athlete who needs the outside discipline of a good coach, we need discipline from the outside for our faith to be and to grow.
While the coach/athlete analogy is far from perfect it does highlight the fact that we are better off with an outside source of discipline than without one. Scripture highlights this fact when the author of the Letter to the Hebrews writes “The Lord disciplines those he loves.” In Proverbs we find similar verses. It is written that “the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” Christ Himself adds to this when He says in Revelation, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.”
We also know that we have a God who works through means. Sometimes other people are the tools of His discipline. This is perhaps the least popular of the ways. Nobody likes to be corrected or told that they are wrong. But imaging, if you will, your parents never told you “no” when you were crowing up. What kind of person would you have become? How would you even function in normal society if you could not or would not accept correction (which is an important part of discipline) from others?
Some Christians claim that they would never tell another Christian that what they are doing is wrong. They claim that this is being “judgmental.” But how can a person change, grow, and learn from their mistakes if they are not corrected in some manner when they are wrong? This idea of not correcting one another is not supported by Scripture. In fact we are encouraged, even commanded, by the Word to aid in the disciplining of one another. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews writes, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” Timothy is given the instructions by Paul that in carrying out his pastoral duties he is to use the Word of God “for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” And St. Paul writes to the Ephesians, “It was He [Christ] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”
We correct one another, not because we think we are better the other person but out of genuine concern and love for the other person. We help in the disciplining of others because we love them. It is the same for a parent and a child. We discipline our children because we love them and our desire for them is to grow up to be good, upstanding citizens. It is as the Proverb says, “The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother (25:15).” Discipline is what helps to keep us on that narrow path of salvation that our Lord describes in Matthew Chapter 7. We correct and admonish one another in love because we want the other person to remain on that narrow path. It is truly better for another person to hear from us their error while they have time to repent and change than it is to hear of their error from our Lord after they die and it is too late for them to change.
Sadly some do not take too well to admonishment or correction, even if it is for their own good. Scripture also has something to say this subject. Many are familiar with the Proverb (1:7), “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” The Book of Proverbs is about Godly knowledge and much of it is a Book dedicated to the instruction the young in the ways of Godly wisdom. The majority of the book is written by King Solomon as instruction to his sons. Within the Book of Proverbs there are warnings against those who would not heed instruction, correction, or discipline. It is written, “He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray” (10:17)[1] and “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid (12:1) and “A foolish son brings grief to his father and bitterness to the one who bore him” (17:25 ).
Discipline is a necessary part of life. It is a necessary part of our faith life as well. When our Lord calls us by the Holy Spirit to faith in Jesus Christ we are not left to our own devices or means. God uses a variety of structures and media, even other people, to direct and guide our life between now and eternity in heaven. The Word of God is, of course, the primary means and it is delivered to us by the pastor and other teachers of the church. We also present it to one another through the proper use of the Office of the Keys and normal everyday Christian instruction, admonition, and exhortation. Without discipline there is not only chaos in our lives but the very real risk of the death of faith. Just as an athlete who ceases their training, their muscles will atrophy and weaken, so too a faith that is not exercised weakens and dies. Just as James wrote, “Faith without works is dead.” Let us then use the means God has given us to strengthen our faith so that we, too, may run the race as to gain the prize and let us heed the correction/discipline of others as they help us live a life worthy of the calling we have in Jesus Christ.
[1]This verse, among others, highlights the need for purity in doctrine in the church. Jesus repeatedly warned of the false doctrine of the Pharisees and St. Paul of false teachers. False doctrine, whether it is realized or not, is one of the most dangerous things in the church. Those who teach false doctrine and refuse to be corrected will, as this proverb says, lead people astray. Christ has some pretty strong words for those who lead His children astray in Matthew 18. He declared it would be better for them to have a millstone tied around their neck and be thrown into the depths of the ocean. Church discipline, which is not the real topic of this article, is not just for people who “do something really bad” in our eyes. People who refuse to take correction over false doctrine or refuse to be corrected for sinful living are sometimes removed from the congregation for two reasons. One is in the hope that removal will, literally, put the fear of God into them and they would then repent of their sin and amend their sinful life. The other is as this verse from Proverbs indicates: They will by their error encourage others to follow them in their error and sin. Church discipline is designed to protect the congregation from sin and error. “Is false doctrine really that bad?” one might be led to ask. Well if Christ deemed it so, shouldn’t we? This is why pastors (and other church workers) and officers take a pledge vowing to uphold and teach nothing but pure Lutheran doctrine as taught by the Scriptures and explained in the confessions when they are installed. Doctrine is that important.