Pondering Proverbs – Discipline (4)

 

 

“He is on the path of life who heeds instruction, but he who ignores reproof goes astray.” Proverbs 10:17.

 

An element of learning and growing, an element of responsible teaching and instruction, is reproof, discipline, and correction. Sometimes we are going to get life right, and sometimes we’re going to get it wrong; sometimes we are going to be smart, and sometimes we’re going to be stupid – the point is to learn and grow in Christ and with one another, the point is to move in an ascending and transformative direction. Consider Proverbs 4:18 – 19:

 

“But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter  until the full day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.”

 

Those who follow Jesus Christ are known in the Bible as disciples, those who follow and are taught in the way of Jesus; and of course Jesus is our Way, He is the Way to the Father (John 14:6). The Great Commission is not about seeing how many people we can get signed- up as passengers on a cruise ship, it is about teaching people the Way of Jesus. Jesus says, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…teaching them to observe all that I commanded you” (Matt. 28:18 – 20).

 

To make disciples is to teach and mentor and serve, to be a disciple is to learn and grow and follow. Necessary elements of the way of discipleship are to heed instruction and to not ignore reproof – if we heed instruction we will be on the “path of life,” if we ignore reproof we will go astray.

 

In our society we often equate instruction with acquiring data and information, but this is not what the Bible means when it speaks of instruction. Biblical instruction is not about being able to compete in a Bible trivia game (how can anything in the Bible be trivial?). Biblical instruction is about learning to live in the Way of Christ, it is about knowing Christ in and through His Word, it is about sharing life with one another in Christ, it is about experiencing the Word of God sacramentally – to the point that we partake of the Divine Nature through the promises of His Word (2 Peter 1:4).

 

We might say that Biblical instruction is holistic – it forms our hearts, minds, souls, and spirits; it touches and transforms the whole person into the image of Jesus Christ – and it does so not only individually, but as the People of God. Without transformation into the image of Jesus Christ we do not have Biblical instruction – we might have a transfer of information, it may be a data dump, but it is not true Biblical instruction.

 

Religious consumerism generally does not have “reproof,” which is a critical element of Biblical instruction. It does not have reproof because we want to feel good all the time. To play off a popular “Christian” mantra, “We want to feel good all the time, and all the time we want to feel good.”

 

I recall, shortly after coming to a new parish, meeting with a member of the congregation who was engaged in thinking and behavior extremely detrimental to herself and her family. At one point in our discussion she said to me, “I didn’t think pastors were supposed to have conversations like this with their parishioners.” I’m sure her comment reflects the thinking of most Christians, but consider Paul’s words to Timothy:

 

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training [discipline] in righteousness…” (2 Tim. 3:16).

 

If the Word of God is active in my life, then I will receive reproof and correction and discipline through the Word – both as I meditate and study the Word, and as the Body of Christ shares the Word with me…and in doing so I will travel the “path of life” and not go astray.

 

This, my friends, is about becoming mature men and women in Jesus Christ – it is about learning to mentor and teach others as our Way of Life, it is about moving from Christian consumerism, which is all about us and which lacks discipline and reproof, to life being all about Jesus Christ and others, submitting to Christ and His Word and to one another in the reverent fear of God (Eph. 5:21).

 

As we ponder Proverbs 10:17, what does our journey on the path of life look like today?