DISCIPLINE
F. C. Mutton
Ephesians 6: 1–4; Matthew 13: 51, 52; 1 Corinthians 11: 28–32; 1 Chronicles 25: 1, 2, 6, 7
We were considering Proverbs at home on Wednesday in our reading and were struck by a verse in chapter 12, “Whoso loveth discipline loveth knowledge” (Proverbs 12: 1). We were impressed by that and I desire help from the Lord to speak about discipline. Discipline has many aspects and we begin at the beginning in Ephesians 6 with parental discipline. I looked up this word discipline here and it is a special word in Greek that means the discipline of young people or children. All these scriptures relate to the education and training either of young persons or older ones, right up to education for the service of God. There must be a link because this is Ephesians (and we have today looked at some of those rich and glorious sections in the earlier chapters). This letter is one whole and you will not get to chapter 3 if you skip the discipline in chapter 6. Now discipline has also the sense of chastening, but that is not so prominent here. It does come into the scripture in 1 Corinthians, but if you speak of a school where there is discipline it does not mean that the headmaster is always using the cane, even if he is permitted to have one nowadays! It means, normally and best, if there is an atmosphere of control, that when the headmaster or a teacher walks in, there is silence.
I do not know whether it is like that these days, but that is discipline. That may or may not prevail in schools, but discipline should prevail in the Christian home.
I had better admit that I have used this scripture recently elsewhere, but I feel I should return to it because it is of basic importance—“And ye fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord”. That is a certain special kind of discipline and admonition. This is the father’s responsibility, although I do not doubt mother shares in it. Paul puts it here squarely on the fathers and a father who has children has a tremendous responsibility—and tremendous privilege too of course. Does not the psalm say, “Happy is the man that hath filled his quiver with them” (Psalm 127: 5)? There are some full quivers in this locality, but the joy and privilege carries a very heavy responsibility that those children should be brought up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord. It clearly does not all rest with the fathers because verse 1 is, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord”, and verse 2 is, “Honour thy father and thy mother”.
Now these things lie at the very foundation of practical Christianity. We read earlier in 1 Chronicles 28: 12, 13 about those chambers round about the house. Now that is your house and mine—or should be; very close to the assembly. What goes on in them? I am not for a moment seeking to be critical. I am only raising questions, because those priests’ houses were right alongside the house and therefore you would find, I am sure, the discipline and admonition of the Lord prevailing in them. They are a bulwark to the assembly and if things that need to be stopped are not stopped in the household, they will come into the assembly.
It is the first line of protection. If you get the world in your house then the next thing is that it is in the assembly. In another sense if it is in your house it is in the assembly already. So how important our houses are and there should be one standard, one standard. It is not that you have one standard of discipline and I have another. This is the discipline and admonition of the Lord. This word discipline, then, means the training of children, the training of young people according to the Lord’s will. It must relate to what we have been considering earlier.
God’s husbandry, God’s building, but the fathers are working in line with God, encouraging what is suitable to Him but being quite definite and firm where there are things that are not suitable to Him.
Now if we see things that are not suitable coming in amongst us through young people I do not wholly blame them—what are their parents doing? The discipline and admonition of the Lord means that you have the Lord’s authority to exercise that discipline and to give that admonition. Do not apologise about it and do not weaken in it because the Lord is on your side. I know it may be difficult, and it has to be done wisely. That is why it says here, “do not provoke your children to anger”. That does nothing helpful, does it? It does harm; but I think the discipline and admonition of the Lord will bring not only authority but grace and conviction with it. I do not want to particularise too much, but, dear brethren, I would assert—if it needs asserting, and maybe it does—the great importance of this in the Christian household. Your household is there to protect the assembly and to protect the rights of the Lord.
So Paul says, “Ye fathers”. He turns to them. You imagine this letter being read in Ephesus ‘Ye fathers’. They would sit up and listen, would they not? They would think, ‘This is something for us now’. Each one would have thought, ‘What about my household?’; and I would say very respectfully and affectionately to fathers. Make sure your household is controlled in relation to the discipline of the Lord. You see, the world is pressing at our doors all the time, and in more and more ways. If the enemy cannot get in at the back door he will get in through the front door, or the window.
Now there are things that do cause concern, are there, not? Tendencies sometimes in dress, tendencies in the wearing of jewellery. Are these things of the Lord? Are they? Who are they meant to please? The Lord? The brethren? Myself? May we each be concerned about these things. I would not speak thus if there was not precise and direct scripture bearing on these matters and others. So if I transgress I am going against the manifest and clearly stated will of the Lord as to what suits Him. I would not for a moment speak harshly, but I would desire to speak firmly because here is the scripture, “the discipline and admonition of the Lord”. May the beloved young people realize that parental discipline is for their benefit. The Lord gives an illustration of a vineyard that was fenced for its protection, and your father is part of a protective fence in your interests, for your safety. Do not break that fence down. Do not go behind his back in any way. He is keeping that fence up, not to rob you of anything that is worthwhile, but to protect you from what would damage you, and to keep you for the Lord, according to the Lord’s own tastes and standards. This relates to what we speak of as the kingdom of God and if we are right there, we are ready for the assembly.
In our next scripture in Matthew 13 there is another kind of discipline and—it brings in the closely related thought of discipleship. You see, a person who is subject to discipline will become a disciple, which means an instructed person. Discipline is a very important thing. I expect all the young people here have seen the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, which is an example of amazing discipline.
One word of command and a large company of men act as one in absolute unison; that is, discipline. You say, That is the army. Yes, but Paul speaks to Timothy as to being a good soldier of Jesus Christ, does he not? So the military idea is not absent. I do like that expression of the centurion who said to the Lord, “For I also am a man under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say to this one, Go, and he goes”, (Matthew 8: 9). That is discipline, and every servant of the Lord ought to be disciplined to do the Lord’s will and say what the Lord gives him to say. May it be, though, with grace and in humility.
Well, this is how we became disciplined to the kingdom of the heavens. In Matthew 13 the Lord had been, teaching and in verse 51 he says, “Have ye understood all these things? They say to him, Yea, Lord”. There had been some beautiful teaching about the treasure and the pearl and then a very searching piece of teaching in verse 47, “Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like a seine which has been cast into the sea, and which has gathered together of every kind, which, when it has been filled, having drawn up on the shore ... they gathered the good into vessels and cast the worthless out”. That is searching ministry about good things and worthless things, and they are being sorted out. They are going to be in a future day, the Lord says, but they need to be sorted out now—the worthless things in my life or yours. Can you think of a few? They are worthless things, and the Lord says in this teaching “they gathered the good into vessels and cast the worthless out”. They just threw them out. Well, the Lord wants you and me to do that. He wants you to be disciplined to the kingdom, to be, in that sense, severe on yourself, and if there is something worthless, still more if there is something sinful, that you are attracted to or going on with, to cast it out. Well, I do not need to apply the word, but may the Lord apply it. Let us learn to cast out what is worthless. That is a drastic expression.
Now the Lord is obviously greatly concerned that they should understand His teaching and He asks them, “Have ye understood all these things? They say to him, Yea, Lord”. The Lord takes them at their word and gives them encouragement and says, “For this reason every scribe discipled to the kingdom of the heavens is like a man that is a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old”. Well, a scribe is a careful man. Writing involves care.
So let us take care as to the truth. If we have received impressions today let us be careful; let us take them to the Lord so that we do not fail to get the gain and benefit of them. Thus we become discipled to the kingdom of the heavens. We become taught and instructed and we also get something else, we get a treasury. There were treasuries around the house that we read about earlier. It is a lovely thing that you and I can have a treasury. I suppose most of the brothers have a wallet and they can pull a few notes out. Have you got a spiritual wallet?
Have you a treasury out of which you can bring spiritual things both new and old? You should have. We ought to get richer and richer as we grow up—we really should; and we should be concerned about this.
The Lord sets it before us here that we should be kingdom persons, “a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old”. Do not be afraid of the old things. You can think of well-known scriptures. You may have had impressions of them for years and years, and they are always usable. Oh, we thank God for the old treasures, treasures you might say from Paul, from the other apostles, and from many other servants of the Lord. We have quoted them today, things new and old. The new have priority, and it is lovely when the Lord gives us something new. It does not mean that it is a fresh revelation from heaven, but the Spirit takes of those infinite depths of God and brings them to us and they come into our treasury.
Now, young brother, you are to be in the reading meetings as having a treasury and you are to be able to bring things out of your treasury. That is what it is for. Your treasure is not just for your own personal enrichment. No, it is to be traded with and utilised and circulated in the assembly. Now, if you are sitting in a reading (I am talking to brothers of responsible age) and you have an impression and you hold it back, I am afraid you are robbing me and you are robbing the saints. The Lord wants you to put that bit of treasure into circulation, and for some reason you are withholding it. May we get the idea that we are set together in mutual concern and ministration. Your treasure is mine, and if I have anything, that should be yours.
Paul speaks of the working of the body and its self-building up in love (Ephesians 4: 16), and he speaks there of the working in its measure of each one part. Well, may we be like this householder who has a treasure and the Spirit helps him to bring out what is needed, something maybe he has enjoyed for years; that is all right, provided it comes out freshly. It may be something he has never fully appreciated or understood before, but out it comes; he brings it out. That is to be noted, “who brings out”. Now I would lay this especially upon young men. Are you concerned to bring out things? This is the Lord’s word. It is all right to have it, very precious to have it, but bring it out and the Lord will help you, and the Spirit will strengthen you, to make what you have available to the saints. Do it selflessly.
Do not think of what others will think, whether they will think you forward or backward, or anything else. Do it as the Lord would give you indication and opportunity.
Now when we come to Corinthians it is a very sobering matter in chapter 11. The Supper was being desecrated in Corinth. What was actually happening, as this chapter shows, was that the brethren were bringing their own meal, and Mr. Taylor once put it that they would sit down with their special friends and have their own private meal. Paul says, ‘That is not the Lord’s supper’, and he very powerfully puts this matter right. He puts the Supper in its own distinctive and separate place. Another has said, in this same connection, that one of the most baneful things among the saints is special friendships. The Corinthians would bring their meal, we will say to the meeting room, and one would say, ‘Ah, there are my friends. We will sit down in a little bunch in the corner and have our meal’. And there would be another little party over there, and another one there. What a dreadful thing! That was Mr. Taylor’s word, ‘special friendships are a bane among us’. He said that many years ago. Maybe it still applies.
Do you know what Mr. Raven said? He said, ‘I have no friends’. What did he mean by it? I am sure he meant that he had no closer link with any brother than with any other brother. I know you might be able to share more in a spiritual sense with some than with others, but he said, ‘I have no friends’. I am not charging anyone, but let that word sink in among us. There are to be no special links or affinities among us; they are baneful. I say it humbly and carefully, but if these things are among us, and continue, they rob the Supper of its glory and distinction as we sit down together to remember the Lord.
So Paul says, “But, let a man prove himself”. As we have often been reminded, he does not say, ‘Let a man prove himself and stay away’, but rather, “Let a man prove himself, and thus eat of the bread, and drink of the cup”. Well, I would just stress the importance of this, that we may learn to prove ourselves. Some were not doing so in Corinth and therefore many were weak and infirm, and indeed a good many were fallen asleep. But Paul says, “But, if we judged ourselves, so were we not judged”. That is to say, if I judge myself, the brethren will not need to judge me, and the Lord will not need to judge me; the thing is finished. But if I do not judge myself the Lord will have to judge me. So he says, “But being judged, we are disciplined of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world”. Now that is another kind of discipline. There is a certain severity in this and I would take it to myself, and may we all do so. If I judge myself then I am not judged. But if I have neglected to judge myself, I come under the Lord’s discipline. These are very sober things; so may we prove ourselves, daily, constantly. I do not think “But let a man prove himself” is just Saturday night, although I think Saturday night ought to be a time when we prepare ourselves for the first day of the week. “But let a man prove himself” is to be a constant exercise so that we may be pleasing to the Lord, acceptable to Him, and be able to break bread rightly.
The scripture we read in 1 Chronicles 25 is in a sense a more congenial one to speak about because its setting is entirely normal and positive, and it relates to the glorious service of God. David was preparing for that service. It says in verse 1, “And David and the captains of the host separated
for the service those of the sons of Asaph and of Heman and of Jeduthun ...”. They were separated for it. They were sanctified persons. Let us ask ourselves. Are we separated for the service of God? Do we regard that as our greatest privilege? Do we keep ourselves? Do we watch our steps, watch our pathways, watch our time and our pursuits so that we may be separated for the service of God? What a surpassing privilege, that you and I should be taken up, as were these great and holy men, to praise and bless and worship our God.
Now it was a wonderful service; they were to prophesy with harps and lutes and cymbals. I do not think it relates only to what flows out of the Supper. It would include the ministry meeting and other meetings. I think perhaps the most attractive thought of prophecy is musical prophecy that would allure the saints in relation to divine Persons and in relation to the truth. Now it says in verse 6, “All these”, that is, these singers and players, “were under the direction of (or ‘at the hand’ of) their fathers Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman, for song in the house of Jehovah, with cymbals, lutes and harps, for the service of the house of God”, and then notice, “under the direction of the king”. The number of them with their brethren was two hundred and eighty-eight, and then you get all their names.
I wonder if your name is in this list today, the up-to-date list. Could your name be included among those who are separated for the service of God?—holy persons, righteous persons, unworldly persons. We have been impressed with the absolute holiness of the house of God, His palace, His dwelling, the habitation of God in Spirit. You and I have the supreme privilege of being numbered among those who serve Him in His own dwelling. Are you and I taking up that privilege? Are our robes, our habiliments, our circumstances, our associations, suitable so that we can be free for the glorious service of God?
But the link with my theme, if I may put it that way, is this thought of direction and of being instructed. You see, there is the idea of discipleship—teaching, instruction, training. We do need it for the service of God. This was a most skilful service. I know you young people learn instruments at school—recorders, violins, trumpets; now one discordant note wrecks the whole thing, does it not? I suppose in no area is instruction and training more required than in music, and these persons were “instructed in the songs of Jehovah”. All of them were skilful; they were under the direction of their fathers, and under the direction of the king. How wonderfully the service of God is controlled! Yet it is spontaneous, free, and happy. Thank God for the instruction we have had in relation to the service of God. Reference was made earlier to Mr. Taylor’s ministry, a remarkable ministry from the Lord over fifty years or so, to impart instruction, skill, order and intelligence all of it underlain if it is to mean anything, by affection—in relation to the service of God.
May I be able to leave the impression that nothing is greater than this, that we should be before our God for His own pleasure. Think of divine labour and expenditure that it might be so. Think of the blood. Think of the cross. Think of the work of Christ and the Spirit all through the dispensation. Think of the declaration of God by the only-begotten Son who is in the Father’s bosom. Is there to be an answer to it? You and I are called to that. The name of one of the men in chapter 15 was Chenaniah (1 Chronicles 15: 22). It says he “gave instruction in the music”; he apparently was especially equipped for that; so teaching enters into it. I would encourage the young men to be exercised to be in liberty, to get some impression as the meeting goes on that a certain hymn or contribution is needed. The Lord will help you. He will instruct you and guide you. He is very interested in your desire to fit in with the brethren in what relates to the service of God and the assembly. You will also prove the Spirit’s help. These people were sons, sons of Asaph and of Heman and of Jeduthun, and so on. It would be a very happy form of instruction to be under your father’s influence. That should be the atmosphere in our localities; instruction, certainly; skill, certainly; but also affectionate relationships among the saints, and all with a view to this glorious service being enriched and perfected.
I would just say this as a kind of appendix. A brother remarked in our local reading that discipline relates also to our ordinary circumstances—the discipline of catching the 7:45 train and of working at the office or factory for certain hours; and to what housewives have to do, the drudgery, the toil, the monotony maybe; the washing, the cooking, the cleaning. These things are in themselves a kind of discipline, are they not? Then there is the discipline of study that the young people know about. You would rather be doing something else, but you have got to get down to it. Now I think all these things are to be accepted as from the Lord for our education and training. They help to curb our natural tendencies. They help to keep us in dependence as we go through them with the Lord, and they should help us to put first things first—to give the first place to the Lord, and to the service of God, and to value our brethren rightly. May the Lord use these rather fragmentary impressions for our blessing.
Address at Buckhurst Hill
31 December 1984