KEY SCRIPTURE:1Ti 3:2 KJV” A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;”

In our previous discussion, we realised that the Greek meaning of the word vigilant, that is ‘nephaleous’, also means to be temperate or disciplined. Now, the very first step into a life of discipleship is through the door of discipline. Mat 16:24 KJV” Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” The Lord Jesus Himself offered His body to be slain for each of us. Our birth into Christ means we died with Him. Rom 6:3 KJV” Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ were baptised into his death?”This death with Jesus means the crucifixion of the old man or the power of sin. It is this power of sin or body of death that made us slaves to sin.
Our Lord Jesus has dealt with this power for us.

How does the work done by Jesus become beneficial to us? This becomes possible when we acknowledge that we are dead indeed unto sin Rom 6:11. It is further stated in Gal 5:24 as follows: “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” This is a decision every Christian, and for that matter, every pastor must make. He must accept that since he died with Jesus, this flesh remains dead, and so under no circumstance will its appetites and longings come first. This is what the Lord talked about when we come to follow Him; we must accept that our flesh will never rule us. Well, does this mean the Adamic or sinful nature still lives in us? Us. us.No, it was crucified with Christ, yet because we are on this earth and the flesh needs the things on the earth to survive, it would want to step beyond its limits to want to overindulge itself. It is in this light that we always remind ourselves that the flesh is crucified and dead. It is the Spirit who is our master and leaves us. ( Rom 8:9-10)

I asked a question in one of the quotations I made, that is, what on earth would make a man love that which would destroy him? This is what happens if you allow the flesh to lead you. It is when we fail to let the flesh know that it is crucified and has no right to decide or lead our actions on any matter. If this is so, you would not hide to eat when there is a group fast. When you are alone with a lady who is not your wife, you would not make any carnal advances because the flesh is crucified. When you are insulted and your ego wants to show its head, you tell it, ‘Shut up, you are dead.’When laziness seeks to rob you from praying, studying or doing any body-stressing engaging activity, you would say to yourself Body, you can not decide for me. I will commit myself to doing whatever I have decided to do.

THOUGHT: YOUR COMMITMENT TO YOUR CRUCIFIXION WITH JESUS IS YOUR ANSWER TO THE DISCIPLINED LIFE

FURTHER STUDIES

Luk 14:26 KJV “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”

Rom 6:11 KJV “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”