Discipline is a form of control using punishment and reward. It is a way of giving someone or group of people towards the accepted form of behaviour.

The Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary defines discipline as the practice of training people to obey instructions and punishing them if they do not.

Discipline is highly rewarding, in that it makes a person easily fit into any organisation. A disciplined mind is at peace with itself.

For any Organisation or Institution like a Country or Church to succeed, it needs a high level of discipline to be in place. Lawlessness and nonchalant behaviour constitute a big problem in the wheel of progress of any civilised society. In the light of that, discipline becomes an imperative in such social or spiritual institutions like government agencies, religious groups, schools, military institutions, business environment, etc.

The unfortunate but frequent cases of indiscipline in many of the aforementioned Institutions including the church today, is the bane of our development today, both as a nation and as a church. The word Discipline has over the years disappeared from the vocabulary and practices of our leaders, most often because most of the leaders in government and church are themselves, product of gross indiscipline and corruption, hence the ripple effects of such moral decadence flow down to the followership, and thus, we all are witnesses to the overwhelming negative consequences.

What is most appalling of the situation is the high level of ‘church/Christians’ involvement in this dilemma. We have not been able to distinguish ourselves from the crowd, we now have many churches today where ‘everything goes’. Rather than the church teaching the world the way, the world seems to be the one teaching the church and the church is steadily following, in many of our denominations today. In the letter of Christ to the seven churches in Asia Minor, the message to the church in Laodicea was the worst, because it was filled with rebuke, no commendation.

Like many of the churches today, Laodicea church was rich and had acquired wealth, but not in spiritual sense. They claimed not to need anything. Laodicea was a wealthy commercial city and as such, the church resembled the society around them.

Christ reminded them that they were wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. In the book of Revelation, the Lord demonstrated four areas of need in the church at Laodicea and I strongly believe it is also apt for the church of today to take a cue from the observations as follows: i. They had lost their vigor (vv 16-17), ii. They had lost their values (vv 17-18a), iii. They had lost their vision (v 18b), iv. They had lost their virtue (vv 17-22).

These Christians thought they were clothed in splendour whereas, they were indeed naked. To be naked means, to be defeated and humiliated (2 Sam 10:4, Isaiah 20:1-4).

The Lord closed their letter with three special statements – first an explanation “As many as I Love, I rebuke and chasten” (Rev 3:17a). He still loved these lukewarm saints, even though their love for Him had grown cold. He planned to chasten them as a proof of His love (Prov. 3:11; Heb 12:5-6). God permits churches to go through times of trial, so that they might become what He wants them to be.

Secondly, an exhortation: “Be zealous therefore and repent” (Rev 3:19b). The church in Laodicea, like that of Nigeria today needed to repent of their pride and humble themselves before the Lord. They had to stir up that inner life (2 Tim 1:6) and cultivate a burning heart.

Thirdly, an invitation (Rev 3:20-22). We often use these verses to lead lost people to Christ, but the basic application is to us the believers – the Lord was outside the church! He spoke to the individual ‘if any man’ –and not the whole congregation; He appealed to the small remnant in Sardis (Rev 3:4-5) and now He appeals to the individual.

The thrust of this edition is an attempt to remind the church today, not to make the mistake of thinking that the Laodicean church and the condition that made it earn the rebuke of Christ is constrained to the past. The church epitomises a self indulgent, self serving church – a church that had declared ‘Independence’ of Christ via a coup. This unfortunately, characterises some of the churches in Nigeria and indeed the world today. We ought to always remember that if God has blessed us so much and we end up worshipping created things rather than the Creator, we are in the world of the Laodicean church.

It is my utmost prayer that as you flip through the pages of this edition, you will yield the Lord’s discipline and return to the path of honour, to the glory of the Lord. Amen.