“But we command you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from any brother who lives an undisciplined life and not according to the tradition they received from us. For you know yourselves how you must imitate us, because we did not behave without discipline among you, ….Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.” 2 Thessalonians 3:6-7, 15 NET https://bible.com/bible/107/2th.3.6-15.NET

A disciple is a disciplined follower of Jesus. Discipline is a fundamental quality for success of any kind. Every goal gets accomplished through discipline. In the church, we are to encourage one another in the disciplines that lead to greater holiness and fruitfulness. What are these disciplines? Reading and studying the Scripture. When we meet, we are to share with one another the things we are learning, praying for, and applying from God’s word in our lives. Another discipline is prayer. We are to pray that we do not fall into temptation. We are to pray for God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done on the earth as it is in heaven. We are to pray for one another, for the Lord is with us when we gather for prayer, and our prayers are not without effect. We are to serve God by serving men by creating opportunities to share the gospel. We must discipline ourselves by spending more time serving God than pleasuring ourselves. Serving God can be playing with pagans, but it must be with the intention of sharing the gospel with them. The greatest love we can show our neighbor is the love of God for saving their souls from an eternity in hell. Our objective in life is to lead others to saving faith in Jesus and encouraging absolute obedience to everything He has commanded. It takes great discipline to focus first on the kingdom of God and not our own kingdoms and pleasures. Those in the church who won’t discipline themselves but continue their own pursuits are to be rebuked and not accepted, for they claim to be in Christ, so should live like Christ, unlike the pagans who don’t acknowledge Christ and so ignore living like Christ. Pagans are to see the joy and wisdom of our discipline leading them to Christ, while Christians are to be disciplined in forming His character and work in their lives.