Title: Olympians Respect God’s Discipline
Text: Hebrews 12:5-11
The Big Idea: Spiritual Olympians, with a “go for the goal” mindset, respect God’s discipline.
Series: Spiritual Olympians: Going for the Goal, is based on Hebrews 12:1-13 and designed to coincide with the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, August 8 – 24 and beyond. It is a series developed from Go for the Goal: Become a Spiritual Champion, Mainstay Ministries.
Introduction
The 400 Meter is called a “dash” race. The 400 Meter is, in my estimation, the most grueling of races. Clyde Hart, Head Track and Field Coach at Baylor University says the 400 Meter “incorporates the speed of the sprinter and the endurance of the half miler.” The Olympian who runs the 400 Meter race has to train so as to be able to maintain superior speed over a longer distance. A sprinter dashes down the track in the 100 Meter… the 400 Meter runner maintains the 100 meter dash effort for 400 meters. It is an extremely gutsy race.
“The 400 meters is an oxygen-deficient event… proper training will help the athlete learn to deal with the stress that they will face toward the end of the 400 meter run. We know that severe exercising imposes great stress on the body, and it must learn to adapt to this stress or it will break down. We also know that when the body is gradually put under stress, it will do whatever is necessary for its own well being to adjust to this new environment. When an organism is conditioned to the stress of athletic competition, it will be able to perform in that environment when called upon.” (Clyde Hart, Head Track and Field Coach, Baylor University)
Let’s watch Sanya Richards’ body is able to adjust to the extreme stress of the race she has prepared for.
Play YouTube Video of Sanya Richards
Because of copy right laws, we could not show you the film clip from the 2008 Olympics where we saw the outcome of the rigors and discipline of that kind of training when the USA Women’s 4X400 Meter Relay team ran in Beijing. Perhaps you saw it when Sanya Richards received the baton to anchor the final leg of the race, she was well behind the Russian runner who continued to lead for the next 300 meters. Then down the final stretch Richards closed the gap and won the Gold Medal for the US Team… an incredible demonstration of speed and endurance that can happen only when one has submitted to the rigors of athletic discipline or training.
The text begins with the thought that what we are about to unpack is intended to be of encouragement to us.
1. Spiritual Olympians do not make light of God’s discipline.
Have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you, his children? “My son, do not make light of (ignore) the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart (be discouraged) when he rebukes (corrects) you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son (his children).” 12:5-6
The first thing necessary is that we understand what the term discipline means. The text refers to both discipline and punishment… we commonly think of discipline as the execution of punishment. Certainly, chastisement or punishment is a part of discipline… but the primary understanding of this text is not that of a God who whips or beats us when we do bad things.
The concept of discipline has its roots in the image of training children. Discipline is about instructing, correcting, training, nurturing, and encouraging the child so that he or she grows up to be a good person who is equipped for life.
It is the same concept expressed in II Timothy 3:16-17, only it is applied to all adults believers as well, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God’s way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.”
a. Do not ignore discipline.
The first word of encouragement regarding the discipline in our lives is that we are not to ignore it. When we are experiencing challenging circumstances that are of the process of developing our character and Christ likeness… the last thing we want to do is treat the experience lightly, disregard it, or think it unimportant. We are to view our experiences as meaningful and important in our spiritual development. Failure to pay attention to our circumstances is to belittle the significance of what God is doing.
Illustration: Every parent who has ever raised a child knows what it feels like when a child does not listen when he or she is being admonished or instructed. This text is God’s way of placing himself directly in front of us, placing his hand under our chins, lifting the our faces until there is direct eye contact, and then saying, “This is important. Look at me and listen to me.”
The second thing we are told regarding God’s discipline is that we are not to be discouraged by it.
b. Do not be discouraged by discipline.
The expression, “my son” or “my child” underscores what follows regarding discipline as something that comes from a superior, i.e., parent or authority figure, but caring person. The purpose of discipline is not to discourage but to encourage and build up. Moments of discipline in our lives are not to beat us down and destroy us… we receive those moments as from a loving parent whose only care is for our good.
The second important word of encouragement is that it is to our benefit to submit to the rigors of discipline.
2. Spiritual Olympians submit to discipline because it is for our good.
Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we (cheerfully) submit to the Father of our spirits and live (forever)! Our fathers disciplined us for a while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good (God’s discipline is always right and good), that we may share in his holiness. 12:7-10
Verse 7 reminds us that as we endure God’s discipline we are to keep a couple of things in mind:
a. We are to regard all hardship as from the Lord.
b. We are to regard all hardship as proof that we are children of God.
Last week we spent the weekend in a Baymont Inn Suites in Boone, Iowa with our family. The Baymont people have a nice continental breakfast, which is an essential for our brood. The breakfast area was filled with parents and their children, except for one table in the middle of the room, where five 8 year-old boys were eating… alone and unsupervised. They were making waffles at the counter. Batter was everywhere. They were opening the waffle iron to check their waffles. Half-baked waffles were sticking to the iron while the unbaked half plopped onto the counter. They had bowls of cereal. They got a gallon of milk from the refrigerator and passed it around, sloshing cereal out of the bowls. They all decided they wanted some chocolate milk so they got chocolate milk which one of the boys promptly spilled. It ran across the table and puddled on the floor. When they left the room they filled their pockets with mini-muffins and left the area looking like someone had dropped a bomb on their table.
They were not being bad boys. They were 8 year old boys in every way. They just needed some parental supervision. Where were the parents? No one among us dared intervene… in our culture you do not discipline another person’s children unless you wish to incur the wrath of that parent and a potential law suit.
I know I am simplifying things here and that it would seem that those around had not concern for the boys… but the fact of the matter is, they were not my children.
If God ignores us and if hardship is not part of our life experience… it is not a good sign. The fact that God does not ignore us and that God does allow hardship to come into our lives and the fact that God does discipline us is proof that we are his children.
Jewish historian Jerome once said, “The greatest anger of all is when God is not longer angry with us.” By that he meant, there may be a point at which God leaves us alone and regards us as unteachable. (William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible, Hebrews, P. 179)
In our penal system, when a person is regarded as incorrigible there is no longer any effort given to the molding of character… the incorrigible are simply removed from society, locked up, and left to themselves.
So we regard hardship as from the Lord and as proof that God considers us his children. In light of these truths, we regard hardship as something to which we submit.
c. We are to regard all hardship as something we submit to rather than rebel against.
We will respond to God’s activity in our lives in one way or another.
• Will we accept it with reluctant resignation?
• Will we accept it with a sense of self-pity?
• Will we accept it with resentment as punishment? Or…
• Will we accept it as coming from a loving Father?
A few weeks ago Brett Farve, long-time quarterback of the Greenbay Packers, was traded to the New York Jets. Farve is a football icon. He is a future hall of famer. He is arguably the most famous player on the New York Jets team since Joe Namath.
On his second day of practice, Farve mishandled an exchange between himself and center, Nick Mangold. And immediately he and Mangold were told to take a lap. Jets Coach, Eric Mangini has a rule: “Botch a snap, fumble, commit a penalty, or drop a pass, and you run, regardless of your NFL pedigree.”
It was a surreal moment on the practice field and many wondered if Farve would do the lap. Sports photographers readied their cameras, 4,000 fans in the training camp stands waited and then watched as Farve and Mangold took their lap.
Coach Mangini is not an evil coach set on breaking down his team and destroying their spirits... Farve knows it as does every player on the Jets team. That’s why they cheerfully submit to his discipline. And that is why the 4,000 people in the stands and their fellow teammates cheered them as they jogged around the field.
Farve said later, “It’s not punishment, it’s more of a team-unifying thing.” It was good for Brett Farve and it was good for his team. (Rich Cimini, Fans cheer punishment lap after botched snap, New York Daily News, August 10, 2008)
The third good word to us today is that if we allow God to do his work in our lives, we will be better people.
3. Spiritual Olympians look forward to the positive outcome of God’s discipline.
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace (a quiet harvest of right living) for those who have been trained by it. 12:11
I can’t say that everything my parents did in getting their four sons raised was good. But I know that they wanted us to be raised right. I know they loved us and even when they blew it… I knew they meant to do the right thing.
a. Discipline is not always pleasant… sometimes it may even be painful.
b. [However,] Discipline is ultimately rewarding.
I cannot tell you now often I overheard people comment to my mother about how well-behaved her boys were. We were not perfect but we knew how to behave. We knew how to hold our silverware. We knew how to respect our elders. We knew how to say “please” and “thank you.” And all four of their sons are better men for it.
The whole idea of parental discipline is the training up or preparing a child for life. It is the idea of learning an art or a trade. It is the preparation necessary for the practice of a profession or a career. In athletics, it is the discipline and rigor of developing skills and endurance.
The activity of God in our lives is designed to move us along in the process of spiritual growth toward maturity and Christ likeness.
Conclusion:
How can you tell if the hardship in your life is Divine Discipline or not?
• Our hardship may be the result of the actions of another person.
Illustrations: Texas attorney Harry Whittington was accidentally shot during a hunting accident with VP Dicck Cheney. In an interview this week he remarked that he still has birdshot in his chest, throat, and eyes… and that the pellets in his larynx has changed his voice. He is quoted as saying, “My biggest question is trying to figure out, ‘Lord, why me?’” (Jesse Ellison, Newsweek, 9/8/08)
If you read the Rocky Mountain News yesterday you may have noticed the story about the little boy who died when a hit and run driver hit the façade of ice cream store. At the scene the little boy’s father wailed, “Why, Jesus, why? I just don’t understand why God let this happen. I don’t know what to do.” (April Washington and Judi Villa, Rocky Mountain News, 9/6/08)
Sometimes the hurt in our lives is thrust upon us by the actions of others.
• Our hardship may be the result of our own actions. We reap what we sow, so to speak… who among us has not learned the hard lessons that result from bad choices?
• Our hardship may be the result of satanic attack. The story of Job of old and the temptation of Christ bear witness to the fact that sometimes our hardships are of satanic design intended to defeat us and destroy our faith. Or…
• Our hardship may be the result of God’s discipline.
So how do we respond to life when it hurts? Hardship and hurts come in all kinds of sizes and shapes and for numerous reasons, including discipline.
I think we should treat all of the suffering, heartache, and hurt in our lives the same. Discipline is not just about punishment… it is about training, conditioning, and preparation. It is about refining and perfecting our spirits and our character. It is about the process through which God, who has begun a good work in us, will bring it completion on that day when Christ returns.
So it is appropriate that we submit to discipline in our lives by asking and responding to four questions that will help us discern what God is doing in our lives.
Discerning God’s discipline or training in our lives:
1. How is God present in this circumstance?
2. What does God want to accomplish in my life in this circumstance?
3. What does God want to do or how does God want to use me through this circumstance?
4. What does God want to change in my life in this circumstance?
As you go into this new week, remember to be encouraged by the words God speaks to you, “My children, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not be discouraged, because the Lord disciplines those he loves…
