Discipline and training are foreign concepts to many people in America today. So it was for one young man who approached his dad about a getting a car when he turned 16. His dad said son, I will help you if you begin to discipline yourself. So he wrote a contract with the dad for the next 6 months. The dad made the contract that if the son did these three things he would get him a car. 1st he would have to go to church and Sunday school regularly with no complaining. 2nd he had to bring his grades up at school and do all his chores at home. Finally, he would have to cut that hair to a respectable length.
The six months passed and the son wanted to review the contract with his father. He said dad, I want to talk with you about the contract for the car. The dad said, sure. The son said, Dad, I’ve been a regular at Sunday school and church. I only missed when I was real sick that one week. Dad said, that you have. In fact I talked to your class teacher the other day. He encouraged me. You prepare for your lessons, you memorize your verses, and ask great questions.
Dad, I’ve improved on my school work. Dad said that you have. You had one B and the rest were all As. It has been your best report card in a long time. I am proud of you. The son said, well then why haven’t you taken me to get a car. Dad said, “Son, you haven’t cut your hair yet.” Well dad, you see dad, I’ve been reading the Bible and I understand now that Jesus the Lord and Savior had long hair. So what do you think about that? Dad, said, “Son, I’ve read the Bible too and I have noticed that Jesus never drove to where he was going, he walked...”
When you get down to it, we all, especially men like to balk at discipline. Dave Wren may have taken it too far... I am still not buying you a car Dave! But, discipline from God is always for our benefit if we will receive it.
5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
WHEN GOD DISCIPLINES:
RECEIVE IT!
Don’t avoid it:
Illus: Driving through Texas, a New Yorker collided with a truck carrying a horse. A few months later he tried to collect damages for his injuries. "How can you now claim to have all these injuries?" asked the insurance company’s lawyer. "According to the police report, at the time you said you were not hurt." "Look," replied the New Yorker. "I was lying on the road in a lot of pain, and I heard someone say to the Texas Ranger that the horse had a broken leg. Without another word, Texas Ranger pulls out his gun and shoots the horse dead on the spot. Then he turns to me and asks, ’Are you okay?’ What do you think I told him?"
When you run from discipline, you are ultimately running from God. I am not suggesting that God desires for us to look for trouble or to allow evil into our lives. But whenever a challenge comes, whether because of a foolish, sinful choice in your life, or because of a choice someone else has made, you need to look for the hand of God in it. God would never allow anything into your life for no reason. He intends to train you in godliness no matter what comes your way.
RECOGNIZE THE REASON FOR IT.
God love is determined.
When God calls you His child, he is determined to get close you. When God gets close to you things will have to change. You will have to change. He wants to make you like Him. He wants to make you Holy. It is a lifelong process.
The Greek word for discipline here is paideia, which is translated training. Used in other scripture in reference to a father training his children, or training in righteousness, or God training His children. Therefore the writer of Hebrews is saying that God lovingly disciplines His children to train them in right character.
God desires Holiness (2 Cor. 12:7-10)
A behavior He wants to Cut. He does not suggest that we stop sinning. He is not allow his children to continue to misrepresent Him. He will cut the behavior out. He will discipline you. He will use whatever means necessary to get you to choose Him. He will take away your Power, He will take away your possessions, and He will take away your pleasure if need be.
After healing the lame man, Jesus warns him later:
John 5:14 14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."
What could be worse than being lame for 38 years? God’s discipline! He can make life much tougher. He can take life. Jesus said,
Matthew 10:28 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
An attitude He wants to Cultivate.
If anyone deserved God’s Help rather than a hinderance from God, you would think it would be the Apostle Paul. He had to travel great distances, endure great hardships: prison and beatings, and preach non stop. You think God would have given him a life of luxury. And you might think that if God did not allow Paul to have his best life now that Paul might leave the church for more lucrative employment. But instead Paul saw discipline as from the hand of God.
Read 2 Cor. 12:7-10. See at first Paul simply saw it as a buffeting for a time, but then he learned this lesson would be with him the rest of his life. Instead of getting down about his thorn in the flesh, He saw God’s purpose was to DEVELOP AND ATTITUDE OF DEPENDENCE ON GOD. So he does not complain, but the Bible says here, Paul REJOICES in this discipline. He says, “Oh God you are training me to trust you more. Alllright. I take it. I want to be closer to you. Forgive me for complaining. Let me rejoice!
When disciplined,
REJOICE THAT YOU ARE HIS.
And like Paul,
CHOOSE THE BEST RESULT.
You don’t want,
A. Removal of God’s Presence. (Ps. 51; Isaiah 59:2) Oh for the tender heart that would quake that my sin would break my fellowship with God. A friend once remembered Charles Spurgeon’s strange behavior one day. They were crossing a main street in London during a heavy time of traffic and basically Jay walking. It would be like trying to cross US 36 during rush hour traffic! So people would make a mad dash between the carriages and run for their lives.
The friend made it to the other side only to see Spurgeon with his derby hat over his heart, head bowed and eyes closed. His friend watched in stunned belief as carriages and horses swerved to miss him and yet Spurgeon stood his ground. After some time, Spurgeon looked up and made it safely to the other side. His friend said, “What made you take risk of your life like that?”
Spurgeon calmly responded, “I became aware that a cloud had come between my Savior and me. I could not imagine living another moment without clearing the air with me Lord...” Now, He got it!
You don’t want
B. Repetition. (1 Samuel 26:7-11) God is patient, but even He has a limit
Numbers 14:8-11 8 If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. 9 Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them." 10 But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the LORD appeared at the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites. 11 The LORD said to Moses, "How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?
Saul did not get it time and time again. David never laid a finger on Saul. But also notice, David never lifted a finger to stop God’s discipline or to make it easier on Saul. David understood what was going on.
Parents and friends, let me share something with you here, “Don’t get in the way of God’s discipline.” Don’t stop the pain before the lesson’s learned.
I know it is painful to watch God break some people down, especially when you see them hurting. But don’t give them any outs from God. God knows exactly what He is doing. God knows how best to reach them. And, if you cut the lesson short, you may with your good intentions keep them off the narrow path to life in Christ and comfort them in their sinful rebellion. Many people will not turn to Christ until they have been tutored in the school of hard knocks!
And when you are going through suffering or tragedy be careful of cursing yourself or getting down. Start looking up because God is trying to get your attention! So listen carefully. I’d rather be spanked by the Lord any day than be spoiled by the Devil. God is discipling us to spend an eternity of joy with Him. The devil is spoiling us so we will spend Eternity with him.
That is why the Bible says,
Deuteronomy 30:19 - 31:1 19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
C. Reward.
1. Fruit. Without the great councils that defended the faith against heresy, where would our church be? She would have drifted into the culture of compromise and ceased to exist long ago. How would I have heard the message of Christ if the men and women were not willing to suffer for Christ? There is an old saying that the SEED of the Church was in the blood of the martyrs. That people were willing to die for the message that Christ died for sins and rose again. And that suffering produced great fruit.
At the Nicene Council, an important church meeting in the 4th century A.D., of the 318 delegates attending, fewer than 12 had not lost an eye or lost a hand or did not limp on a leg lamed by torture for their Christian faith. It wasn’t the meeting that made these men great, it was the great faith of these men that made tha
Vance Havner.
2. Joy. (Nehemiah 8:9-10)
A famous evangelist told the following incident: I have a friend who in a time of business recession lost his job, a sizable fortune, and his beautiful home. To add to his sorrow, his precious wife died; yet he tenaciously held to his faith -- the only thing he had left. One day when he was out walking in search of employment, he stopped to watch some men who were doing stonework on a large church. One of them was chiseling a triangular piece of rock. ’Where are you going to put that?’ he asked. The workman said, ’Do you see that little opening up there near the spire? Well, I’m shaping this stone down here so that it will fit in up there.’ Tears filled my friend’s eyes as he walked away, for the Lord had spoken to him through that laborer whose words gave new meaning to his troubled situation.
When we have God’s perspective on discipline, we can have the Joy of the Lord in the midst of great trajedy.
3. Peace. (Phil 4:7)
Stephen Curtis Chapman Talks of His Tragedy
Two months after the tragic accident that claimed the life of his 5-year-old daughter Maria Sue, Steven Curtis Chapman appeared with his wife and three oldest children on CNN’s "Larry King Live" Aug. 7 to testify to the solid hope believers have in Christ.
One of the most pressing questions King wanted to ask was whether Chapman lost his faith at any point during the ordeal. "You know, at that moment, I’ve got to say, Larry, I mean it was -- I was crying out to my -- to my Father," Chapman said. "I was crying out to the guy that I know as my Heavenly Father."
Chapman told about a discovery he made in the hours after the accident that has provided comfort in the days since. "Maria had the morning of the accident drawn a picture of a flower and had written a word that she had never written before. She knew how to write her name. That was all I had ever seen, and maybe ’I love Dad’ or ’I love Mom,’" Chapman said. "But she had never written any other words.
"And when she first died, Caleb and I, especially, kept saying if we could just see, if we could just have a dream, something, God, we’d believe it. If we could just see something that would tell us that she’s OK. And the day after the accident, we went home to get some clothes for the funeral, for the memorial," he said. "Sitting on the art table was this little picture that Maria had drawn the morning of the accident. She had drawn a six-petaled flower, and only one petal was colored in. We have six children. Only one is whole now, we believe, in the arms of Jesus. She wrote the word S-E-E," he said. "She wrote the word see. And she had never written that before. She was saying, ’See, I’m good. I’m OK.’"
Peace that Jesus gives is not the absence of trouble, but is rather the confidence that He is there with you always and that no matter what you will always be with Him.
