Text: Hebrews 12:3-11, Title: Going through the Big D, Date/Place: NRBC, 11.4.12, AM
A. Opening illustration:
B. Background to passage:
C. Main thought:
A. Encouragements for discipline (v. 3-5a)
1. The writer gives three encouraging pieces of insight in order for them to think about their suffering properly. Building off the mention of the cross in the preceding verse, he says for them to 1) think about Jesus, who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself. Several times the NT speaks of Christ as our example of suffering well. 2) Now with that thought fresh in their mind, he tells them that they haven’t resisted sin to the point of bloodshed. Not very encouraging, huh? Yes, prison is bad, confiscating all your stuff is bad, having to hide is bad, but when a knife is at your throat, blood just might be shed… 3) Now he tells them that they have forgotten the OT instruction from Proverbs 3:11-12 about the discipline of the Lord. The word means to forget completely. The point here is really not that they need to memorize more scripture, but the content of this passage—discipline. Remember discipline’s only purpose is not punishment, it can also be educational, preventative, and corrective.
2. 1 Peter 2:21, John 13:15; Rom 8:29; 1 Cor 11:1; Eph 5:2; Phi 2:5; 1 John 2:6; 1 John 3:16, 2 Cor 12:7
3. Illustration: double amputee Iraq vet who wanted to wrestle alligators, David Brainerd’s life this week and his viewing of his 7 year death from tuberculosis as a gift, and his great concern that he not fail to bring glory to God from his sufferings, stories from the persecuted church about torture of men and families in front of other family members with the promise of release for certain info or recanting,
4. Lives well lived are always encouraging to us. How much more so a perfect life? Always be studying the life of Jesus. Of course, in this text, it is dealing with how we should imitate Christ while he suffers, which is where we derive the most inspiration. So let’s revisit the cross for a few moments, particularly from the angle the writer speaks of—hostility from sinners. The death and resurrection of Jesus, the cross and the empty tomb, Calvary and Easter, are the basis of everything our faith rests upon and triumphs in. It is the supreme example of everything, but especially unjust treatment.
5. A couple things to take home from this mild rebuke. Number one, lots of people, including Jesus have resisted sin even to bloodshed. Number two, this is what is expected of believers. And number three, God will give grace up to that point, so fight hard!!! Recommit to killing that sin that is plaguing you. Realize the seriousness of sin.
6. Don’t think about all discipline as bad. We don’t just spank our children to punish them, but to correct and instruction. A mark of a growing disciple is that the Lord is shaping them. God is pointing out some things in a sermon or book you are reading, but God also uses pain and suffering to teach you lessons that you would have never learned unless you were in pain. Some pain prevents other pain—slow traffic, no ticket; ticket, no accident. We are learning in Experiencing God right now that God reveals Himself in powerful ways when there is pain and difficulty, especially when there is deliverance; thus all the Jehovah-Jireh type passages. “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” –CS Lewis. God wants to show Himself to you, speak to you, and often times pain is the best vehicle. God may be doing 10,000 things in your suffering, but some purposes are clear for Him: learn to trust in Him better, learn to not trust in yourself, calling to salvation, purification, testimony, etc.
B. Pitfalls of discipline (v. 5b)
1. Now looking at the OT quotation, the writer there identifies two pitfalls that those going through the whitewater of discipline need to avoid. 1) The first of these is despising. It is a different word that used to speak of Jesus’ despising of the shame of the cross in the previous passage. This word means to disregard, take lightly, casually, or to blow off. The writer knows that there is a danger of missing what God is doing, because we don’t take it seriously. 2) The second pitfall of the discipline of God is discouragement, which is mentioned twice, and it the main part of the context as well. The word means to lose courage, fail, fall apart, break down, or give up. The writer understand that believers can miss the point of a trial because we just can’t go on. To give up is failure.
2. Argumentation
3. Illustration:
4. Sometimes the suffering is more like an inconvenience to us, and we don’t even think about the fact that God is moving and speaking and using a particular instance in our lives to teach us something. Sometimes we suffer a great deal, but get so fixed on the suffering and it’s cause that we forget to talk with the Designer of the suffering. Tonight we are going to talk about the benefits of discipline, and those will cover some of the purposes too. Suffice it to say for now that there IS purpose in God allowing/causing a particular trial. Sometimes we get angry at God thinking that He is unfair or uncaring in His methodology. Take every trial seriously, and from the perspective of “God is trying to tell me something.” Because HE IS! Journaling might be helpful here, because it can give you time to think and reflect (so is mowing the yard). If you don’t learn a lesson the first time, you get to do it again sometime. Take big and little suffering seriously, ask God what He is teaching you through this.
5. We have all been in trials where we were sure that another day would be our last if there was no change. If not, you probably will at some time. But DO NOT GIVE UP! God’s grace is sufficient for you. He will make your feet like the deer’s feet on the rocky crag. His mercies are new every morning, and we are not to worry about tomorrow for God will provide enough grace for that day too. Work diligently to meditate on God more that you think about your problems. Oswald Chambers wrote about spiritual perseverance, defining it as “... not to hang on and do nothing, but to work deliberately, knowing with certainty that God will never be defeated.” Depression is a danger for those in long, drawn out trials. Be careful not to let it cause you to turn inward.
A. Closing illustration: “And so what do I say? I say let the rains of disappointment come, if they water the plants of spiritual grace. Let the winds of adversity blow if they serve to root more securely the trees that God has planted. I say let the sun of prosperity be eclipsed if that brings me closer to the true light of life. Welcome, sweet discipline, discipline designed for my joy, discipline designed to make me what God wants me to be.”
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
C. Opening illustration:
D. Background to passage:
E. Main thought:
F. Benefits of discipline (v. 10)
1. Proof of God’s Love (v. 6a)
i. The writer of Proverbs teaches us that the Lord disciplines those whom he LOVES. Bible teaches that if you spare the rod, you hate your children. Also Pro 23:13-14 teaches that if you spank a child with a rod, he will not die. But if you do, it will save his soul from hell. We discipline our children because we love them, and want what’s best for them. We know God is love, and that He loved us in that he gave us His only son, but discipline is a more recent expression of that love. If God didn’t love you, He would just let you continue in your sin. Suffering is God’s proof of His love to you! There’s a thought, a different perspective on suffering.
2. Acceptance from God (v. 6b)
i. The writer says here that God disciplines those whom He receives. Notice the severity implied by scourges. Same word here as used of Jesus being scourged by the Romans with the cat of 9 tails. If you are disciplined of God, then you have been received. The payment for your sins has been applied. And this holy God that you could not stand before now receives you! The sin that would have caused Him to incinerate you, now has been covered, and you are welcome in His presence. Pain in your heart is a sign of your acceptance by Him
3. Proof of Our Sonship (v. 7-8)
i. On a related note, the writer of Hebrews speaks about the Sonship that is attested to by discipline. God adopts us as sons, not a hired hands. We are not servants, but friends. Our older brother is Jesus, and we are co-heirs with Him. We sometimes forget how awesome it is to be God’s children, and not just his faithful servants. This is the argument that this writer makes in Heb 3:5-6. Being a child of God is not just another way to say a person is a Christian, but an expression of a reality: we were God’s enemies, then He sent His Son, and made us his family. God doesn’t discipline other people’s kids, but because of His love, He lovingly, carefully afflicts with scalpel like accuracy for His purposes.
4. Learning Respect and Submission (v. 9)
5. Growing in Holiness (v. 10)
6. Peaceable fruit of righteousness (v. 11)
D. Closing illustration:
E. Recap
F. Invitation to commitment
Additional Notes
Corrective suffering is tribulation or affliction God allows in our lives to chasten us for unforsaken sin in order to turn us back to Him.
In the city of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, the broken end of a high voltage wire was lying on the pavement, along which the engineer was walking, unaware of the fact that he was about to be FRIED! A worker saw the danger and yelled to warn him, but his voice was drowned by the noise around. Picking up a stone, he threw it as hard as he could and hit the engineer on the chest.
Angry, the engineer looked up--but just as he did, he saw the wire just as he was about to step upon it. Tearfully, he thanked the worker for saving his life. The stone hurt, but the high voltage wire would have hurt MUCH more. It was a loving act of CONCERN that motivated the worker to throw the stone at the engineer.
And when the Lord brings trials into our lives, we often get angry at God for throwing rocks at us. What we ought to do is have the attitude of the engineer and rejoice and be thankful for a God who loves His children too much to let them hurt themselves by going astray.
