(ME)
Good morning Odessa First – IT’S A GREAT DAY TO SERVE OUR RISEN KING: JESUS CHRIST!
If you are with us for the first time this morning let me introduce myself. I am Danny Davis and I am the Senior Pastor here at this great assembly.
Here at Odessa First we believe in the Bible and so it is our custom to study the Scriptures verse by verse. We believe God’s word to us can bring about miraculous transformation in the lives of individuals and communities.
So, this morning we are continuing in a study of Hebrews 12 where we are learning about the characteristics of the UNSHAKEABLE Kingdom of the one we call our Savior – Jesus Christ.
KINGDOM = rule / reign – not necessarily a location. To expand Christ’s Kingdom is both personal and global. We make His kingdom bigger as we personally obey Him as LORD. And we expand His kingdom as we tell others about the freedom found in surrendering our hearts and lives to the leadership of Christ.
(YOU)
Have you ever been witness to permissive or neglectful parenting? You know the kind of parenting where anything goes for the kids. Where you here phrases like, “Boys will be boys” or “I don’t want to stifle their creativity!” Or parents who just pay no attention to their kids at all. The kids are a bother and a nuisance to be endured not precious gifts to be nurtured.
Or possibly you have been witness to very authoritarian parenting. You know the kind. Discipline! Discipline! Discipline! Love is never a part of that discipline but the list of “musts” is as long as the parent’s arm. You know the kind of parent I am talking about. They drive their kids crazy to be something they themselves could never have been.
Every one of these parenting styles has negative side effects.
• Permissive – though lots of love is given there are no boundaries and these children grow up with low self-esteem and feeling inferior. In an effort to be their child’s friend they end up becoming enemies.
• Neglectful – these children tend to grow up with unbelievable deep emotional scars and struggle to be able to connect with others socially
• Authoritarian – these kids are often good until they are old enough to fight back. Then rebellion sits in and communication between child and parent usually takes the form of argument. These kinds of kids can’t wait for college or to turn 18 so they can get out of the house and away from the control and manipulation of the authoritarian parent.
Every single parent in this room has been a little of all of these before. I know I have! And, 9 times out of 10 we do what we do at the time because we want what is best for our children. Some go to the extreme while most of us bounce back and forth.
Now the one parenting style most sociologists and psychologists say works best is AUTHORATIVE (not authoritarian). This type of parenting seeks to find the balance between LOVE & DISCIPLINE. They are FIRM but also COMPASSIONATE. They set CLEAR BOUNDARIES but help their children see the LOVE reason for creating them.
(TRANSITION) None of us are perfect parents but all of us have an example of what it means to unconditionally love our children. We have a Father in heaven who demonstrates His UNCONDITIONAL LOVE not by neglect or permissiveness or by authoritarianism BUT THROUGH LOVE & DISCIPLINE THAT SEEKS THE BEST FOR HIS CHILDREN IN EVERY SITUATION.
(GOD)
Let’s read Hebrews 12:4-12
Now I want you to remember the context of this chapter and of the book of Hebrews.
The author is writing to a group of Jewish Christians who, because of intense persecution, have begun moving away from Christ and back to the LAW and legalism.
However, these verses point to the reality that some of the persecution they are facing is because God has seen the need to bring some discipline to them. We are not told the exact reason for God’s corrective measures. But we are given insight into how they are reacting to God’s loving actions – that are not seen as so loving.
They are asking themselves if being a Christian worth all the persecution and hardship they are facing. And, like a defiant child, they are questioning whether or not God’s use of others to bring discipline into their lives is right or wrong.
Let’s look at the author’s message closely…
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood…
• This passage points back to verse 3 where the author tells them to consider the persecution that Jesus went through AS THE SON OF GOD and remember they have not had to shed blood in their persecution.
• There is a sense here that some of these folks are doing some pretty serious whining! Maybe even some temper tantrums because they think God is not being fair – GOD SAYS – LOOK AT CALVARY!
5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “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 the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
• The writer is quoting from Proverbs 3:11-12.
• He is telling these folks who kind of feel like God has rejected them because He has brought this discipline into their lives.
• But the writer tells them DO NOT FORGET…the very fact that God is bringing discipline to you PROVES BEYOND THE SHADOW OF DOUBT THAT HE LOVES YOU.
ILLUS: In today’s permissive culture discipline is often viewed with negativity and even disdain. We hear people talking about UNCONDITIONAL LOVE but they use the term in a way that means, ANYTHING GOES. That is not how God intends us to parent our children.
Proverbs 29:15 tells us that if a child is left to HIMSELF to do his own thing that child will bring shame to his mother.
Proverbs 22:15 tells us that the heart of a child abounds with foolishness but the rod of correction will drive it far away.
The point I am trying to make is not for you to beat your children. What I am saying is that DISCIPLINE that corrects wrong behavior that is done with love and explanation PROVES TO YOUR CHILDREN THEY ARE LOVED UNCONDITIONALLY.
NOT bringing discipline into your children’s lives is like telling them you DO NOT CARE.
• The writer of Hebrews is trying to remind them that a PROOF of their SONSHIP with GOD is demonstrated in the very fact that God loves them enough to bring correction into their life.
• Then he tells them…
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.
• WOW! When feel the correction of God we have ASSURANCE and the SECURITY of knowing that we are His children – His son – His daughter.
ILLUS: One of the problems with neglectful and permissive parenting is that children feel insecure and have no assurance that anyone loves them. They receive no correction and therefore no way to understand how to function within society.
Authoritarian fathers are heavy on the discipline but never take the time to demonstrate love with their correction. In the end the result is the same – a child who has no idea how to get along with others without being the bully their father taught them to be.
• The writer assumes that people understand that good fathers discipline their children.
• Again, we are not talking about beating (or being authoritarian) your children. But discipline that seeks the best for the child, that fits the infraction and is done with live and explanation.
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 spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness.
• If our earthly fathers brought correction into our lives and we submitted to them and we respected them – how much more should we see God’s loving correction as an INSTRUMENT OF LIFE!!
• God – who knows the end from the beginning – knows exactly what we need and when we need it. He disciplines us with PERFECT KNOWLEDGE and we can rest in that safety that what we are enduring will bring about HOLINESS in our life.
• The term HOLINESS used here refers to the ability to act in and make MORALLY right decisions.
• God’s discipline in our lives demonstrates His love and it helps us to understand what the MORALLY RIGHT thing is to do.
ILLUS: Far from being a negative word or action, discipline is the key to a morally sound community.
Here is the killer combination – children left to their own mixed with the fact we are born with a corrupted nature = wrong decisions, bad choices and drama and turmoil – SOUNDS LIKE A TYPICAL DAY AT HIGH SCHOOL.
ILLUS: Now bring this into the church. Believers left to their own devices, who are struggling against the sin nature sometimes fail. But God loves us enough to not let us drown in the failure – He brings discipline into our lives – correction through the Word, through others who love us and through the preaching/teaching of church leaders. The end result of accepting that correction is: 1) knowing you are lived by God and His church, and 2) a sense of security in a very tumultuous and insecure world.
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.
• Sure, when discipline or correction comes to your life it is not pleasant.
• We don’t just walk around looking for someone to discipline us unless we have a mental disorder.
• But allowing the discipline of the Lord to lead us to obedience to Christ produces a harvest or right thinking…
• AND WE REDUCE THE DRAMA of life and in its place we HAVE PEACE.
That is why the writer could say….
12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
• In other words – in the midst of this persecution that has been sent to you by God in order to bring correction to your attitude – TAKE COURAGE
I Peter 1:7 remind us that trials help us to be refined into pure gold. The Apostle tells us we should count it all joy when these things come into our life.
Some of the trials come because of our disobedience to God. Other trials come because God allows them to come into our life in order help us be formed into the image of His Son – Jesus Christ.
• But look at the last line of this verse…so the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
• Refusing God’s loving correction in our life disables us. Like the child who is neglected by a parent is unable to develop the skills necessary for success in life. We, who see God’s correction as unfair or unjust will lack certain abilities to become all that God wants us to become in this UNSHAKEABLE KINGDOM.
• Instead God want to HEAL US – HOW – THROUGH CORRECTION – BECAUSE OF HIS UNCONDITIONAL LOVE FOR US.
(YOU)
So what do we do with this whole idea of God’s discipline? How do we respond to what we have heard today?
RESPONSE 1: you can fold your arms and stomp your feet and demand God be fair – OR
RESPONSE 2: discern whether the correction is because of some sinful action in your life – ask the Holy Spirit to reveal where you may be missing the mark – then repent and trust God’s forgiveness and in His power to keep you from returning to that sinful action. Don’t lose heart – remember the end result is righteousness and peace.
RESPONSE 3: but what if the discipline is not because of a sinful action? What if I am experiencing loss or I am ill or I am suffering because of someone else’s sinful actions against me?
• I know this is going to be hard to swallow in our culture of entitlement but even when these things happen we still ask God to examine our hearts.
• We endure it by asking God to help us see how He is trying to produce in us the fruit of the Spirit. How is He trying to produce in us the ability to make right decisions?
• And, we pray for the persecutor!
IN ALL OF THIS WE CANNOT FORGET THAT GOD’S LOVE IS NOT CONDITIONED ON WHAT OTHERS DO OR DO NOT DO. AND IT IS NOT CONDITIONED UPON OUR RESPONSE – HE WILL LOVE US NO MATTER WHAT.
BUT IF WE TRULY DESIRE TO GROW IN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM AND WANT TO FEEL THE SAFETY AND SECURITY OF BEING HIS CHILD WE WILL RESPOND TO HIS DISCIPLINE WITH AN ATTITUDE OF THANKFULNESS….BECAUSE HE LOVES US
(WE)
So how will we respond today?
If you are feeling God speaking to your heart this morning about coming to salvation – NOW IS THE TIME. You have been experiencing God’s discipline in your life and it has led you to this moment where you can surrender to Christ – LET’S DO IT.
PRAY
If you have been experiencing God’s discipline in some area of your life then you have a choice in how to respond to HIS LOVE. I will open the altar for all of us to come and pray.
