Hebrews – Encouragement for a life of faith
Part 12
“That’s three”
Bring kids us and give them play-do
Ask them to make something – animals, people etc…
Talk about molding the clay
The topic of today’s message as we continue with our study of Hebrews is discipline and how God uses discipline in our lives in order to mold us into what he wants us to be
Let me start out with a story
There was a man named Johnson who lived high up in the mountains
He had lived there many years alone
He made his living as a logger
And had a really nice team of matched black geldings that he would transport his logs out of the woods with
These horses were known far and wide as the best of the best
One year the town down in the valley had a contest to see who had the best work horses in the area
The man after much prodding by his friends and neighbors decided to go down into town and give it a try
The team of blacks lived up to their reputation
There we no other teams at the contest that day that could hold a candle to Johnsons
After the contest
Johnson collected the prize money and decided to stick around town for a few days to celebrate
While eating at a local restaurant he met a woman and after many hours of talking
They fell in love
They were quickly married
And in a few days
They loaded all of her possessions into his wagon and began making the trip back into the mountains to start their new life together
After a short time on the trail
The horse on the right stumbled
He calmly said “That’s one”
A while later
The same horse stumbled again
Less calmly this time
He said
“That’s two”
A while later the same horse stumbled again and he said
“That’s three”
And took his Winchester out of its scabbard and promptly shot the horse
Killing him dead right there in the road
As he was getting down to unhitch the dead horse
His new wife was beside herself
She said
Are you crazy?
Are you insane?
You have the best matched team in the whole area
They just won you prize money and notoriety
Everyone would love to own a team like this
And you shot him for stumbling
He calmly looked at his new wife
Place the rifle back in it’s scabbard
And said
“That’s one”
-----Pause
I would have to say
The man in this story dished out punishment
Not discipline
He was not molding the horse
Punishment according to Webster’s dictionary is
“The infliction or imposition of a penalty as retribution for an offense.”
I feel safe in saying that Johnson imposed a penalty on the horse”
Many in our world today want to think of the discipline of God as the punishment of God for wrong doing
Let me clarify this
We all deserve punishment
We are all sinners
And the punishment for sin
All sin is death
That is eternal separation from God
In common terms that means the punishment for sin is Hell
But
If we are believers in Christ
He took the punishment for our sins
He gave his life on the cross to forgive us
So if discipline is not punishment
What is it?
Let’s go back to Webster’s and see what he says about discipline
One of a few definitions is
“training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character”
Does discipline sometime involve punishment?
Yes
But the purpose of discipline is to teach – train
Improve
Mold us into the image of Christ
We been studying Hebrews for several weeks now
Our writer has given us a rundown of just a few of the great names of faith in our lineage as Christians
He has shown us how we
Like they
Can be great men and women of faith when we keep our eyes on Jesus
He showed us how these men and women
And all the believers who have come before us
Are witnesses to us
By the fact that
He shows us How by the fact that
They finished the race
That they kept the faith
Sometimes
In the face of sometimes harsh opposition
In spite of times of despair
Often in times of fear, uncertainty and sorrow
That if they can do it
We can do it
Let me read Hebrews 12:1-4 for you again today
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.[a] Because of the joy[b] awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. 3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people;[c] then you won’t become weary and give up. 4 After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.
Remember a couple of weeks back
I had a lot of stuff stacked up here
A stove
Bricks
And an anvil
These things represented the things in our lives
Sins
Worries
Hardships
Misbeliefs and false teachings
Things
Weights
That slow down our spiritual growth and keep us from running the Christian race unencumbered
Our writer tells us that we can strip off these weights by keeping our eyes on Jesus
Our champion
The perfecter of our Faith
And when we strip them off
When we keep our eyes on Christ
We will run
We will finish
We will endure
And prevail
The audience that our writer was writing to had been facing
Persecution
And it was increasing
They were tempted to let that persecution cause them to fall away from the teachings of Jesus
They were tempted to go back to where they were
So are we sometimes
When life gets tough
Sometimes
We want to quit
Sometimes
We just want to take the easy path
Coast a bit
Stop fighting
Go with the flow
But we know that to do that means that we would lose the blessings God has promised us
We would
Lose our Joy- the joy of our salvation
The joy of our closeness with God
We would lose our peace
Peace that comes with knowing that God is in control
Our writer knows this
He knows that the people of that day as well as us
Would get tired and we would need reassurance
And he wants for us
What God has intended for us
So he goes on to talk to us about the discipline of God
Let me read verses 5-11 for you this morning
And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children?[d] He said,
“My child,[e] don’t make light of the LORD’s discipline,
and don’t give up when he corrects you.
6 For the LORD disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”[f]
7 As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? 8 If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. 9 Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?[g]
10 For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. 11 No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way
Our writer very simply says
God disciplines those he loves
We don’t like it
We are not supposed to like it
Molding sometimes hurts
But this discipline produces righteousness when accepted and we turn from our sins
Listen
If you are choosing to sin
And you are not receiving God’s discipline
Though conviction of the Holy Spirit
Though a guilty conscience
Though shame
Through remorse
Through a knowledge of wrong doing
If there is no desire in you to repent
You may not be his child
God cannot and will not bless blatant disobedience
He will not embrace your disobedience
He will not simply look the other way
He will not change his views on sin, just because everyone else is doing it
Or the world now thinks it is ok
He loves his children
And he disciplines HIS children to show them how to live right
God disciplines us to correct us
From wrong thinking
From wrong speaking
From wrong living
God disciplines us to protect us
From the world
From ourselves
From the consequences of our sins and choices
God disciplines us because he loves us
Let me ask you a question
Who loves their child more?
A parent that allows a kid to do whatever they want
Play in the road or do things that are dangerous to themselves or others
Go to the wrong places
Hang out with the wrong people
Or
A parent
Who corrects
Trains
And maybe even punishes
Their kid
To teach them to do right
I think we can all agree
The one who loves is the one who cares enough to discipline their kid
It is never fun to get disciplined
But
Discipline shows a sure sign of love
When we belong to God
You can be sure that we will receive his discipline
Not if
But when
Because of his love
But
How we respond to that discipline will make all the difference on the effect it has on our lives
We can accept it with resignation-----what I mean buy this is we can become bitter
Distant
Not sorry for what we did only sorry we got caught
We can be upset
\Upset with God
Upset with ourselves
Upset with the world
We can shift the blame
Try to justify our actions and our decisions
We can make excuses
We can accept it with self pity thinking we don’t deserve it or that God is just picking on me
We can get mad once again at God
At ourselves
At whatever is causing us to be disobedient
Or we can accept it gratefully and see it as a chance to improve and grow
I am so thankful we serve a God
Who is willing to mold us as the kids molded the clay into people and animals
A God who loves us so much that he sent us a way to avoid the punishment we deserve
I am so thankful that My God does not give up on me after 3 mistakes or 300 mistakes
Or three thousand or even three million
I am so thankful that he shows his love for me by correcting me when I do wrong in order to show me how to do right
In order that I might get all he has for me
Close from the heart
Pray
