Discipline
by Joe M. Cherry
I. Introduction – Discipline from Three Different Angles
A. Text: Heb. 12:1-13
1. Preface text with Chapter 11 overview.
a. It is the Chapter of faith
b. It chronicles a list of Biblical Who’s Who and how they relied on faith in hard and unknowing times.
2. Paraphrase the text.
B. Three Angles/Perspectives
1. Discipline that is punishment.
2. Discipline that is Self-imposed.
3. Discipline that is not punishment but hurts just the same.
C. Why is discipline necessary?
1. It is a fact of life; we need direction/discipline throughout our walk in life.
2. It is a deterrent for improper actions
a. Things that would hurt ourselves, including the loss of our soul.
b. Things that would hurt others, including their soul to be lost.
3. Heb. 12:10 – it is for our profit so that we may be partakers of His holiness.
4. It also produces strength through faith.
II. Lesson
A. Discipline - Punishment/Chastisement
1. We all understand that don’t we?
a. Time out – go to your room (with your video games and cell phones) and don’t come out for one hour! Terrible, right? Time out for those of us over 50 was measured in stages, not minutes.
i. Stage 1 started at the point of contact and ended when you regained consciousness on the floor.
ii. Stage 2 started with checking to make sure you still had all your teeth and ended when the feeling had returned to your jaw.
iii. Time spent in time out varied but averaged about 15-20 minutes.
b. Momma was the head disciplinarian at my house. I believe she was an executioner in a previous live, she could cut your head off with one look. She usually used the Tennis Approach coupled with the Time Out Method I just mentioned.
i. Sharp forehand to the left cheek
ii. Smashing backhand to the right cheek
iii. Then Time out started.
2. The day that will go down in infamy was the first day of my sophomore year in High School. I wouldn’t get up and she beat me out of bed with a tennis shoe. I had a vinyl alligator pattern bed cover. Sounded like a helicopter taking off. The silver lining to this story is that in the same closet she got the tennis shoe there were also size 10 cowboy boots and steel spiked baseball cleats.
a. Spare the rod and spoil the child is a quote from a 17th century poet named Samuel Butler and though it’s scriptural it is not scripture. It’s like “cleanliness is next to godliness”.
b. Prov. 13:24- “He who spares the rod, hates his child.”
3. Even as adults we receive discipline because we invariably will sin.
a. Prov. 3:12 – “For whom the Lord loves, He chastens.
b. Heb. 12:8 echoes the same sentiment. If we are not chastened/disciplined, then we are as illegitimate children and not God’s.
i. Many times, God chastised His Children for sins they committed. Adam and Eve – banished from Paradise.
ii. David – God gave him three choices when he counted his army. They were three years of famine, three months of running, or three days of plague. 70,000 died because of the plague. II Sam. 24
iii. Manasseh – he was led away by hooks that were buried in his skin by the Assyrians. God restored him to his kingdom after he committed unthinkable atrocities. II Kings 21 and II Chron. 33.
c. We must trust God’s hand on the paddle and know that His intentions are not to destroy us but to make us better/stronger Christians. The text tells us:
i. Vs 5 – we are commanded to not grow faint
ii. Heb.12:12-13 – Therefore strengthen the hands that hang down and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that which is lame may not be dislocated, but rather healed.
d. We can limit this kind of discipline by focusing on disciplining ourselves.
B. Discipline as Self Discipline
1. Every athlete has a training regimen/discipline that includes:
a. Diet is important.
b. Exercise/Lift weights so muscle tissue is broken down and come back stronger.
c. Increase cardio workout to increase stamina.
d. Running longer and longer distances helps develop endurance.
e. None of these are easy if one is training correctly.
2. To become stronger or better, we must continually push ourselves.
a. I Cor. 9:24-27 – Read
b. The New Living Translation reads in vs 26, “I disciple my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should…”
c. Training is the key word to me in this passage.
d. In the American Standard Version, Paul says he buffets his body. No pain/no gain
3. As Christians we are expected to grow and strengthen our “Christian” muscles.
a. II Pet. 1:5-8 – add to your faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and brotherly love.
b. These are the building blocks that bring us to a mature Christian life. They are a progression that feed off each other. We can’t simply leave one out or forget about it once we’ve attained it.
c. Biggest question when it comes to self-discipline is, “Do you put Christ first?”
i. Luke 14 – will you give up family, money, fame?
ii. Sermon on the Mount – would you cut off a hand or gouge out an eye if one of them kept you from being close to the Lord?
d. We can only grow these by endurance and continual implementation, which is achieved by discipling ourselves. Our faith requires exercise to grow.
C. Discipline that feels like Punishment but is not.
1. Sometimes it takes someone else to help bring about growth. Someone who knows what we need to excel/succeed.
a. Ball coach – Remember Gassers/Suicides in basketball and football
b. Drill sergeant – Navy Seals undergo the most rigorous training of anyone.
c. Sometimes it takes others to push us to excellence.
d. Life coach which for the Christian is who? God
2. Heb. 12: 1-4 – Christ endured many hardships, including death, that were not brought on by any wrongdoing on His part. Heb. 12: 6 “Consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself.” From a human standpoint, Christ lived a most unfair life, but He chose to live it because it was God’s will.
a. Age old question: “Why do bad things happen to good people?” It happened to Christ; it can happen to us. You might say, “Christ did it to save us from our sins” but what good can come out of me being in this situation. The answer lies in our text.
b. NIV Heb. 12:7 – Endure hardships as discipline.
i. Discipline as punishment for wrongdoing is understandable and even expected. As an errant child of God’s, I expected it.
ii. Discipline, not pertaining to wrongdoing has another connotation.
3. Job is the epitome of the concept of discipline that is not punishment.
a. I have a relative who struggles with the way God allowed Job to be treated. He said he literally got up and walked out of church when someone started to talk about Job. Looking for a way to help him understand led me to preparing this lesson.
b. God gave Satan some control but not all. Three tests for Job.
i. Satan took everything from Job in a day.
ii. Satan struck him with boils.
iii. His friends came and tried to convince him he had sinned.
c. This was not a punishment from God, though his friends thought otherwise
and it would be human nature to think so.
4. God allowed it and we do not need to make apologies for God and His actions; but I do know Job endured and I know he was richly blessed.
III. Closing
A. We must expect and accept hardships/discipline of all kinds.
1. Fact: Those He loves He Chastens/disciplines in whatever capacity He sees fit.
2. We need to accept that discipline in whatever form it comes to be inevitable.
a. We all will be tested individually because we are not all the same.
b. We are human, and we are all quick to ask, “Why?” when it comes to
enduring hardships. Looking at it from this standpoint, maybe our question
should be, “How do I endure it in God’s will? We must:
i. Accept that there will be pain hard truth that trials, hardships and/or discipline are not easy.
ii. Can’t blame God. Job 1:21 – “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 2:10 - “Shall we accept good from the Lord and not accept adversity.”
iii. We must get in God’s will. Remember Jesus prayed that the cup might pass from Him but nevertheless he prayed thy (God’s) will be done. We tend to focus on our pain and less on God’s will.
iv. Realize there are two choices: We hold on to God even though we often feel trapped, or we quit and let go. For Christians there is only one option, believe and hold fast.
v. Faith will sustain us just as it has others, even if we must pray the prayer of “God help my unbelief”; He will.
B. In Closing Remember:
1. Discipline is much easier to preach than it is to accept personally.
a. Vs 11 of the text tells us that no discipline at the time is joyful.
b. Believing with all your heart that this too shall pass doesn’t stop the immediate pain we experience in discipline.
c. Knowing Isa. 55:8-9 – His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not ours does not bring immediate peace or comfort but…
2. There is undeniable proof that He will restore His children.
a. On several occasions David knew he had sinned and was punished for wrongdoing, he endured the punishment and moved on. God did not forsake him or cast him away forever.
b. We see the story of Job from a much different angle than Job saw it. We had the ending from the beginning. He only saw the hardships of the present but was blessed greatly in the end.
3. There is a positive outcome to enduring discipline.
a. Heb. 12:10 – peace and righteousness and allows us to be partakers in His holiness.
b. Growth - Jas. 1:2-4 which refers to trials (which we know is a type of discipline) that increases faith.
c. I do not believe that simply believing and obeying guarantees health and wealth, but I do believe the bible teaches that there is profit in living the Christian life which involves enduring hardships.
d. Whatever your circumstances are today, stand firm and stand fast!!
Isa 40:31 – But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up on wings as eagles; they shall run, and not grow weary; they shall walk and not grow faint.
