You may be familiar with a story that’s been in the news recently [Bobby Knight allegedly choking one of his players]. My purpose this morning is not to take a position on whether or not he should be fired. What interests me is how some of the very people that this man supposedly abused are actually defending this man. Those whom you would expect to be his most vocal critics are in many cases his most ardent supporters. What explains this reaction? The answers is that, whatever harsh treatment they received from him, they feel it was worth it. As they see it, he didn’t just teach them basketball, he taught them life. He taught them to work together as a team; to persevere; to discipline themselves; to work for a goal. He made them winners.
I’m not defending Bobby Knight. Some of the things he is reported to have done are indefensible by any standard. But the fact that these players supported him got me to thinking. What am I willing to suffer as a disciple of Christ in order to be changed by Him? What am I willing to endure in order to learn from Christ? What am I willing to sacrifice to become like him?
You might object that there are significant differences between following Bobby Knight and following Christ. And that’s certainly true. After all, Bobby Knight isn’t God (although there are some in Indiana who might dispute that). He’s human. He makes mistakes. It appears that there have been times he crossed the line separating discipline from abuse, such as the time he put his hands around a player’s throat.
But God’s work in our lives is not always pleasant and enjoyable. God does teach us through suffering. In fact, some of the things that God allows his people to suffer make Bobby Knight’s acts seem almost trivial:
[A]s servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger . . . - 2 Corinthians 6:4-5 (NIV)
. . . Paul was whipped, stoned, shipwrecked, and had plots against his life.
In fact, as you read the Scriptures, it seems as if pain and suffering are God’s main instruments for producing change. Why? Because in good times, we have a tendency to forget God. But adversity helps refocus us on what is most important.
God’s primary goal is not our comfort and temporal happiness. His goal is our holiness. His goal is to make us like Christ. And to that end, He is willing to discipline us in ways that seem harsh. He is willing to allow us to suffer in order to change us.
"My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son . . . 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. 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. - Hebrews 12:5-11 (NIV)
The first thing to notice from this passage is that God does discipline us. He doesn’t let us go our own way. God does not follow a program of benign neglect with us as his children. Instead, He acts in our lives to train and correct us, whether we consent or not. He does not ask permission before entering our lives [we gave Him that when we turned our lives over to Christ]. We find this objectionable; for we prefer to have God at our beck and call, to have Him available when we want Him, and otherwise to leave us alone. We want a God we can control, like a Genie in a bottle.
[Illustration: We thought we were giving God a guest key, but He refused to remain in the spare bedroom; then we found out that he owns the deed to the property.]
The second thing to notice is that God disciplines us in love. Your earthly father may have disciplined you in anger or rage, or to vent his frustrations. Some of you may have grown up with an abusive father, and you carry the wounds of that relationship with you even today. You may have experienced so-called "discipline" that was simply abuse. Because of that, it may be difficult for you to relate to the idea of God as a loving Father. It may be difficult to accept the idea that discipline can be motivated by love. But God does not act toward us in anger; His anger toward us was completely exhausted in the death of Christ. Christ appeased God’s wrath toward sin, completely and eternally. For those who have placed their trust in Christ, God has not a shred of anger or wrath. His attitude toward us is completely love.
His discipline may not feel like love [How many of your children have ever thanked you for loving them when you discipline them? They are more likely to accuse you of hating them.] It feels "painful". It’s unpleasant. You want it to end. But God loves us enough to allow the discipline to continue in spite of our pleas and prayers and attempts to escape [unlike us as parents].
The third thing to notice is the purpose of this discipline. God doesn’t discipline us for the fun of it, because He enjoys watching us suffer. He isn’t some kind of sadist. He does it for what it produces - holiness, righteousness, and peace. He does it to bless us.
The good news is that our sufferings are not random. We already know that we suffer. Good people, even exemplary Christians, suffer. The only question is whether there is any good in it; whether there is anything to redeem the suffering, to make it a positive thing. And the answer is Yes. It is part of God’s good plan for our lives. We do not live in a capricious universe that just tosses us about without reason or purpose. We are not at the mercy of some blind fate. Our lives are guided by a loving, wise God, and our suffering - all of it - has a purpose.
Following Christ
So, if discipline is a good thing, do we just have to wait on God to do something? Or can we actively seek to grow through self-discipline? Can we prepare ourselves for trials?
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. - 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 (NIV)
All of the pain that Bobby Knight’s players endure, has as its end something relatively trivial - winning a basketball game. The rewards of even great success are temporary. The trophies, the championship rings - all of these will eventually crumble into dust. But the rewards that we seek are eternal. The trophies we win will never lose their luster, the victories we win in Christ will never be forgotten, the cheers we hear as we cross the finish line will never fade away, but will echo throughout eternity. For that reason, our growth and progress in the Christian life is well worth any investment of time or effort we are able to give.
How do we go about it? What do we do? We follow our "coach," Jesus Christ.
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." - Matt. 11:29 (NIV)
How do we learn from Christ?
First, we imitate Him. We observe how He lived, how He treated people, how he related to God, how He reacted in various kinds of circumstances - when he was surrounded by adoring crowds, when he was overwhelmed with people seeking healing, when he was attacked by the religious authorities, when he was approached by children, when he was worshipped by a prostitute, when he was betrayed by his closest friends.
In the life of Christ, we see authentic humanity. We see what God intends our lives to look like. We see the kind of character that God is forming in us. We see what God is changing us into [not that we become Christ, but that we become like Him].
This is how we all learn - through imitation. Children learn from observing their parents [this can be quit embarrassing when they imitate in public what they observed in private]. Doctors learn by observing other doctors (residency). Plumbers learn by working with more experienced plumbers.
If we want to become like Christ, we have to become familiar with His life. The more familiar we become with His life, the more time we spend with Him, the more we will become like Him.
Second, we study His teachings. We read what He said. And we read the rest of the New Testament, which helps us to understand what He said. Jesus Christ is the wisest man who ever lived. His words are worth studying.
Are we willing to do this? We’re willing to study other things [world events; accounting rules; chemical formulas; sales figures; baseball statistics]. Are we willing to study Christ? Is it worth it to us to expend some time and effort to grow in our understanding and experience of God? Are we willing to set aside the time, to sacrifice some other activity we enjoy, to give up twenty minutes of sleep, in order to be learners. God says it’s worth it. Do we believe Him?
Conclusion
Read your Bible. Become familiar with the life of Jesus Christ so that you can imitate him. Study his teachings so that you can live by them. Start today - read 15 minutes a day. Think about what you read. Pray and ask God to change you as you read His Word.
(For an .rtf file of this and other sermons, see www.journeychurchonline.org/messages.htm)
