THE FATHER¡¦S DISCIPLINE
Hebrews 12:3-17
Why do persecution, testing, trial, sickness, pain, sorrow, and trouble come into the life of the believer? Are they a sign of God¡¦s anger or displeasure? Do they happen by chance? How should we react to them? Certainly some of our sufferings and trials are due to our own fault. However, the Bible teaches us that sufferings and trials are part of God¡¦s educative process.. Although the things that happen to us do not always come from God, He does permit them and then uses them for His glory and for our good. The things we experience can also be used to bring blessings to others. Though this may bother us, nothing happens by chance to the Christian. Tragedies can be blessings in disguise, and disappointments are His appointments. God uses the unpleasant circumstances of life to transform us into the image of Jesus Christ.
The first readers of the book of Hebrews consisted of Jewish believers in Jesus Christ. They were in danger of deserting the faith and returning to Judaism. The writer reminds them of Proverbs 3:11, 12, where God addresses them as sons. There He warns them against despising His discipline or losing courage under His rebuke. If they rebel or give up, they lose the benefit of His dealings with them and fail to learn His lessons.
In Hebrews 11:1-12:4, we learn that all God¡¦s children go through trying times in life. God uses those trying times to make us more like Jesus. This passage uses three different words to describe God¡¦s discipline in his children.
1. First, there is the word ¡§chastening¡§ or ¡§Chastisement.¡¨ or ¡§discipline.¡¨ Generally, when we see the word ¡§Chasten¡¨ we think of a whipping. Actually the Greek word means child training or education. Some translations of the Bible have ¡§Discipline.¡¨ The Greek word denotes ¡§the training of a child, including instruction¡¨; hence, ¡§discipline, correction,¡¨ ¡§chastening.¡¨ The purpose of Christian discipline is to develop our character. The discipline of God many not necessarily imply that the believer has sinned, but that God is using our trials to strengthen us in our commitment to Jesus Christ. We often learn more during the trials we face than in the easy times.
2. Then there is the word ¡§rebuke.¡¨ The word ¡§rebuke¡¨ means ¡§to convict, refute, reprove.¡§ The particular Greek word implies a rebuke that is deserved and that carries conviction. A ¡§rebuke¡¨ from the Lord is a gentle reminder that we need to get back on course in our Christian walk.
3. There is the word ¡§scourge¡¨ in verse 6. That is a much stronger word than ¡§chasten,.¡¨ or ¡§rebuke.¡¨ Vine describes this word (mastixƒw as ¡§a whip or scourge.¡¨ Paul experienced a scourging in Acts 22:24. Of course, Jesus was scourged prior to His crucifixion. The word also describes the suffering of the saints in the Old testament Times. It is much more severe than the word chastening or discipline. When we sin, the Holy Spirit will give us a rebuke. However if we as believers persist in sin or rebellion, God will scourge us.
Most of the Biblical characters who were used of God went through periods of training. The same is also true for believers today. Moses spent 40 years in the backside of the desert as part of his preparation to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage. Joseph was sold as a slave by his brothers. David spent a number of years fleeing from Saul before he actually became the king. Paul spent three years in the Arabian desert following his conversion to Jesus Christ. In this text, chastening was not punishment for wrongdoing, but training through persecution.
I. WHAT SHOULD BE OUR RESPONSE TO GOD¡¦S DISCIPLINE (5-7)
What we learn when going through the fire will largely be determined by how respond to God¡¦s discipline. The writer gives three possible responses in verses 5-7.
A. We may despise God¡¦s discipline. ¡§My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord¡¨ (NASB). To regard discipline lightly, can harden us towards the things of God. Therefore we cannot profit from it. Complaining to God about his discipline indicates we believe God is doing something wrong. Fretting is nothing but unbelief, lack of trust in God. When we question God, it indicates that He is unjust in what He is doing to us. We can become careless or indifferent, we frustrate God¡¦s purposes in our lives.
B. We may faint at God¡¦s discipline. Some people become so overwhelmed by their problems that they become so despondent and depressed that they just give up and faint. The psalmist had this experienced when he cried out to himself, ¡§Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me?¡¨ The psalmist knew his problem, but he also knew the cure. ¡§Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance, and my God¡¨ (Ps 42:11) The cure for hopelessness is hope in God.
Some of the Hebrew Christians were discouraged and were on the verge of giving up. Don¡¦t faint at God¡¦s discipline. He gives it to strengthen us, not to make us weak. He disciplines to encourage us, not to discourage us. He does it to build us up, not tear us down.
C. We should submit to God¡¦s discipline. By submitting to the disciplines of God, we are transformed into God¡¦s very image. On the other hand, if we resist God¡¦s discipline, He may have to teach us over a longer period of time, using more instructive, and consequently, more difficult methods.
We are not to ¡§despise the chastening of the Lord..¡§ Moreover, we are not to become discouraged or faint because of the chastening of the Lord. Rather, we are to submit to it. If we resist, we¡¦ll only prolong the process. Instead of asking, ¡§why this thing is happening to me¡¨ ask, ¡§Lord, what do you want to teach me through this.¡¨
II. WHAT ARE THE RESULTS OF GOD¡¦S DISCIPLINE (12:6-8)
¡§For those whom the LORD loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.¡¨ God has a purpose behind everything that happens to us. God¡¦s discipline proves three wonderful truths about God.
A. God¡¥s discipline proves that we are the children of God. It proves that God really does love us (12:7-8). When testing times come, God is treating us as his children. In a typical father-son relationship, the father trains his son because he loves him and wants the best for him. Even more so, God loves us too much to let us develop naturally.
Why does it seem that those who are lost can get by with sin, but Christians suffer the consequences? In the spiritual realm, those who do not experience God¡¦s discipline are illegitimate children, not true sons of God. A human father disciplines his own children but not the children of others. Most of us have experienced discipline from our human fathers. We did not interpret this as a sign that they hated us. We realized that they were interested in our welfare, and we paid them respect.
God chastens us because we are his children: If we be without chastening when we need it, we are not saved. A professing Christian who has never experienced the discipline of God is illegitimate. The fact that the Father chastens us is a sign we are His children. The lack of God¡¦s discipline is a sign that one is not a child of God.
B. God disciplines us to give us life. Note that the writer makes a contrast between parental discipline and God¡¦s discipline. ¡§Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to othe Father of spirits and live?¡¨ The purpose of our Heavenly Father¡¦s discipline is to train us in life. If we respect our earthly fathers, we should respect our Heavenly Father even more so. It is by submitting to God that you and I are able to enjoy life in its fullness.
C. God disciplines us to make us holy. ¡§For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, pthat we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no 5chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields qthe peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.¡¨
God chastens us for our own good, in order to make us holy.. However, when a believer refuses to submit to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, the calling of the Shepherd, and the chastening of the Father, then He may have to deal with us more severely. In the first stages of God’s dealing with the rebellious believer, he or she has the opportunity to confess their sins and repent. However, when a rebellious Christian persists in sin and continues to live in rebellion, he brings great harm to the cause of Christ. Un-saintly saints cause people to go to hell. Un-saintly saints cause younger believers to stumble. As a result there may come a time that God has to remove the un-saintly saint from the scene. How does God do that?
God sometimes has to put believers on the shelf: Paul wrote, "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.¡¨ (I Cor. 9:27). How many once faithful servants of Christ have been put on the shelf because of un-saintly living!!!
God sometimes has to remove believers from the scene: I am going to heaven, but I don’t to go prematurely because the Lord had to take me out of the way. Why are some removed from the scene quicker than others? I don’t know. I do know it happened to Bible saints. Lets look at some examples. Moses died too young at age 120. He did not get to enter the promised land because he struck the rock when God told him to speak to the rock. Annanias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit and were killed prematurely. Believers who took the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner suffered the consequences: (I Corinthians 1127-32) KEY: vv. 28-30 "But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep."
The discipline of earthly parents is not perfect and it lasts only during the days of childhood and youth. Our parents disciplined us as it seemed best to them. Sometimes parents can be wrong in their discipline. However, God¡¥s discipline is always perfect. His love is infinite and His wisdom is infallible. His chastening is never the result of whim, but always for our profit. The objective of His discipline is that we may be partakers of His holiness. True godliness and holiness can never be produced outside God¡¦s school.
Have you ever undergone a period of discipline from the Lord? If you are a true born again child of God, of course you have. In fact, it is possible that some of us may be experiencing a time of discipline in our own lives even this very moment. If that is the case then God has a word for you in verses 12-13. ¡§Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.¡¨
