Receiving The Lord’s Chastening

I have entitled our message this evening, “Receiving the Lord’s Chastening,” and I wish to begin by sharing an illustration entitled, “God’s Loving Kick”:

A Norfolk-Southern train was rolling down the rails of Indiana at 24 miles per hour. Suddenly the conductor, Robert Mohr, spotted an object on the tracks roughly a city block away. Initially the engineer, Rod Lindley, thought it was a dog on the tracks. Then Mohr screamed, “That’s a baby!” The baby was 19-month-old Emily Marshall, who had wandered away from home while her mother planted flowers in her yard.

Lindley hit the brakes. Mohr bolted out the door and raced along a ledge to the front of the engine. He realized there was no time to jump ahead of the train and grab the baby. So he ran down a set of steps, squatted at the bottom of the grill, and hung on. As the train drew close to Emily, she rolled off the rail onto the roadbed, but she was still in danger of being hit by the train. So Mohr stretched out his leg and pushed her out of harm’s way. Mohr then jumped off the train, picked up the little girl, and cradled her in his arms.

Little Emily ended up with just a cut on her head and a swollen lip. But her injuries were the result of being kicked out of the way. Sometimes, like this train conductor, God must [give us a kick] in order to save us. [That kick may feel painful, and we may get bruised, but in the end it works out for our good].

This is the main idea that we are going to discover this evening – that God chastens us for our own good. Usually, when we are going through the Lord’s chastening we resist Him with all of our might, but we are going to see that it would be beneficial to “receive the Lord’s chastening.”

Consider Jesus during Chastening (vv. 3-4)

3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.

This passage deals with God’s chastening, and when we are experiencing chastening it can sometimes be difficult. The Lord’s chastening can oftentimes be manifested in our lives though trials, times of hardship, and even suffering; and we can easily become discouraged, which means we “lose courage.” In verse 3 we are admonished to consider Jesus and all that he went through “lest [we] become weary and discouraged.”

Whenever we get down then we need to reflect on how Jesus “endured such hostility from sinners” and how He was persecuted for what He believed and stood for. Jesus said in John 15:18, 20, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you . . . If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” It is important for us to realize we are not alone in our hardships and we are not alone in our chastening, for even our Savior endured such things; and not only that, but we are to realize that Jesus went through a whole lot more than we probably ever will.

Jesus was spat upon, beaten, mocked, and crucified (Matthew 27:30), not to mention betrayed (Matthew 26:14-16), denied (Matthew 26:69-75), and even abandoned (Matthew 26:56); and we are told here of how Jesus “endured” all of this hostility and persecution. He “stuck it out,” and He “did not give up,” and we must learn from Jesus’ example and do the same.

Verse 4 says, “You have not yet resisted to bloodshed.” As long as you’re still kicking then you’re in great shape. You have not yet died for your faithfulness – you still have your life – and as long as you still have breath you can praise the Lord (Psalm 150:6).

I have heard it said that if you are ever discouraged by your problems, then look around and you will see someone else in a lot worse shape than you are. Instead of looking at what we don’t have, we need to be looking at what we do have. We need to identify the ways in which we are blessed, and then we will be a whole lot less discouraged. In fact, we should be very “encouraged” by how God has blessed us.

Look at Jesus and consider how much better off you are then He was. Are you being beaten and spat upon for your faith? Maybe you’re being mocked, but only if you are openly voicing your faith in Jesus Christ. If you will just “consider Him,” as we are told here in verse 3, and realize all that He endured, then you will be a whole lot more humble about your own set of problems. We must realize that even Jesus, the very Son of God, was not spared suffering. Romans 8:31 tells us that God “did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all.” What makes us think that we will be spared times of hardship if God did not spare His one and only Son?