The Encouragement of Discipline - Part 1

I know that's a simple song we closed out with, but it's very powerful. I don't know if you realize it, but the most important portion of that song is "Blessed the Lord, He will give me Himself." Many times, folks, we want His provision. We want His peace. Nothing wrong with provision, nothing wrong with peace, but the most important thing we can have is Christ Jesus Himself. That reminds me of one of my favorite portions of Scripture from the Old Testament, Exodus 32, 33, when the Jews, the people of God, tested God, tested God over and over, finally they got to the end of it all.

They tested God ten times, and God said to Moses, "I'm going to destroy them all. I'm going to let you go into the Promised Land." Ultimately, Moses said, "If you don't go with me into the Promised Land, I'm not going to go," because Moses understood that his provision without God was worthless. Let that sink in, folks. We can have peace. We can have all of the provisions in life from God, but without God, ultimately, those things are empty, those things are empty. Now if you would take your Bible and turn back to Hebrews 12, I did say earlier that verses 3 to 11 all go together, but this morning we will not cover all of those verses.

We will only cover verse 3 to 8. Now we have moved from chapter 11 into chapter 12 where the author makes a shift from the reality of faith to the practice of faith. We are seeing that the author reveals how genuine faith is revealed through endurance and a consistent and lasting devotion to Christ which includes personal obedience and holy living. He is showing us how believers are to live out their life of faith. Write that down. Remember that. Chapter 12 and on is all about the author showing us how believers live out their life of faith.

And from verses 1 to 3, we saw that the author called these believers to run the race of the Christian life well. Remember he used a running analogy. Verse 1 in the amplified reads, stripping off every unnecessary weight and sin which so easily and cleverly entangles let us run, let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us. That's the Christian life. Now this morning we will see how the author moves from the race of the Christian life to the discipline of God in the lives of his people.

But before we dive into the discipline, we need to be reminded of the circumstances of this original audience and I want us to see how verse three and four applied to them and their circumstances. I have said many, many times that the original recipients of this letter were Jews and because they left Judaism for Christianity, they were going through quite a lot of suffering and even persecution. In leaving Judaism, they would have truly broken with family and friends and they would have been cut off religiously, socially and even economically.

Friends family and all their Jewish world would have rejected them and even hated them for forsaking their religion and all the customs and traditions their families had followed for generations. In every way, they would have been leaving one life that had been lived for generations as the chosen people of God for a completely new and different life in Christianity and they would have faced total rejection and persecution which would have produced great pressure to return to Judaism, to return to their family and friends and their former way of living.

And as I have said many times, those Jews who had made a profession of faith but had not been truly converted to Christ and those that had just associated with this new movement, they were in danger of going back to Judaism if they did not truly believe and scholars tell us that many did, of course we covered that extensively when we covered apostasy. But those true believers, they were under great pressure from everyone and everything around them as well so remaining faithful to Christ in Christianity was very hard for them.

I have pondered this quite a lot, honestly I do not think we can really begin to understand and find them the rejection and the suffering, even the persecution that they faced. And no doubt some of them if not all of them were asking a question, why? I have to believe that many if not all of them were thinking and asking things like this, if Jesus is the promised Messiah of the Old Testament and He is the fulfillment of all seen in the Old Covenant, if He is greater than all of those Old Testament saints, the Levitical priests and the priesthood and if by believing in Jesus as the promised Messiah, we are truly following the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then why in the world are we being rejected, hated and persecuted?

No doubt many if not most were paralyzed and powerless in their faith because of this question and everything associated with that question. So in verses 5-11 the author explains to them that their circumstances and yes their sufferings were a part of God's purposeful discipline in their lives. But before the author does this, I want us to see that he puts their sufferings and their struggles in perspective and he does this through comparison. I want us to go back and look at verses 3 and 4. Consider him who endured from sinners, we know this is Christ, such hostility against himself so that you might not grow weary or faint hearted.

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood and church noticed what the author was doing here. He was reminding them that their sufferings and struggles had not yet brought them to the point of shedding blood like Christ. Jesus shed his life's blood all the way to death even death on the cross, verse 3. But they had not yet come to the place of shedding blood and death, verse 4. And to me it's almost like the author is saying are you any better than Christ? But let's look at the struggle that he points to. The English standard version says your struggle against sin.

The new American, the legacy standard says in your striving against sin, in this word struggle or striving, it is where we get our English word agony. It means to struggle or to fight agonizingly against something. And this speaks of a great and strenuous fight. In their day this word was used of athletes where they needed great and strenuous effort, endurance and determination in the games like running a race, boxing, wrestling, things like that. And this word was used of soldiers in their day where they needed the same in battle even in hand-to-hand combat. But what were they fighting against this original audience?

The verse says sin but we have to ask was this sin in general or was this a specific sin? Context Church, context, context, context. Remember what I tell you all the time, context is king. You see their striving and their great agonizing fight was against the sin and many possible sins associated with battle against renouncing Christ Jesus as the promised Messiah of God and going back to their old life in Judaism. Their striving and great agonizing fight was resisting the sin and sins associated with the battle of not returning to Judaism, therefore escaping their rejection, suffering, and persecutions.

Again, it's as if he was saying are you any better than Christ in the comparison? Jesus in his struggle against his own flesh and the sin that faced him, he prayed and with God's help he determined, nevertheless not my will but yours be done, Luke 22-42. And Christ shed his life's blood by obeying his father's will, going to the cross and providing redemption for man by and through his death. He was saying in your struggle, in your battle against the sin of forsaking Christ and returning to your old life, therefore escaping all of the rejection and persecution, you have not shed any blood yet, but you may.

He was reminding them and saying to them, you may. Context, church, remember, context with verses three to four. But look at how this applies to you, to me, to us. Gas prices are up, but we have not suffered to the point of shedding any blood. Juice rates are high, the cost of living is higher, and our dollar does not go quite so far, but we have not shed any blood. We did not get that raise or that promotion. We did not get that better job that we wanted. We can't get that bigger house or that new car, but we have not suffered to the point of shedding any blood.

Now, in application, I want to get a little more personal, even a little more raw. You may have lost a baby. You may not be able to have a child biologically, but you have not suffered the shame and the humiliation and the death that Christ suffered. Maybe you were a victim of a horrible home life. Maybe you were even abused, and I never want to make light of that, but you did not and have not suffered the shame, the humiliation, and death that Christ suffered. Look, brother, look, sister, your trial and difficulty may be hard. It may be super hard.

Your struggle and suffering may be very hard, but do you see the comparison and do we see how this comparison puts us in the right place and into the right frame of thinking when we're looking at trial and sufferings? Switching back to those Old Testament saints, remember, they are our motivation. We have not come to the place where we have been mocked and flogged and chained and imprisoned. Hebrews 11, 36. We've not been stoned, sown in two and killed by the sword, verse 37.

But coming back to Jesus as our ultimate example, we have not had to suffer as Christ our Lord suffered on the cross taking upon Himself the unimaginable suffering of our sin and our eternal damnation and punishment. Again, this puts us in the right place and into the right frame of thinking on our trials and our sufferings.

Maybe we need to take all of our trials and all of our sufferings into the study, into the prayer closet, over and over, day after day, as long as it takes and study and meditate on the sufferings of Christ our Lord in comparison and stay there until the Holy Spirit of God sorts those things out for us and as a result, we are put into the right place and into the right thinking and frame of mind and living those things out properly, you see? I don't know your hearts, but I think that is what some of you may be missing in your struggles and trials and sufferings it could be. Maybe that's why you don't have the victory that you need.

Now that we have their context in hand and that we have been humbled a little, we must understand what this discipline is and what it's not because discipline is the main most point of verses 5 to 11. Actually we see this word discipline eight times in verses 5 to 11 in both the English standard and the New American. First what it is not, this is not just correction, this is not only punishment. When we think of discipline, we probably think of children and the correction and punishment involving child rearing and with that in mind, some think these verses are all about the correction and the punishment of the believer from God.

Yes, it does include correction and punishment, but it involves much, much more. This discipline includes instruction, admonition, reproof, and correction. This discipline is all about education, formation, and training which can include correction and punishment. And we have to understand that the discipline of God is foundationally education and for the formation of the believer. And one part of this work in process is correction, maybe even punishment.

As one scholar said it and I'm really putting it in my words, divine discipline is God's educational activity towards his children and the purpose is education and formation so as to develop the character. Vision is for moral and spiritual development for the ultimate purpose of personal holiness, peace, righteousness, and usefulness to God for the glory of God. We will get to these ultimate purposes next week.

But a question before we continue, and I really want you to ponder this, are you, are we willing to submit to the suffering and discipline that will bring about our spiritual education and formation and the development of our spiritual character? I think I need to say that again. Are we, are you, willing to submit to the suffering and discipline that will bring about our spiritual education and formation and the development of our spiritual character? So now that we understand or have a better understanding of their context, this teaching on discipline and the meaning of discipline, let's get into the verses.

I do want us to read verse five to eight again. Then I will show you how we will break them down in the body of the message. Verse five, and have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? My son do not regard likely the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him, for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons, for what son is there whom his father does not discipline. If you are left without discipline in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

Now in approaching these verses, first we see a call to understand and embrace discipline. That's in verses five to six. And then second we see the call to understand and rethink discipline in verse seven and eight. That's what we'll cover this morning. That's what we will cover in our part one. So let's get started. Number one, the call to understand and embrace discipline. This call to understand and embrace discipline, verse five and six. Now we have seen how the author call these Jewish Christians to see their circumstances and sufferings in light of or compared to Christ's sufferings.

Now he was calling them to understand that their circumstances and sufferings were in fact the discipline of God. As we will see, he was calling them to understand these things and to ultimately embrace them. And he does this by taking them to the Scriptures. Now there's quite a lot here. So you may want to perk up and listen up, but I think we can get it. First notice he showed them what they had forgotten. Verse five, which is a question. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? And then he goes on to quote Proverbs three, 11 to 12. Now this is obvious. He was showing them that they seem to have forgotten.

Remember now these were Jews so they certainly have the Old Testament Scriptures and they did have the book of Proverbs. So this was simple, he was taking back to the Scriptures that they needed at this time. Now a question here, how many Scriptures have we forgotten and how many Scriptures have we forgotten that we need? Think about this context, they needed these Scriptures that they forgot. It's kind of convicting, at least it is for me. Second, notice he reminded them they were sons. Verse five, and have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

And then he goes on to quote the verse, my son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord nor be weary when reproved by him. Now within the Proverbs, the author was writing as a father to a son. And in this proverb, in this case Solomon was writing to his son. And here the author of Hebrews was making a broader application reminding them that his believers in Christ, they were indeed sons of God, the children of God. And this is very, very important folks. He used this word this language six times in verses five to eight. So the author was reminding them in emphasizing their relationship to God and God's relationship to them.

They were sons of God, children of God. God was their father. And it is interesting to note that this refers not to small children, but to adult children or adult sons. We see this in the language. I like what Warren Wiersby says here, and I'm quoting, God deals with us as adult sons because we have been adopted and given an adult standing in his family. That's good. He cites Romans eight, 14 to 18 in Galatians four, one to seven to make that statement. Now look, brother, look sister, notice, remember, we've got to get this. When we are born again, we not only become Christians, Bible Christians, we are adopted as sons and daughters of God.

We are adopted as the children of God. He is our father and we are his children. Notice how this applies to that original audience because of their circumstances and their sufferings. They may have felt and believed that they were somehow not in God's favor. They may have thought that they were estranged from God. So the author was reminding them that they were indeed children of God, sons of God, sons and daughters of God, and God was their father. So notice all this comes together from the Old Testament scriptures that they knew and forgotten. The author was reminding them of their close relationship to God.

But then third, I want us to see that he gave them two exhortations. Two exhortations. Now to see these exhortations, we have to look at part of the proverb. But before we do, we have to see or understand what an exhortation is. This is a simple definition. An exhortation is strongly urging someone to do something or to avoid something. And that is what he was doing. He was strongly urging them to do something. Now the first exhortation, not to make light of God's discipline. And the second exhortation, not to grow weary in God's discipline. Now look at how this comes together, these two exhortations.

Now remember their circumstances, they were suffering terribly for having left their old life in Judaism, for a new life in Christ and Christianity. I have explained their situation thoroughly, we know. And their circumstances and sufferings were the discipline of the Lord. That means that God was sovereignly and purposefully using those things to instruct and admonish them and even to correct and punish them where it was needed. He was using it all to educate them and to train them in his ways so as to form and develop them. This was meant to change who they were and what they thought about God in themselves.

This discipline in all that it was, it was for the purpose of greater personal holiness, righteousness and usefulness to God, all for the glory of God in them and through them. So these were serious times and serious God ordained God appointed circumstances and sufferings and he was calling them not to make light of their circumstances, even making light of their sufferings and not to grow weak and weary and quick. Now think about it, if they had made light of their circumstances, they would have missed the work of God in the discipline. If they were to have grown weary, they would have not gotten all that God wanted to do in the discipline.

If they grew weak and quick, well, they would have missed it all. Now take a step back from verse 5 and take note of a few observations here. This is a big picture, trials, troubles, tests and tragedies come into the believer's life. Pressure and pain come into the believer's life. Sometimes even persecution, sorrow and suffering will come from these kinds of experiences and none of these things are by chance. Although they may not come directly from God, God allows and appoints them for his children for the purpose of good and for all that discipline is. And we must see that these things are blessings in disguise.

These disappointments are, in fact, God's appointment. Some of you read William McDonald's Bible commentary and you'll come across that language. I'm paraphrasing what he said. These are blessings in disguise. These are horrible disappointments, but they are, in fact, God's appointments. And then fourth, notice he gave them two encouragements. We see the encouragements from verse 6.

He says, "For the Lord disciplines the ones he loves and he chastises every son whom he receives." Now this is still part of Proverbs 3, 11 and 12, and I do not think what I need to define or explain what an encouragement is, but the first encouragement God disciplines the ones he loves. We have already gotten a good grasp on what discipline God's discipline is and what a son or a child of God is, but notice the main point here. The main point here is about affection, love. The love that God has for his children, his sons, his daughters, in the original, those he loves comes first, which carries with it a certain emphasis and importance.

And this is the point, God disciplines those he loves. God disciplines his children. He does not discipline those who are not his children. And why does he discipline his children? Love. He loves them. He loves us. And because he loves us, because he loves his children, he gives them, he gives us what he knows is best and discipline is best. Leon Morris explains this well, saying, "If God did not care about us, he would not bother to discipline us. The writer sees in life's sufferings the evidence of the love of God that uses hardship as a means of making us the best we can be." I love that.

The writer sees in life's sufferings the evidence of the love of God that uses hardship as a means of making us the best we can be. The second encouragement. He chastises every son. Right here, we need to see how the different translations read. The English standard says, "For the Lord disciplines the ones he loves, he chastises every son whom he receives." The King James is similar. The New American says, "He scourges every son whom he receives." The legacy standard Bible says, "He flogs every son he receives." Look at this language. What does that mean? Chasing, scourges, flogs, that kind of sounds like cruel and unusual punishment.

This word simply means to scourge or to whip. When it was used in Roman and Greek times of judicial punishment, literally, this word speaks of scourging or whipping physically. The author is not speaking of a physical chastening or flogging. This is figurative language. This is figurative language which spoke of the severe discipline brought into the lives of God's children by God as one writer put it. The point is not that God literally beats his children, but that his discipline may be severe and painful thus demonstrating his genuine, fatherly concern and acceptance of his sons. So take note of how these two encouragements come together.

Because God loves his sons and daughters, he brings discipline into their lives because his children are his very own, he brings even severe even painful chastisement into their lives when needed. Now before we move on here, I want us to see what is vitally important to see here. Love and sonship, love and sonship, God loves his children, sonship matters. Speaking of your parents here, why do you discipline your children? Why do you train and educate your children? Why do you give your children rules and parameters? Why do you form and mold them? Why do you discipline your children even with physical punishment?

Why do you punish them even severely when it is needed? First and foremost, you do that because you love them. First and foremost, you do that because they are your very own. They are your sons and daughters. That is why you discipline them. Notice I sent first and foremost out of love, first and foremost out of sonship, daughtership. That's a contradiction, but it makes sense. Now step back from the verses, verses 5 and 6 and notice what we have here. This is a summary. The author was reminding them of the exhortation from Proverbs 3, 11 to 12. Scriptures that they knew, but they forgot and needed.

As believers in Jesus, they were truly the sons and daughters of God. He was calling them not to take lightly, not to grow weary in the discipline of God in their lives, and he was reminding them that God loved them and valued them as his own. Therefore he brought discipline, even severe punishment into their lives because he knew best. Now before we move into verses 7 and 8, I want us to think about a word that I have used. Embrace, embrace. This is the call to understand the discipline of the Lord and to embrace it. And will we embrace the discipline of the Lord? Next, number 2, the call to understand and rethink discipline.

Verses 7 and 8, the call to understand and rethink discipline. Here we see the author moves away from those Proverbs verses, let's read verse 7 and 8. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons for what son is there, whom his father does not discipline. If you are left without discipline in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Now here I will be much shorter, not because these verses are less important, it's just the way it is unfolded.

And here the author takes one more step in helping them understand and embrace discipline, and here he is helping them rethink discipline, and he does this by showing them what discipline proves. First the presence of discipline proves sonship. We see this in verse 7. Now in this first sentence we have this phrase "have to endure," but there is some debate if this is a statement or a command, but really that's not important. The important thing here is this. The language structure in the original tells us the emphasis is on the discipline.

Discipline is what comes first, that's why the English standard starts off with discipline saying it is for discipline that you have to endure. And this can be a statement as in that is what is going to happen, or it can be a command as in the discipline is going to come, so endure it. But let me simplify the point. The author is saying discipline in chastisement will come, so endure it. Discipline and enduring discipline is a part of the Christian life, and we are to stay in it and under it. But notice what the author does next. He asks a rhetorical question for what son is there whom his father does not discipline. Now what's the point?

In asking the question, he is proving that discipline and chastisement prove sonship. Simply discipline and even harsh chastisement reveals that God is treating his sons and daughters as his own. Now a question here. When you discipline your children, when you train and educate them, when you give your children rules and parameters to live by at all stages of their life, when you work every day to form and mold your children, when you punish them, even with the rod, and even at times with severe punishment when they need it, what are you proving?

Yes you are proving that you love them, but you are proving that they are your sons and your daughters. Let me turn it around. You don't discipline your neighbor's children, they are not yours. Second, notice the absence of discipline proves illegitimacy. Verse 8. Now here the author does not ask another question. He just makes a statement. He says, and I am quoting the verse, "If you are left without discipline in which we have all participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons, and that leads me to ask a question. What if someone in and attached to the church is not disciplined?

What if someone in the church who claims to be a Christian does not experience discipline like we see here? It's simple. This proves they are not a son or a daughter of God." Leon Morris goes to the culture of the day making the point here saying illegitimate children were not on the same footing as the legitimate. They were not part of the family, they were not heirs, they were not disciplined in the same way as sons, and this was not something they could be happy about. It showed that they were outside the sphere of the Father's carrying, and the same can be applied today. Now right here we need to do some thinking church.

How many people are in and associated with the church? They claim the name of Christ, they claim to live according to the promises found in God's Word. They read their Bible, they pray, they give, but they have lived year after year, twenty years, thirty years, forty years, maybe fifty years claiming to be a Christian, yet they have never had the great privilege of the loving discipline and chastisement of the Lord and enjoyed the wonderful closeness of God in it all. Now many have lived just like that. Now in summary, look at what we have in verses 7 and 8.

The author was stating that discipline and chastisement was and is a part of the Christian life, and they were to endure it, they were to stay under it, they were to remain in it and under it, and this proves two things, those who profess Christ and do not encounter it and endure it faithfully while they are proven to be sons of God, but those who do not encounter it, they do not endure the discipline faithfully while they are proven to be illegitimate. Before we move on, I want us to think about this original audience again. This letter was written to a Jewish congregation. Some were truly Christian, some were not.

And both groups were on the receiving end of this suffering and persecution because both groups had left Judaism for Christ and Christianity, but only those who remained in and under this discipline and chastisement that was from God would prove themselves to be true sons and daughters of God, those who came to the pressure, those who came to the persecution and went back to Judaism and their former life, that proved they were illegitimate all along, and looked church is the same today, it's the same today.

Some of us who have been Christian a little longer than others can do this more accurately, but if we look around, we see many who have proven themselves to be illegitimate. Some in this room have mothers and fathers who have proven themselves to be illegitimate. Some in this room have sons and daughters who have proven themselves to be illegitimate. Some have other family and friends who have proven themselves to be illegitimate. These are people who at one time seem to be even faithful Christians. But we can't just look at other people, we have to look at ourselves.

Are we going to endure and stay in and under the struggles and the sufferings associated with the Christian life? Are we going to endure? And if we endure, we prove who we are. We prove that we are legitimate and otherwise feel legitimate. And look folks, you will prove who you are by what you do. We prove who we are by what we do in our struggles and sufferings and trials and tribulations. Now I want to give us the title of the message and I want to talk about one word in the title. This message is all about the encouragement of discipline. Again, it's a part one, the encouragement of discipline.

Now think about that word I used encouragement and a question, how is this been encouraging? How in the world has this been encouraging? Think about it, I have said that the true Christian life certainly includes struggles and great sufferings, maybe even persecution. And I have said that to remain in the Christian life demands that we endure in and under those struggles and those sufferings is that very encouraging? You may say yes, pastor, it is. But in all honesty, time and more time and truly enduring one of those trials and struggles and sufferings that will tell. Time always tells.

Now I want to close out the message by putting the discipline of God in its proper place. This is very important church, don't miss this. I want us to see that the discipline of God must be in its proper place. The discipline of God comes out of, it is a part of, it is centered on the love of God. Listen church, God's love chose us and predestined us, Ephesians 4 and 5. God's love sent Christ for us, John 3, 16. God's love saved us, Ephesians 2, 4 to 5. God's love reconciled us to God, Romans 5, 10. God's love forgave us, Ephesians 1, 7. God's love justified us, Romans 5, 8 to 9. God's love adopted us, 1 John 3, 1.

It was God's love that gave us eternal life, John 3, 16. God's love gave us the Holy Spirit of God, Romans 5, 5. God's love sanctifies us, Ephesians 5, 25 to 27. God's love comforts us, 2 Thessalonians 2, 16. God's love preserves us, John 10, 28 to 29. It is God's love that intercedes for us, even now, Hebrew 7, 25. God's love provides for us, Romans 8, 32. God's love brings us into fellowship with Himself, 1 Corinthians 1, 9. God's love unites us with other believers, Ephesians 2, 13 and 19. God's love teaches us to love 1 John 4, 11. God's love casts out all fear 1 John 4, 18. God's love guarantees our glorification, Romans 8, 30.

And God's love will never let us go, Romans 8, 38 to 39. And tucked right in there between sanctification and comfort is disciplined. God's love sanctifies us, God's love disciplines us, God's love comforts us, you see? And as the people of God has much loved children, we must recognize that the God who sovereignly chose us and graciously saved us is also the God who faithfully disciplines us.