Discipline for Disciples Heb 12:4-13

1 Discipline for Disciples Heb 12:4-13 INT: This morning, I want you to look up at the screen. You see a fireman; two doctors; an astronaut; two Olympic wrestlers; a computer technician; a school teacher; soldiers; a cloistered monk; and a little girl in school. What do these people have in common?... The answer is, they all had to undergo training, coming under some form of discipline that trained them for their respective position. TS: Our word DISCIPLINE, comes from the Latin word, DISCIPULUS... which means LEARNER. Discipline actually refers to the process by which something is learned. The discipline to become a doctor involves an intensive regiment that includes both academic and practical, hands on training. The discipline to become an Olympic wrestler involves an intensive regiment of physical and mental training. The purpose of all discipline is learning. From the word DISCIPLNE, we get the word DISCIPLE. It means TO BE A LEARNER. But I find that far too often, DISCIPLINE is associated with the idea of pain or limitation and is confused with punishment. It s important that we identify the distinction between these two terms before we go on. Webster defines discipline as training... and punishment as imposing a penalty for an offense. The goal of discipline is to train or instruct. The goal of punishment is to penalize or make someone pay. Of course, discipline may, at times, involve using some form of punishment as a method of negative reinforcement. Imposing a penalty as a consequence, can be used to teach an individual what not to do. But by and large, discipline is based upon instruction and positive reinforcement. For the last few weeks we have been looking at the biblical roles of elders to help us better consider the Council s proposal to change to our governance to become an elder-led and staff-driven church. One of the roles of elders is to oversee church discipline. But for us to understand this role, we must understand church discipline. And to understand church discipline, we must understand it the larger context of the Lord s discipline, first. Today, we will look at the larger context of the Lord s discipline as presented in Hebrews 12:4-13. Let s read the passage together. Heb 4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what

2 son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 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. 11 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. 12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 "Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. Heb 12:4-13 BIG IDEA: God disciplines those He loves to DEVELOP their CHARACTER in relationship to Him. In verse 4, the struggle against sin is a recognition that to be faithful and holy.. to follow God s way, can be hard.. even a struggle. But to help us keep this struggle in perspective, we are reminded that our struggle against sin is not to be compared to that of Jesus, who shed his blood for us... that is why it says, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. Often when we face difficulty or hardship and we struggle it is because we have no perspective on it. IL: It s just like the boy who wrote his dad a note. When his father opened it, he read: Dear Dad, It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend, because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and you. I've been finding real passion with Stacy, and she is so nice. I knew you would not approve of her, because of her nose piercing, tattoos, tight Motorcycle clothes, and because she is so much older than I am. But it's not only the passion, Dad -- she's pregnant. Stacy said that we will be very happy. She owns a trailer in the woods, and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. We share a dream of having many more children. Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn't, really hurt anyone. We'll be growing it for ourselves, and trading it with the other people, for all the cocaine and ecstasy we want. In the meantime, please pray that science will find a cure for AIDS, so Stacy can get better. She sure deserves it! Love, your son, John. Then he read: PS: Dad, None of the above is true. I'm over at Tommy's house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than the report card that's in my center desk drawer. I love you! Call when it is safe for me to come home." Keeping your struggle in perspective always helps. Then we read not to forget the word of encouragement that addresses you as sons. Speaking to this word of encouragement, we need to not that earlier in Heb 5:11-12, the readers were chastised for not digging into the Word so they might mature.

3 11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Heb 5:11-12 Here, the readers are chastised because they have forgotten or failed to learn what God has wanted to teach them through His Word. AP: Some of you are in the same boat. You ve been following Jesus for a long time now, but you are still just a spiritual babe. That s because you re not studying God s Word. Instead, you stay on the periphery of your faith, expecting the paltry meal of a weekly sermon to give you all the knowledge you need.. It s milk, not meat like God s Word! The Bible is a veritable feast.. and the Holy Spirit will help you feed on it so that you might understand it. ACTION ITEM: STUDY Your Bibles. It s hard to study alone, so I recommend that do this in your small groups... or even you try Bible Study Fellowship. This is a non-denominational study provided at different times for men and women. Just call the office if you want to know more about it. Finally on this point, I want everyone to notice that the Word of God is a word of encouragement. That s because it s like a map that will lead you to a great, hidden treasure. All you need to do is follow it. But you can t follow it, if you don t study it. Then, our text today quotes from Pro 3:11-12 on the Lord s discipline. "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." The word used for DISCIPLINE refers to INSTRUCTING A CHILD. As a parent it is work to be a good disciplinarian. It requires that you follow through with your children on the boundaries you ve established and on the consequences that go with crossing those boundaries. Perhaps that is why love and discipline go together.. and why it says that the Lord disciplines those he loves. He could ignore us and let us suffer the consequences of living our lives on our own.. but what loving parent would do that to his children.. God cares enough about us as His children to oversee our training by providing us with His discipline. But let s be clear about this, His discipline is about molding and developing our character. Character takes time to mold and develop. Character is developed only through repeating lessons in different ways so that we may embody the values being taught. For instance, if you want to teach your child to be responsible.. this will only come through hundreds of different lessons that reinforce that value.. from picking up his toys to driving the car. We can expect God s discipline to be as though in molding our character and in instilling within each of us a deeper sense of belief in and reliance upon God. Underneath it all, as God says in verse 10, but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. The purpose of the Lord s discipline is holiness. Holiness and character

4 development go together because HOLINESS is that process by which we become more and more like Christ in our character. Let me say, though it may be hard, difficult, perhaps even painful at times, when the Lord places you under His discipline, it doesn t mean that you are bad... or that you ve done something wrong. Take Job, for instance. Job did not do anything wrong when he came under the Lord s discipline. He wasn t being punished by God as the consequence of sin. God said to Satan of Job, 8... "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." Job 1:8 Even so, God allowed Job to endure hardship. But through it, Job grew deeper in his trust and understanding of God. Job also saw how his pride could actually lead him to judge God. Confronted by God, Job saw the error of his arrogance, and gave it up. Although it doesn t say so, I think that Job never again let his pride get the better of him, learning to stand in the grace of the Lord s love and leading. This passage also says if you are a legitimate child of God, then God is going to discipline you. This is why we read in verse 8, (and everyone undergoes discipline). Jesus essentially said the same thing to his disciples when he said, 1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. John 15:1-2 God prunes the branches that bear fruit so they will be even more fruitful. And this is why James wrote, 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4 The Bible sometimes talks about God s discipline as pruning, trials, tests, a refining fire... and even as being purified. But the purpose of the Lord s discipline to train your character to reflect an intimate relationship with the Lord.. and the values of the Lord. I want to say here, very clearly, that God is not the author of bad things that occur to us in our lives. It is impossible for Him to do so because His very nature defines GOODNESS. But God does allow difficulties and hardships to occur... just as God allowed these to befall Job. God allows them and uses them to discipline us to develop our character. And all of God s legitimate children come under the Lord s discipline. We are further instructed not to make light of the Lord's discipline. The KJV translates MAKE LIGHT as DESPISE. So what does it mean to make light or despise the Lord s discipline? It means to not fully engage and embrace it... to run away from it or reject it. IL: When I coached wrestling I would always make

5 sure that practices were extremely challenging, (both physically and mentally), at year s end. This was the time when the boys prepared to wrestle in the final tournaments of the year. Having been an outstanding wrestler many years before them, I knew what it took to prepare them physically and mentally to win in those tournaments. That was why I crafted those practices to be so difficult. During practice, I could see the young men who were working with it --- pushing themselves when they wanted to stop. They sensed the physical pain they felt was only momentary.. and trusted that these difficult practices would make them be in better physical and mental condition than their opponents. I also saw other wrestlers, sometimes even more talented, who would make light of the discipline provided during those practices. They seemed to despise it. I could almost hear the inner voices saying to them, This is too hard. It hurts too much. Instead of working hard and pushing through, they would slack off, hang on, and go through the motions. They couldn t see past the moment... They didn t see the value of this discipline... all they wanted was relief from it. In the end, they would lose to others who did not take their training so lightly. AP: So what is your attitude toward the Lord s discipline? When God allows some difficulty into your life (even though you may have done nothing wrong) do you approach it lightly.. despise it? There are several possible responses to the Lord s discipline. First of all, you can DENY it. What problem? What difficulty? You re oblivious to the Lord s discipline. You might see it as a hardship, but you can t see the Lord in it at all. If that is your mentality, it will keep you from discovering what God is trying to teach you and this lesson will be taught to you again and again, usually in different ways and through different people until you get it. A second response to the Lord s discipline is to PROJECT the responsibility for it on others. I didn t do anything to cause this situation he did or she did it. If only they would change, it would stop. The lesson is theirs to learn. If that is your mentality, the lesson the Lord is teaching you in it will be coming back around again. It will keep coming until you learn to take responsibility for yourself. A third response is DEFLECTION or looking in the wrong direction. Sometimes, you recognize the Lord s discipline, but what you think He is trying to teach you is not what God is trying to teach you. For instance, you may be struggling in your marriage and assume it s a life lesson about bad choices. But the lesson God wants to teach you may be different. It may be that God wants you to learn humility and He can best teach this to you through your spouse. Or it may be that God wants you to learn how to trust Him with your brokenness... not trying to fix everything your way, but relying upon Him and His way. Or, it may be that God wants to clean up some sin in your life... and in doing so, develop within you a heart filled with greater mercy and grace for others. ACTION ITEM: Instead of assuming what God

6 is trying to teach you, do as the Apostle James instructed in the verse that follows what he wrote about how Lord s discipline is making your character complete. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. James 1:5 Seek the Lord s wisdom and work with God in your character development. Go to God in payer and ask for wisdom. Sit down with a paper and pen and journal on this for as long as it takes until it becomes clear. Join with mature Christian friends who can pray with you and talk with you... so that you might see it through their eyes. This will help you to discover exactly what the Lord is teaching you so you can work with His discipline and your character development. Another response to the Lord s discipline is RESIGNATION. You know God is Sovereign. He is going to do what He is going to do, whether you like it or not. So you resign yourself to go along. But because you are not engaged in it, because you do not embrace it, what you learn will be shallow... and it will probably have to be relearned until you get the depth of what God wants you to learn.. and your character reflects it. Fortunately, there is an alternative to all of these. EMBRACE the Lord s discipline. Actively seek God s wisdom so that you can submit yourself to God and grow in your character, in maturity, and in an intimate relation with Him. He will move you from those self-centered places in your life where you look for immediate results and gratification of this world... to the privilege of serving...and to the joy of making sacrifices that make a difference to God and others... trusting that your reward will be in the life to come. In verses 10 and 11, God tells us the goal or purpose of His discipline, which we have already noted, is that we may share in his holiness. Holiness and character development go together. The text says it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. You might say that in the end, God s character development program known as the Lord s discipline produces a deeper relationship with our Father in heaven... draws us more deeply into studying His Word.. Prayer... Service.. Witnessing to Others.. and being part of His Body, the Church. Finally, in today s text, we are offered encouragement in verses 12 and 13. They essentially tell us that even though the Lord s discipline can be hard... but we are to take heart finding strength in the knowledge of God s love for us and the holiness He is producing in our character. So the text encourages us to PURSUE GOD.. PURSUE HIS DISCIPLINE.. PURSUE HIS HOLINESS. CCL: I want to close by saying that if you are going through a difficult time.. it may be because of sinful choices... or it may simply be the Lord s discipline.

7 Seek His wisdom in the matter and learn from Him. As a disciple of Jesus, you and I are to embrace the Lord s discipline and grow in our spiritual maturity, allowing and not resisting God as He develops our character and establishes His values in our hearts. Amen. Memory Verse: Heb 12:11 -- 11 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.