The Fruit of Godly Discipline

Introduction

Million dollar question: Who here likes pancakes? Few things in life bring me back to my childhood days at grandmas house around Christmas time than eating pancakes because she’d always get up at the crack of dawn and make dozens of pancakes for us grandkids. Seriously, though, pancakes are a gift. Spurgeon once said this, “There is hardship in everything… except eating pancakes.” My man knew what he was talking about! We chuckle, maybe some don’t and that’s ok, but to use another Spurgeon line, “I would rather hear people laugh than I would see them asleep in the house of God.” If you’re eating pancakes, what do you have to have on them? Some of you might like fruits, chocolate chips, whipped cream, or fried chicken to go with your pancakes… it’s hard to top the classic pancake and maple syrup combo. Any maple syrup fans?

Have you ever looked at how they get syrup into those bottles in the store? It’s quite the process… and there’s no real way to speed it up if you do it the traditional way. A worker goes to the trunk of the maple tree and drills a hole and inserts a spile which allows the sap to drip down a tube into a bucket. On a really good day, one tree will yield a little under a gallon of sap. Over time, the buckets are emptied into a large kettle and the sap boils and eventually is strained and reheated over and over. Do you have any idea how many gallons of sap are necessary for 1 gallon of maple syrup? 40 gallons! This is a long and expensive process, only to lose much of what you started with.

Last week we looked at how God disciplines His disciples and He does this purposely. See, whenever you and I were saved by grace through faith in Christ, we had a lot of impurities and things in our lives that we didn’t necessarily need. Like the sap in the kettle, we undergo a refining process and over time we are changed and transformed into something pure and useful in our master’s hands. We could say that this is the fruit of Godly discipline… but fruit is healthy, so I’m looking out for you and instead of fruit you can think of God’s process of sanctifying you to look more like Jesus to be like that of a worker making some good old fashioned maple syrup. Honestly, though, we know that this process isn’t easy… but we know that its purposeful. This morning as we continue walking through Hebrews 12 together, we come across a stern warning to not reject God’s work and to press on and persevere. As we do this, we change - our trust in the Lord increases and our desire to grow alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ within our congregation increases as well. These are the products of the discipline God gives to His children. Let’s read from God’s Word this morning

Hebrews 12:12–17 CSB

12 Therefore, strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed instead. 14 Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness—without it no one will see the Lord. 15 Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and defiling many. 16 And make sure that there isn’t any immoral or irreverent person like Esau, who sold his birthright in exchange for a single meal. 17 For you know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, even though he sought it with tears, because he didn’t find any opportunity for repentance.

Trust in the Lord… Pursue peace… Strive for holiness… Don’t fall short. These were important instructions for this congregation of believers 2000 years ago and they remain important for us today as followers of Jesus Christ! It all starts with belonging to Jesus, though. By repenting of your sins, placing your faith in Christ as Lord and Savior, and being changed from the inside out by His grace. Is this your story this morning? Let’s pray

God’s People Trust in the Lord (12-13)

Again, last week we touched on a difficult subject: Discipline. I heard from several that it sparked some healthy discussion at home between parents and children and I pray that the truth of God’s discipline helps us continue to grow and become the people that He would have us be. Discipline isn’t enjoyable but it is purposeful. God disciplines all of His children for a reason in each season and we see a glimpse of that reason in verses 12-13 as we see that those undergoing Godly discipline are to strengthen their hands and make straight paths for their feet. This is something that the people hearing this sermon 2000 years ago would have been familiar with because it’s actually an Old Testament statement found in Isaiah 35

Isaiah 35:3–4 CSB

3 Strengthen the weak hands, steady the shaking knees! 4 Say to the cowardly: “Be strong; do not fear! Here is your God; vengeance is coming. God’s retribution is coming; he will save you.”

The discipline that the Lord sends us through is to make us stronger on the other side. There is always a temptation for God’s people to throw in the towel during difficult seasons of life, but there is reminder after reminder in God’s Word to not do this and, instead, to persevere and be encouraged along the journey. In coaching terms, the preacher of Hebrews is telling his players to straighten up and get back out in the game. The question that we have to ask ourselves is this: How do we strengthen our hands and straighten our paths? Do we have to muster up this courage and determination from within ourselves? Do we have to find the strength to walk this straight path each day and if we slip up and fall, we’re suddenly irredeemable failures? Thankfully this isn’t true. The way that we are able to strengthen ourselves and walk down this straight path is because of God’s power and presence in our lives! We are called to persevere and follow after Him, not to blaze our own trail… but to follow the one that Jesus already laid before us.

What’s our issue with this task? Think about how our body sometimes doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do. How many of you were ever in choir or band? What did your instructor always tell you before a performance? DON’T LOCK YOUR KNEES! Why would they give us this instruction? Because if you lock your knees for a long period of time while you’re standing, your knees will weaken… and you’ll fall down. The problem with doing this during a concert or performance is that it’s not just you falling down with no one watching, either. You fall down with thousands of eye balls staring at you and laughing at you. That’s pretty embarrassing! Weak knees in Scripture are usually in reference of being afraid - just as weak knees can cause you to lose your footing, having weak spiritual knees can cause you to lose your footing on God’s Word and begin to waver and stop running this spiritual race. This isn’t an option for a follower of Jesus Christ - therefore, the preacher of Hebrews instructs us to strengthen our hands and weak knees by continuing to be trained by the discipline given to us by our Heavenly Father. Endure discipline and training, knowing that God is making us stronger.

Alistair Begg put it like this, “In the journey of the Christian life, the real emphasis is not upon a few special performances but upon steady persistence that lasts all the time.” This is such an important reminder for us as we follow after Jesus Christ! We don’t stop. We keep on running. It’s not about an emotional experience here and there or a singular moment in time where we can say that was a real special thing that we did - over and over in Scripture we see this timely truth that the Gospel leads to faithfulness. Sure, faithfulness will reveal itself in big moments… but faithfulness is built and trained over the daily grind of trusting in the Lord and dying to self. God uses these fundamental, basic, and often overlooked spiritual disciplines to strengthen us and help keep us on the straight path of life. Our responsibility is to show up to training time. Our responsibility is to come to church and strengthen ourselves and others consistently. Our responsibility is to dive into God’s Word and worship Him each day of our lives and to persevere, because the minute that we take a wrong turn or fail to persevere and look to God’s Word, something is going to get dislocated and put out of joint - I know that we’ve had several people in recent months endure surgeries to correct these types of injuries… these things aren’t fun! If we can avoid a serious surgery, we should. This is the preacher’s point - trust in the Lord, persevere in His Word, and continue walking after God’s plan for our lives. This is the fruit of Godly discipline.

Maybe you’re here, though, and you’re trying to figure out why exactly you should trust in the Lord. Maybe you think that you have a satisfactory amount of understanding or that you know a better path to travel down or that you’re strong enough on your own… Why trust in the Lord? We see 3 reasons in our text:

He is Our Strength

He Makes our Paths Straight

He Restores Us

As God’s followers, He is our strength. His Word lights up our path and keeps us walking on the path of godliness. He restores us and saves us and satisfies us. Our society will give us dozens of reasons to trust in ourselves, but God’s Word gives us another command

Proverbs 3:5–6 CSB

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.

Church, this is our call today and this is the call for all who are followers of Jesus Christ, to trust fully in the Lord and to persevere as you walk towards Him in faith. Do you find yourself trusting in the Lord whenever obstacles arise? Or are you quick to doubt? These believers were undergoing divine discipline, times were hard and persecution was prevailing… The encouragement given to them was simply this: Press on! You can’t strengthen yourself, but your Savior can give you the strength to walk straight - trust in Him, this is our call today regardless of our situation or struggle, trust in the Lord. Dive into His Word. Wait for His timing. Persevere and don’t give up.

God’s People Take Care of Others (14-17)

As we trust in the Lord and stand on His Word, we continue on in our Christian life and we realize that to follow Christ means that we don’t always get to take the “easy” way out. Consider what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, you have heard it said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I tell you to turn the other cheek. Jesus doubles down and says that His people are to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them… if you really want to stand out in a divisive world, practice Matthew 5:38-48 and you’ll be seen as a radical! After all, who dares to love their enemies? We live in a world that loves to launch nukes, metaphorically speaking, at one another. This happens on social media. It happens behind closed doors. It happens whenever we think that no one else is watching. People who are image bearers of God are the people that we can tear down the best. This comes natural, after all. It is easy and second nature whenever someone frustrates us to blow up. It is natural whenever someone presents another way to do something to let them have it. We look at our fallen world and we see people building up barricades whenever Jesus calls on us to build up bridges. Consider Hebrews 12:14 - pursue peace with ____ some people? How about believers? How about the people who know us really well? The people who like us? Nope. Pursue peace with everyone. How on earth is that even a possibility? I’ll tell you what will make it impossible, acting like the outside world that tears everyone down. That cancer won’t lead to peace, it’ll lead to problems and the church has been infected by that nonsense for generations, and we’ll look at the root of that problem in just a few minutes. But we’re called to pursue peace and the only way that is possible is with intentionality.

Maybe you’re here and you think that someone else is supposed to pursue this peace thing, but that it’s not something that God expects of you. If you’re a Christian, the word pursue is an imperative which means that it is a command, which means that it is required of you. Consider what Paul tells the Galatians in Galatians 6:10

Galatians 6:10 CSB

10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.

We could see Hebrews 12:14 in the same lens - let us seek peace for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith. As you and I grow in our walk with the Lord and as we trust in Him more, the fruit of our salvation as Hebrews 12:11 told us last week is peace and righteousness. By the grace of God we don’t deal with hurricanes in the state of Missouri, but imagine a massive hurricane making its way across the Atlantic Ocean. On the surface of the water you see chaos, violent winds, giant waves, and a lack of peace… but what about, say 100, feet below the surface of the water? Everything is as calm as can be. Fish are swimming and going about their day without a care or concern in the world, even though just a little bit above them is a massive, destructive storm. Where there is depth, there is peace - in the ocean, but also in the Christian life! We are able to have peace even in difficult circumstances whenever we first have depth and trust in the Lord. As we have this, we pursue this peace and desire for others to experience this otherworldly peace as well. After pursuing peace we see that we pursue holiness.

Holiness means to be set apart - we could say that God is holy because He is set apart from sinners. How, then, can you and I pursue holiness? Not by our own power. Only by His power in us. There’s a song by CityAlight that many of you have heard called Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me - this is our only hope:

To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus All the glory evermore to Him When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat "Yet not I, but through Christ in me"

Holiness is not a condition to be saved but a consequence of being saved. If you have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, you will have a desire to follow after Christ and do the things that His Word instructs us to do. If you and I are not on that path, and if we are not running that race towards Him as we saw at the beginning of this chapter, then we’re in trouble. See, if you don’t pursue peace and if you don’t pursue holiness… if you’re content to say that you tried a little bit but now you’re content to just build up that barricade or you tried to cut down on this sin and struggle, but you think that it’s just a little sin and it’s not that big of a deal, you reveal that you don’t fully understand the gravity of the situation. Look at the end of this verse - without it (holiness) no one will see the Lord. Matthew 5:8

Matthew 5:8 CSB

8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

See, if we think that our sin isn’t a big deal or that we can do whatever we want, whenever we want, however we want to do it, we lay our cards on the table and tell others that we know better than the Lord. That’s a terrifying place to be - and if you’ve ever been there, aren’t you thankful that the Lord is an expert at humbling our pride? Thankful for that truth.

So we pursue peace and we strive to live a holy life that honors God as we follow His Spirit in our life. How does this impact others? Verse 15, we help those around us and make sure that no one falls short of God’s grace. This means that we help those who are living in sin. We are not only to run after Jesus, but help others do the same. This is a theme throughout Hebrews, to persevere and don’t fall short, but this is also a theme throughout the New Testament, if we go back to Galatians 6 we find this

Galatians 6:1 CSB

1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted.

Within the body of Christ, we’re on the same team and our responsibility is to help others. This is our task as members here at FBC Salem… to be people who are graceful not graceless. God’s people are full of grace, not empty of grace. We can become graceless whenever we:

Fail to Confess our Sin

Fail to Consume God’s Word

Fail to Commune with God’s People

The antidote to gracelessness is gracefulness and this is a mark of God’s people. To not demonstrate grace to others is to demonstrate that we ourselves haven’t received God’s grace! And part of distributing God’s grace within the body of Christ is ensuring that no root of bitterness springs up.

The time to deal with sin is when the root is small. If bitterness and sin is like a tree root, we cannot afford to let it fester and not deal with it in hopes that it will take care of itself! It will continue to grow and mature and eventually, consume us and cause destruction as verse 15 tells us. You can’t always see roots, but they are there. Maybe we think that we don’t have that problem here because as individuals, we don’t have that problem… Every beautiful flower has roots. We all have sinned. We all have a temptation to succumb to bitterness and allow that to fester in our hearts. When is the best time to deal with sin? Whenever the root of bitterness is still in it’s infancy stage or whenever it’s the size of the Redwoods out in California? Those roots destroy whatever stands in their way. We must cut this off quickly. This is why the Bible speaks so often about dealing with sin within the body of Christ. Not out of a place of condemnation, but out of genuine care and consideration. The last thing that we should desire is for someone to be struggling with something as destructive and divisive as bitterness as it always overflows and causes problems within the congregation. The last thing that we ourselves need is to have is bitterness creep into our heart and to not address it and uproot it because that cancer will cause trouble. As Al Mohler put it, “The root of bitterness is the on-rap to the way of sin.” To care for the body of Christ means that we have to watch out for our own sinful heart and help others be vigilant and keep our gaze heavenward. Too many churches have problems because they don’t do preventative grounds work on their hearts - we always must guard our hearts from giving into sinful temptation and bitterness. Failing to do so is foolish… but it’s not the only foolish thing we can do, as our text concludes with yet another warning from the Old Testament as Esau, son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham, sold his birthright for a single meal.

How many of us have ever done something that was just a dumb decision? We’re all guilty there. More than likely, though, Esau’s decision is worse than the one that you have made. He was set to receive a double portion of his father’s possessions as was his birthright and a blessing from the Lord. He’s in the drivers seat, we could say, compared to his younger brother, Jacob. Esau is out hunting like many of you will be in a few weeks, but he comes back empty handed like I know will not happen for you experts here in Salem! Esau comes back and there aren’t Jimmy Dean sausage biscuits that he can air fry and there isn’t a coffee maker. He’s exhausted and hungry and he comes home and smells his brother making some soup. What does Esau do? He begs his brother for some soup and his brother agrees on the condition that Esau gives up his birthright as the older son. Now, what do you do? You have a quick fix but a long term cost, or you can persevere and endure an empty stomach for a while and have long term gain. Esau caves in. He eats the soup and forefits his birthright. Don’t sell your soul for a quick snack that will leave your spiritual stomach seeking more! This is the warning in our text because later on, Esau wanted that birthright and blessing back… Why could he not receive it? Because it had then been promised to his brother. It was past the point of no return because time had run out - actions have consequences! He stopped running his race.

Have you ever gotten in trouble and you regretted getting caught but not so much the action itself? I’ve had my fair share of instances as a child where I was in tears because I had gotten in trouble, but in the moment I really didn’t regret what I had done because it was fun and seemed worth it. Whenever you get caught, there’s a difference between genuine repentance from that action and turning away from it and just being sorry that you got caught and made a mistake. Esau was sorry he lost his stuff… not sorry that he had committed a sin. Do you see the difference? What does this mean for us? Simply this: Time is running out and the opportunity to repent will not be there forever. The purpose of this passage is to remind us that there is genuine danger and we need to wake up and do genuine business with the Lord while there is still time today… because one day, the same God who currently calls on sinners to come home and be saved will pour out His judgment and wrath upon sinners and on that day, it will be too late. Friend if you are here this morning and you have not repented of your sins, trusted in Christ as Lord and Savior, and followed after Him as Lord, you are playing a dangerous game. If you’re here and you have done that but you haven’t followed through with the corporate part of pursuing peace and holiness within the context of the local church, understand that in the New Testament world believers belonged to local churches and they took care of one another and fellowshipped and worshipped together. We need one another to encourage and strengthen our walk with the Lord so that we would run this race with endurance.

Pastor Appreciation remark - I love running this race alongside each of you and it’s the blessing of my life to shepherd us as we grow to be more like Jesus as a congregation. I love being your pastor! Pastor appreciation month is just kind of an awkward, in a good way, month as a pastor. You don’t want to really announce that or make a plug for it because that seems self serving and awkward. Some of y’all have reached out asking what does a pastor really want for pastor appreciation month, and I’ve talked with other pastors who said the same thing… not gift cards, not golf balls, not chocolate chip cookies - I love those things and those are blessings, but they’re not at the top of the list. Do you know what is? Your presence. Just being present is such an encouragement to your pastor.

Your very presence on a Sunday morning, Sunday night, or Wednesday night is an act of caring for those around you. Hebrews 10:24-25

Hebrews 10:24–25 CSB

24 And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, 25 not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

We need this Christian community if we are to stay on this straight path.

Application

This path of becoming more and more like Jesus is a long one. It’s a hard one. While some might say, rightly, that salvation is free in the sense that we cannot buy it, we must never forget that it cost Jesus His life, and to follow Him in this life costs us our own as Luke 9:23 says that if we are to follow Him we must take up our cross daily. This means that God gets to determine what is right and what is wrong, not us. This means that God gets to tell us what we’re supposed to do in this life, not our society. This means that God has a purpose for each one of us and that purpose is to glorify Him by proclaiming the Gospel, making disciples, and loving Him and others as He commands of us. This is difficult. It’s not for the faint of heart… but God uses discipline and training and endurance to shape us into the image of His Son and that process, though painful, is purposeful! Along the journey, we produce fruit: We Trust in the Lord and we Take Care of Others. What must we do in light of this text in addition to producing these fruits?

As a Christian, I must pursue peace

If you are here and you’re a Christian, you are called by God in verse 14 to pursue peace with everyone - not just when it’s easy or when it’s with your friends… with everyone!

As a Church, we must pursue holiness

As a body of believers here at FBC Salem, God calls on us to pursue holiness and to love the things He loves, to hate the things He hates, and to view all things through the lens of His Word! We must pursue holiness in everything that we do… we could be happy and stay comfortable, but if we are not pursuing holiness the Bible tells us that we will not see the Lord. We must do things His way as a congregation from top to bottom. This is a fruit of following Jesus - that we look more and more like Him!

As a non-Christian, I must pursue repentance

If you are here and you are not a born-again follower of Jesus Christ, friend, you must pursue repentance. You must see your need for Jesus due to your sins and you must turn from those things and trust in Christ for salvation. Maybe you’re here today and you have repented from your sins but you haven’t followed through with believers baptism or maybe you’re here today and you are a born again follower of Jesus Christ but you’re searching for a church to have Christ-Centered Community… be obedient today and do so while there is still time.