The Father's Loving Discipline

Hebrews 12:3-11

Well perhaps you don’t realize it, but we have been on the topic of the purpose of suffering for months now. Suffering and faith have been the topic since the middle of chapter 10, and this mornings text wraps up that whole section.

Suffering, by its very definition, is a difficult thing. It can be difficult to talk about, difficult to endure. Maybe perhaps even difficult to understand. Especially difficult to think through biblically and properly while going through the suffering.

Now we’ve talked about all sorts of different kinds of suffering over the course of these chapters that Christians go through. There is the suffering of physical persecution. We saw some of the words used back in chapter 11. Sawn into will always stick in my mind. There is also verbal persecution that takes place, mocking for example.

But I think some of the most real suffering that we all face on a more frequent basis is the difficulties of life as a result of life circumstances, and the suffering under the temptations and consequences of sin.

And what we’ve seen in these chapters is that all of these things are included under this heading of “suffering.”

We’ll we’ve learned what it is, we’ve learned what we should do, how to put sin to death, how to respond in trials. But now this morning the text is going to speak to us and show us on last aspect of God’s purpose of suffering in our lives. It is an instructive discipline which is meant to teach us endurance in order to produce righteousness in us.

1. Consider Him

The first thing we must do in times of suffering is look to Jesus. This is where we ended last week. The text tells us that we are to consider Jesus in his endurance of his suffering. You will never spend too much time thinking about the cross of Christ.

John Stott in his book The Cross of Christ says, “If we are looking for a definition of love, we should look not in a dictionary, but at Calvary.”

Jesus endured the hostility of sinners so that, the text here says, you may not grow weary or fainthearted. Another way to say this is “so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up.”

See suffering has this tendency, doesn’t it? It makes us grow tired and want to give up. Part of the purpose of the cross, the suffering of our Lord was that we might consider his suffering as we suffer.

If he suffered, why should not we also?

When we begin to be heartless and weary of our sufferings it is a dangerous disposition of mind toward a defection from the gospel.

“We ought to watch against nothing more diligently than the insensible, gradual prevailing of such a frame in us, if we intend to be faithful to the end.”- Owen

This is the reality of life isn’t it? Suffering, especially that daily battle against sin, can be wearying to our souls.

Now Scripture knows this and speaks to us directly about it. Our suffering is nothing compared to Christ’s, he shed his blood, we haven’t (probably). And so the word sets out here to tell us how to consider our suffering rightly.

2. Proof of Adoption

Notice he says that Scripture speaks actively to us directly. Do you hear God speak when you read the word? Is it living and active? It is for those who are alive in him, adopted as sons… he says.

And he quotes Proverbs 3:11-12.

Your suffering, believer, is from God. Even persecution, meant by them for evil is meant (purposed) by God for your endurance. Do you think things happen in your life outside of God’s sovereign control? You are mistaken if you says yes.

But its not simply that things happen, its that they are meant for a purpose by God. The purpose of suffering in your life is to discipline you, to teach you, to build endurance in you.

Remember he’s still using the language of running, athletic terms. The suffering given to you by God is meant to train you to run the race all the way to the end. Do you want to finish the race? Consider Jesus in his suffering and understand that what you are currently going through is to teach you to run well.

It is the very love of God to discipline us in this way. If you are his son (or daughter) he will discipline you.

Now 7-11 is an explanation of the proverb he just quoted. So he explains the text and then applies it like any good preacher would.

3. Explanation of the text

This first sentence in 7 I think is better understood as a command and reads more smoothly like this: “Endure suffering as discipline.” That changes everything about what we think of our suffering doesn’t it?

Suffering is not something we endure in order to earn favor. Suffering is also not some random set of unnatural purposeless circumstances. Rather, suffering is God training us. I don’t think it necessarily means to get excited about the difficulty, but it does mean whatever the opposite of growing weary and fainthearted is.

Be encouraged and invigorated by the painful things the Lord is bringing you through because it is proof of his love for you, and grounded in the finished work of Jesus your Savior.

He’s treating you as sons (his children). Fathers discipline their children. You are not a legitimate loved child if you are left without discipline. If your parents do not correct you, train you, teach you right from wrong, make you go through difficult things because they know it is best for you in the long run, they do not love you. That’s what he’s saying. He’s arguing from the lesser to the greater here.

Earthly parents make mistakes left and right, but good parents do hard things because they love their children.

This is what he means when he says “Father of spirits” here. Verse 9 he says “we have had earthly fathers” the Greek says fathers of the flesh. Our physical earthly fathers. He’s highlighting the difference between the fathers we were born to according to our genetics, and the Father we were adopted to according to our spirits.

We submitted our wills to our flawed earthly fathers, shall we not much more submit our wills to the Perfect Father who makes no mistakes, knows the end from the beginning, and has adopted us through the work of his Son?

See the result of this that he points out?Life. You run toward death, the loving Father disciplines us, and we submit to him and live.

Our earthly fathers trained us for a while as what seemed best to them, the heavenly Father does it perfectly with the purpose that we may share in his holiness.

If you don’t understand the excellency of participation in God’s holiness, you will not understand the benefit of his discipline. God purposes to bring us nearer to him, and to make us more like him.

Perhaps this goes without saying, but for the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant. We could probably ask my kids right now “Do you enjoy being disciplined?” We could guess their answer.

I think here is a place to stop and ponder the cross yet again. Earlier he said that it was for the joy that was set before Christ that he endured the cross. Jesus who could see with perfectly sinless eyes understood the joy of the salvation of his people, the glory of his Father, even as he looked into the face of death on a cross.

Can we face our suffering like that? Even the daily struggle against sin? Waking up and putting sin to death that left untreated will burn your soul down?

The lie of sin is that we are having our true joy replaced by the oppressing God and his demands. Isn’t that the lie that sin tells you? “Eat of this fruit and you’ll find true joy.”

No see Jesus ran the race, endured the cross for the joy set before him. Oh that God would open our eyes to see the wonders of his law and give us the faith to believe that he is working all of these things for our joy.

He says as much here at the end of 11. It seems painful for a while but later yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Don’t grow weary or fainthearted in this race, but rather look to Jesus, consider him, and be encouraged that the Father is training you as he trains every son whom he loves.