Doing it the hard way

The Aussie Battler

As we near the American presidential election, you can almost guarantee that all of the candidates are going to make reference to the American Dream. It’s the idea that every person has the freedom and opportunity to succeed and attain a better life. You’ve just got to put your head down, work hard, put your mind to it, and you can achieve anything.

In Australia, you might sometimes hear reference to the Great Australian Dream, although interestingly, it more often seems to refer to the dream of owning your own home.

However, in Australia, I think our politician prefer using the motif of the Aussie Battler.

We love an Aussie battler. The one who does things tough, but keeps their chin up and keeps going.

Politicians from every party in Australia will tell you that they are looking out for the Aussie Battler. They know what it is to do it tough. And they are going to make decision that are going to help the Aussie Battler.

The quintessential Aussie battler is probably Daryl Kerrigan. Some of you might be familiar with the classic 90’s Australian film, The Castle. The relatively simple, but hardworking Daryl Kerrigan, had managed to own his own home, but his house was in the way of some big extension plans for the air port that he lived next to. They wanted to compulsorily acquire his home, which became the plot of the movie, as this Aussie battler tried to fight against it.

Now, apart from the fact that there was some uniquely Aussie humour in that film, I think Aussie liked it because they love the Aussie battler.

Daryl didn’t want anything special. He just wanted a fair go and a spot he can call his own.

You see, one of the differences between the American dream and the fight of the Aussie battler, is that the Aussie dream at the end of the day is a lot more modest.

But the interesting thing is, as much as we love the idea of the Aussie battler, we actually have a really poor understanding of the suffering and struggling that we face.

Why does it occur?

How do we deal with it?

What effect does it have on us?

It’s interesting, because in one regard, the image of the Aussie battler should actually give us a decent framework for starting to think about some of this, but it doesn’t. We love an Aussie battler, but we don’t understand it.

Theologically, we can start to put a framework around this.

And so as we come to this last message in our series through the book of Hebrews, I want to help us gain a better understanding of the pain and tough times we face, because as we’ll see, hardships are actually not all bad.

Hardship

Now, when we face hardship, there can be a whole range of reasons why this might occur.

Sometimes there can be a direct link with our own sinfulness. For example, a married person who shows a lack of sexual restraint around other people, when you marriage busts up and you have significant amount of hardship resulting from this… well, perhaps you can draw quite a direct link between your sin and the suffering you are now experiencing.

But sometimes, there might not be any apparent link between your difficult times and any specific sinful behaviour. Note that I say “specific” sinful behaviour. For all of us there is sinful behaviour in our lives, and the fact that there is suffering in the world is because there is sin in the world. So there is a general link between sin and suffering. But, let’s say you get a cancer diagnosis, we don’t need to try and figure out where you sinned in your life.

But then there is also a different category where you actually suffer because you did good. Sometimes the good work you do might impede of the selfish plans of others. You then suffer as a result of there retaliation. This is the essence of the Christian persecution, but on a spiritual level. When you stand up for Christ, the evil one does not like it, and you sometimes suffer the consequences.

All of these different types of suffering would have been known to the recipients of this letter.

If you look at verse 4 - it talks about their struggle against sin. This reference to sin here is actually a little vague. As in, is it a struggle against their own sinful desires? Or a struggle against the sin of others? Or just the general result of sinfulness in the world? In a sense, it a bit of all of the above. That is, because whether it their own sin, the sin of others, or just general sinfulness in the world, hardship is going to be the result.

And at times, things can get very serious. Interestingly, in verse 4, the struggle has been real, although it does seem to suggest that those in the immediate community of the people this letter is addressed to have not yet been martyred for their belief. Quite likely, however, given that this mention is there, this community is aware of believers who have lost their life.

But after reminding them of this struggle that they have been facing, the author of this letter is about to help them think about it in a different way.

Hardship as discipline

The author does this by first reminding them of a Proverb.

Now let me pause a moment, because I want to set the scene for the book of Proverbs.

The first nine chapters of Proverbs act as a prologue of sorts. From chapter 10 onwards, we mostly get proverbs that are great one liners, but there is very little connection from one proverb to the next beyond the fact that it is all about imparting wisdom.

But the first nine chapters tells a story of sorts. A father is talking with his son, and is trying to set him up on a good path. He outlines for him the options, and in the book of Proverbs, there is really only two choice - the way of wisdom, or the way of folly.

Well, he goes on about the way of wisdom for quite some time, but in Prov 3:11-12, we read the quote that we have here in Hebrews 12. My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline.

And this is about to be the idea that this author is about to explore over the next few verses.

Training

You see, we’re to think about the hardship that we endure as discipline. It essentially says as much in verse 7 when it says: “endure hardship as discipline”.

Now, it’s perhaps worth thinking about what discipline means here.

Sometimes we use the word discipline in the sense of the punishment that we receive for wrong doing.

A child is naughty, the parent provide some punishment, and the result is that the child learns that the negative behaviour is wrong.

But, a more fuller sense of the word actually just means training. Training with punishment for negative behaviour is only one aspect of discipline.

In this sense, we could perhaps read verse 7 as saying to endure hardship as training.

It’s training you to be a better person.

The author goes on to compare the discipline, or training, that we receive from our earthly father with the training we receive from our heavenly father.

The author goes as far as to suggest that if this training isn’t evident, then the children are not even legitimate children.

Now, that might sound a bit harsh, particularly as when we look at a lot of parent-child relationships these days, discipline seems to be lacking.

The trend that I find the most alarming in parenting styles of today, is actually not that punishments have changed, and in some instances, absent all together - although that does cause some concern.

It is actually rather that we’ve started to place too much emphasis on children being self-led. In one sense I understand the logic. It’s empowering children to be who they want to be. So we let children decide everything. If they want to stay up late playing computer games, then we let them.

The problem is, it should be the parents job to train their children, and it’s difficult to train them if you’re too busy empowering them with their own ideas.

Interestingly, this passage is actually not about trying to convince earthly fathers to take their role in training their children more seriously, the passage is actually assuming that it is already happening.

I actually make these comments to suggest that God is reflecting how parenting should be, not necessarily how it sometimes is experienced today.

You see, a parent should normally allow their children to undergo some difficulties. They don’t always protect them, particularly as they get older, because they know that through some of the tough times, they will actually learn more. Or sometimes they let them learn that if they want good things, they have to work hard.

This hard work might be difficult for the child to accept in the moment, but as they grow up and look back, they see how good it is.

Now, what I want you to see in all of this, is that the suffering that you are receiving, is actually something that is shaping you to be better people. God is using it for your good.

We sometimes think of suffering as something we’re just waiting to get over.

We’re waiting for that bridge over troubled waters.

What if, instead of a bridge over troubled waters, what God is actually doing is, dragging us through the troubled waters, and allowing those waters to knock off our hard edges. To shape us into something beautiful.

Perhaps suffering isn’t something to be avoided, but rather we should be asking - how is this changing me for the better?

Now, let me come back to this Aussie battler motif.

Part of what we love about the Aussie battler is that we know that the struggles they’ve gone through have actually made them amazing people. Now, I’m totally generalizing, they of course all have their flaws, but you can take Daryl Kerrigan in The Castle, we loved the character because of the way he gets through the struggles.

The Aussie battler motif should remind us that God uses our suffering to make us better people. Sadly, that aspect of suffering often gets missed.

From hardship to Mount Zion

But let me shift gears and move from what we can learn from the Aussie Battler motif, to what we can learn if we re-shape the American Dream a bit.

Now, one of the things I mentioned at the start, I think the American dream is actually a bit bolder than the Australian dream. From an Australian perspective, we might think they just need to chill a bit more. To just enjoy the simple life a bit - maybe.

Well, just hold that thought, because I’m going to come back to it, but I want to first explore what’s going on in the flow of thought of the author in Hebrews chapter 12, because when we get to verse 18, the argument shifts gear as well.

We’ve shifted from thinking about hardship as a means of training, and instead think about it in terms of law and grace.

Now in that previous line of thought, the author took us to the wisdom literature of Proverbs. This time, we’re being taken into the book of Exodus where Moses has just taken the Israelites to the foot of Mount Sinai, where the giving of the law is about to take place.

It was actually all very dramatic. The people became scared of this mountain, and to be honest they had good reason.

The reason it was all so scary was because this mountain represented the holiness of God.

You can’t go there, because you are not worthy.

The law came from that mountain, and while in one sense the law was good because it reflected the character of God. But it was harsh, because it was impossible to live up to.

Now here’s the thing… we often think of our hardship in this sort of way. We’re completely unworthy. If we think about it honestly (and maybe we don’t do this very often), but we might actually think that we actually deserve it all.

We think that our hardship is because we deserve it.

Well, the author of Hebrews is actually saying, we’re not at that mountain.

You’re actually at the foot of a very different mountain.

Your at the foot of Mount Zion.

Zion was another name for Jerusalem, but with the name comes a very rich and deep theological significance. In essence it represent the city of God… the city in which God’s rule is known.

Mount Sinai was not accessible, but Mount Zion has had a clear path made to it by Jesus. And all who go to it will know great joy.

Now this is where I want to bring my re-worked version of the American Dream in. The American Dream says that everyone has the opportunity, if they work hard, to achieve all their dreams. But my re-worked version says: if you put your faith in Jesus, then you realise dreams far more real and far better than any dream of this world.

The Christian Dream is that there is hope.

This morning, I want to hold both the two main arguments of Hebrews 12 together.

That is, first, hardship should be thought of as training us for something better.

But second, hardship is not about keeping us down, there is something far better just around the corner.

Take hold of the good life

And so, as a result of all of this, hardship should spur us on to better living.

After the argument that hardship is about discipline, from verse 14, we’re urged to live at peace with everyone.

That hard training God’s putting you through, should be changing the way you interact with people.

We also try to encourage one another. We even help other in trying to avoid sexual immorality.

But after the argument that we have Mount Zion at our feet, we get chapter 13.

Now, time’s not going to permit a thorough going over of this chapter, but it is full of lots of good advice.

It again, like chapter 12 verse 14, says “keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters”.

You know, if we’re about to start living in Mount Zion with all the other Christians, well perhaps we should put aside some of our differences now and start practicing for eternity.

I love verse 2 of chapter 13 as well, and it’s something that probably deserves a lot of thought. It says: “do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it”.

With this little line, we suddenly have thrown open for us the possibility that some people we think of as just people, are actually angels. I can explore that idea with you afterwards if you like, but for now, just see how it is important we show hospitality.

(v3) Remember those in prison.

(v4) Keep your marriage bed pure.

(v5) Keep free of the love of money

(v7) Remember your leaders

(v9) avoid strange teaching

I could go on. That might seem a somewhat random list of things to do, but it is where all of this is pointing.

God is calling us to a better life. His training us and he’s providing us the way.

But this is not just an abstract idea. This is real and it has important application for how we live.

This list is saying - this is the better life that you are called to.

Conclusion

I’ve used two ideas prevalent in society, one from American culture, one from Australian.

From Australia we’ve got the Aussie battler.

Whenever you hear this, think - God will use our suffering to make us better people.

From America we’ve got the American dream.

Whenever you hear this, remember how much better our Christian dream is - we don’t just have the opportunity to do amazing things, we have the door to Mount Zion open to us.

When things get hard, use it as a spring board to allow the Spirit to make you a better person.

When things get hard, you’ve got a choice. You can buckle. Or to use the language of Chapter 12 verse 12, you strength your feeble arms and weak knees, and see amazing things happen.

Live like you’re in the kingdom of God right now, because you know what - you actually are!

Let me pray...