Marked as a Son

Hebrews 12:3-11

-God disciplines His children

Coleridge is the supreme example of tragedy of indiscipline. Never did so great a mind produce so little. He left Cambridge University to join the army; he left the army because he could not rub down a horse; he returned to Oxford and left without a degree. He began a paper called "The Watchman" which lived for ten numbers and then died. It has been said of him, "he lost himself in visions of work to be done, that always remained to be done. Coleridge had every poetic gift but one--the gift of sustained and concentrated effort." In his head and in his mind he had all kinds of books, as he said, "completed save for transcription." But the books were never composed outside of Coleridge's mind, because he would not face the discipline of sitting down to write them out. No one ever reached any eminence, and no one having reached it ever maintained it, without discipline. 

Wm. Barclay

I. God’s Discipline Connects Us to Christ vv. 3-6

In last week’s passage, the author encouraged us to look to Jesus so that we can endure faithfully as His people

Now, we are going to look a little closer: What do we see when we look at Jesus?

We saw His joyful endurance at the cross

Now, we see that we gain an example of faithfulness for inspiration

Jesus endured the worst kind of hostility against Himself

He did this without growing weary or fainthearted

We now are in a struggle against the sinful world

We have not resisted to the point that Jesus did, but we are suffering alongside the Son of God as sons of God

We get it all wrong about suffering:

We believe that it separates us from God, when it actually connects us to Christ

It marks us out as one of His people

It is not proof that we are forgotten or forsaken

It is not a punishment, but a discipline and is an act of grace from our Father in heaven

If we share in Christ’s sufferings, we can hope to share in His rewards as well!

Philippians 3:10–11

[10] that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, [11] that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (ESV)

II. God’s Discipline is Proof of Sonship vv. 7-8

The reality of discipline in the life of God’s people is a call to reflection: What does God’s discipline in my life say about my identity?

When we experience God’s discipline, we are being treated like one of His own children

Discipline is not for strangers, but for children of God

We see this principle played out all the time:

A loving parent is always going to discipline his own child

However, when it comes to someone else’s child, we usually leave them alone, unless the circumstances are extreme

I do not have to be afraid of God’s discipline; I should be afraid when there is no discipline

If we do not ever find ourselves going through trials and tests, our lives are not consistent with that of a child of God

Is it possible that some of our supposed blessings are just indications of our identity?

We may be missing out on God’s discipline because we are not legitimate children

There is no reason to discipline a household slave, but there is every reason to discipline a son!

I think that we have to remind ourselves of this constantly; Discipline just proves that we are God’s child! It is a reason for confidence.

Many years ago, on a trip through Tennessee, Fred Craddock, a retired minister and seminary professor, stopped into a restaurant. As he drank a cup of coffee and ate a piece of pie, he met old man, long retired. When the elderly gentlemen found out that Craddock was a preacher, he told him the following story from his childhood.

The old man told Craddock that he had been born and raised in a little village near that restaurant. He had a single mother, and they were very poor. He was what they called back then an “illegitimate child,” a child born out of wedlock. When his mother and he came into town on Saturday, they were shunned by all the good people. They wouldn’t let their kids play with him, and some of them walked on the other side of the street when they saw his mother and him coming. He had many fights with boys at school over the names they called him and the bad things they said about his mother.

They had a little church in that village. The boy went to it sometimes. He would sneak in after the service started and slip out before the benediction so he would not have to face the church people and feel their disapproval. One day a new pastor came to the church. To check him out, the boy slipped into the backseat halfway through the service. And he liked his sermon. The pastor was young and talked so the boy could understand him.

But then the new preacher pulled a fast one on the boy. After the sermon he walked to the back of the church, announced that he wanted to meet everyone present, and then pronounced the benediction. The boy was trapped. He waited until the church was empty, hunkered down in the corner, hoping the pastor would not notice him. But he did. The new preacher walked over to him, thrust out his hand, and said, “Glad to see you boy. And tell me, who is your daddy?”

The boy turned red and dropped his head. The preacher didn’t know the details, but he knew he had asked the wrong question. The pastor took the boy by the chin, pulled his face up to look him straight in the eye, and said, “Oh, you don’t need to tell me. I already know. I see the family resemblance. I see it in your face. You are a child of God.”

The boy’s name was Ben Hooper. He went on to become the governor of the state of Tennessee. 

III. God’s Discipline Produces Righteousness vv. 9-11

While we see the first two good reasons for discipline, there is a third that is probably most promising

God is producing good fruit in us through discipline

We see this in our earthly existence

None of us enjoy discipline, but we have experienced it as an act of love from our parents

In the moment, it was painful, but what it produced in us proved to be worthwhile

Later, we are able to look back with gratitude at what our parents gave us through discipline

The same principle is true in the Christian life

In the moment, the discipline can be very hard to understand

We do not fully know why it is happening

It may seem out of bounds or over the top

We cannot see what good it might produce

However, in retrospect, later on we find out what good God was doing for us

He was producing the fruit of righteousness, something that we cannot produce on our own

It was preparing us all along for something much better to come

A moment will come where we will see the fruit:

A temptation will come to fail

A test will come to examine

A time will come to bear fruit

In each instance, the discipline of the Lord will make the difference

John 15:1–2

[1] “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. [2] Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (ESV)

The Great Vine, Vitis vinifera 'Schiava Grossa' (synonym: Black Hamburg), is now 250 years old and is the largest grape vine in the world. It was planted in 1768 while Lancelot 'Capability' Brown was in charge of the gardens at Hampton Court.

Lancelot 'Capability' Brown directed the planting of the Great Vine from a cutting taken at Valentines Mansion in Essex.

In 1887 it was already 1.2 metres (4') around the base. It is now four metres (13') around the base and the longest rod is 36.5 metres (120').

The Vine is grown on the extension method where one plant fills a glasshouse, as Victorian gardeners thought this method would produce a larger crop.

The average crop of black dessert grapes is about 272 kilograms (600lbs), however in the autumn of 2001 it was 383 kilograms (845 lbs) - the best crop ever.