2026-08-23. From Shadow to Substance. Hebrews 12:4-17.

Notes:

3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6  For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

Introduction:

No pain, no gain

race to boxing

Purpose of Discipline:

Thomas Long: “We need to remind ourselves that the Preacher is addressing a pastoral problem, not writing a theodicy. Taken as an absolute principle, the idea that all human suffering is actually the hand of a loving God teaching us good lessons is untenable. It is difficult, for example, to see the useful lessons in the gas chambers of a death camp or in infant melanoma. But the Preacher is not trying to account for all the suffering: the Preacher is trying to make sense of his congregation’s struggle to be faithful and not to fall away from the faith. What he says about painful experiences is not true of all suffering, but it is true of some. Indeed, more times than we are sometimes ready to acknolwedge, we look back on a season of sorrow and realize that because of it something good and strong and true has been formed in us. The Preacher wants us to know that our best response to that is not, ‘Sorrow has its lessons,’ but ‘Praise be to our loving God.’”

To Legitimize Us as God’s Children

4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6  For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

“You haven’t suffered like Jesus yet.”

Have you forgotten scripture?

Exhortation= paraklesis: Comfort. Encouragement. Consolidation. Holy Spirit=Paraklete=One who speaks comfort, encouragement.

Proverbs 3:11–12 “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.”

Suffering doesn’t mean God is rejecting us. Quite the opposite. God is treating you as his own child.

O’Brien Proverbs 3 “shows that divine discipline and sonship go hand in hand… The negative theme of painful suffering is incorporated into the positive notions of love and sonship.”

Long: “We are disciplined so that we will grow up to be like God, to love what God loves, to mature into the ‘image of God,’ to ‘share in God’s holiness.’… God’s discipline, says the preacher, is correcting our mistakes and teaching us how to till the soil.”

How much greater is the Father’s intention for us than for our earthly fathers.

Bruce: “They ought rather to realize that their present hardships were a token of their heavnely Father’s love for them, and the means by which He was training them to be more truly His sons.”

Look at Jesus: Hebrews 5:8 “8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”

Okay Lord, stop showing me your love so much!

2017-2018 period?

To Make us Holy

9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

Purpose of Discipline: Be like me! Long: “The answer is that good parents exercise discipline because they want their children to grow up to be like them, to share their values, commitments, and way of life.”

“Father of spirits” versus “Our fathers of the flesh.”

Lesser to greater argument

Limited discipline: “For a short time…” God discipline is for eternity! He will always treat us as his own. FOR HIS GLORY AND OUR GOOD!.

Holiness=rare: O’Brien: “Points to God’s holy character, that holiness which is an essential attribute of God himself. Since it is hi intention that believers paritcipate in his holidness through is loving correction, the clear implication is that apart from his discdiplinary sufferings it is not possible to share in it at all.”

C.S. Lewis The Problem of Pain: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a dead world.”

To Yield Peaceful Fruit of Righteousness

11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

From Root to Fruit concept

NIV: “It produces a harvest of righteousness and peace…”

Future oriented: Do better than I did!

Matthew 5:10–12 “10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Luke 6:22 “22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!”

Pick up your cros? May lead to redemption!

“Peaceful”= O’Brien “All discipline is the subject treated by our author, who presents a balanced contrast between the present painful sorrow and the future positive impact of such correct.”

Jesus suffered, and he overcame. We, as his, should expect it as well.

Horse and His Boy