Sermon Tone Analysis

Last week we began to look at the subject of Discipline from a Biblical perspective.

We saw in Proverbs 3:1-12 that Solomon the wisest man on earth felt it was necessary to warn his son to not despise or reject the discipline of God because by keeping God’s commands he would gain great blessings consisting of: length of days and years of life and peace (v.

2), favor and good name (v. 4), straight paths (v.

6), healing~/health to his body (v.

8), and barns and vats overflowing (v.

10).

We also learned that the primary purpose of discipline is to train a child in moral and values, not to harm a child, but to bring him into son ship.

The purpose behind discipline is to help us—His sons~/daughters—to grow into maturity and it is motivated by God’s love for us as His children.

We are looking at a passage of scripture in Hebrews 12:5-11.

¨      Heb 12:5-11 (NIV) 5 And you have forgotten that *word of encouragement* that addresses you as *sons*:

“My *son*, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as a *son*.”

7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as *sons*.

For what *son* is not disciplined by his father?

8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true *sons*.

9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it.

How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness.

11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.

Later on, however, *it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace* for those who have been trained by it.

Let’s put our definitions back up here:

Ø     *Discipline*—bring correction that teaches us (training)

Ø     *Disciple*—one who submits to the discipline of another to learn from them (learner)

Ø     *Punishment*—inflicting a penalty for a wrong that has been done

 

The last time we focused on vs. 5-6.

Tonight I want to start at v. 7.  The very first thing we are told in v. 7 is to “endure hardship” or in the KJV “chastening.”

The Amplified version says it this way “You must submit to /and/ endure [correction] for discipline;” So we must submit ourselves to the discipline that is given to us by God.

However, not only are we to submit, but we are to endure that discipline.

The idea of enduring is difficult for us in our modern “I want it now” society, but it literally means to */suffer patiently/*, to remain, or tolerate.

*endure* ~/InÈdjU«, En-, -Èdjù~/■ *v**.*

*1 *     suffer (something painful and prolonged) patiently.

†     tolerate.

*2 *     remain in existence.

–     derivatives *endurable* adj.

*endurance* n. *enduring* adj.

*enduringly* adv.

–     origin ME: from OFr. /endurer/, from L. /indurare/ ‘harden’.[i]

This is an important point for us to think about, because if we are told that we must endure (suffer patiently) discipline, then we must know and believe that it must be for our good and because of God’s love for us as His sons (vs.

7-10).

Why would God tell us to patiently suffer?

Does He get pleasure out of seeing us suffer?

There must be more to this than is apparent just by a quick reading of the text.

Friends, there is!

To truly understand this passage of scripture, we must examine the context in which it is written.

If you go back to v. 1 you will see that the passage is in the setting of an athletic contest—“run the race.”

¨      Heb 12:1 (NIV) Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance (endurance-NASB) the race marked out for us.

If we think about an athlete running a race, we know that he must train and endure much suffering in order to win.

The one who wins the marathon has worked long and hard to discipline his body to be able to handle the rigors of running for so long.

Anyone who has participated in any kind of sport knows that you have to practice, practice, and practice and go through a lot of tough physical endurance if you want to win.  High school football players will practice in the heat of summer in full gear for hours at a time (they called it 2 a days when my sons were practicing because they would practice in the morning and the afternoon).

I have to admit that many times I thought it was too hot for the kids to be out there practicing, but their coaches sure didn’t!

I ran cross-country in high school and I had to spend many hours running up and down hills for many, many miles.

I did this after school on my own time.

My coach would set the rules as to where we ran and how long, whether I liked it or not.

I also had to learn to eat things that I would not normally eat, but were good for my body—like wheat germ and honey for breakfast.

Many times I was ready to collapse because of the exhaustion and pain after running for hours.

Why did I subject myself to such brutal torture?

Why did I put up with my coach yelling at me and pushing me so hard?

Because I wanted to be part of the cross-country team and I wanted to win.

If we can see the need for such endurance in a physical athletic contest, then we can begin to understand what is being said in this scripture.

Not only is God our Father, but He is also our coach!

Go with me to vs. 11.

¨      No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.

Later on, however, *it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace* for those who have been trained by it.

The word that is used for “trained” is the Greek word “gumnazo.”

It should sound similar to a word we use in English (gymnasium) which is the place where we train our bodies through exercise.

*1128 **γυμνάζω* [/gumnazo/ ~/goom·*nad*·zo~/] v. From 1131; TDNT 1:775; TDNTA 133; GK 1214; Four occurrences; AV translates as “exercise” four times.

*1* to exercise naked (in a palaestra or school of athletics).

*2* to exercise vigorously, in any way, either the body or the mind.[ii]

Now you can see that in the context of an athletic contest there is a different meaning to the word discipline.

The purpose of discipline here is not only to teach us to follow rules (morals or values) but to make us able to perform to the very best of our ability.

We understand that if we are out of shape we cannot run a marathon because our bodies just can’t handle the stress.

So what do we do?

We exercise or train our bodies so that they can perform to the peak of their ability.

And we have a coach who is there to make us stick it out when we get tired or want to quit.

Interestingly this word “gumnazo” only appears in the New Testament in 4 verses.

We just saw one of them.

Let’s look at the other 3 verses to see what the Bible has to say about this word.

¨      Heb 5:14 (NIV) But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

¨      1 Timothy 4:7 (NIV) Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.

¨      2 Peter 2:14 (NASB) having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing  unstable souls, having a heart trained (experts—NIV) in greed, accursed children

 

In these verses we can see both the positive and the negative value of training.

There is a training in godliness in 3 of them (1 Tim.

4:7; Heb.

5:14; 12:11); but there is also a training in covetousness or greed by evil teachers (2 Pet.

2:14).

Obviously, we want to train ourselves in godliness, but there are those who have trained themselves in ungodliness.

The same word is used here for training—it is not the word that is bad but how the training is applied in our lives.

So what does this have to do with our understanding of discipline?

If we see that the purpose of discipline is to train us in godliness, then we have understood what is being said in this scripture.

God as our coach knows what we need to train us in godliness.

He knows what we need to get in shape so we can run the race and win.

He knows that it is not easy and sometimes we do not like it—but He also knows that if we will submit to His discipline it will bring great reward for us.

¨      Heb 12:10b-11 (NIV) but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness.

11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.

Later on, however, *it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace* for those who have been trained by it.

The purpose of God’s discipline is not to destroy us but to correct or train us.

He disciplines so “that we may share in His holiness.”

As a coach seeks to get the best that he can out of his athlete, God desires to get the best that He can out of us.

This is the highest and best that we can have—sharing in God’s holiness.

*There is no greater prize than to be given the very holy nature of God and through that nature to have the ability to commune with a holy God on a daily basis—to be His son~/daughter*          (2 Pet 1:3-4).

The phrase “that we may share” means that there is a direction or purpose to what God is doing in our lives, and that direction points toward a purified and holy life.

God will discipline us in His holy fire not to consume us but to refine us so that we may be share in His holiness.

He is firmly, but patiently and gently bringing holiness out of our carelessness and stability out of our weakness.

*He is training us to run the race with holiness as the reward*.

At times it seems very difficult for us to endure this training and it seems like a hardship to us.