Enduring As Children of God

Introduction:

The challenges that are before us today are many. We have watched over the past several days the fallout over the atrocious and senseless death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis.

There have been many peaceful protest for all the right reasons. There is not a legitimate place for injustice in any land and certainly not here in the United States of America.

There has also been rioting and looting. Many have pointed out that some of this has been done by anarchist that have a whole different objective than honoring the memory of George Floyd.

They actually are attempting to implement chaos into society in an attempt to see America fall as a Nation.

I would imagine that these events have been painful for all of us and to see such things taking place in our Nation may increase the level of uncertainty in our time.

Maybe part of the pain is due to the reality of how to one degree or another what we see in the Macrocosm of our Society is a reflection of the Microcosm of the hearts of fallen humanity. But many are in denial of this truth in our Nation.

The denial is of that reality tells me that as a Nation we have yet to come to the place where we recognize that the problem is not on the outside of us, but on the inside.

Frankly I don’t think America will ever get it right as long as we attempt to ostracize and oppress the only truth that can actually set us free from the sin of such things like racism, injustice, sexual deviance and the murder of the unborn in the womb.

Conflict and difficulties can reveal our problem and our need for change, and the mercy and grace that needs to go with it but only the gospel can deliver a suitable foundational basis for such transformation to take place.

That is the context that God has positioned the believer in and as the Church the world needs to see such a transformation lived out. But that is application at the horizontal level on the plain of humanity and it is secondary to the vertical level. The vertical application is for us to live out that transformation so that Christ may be glorified through the children of God in the world.

This is why we should take the transforming power of the gospel seriously in our lives. And part of that dynamic involves our being sanctified as children in the world as disciples of Christ.

This is what Scripture in the Book of Hebrews exhorts us to do in verses 5-6:

I. The Exhortation (5-6):

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.”

We should not disregard the discipline of the Lord (5).

Verses 5-6 is a quotation taken from Proverbs 3:11-12. This is where Scripture directs us in the way of the wisdom of the Lord.

The wisdom of the Lord is vastly different than the wisdom of the World. Worldly wisdom is derived from the observance of life from practical experiences interpreted through the eyes of fallen man along with all his self centered biases. It seems right but it is not necessarily right from the Lord’s perspective.

The wisdom of the Lord has to be worked in us and the wisdom of the world has to be sanctified out of us as the children of God. We don’t fully realize how our pride is wrapped around our worldview from a context of worldliness.

I was reminded of this over the past week when I read an article that Debbie Liccar had put up on her Facebook page.

The article was written by an African American man who had grown up in Naperville, Illinois. He went through his life referring to the times where he had experienced elements of racism growing up in Naperville.

Some of the things he referenced I never knew that someone would take as being racist or derogatory towards themselves. Not until I read his story then I got it. I never thought about it because I never saw such events through his eyes and from his perspective.

We can all stand to be more awaken to cultural sensitivity and most of us can see the need of such an understanding in our relationships to one another.

But collectively as fallen humans do you ever wonder if we do that to God with His perception of what constitutes spiritual health versus our own perception of what we believe spiritual health is?

We may not even imagine that we have issues with not only our actions but the motives that drive such actions. But the Lord sees us as we are before Him. Not as we imagine that He sees us from our own perspective but as we really are in contrast to His holiness.

So when the Lord is disciplining us in our experience with trial and difficulties and our encounter with His law it is actually a good thing for us to endure such discipline.

But so often we look at such things as being negative usually because they are challenging our own comfort and perception of where we stand before God.

But the Lord’s discipline is a good and affirming thing to experience. Simply because it is an expression of the Lord’s love for His people (6).

The Lord is directing us in the way of His wisdom and away from the destructive tendencies of the world as an act of His love for us.

Proverbs 14:12 tells us, There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

The way of the world seems right but in the end it doesn’t make any contribution to our life in Christ.

The application flows out of verses 7-8 as the logic behind the exhortation is explained. Look back at your text, first in verse 7:

II. The Explanation (7-8).

Enduring discipline is a necessity for the believer (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?

It is necessary because that is what a Father does with his child. Our heavenly Father is providing guidance for us in order to make us steadfast against the world and the attacks of the evil one orchestrated through the world system.

Our faith remains unshaken in the trials, that we not bend to the godless trends of a fallen world being lived out in society and culture.

Funny how easy it is for us to spot the necessity and importance of fatherhood in the home and family but we think it is less significant in our spiritual lives. We think that discipline exercised rightly by a father is really a labor of love for him with his children but we often think differently when it comes to God sanctifying us in His discipline.

We may tend to find the Lord’s discipline unfavorable because we may at least initially not think we need it. We may be way too distorted in our perception of our own spiritual health to the point that we think the trial could never be the discipline of the Lord.

Or we think that the trial could never be discipline because the Lord would never want me to have an experience that is so uncomfortable as that particular event in my life.

But if the trial is the discipline of the Lord then it would be the Lord’s exercise of His loving Fatherhood over us. And as we are made aware of our need for change and we are empowered to make the change, the assurance of our actually being His child is solidified in our hearts.

Look at verse 8:

Enduring discipline is the mark of legitimacy for the believer (8): If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

God is producing the likeness of Christ in our lives. He is sanctifying the world out and Christ in us as a reflection of His glory in the world. And none of His children are exempt from His discipline.

If God’s sanctifying discipline is not going on in your life then you are spiritually illegitimate and not a child of God. Legitimacy of being children of God is the transforming power of the Holy Spirit at work in the life of the sinner. He justifies us by faith alone then He begins the renovation project on our lives.

If you don’t have the Holy Spirit in you empowering your sanctification then there is no basis for there to be any certainty or assurance that you truly are His. You don’t have the Spiritual DNA of God if there is no consistent reflection of Christ being worked progressively in you.

Several years ago I was attending a conference where one of the speakers was Terri’s former pastor that performed our marriage ceremony. I went up to him and began talking and he wanted to see pictures of our girls.

So like the proud Poppa I pulled out my wallet and opened it to a picture of my 4 girls.

He quickly pointed to one of my girls and said, “Oh that one right there is a dead give away she looks just like Terri, I would have known that was her daughter anywhere.” I guess that meant the other 3 look like me.

I laughed and said she doesn’t just look like her she acts like her too. We both laughed because it was funny and it is true. He said one look and he could tell it was Terri’s daughter just by looking.

Christian that is why God is disciplining us in the world. Because He desires that all the world needs to do is to take one look and know that we reflect the glory of Christ in the world.

The world knows what worldliness looks like. The divine image on display in humanity has been distorted by sin. We can’t even correct injustice without committing more injustice. As a fallen world we can’t pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.

We can’t embrace religious moral-ism as the answer because it only tries to spit and polish the outside but it won’t transform the inside. This is why Jesus compared the religious leaders of Israel with being white washed tombs in Matthew 23:27.

A spit and polished manifestation of ourselves is not what the world needs to see. Any old religion can do that and the world doesn’t see the problem as being anything but superficial at best.

The world needs to see Jesus Christ mirrored in transformed people who are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and radiating the glory of God in and through their lives. Legitimate children of God who look like Christ that those in the world would know anywhere with a single look.

But more importantly that God would see Christ in us. That His children would reflect the Son in how they live to the glory and honor of God. That is the gospel that the Holy Spirit is empowering for transformation.

Conclusion:

Christian the discipline of the Lord is for our good. And as He confronts sin in our lives it is not our justification that is at stake but it is our sanctification that is being carried out through discipline.

Our heavenly Father is not trying to rain on our parade but He is working the likeness of Christ into our motivations and our actions for the glorification of the Son.

So hard to see the benefit of it unless we look at it through the eyes of God and to do that we have to see his perspective revealed in His word. You see we may have a casual approach to our sin but God pulled out all the stops to deal with sin when He sent His Son into the world.

Such a radical display in offering up the Son of God to die in the place of sinners due to their sin. Even this act, the Bible tells us was the display of the love of God exercised towards us.

What can be said about such love that not only saves us but loves us enough to discipline us in order to work Christ in us that we might reflect His glory in the world.

Like reflectors on a bicycle when the light of the gospel hits us we shine the light of the gospel into a lost and dying world that needs so desperately to encounter the gospel.

Christian the gospel not only compels us to rest in the grace of God to deal with our sin but to trust in the gospel to effectually challenge us to live out of our love for Christ and endure discipline as children of God.

Confess your sin and rest in His grace while enduring His discipline to change us to reflect the glory of Christ.

Unbeliever, Believe the gospel.

Let’s Pray!