Loving Discipline

Christians, all around the world and throughout the centuries have often wondered why they have to experience persecution. Especially, when we know that God is all-powerful and sovereign, it is easy for confusion and frustration to rule. This was particularly a problem for the Jewish Christians, as well as those who were on the edge, as they left Judaism. Those people who were still holding onto their Jewish law as a means of securing salvation, were probably taunting the readers, as if to ask how’s your Christianity working out for you now that you‘ve left following the law and have latched onto this grace thing with Jesus.

Yet, we recall the multiple examples from that great cloud of witnesses of their faith in the midst of terrible persecution. They didn’t receive the promises made to them while on this earth. Yet, they endured as they kept their eyes on the Lord and as the New Testament believers, we are to keep our eyes continually fixed upon Jesus.

It’s often been said, that when we go through terrible times, God will use it for His glory and our growth. That’s a good thing. Difficult times will often drive us to our knees, as we seek the Lord for assurance and wisdom and help. That’s a good thing. Ultimately, the Lord will be glorified as our response reflects our faith in Him. To the rest of the world, that is a good thing, as it provides further opportunity for them to turn their lives over to Jesus Christ.

And sometimes, as is strongly suggested in today’s verses, difficult times are sometimes a result of wrong choices we’ve made and the need for the Lord to correct us and restore us.

Believers need to understand that when we stray from the Lord, His discipline is lovingly designed to restore us to a right relationship with Him.

Don’t Be Dramatic. - 12.4

Woe is me! I can’t believe what I have to suffer! Nobody has experienced what I’ve gone through for the Lord! Well, after reading last week about the run of faith that we are to participate in, with the knowledge of what several of the chapter 11 saints went through, the author of Hebrews is about to put things into perspective for these persecuted Jews.

Hebrews 12:4 (NASB95)

You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;

Sometimes, we need to be reminded that what we’re experiencing, as horrible as it might seem, is not that terrible, when considering someone else. Here, the someone else is Jesus. Think about the fact that Jesus lived a perfect life, never sinned, was completely obedient to His Father. Nobody in all of history can even suggest that they came close. Yet, Jesus experienced the worst attacks, was lied against, experienced a friend who was a traitor, worked with young men that didn’t always get what He was trying to teach, even paid the penalty for all of the sins of all mankind, though He Himself was not guilty of a single sin. And the readers, as well as we, think we have it hard?

Yet, in these verses, it seems that this is not even the core issue. The readers are wondering why they have to go through such negative experiences. Some of this may be their own doing. You will notice a key word which gets repeated, discipline. So before we move into those verses, let’s take a bit of time to briefly understand this word.

First of all, we need to understand that when God is disciplining His children, it is for the purpose of instruction and training, so that we don’t continue on in immaturity. This is not the same as judgment and punishment. Brothers and sisters, God will not judge towards condemnation His own children, for that was taken care of on the cross by our Lord Jesus. What Jesus did for us is all that is necessary. Discipline certainly feels like punishment, but almost always, when the Bible speaks of punishment, it is directed towards unbelievers. Discipline is directed towards believers. The purpose is always to cause the believer to grow and mature, becoming more Christ-like in our lives.

Discipline often involves parameters to protect us. When we first moved to St. Albans, the trustees gave us an option of a major project improvement at the parsonage. They would either redo the kitchen or put a fence up around the back yard. Mindy and Margo were a little over two years old, so we opted for the fence, in order that they would be safer. The boundary was there to protect them, not to punish them. It kept them from running off and getting lost or being run over by a vehicle.

Discipline also causes us to learn and improve. We learn more about God’s greatness and goodness. We discover more about God’s incredible love for us and His desire for us to serve Him. Sometimes, the learning causes us to identify with and understand what others are experiencing. For some of us, that’s the only way that allows God to cause us to learn sympathy.

To understand and accept this, requires faith in God and His purposes.

Don’t Despise Discipline. - 12.5

Just as earthly children sometimes think that discipline happens because parents love to make their lives miserable, so do children of God at times. We may not always look deeper to see what God is teaching, instead choosing to assume God just enjoys making our lives difficult. Look at Hebrews 12.5.

Hebrews 12:5 (NASB95)

and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;

It’s interesting to read the first part of this verse. Forgetfulness causes more problems in so many areas. That must be the reason that we are to continually remind each other of God’s truths, even as He repeats so often the principles of His Word. If we don’t practice regularly living out the Word, or even spending time in the Word, it becomes quite easy to forget what we used to know. This then leads to wrong beliefs which leads to wrong living.

The word for exhortation literally means encouragement. This was a loving reminder that God had given His Word to them. They needed to be reminded that God was speaking to them as His children. All of the references to sons, children, and son in this verse and the next section, should not be thought of as little children. These words actually refer to adult sons, which reminds us that as we’ve been adopted by God. We have a position of adulthood in the family of God. What specifically is the author referencing? He is trying to encourage them in a couple of areas.

Regard[ing] lightly the discipline of the Lord. Whenever a person is experiencing God’s discipline, it is extremely helpful if we remember the purpose of it. Then we can react properly and learn and grow, rather than fight and complain about it. Some people respond in defiance and don’t even understand what God is doing or that He is the One acting with discipline on our lives. Sometimes, even when we question God in doing this, we are basically suggesting to God that He doesn’t know what He’s doing and should have thought of something more convenient or a more pleasant way to teach us. However, woe to the individual who doesn’t even care about why God is disciplining His child. Just as a student, if a person doesn’t care about the material being taught, they won’t learn anything from it. Nor will they mature and become like competent like their teacher.

The other problem comes when a child of God faint[s] because of the discipline. This happens more often than many realize among God’s children. This person becomes hopeless and feels like giving up on everything. They don’t know which way to turn, nor do they have any desire left. However, what has been forgotten is that God’s discipline is not meant to bring us down or destroy us, but rather to make us stronger and to build us up.

Dads Who Love Do Discipline. - 12.6-8

You don’t really love me! That is often the mantra of the child undergoing discipline from an earthly father. To which many a parent has responded by explaining that if we didn’t really love our child, we’d just let them go and do whatever they want. As parents, we want the very best for our children, which is what God wants for His children. As we’ll see in the following verses, we are reminded of how much God loves us, plus that we are truly His children, through our salvation in Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 12:6–8 (NASB95)

For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.” It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

Warren Wiersbe states: If a child is left to himself, he grows up to become a selfish tyrant. A father who is faithful to the Lord and who loves their children, wants them to mature properly. So he will discipline the children. Understand, however, the father doesn’t go around disciplining everyone else’s children. His focus will be his own children. A child who does not learn to submit to authority, will never become a mature adult.

Have any of you heard this phrase? This spanking hurts me more than it does you. Now, when you were a child, did you actually believe that? Most of us never quite understood that line. However, now that we’re parents, we fully understand that it does hurt us when we have to discipline our child. If that’s the case, then as imperfect parents, can you imagine how God must feel? However, if God doesn’t discipline us when we need it, we will not mature in our spiritual lives. Plus, we will have grave doubts as to whether or not we are His children.

Have you ever experienced being in a store or a park or anyplace else and observed someone else’s child throwing a tantrum or just being plain mean? Then a thought comes into our mind as to how we could turn this child around if we were in charge of them for a few days. However, we’ve limited ourselves in our minds to a few days, since we don’t have that love relationship that we do with our own children. The same holds true when we see and hear of unbelievers acting in horrible ways. We wonder why God doesn’t just take care of them right then and there. Remember that they are not His children, if they’ve not turned their lives over to Jesus Christ. Also, consider the fact that they are being given every chance possible to surrender their lives to Jesus so that they will become children of God.

Jerome, one of the scholars who translated the Latin Vulgate version of the Bible, commented: The greatest anger of all is when God is no longer angry with us.

Devoutness Is Produced By Discipline. - 12.9-11

What’s the purpose of discipline? In verses 9-11, we’ll see that it provides opportunity for us to share His holiness, as well as to experience the peaceful fruit of righteousness. You’ll have to put up with my substituting devoutness to mean righteousness, even though it does. You see, I had to keep my alliteration with the letter D consistent.

Hebrews 12:9–11 (NASB95)

Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

My children would probably agree with me that I was not and am not the perfect father. Many times, I may not have been fair in my discipline, if I didn’t know all the facts. Other times, I disciplined too quickly; sometimes out of frustration and anger. Needless to say, I can honestly say as a father, mistakes were made. However, I love all of my children. I wanted with all my heart that they should have a love for Jesus. When I observed them straying or being rebellious or defiant, my discipline mode leaped into action. I did not want them to suffer long term consequences as a result of being allowed to go the way of the world. I care for my children deeply.

Now, consider our heavenly Father. He will never make a mistake. His love for His children is a bazillion times greater than any earthly father. Rather than balk at our Heavenly Father’s discipline, surrender yourself to it and live. Remember that in the Old Testament, if a child could not be disciplined or was totally rebellious, he was to be stoned. Wow! This is how serious God sees obedience to parents to be. Now, if a Christian refuses to submit to God’s discipline, according to verse 9, it is entirely possible that God will remove that person from this earth. This would keep their terrible testimony from continuing. This even explains Paul’s writing about some who died because they took the Lord’s Supper inappropriately.

As I mentioned earlier, a believer can become so discouraged, they begin to stop spending time in prayer and in God’s Word. As a result, they begin to backslide. It is at these times, that our Heavenly Father will discipline the individual so that he/she realizes the need to surrender to the Lord and to obey His commands. When we do surrender and realize that God wants us to become more mature, we can go through the discipline gladly, knowing how much God loves us.

A missionary serving in Indochina was asked how he liked living there. The gist of his reply was, “I don’t think I could ever come back to the boring existence of the United States. We have seen God work so many wonderful miracles over there. Why would we want to come back here to this humdrum routine?” He had been through war, famine, disease, political and military upheavals, and countless other experiences that most of us would do almost anything to avoid. Yet he knew he was really living in the fullness of God’s presence.

Verse 10 goes on to describe how we live in holiness as we live according to the Lord’s ways. Remember my imperfections as a father? We never have to worry about that with God. It is always right. It is always for our good. He wants us to become more like Jesus every day.

Verse 11 is almost like saying something which didn’t need to be said because we already know it. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; Think about it. If it were pleasant, where would the learning and correction be? After my stroke, I was blessed to be able to be part of the most intensive physical and occupational therapy. There were times that I would cry because of the frustration of not being able to do what my mind wanted my body to do. However, I knew that the intent of this was to get my body to be trained to do more than it had been able to do because of the stroke. It was not pleasant. Yet, I praise God for the patience and diligence of the therapists.

Now, I am able to do so much more than the neurosurgeon and the other doctors felt was ever going to be possible. When the believer accepts God’s discipline to restore and help him/her in maturing and becoming more like Jesus, we then begin to experience the peaceful fruit of righteousness. We can look at discipline from the Lord like a medical treatment or a tough round of physical therapy would be for our bodies. This spiritual treatment is what will shape us more and more into the image of Jesus Christ. We’ll be reminded that God will use whatever discipline is necessary for our benefit and blessing.

Someone has written, “And so what do I say? I say let the rains of disappointment come, if they water the plants of spiritual grace. Let the winds of adversity blow, if they serve to root more securely the trees that God has planted. I say, let the sun of prosperity be eclipsed, if that brings me closer to the true light of life. Welcome, sweet discipline, discipline designed for my joy, discipline designed to make me what God wants me to be.”

Believers need to understand that when we stray from the Lord, His discipline is lovingly designed to restore us to a right relationship with Him.