A Study of Hebrews
“Jesus Is Better”
Sermon
# 23
“When God Disciplines His
Children”
Hebrews 12:4-11
How many you here this morning ever got in
trouble as children? How many of you ever suffered punishment as a result? How many of you enjoyed that discipline?
The truth is that we did not enjoy being disciplined as children, yet we understand that
it was both necessary and for our good. By the same token, as adults we still don’t
enjoy being disciplined by God, but it is necessary and for our good.
This morning there are some things that we
must learn if we are to profit from God’s discipline.
First, We Must Learn The Perspective for
Difficulties.
“You have not yet resisted to
bloodshed, striving against sin. (5) And you have forgotten the exhortation which
speaks to you as to sons:”
We can take comfort and strength from the
promises of God’s word. But, we have to know what they are!
Secondly, We Must Learn The Purpose of Discipline.
The value of
discipline and correction depends entirely on our reaction to it (Prov 15:31-32).
There are three types or purposes of Divine
discipline; Corrective, Preventive, and Educational. [John McArthur. The McArthur New
Testament Commentary: Hebrews. (Chicago: Moody, 1983) pp. 385-389]
Let’s look at each of them briefly.
Corrective. The church at Corinth is a
prime example of the corrective discipline of God. In 1 Cor 11:30 Paul plainly told
these believers “For this reason (their sinful behavior) many are weak and sick
among you, and many sleep.” Paul goes on to say, that
they are being “…chastened
by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.” (v. 32)
Preventive. Sometimes God disciplines
believers in order to prevent sin. The Apostle Paul was given a “thorn
in the flesh” (2 Cor 12:7) to keep him from becoming proud. Just as we put
restrictions and limits sometimes even literal fences to keep our children from harm, so
our heavenly Father sometimes puts restrictive circumstances in our lives for our good!
Educational. God’s purpose in
discipline is also to teach us if we will listen. Just as it is possible to attend school
and learn nothing, it is possible to be disciplined by the Lord and learn nothing from it.
C. S. Lewis hits the nail on the head when he says. “Many
would rather have a benevolent grandfather in heaven whose prime interest is our
contentment than have a Father whose prime interest is our character.”[C. S. Lewis. The Problem of Pain.
(New York: MacMillian, 1962) pp. 40-41
We
Must Not Only Learn The Purpose of Discipline but …
Third, We Must Learn To Properly Response to
Discipline
“…My son, do not
despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by
Him; (6) For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He
receives.”
The writer of
Hebrews gives two extremes when it comes to reacting to the discipline of God. The first
is to “despise” his discipline which is to be
indifferent to its significance. It is to refuse to even consider that something that is
happening in our lives may be God trying to get our attention. We may be vaguely aware on
some level that this may be God’s hand, but we dismiss the thought and blow it off.
By refusing to consider why we are going through difficulties we fail to benefit from the
experience.
The other extreme is to allow ourselves to
become “discouraged” by difficulties. Instead of
being indifferent to the discipline of God they are overwhelmed by it all.
So how do you respond
to the difficulties that roll through your life? Do you cover your ears to keep from hearing what the
voice of God may be trying to say to you through this experience? Do stop to consider what
God may be trying to work out in your life through these difficulties?
We Must Learn to
Properly Respond to Discipline and …
Fourth, We Must Learn There is A Progression in Discipline! (vv. 5-6)
“…
My son, do not despise the chastening of
the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked
by Him; (6) For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.”
As look again at verses five and
six we see that there are three different words used to describe God’s discipline to
his children. I want you to mark them in your Bibles, in verse five mark the words “chastening” and “rebuked” and in verse six mark the word
“scourges.”
Now let’s examine each of these words.
First, in verse five, is the word “chastening”, often translated “chastisement” or “discipline.” Generally when we see the word “chasten”
we think of what we in the South call “gettin a whoopping!” Actually the Greek
word (paidiea) denotes the overall training of a
child. It signifies whatever is done to train, correct, develop and mature children in
order help them develop as they should. By the same token the purpose of Christian
discipline is to develop our character.
Then in verse five there is the word “rebuke.” This particular Greek word (elencw) means to convict or reprove. It
implies a rebuke that is deserved and that carries conviction. A “rebuke”
is a verbal correction. A rebuke is a gentle reminder from the Lord that we need to
correct some action, we have veered from the course and we need to get back on course.
The third word is found in verse six is “scourges” and it is a much stronger word than “chasten”
or “rebuke.” The word translated “scourges” (mastigoi) means to be whipped.
Let me see if I can but this in modern terms.
Suppose that you have been invited for dinner in the home of another family in the church.
Prior to your arrival at their home you caution your children about what kind of behavior
is expected of them. Yet after a while one of your children is misbehaving, so you take
them aside and you “rebuke” them you give them a
stern verbal warning about their behavior. Time goes by but your child still will not
behave themselves, so you take them aside privately and you “scourge”
them, that is you administer punishment in an effort to correct their behavior. As an
interesting aside, just for a moment consider this question, “What do you do, if after all of this discipline
they refuse to behave!” Well, I don’t know about you but, here is what I
would do! I would take my child aside and say, “Before
you can embarrass yourself or me any further I am going to take you home.” Could
that be an explanation of 1 John 5:16 which says, “There is sin leading to death.” The sin unto death then would not be a
specific sin but rather a point at which a believer HAS become such an embarrassment to
themselves and to the kingdom of Heaven that God would decides to take them home?
We
Must Not Only Learn There is A Progression In Discipline but …
Fifth, We Must
Learn The Products of Discipline. (vv. 7-11)
· It Proves Our Relationship (7-8)
“If you endure chastening, God
deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? (8) But
if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are
illegitimate and not sons.”
The common reaction when we are going through
severe trials in our lives is to believe, “God
does not love me. God doesn’t care what happens to me! Or If God loved me he would
not have allowed this to happen to me.” But that entirely contrary to what God’s
word says. In fact if you can sin and get away with it, you better do some serious
self-examination.
As a pastor have had the occasion to be
around a lot of children over the course of twenty-five years in the ministry. I have over
the years spoken a word or two of correction here and there to a child I thought may be
about to hurt themselves or others, but for the most part I have refrained from
disciplining the children of others. Although there have been occasions upon which I may
have wished too. At times we have all wanted to discipline someone else’s children
when they disturb us or irritate us. When we have thought, “I wish I could have them for just about a week.”
But there has only been one child who has
regularly received my corrections, my own child. My discipline in her life, painful and
unwanted, was evidence that she belonged to me and that I love her. The discipline proves
the love and the relationship.
I want to establish one thing even if you get
nothing else from the message. When
we discipline our children, even for something serious we do not put them out of the
family. We discipline them to correct their behavior not to disown them.
Neither does God put us out of His family when he disciplines us. I sure that my parents
down through life were sometimes embarrassed to admit they were my parents. My actions may
have even broken our fellowship at times but, it never changed our relationship.
· It Proves Our Father’s Love (9-11)
“Furthermore, we have had
human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily
be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? (10) For they indeed for a few days
chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of
His holiness. (11) Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful;
nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have
been trained by it.”
The message you give your children when you discipline them with love is, “I care too much about you let you misbehave. I care enough about you that I am willing to spend the time and effort to help you learn what is appropriate.” Discipline is exacting. Discipline is costly. Consistent Discipline will wring you out to the point that you do not believe you have the energy to carry it through. But not to pay the cost is to tell the child, “You are not important to me. You are not worth it!”