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INTRODUCTION
Of the 7 churches of Revelation. The last church, the church of Laodicea is a description of
the church today - to that church - to us - Jesus says: Rev. 3:19 “Those whom I
love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.”
Let us talk more about discipline today. Timely Truths that Transform us.
Issues of transformation and character. Last week self-disciplined - doing regular exercises
of obedience. Today discipline from God directly - His instruction and correction in our life.
Discipline is obedience to the word and will of God, consistently living an obedient
life, with the goal to please God. Do you let God discipline you?
Our text today is the definitive text on God’s discipline = Hebrews 12:4-11
1. God’s discipline proves we are children of God. Heb. 12:4-8
- God’s discipline is proof of His fatherly love, seeks the best for us.
Divine discipline is proof of divine love. If we are being disciplined by God, it
is because we belong to God. Proof of our salvation.
- “discipline” used 9 times in 8 verses.
- The principle is set in OT Proverbs: Proverbs 3:11-12: “My son, do not
reject the discipline of the LORD, or loathe His reproof, for whom the LORD loves
He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights."
- Heb. 12:5 quotes Prov. 3:11; Heb. 12:6 quotes Prov. 3:12
- “discipline” = speaks of educating a child. We tend to think
of discipline as getting a whipping: “Wait till your father gets home.”
Here the word positively means child training - includes instruction, correction,
warning and if necessary a whipping. All designed to nurture good virtues and
drive out evil desires and practices. God does that us to believers.
- v. 8 illegitimate children have no rights and no relationship, why bother? The
unsaved are not disciplined - Rom. 1 - “God gave them over”
3 x’s
- But if Jesus is your Savior, you are a natural born child of God
- We are God’s kids, and discipline is a means of sanctification 12:7.
ILLUS: Good parents discipline their children - some of you are disciplining
your children right now “Listen to the pastor.”
Never have to discipline kids because they are behaving too much. “Dale,
you are being too nice to your sisters, they can clean their own room - cut
that out.” My parents taught me to share, I used to hide my toys - now,
you can come up to my office anytime and play with my toys.
- How does God discipline beside the clear instructions from the Bible?
- Persecutions - the context of Hebrews 12
ILLUS: Church in China
- not punishment for wrong, but training for right
- Purging from the church - Matt. 18:15-17
- correcting us when we are wrong, gentle to firm
- Personal crises - family, health - Book of Job, 1 Cor. 12:7-10
- to test our faith and obedience, to keep us humble
QUOTE: “Nothing happens by chance to the Christian. Tragedies are
blessings in disguise, and disappointments are His appointments. God harnesses
the adverse circumstances of life to conform us to the image of Christ.”
(Believers Commentary, 1019) Romans 8:29
- God can take your pain and redeem it and turn it into an opportunity to experience
God’s grace. When we go through hard times of instruction from God - be reminded
it proves you are a child of God.
2. God’s discipline produces righteousness in us. Heb. 12:9-11
- v. 9 Parents have authority over their children, their duty and
privilege. We owe our life to our parents, we owe our spiritual life to God the
Father. A wise child respects and obeys their father - parents
- God our Father is our creator, sustainer, and redeemer. He must be respected and
obeyed by virtue of His position.
- Sadly, there are people who did not have a good earthly father who they respected,
hard for them to see God as a loving Father. Other metaphors may work better:
brother, friend, lover. But God is The Real Father they never had - loving and
caring.
- All of us at times did not like how our fathers disciplined us, but we should have
learned obedience, after all they had our best in mind. God always has our best in
mind. Do we respect the authority of God?
- v. 10-11 Discipline is for short time to prevent long bad consequences.
God delights not in the rod of discipline but in the life of obedience.
- Discipline is temporary, yielding eternal results. It may not seem enjoyable at
the moment for all of us, but the good results are long lasting.
ILLUS: If you think back for a moment to a time you were disciplined - you
clearly remember it - did it have a lasting effect?
Parents - positive taught me to do chores, once told a joke with a bad word.
Teachers - taught me to study, learn English, love history, had one detention.
- But there are two long term results of obedience to God’s discipline:
- v. 10 “that we may share in His holiness.”
- “The aim of God’s chastisement of His people is to
produce in them a character like His own” (Morris from the
New Commentary)
- 1 Peter 1:15-16 We can have God’s moral character,
purity, set apart to God and thus set apart from sin. Holiness
really precedes separation from sin. We can actually be holiness
people!
- v. 11 “the peaceable fruit of righteousness.”
- People want peace, peace is found in the Lord Jesus and with His
peace comes rightness. We live in a world where all is wrong, in
our life there can be some things right - God’s character
can be in us, obedient lifestyle, giving us a peace in our
circumstances
- Sometimes people need to be shaken to the core to figure out who God really is to
them. Sometimes there are areas in our life we don’t want to surrender. In
both cases, we must learn the hard way.
QUOTES: “God loves you just the way you are, but too much to leave you
that way.” “God is more concerned about our holiness than our
happiness”
- God wants the very best for us and He knows what is best.
- The great in the kingdom disciplined themselves and accepted God’s
discipline and positively responded.
- Hebrews writer uses an athletic illustration, of the Olympic games v. 11
“yet to those having been trained by it” - discipline is hard
work.
ILLUS: Olympics coming up in China - we see first hand two Iowa stars - Lo Lo
Jones, and Shawn Johnson - who with much discipline, more to come have been
trained for excellence as they work hard for the gold medals.
- Discipline takes hard work. Work studying Word, prayer, understanding what God
wants of us, and has for us… When God speaks - LISTEN.
QUOTE: “Neither correction, wholesome restraint, domestic regulations,
nor gymnastic discipline, are pleasant to them that are thus exercised; but it
is by these means that obedient children, scholars, (athletes) and great men
are made. And it is by God’s discipline that Christians are made.”
(Adam Clark)
- Why discipline? From Billy Graham Christian Workers Handbook
- He wants to lead us to repentance 2 Cor. 7:9
- He wants to restore us to fellowship 1 John 1:3
- He wants to make us more faithful 1 Cor. 4:2
- He wants to make us humble 2 Cor. 12:7-9
- He wants to teach us spiritual discernment 1 Cor. 11:31-32
- He wants to prepare us for more effective service 1 Cor. 15:58
(Pages 90-91)
CONCLUSION
When God teaches you something, please listen and obey. Sometimes God teaches us the hard way
- persecutions, the church, personal crises - don’t tune Him out, listen the first time.
Slogan “God is not finished with me yet” - that is good news. The bad news is -
the devil isn’t either. Be on your guard.
We are a work of art in process. Seek a lifestyle of obedience to God’s Word and
God’s will.
Do you learn from God’s discipline? Is there an area God is working on you right now?
Lessons you are learning the hard way?
Do you practice self-discipline? Do you do spiritual exercises faithfully?
Take another step of obedience today…
Maybe you need to begin with a step of faith in Christ first…
The Cross.
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