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HOLY HELP FOR THE HOPELESSTHROUGH GOD'S DISCIPLINEHebrews 12:5-13INTRODUCTION CLARIFICATION: Before I begin this morning I need to clarify something I said last week. In explaining 12:1 I first told you what the verse was not saying. When the author says we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses as we run the race set before us he is not saying that dead Christians are witnessing us run the race. In other words, I said he does not mean that dead Christians are watching us and know what is going on here on earth. I also explained the classic biblical doctrine that at the present time dead Christians are disembodied spirits, consciously living and rejoicing in the presence of Christ while awaiting the coming of Christ and the final resurrection. I became aware through several people this past week that Randy Alcorn in his book entitled, “Heaven” which many in our congregation have read says that this verse does teach that dead Christians are watching us and that it is quite possible that currently dead Christians have some sort of physical form in heaven and are not disembodied spirits. I don’t have time to go into the details of the biblical descriptions of the intermediate state. What I want to make clear is this. What Randy Alcorn and I and every Christian teacher agrees upon is that we should not think that we can communicate with the dead, nor should we ever speak to the dead. The idea that we can communicate with the dead is, as I meant to say last week, an entirely non-Christian idea and is to be rejected. In addition Randy Alcorn and I and every true Christian believes that final salvation in all of its fullness will not be experienced by anyone until Jesus comes back and gives to every Christian an immortal, resurrected body in which we will live with him in the new heavens and earth forever. What Randy and I disagree about is the exact condition of dead Christians until that final resurrection. Contrary to Randy I do believe we exist as disembodied spirits living consciously in heaven in the presence of God and that if we do have any knowledge of what is going on here on earth, which I doubt, it is very limited and general. However, these are matters about which true Christians can disagree because the Bible does not speak a great deal about our condition when we die prior to the return of Christ. What we know for certain about this "intermediate state" is we will be in the presence of the Lord, which is better by far than our present situation. If you have further questions please talk with me or email me. Let’s move on to today’s text. Philip Yancey begins his book, “Disappointment with God,” telling the story of a young man named Richard. Richard had written a book on the OT book of Job for which Philip Yancey had written the forward. Just before the book was to be distributed Richard called up Mr. Yancey and asked to speak with him immediately. When they met Richard told Mr. Yancey that he no longer believed anything he had written in the book and that in fact, he no longer believed in God. For the next three hours he told Philip the story of how he had come to reject God. I want to read for you a portion of what he said as Philip Yancey reports it in his book. Richard told me his story, “…beginning with his parent’ divorce. ‘I did everything I could to prevent the divorce,’ he said. ‘I’d just become a Christian at the university and I was naïve enough to believe that God cared. I prayed nonstop day and night that they’d get back together. I even dropped out of school for a while and went home to try to salvage my family. I thought I was doing God’s will, but I think I made everything worse… He next told me about a job opportunity that had fallen through. The employer reneged on a promise to him and hired someone less deserving, leaving Richard with school debts and no source of income. About the same time, Richard’s fiancée jilted him. With no warning she broke off contact, refusing to give any explanation for her abrupt change of heart. Sharon, the fiancée, had played a key role in Richard’s spiritual growth and as she left him, he felt some of his faith leach away as well. They had often prayed together about their future; now those prayers seemed like cruel jokes. Richard also had a series of physical problems, which only added to his sense of helplessness and depression. Wounds of rejection, suffered when his parents separated, seemed to reopen. Had God merely been stringing him along—like Sharon? … He could not understand why a loving heavenly Father would let him suffer such disappointment. No earthly father would treat his child like that. He continued going to church…but one night something snapped. Richard attended a Sunday evening service where he heard the usual testimonies and praise, but one report in particular rankled him. Earlier that week a plane carrying nine missionaries had crashed in the Alaskan outback, killing all aboard. The pastor solemnly related the details and then introduced a member of the church who had survived an unrelated plane crash that same week. When the church member finished describing his narrow escape, the congregation responded, ‘Praise the Lord!’ ‘Lord we thank you for bringing our brother to safety and for having your guardian angels watch over him,’ the pastor prayed. ‘And please be with the families of those who died in Alaska.’ That prayer triggered revulsion, something like nausea, in Richard. You can’t have it both ways, he thought. If God gets the credit for the survivor, he should also get blamed for the casualties. Yet churches never hear testimonies from the grievers. What would the spouses of the dead missionaries say? Would they talk about a ‘loving Father?” After Yancey finishes reporting Richard’s story he says that he is glad he isn’t a counselor because he had no idea what to say to Richard. I find that statement by a Christian of Philip Yancey’s stature extremely disheartening because God has an answer for Richard’s questions. The passage we are going to look at this morning is a direct answer to the heart of Richard’s quandary. This passage directly answers Richard’s question, “why would a loving heavenly father let him suffer such disappointment?” It also forcefully rejects his assertion that no earthly father would treat his child like that. Good earthly fathers regularly bring pain and loss into their children's lives on purpose. There is not a clearer statement in the Bible concerning why it is that God brings suffering into the lives of his people than this passage. As most of you have heard me relate on more than one occasion, numerous well meaning people have said to me over the last five years in regards to my oldest son’s injury that we don’t know why God lets these things happen. That's just not true. God tells us why he causes bad things to happen to his people. This passage tells me exactly why Jared shattered his skull in a skiing accident in February of 2002 and why he continues to live in a minimally conscious state. This passage is written to help us as Christians understand why it is that God sends suffering into our lives so that when hardship comes we will not lose heart or grow weary and so stop following Christ as Richard did. This passage simply and boldly declares that the only road that goes to heaven is a road of suffering by God's will and so when the suffering comes you should not be surprised but understand God’s purposes in it. MAIN POINT The way to heaven is a way of suffering because…I. God loves his children (vv. 4-8) We saw last week in vv. 1-4 that the author used the metaphor of the marathon footrace and the boxing match that were part of the Grecian Olympic Games. His aim was to help the Hebrew Christians and us keep running and not drop out of the Christian race, to not lose our boxing match (struggle) with sin. In v. 5 he changes the metaphor to that of the father-son relationship. The connection between the two metaphors is shown in v. 5. He tells them that they are on the brink of dropping out of the race because they have forgotten something they once knew to be true. They have forgotten a word that God spoke to them and to every believer in his written word recorded in the OT book of Proverbs 3:11-12. The entire book of Proverbs is written in the form of a father talking to his son and seeking to instruct him on how to live a wise life. In v. 5 we are told that the ultimate Father who is speaking is God himself and the “son” to whom he speaks is every one of his people, all those who have faith in Christ. The Bible is a personal word to each of us from our heavenly Father. We can think of every verse in the Bible as beginning, “My son…,” “My daughter…” This word that is to encourage them and that they have forgotten is this, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves and he flogs ("punish" in the NIV. It is the same word used of what happened to Jesus.) everyone he accepts as a son.” Then in vv. 7-8 he reinforces the OT quote by reminding us that every true son in a human family is disciplined by his father. In fact, he says, if you are not disciplined you are not a true son, but an illegitimate son and therefore excluded from the family and the family inheritance. The mark of a father's love for his son is consistent discipline. I need to say something about this word discipline. When we think of this word we usually only think about discipline as corrective pain. In other words, discipline in our minds is only administered when there has been an infraction of some rule. While this is in part how the word is used in the Proverbs, it is not the only way it is used. It is also used for the regular, disciplined instruction of children in the ways of wisdom. It is discipline when a parent explains to a child how to do the dishes and then requires the child to do the dishes before he can go outside to play. The word is used 26 times in Proverbs. Here is an example of its use for corrective discipline in response to disobedience: “Folly is bound up in a child but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him (Proverbs 22:15).” Here is one example of its use in reference to discipline as simply instruction for wisdom: “Listen my son to your father’s discipline (NIV=instruction) and do not forsake your mother’s teaching (Proverbs 1:8).” In other words, good fathers cause their children to embrace the pain of study and the restraint of their passions all the time, not just when they are disobedient. Good parents are after a disciplined life and one of their teaching methods is punishment for misdeeds, but they also have a whole arsenal of other methods, all of which are called “discipline”. It is used of the general way that fathers instruct their children when they are good and when they are bad. In other words, it would be wrong of you to presume that the reason God “disciplined” these Christians is because they did something wrong. The suffering is given out of God’s love for them for the purpose of instructing them in the ways of wisdom. We will talk in a minute about what is the good for which God sends the “discipline” or “instruction” but it is very important for you to know that this passage is not just talking about God’s discipline upon disobedient Christians. When I suffer pain and loss it is motivated by love and is either God’s corrective discipline upon me because of my disobedience or it is simply God’s ongoing course of training to make me into a wise son or it is both. The shocking thing about this discipline is that the discipline that God sent to these people was the persecution listed in 10:32-34. It was God who exposed them to public reproach and affliction. God sent the persecutors to throw them into prison. God sent people to plunder their property. When your neighbor’s child mocks your child because she is a Christian, pushes her down, and gathers other kids around to make fun or her, God sent them. When the police come into your home, break up your furniture, take your jewelry, and kill your dog because you are Christians, God sent them. When your husband is thrown in prison because he is a Christian, God sent him there. At the same time, that doesn’t mean that the persecutors are not doing evil. In 2 Thess. 1:4-10 Paul tells us that those who persecute us are going to be punished by God with eternal suffering in hell. They are wrong to persecute us. It is evil to do this. They will be held accountable. In addition, God is not guilty of doing evil. These men are not doing something against their will. God wants them to persecute because he loves his children. The men want to persecute because they hate Christians and delight to do evil. I also need to point out that this does not mean we do not have the right to try to end persecution. We are not fatalists. Paul submitted to persecution sometimes and other times he used the legal system to avoid it and sometimes he fled the city where he was about to get beat up. Sometimes we are to stay and take the persecution. Other times we are to flee. Other times we are to use the legal means we have to resist. These verses don’t just apply to persecution. As v. 7 says, we are to “endure hardship as discipline.” My loving heavenly Father sends all the hardships that come to me as a Christian. The language used in these verses is used throughout the NT in regards to all kinds of pressures to lose heart, to stop living for Christ. It is absolutely right to view all the trouble that comes to me as a Christian as having come from the hand of my loving Father as discipline, as training for my good. I have, without hesitation, used these verses in counseling married people who have been deeply offended and sinned against by their spouse. When your spouse is cruel to you, God sent him or her for the purpose of disciplining you, because he loves you. Let me quickly say that does not mean your spouse is not sinning, nor that you don’t have the right to protest and work to stop abusive treatment. However, what you cannot do is claim that God is abandoning you when your spouse is treating you badly. In fact, the exact opposite is true. God is loving you by giving you an annoying and sometimes cruel spouse. The same thing is true if you have a bad boss at work or a chronic sickness or your girlfriend dumped you or you flunked a test or your daughter crunched your car or your parents got a divorce or your son shattered his skull in a skiing accident. All of these hardships and many more are no sign that God hates you or has abandoned you but are the evidence that he loves you because he has sent the trouble to discipline you. As one of the earliest famous Christian pastors, Chrysostom, said about this text: “See, it is those very things in which they suppose they have been deserted by God that should make them confident that they have not been deserted.” God loves you and he wants you to suffer. The way to heaven is a way of suffering because…
II. God, as our father, sends pain for a purpose (vv. 9-11) While verses 5-8 assert that all the suffering that comes to us as Christians is a mark of God’s love for us, vv. 9-11 tell us the good and loving purpose for which God our Father sends us the trouble. Notice the logic in v. 9. Your parents instructed and disciplined you. You submitted to them and listened to their instructions and they are mere humans. How foolish would it be for you to not submit to the God who rules over the entire universe, including the unseen world of spirits? Do not fight against or complain against God’s ways with you. He is treating you as a beloved son. He is the king of the universe and deserves your trust infinitely more than your parents ever did. You endured the discipline of your parents, how can you reject God's discipline? My mom often told me, when I complained about the freedom that my friends had compared to her strict rules that these other parents were not loving their children by giving them all this freedom. She would tell me she loved me and that she wanted me to grow up to be a man who lived a useful and happy life and that is why she “disciplined” me with her strict rules. I listened to my mom, who is wise, but who is stupid compared to the infinitely wise God. I did as she said, most of the time even though I didn’t always understand the reasons she had for her rules. If I trusted her judgment and did as she required, how can I not submit to an infinitely wise and loving father when he sends me trouble? In v. 10 he again makes a comparison with our human fathers. Human fathers only discipline us for a little while and then only according to their limited, fallen understanding. Our parents' discipline can only affect our lives here, whereas God’s discipline is aimed at our eternal well being. I do not know any honest parent that does not often second-guess himself or herself as to whether they are doing the right things to train their children. I do not know any honest parent who is not fully convinced that they have often failed miserably as a parent due to their own sin and stupidity. On the other hand, God is the perfect parent. He is infinitely wise and loving. He has our ultimate good in view at all times and he knows exactly what kind of training it will take for us to experience the ultimate good he has in view. He never makes a mistake when he sends pain into our lives. What is the ultimate good that God has in view? Three clauses describe the ultimate good for which God is aiming. In v. 6 the end purpose of God’s discipline is described as God’s receiving or accepting his sons. In v. 10 it is that we might share in his holiness. In v. 11 it is a harvest of righteousness and peace—at a “later time”. I want to consider how each of these point to the goodness of God’s goal for our lives so that you and I will want the good that God is seeking to work in us. This is the most important thing I will say this morning. If you are convinced that the purpose for which God is sending you the pain is valuable, then you will endure it. However, if you do not believe that God’s goal is good, then you will become bitter and cynical and disheartened by the pain and stop following Christ. First, to be accepted as God’s son emphasizes the relational dimension of our salvation. Christ died to bring us to God. Rather than having God as our enemy we now have him as our loving Father. It is only through the pain of discipline that we enter into the experience of being accepted by God as his children. During my high school years I regularly had my heart broken by girls. I’d have a crush on a girl and then I’d find out she had no interest in me, other than as a friend. I remember on several occasions coming home to be with my family for dinner or to go hunting with my dad and brothers after being disappointed by a girl and feeling the warmth of my family’s love in a more tangible way because of the hurt I had experienced. We learn to appreciate and enjoy the love of God more when we’ve experienced the loss of human love or some other loss. It is in the midst of bitter loss that we discover the warmth and security of God's love for us. Second, to share in God’s holiness is to share in that which makes God, God. Remember in Isaiah 6, when the prophet has a vision of heaven? The 2 cherubim which are before God's throne sing to one another, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory." Holiness refers to God's uniqueness as God. He is utterly different from his entire creation. Holiness refers to the "godness" of God. We were made in the image of this holy God. However, that image has been viciously marred by sin. Through the pain of God's discipline God is restoring that original image in us. Someone has said that the suffering God brings to us is his chisel to remove all that does not reflect him. It is the tool he uses to make us into the image of his Son. If you are a Christian it is God’s goal for you to share in that which makes God so admirable, his very own holiness. We will never be God, we will always and only share in what he is in his being. As William Lane says in his commentary, “…God bestows as a gift a share in his holiness through divine discipline.” There is no other way for us to be restored into the image of this holy God than through the pain of his discipline. Third, his goal for you is that you will actually attain righteousness and peace in heaven. The author is alluding to a passage in Isaiah 32:17-18, “The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.” God is working out a salvation that results in you actually being righteous and living at peace with God, man and the entire universe. Right now, you are daily confronted with how unrighteous you are and if you are a Christian it is the source of your greatest sorrow. Right now, daily you are confronted with disharmony, chaos, and alienation in your relationships with men and God. Right now, the created world often is a source of pain and frustration for you. However, there is a day coming when you will always be motivated by love and you will always act in love and righteousness. There is a day coming when you will live in a community of kindness and cooperation and in a world that always serves you and your happiness. God sends suffering to you now so that you can have a part in that world and experience that righteousness and peace later. The losses we experience here create a longing for our eternal home of righteousness and peace. When earthly pleasure is removed we fix our eyes on Jesus and his salvation with greater intensity. Finally, you must notice two things in v. 11. First, all discipline is at the moment painful. This is such an important thing to say. Knowing that God sends the suffering as my loving Father for my eternal good does not mean that I do not feel the pain of the suffering. It does not mean that we do not cry and grieve over the losses that God sends to us. We should never look at others in their suffering and demand that they stop being sad. Yes, there is a kind of grieving that is sinful but there is also a godly grief that is a necessary response to the loss God brings into our lives. We are to grieve, but not as those who have no hope. Paul describes the Christian life as "sorrowing, yet always rejoicing." Suffering hurts and it is right to feel sad. You can feel sad without rejecting God and his love for you. Second, notice that the good result that God intends is only given to "those who have been trained by the discipline." How are we trained by the discipline? We do it the same way that Jesus did it. We fix our attention on the joy that is coming and submit to the temporary pain in hope. We entrust ourselves to him who judges justly. We discover that we can live with the pain and without the comforts that have been taken away because we are so amazed that God loves us and that the future with him is so bright. We help one another to endure by reminding one another of the joy that is coming. We help carry those who are suffering among us. We risk the loss of comfort and security in order to love others. We keep on trusting in the goodness of God and loving others even when all earthly hope is gone. This is the way we are trained by the discipline and so gain the good that God wants us to have. The way to heaven is a way of suffering because…
III. God’s discipline either kills or heals (vv. 12-13) These last two verses come from two OT passages. Verse 12 is connected to Isaiah 35. I want you to turn back there to see what the author is aiming to communicate. It’s on page 508. This is a description of that great day of salvation and of judgment when the Lord Jesus comes again. Read it. Verses 3-4 are directed to us while we wait. We should not be fearful or lose heart but we should look ahead with steady gaze and firm steps keep running in God’s path because that day of salvation is going to be so awesome. Yes the way is hard now but God will come. He will save. So don’t quit now. Don’t drop out of the race. Then v. 13, which is taken from Proverbs 4:26 tells us that some of those who are running in the race with us are lame. The suffering has injured them and they need help so that they are not permanently disabled and thus fall out of the race but rather are healed and make it to the end. The bottom line is that this way of suffering that is the race that is set before us will either end in death and destruction or in health and salvation. We will only make it if we run in the company of others. It is a fact of long distance running; every runner gets injured at some time and needs the encouragement and help of other runners to keep going. We need to be reminded of the joyful outcome. We need to be carried at times. We need help to overcome the injuries suffered along the way so that we are healed and finish the race. There are people among us right now who have been injured and are lame. They are in danger of quitting the race. Those of us who are not lame at the moment are to be helping our fellow runners so that their "lameness" does not become a permanent disability and thus stop them from running anymore. The way to heaven is a way of suffering because…
© Copyright 2007 John Swanson.
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