“Discipline & Sin”
[Hebrews 12:3-11]
January 26, 2014 Second Reformed Church
In our current context – in
twenty-first century America – when we hear someone talk about discipline, we
are likely to jump to an understanding of abuse. Someone may say she disciplined her child by
chaining him to a radiator without food or water for a week. That is not discipline, that’s abuse. Someone may say that he disciplined his child
by beating her until she had broken bones.
That’s not discipline, that’s abuse.
We have a tendency to confuse discipline and abuse to the point where
discipline is a dirty word, and even if we believe in discipline, we are afraid
to admit it for negative repercussions.
However, discipline is a good thing
– we discipline our bodies to make them stronger and more useful. We discipline our children to help them to become
the men and women we would have them be.
The Church is called to discipline – specifically those members who
continue in unrepentant sin.
As a child, I was disciplined by my
parents spanking me with their hand on my backside. It was done to make sure I understood that
what I had done was wrong, and as an encouragement that I would not do it
again, but, instead, that I would do what is right.
In
Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, there is a case of a man who is having
sexual relations with his step-mother.
The Church demands that he stop, and when he refuses to stop sinning,
they discipline him by refusing to admit him to the Lord’s Supper. But when he finally renounces his sin and
stops having sexual relations with his step-mother, the church readmits him to
the Lord’s Table.
Abuse is done to hurt someone;
discipline is administered to cause someone to grow, to become a better person,
and so forth. Abuse is done out of
hatred and anger. Discipline is
administered out of love.
I hope that makes sense. I spend the time on it because of the culture
we live in. I spend time on it because some
of us have been abused by family, friends, and/or strangers, and it is
important, as we look at this passage, to see that discipline is not
abuse. Discipline is administered for a
person’s good.
Last week, we looked at the idea
that the life of faith is a race, and since we are running a race, we ought to throw
off every weight – anything that would keep us from running the best we can for
the sake of Christ – and every sin – the heaviest of weights which fights
against our running. We also saw that we
have this great cloud of witnesses – all those believers who have gone on
before us – watching us and encouraging us and cheering us on as we run. And we have Jesus – the One Who is the Foundation
of our faith and the Perfector of our faith – so we know that our faith to
believe is given to us as a gift by God and Jesus will bring us to the finish
line, because we are in His hands, and He will never lose one of those God has
given Him to be His people.
We ended last week, noting that
Jesus is the Sovereign King of all of Creation, and, that He was able to endure
the Hell of the cross, because of “the joy that was set before Him” – that is,
Jesus was able to endure the Hell of the cross because He knew the end of all
of His suffering was the Glory of God through His bringing a holy people into
His Kingdom – the fulfillment of the Gospel.
And we remember that the first
readers of this letter are Jewish Christians who are suffering for their faith
under the Romans and non-believing Jews.
They had suffered so much that they were wondering if they might have
been wrong about Jesus – they wondered if they ought to turn back to the Old
Testament Sacrificial System. So, the
author of Hebrews explained why the Old Testament Sacrificial System cannot
make a person right with God – only Jesus can, and then he gave them examples
of men and women of faith from the Creation up until their day – encouraging
them to look to Jesus for encouragement and the ability to endure whatever they
suffer for the Gospel.
He then explains to them:
First, we ought not to become weary
of suffering for the faith because Jesus loves us.
Second, we ought to understand that
part of our suffering is due to our sin.
Third, when we sin, God may
discipline us.
Fourth, God’s disciplining of us is
as a loving Father.
Fifth, we ought to understand that
end of discipline is our good.
So, we turn to our text for this
morning:
“Consider
him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may
not grow weary or fainthearted.”
First,
we ought not to become weary of suffering for the faith because Jesus loves us.
The
author of Hebrews tells his readers to consider Jesus and the suffering that He
endured at the hands of sinners. What
did Jesus endure?
He
endured being rejected by the people He created. He endured attempts on His life. He endured friends being put to death for His
sake. He endured being lied about,
sought after, and used. He endured the
Scripture being twisted. He endured
being betrayed. He endured being
man-handled and illegally tried. He
endured being spit upon, punched out, having His beard torn out of His
face. He endured a crown of thorns being
pounded into His skull. He endured being
mocked. He endured being deserted. He endured being flogged. He endured being crucified.
These
are some of the things Jesus endured at the hands of sinners. And the author of Hebrews tells us to
consider what He endured – what He suffered at the hands of sinners. And remember that He endured all of this –
and more – “for the joy that was set before Him” – He endured all these things
– as holy man and Holy God – because the end of enduring all these things was
joy for Him – the glorifying of God through the bringing of a people to glory
in the Kingdom.
If
Jesus endured all these things to glorify God by bringing His people – all
those who will ever believe – into glory in the Kingdom, is that not proof that
He loves us? Is that suffering not
enough for us to not give up? If Jesus
did all this, and provides us with what we need to endure in His Name all that
we suffer on earth for His sake, do we every have any reason to say, “I’ve had
enough; I can’t be a witness to the Gospel any more”?
Understand,
the author of Hebrews is not saying that there aren’t times when we have had
enough – we’re tired and beaten and want a break. We have those times. Our bodies, minds, and souls need periods of
restoration.
What
the author of Hebrews is saying is that, no matter how much we suffer for the
sake of Christ, because He has suffered as He did for us, we will not refuse to
suffer for Him. That is, a Christian
will not run away from suffering for Christ’s sake. We don’t seek out suffering, but, if it
comes, we stand strong in Jesus, unashamedly standing for the Gospel.
Then,
the author of Hebrews reminds his readers that some of our suffering comes on
us because of our sin. Sometimes our
suffering is not from those persecuting us for the sake of Christ, but because
we have sinned.
“In
your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding
your blood.”
Second,
we ought to understand that part of our suffering is due to our sin.
We
have been called to resist sin – to struggle against it – to fight against
temptation and to deny sin, but we are not yet perfect, and we give in to
sin. That is not to be an excuse, but it
is a current reality – until Jesus returns for us and sanctifies us and
glorifies us, we will still – less and less, by the Grace of God – choose to
sin.
And
sinning is a choice: we look at the
options before us – to obey God in thanksgiving and obedience or to rebel
against God and tell Him that He doesn’t know what’s best for us – and we
choose.
Jesus
went to the cross for sinners like me and you – all those who would believe
savingly in Him – and He shed His blood for every sin we would every commit –
He took upon Himself the Wrath of God for our sin and suffered to the point of
shedding His blood.
So,
to all those who say living for Christ is too much, the author of Hebrews
points out to us, none of us “have yet resisted to the point of shedding [our]
blood.”
It’s
as though the author of Hebrews said, “Don’t complain if you suffer for your
sin – Christ has made the way through His suffering and paying the debt for your
sin that you don’t ever have to sin – you sin by your own choice. And I know you try – to some degree – to keep
from sinning – but you have continued to choose to sin – you have not resisted
sin to the point of shedding your blood, like Christ did. So, understand, if you suffer for your sin,
you are responsible – you should not be surprised.”
However,
God is not sitting in Heaven, watching us, looking for any chance He can to
catch us in sin and make us suffer. God
is not a sadist. God does not hope we
fall into sin so He can “zap” us. Yet,
it is true that God does discipline us for our sin at times.
Third,
when we sin, God may discipline us.
“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. For
the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he
receives.’ It is for discipline that you have to endure.”
And
here, let us understand that there is a difference between just punishment and
discipline. There is a difference
between what we deserve and discipline.
God is quite clear about what sin deserves: “For the wages of sin is death,” (Romans
6:23a, ESV). Our just punishment would
be immediate death. And sometimes God
does kill people for their sin – even believers.
We
remember Uzzah from the Old Testament.
There is no reason given in the text to assume that Uzzah was anything
but a believer. The Ark of the Covenant
– that sacred box with the Ten Commandments and others items – was recovered
from the Philistines and King David was bringing it back to Jerusalem, and we
read:
“And
David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord, with songs
and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. And when they
came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God
and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was
kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and
he died there beside the ark of God” (II Samuel 6:5-7, ESV).
Uzzah
stopped the Ark from falling off the cart into the mud. And God killed him, because it was against
the Law to touch the Ark. He sinned, and
God killed him.
We
remember as Paul explains to the Corinthians about how they were sinning in
receiving the Lord’s Supper in an inappropriate manner:
“That
is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (I Corinthians 11:30,
ESV).
We
have no reason to believe that these members of the Corinthian church were
anything but believers, and yet God killed some of them for sinfully receiving
the Lord’s Supper.
Thankfully,
God does not usually give us just punishment – God’s tendency is to discipline
His sons and daughters. As we see in the
word to the Corinthians, some of them were “weak and ill” – they were
disciplined for their sin, but change could come.
I
mentioned that I was disciplined as a child by my parents – were any of you
disciplined as children? Did you
discipline your children?
The
author of Hebrews quotes Solomon, as he tells his readers not to despise the
discipline of the Lord – we are not to consider it nothing – something we can
ignore. There is purpose and meaning
behind discipline.
If
God disciplines us, it proves that we are His sons and daughters.
Have
you ever been in a supermarket where a parent or guardian is allowing a child
to run around and scream and pull things off the shelf? Have you ever wondered where the parent or
guardian was and why that parent or guardian was not disciplining the
child? Have you ever gone over and
disciplined the child yourself? Why
not? Because you are not the child’s
parent or guardian – you do not have authority over that child. Perhaps you may have addressed the child’s
parent or guardian, but I doubt any of us has disciplined a child we didn’t
know.
God
disciplines us because we are His.
And
He disciplines us because He loves us and wants us to be better people – to
advance us in our salvation.
Hear
what God’s Word says about God’s disciplining of us for our sin:
“Blessed
is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law, to
give him rest from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked” (Psalm
94:12-13, ESV).
“Before
I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word” (Psalm 119.67, ESV).
“I
know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have
afflicted me” (Psalm 119.75, ESV).
“Those
whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent” (Revelation
3.19, ESV).
“Know
then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines
you” (Deuteronomy 8.5, ESV).
“I
will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity,
I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men,”
(II Samuel 7.14, ESV).
“Whoever
spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline
him” (Proverbs 13.24, ESV).
“Do
not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not
die” (Proverbs 23.13, ESV).
Keep
in mind – this is not abuse – this is loving discipline. This is action caused to make us repent and
turn from our sin and not do it any longer.
When we are disciplined by God, God is showing His love for us, that we
are His children, and that He is working to advance our salvation – to make us
holy. So, let us not despise the
discipline of the Lord, but understand it is for our good and respond to it
accordingly, by not sinning again.
The
author of Hebrews continues:
“God
is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not
discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated,
then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had
earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much
more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for
a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good,
that we may share his holiness.”
Fourth,
God’s disciplining of us is as a loving Father
If
you were abused by your parents, I would ask that you think of what a parent
should be, not what you experienced – not to deny what you experienced, but so
you will understand and take this well – for God is our loving Father. God is the loving Father of all those who
ever believe in the Savior He sent.
The
author of Hebrews asks us to consider our earthly fathers – or what our fathers
should have been, if you were abused.
Earthly fathers discipline their children because they want their
children to desire to live rightly – and that shows their love of us – that our
fathers want us to be good and righteous people – doing what is right,
following God, and believing in the Savior He sent.
We
respect fathers who discipline us out of love and out of the desire for us to
be good people and to become better people, and all of other fathers – even the
best – even you – are or were sinners.
If we respected our sinful fathers who loved us and desired that we
would become better people, how much more ought we to respect God, our Father,
when He disciplines us in His holy love?
God
loves us so much that He sent His Only Son to live and die that we might be
right with God. God loves us so much
that He has indwelled us with God the Holy Spirit that we would be led to
become the men and women He has called us to be in holiness – like His Own
Son. God loves us so much that He
allowed His Son to suffer at the hands of sinners unjustly. And now He shows His love for us in
disciplining us so we will stop sinning and turn to follow after holiness.
You
see, when our father – our parents – disciplined us, they were examples of God
to us. And what they did and what God
does in discipline is not to destroy us, but to make us truly alive – that we
would seek to kill sin – to mortify our sin – and to seek to live holy lives.
That
does not mean, however, that we should “enjoy” discipline. Even though discipline is for our good,
“For
the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it
yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by
it.”
Fifth,
we ought to understand that end of discipline is our good.
Discipline hurts! When I was spanked as a kid, it hurt. It was not pleasant; it was painful. However, the end of discipline, as we have said,
is not the pain that we feel, but that we would respond in growth in godliness.
The end of discipline is that we
would yield “the peaceable fruit of righteousness.”
What does that mean?
The end of discipline is “peaceable”
in the sense that we come to recognize it as beneficial. I do not despise my father for spanking me; I
recognize – after the fact – that is was beneficial for me to be disciplined,
so I would know what is right and wrong and be encouraged to do what is right
and to live rightly.
The end of discipline is “the fruit
of righteousness” in the sense that we would fear God – be in awe of God – humbly
respect God, and strive to live a godly and holy life.
Paul’s
words are true about all kinds of suffering – even discipline: “For this light momentary affliction is
preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,” (II
Corinthians 4:17, ESV). Discipline is
preparatory – it trains us to be the people that God has called us to be.
So,
let us hold fast to Jesus – remembering all that He suffered on our behalf and
seek not to offend Him and rebel against Him through sin, but rather let us
seek the Power of the Holy Spirit and follow after all that God has called us
to do and be in His Word.
And
when we sin, let us not be surprised that we suffer for it, but, instead,
recognize the discipline of God and, again, respond by repenting of
our sin and seeking to live lives of holiness, knowing that we are disciplined
by a loving Father Who has saved us by Himself and for Himself.
Let
us pray:
Almighty
God, we thank You that You are our Father and You love us. We thank You for sending Your Son to be our
Savior. Help us to always keep before us
all that He endured to secure our salvation, and when we need to be disciplined
for our sin, help us to repent quickly, receiving Your Fatherly Hand against us
for our sin, and run to You, seeking strength to be matured in the faith,
becoming holy men and women, like Your Son, our Elder Brother, Jesus. For it is in His Name, we pray, Amen.
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