Pray: that Jesus be exalted and that we would see His deep love for us in discipline and that as we undergo His discipline we would not treat it lightly or fall under it but that we would see behind the blows our Father working for our good, our holiness, our peace, and our righteousness

Tonight we’re starting a new series called “Arrived” based on Hebrews 12-13 that will last for four weeks. The reason why we’re looking at this stuff is because number 1, we’re going to finish out the book of Hebrews that we started back in October of ‘07 because we’re committed to the preaching of the Bible line by line because that’s how it’s written and it’s powerful. Second, we’re looking at this passage because you need to understand that in Christianity it’s not just about what we have come from, but what we have come to, and that’s what the author of Hebrews is trying to get through to his people. These people had come out of Judaism, with the sacrifices and with the focus on the law, and the truth is, some of them were thinking so much about what they had come from that they were thinking about retreating from what they had arrived at in Christ. On top of that, they were thinking about retreating back into Judaism because it was safer. It was tough being a Christian then, and for some of them their lives were at stake and the easiest thing to do is back away, but the author knows that this will be even worse if they turn back, because of who they’re turning their back on…Jesus! So he’s calling them forward, and to help them go forward in the race, he’ll spend the last portion of this book by explaining to them what they have arrived at.

So, with that being said, in our text tonight the author is going to show them that they have arrived at new relationship with the Father because of Jesus’ work. They are now His son’s and daughter’s.

[Hebrews 12:3-17] “Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

It is for discipline that you have to endure. 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 we 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 God disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness. 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.”

The Love of the Lion
In C.S. Lewis’ the Chronicles of Narnia we come upon an interesting story in the book “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” where we meet a character named Eustace and Eustace is pretty much a jerk of a kid; he’s mean and selfish. And what’s funny about this story is that Lewis has Eustace turn into a dragon, and the symbolism is that Eustace became on the outside what he was on the inside. Eventually though, Aslan (The Lion, symbolizing Christ) comes to Eustace one night, to transform him and he does it in a painful way. This is what happened in Eustace’s words to Edmund Pevensie:

“Well, anyway, I looked up and saw the very last thing I expected: a huge lion coming slowly towards me. And one strange thing was that there was no moon last night, but there was moonlight where the lion was. So it came nearer and nearer. I was terribly afraid of it. You may think that, being a dragon, I could have knocked any lion out easily enough. But it wasn't that kind of fear. I wasn't afraid of it eating me, I was just afraid of it - if you can understand. Well, it came closer up to me and looked straight into my eyes. And I shut my eyes tight. But that wasn't any good because it told me to follow it.''

“You mean it spoke?''

“I don't know. Now that you mention it, I don't think it did. But it told me all the same. And I knew I'd have to do what it told me, so I got up and followed it. And it led me a long way into the mountains. And there was always this moonlight over and round the lion wherever we went. So at last we came to the top of a mountain I'd never seen before and on top of this mountain there was a garden - trees and fruit and everything. In the middle of it there was a well.

“I knew it was a well because you could see the water bubbling up from the bottom of it: but it was a lot bigger than most wells - like a very big, round bath with marble steps going down into it. The water was as clear as anything and I thought if I could get in there and bathe it would ease the pain in my leg. But the lion told me I must undress first. Mind you, I don't know if he said any words out loud or not.

“I was just going to say that I couldn't undress because I hadn't had any clothes on when I suddenly thought that dragons are snaky sort of things and snakes can cast their skins. Oh, of course, thought I, that's what the lion means. So I started scratching myself and my scales began coming off all over the place. And then I scratched a little deeper and, instead of just scales coming off here and there, my whole skin started peeling off beautifully, like it does after an illness, or as if I was a banana. In a minute or two I just stepped out of it. I could see it lying there beside me, looking rather nasty. It was a most lovely feeling. So I started to go down into the well for my bath.

“But just as I was going to put my foot into the water I looked down and saw that it was all hard and rough and wrinkled and scaly just as it had been before. Oh, that's all right, said I, it only means I had another smaller suit on underneath the first one, and I'll have to get out of it too. So I scratched and tore again and this under skin peeled off beautifully and out I stepped and left it lying beside the other one and went down to the well for my bath.

“Well, exactly the same thing happened again. And I thought to myself, oh dear, how ever many skins have I got to take off? For I was longing to bathe my leg. So I scratched away for the third time and got off a third skin, just like the two others, and stepped out of it. But as soon as I looked at myself in the water I knew it had been no good.

“Then the lion said - but I don't know if it spoke – “You will have to let me undress you.” I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it.

“The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know - if you've ever picked the scab of a sore place. It hurts like billy-oh but it is such fun to see it coming away.''

“I know exactly what you mean,'' said Edmund.

“Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off - just as I thought I'd done it myself the other three times, only they hadn't hurt - and there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly looking than the others had been. And there was I as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been. Then he caught hold of me - I didn't like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I'd no skin on - and threw me into the water. I smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why. I'd turned into a boy again. (C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, chapter 7 “How the Adventure Ended,” pp94-96)

This story is highlighting something that the author of Hebrews is telling to his people and it is this: we need the Lion’s love if we’re to be the children of God and not dragons. That’s what this passage is getting at. This is how God loves His children: metaphorically speaking, He sinks His claws into us not to punish us but to save us from the sin that will destroy us. He strikes us to save us. And this is what we have arrived at in Christ. We’ve arrived at the Lion’s love. And I’m telling you this is a radically different view of the love of God than most of the world and most of us have. I hope that as we look at this passage you’ll see a different and more biblical view of the love of God than you had when you came in here, and I also hope that you will more fully understand the work of God in your life in suffering and persecution. So let’s walk through this...

3 Types of Discipline
1) Training: v.5 “discipline” A lot of the hardship and pain that the people of God go through is for the purpose of training us in further obedience and training us to renounce sin and turn completely in trust to God. Sometimes the best way for God to train us is not by having us read the Bible, but by having us suffer in this world. For example: a runner will not learn to run simply by watching people run, the runner will have to get out and run and sweat, and throw up and maybe bleed from blisters. That’s how they will be trained. This is what the Father does for us. He puts us out in the middle of pain and suffering, gets our attention, and helps us run the eternal race with endurance. The Father isn’t concerned with temporal comfort and ease, but with eternal rest, and to get us there that means pain here!

2) Punishment: v.6 “he chastises (scourges or punishes) every son whom He receives.” There is specific discipline for sin in our lives, but know that this punishment is to correct us, not to condemn us. We have no condemnation in Christ Jesus, but that does not eliminate corrective discipline that hurts in this life. That doesn’t mean that all discipline is because of sin, but some of it can be, and when it is, this doesn’t mean God is angry with you, but He is loving you like a Father. For example, we shouldn’t think that because we have cancer or some disease that it is because of a specific personal sin. (Ex: Job. He was an upright and godly man and yet the Lord sent horrible suffering into his life through Satan to reveal, ultimately, how great God was. Sometimes to know God’s greatness, it won’t come through singing, but through suffering.) David, on the other hand, was disciplined by God for his sin with Bathsheba and against Uriah the Hittite, and yet he was still a man after God’s own heart. God took his first child with Bathsheba and caused the “sword” to remain upon his house, and yet this was all in love. The Lord was saving David from sin in this form of painful discipline.

3) Prevention: Through the other forms of discipline the Lord will also aim to prevent us from further sin and hardship. (Ex: Spanking a Child for Touching a Cool Oven so that when it’s hot they don’t get burned) In preventative discipline the Father is protecting us from further damage. So what you may see as something being unfair or not right in your life, God could have that there so something else that is worse might not take place.

2 Ways in Which God Disciplines

1) Through the Sin of Others Against You: Verses 3-4 “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself…In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” God will use persecution, physical, emotional, and social in order to discipline us. For the people in this book that’s what they were experiencing and we will go through the same thing, but know that behind all persecution and suffering from others sin, this is God’s way of loving you and making you love Him more. What wisdom there is in God!

2) Through Suffering: This suffering can include any trial, hardship or pain that a child of God might go through (both physically and emotionally, like conviction for sin). We don’t always know why God brings suffering into our lives and it won’t always be in the same form, but being in Christ we are guaranteed that it is all for love and for our good. In all suffering God is loving us and making us more holy!

5 Reasons Why God Disciplines His Children
1) He Loves Us: Verse 6 says “the Lord disciplines the one he loves…” Why do we suffer as we do? Because He loves us. It’s that simple. God loves us like a Father and like a Lion. Yes, it hurts sometimes, but it is love. In the book “When God Weeps” Joni Erickson Tada, who was paralyzed as a teenager, asked the coauthor when they were younger why she was paralyzed and in the wheelchair. This was a tough question and the guy took a long time to respond but eventually he said three words that made sense of it all for Joni: “He loves you.” God’s discipline is a proof of His love.

2) He’s Proving our Adoption: Verses 7-8 say, “It is for discipline that you have to endure. 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 we all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.” Discipline is a good thing, because it reveals to us that we are His children. Think about it: most parents don’t go out of their way to discipline other parent’s children do they? No. They discipline their own kids for their good because as parents they know what their child needs. Same thing with the Lord. He disciplines us because we need it and because we’re His. He won’t have spoiled children in His family.

3) He’s For Us: Verse 10 says that, “He disciplines us for our good.” The best thing for us most of the time is not for us to go and do whatever we want. That would be awful and closer to wrath than love. Think about it: what would be best for Ansley when she approaches a hot oven that will burn her hand: me spanking her or just letting her get burned really bad? Of course, spanking her. It’s for her good that I spank her, even though it might hurt, it won’t hurt worse than the burn. God is for our good in ways we can’t comprehend and He knows what we need to be in the best condition possible and that is discipline.

4) He Wants Us to Share His Holiness: Verse 10 also says that, “He disciplines us…that we may share His holiness” Isn’t this awesome…God doesn’t just want us to look at His holiness and tremble before it and be frightened to approach Him, but He wants us to share His holiness! And to share His holiness means that He must deal with our sin and get it out of the way. You’ll have a greater share of His holiness once you have been disciplined by Him, and that’s His aim. The holiness we’re sharing in is specifically Christ’s holiness, because God is conforming us through all discipline to the image of Jesus, who is the Holy One of God! Wow!

5) He Desires Our Fruitfulness in Peace and Righteousness: Verse 11 says, “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who have been trained by it.” The Father desires to have fruitful children, but to get there, of course, requires discipline and it is painful. Sometimes to bear fruit we need to be pruned; meaning branches that are bad in our life need to be cut back so that they will bear greater fruit. (See John 15:2) At the end of the pain is peace and righteousness.

2 Things to Watch Out For Personally in Discipline
1) Taking it Lightly: Verse 5 says, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord…” It’s easy to have God discipline us and we completely ignore it and excuse it away and not see what God is doing in it. We just say, “Oh, this is how life is.” Or “These things always happen to me.” Or “This is so and so’s fault.” And we may miss out on what God is doing. So for the child of God we need to pray and turn to the Lord in any hardship or trial and listen to what the Father is saying to us. Don’t question God, but trust Him! I know that for me, when others sin against me or wrong me in some way and it hurts, I usually see myself and how I do exactly what I hate in others, but sometimes I can miss it. So I need to learn not to take it lightly.

2) Getting Weary and Giving Up: Verse 5 also says, “…nor be weary when reproved by Him.” A second thing we can do in discipline is get weary or weak and then give up. Sometimes when the pressure of discipline is upon us we are tempted to throw our hands up and walk away where the pain isn’t as bad. A lot of people are surprised that in Christ the pain of life doesn’t go away, but sometimes intensifies and for these people they walk away pretty quickly when it hurts. Also some discipline can last for a long time and seems like it will never go away, but we must endure the tough love of the Father and remember how much love He is showing us and what will be the produce of the pain. So watch out for these things.

And since this is the way the Lion love's the author says in warning in Hebrews 12:12-17

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather healed. (Here he’s saying, “Hey, stand up under love, don’t get weary, He’s doing this for your good.” This is coming from Isaiah 35 where the prophet speaks of the day that is to come, the day of Judgment and the Day when there will be a new heavens and earth. He’s calling them to look past their affliction and hardship and focus on what is to come in Christ!)

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it (be on the lookout for yourself and others) that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled (This is coming from Deuteronomy 29:18-19 and it’s speaking about people who are outwardly apart of the community of faith, but inwardly are going after other gods. This person will defile themselves and will seek to destroy the community of faith) ; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.” (Esau regretted his decision but did not seek to change his course. He is the premier example of what it means to live for the moment and temporal pleasures of this life. Beware lest you follow His course and instead of meeting the Lion in discipline, you meet Him in wrath. Fail not to obtain the grace of God. It is before you tonight in Jesus.)