Purposeful Discipline for Disciples

We all have a destination in life. A place that we’re traveling to or a thing that we desire or a person that we want to spend the rest of our lives with. We all have a destination but the million dollar question is how do we get there? The average human in 2023 believes that they can reach their destination through being a good person and following their heart. Almost as if we are traveling this road called life and our heart is our GPS telling us which way to turn and which thing to do along the journey. Most of us have used a GPS to travel to a new place before - either a physical GPS or one on our phones. We plug in our destination and we click “go” and it will show you several routes to arrive there and we usually pick the one that gets us there the fastest or takes us through an area that we want to go through. Our GPS does the hard work and we just follow along the path and we end up at our destination with no issues - that sounds really nice! But is that how life actually works? Can we plug eternity into our GPS and walk a straight line between here and there? The reality of the situation is that our path isn’t often as straight as our heart might want it to be. We want a straight path with no hiccups or detours or construction zones, but that’s not how things usually go for us. We want to arrive at our destination on our time schedule, or even ahead of the estimated time given to us by our handy GPS… but we all know that the unexpected happens more often than not.

What we understand as we read Scripture is that our plan is not always God’s plan and our timing isn’t always His timing. Last week in Hebrews 12:1-3 we looked at how we are called to run the race that lies before us with our eyes fixed on Jesus. That’s not necessarily easy to do. That means that we have to throw our GPS out of the window and follow Jesus, not our sinful heart. That means that He determines which route we take and when we arrive at our destination. Between our location and our destination we encounter some construction zones - especially in the state of Missouri! What is the purpose of these construction zones? To make travel better in the future, or so MODOT says… But why does God send us through construction zones in our life? Why do we have to slow down and go through seasons of suffering and discipline in this life? Is it random? Is it accidental? Or, is God doing something purposeful in those seasons? In a world where people want strength without working out, compassion without suffering, and wisdom without waiting on the Lord, what we desperately need to see is what the preacher of Hebrews shares in Hebrews 12:4-11 as this life is not a simply A to B… That is not the picture painted to us in Scripture. Instead, we will see today that God disciplines us so that we would grow and become stronger and deepen our faith in Him.

Hebrews 12:4–11 CSB

4 In struggling against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly or lose heart when you are reproved by him, 6 for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and punishes every son he receives. 7 Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline—which all receive—then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had human fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but he does it for our benefit, so that we can share his holiness. 11 No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

The Lord disciplines those whom He loves… Endure suffering as discipline… Discipline is not enjoyable but it yields fruit. First Baptist Family, discipline, we can all agree, is not fun - is it? But do we, at times, need Godly discipline to help us stay on the right path? I know that your pastor does! What we see in this text is that God’s discipline is purposeful for His disciples. If you are here this morning and you are walking through a season of discipline, there is encouragement in this text for you. If you are not walking through a season like that today and you find yourself wanting to run away from such a thing, friend I pray that you would leave with an understanding of Biblical discipline and how God does this to His followers to shape us to look more like His Son, who was not a stranger to suffering. Let’s pray and ask Him to guide us this morning.

Godly Discipline is Practiced in Love (4-8)

Last week we left off with the truth that God’s people are to lay aside every hindrance and sin that ensnares them and to fix their eyes on Jesus who endured hostility from sinners and endured the cross in our place. What is the reason that we are to consider the suffering of Jesus Christ in our place on the cross? Look back to verse 3: So that we won’t grow weary and give up. Why would we be tempted to “give up” as verse 3 says? Because this life is a grind. It’s hard! You wake up and as soon as your feet hit the floor, it’s a grind. Your kids are on your case. Your job drains you down. We’re tempted to throw in the towel because life isn’t always easy… in fact, it seems to rarely be easy - it’s hard! Because of this truth, the preacher of Hebrews calls our attention to Jesus Christ, our Champion, who endured so that we would be able to endure as well.

As we endure and run this race, we will struggle against sin and, because of our fallen sinful nature, we will give into that temptation. What happens whenever you are told to do something and you fail to do it? It probably depends on who you wronged. If you wronged your spouse or a friend, you let them down and they’ll probably be disappointed. If you wrong your boss, you’ve let them down, and you might get fired depending on the severity of the situation. What about if you and I wrong God? What do we deserve whenever we let Him down? We deserve a punishment of some type. Before you were saved, what was the punishment for your sins? Eternal separation from God in a place called hell - that’s what the Bible tells us is true

Romans 6:23 CSB

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

But what about for those of us who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ? What now? Whenever you and I sin and drop the ball, what do we get from God? By grace, it’s not eternal separation from Him… Instead it is Godly discipline from Him. To take it a step further, there are times in this life where we encounter discipline not necessarily because we have dropped the ball or sinned, but because the person who is disciplining us actually loves us and wants us to grow! The source of God’s discipline for His disciples is a place of love, not wrath - Christ already drank that cup dry! These Christians, Jewish converts to Christianity, had suffered much for the cross of Christ. Some of them likely lost relationships with family members because they no longer went to the synagogue. Some of them likely lost friendships because they were no longer a part of those gatherings. Some of them likely lost business and suffered economically because they severed partnerships whenever they followed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. This congregation was familiar with suffering and going through discipline for their faith in Jesus Christ. What is the one thing that they hadn’t experienced, yet? The shedding of blood. This might be similar to many of us today - what have you lost for following Jesus? Maybe a friendship. Maybe some income because you don’t work on Sunday or because you give above and beyond to further God’s Kingdom through the ministry of this church on a regular basis. Maybe it’s cost you something along those lines to follow Jesus… but likely none of us here have shed blood for Jesus Christ. We might look around and see a rapidly deteriorating culture bent against Christianity or the things found in Scripture, but we haven’t had our blood spilt for our faith. So many are quick to yell that the sky is falling just because things are harder than they used to be, the preacher of Hebrews is reminding his congregation as well as ourselves to take a deep breath. We’re suffering, but we aren’t dead. We’re suffering today, but our suffering isn’t necessarily a bad thing, Christian. Look at this quotation of Proverbs 3:11-12

Proverbs 3:11–12 CSB

11 Do not despise the Lord’s instruction, my son, and do not loathe his discipline; 12 for the Lord disciplines the one he loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.

What is Solomon saying in Proverbs 3? We can and should view God’s discipline in a positive light, not a pessimistic one. For those struggling today, do not lose heart whenever God chisels something out of your life that does not need to be there, that is an indicator that you belong to Him! A father disciplines the son in whom he delights.

How many of you remember receiving discipline as a child? Was that an enjoyable experience? What did your parent likely tell you whenever they disciplined you? I’m only doing this because I love you! Now, as a child, did you see that in the moment? Absolutely not. You saw a consequence, often times painful, that you didn’t want. As an adult looking back on that moment, hopefully, what do you see? That your parent really did discipline you because they loved you. They want what is best for you. They want you to not repeat that same mistake. They want you to be better than they were. They want to see you thrive and succeed. They want you to be strong. Because they love you, they have to help you grow up and face this world and that requires some tough love at times. We see in our text that this is what the Lord does for us - He disciplines the one whom He loves, and parents, this is our task as well - out of love.

One pastor recalled how he had to discipline his son in order to keep him safe from harm. He had a little boy named John and John kept climbing out of his crib at night and he would usually just stay in his room and not get into any trouble so he and his wife didn’t think much about it… but one day they put their son down for a nap and went into the living room only to hear a knock on their door a little while later and standing on their doorstep was a neighbor holding who? John! He had climbed out of his crib, gone out the side door, and walked down their busy street and into the neighbors yard! Parents, you’d have a heart attack! From this moment on, the parents knew that they would have to discipline John every time he got out of his crib because they couldn’t afford to let this go because he was in serious danger. They had to change things in the house because of this - the discipline and changes weren’t primarily out of anger but out of concern and love. This is what God does with us as well - whenever we wander out towards the dangerous highway of sinful temptation, out of His love, He disciplines us and brings us back to Himself. Because of this, Hebrews 12:7 tells us to endure suffering as discipline.

Look at what Job said in Job 5:17

Job 5:17 CSB

17 See how happy is the person whom God corrects; so do not reject the discipline of the Almighty.

Psalm 94:12 CSB

12 Lord, how happy is anyone you discipline and teach from your law

Now, we would say that discipline doesn’t make us happy… it hurts. It’s painful. But we endure it and we can know 2 things in these situations: Discipline proves God’s love and Discipline proves our Sonship. We endure these situations knowing that God is dealing with us as sons and daughters.

Proverbs 13:24 CSB

24 The one who will not use the rod hates his son, but the one who loves him disciplines him diligently.

God disciplines us just as our father’s disciplined us. Thankfully, though, our heavenly Father disciplines us better than our earthly ones ever could. The problem that we should see in our lives if we do not experience discipline or correction whenever we fall short of God’s standard is found in verse 8 - if we don’t have this discipline whenever we mess up, that indicates that we are not His sons and daughters. In Jesus’ day in the Roman world, it was impossible for a Father to not discipline a son whom he loved. This can be a difficult subject in our world because we know that some dislike the word discipline or some confuse discipline with abuse. Abuse is sinful and wrong. That doesn’t mean that corrective discipline is sinful and wrong. It might not seem this way in the moment, but we see this over and over in Scripture that God disciplines those Whom He loves - we even see this with Jesus in Hebrews 5:8-9

Hebrews 5:8–9 CSB

8 Although he was the Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered. 9 After he was perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,

Hardship and discipline produce something and are brought about for the good of the person. Godly discipline is for our good and out of God’s love.

Godly Discipline Protects God’s People (9-10)

Sometimes the hardest word to hear is one of the shortest and simplest as we know that “NO” can be painful. We can think of examples in life where we’ve been told no and we didn’t want to hear it. Like the young child who asks their parent for a cookie before dinner and is told “no” you can’t have the cookie because we haven’t had dinner yet. That is not the word that the child wants to hear in the moment… but it is necessary so that the child eats dinner first and then has the cookie. We get a little bit older and maybe we start looking for a job and we have an interview and we are told “no” you didn’t get the job because you don’t have enough experience or because there is another applicant who is more qualified - have you been there? That’s not the answer you want to hear… but sometimes it is necessary so that you find the position that God wants you to have, not the one that maybe you initially desired. If discipline includes correction, punishment, and education, we can see how discipline protects us from things that are not God’s plan for our lives. Sometimes that discipline or education is a painful “no” and sometimes it doesn’t even make perfect sense to us. Consider verse 9, we see that our parents discipline us and we submit to them because they discipline based on what seems right and good. Children, believe it or not, but your parents have a reason whenever they tell you “no” and the reason is for your ultimate good and protection, even if it doesn’t quite feel that way.

Gabriel is going through a phase where he wants to climb everything… and I mean everything. The couch. The car. The TV stand. The wall. Ladders. The list goes on! Because of this, he’s been told “no” an awful lot lately. Why would I have to tell him not to climb some of those things? For one, it’s a family rule, but the deeper reason and the reason why it’s a family rule is because he could hurt himself or his little brother if he were to fall. We have to discipline our children and we do what seems good and right in our eyes as parents… but, parents, what is the problem with this? We’re finite. We make mistakes. We are sinners. We don’t know everything. We might provide the right discipline but at the wrong time or the right time with the wrong discipline. Yet, God’s Word instructs children to still submit to and obey their parents and the discipline mediated out by them.

The contrast here is to God. If we are expected to submit to our parents, who discipline us according to what they think is right, how much more should we submit to our heavenly Father who KNOWS what is truly right! God knows what we need. His discipline protects us. What type of discipline does God give to us? Kent Hughes argues that we see 3 examples and we’ll look more at some of these in the verses that follow.

Corrective Discipline

Preventative Discipline

Educational Discipline

There are some instances in Scripture where God disciplines us to correct a mistake that we have made. We can think of King David as he sinned with Bathsheba and was corrected by God. He lost multiple sons. His home was divided. His kingdom was almost divided.

But, look at what David says about the Lord’s discipline in his own life

Psalm 119:67 CSB

67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.

Psalm 119:71 CSB

71 It was good for me to be afflicted so that I could learn your statutes.

He was disciplined because he strayed from God’s Word and God’s commands… but because he was disciplined by God, he now says that it was for his good so that he learned how holy God was and how he needs to keep God’s Word. Discipline can be corrective. It can also be preventative.

Think of the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 as he has a thorn in the flesh. What did this thorn do? 2 things: It kept him humble and it kept him reliant on God’s grace. We could say that God disciplined him with this thorn in order to keep him from becoming prideful and self-reliant. We can thank God for disciplining us and keeping us from undergoing even more intense temptation and problems. This is a gift of grace as it forces us to depend more on God in our trial. The third kind is educational.

We see this with Job as Job arrived at a place in life where he suffered not because he had done something specifically wrong, but because he was doing things right. He was praising God and he still endured discipline and suffering… why? So that he would grow in his walk with the Lord and deepen his trust in Him. We could say that Job was running his race well by faith, but God educated him through suffering to run with a renewed confidence and perseverance as he trusted in Him all the more. His discipline was educational and he learned more about the character of God in his suffering and that is a blessing.

God disciplines us for a purpose and that purpose is to protect us and to prune us off of the things of this world and to prevent us from continuing down a bad path! God disciplines us for a reason and verse 10 says that the reason why is so that we would benefit and share in His holiness! That we would trust less in ourselves and more in Himself. That we would hate the things that He hates, love the things that He loves, and view all things through the lens of His powerful and sufficient Word - as we talked about on Wednesday night. I pray that you can look back in your life and see God’s discipline being something that protected you from something far worse, either yourself, someone else, or a far more dangerous problem lurking down the road that God plucked you out of. I can think of numerous times where God’s discipline spared me a greater pain because He disciplines us for our good so that we look more like Him!

Godly Discipline Produces Spiritual Fruit (11)

How many of you have heard of the pastor Charles Simeon? We’re talking late 1700s here. Simeon was 23 years old whenever Trinity Church called him to be their pastor and he would be there until his death, 54 years later. You might expect that a tenure that long was rainbows and roses the entire way, right? After all, 54 years at one church these days sounds absurd. For one, most pastors are too old by the time they get to the church to be there 54 years later and for two, life happens. People come and go, towns change, pastors are called to other congregations in different areas. This isn’t typical - but this was the ministry of Charles Simeon… But his first year, you never would’ve imagined he’d survive another year, much less 54. At this point in time, church members bought or rented pews from the church and they literally were “assigned” to them from that point onward. Can you imagine? Maybe this sounds like a wild idea or even humorous, but it was the truth. Whenever Simeon arrived, many wealthy “pew owners” in his congregation believed he was too young and his sermons were too “Gospel-centered” and they slowly stopped coming. Let me say that again, his preaching was too Gospel-centered, and many stopped coming. Does that sound a little crazy? That’s a lot crazy as that is the job of every pastor, to preach and teach the Gospel. You could say that Simeon was undergoing some sort of discipline here - some education and training that he couldn’t learn in seminary… and it was painful. It is painful to watch people you know and care for as a shepherd give you the cold shoulder - that hurts. This was Simeon’s reality. Not only did these wealthy individuals not come to church, they even “locked” their pews so that no one else could sit in them. If they weren’t going to be there, no one else would be there either - even to hear the Gospel. Do you know what started to happen, though? Many non-wealthy people began to flock to the church to hear the hope that the Gospel provides. So many, in fact, that the open pews quickly filled up and Simeon purchased chairs for them to sit in only to have his wealth “members” throw them out of the building… So, people began to stand for the whole service in the aisle. This doesn’t happen for just 1 year… not 2 years… not 10… For 14 years, these wealthy pew owners refused to come, they locked their pews shut. Painful? You’d better believe so. But was God still working? You’d better believe so. He was trained by the Lord through this difficult situation to endure and trust in His power and to help others do the same in difficult seasons of their own life… and this endurance and discipline produced much fruit! Thousands of people came to saving faith in Jesus as a result of his faithful ministry and he personally trained over 1000 pastors and ministers of the Gospel over his 54 years at the church. The discipline and training that he endured during those first 2 decades at his church yielded peaceful fruit of righteousness. He was burdened and downcast and hurt often… but those things trained him for what God had in store and as he trained and endured, he was able to produce spiritual fruit and encourage others who were walking through painful seasons to keep on walking and trusting in the Lord’s provision.

May we never be a people who lock our pews - the Gospel is too glorious and the severity of sin is too significant to neglect our calling as a body. As we walk through this life, there will be good days and there will be tough days, but through them all, we can rest in the truth of Hebrews 12:11 that our God is at work in our lives and that as we endure through difficult seasons, we don’t endure in vain - He is producing something good inside of us! God trains us so that we can be more like Him - God trains us so that we will run our race well and keep our eyes on Him each step of the way. This produces fruit in this life as people look at us and wonder what on earth is different in our lives that allows us to produce the fruit of the Spirit in times of pain and suffering.

We read stories in the Bible and in the church history books of followers of Jesus Christ suffering mightily simply for being a Christian. We read of people in the book of Acts being stoned and thrown into jail - we could say being disciplined. We read of Christians in the Roman Empire being crucified and thrown to lions in the great coliseum's. We see Christians going through suffering with smiles and we wonder how on earth this is possible!? How can we remain joyful in our pain? Let me say this, friend, it doesn’t happen overnight. See the picture here, it takes time. We are trained through these difficult seasons to trust more in our Father. Think about going to the gym to work out - some of y’all haven’t done this in decades, so just imagine. You go the gym and your goal is to benchpress 300 pounds. That’s not going to happen for most of us, but that’s your goal. Will you achieve that goal the first time you show up to the gym? More than likely not, or else you need to raise your goal! So how do you achieve that goal? By starting with something lighter and building your way up. As we train and discipline our bodies, we can lift more weight than we used to. We can run a longer distance than we used to. We can throw faster, jump higher, and be better all because of discipline and training. After a while, you’re able to do things that you used to not be able to do - this is God’s purpose for His children as we undergo discipline. As we train today, we react better tomorrow. As we go through life this year, that we would produce more fruit this year than we did last year. That we would run to Jesus during this race and we know that awaiting us is a crown as we looked at last week… This is our hope today and for all eternity. This is our motivation. Alistair Begg is a hero of mine and he shared this story in a sermon on this very subject, “There was a dear family friend suffering from cancer early on in her marriage and this was her last entry in her diary:

God, I don’t understand, but I love you and I trust you. Don’t let me let you down in this battle. Help me, Lord, to be what you want me to be in this, to learn what you want me to learn in this, not to waste this experience but to show the reality of knowing you.

Friend - she endured suffering well as 1 Peter 4:19 instructs. She is reaping a harvest of righteousness and peace. She ran her race with her eyes on Jesus, she produced fruit while she was being trained, and she is in glory today with her faith made sight. She trusted in her Savior and despite the pain, she knew that God had a purpose.

Conclusion

Church, discipline isn’t fun, but it is purposeful. Our God does something good as we continue to walk towards Him in faith. Consider how this truth applies to you in your walk this morning.

1. Embrace Discipline Because it Proves God is Our Father

We see in our text that God disciplines those whom He loves. We know that God brings devastation on His opponents as well, but he disciplines His children as a father does his son and daughter. We can embrace discipline and welcome it because we know that it comes out of a place of love, not wrath, from our heavenly Father.

2. Embrace Short-Term Pain, Knowing that Christ Will Bring About Long-Term Gain

We can look to Jesus who suffered and was disciplined, not because of His sin, but because of our own. We can look to His example and embrace short-term pain and suffering, knowing that we will experience long-term gain in glory as a result of being saved by grace through faith in Christ. God disciplines those Whom He loves and He doesn’t waste our pain… He uses it for something good. And we can look to the cross as the perfect example of this truth - God works all things for His glory and our eternal good.

3. Embrace Discipline Because God Uses Suffering in the Lives of His People to Produce Fruit

We don’t have to wait to heaven to see the purpose of discipline. We can think of our own lives and the lives of others who have suffered immensely and have encouraged and strengthened countless others as they produced spiritual fruit in their lives. We are prone to wander, but Godly discipline should be a reminder to come back to the Word of God. To consider Jesus and what He did for us on the cross and to evaluate ourselves and our lives and to ensure that we are producing Godly fruit that points other to Him. God doesn’t waste our suffering. His discipline is purposeful.

If you are here this morning and you are presently struggling with sin as Hebrews 12:4 tells us, friend you must lay that down at the foot of the cross. You must repent and trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior and ask Him to save you and to change you. We all must do this in order to receive adoption into His eternal family… If you are here and you don’t know this Jesus, come home today. He will save you, He will save you, He will save you now.

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