The Discipline of the Father

the following message by Alistair beg is made available by truth for life for more information visit us online at truth for I invited you to turn again to the passage that we read this morning in Hebrews just briefly again from verse five the writer says have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons and then quoting from Proverbs 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 God is treating you as sons for what son is there whom his father does not discipline if you're left without discipline in which all have participated then you are illegitimate children and not sons besides this we have had our three 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 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 amen father we pray humbly for the help of the Holy Spirit to speak and listen and understand and have your word written into our hearts and we pray in Jesus name Amen well what the writer is tackling here is the issue of the discipline of God upon his children and the classical if you like expression of the father's discipline as it is given to us here is not in the father providing everything that the child desires but rather the father displaying everything that the child requires and those to whom the writer is addressing his remarks are those who had essentially been hoping for better along the Christian journey they'd imagined that things might be different than what they have turned out to be he's worn them through this letter about the danger of drifting about the danger of going back to life before they became the followers of the Lord Jesus and so on they apparently had not anticipated that a following Jesus would be as severe a battle as it is proved to be and so they were consequently in real danger of misinterpreting the affliction and difficulty that they were experiencing and seeing it somehow or another as an expression of the father's distaste for them or his disinterest in them and so that is why he asked them about this he says to them you need to consider the way the Lord Jesus dealt with things and realized the struggle that you're facing in verse 4 and then he reminds them of the scripture that they were forgetting in verses 5 and 6 and there he quotes from proverbs chapter 3 and what he's essentially doing is obvious as we read the text he's making clear that when the Lord exercises discipline on his children were not to be either indifferent to it nor overwhelmed by it but instead matured by it and we might summarize it with just three C's at least I've tried to what is he saying here well first of all my son do not regard lightly the discipline number one don't be careless about these things don't treat this in a haphazard way don't make light of it because the danger lies in failing to recognize that the hand of God is at work in our struggles as much as it is present in our successes indeed it would appear that sometimes God's hand is far more obviously seen and his presence more clearly felt and experienced when if you like the wheels begin to come off when everything seems to break down before us when we are cast anew upon his mercy so for example in that wonderful hymn that begins like a river glorious is God's perfect peace it contains the verse every joy or trial cometh from above traced upon our dial our faces by the Sun of love and the writer here is reminding his readers of that fact the Puritans put it like this in shunning trials we miss blessings so first of all do not then be careless but at the same time don't be crushed either do not be weary as it puts it in the ESV or do not lose heart as we have it in the NIV which of course one of my friends wishes that we didn't refer to but anyway that's by the way do not lose heart do not be crushed do not be weary because the opposite to indifference in this cance is actually being overwhelmed by it so that the believer finds himself herself overtaken by adversity loaded down by trouble and the natural tendency then is to become despondent to begin to think I must have done something wrong to start to talk like a pagan God must be punishing me perhaps God doesn't like this and doesn't like that and so on and the writer is saying no you mustn't be crushed by these things because the word that you've forgotten he says have you forgotten the word have you forgotten the exhortation and clearly they had forgotten it and that word of exhortation is actually a word of encouragement you shouldn't be careless you shouldn't be crushed but you need to be absolutely clear clear about what well verse 6 the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son or every daughter whom he receives so that God's chastisement or his punishment is not an expression of his indifference it is actually an expression of his affection that he deals in discipline with those whom he accepts whom he adopts and so his purpose for them and his affection for them are actually interwove in' so that it is not that because of his love for them he forgoes his purpose but an actual fact it is in the experience of their faults and in our foibles that are tempted to stunt our spiritual growth that he comes to correct and to chastise and to intervene because of the immensity of hill of his love now from three seas to three Peas okay let's just consider what is said here concerning the privilege of discipline the privilege of discipline were not to be careless about it or crushed by it but in fact God uses discipline in order to cure us to cure us in the sense of curing leather or something like that he is at work on us and in us and through us in order to fashion us into the finished product sometimes if you buy a piece of leather I have a small wallet that I bought years ago that was natural leather and it was very very very pale but it is no longer pale because my hands have been on it for the last five or six years and it has taken on the patina that is as a result of it constantly being worked if you like which is of course you don't expect a Scotsman to be working as wallet very much but nevertheless just going in to count but it has it has been cured by my hands on it and and there's a sense in which that is that is the point that is being made here that the father has his hands upon his children that we that we are impacted by his care and by his attention and in all of that it is a sign of sonship the trials that come our way then are not sent in anger but in fatherly love in order that we might be trained by them and for those of you who are interested the Greek verb here that is used in his variable form is the same word that is used in Ephesians 6:4 in its noun form pi di or PI do and it is the exact same word it involves instruction it involves training it involves correction and it involves endurance so the early readers were tempted to reason like this the way that some of us may be tempted to do also if we were really God's children then surely we would not have to face the things if I was really a child of God why would I have to deal with this if I'd really have a loving Heavenly Father why is it all not worked out long before now and the writer is saying no I think you're thinking wrongly there is an immense privilege in the chastising hand of God in the discipline of God as one of the Puritans put it Corrections are pledges of our adoption they are badges of our sonship so that far from the standard notion of the television evangelist which offers two is the the idea of health and wealth and happiness and everything going finally along and then everyone will know how what a wonderful God you have the writer is saying no the reverse is the case actually the pledges of your sonship the indications of your adoption will be seen in the exercise of discipline so the presence of discipline is a sign of sonship and its absence is an evidence of illegitimate see again the Puritan writer Brooks Saints safeguard think not that I hate you because I thus chide you he that escapes reprehensive may suspect his adoption and there you see in verse 9 in in this element he argues from the lesser to the greater he says we've had our earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them he compares the interaction on a physical frame on an earthly frame and he compares it to the response that we made to God from whom not only our physical but our spiritual eternal life comes so we should pity a child whose father has assumed that love for his son or his daughter means that they can do what they like they can go where they want they can come and go as they please that child will grow to learn quickly that that is not an expression of love that is an expression of feebleness for absent that discipline children physically and spiritually remain immature remain childish and remain undeveloped so we find the privilege that is there as God corrects none but his own so all that are his shall be sure to have correction and they shall regard it as a favor or if you like a privilege from the privilege to the purpose which is stated again clearly in the text the discipline that was experienced by earthly fathers was as outlined and here is God's purpose in it the opening phrase incidentally is a reminder how how quickly our children pass through our hands for they disciplined us for a short time for a short time and in in that old song by Ray Stevens that I often quote mr. businessman in the middle 8 he actually says to the businessman he says at one point and did you see your children growing up today and did you hear the music of their laughter as they said about to play and of course the inference is that you may well not have done so because you're so preoccupied with yourself again the inherent selfishness that provokes our children to arrive it also highlights the disparity between the discipline of God in all of his wisdom and the discipline of ourselves as earthly parents our parental discipline is as we noted this morning not always perfect you notice what he says they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them as it seemed best to them we were doing our best people came to me this morning and said could you make it any harder for us please I said well maybe I can work on it but though we recognize that don't we our motives aren't always best our timing is often horrendous our methods are sometimes flawed but never with God never with God his timing is always perfect his methods are constrained by love and his purpose is unmistakably clear he exercises his discipline in the lives of his children with an unerring wisdom there's nothing hit-or-miss about the way in which God goes about this and it is directed solely to one end and it is there in the text they disciplined as it seemed best to them but he disciplines us in a say in a phrase for our good for our good it is a characteristic isn't it of childhood that as children we assume that we actually know best now it's time for bed I don't think it is now it's time for your bath I don't want a bath I don't need a bath I had a bath on Tuesday yes but it's Saturday and so we go on and now I want you to eat up I don't like this food it's not the kind I want we assume that we know the best way to make purchases we assume that we know the best way to make friends and one of the reasons God gives us parents is because we don't because we're silly as children we're foolish we are little individuals in our own right but what foolish little individuals in our own right and that's why God has put as within the framework of parental discipline and that's why when he adopts us into his family he operates in this way too clearly in relationship to God father knows best so our Heavenly Father orders the events as we often rehearse in Romans 8:28 all of them working for good for the good of those who loved him now you will notice that in order that we might not be misled as to what this means the writer clarifies this good in the final phrase of the verse they disciplined us for a short time operating on what seemed best he disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness that we may share his holiness what is God doing with us making us like his son that those whom he predestined he also called and he called in order that they might be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus and that is his Express plan from all of eternity and what he's doing with us tonight is that he is working that process through and through many dangers toils and snares we have already come and our father knows best and it is in order that we might share in this holiness this is Jim Packer and knowing God page 110 the Bible does not allow us to suppose that because God is love we may look to him to confer happiness on people who will not seek holiness or to shield his loved ones from trouble when he knows that they need trouble to further their sanctification that's the kind of alien concept isn't it they need trouble to further their scientific ation now if if it is not further the sanctification why would you ever need trouble you kneel down under your bed sight at night and you say Lord why is this why is that what are you doing and he whispers in your ear I'm making you like my son so in order to prevent me says Paul from getting a Fathead there was given me a thorn in the flesh a messenger from Satan that's what he was doing because Paul was a genius Paul was influential Paul had in many ways if you like the world at his feet in the economy of the gospel and he had three times he asked the Lord could you take this away from me please and three times he said no why because my grace is made perfect in weakness okay says Paul then all the more reason for me to glory in my weakness for then when I am weak then I will be strong suddenly the light has dawned the exercise discipline of God because of his love so it is a privilege and it is purposeful and consequently it produces it has a product and the product is there in verse 11 for the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant it's perfectly reasonable isn't it it really does seem painful it's a strange idea when but when James says you know I counted all joy when I faced trials of various kinds he's not masochistic there he's not saying that their trials themselves are particularly Mithu but because of the product that is produced through the trials he says Lord if this is the way you want to operate so the writer isn't seeking to minimize in any way the painful experiences through which his readers have come because they have come through all kinds of experiences those to whom he writes in the first instance and in many ways they may have come as it were out of the out of the experience of God's discipline aware only of the battle scars aware only of the marks on their bodies the bruises the impact of them standing for Jesus and holding the holding the fort if you like and so what he's saying to don't simply think of it in terms of what it means in the present think about what it holds for the future in other words this kind of harvest doesn't come about at the press of a button there's nobody because it becomes spiritually mature overnight there's no blessing you can have that will catapult you into some experience and world that takes you beyond this realm why do I say than because the Bible says and because the Bible makes it perfectly clear fruit doesn't appear immediately after the tree is planted and God clearly uses adversities and disciplines us to the end that he might produce in us a harvest both of inward peace and of moral uprightness now it is this final phrase which we need to make sure we understand and accept in the right spirit it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it so in other words it's possible to experience it and yet not be trained by it the Cleveland Browns I hate to even mention them but the Cleveland Browns will inevitably I'm sure have have another training camp and should be starting very soon and gone for a long time if if we judge by previous seasons but nevertheless you could go I supposed to be possible to go to the training camp and yet never really enter into it never submit to it just to run at the back as it were when the Sprint's are called for not to sprint when the squats are called for to hide when the weights are to be lifted not to lift them and to be present but never to be trained by the experience so when finally the team runs out onto the field you have not we have not been trained by it I think the phrase is very important because in other words it is vital the way and we respond to the discipline of God it is possible for us to this to respond to discipline in a spirit of your like of resigned resignation or defeated resignation seeing in seeing in the discipline no purpose at all but just just a power that we can't escape or in a spirit of hard-hearted defiance well go ahead do whatever you want to do it won't make any difference to me we've heard that in children haven't we they're never trained by it or in a spirit of self-pity I don't see why this has to be my experience or in a spirit of resentment what did I do to deserve this why am I going through this not even asking what are you teaching me Lord Jesus but if we're going to be truly trained by it when we go through it then it calls for a spirit of endurance and endurance which recognizes the source as the hand not of a cruel tyrant but the hand of a loving father you see it really comes down to this doesn't it loved ones if if we're really going to believe what God says about himself how God reveals himself to us so that we bring if you like the questions of our hearts and the experiences of our lives underneath the jurisdiction of his self revelation what do we know about God that he will not cause his child a needless tear really really well then that enables me to work my way through a whole litany of experiences and you to somebody a friend just gave me a piece that was read at a memorial of a loved one and as I read through it what was so striking to me was essentially this that this individual although once vibrant fit able engaged found that those characteristics of his life were not to be his portion in the final segment of the journey and yet he was trained by it and the legacy that he left was a legacy which said I know that I am in the care of and under the hand of a father who loves me in a way that I could never on my best day love my children this afternoon I went looking for something and I found it I found another memorial of one of my friends who died in 1980 she was married to my good friend and she died as a very very young lady of cancer and I thought that I had this in my file and and I do September 15 1980 and in in this little piece that I have and I don't really know where I got it from there was there was the final entry in the promise book that she kept in her journey having been diagnosed with cancer and to the end of her life which was a fairly short journey and and is written it's almost childlike in his writing and it says God I don't understand but I love you and I trust you don't let me down 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 and then you turn back a couple of pages and in her own handwriting again she had put in the words of this hymn which i think is expressive of the kind of biblical certainty that allowed her to write her final entry into her diary and the hymn you may know is entitled he maketh no mistake my father's way may twist and turn my heart may throb and ache but in my soul I'm glad to know he maketh no mistake my cherished plans may go astray my hopes may fade away but still I'll trust my Lord to lead for he does know the way there's so much now I cannot see my eyesight's far too dim but come what may I'll simply trust and leave it all to him for by and by the mist will lift and plane it all he'll make through all the way though dark to me he made not one mistake in other words we remind ourselves again while the Puritans have taught us that Providence is a soft pillow a soft pillow all the mistakes all the foibles all the wanderings all the mess all the disappointments under the overruling hand not of a tyrant but of a loving father let us pray God our Father thank you for your love we remember how Paul says if you gave up your own son for us how will you not also with him freely give us all things what a wonderful gracious God you are we come at the end of this day as the rain falls on the outside thanking you for the way in which you refresh our souls by our company with one another by the very fight that we see each other and we realize that we're all still in the race we may not have run as fast as we would like it may have there may have been some some spikes in the shins some elbows and the ribs some disappointments some failures in our expectations but we take the word again as from Hebrews 12 looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith so may our gaze be filled with him and maybe be reminded again of the immensity of your grace and relying upon it live to your glory for we pray in Christ's name Amen this message was brought to you from truth for life where the learning is for living learn more about truth for life with alistair beg visit us online at truth for

Channel: Alistair Begg

Views: 10,310

Rating: 4.9307361 out of 5

Keywords: Character of God, Christian Life, The Father, Love of God, Sanctification

Id: Hj2dQxSglpg

Length: 30min 1sec (1801 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 18 2018