Baptist Fellowship Church

God’s Discipline
Hebrews 12:4-11
Bro. Chung Howe

You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:

“ My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
For whom the LORD loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?

But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect.

Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?

For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Many of us approach God’s truth from our own perspective. We are looking through our own lenses. All too often we view God’s truth through tinted lenses and choose to be blind when they do not suit us.

It is necessary to have a biblical view of discipline. God’s discipline helps us to adjust our spiritual glasses.

Definition of discipline

In the passage, the word used is ‘chastening’. This is equated to discipline, which most of us would also equate with punishment. At the same time, the word ‘discipline’ also means training or teaching, as in

‘what discipline do you belong to?”

Privilege of Discipline

As sons and daughters of God, we are His heirs. One must remember that as parents, we discipline our children, our loved ones. As fathers, we do not discipline other people’s children. And that is exactly what God is doing. He disciplines His own children, not those outside of His kingdom.

Purposes of Discipline

1. Purpose of Life - We gain life by submitting to God.

Do we submit to things of this world or to God?

2. Purpose of holiness – 1 Peter 1:16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy”. God desires that we be holy. While our earthly parents chasten us until the time we are able to decide for ourselves, God constantly chastens us. Although our earthly parents may sometimes be wrong, God is always right. Discipline and trials may be seen as a wall in our life, but God gives us a glimpse over that wall. We need to realize that God gives us a purpose in everything.

Response to Discipline

1. Endure discipline and suffering. We should look to the One who saved us.

2. Remember God’s Word as we are disciplined. God’s discipline is not to be taken lightly, and we should not be discouraged when rebuked by Him.

3. We should not see the lack of hope in our trials, but remember God’s love when he chastens us. Our response to God’s discipline is a practical one.

4. The discipline is to be expected, as children of God. It is not if, but when, God disciplines us.

Mr and Mrs ET Chua

This entry was posted on Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 10:00 pm and is filed under Sermons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.