We talked last week about how much we need God and how we should allow that need to drive us to great lengths in pursuit of accomplishing it. I think we need to build on that a little. When we are filled with God’s presence which we have needed so greatly it does not simply satisfy. It feels good to have God’s presence, we feel accomplished and full. But God’s presence does something to us, it changes us. When we experience the presence of God, but we also take on the desires and love that our God is filled with. His presence reorients us and opens our eyes to things which we were previously blind to. I think what often times happens is that we romanticize this relationship with our Father into some sort of treasure chest from which we can just take and take and take with no end. Yes our God fills us up and constantly pour blessings into our lives, but we forget the transformation. Jesus says his yoke is easy, but it is still a yoke. When we take on the presence of God, we take on his heart for the world and this drives us to great actions and in fact most likely great pain.
Think back over the stories of the Old Testament and think about what God’s presence drove them to do. Imagine Abraham. God makes a covenant with him, but then Abraham, because of the fulfillment he has received from his God is called to be circumcised. I am pretty sure you are all familiar with what circumcision is so I won’t go into detail except to say I imagine it probably hurt quite a bit. Today we still practice it, but on babies. Remember these are grown men being called to do this. This is quite a sacrifice, and I would imagine a fair amount of suffering as well. But I think this is really important. Abraham was not circumcised so that he might receive God, he already had him. The covenant had already been made before the circumcision. Abraham was circumcised because he was pursuing God. As we read Romans and much of the New Testament we learn that salvation is free. As it says in Ephesians, ‘By grace you have been saved through faith.’ I don’t think we could possibly ever overstate how free and how great salvation is. Salvation is free and it is comfortable. But I think this is where many get stuck and this is where we start to see things like the health and wealth gospel, proclaiming that if we receive Christ we will never have another worry in all pour life. Yes salvation is free and yes it might even be easy, but what it produces in us is not simple, basic, easy, and especially not comfortable. Salvation might be free, but obedience can be extremely costly.
Ultimately this should make every one of us uncomfortable. The change provoked by this free grace, the very transformation and fulfillment that we have hoped for, is not something so simple and comfortable as believe and be done. After we have received such salvation God goes to work on our lives. It is not about making us worthy or even Holy, Christ has already done that. But rather as children we start to take on many of the attributes of our Father. It becomes like a child experiencing discipline so that they might learn and grow. Now discipline does not mean punishment, but rather it means something more like training. A child in instructed to study, to learn manners, to love. They are not punished they are disciplined. Discipline causes us to grow and to become healthy, but it is absolutely not easy, pleasant or comfortable. Most kids don’t like doing their homework for good reason. It takes endurance to experience the discipline of Christianity and to grow healthy and strong as a child of God. Turn with me to Hebrews 12;3-11.
Hebrews 12:3-11 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 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. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." 7 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? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 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? 10 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. 11 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.
Notice verse 7. ‘It is for discipline that you have to endure.’ And then look at the example that Paul used of Christ. Even Jesus experienced discipline. He was not punished he was disciplined. And look what that discipline did to him. If Christ had not endured the discipline placed upon him then he would not have been the savior we needed and salvation would not be free. If Jesus had not experienced the hostility from sinners, then he would not have conquered sin. Grace is transforming us and in order for us to become what we are being made into we must go through and endure the discipline that we experience. And much more than that, the very thing we hope in, the very reason we follow Christ is for the hope of being children of God. If we are to be children of God then we must be treated as children of God, otherwise we are illegitimate children. If we wish to be, as it says in Romans, heirs with Christ, then we must also suffer and be disciplined as Christ.
We need to realize that this discipline is not simply beneficial but it is necessary for us to live out our faith and identity as children. It is really important to remember though, that just as a child grows up and leaves the home, thereby leaving the discipline of the parent, the discipline we will experience will be, v. 10, for a short time, so that we might grow and share in his holiness. Let’s not try to fool ourselves, discipline is not fun or pleasant. It hurts and many times it feels unbearable. But the fruit that is borne out of such discipline overshadows and engulfs everything we have had to endure. That last part of verse 11 is great. ‘It yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.’ We are not simply suffering to suffer, but we are being trained so that we might experience something better. We are being trained by God himself. This world has so many problems about it. There is death, pain, suffering, and heartache. It suffers from an absence of the love that we have come to know. No one wants to stick around here and experience this forever, but it is not all for nothing. We are being trained so that we can run the race with greater ability and ease. We are being made more capable of enduring. We are a work in progress.
So what should our response be to such discipline? If you watch a child as they are forced to do or endure something they have no desire to endure they quite often will throw a fit. They will argue, complain, and generally moan and groan. But why do they get so crabby? Because they cannot bring themselves to look past their current situation, they can see no value in discipline. Children are short sighted and oriented to the immediate moment and their desire for enjoyment. But we are not like simple children. We possess within us the knowledge of our purpose. We know why we are being disciplined and we know to what end. If we truly believe that the end of such discipline is worth far more than the discipline itself then we should not mourn such discipline but we should rejoice in it and even crave it, so that we might continue to further grow. Return with me to Hebrews 12 and lets read verse 12-15.
Hebrews 12:12-15 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it 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;
Paul says stop moaning and groaning. Our reaction to discipline, hard times, sufferings should not be remorse rather it should be rejoicing. Just as Paul chooses to boast in his weaknesses because it points to the presence of God, we should rejoice in our sufferings because it is the training of God himself. We are children of God and we are being treated as such. Being treated as children of the most high is not reason to remorse but rather to cheer. What happens when we get stuck in the mire of life, when we allow it all to pull us down is that we find ourselves immersing back into the very thing we have escaped from. Paul is telling them that if they do not stop their crabbing, then they are going to negate any possibility for healing. It will only get worse if we complain about it. But if we rejoice in it and make the most out of it there will be healing.
Life is not easy and it never will be. No matter great the romance between us and our God relationship will never be cheap. There is a great cost to receiving and experiencing the spirit of God. But the payoff is so much greater than any charge we might have to pay up. Our God is great and amazing and he is transforming us and making us into something better. We crave and desire to be claimed as children of God and we are getting exactly what we asked for. Our God is living on us and working in us for our benefit. In order for us to endure, in order for us to become something more, we must look past the pain and see the treasure waiting on the other side. In order for us to run the race we must endure and even grow to love the burn of the workout.
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