12:4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, My son do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastens everyone He accepts as his son.
Last week we looked at a key verse with respect to Christian living…
Let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us [12:1]
As Christians there are things we need to stay away from: things that distract, things that destroy our fellowship with God.
Instead….2 look to the founder and perfecter of our faith.
As we run the race of life, we must run with our eyes opened and focused on Christ…as we run the race of faith, we must resist those intrusions in life that distract and destroy our fellowship with God.
What we can control is how we cross the finish line…the author is encouraging us to think about the importance of run(ning) with perseverance the race that is set before us.
Everyone who lives in this world endures some measure of trouble—that is the consequence of the fall…we live in a world and a society corrupted by iniquity—the result of sinful human nature.
What is the source of that evil nature? …Bible does not say that God punished the human race for man’s sin [Rom 5:12] – but the nature of sin.
WHAT WAS THAT “SIN” …my claim to my right to control myself…the nature of self-sufficiency which leads me to say—I am my own god—I’ll control my life how I want…sin is deliberate and determined independence from God.
Scripture makes note of the three ways God helps us in our Christian walk… through trials…temptations and discipline…all designed to help us mature spiritually…that helps us to overcome the desire to control my life.
On the surface that doesn’t sound like help…the Bible speaks extensively regarding the issues of trials and temptations…in Scripture trials and temptations are sometimes used interchangeably but there is a difference.
Temptations are internal…we can only be tempted by that which is individually tempting to each person…the book of James clarifies temptations:
each person is tempted when he is enticed by his own desire [1:14]
It’s important to note that temptations do not come from God…that is something we need to resist…but it’s not something that God has left us to do on our own …Scripture makes it clear God is at work in us so we can resist temptations.
Trials…testing…and discipline on the other hand do come from God…they are used by God for our growth and to draw us closer to Him…they come in many forms but typically come in the form of an outside force beyond our control.
This is where we are in today’s message…notice what he says regarding the testing of their faith…you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
The examples of faith that the writer gives in chapter 11 were to be an encouragement to the Jewish Christians who were facing difficulties with persecution…and even though these Hebrew Christians may have suffered for their faith they had not yet suffered to the extent that it had cost them their lives.
Possibly suggesting, they had not resisted hard enough…that they haven’t done enough…most people would probably be hesitant to accept the idea that I need to resist harder so I can endure more suffering…not what you want to hear.
But in fact, they had resisted…sin…Satan…the world …the lusts of it…false teachers…BUT…as yet they hadn’t resisted to the point of shedding their blood as some of the Old Testament saints had done.
The general sense of this passage is:
you have not yet been called in your Christian struggles to the highest kind of sufferings and sacrifices…as great as your trials may seem to be yet your faith has not yet been put to the severest test.
Couple things about the statement… “you have not yet been called in your Christian struggles to the highest kind of sufferings and sacrifices:”
FIRST…the kind of suffering and sacrifices he’s alluding to…the kind of suffering that puts us to the severest test…is a special calling from God…not everyone is called to suffer and sacrifice to that extent…that’s why it’s called…the highest kind of suffering.
To suggest that people need to suffer to the extent that they are physically hurt is not Biblical…the inclusion of the word “yet” appears twice…referring to the kind of persecution that may be waiting for them.
SECONDLY…God uses trials…testing…and discipline to help us mature in our Christian walk…all designed to help us mature spiritually.
If we are to live the life of faith like the Old Testament heroes of faith did…if we are to run the race of faith like they did…it means life at times may become difficult.
In fact I can assure you that will be the case if you’re sincere about your Christian commitment…Christianity does not mean health and wealth…I’m sorry Joel Osteen is wrong …Daystar…INSP…and The Word network are wrong.
When you confess Jesus as Lord…you enter the Kingdom of heaven…when you believe Jesus died for you and arose for you…you are living in the Kingdom of Heaven.
HOLD IT…been saying for the past few weeks no one ever goes to Heaven… now you say that we are living in the Kingdom of Heaven…here’s why…the kingdom of heaven is both now and not yet…it is present and it is future.
Jesus’ first coming was the inauguration of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth… over 25 times Jesus uses the phrase ‘the kingdom of heaven is like’ …these parables refer to His preparatory work through His disciples and Church…it is in the here and now in the present.
BUT…the Kingdom of Heaven is also spoken of in the future tense that will finally culminate with His second coming.
Getting back to the promise…it is a promise…if we live a life of faith like the Old Testament heroes did…if we run the race of faith like they did…it means life at times will become difficult…just living life is difficult…but God says living a life of faith will at times be extremely difficult.
Herein lies the problem…why do we blame God?…people think when things go wrong in life it’s God’s fault…seldom hear people blame the devil.
When suffering people ask…why are we going through this? …why are we suffering? …why have we lost our property…our home…our business…our friends? …Why has this happened to us? …Why is life so hard? …they blame God…even if they’re not Christians…they blame God.
Here’s the real answer…if you’re a Christian and you’re wondering why life at times is difficult…it is God.
When you have difficulties…challenges…problems…trials that come into your life…the challenges we face are often put there to require us to have courage and to call us to have a stronger faith in God.
For those who think it’s Satan causing you problems you need to remember: Satan is not sovereign…he is not omnipotent…he is not in control of himself; Satan is not omniscient…he can’t do as he pleases…only what God allows; Satan is not omnipresent…he cannot be in all places at the same time.
God has put limitations on Satan…as a result, he has no control over us or over our lives…we need to remember…we have been delivered from his power.
There is a difference between punishment and discipline… discipline speaks of training for a good outcome. Punishment speaks of retribution, vengeance, wrath.
That is what Jesus experienced on the Cross…divine punishment…divine wrath …the doctrinal word is propitiation…propitiation is a two-part act…
ONE that involves appeasing the anger of the offended person and TWO…being reconciled back to the person you offended…in both cases it’s God.
He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world [1 John 2:2].
On the Cross Jesus experienced God’s divine punishment…Jesus experienced God’s wrath…He sustained in body and soul the very anger of God against the sin of the whole human race…He shouldered the curse of God…that is what the word propitiation means.
BUT…the second part…the part of being reconciled back to God was the important part of Jesus’s work in delivering us from God’s wrath…Jesus’ propitiation on the cross is the only thing that could turn away God’s divine condemnation of sin.
This is the single reason why those who reject Jesus as their Savior…who refuse to believe in Him, have no hope of salvation…because they have refused the only means whereby they can be reconciled back to God.
They can only look forward to facing the wrath of God…because aside from Jesus there is no other propitiation or sacrifice that can be made for their sins.
God does not punish His sons and daughters…rather He disciplines His sons and daughters…that’s why life sometimes is so hard for us as Christians…God is disciplining us. Correcting us. Training us.
This means you need to look differently at the difficulties in your life…don’t look at them as negatives; instead, see them as the training of God in your life.
That’s the reason that these verses as well as the entire book of James are valuable for both unbelievers as well as believers.
For those who are unbelievers but consider themselves to be Christians…faith that is reliable only when things are going well in not faith at all…it is worth nothing…that type of faith will fail when help is needed the most…but worse… it will lead people to think they are Christian when in reality they are not.
The writer has been careful to point out that hardships are not a sign of God abandoning us…the opposite…it’s important to know when we are tested and tried through the many difficult times in life that we recognize it for what it is: it’s not punishment for some sin or mistake…God does not punish Christians.
It’s important to remember that Scripture speaks about the ‘various trials’ that happen in our life…adversity can take on many forms…1) Chastisement… 2) Character development… 3) Suffer for Christ… 4) Common to man.
God uses those trials and difficulties in our lives to accomplish His purpose of maturing us… regardless of the trials that come…if they are God sent…or God ordained…or God allowed…God knows the reason and the purpose.
When we are tested and tried through the many difficulties and disappointments in life we need to recognize them for what they are…and even though it may be an adversity that is common to man…God intends to use it as evidence of His love for us that is designed to perfect us.
The third area that God uses to mature us is through discipline…in these verses the author is referring to discipline…not referring to the trials and temptations that occur in life…but is using the word ‘discipline’ in the context of training as you would train a child in their development.
The Hebrew word for discipline means to instruct…which means instruction that trains someone to reach full development (maturity)…not alluding to punishment, which is an incorrect rendering.
God disciplines us…in fact the author uses the word ‘discipline’ 9 times in 9 verses to make a point regarding why He disciplines…why He sends…or allows trials in our lives…to emphasize that there is no reason for us to become discouraged…such discipline is proof of His love.
God disciplining us is the evidence that God is working to ‘train’ us to be more Christ like.
How can I know whether the adversity I’m going through is God’s hand of discipline, or something else because sometimes things do just happen…with the “something else” being the result of living in a fallen world or an attack from Satan that God has permitted.
I believe it’s a mistake to attribute every pain and affliction directly to God’s chastisement of a particular sin in our lives…Job is the evidence of that…he did nothing wrong…but it would be a mistake to ignore the possibility that our affliction may in fact be God’s chastening.
The Lord’s discipline is a response of His love for us and His desire for each of us to be holy.
My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves. (Proverbs 3:11)
Looking at Scripture we can react wrongly to God’s discipline in one of two ways.
We may either “regard lightly the discipline of the Lord” or we may “faint when [we] are reproved by Him” (Heb. 12:5).
To “regard lightly” God’s discipline means that we don’t recognize it, or we’re ignoring its warning… ‘to faint’ from God’s discipline is to give up trying to please Him because we think His discipline is too severe…either reaction is wrong.
We should recognize that God loves us, and that He disciplines us for our good.
For Christians…trials…testing…and discipline are the evidence of God’s love as He seeks for us to grow in holiness…for the unbeliever they shrug it off as bad luck and grow bitter turning further away from God.
When we recognize that God’s disciplining us is an extension of His love our response should be to ask two questions: What is God wanting to do in me through this? …and…How can God get the glory in this?
We should then ask the Holy Spirit to examine us to determine if it is the result of how we are living our lives…that’s the conviction part…and if necessary repent and receive His forgiveness.
Then comes the convincing part…here’s the blessing that results…to those who have been trained by it afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. [v. 11]