No Discipline Seems Enjoyable At The Time

The ancient proverb says, "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." - Pro 27:17 ESV. This is the concept behind discipline. When you come against someone as hardened and strong as you only one of two things follow. You will be changed by that encounter. Either you will be defeated and collapse or you will become sharper and better prepared for the next encounter. Iron does sharpen iron.

Picking up on this, the Hebrews writer speaks about discipline (paideia in Greek). Our heavenly Father loves us and wants us to grow stronger and stronger in our faith convictions. This chapter is devoted to spelling out the Father's understanding of discipline.

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 are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 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? 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. - Hbr 12:6-11 ESV

Notice that our Father both disciplines and scourges us. Jesus was scourged and flogged by the Romans before His crucifixion. Roman scourging was so severe that those crucified often died from it shortly after being crucified. There is another proverb about the LORD treating His children in this manner.

My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights. - Pro 3:11-12

 Here we face the harsh reality of how our LORD (the Lord Jesus as well) deals with us who are His disciples. And it is no fun ! Make no mistake about this. You and I are God's children, reborn and adopted into the family by being baptized into Jesus Christ. But follows now the rest of the journey to the Father's house. Our sinful human nature remains. And it fights against the new life we have received in Christ. Consequently we are disciplined, scourged, reproved and rebuked for sin. As we endure such discipline, at times the Lord seems to be the enemy, coming at us with great hostility. It seems as if He wants to destroy us. We are only a moth to be crushed as we flutter about the light of a candle. We are nothing more than a mere breath, a shadow! The whole enterprise of life seems pointless in those moments. We are spent, exhausted, worn out.

Listen to David as he struggles with the LORD's discipline and consider the emotions behind his words.

"O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!    Selah

Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather! 

"And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. Deliver me from all my transgressions. Do not make me the scorn of the fool! I am mute; I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it. 

Remove your stroke from me; I am spent by the hostility of your hand. When you discipline a man with rebukes for sin, you consume like a moth what is dear to him; surely all mankind is a mere breath!    Selah 

"Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; hold not your peace at my tears! For I am a sojourner with you, a guest, like all my fathers. Look away from me, that I may smile again, before I depart and am no more!" - Psa 39:4-13 ESV

And yet . . . this is who we are, children of God. The dark nights will come. For some of us they have, again and again and again. And yet . . . as we look back we see. What? What the writer points to: "the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." The new life in Christ emerges stronger, more vibrant and the old-adam-nature is crushed and destroyed, beaten down even if not completely destroyed.

I can tell you no more than this. Do not throw away your faith. Only darkness and despair await if you do. Struggle, wrestle, scream, cry out, demand, pray, shout, but persist. We are Israelites after all. The story of Jacob's encounter with the LORD is ours. And from that encounter Jacob emerged as a changed man (Gen. 32:24-32). 

Christ's Personal, Experiential Knowledge

How did he do it? How did Jesus live with the knowledge that his entire life was to lead up to the horrific agony of he cross? How did he endure, knowing that this was the reason for his entering this world? How was he able to go on, knowing that he was to carry the burden of ALL mankind's sins? How did he do it?

Jesus knew the Scriptures that described in vivid detail what was to happen to the Messiah, the promised Anointed One, the King. He had memorized those Scriptures. Read yourself these example listed below and ask yourself how he could persist, knowing that this was his destiny.

• Psalm 22:1-21 - My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 
• Psalm 41:5-9 - Even my close friend has lifted his heel against me
• Psalm 69:1-36 - More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause
• Isaiah 53:1-12 - He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities

Now put yourself in his place. Consider what it would do to you if you knew that hundreds, no thousands upon thousands, hated you. Think about being forsaken and betrayed by your closest friends. Think not merely upon the physical pain of death upon a Roman cross after being beat within a half-inch of your life. That is bad enough, but it is hardly worth mentioning compared to the torture, the spiritual, heart-felt soul-agony of all that pain even while you know with absolute certainty that you are unjustly abhorred, hated, rejected and beaten in anger and outrage—all of it, not because you deserve it, but because you have chosen to put yourself there in place of others. They deserve this. You do not. They ought to be rejected and forsaken both by men and by God Himself, not you. 

This is the unthinkable agony of the Christ, the Messiah. He was tortured beyond any man's ability to describe. Yet this was the path Jesus freely chose because he revered and loved his Father in heaven. The Father said there was no other way for men to be saved.  From birth men disobey, they disobey in the same way that the first man and woman disobeyed. They are born in sin. And they keep on disobeying every day afterwards. They cannot possibly keep God's commands. Even as Adam's disobedience in the Garden made all men sinners, so now the second Adam's obedience makes many righteous, writes the Apostle Paul. 

For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. - Rom 5:17-19 ESV

This is the obedience that the Hebrews letter describes as it points to all that Jesus endured throughout his life and ultimately upon the cross of Calvary.

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. - Hebrews 5:7-10 ESV

 Jesus' learning was not mere information learning. It was experiential learning. He knew from his study of Scripture what was to happen to him. He had that information. But then he did what the prophecies foretold. He went to the cross and through the agony of it all. It became his experience. It happened to him. It became personal. It now belonged to him and to no other. It was like a woman bearing a child. Only she who has gone through it truly knows what that means (John 16:21-22). So Jesus learned obedience through what he suffered.

And he did it all the way! My son became like Jesus when he learned to ride his bike. "I did it, Dad," he said. "I learned how to balance and pedal. I rode my bike all by myself." So Jesus completed our salvation. He finished it. He completed it. He did the deed. It is done, over, and now fully available for all. So he cried out upon the cross in victory, "It is finished!" (John 19:30). That's what Hebrews points to.

Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. - Hebrews 5:8-10 ESV

I know. If you have read this far it may be most difficult to understand. But pray about it, because this is the most important thing you will ever know. Your eternal life depends upon this good news. More about this next time.