Let’s take our Bibles together and turn to the Book of Hebrews. We are continuing our series today, “Christ Supreme in All Things.” And the message for our passage today in Hebrews 12:4-11 can essentially be distilled down to this statement: “God disciplines those whom he loves.” 

Now this is a significant conceptual and emotional shift away from the way that people typically discern God’s love for them. People normally think that God’s love is demonstrated by the disbursement of extravagant and expensive gifts. I see this in social media spaces with the use of “#blessed.” “I got a new Cadillac, #blessed.” God must really love me! “I got a new job today, and I doubled my salary. #blessed.” Or piously in some conservative Christian circles we might post, “I’ve been married for thirty years, and I have four kids and they all follow Jesus. #blessed.” 

Now I don’t want to be all “get off my lawn” about those statements. I’m glad that people attribute the good things in their life to the God of the Universe. They obviously are invoking some kind of deity when they use that passive word “blessed” (i.e. someone has to be doing the blessing). But seeing yourself as blessed by God only when good things are happening in your life is shortsighted. And the author of Hebrews flips the script on that kind of thinking in this passage today. And he does it in a way that should encourage his first century Jewish Christian readers. 

Because they had been through the ringer in their following of Christ. They were severely persecuted for their faith in Christ. And yet the author of Hebrews wants them to put on their social media feed—“#blessed.” They have had their property confiscated. #blessed. They have been cold-shouldered in Jewish circles because of their affiliation with Christ. #blessed. #lovedbyGod. Some of them have even been imprisoned for their faith in Christ. #blessed.

Why are they blessed in that? What is the theological substance behind that counterintuitive reasoning? It’s this. “God disciplines those whom he loves… like a father.” Or let me say it this way, more broadly: “God uses the struggles and the sufferings of this sinful world to lovingly refine his spiritual children and make them into something beautiful.” I want you to know, Christian, that God is doing that in your life. God is using the pain and suffering in your life, right now, to construct something beautiful. 

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Go ahead and write this down as #1 in your notes. I want to give you three simple statements from this morning’s passage. Here’s the first. 

1) God uses suffering to refine his church (11:4)

Now I’ll be honest with you, Hebrews 11:4 is one of the strangest “atta-boys” in Scripture. The author of Hebrews writes, 

4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 

That’s a strange statement to our modern ears. He’s basically saying to them, “Sure you’ve been tormented and persecuted. But you haven’t yet died for your faith.” Wow, thanks a lot author of Hebrews! That’s not something you hear posted on social media in today’s world. That’s not something that a lot of modern-day preachers would say to encourage their congregations. “Yes, you’ve been through a lot, church, but get over yourselves. You haven’t yet died for your faith, so suck it up and get through it.” 

And it tells me two things about the original context of this writing. First of all, there were people that were put to death for their faith in Christ in this day. We know at this time that many Christians had suffered greatly for their faith, and some had paid the ultimate price. Some were put to death for their faith. And that’s something that the church that this author of Hebrews is writing to hasn’t experienced yet. 

And the second thing this tells me about the original setting is this. It tells me that the author of Hebrews prophetically is trying to get this church spiritually and emotionally prepared for the persecution they will face in the days to come. That’s perfectly logical if this book was written in the mid to late AD 60s to a group of Christians in Rome or another large city in the Roman Empire. Because if this book was written when the Roman Emperor Nero was ruling, then life was about to get seriously difficult for the Christians. The Emperor Nero is about to go crazy and rain down persecution on the church. 

Nero, at first, was a benign ruler. He came to power when he was just a teenager. But over time his idiosyncrasies and eccentricities became more and more bizarre. He was sexually deviant. He was brutally violent. And Nero developed a twisted satisfaction in seeing Christians and Jews suffer. Nero was probably responsible for putting both Peter and Paul to death. He burned down Rome and blamed the Christians for it. He would also use Christians to light up his gardens at night. He would crucify them, and then put pitch on them, and them set them on fire. So things were about to get really difficult for these Jewish Christians, even more difficult than they already were, and the author of this letter wants them to be ready for that.

And also, look at the context of his statement in 12:4. Previously the author was talking about the race of the Christian life and how it’s a marathon not a sprint. And he told us that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (i.e. Hebrews 11), some of whom were put to death mercilessly for their commitment to God. Remember Hebrews 11 and the macabre description of the Maccabean period? “Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword” (11:35-37). This author, in an effort to inspire this church, is saying, “You haven’t yet experienced that. You’ve been through a lot, but there’s still more to come.” So press on. Race hard. And finish well.

Actually the imagery of the race shifts slightly in verse 4. The word “struggle” is a word that was often used in the ancient boxing ring. So the author of Hebrews isn’t just saying, “Run hard and finish well even if you die in the racing.” He’s also saying, “Get into the boxing ring, man up, and fight to the death against the world, your flesh, and the devil.” And if you die in the process, no worries… you win.  

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Now if that all sounds shocking and unexpected, wait till you see what the author says next. Because he links suffering and sparring in the boxing ring with God’s role in parenting us. In other words, God is not an overprotective “helicopter parent” hovering over us and shielding us from every difficulty. And God is not the kind of permissive father who spoils us rotten by giving us everything that we want and hindering our spiritual growth and development. No, God allows us to go through suffering. God wants us to be strengthened by the challenges of this world. And, write this down as #2. 

2) God uses discipline to confirm his children (12:5-9)

Look at verse 5 with me.

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.” 

Let me say it again, God uses discipline to confirm his children. “The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

Now ladies of VBVF, please don’t be put off by that language of “sons.” The reason that the NT uses “sonship” language to describe believers is because in the ancient world, sons inherited the estate of their father. And since you have an equal inheritance in your father’s kingdom, you are included in this sonship language. And even though I often use the terminology “sons and daughters of the Living God” to clarify that both men and women are the children of God, the NT authors don’t say it that way. They speak strictly of sonship for both men and women. And that’s because they are protecting that inheritance language and the inheritance metaphor.

Similarly the NT authors use the bride of Christ metaphor to describe both men and women in the church. So, men and women are both the bride of Christ. Get over that, men! And men and women are both the sons of God. Get over that, women. We’ve got to learn to speak in metaphor and be comfortable with these Biblical terms. 

And part of this sonship language is the inevitable prospect of discipline. Here’s the Greek word for “discipline,” παιδεία. It’s used four times in this passage (12:5, 7, 8, 11). It means instruction, discipline, training, or punishment. And it’s built on this word παιδίον, which means “child.” Our English words “pediatrics” and “paedobaptism” are derived from this word παιδίον for “child.” And we as God’s children are subject to his discipline. As one of his παιδίον, you are subject to παιδεία. So get used to it.

Also, the author of Hebrews is quoting the book of Proverbs in verses 5-6. And if you’ve ever read through the book of Proverbs, then you know how prevalent the theme of child-rearing and discipline are in that book. And one of the things that Solomon stresses in that book is that a good father disciplines his son. And he also explains that a good son is teachable and attentive to the instruction of his father. 

Look again at verse 5. This is a quotation from Proverbs 3:11.

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 

Two things can happen when you discipline children. They can dismiss it, or they can deflate from it. We see both of those in verse 5. Look at the first part of that. “Do not regard lightly” or “Do not think little of it,” that is, the Lord’s discipline. Sometimes kids think their parents are old-fashioned, and their methods are outdated. And they dismiss their instruction. They regard it lightly. Mark Twain said once that when he left home at age 18, he thought his father was an idiot. But when he came home three years later at age 21, he was amazed at how much wisdom his father had gained in the three years he was away. So, children of God, don’t dismiss God’s discipline or regard it lightly. 

But also… and this is the more common struggle… don’t be deflated by it. 

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 

The word “be weary” is the Greek ἐκλύω. It’s the same word that is used in verse 3, when the author of Hebrews said, “Consider Christ… so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” It can be translated “become discouraged” or “lose heart.” Some kids when you try to discipline them get defiant. They bow up on you. I was that kind of kid. Kids like that need the patient and controlled discipline of the rod (Prov 13:24; 22:15; 23:13-14; 29:15). 

Other kids don’t get defiant in discipline. They deflate. You raise your voice at them, and they crumple up like a piece of paper. Those kinds of children are especially prone to discouragement. And parents need to adjust their disciplinary strategies based upon the emotional and spiritual makeup of their children. 

But this passage isn’t a passage about parenting. We’ll deal with that some other time. This is a passage about how we, as disciples of Christ, receive discipline from the Lord. And we should be neither defiant nor deflated by God’s discipline. We should instead embrace it. 

Why? Look at verse 6. This is right out of that Proverbs 3 passage.

6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

You might say, “I want to be loved by the Lord.” Okay, well stop thinking that God’s love is always demonstrated by giving you #blessed gifts. More often, God’s love is demonstrated by pushing you into uncomfortable spaces where you have to grow and trust him in deeper ways. 

Put this on your social media feed. “Just lost my job today. I’m not sure how I’m going to get through this or what God has in store for me next. But I’m trusting him and I’m leaning on the grace that he supplies in new ways. #blessed.”

Put this on your social media feed. “Just got the diagnosis from the doctor. It doesn’t look good. I’m nervous. My family is concerned. The future is uncertain. God is sovereign. God is good. He’s going to teach me something through this. #blessed.”

I just listened to a podcast this last week of a Christian who had to walk through the loss of his son to cancer. And I was amazed at how this brother spoke with such grace and such thankfulness to God as he went through the most painful thing that just about anyone can experience. It’s one thing to lose a father or mother or grandparent. It’s an entirely different kind of pain to lose a child. And yet even in that, this brother showed remarkable resilience and trust in God. It was inspiring to me. It showed me that even in the most painful experiences imaginable in this world—a divorce, the loss of a loved one, the loss of health, the loss of a job, the loss of a close friend through relational conflict—God can use that for his glory and your spiritual growth and development.

I also talked to a brother this last week who literally lives on the other side of the world. I can’t tell you who he is or where he lives. But he lives in a place where sharing the gospel can get you put in prison or even worse. And he told me about how the authorities in his village put him in prison and beat him for sharing his faith with Muslims. And he had to get some family members involved to get him released. And I asked him if he was going to go back there and keep sharing his faith. And he said, very matter-of-factly “of course.”

Does God put us through hardships because he hates us? Does God give us uncomfortable assignments and difficult challenges because he doesn’t care about us? Because he’s a sadist, and he likes to make us suffer? No. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. He does it because he loves us. And he wants us to grow. And he wants us to endure. Look at verse 7.  

7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. 

You know one of the lost virtues of Christian leadership, I think, is endurance. I think endurance gets short shrift sometimes. Everyone wants to talk about passion and enthusiasm. I’m all for that. I’m a pretty passionate person. But passion without endurance is just a flash-in-the pan. Give me the man or woman who has faithfully followed Christ through thick and thin for ten or twenty or thirty years. I’ll read that person’s book. I’ll go to that person’s conference. 

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.

Verse 8 reads this way in the KJV: “But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” I know the word “bastard” isn’t used in polite company anymore. But I think it captures the shocking nature of what this author is saying here. If you are a child of God, a legit saved follower of Jesus Christ, then you can expect to be disciplined. If you aren’t a child of God, if you are illegitimate, then it doesn’t matter. Of course you won’t be disciplined! Nobody disciplines other people’s children! God doesn’t use discipline indiscriminately. God uses discipline to confirm his children.

So listen, let me encourage you right now, church. When you’re going through something hard… when you are pressed beyond what you think you can endure… here’s what you do. You say, “Thank you, Lord, for loving me enough to put me through this incredibly difficult challenge. Thank you for thinking enough of me to challenge me in this way. Help me, Lord, to trust you in deeper ways. Help me, Lord, to honor you as I go through this. And thank you, Lord, for loving me enough to force me to grow and change and not letting me stay the way that I am.”

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Which leads me to a final point. Write this down as #3. God uses suffering to refine his church. God uses discipline to confirm his children. And finally…

3) God uses pain to produce in us his character (12:9-11)

Even Aristotle recognized the benefit of pain and discipline. He would say, “the roots of discipline are bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” That’s a truism throughout the ancient world.

In the longest chapter in the Bible, Psalm 119, the psalmist says, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes” (119:71). He also writes, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word” (119:67). God uses affliction in our lives. God uses pain to get our attention. 

I remember after a particularly bad break-up with my girlfriend in college shaking my fist at heaven and saying to God regrettably, “How could you do this to me, LORD?” I was so angry, and I was so devastated by my failures and my pain. I was utterly broken before God. And I couldn’t figure out why God would let me go through that. I kept saying, “Why did you let me go through that, LORD? Now I know. I was being disciplined. It was Psalm 119:71. “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.”

I heard a pastor describe God’s work in our lives once as a sculptor like Michelangelo making a great sculpture. Think of a sculptor who takes this nondescript piece of rock or granite or marble. And what does the sculptor start doing? He strikes the rock. He punishes it. He repeatedly chisels away at it with painful blows that create sparks every time it strikes. And over time, as he removes the unnecessary pieces of that sculpture, what is he shaping—a masterpiece.

 Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are [God’s] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.” That’s what God is doing in our lives. He’s shaping us through discipline. He’s striking us with blows to make us beautiful.

Look at verse 9 with me. 

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? 

The contrast here is between earthly fathers and our spiritual Father, or as the author of Hebrews calls him, “the Father of spirits.” This is the famous “how much more” line of argumentation that Jesus and others in the NT use. If your earthly father disciplined you, how much more will your heavenly Father discipline you? If you respected your earthly father for disciplining you, how much more should you respect your heavenly Father for disciplining you? And by the way, your heavenly father perfectly disciplines you, whereas even the best of earthly fathers fall short of perfection. Right? Right, dads?

R. Kent Hughes says it this way, “Every earthly father, if he is candid, will admit he has meted out imperfect discipline at best.” Happy Father’s Day, dads! Is it Father’s Day yet? “Sometimes we [as fathers] were too severe, other times too lax. Sometimes we showed favoritism. Sometimes we punished the wrong child. Sometimes a child ‘got it’ because the boss had ‘given it’ to us. But God has never made such a mistake. No discipline of his was ever capricious or ill-informed or ill-tempered. None of his discipline has ever been misplaced.”

By the way, just a word of clarification. God’s discipline of us is never punitive. God never pours out his wrath on us as children. Don’t confuse discipline with wrath. We are not objects of God’s wrath. We’ve been spared that by God’s grace. So any discipline that we receive from God is fatherly, corrective discipline. We are not God’s enemies; we are his sons.

 Look at verse 10 with me.

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. 

The word for “holiness” here is the Greek ἁγιότης. It’s related to the Greek ἅγιος, which means “holy” or “saint.” This word could be translated “sanctification.” God disciplines us as part of our sanctification process. He wants to bring out the best in us. He wants to conform us into the image of Christ, like a sculptor chiseling away at a sculpture.  

11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, 

I’m so glad the author of Hebrews stated that clearly. We’re not masochists. Nobody enjoys discipline. It’s painful. It’s painful to train for a marathon. It’s painful to lift weights as an athlete. It’s painful to practice.. I hated practice when I was an athlete. My basketball coach would make me run wind sprints in the gym until we would just about pass out. I hated it. But why did we do it? Why do we discipline our bodies for sports, and why does God discipline us as his children?

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 the author changes the metaphor again in this verse. Now he uses the language of a farmer sowing seed. The Lord plants us in discipline, and he harvests a “peaceful fruit of righteousness.” Jesus said in John 15:8, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” This is part of that fruit-bearing. We sow painful discipline; we reap righteousness. That’s a sweet reward. 

So “holiness” in verse 10. And “righteousness” in verse 11. That’s what we’re going for in the Christian life. God is producing those things in us. Remember when I said a few months ago? I said, “We are becoming like what we already are!” We are already righteous in Christ Jesus. This is what we call justification. But we are also becoming increasingly righteous as a follower of Christ. That’s what we call sanctification. We are holy in Christ Jesus—justification. But we are becoming more and more holy in Christ Jesus—sanctification. 

You, Christian, are becoming more and more like what you already are. God loves you so much that he won’t let you stay the way that you are. He disciplines you. He chisels you. He’s making you into something beautiful. 

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I’ll close with this. I want to close this morning with one of my favorite poems. I love this poem. It’s a poem that speaks of God’s sculpting us into something beautiful. Church, this is what God is doing in your life. This poem is entitled “When God wants to drill a man.”

When God wants to drill a man

And thrill a man

And skill a man,

When God wants to mold a man

To play the noblest part;

When He yearns with all His heart

To create so great and bold a man

That all the world shall be amazed,

Watch His methods, watch His ways!

How He ruthlessly perfects

Whom He royally elects!

How He hammers him and hurts him,

And with mighty blows converts him

Into trial shapes of clay which

Only God understands;

While his tortured heart is crying

And he lifts beseeching hands!

How He bends but never breaks

When his good He undertakes;

How He uses whom He chooses

And with every purpose fuses him;

By every act induces him

 To try His splendour out—

God knows what He’s about!

Those painful challenges in your life, Christian, those aren’t purposeless experiences of suffering. God is using those to shape you into something beautiful. God is showcasing his power and his splendor in you. God is loving you and disciplining you like a good father does. 

Embrace his discipline. Embrace it and grow stronger through it.