God Disciplines Those He Loves
One of the main things that I wish I had more time for in the sermon was discussing the discipline of God towards His sons and daughters. I really wanted to talk about this in the sermon because it is not often discussed but it is one of the hardest aspects of our relationship with God as our Father.
Hebrews 12:7-11 says, “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.
God’s discipline runs so counter to the way most of us want to portray God that passages like this one in Hebrews shock us when we read them. They shouldn’t, though.
God doesn’t discipline out of anger. He is not displeased with us and trying to hammer us for every sin we commit. Our Father is disciplining us to make us into the perfect and complete sons of God. Undisciplined sons and daughters to not become righteous. It might not be fun and it might be very painful but God disciplines us for our good.
Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
God’s discipline is for our good. We can know and trust that anytime God disciplines us that He is working for our good. We should not fall into the trap of seeing God as unfair or harsh. He is loving beyond imagination and He is using everything for our good.
How does God discipline? God can discipline us any way He sees fit, including through the Word, fellow believers, and natural consequences.
One of the most recognizable examples of God’s discipline comes in the Garden of Eden. God created everything in heaven and earth and He called it “good”. He created beasts of the sea, sky, and earth. He created man and woman. He called them “good”.
They walked and talked with God. Everything was going great until Satan disguised himself as a serpent. The man and woman knew they should not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told them what would happen if they did. But one conversation with a serpent, and they start doubting God, and it ends in them doing the one thing God told them not to do.
Because they did the one thing God told them specifically not to do, God had to discipline them. He sent them out from paradise, cursed to spend the rest of their days feeling the pain and hardship as a consequence of their sin.
From that point, we have been experiencing God’s discipline in one way or another. And we’ll continue to face His discipline until we either die or are called up to join Him in eternity.
So, if I could give you some food for thought, I’d say this: Don’t hate God’s discipline. Be grateful that God loves you and disciplines you as you are becoming more like Jesus every day.
