The Heavenly Father Disciplines His Children, Part 2

You can do a Father’s Day message for human dads in one Sunday, but it will take all eternity to properly recognize our heavenly Father! How supreme, infinitely gracious, loving and faithful He is to His own and to all His promises and prophecies.

He is also faithful to discipline us who are Christians. In our series of loving acts of the Father, we’ve come to the least desirable – perfect discipline when we stray. Using the classic passage of Heb. 12:5-11, we discern seven principles of our Father’s discipline of us. Last week we explored the first three; today, the final four.

Fourth Principle – Respectfully Submit

Hebrews 12:9 says, “Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?”

When we train our kids, the last thing we want to see is them bowing up in bitterness and pride, becoming angry. “Ugh, it was all for naught!” By the way, if this is the norm, it is a sure sign we aren’t doing something right in the childrearing process.

If God gets that response from us, He will simply tuck it away for future reference. Or He may turn up the heat immediately. His choice. Beloved, don’t be foolish. Don’t test Him.
Fifth Principle – The Goal of Discipline is Holiness

“For they (earthly fathers) disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness” (v.10). We cry out from the flame, “O Father, this hurts! Why are you doing this to me?” His answer? “I want you to hate sin and love righteousness like I do.” Since holiness is not optional if we are to go to heaven (see v.14), then discipline is not optional!

Yes, you blood-bought child of God, there are great blessings and godly pleasures in this life and an incredible, mind-blowing inheritance to come. If we could only see our future, we’d burst with excitement. But we aren’t there yet. Until then, mandatory training and daily discipline of boot camp is our lot.

Sixth – The Process is Sorrowful

Like spanking a child, it’s got to hurt some to be effective. “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful … (v. 11a). Love pats will only make the child mock your discipline or become frustrated by it. If discipline degenerates to chasing the kid around the house with fly swatter, I can assure you, no lesson has been learned and no deterrent has been established. Simply put, negative discipline can not be fun and effective.

The worse you stray, the heavier the hammer, yet always a redemptive hammer, a stroke of love to bring back the erring child from self-destruction.

For those in Christ, He loves us enough to set aside even His own temporary feelings of pleasure toward us to achieve a long term feeling of pleasure – our sharing in His holiness. So He brings to bear on our lives a custom made discipline that hits us where we live.

Friend, you choose your sin, but God chooses the discipline – when, what and how much. And He promises it will be sorrowful.

Seventh Principle – The Outcome is Peaceful Righteousness

“ … yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness” (v.11b). Have you realized that the path to consistent right behavior that honors God’s name is the path of discipline. This is the way it must be, for we are not naturally righteous. The realistic goal of the Christian life then is quicker confession and more and more time in between sins.

While under discipline, we must embrace the “afterwards” by faith. Afterwards, God promises a restored fellowship and a blessed deterrent from future sin. Afterwards, we will walk in true remorse and peaceful humility. Reconciliation with others will finally come about. Thoughts of “Wow, I’m really His child” will bring deeper assurance.

Are you under discipline at the moment? Take heart. God assigned Moses the Impatient to 40 years of smelly sheep in the desert to think things over. How long has your discipline been? For Jonah “I’ll do it my way” the Prophet, God sent a custom made storm. Has your discipline been scary at times? For Peter the Humanist, Jesus unleashed a stinging, public, heart-piercing rebuke for his being so man-centered. Have you sought the Crown before the Cross? For Paul the Prideful, God allowed Satan to bring a persistent, life long thorn in the flesh to knock out the props and keep him humble amid much spiritual success. Do you have a scar of discipline that reminds you that God hates your pride?

Like the two rails of a train track stretching off into the distant horizon, Fatherly discipline and growing sanctification will take us right up to the end of our lives. Together they reach a final destination, our 10th and final loving act. Next week.