Sometimes you’d be forgiven for thinking that discipline is a dirty word. Who likes it? And yet occasionally it’s seen to be a really good thing. What makes Federer such a great tennis player or Usain Bolt such a great sprinter? Discipline. Discipline in training, diet, lifestyle. Discipline produces great results.
Which is what the writer to the Hebrews is talking about in chapter 12. “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,” verse 11.
Which is why discipline is different from punishment. Punishment produces fear (1 John 4:18) and deals with the past. Discipline is motivated by love and looks to the future.
So when God disciplines us, what does that tell us? Let’s look at what the letter to the Hebrews says.
Firstly, “God is treating you as sons,” verse 7. When God disciplines us it is a demonstration of our relationship. We are His children; He is our Father in heaven.
Secondly, “He disciplines us for our good,” verse 10. God is seeking our good, not trying to crush us.
Thirdly, it is so that “we may share his holiness,” verse 10. God’s discipline helps to purify us. That’s just what we desire – to be holy for a holy God.
So can you embrace God’s discipline and enjoy the benefits of His training? It will produce some great results.
Do you ever wish that other people would listen to your advice rather than learn the hard way? One of the toughest things about parenting is giving your children the freedom to make mistakes. Sometimes that means letting them get hurt.
I clearly remember one occasion when two of my girls (who were very young at the time) were playing on the bottom couple of steps of the staircase at home. I asked them to come down and play on the floor. One of them immediately did so. The other only followed on a few moments later. Head first and unexpectedly.
I realised at the time that I had foreseen a danger she had not. That I had asked her to do something not because I wanted to spoil her fun but because I was concerned for her safety. That I hadn’t punished her but that disobedience had led to pain.
God doesn’t tell us to be truthful, or to refrain form stealing or adultery because He wants to spoil our fun. God has shown us how to live because He loves us, wants the best for us, wants to keep us safe.
There have been some high profile cases of adultery recently. Tiger Woods, Iris Robinson and this week John Terry. It’s painful to hear about let alone experience. God has shown us how to avoid that kind of pain.
The problem is – we don’t always see the dangers. We think we know best. And before we know it, we’re falling down the stairs.
God doesn’t prevent our sin. If we are Christians He doesn’t punish us either. God warns us of the dangers of sin and He allows us to experience the consequences of sin. And more often than not, that hurts.
Retribution? This is about God punishing His people for their sin. Really?
“So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel and He gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And He sold them into the hands of their enemies so that they could no longer withstand their enemies,” Judges 2:14.
Yes, really.
God has always punished sin. And the appropriate punishment is death, although it’s not the only one. So even when Adam and Eve sinned, God sacrificed an animal and clothed them in its skin (Genesis 3:21). This developed into the sacrificial system we are more familiar with in the Old Testament and eventually led to the sacrificial death of Jesus at Calvary as a substitute for us. Make no mistake – “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,” (Isaiah 53:5).
Why was that necessary? Because if someone is going to die in your place – to take a punishment that you alone deserve – they have to be of at least equal value to you. And, put simply, animals are not of equal worth to human beings so that “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins,” (Hebrews 10:4). But Jesus is of infinite worth. He is God Himself. His sacrifice is more than enough for all the sin of all the people who call on His name. “By a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified,” (Hebrews 10:14).
Jesus bore in His own body the punishment for all our sin. So there is no more punishment. God no longer punishes His people for their sin. It was all dealt with at the cross.
So what does happen when we sin? Are we free from consequence? No. Does God simply ignore it? No.
There is no more punishment, but there are consequences. There is no more punishment, but there is discipline.
I will look at these two ideas in my next posts.
Brides almost always look beautiful don’t they? So much planning and expense goes into the big day. The hair is immaculate, the makeup stunning, the flowers are gorgeous and the dress…well, the dress. What bridal dress doesn’t look simply amazing?
I remember some of the preparation for my wife’s dress. The magazines, the trips to wedding shops. None of it involved me of course. I didn’t get to appreciate the effort until she stood beside me in the aisle. But when I did get to see her… Wow.
And the effort is worth it because a bride wants to look her absolute best on her wedding day. What bride doesn’t want to be stunning for her groom? And that’s interesting because according to Paul, the church is the bride of Christ and is being prepared so that she can be presented to him “in splendour without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish,” (Ephesians 5:27).
The church wants to look absolutely stunning for her groom.
Now – imagine this. Imagine a bride in the car on the way to the service suddenly feeling a little thirsty and fancying a can of cola. “Pull over, driver.” She hops out and into the nearest newsagent before running back to the car and sitting down with the can in her hand. Finger in the ring pull. Slowly edging it back. Then the rush of dark brown fizzing liquid squirting out the can in all directions as the pressure forces it up and out and over. All over her dress.
What bride in her right mind would risk such a thing?
Sin is like cola. It stains us and if the church is serious about getting ready for the return of Jesus and desperate to be without stain or wrinkle then we have to be serious about purity and holiness. Individually and collectively.
We wouldn’t buy the can. We wouldn’t even be tempted. Jesus is worth staying pure for.
There’s no doubt about it, adultery can be attractive . The temptation of the forbidden, the promise and allure of a new experience. In September 2009 a survey of 3,000 people suggested that 40% of women and 30% of men have cheated on their partners. A third of the women suggested that their indiscretion had happened because their flirting got out of hand.
The pain and damage of unfaithfulness is massive.
Which is why the language surrounding the unfaithfulness of God’s people is so stark. “They whored after other gods,” in the ESV or they “prostituted themselves to other gods,” in the NIV translation of Judges 2:17.
When God’s people worship other gods, they are cheapening themselves on a grand scale and causing huge damage to the most intimate of relationships. They are breaking the most important commandment. It is the most serious sin. And so often it is because flirting has got out of hand. OK, not many of us bow down to wooden poles these days but the gods of the modern world are many and the chances are you’ve flirted with some of them. What starts as a casual, thrill seeking experience becomes idolatry. Before you know it, you’re being unfaithful to the LORD.
And God does not ignore unfaithfulness. He doesn’t turn a blind eye. God deals with it. “Whenever they marched out, the hand of the LORD was against them for harm,” Judges 2:15. That’s uncomfortable reading isn’t it? We don’t like to think that God would do that – that He would deal with His people like that. But our God is a jealous God. He loves us and He will not tolerate rivals.
The LORD is the only true God, the only one worthy of our worship. We have the most amazing relationship with Him through faith in the saving work of Jesus. If we want to be secure in a changing world, faithfulness to the unchanging God is the only sure way. Don’t worship another god. Don’t even flirt with one.
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what you think
ali mesher on thinking about character kevingill on the attraction of adulter… Lisa on the attraction of adulter… Mandy L. on Twilight – New Moon geoff twigg on the death of Joseph
