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7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. ~ Hebrews 12:7-11
Today, we return to Hebrews 12 where the writer of Hebrews is yet giving us reasons we want to invest in the invisible kingdom of God. This requires faith which is the product of two things according to the James 1 and Romans 10:17. And, those two things are enduring trials and hearing the spoken word of Christ.
In v.7 of today's text we read, "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?"
Literally, the first two words in v.7 of today's text reads, "Into training you endure." This sentence includes an indicative and an imperative statement. This sentence includes a statement of fact and a command. And, it indicates a strong connection between training and endurance, specifically, endurance in the race of knowing Christ for ourselves.
In training us, "God is treating us as sons." This is what a good father does for his children, he trains us. The bottom line before any blessing or seeming curse happens to us, we must first be convinced that God is good. We have known times when we thought, due to the circumstances, that God was not good. For me, I blamed God for the death of my mother when I was five years old. For years I was angry at Him. I did not understand that He truly is good, and, the fact that we live in a fallen world wherein Satan reigns and pain and death are its products. For years I wrongly accused God for that which Satan was ultimately responsible.
In v.8 of today's text we read, "If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all."
Now, if our heavenly Father does not train us, He is not our Father and we are not his children. This means we are "illegitimate children." Training, then, should be received as a sign of the nearness of the Father and that all the privileges of being his sons are ours. The training of the Lord that He has caused or allowed in my life down through these forty years that I have know Him has included some horrible things. I have learned the Lord uses all things in my life for my good and for His glory. I have not understood it all but His training has always been motivated by His love for me and it gives me great comfort to know that I am in His family and He has my best interest at heart.
This is why we must garner His culture everyday through our study of His word. Otherwise, we will interpret life's events incorrectly. It's difficult for us to accept the truth of these verses because they teach something that is foreign to our experience. So much of the bad things that happen to us are not motivated by human love and are not signs of human acceptance. In fact, they are motivated by human anger and are signs of human rejection. They are expressions of non-redemptive punishment or retribution. Their intention is to hurt, not to help. That is our human experience, which makes it difficult for us to understand God's heart through such experiences. And, to make matters worse, it is difficult for us to understand God's training as motivated by love when that training comes in the form of human punishment motivated by anger. It may seem that God is treating us as enemies or aliens when in reality He is treating us as sons and daughters.
This is why the writer of Hebrews writes in v.9-10 of today's text, "9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. "
The first response when we encounter any trial that we must value in our souls is: "This is happening because I am my heavenly Father's son, and He is allowing or causing this to happen in my life for my good and for His glory." God is ultimately sovereign in our lives, and, this text does not say that God looks on while hostile sinners hurt His people, or while Satan badgers us, and only then steps in to turn all this evil for good. God is not a passive observer in our lives while sinners and Satan beat us up. He rules over sinners and Satan, and they unwittingly, and with no less fault or guilt, fulfill his wise and loving purposes of discipline in our lives. God's discipline or training in our lives is necessary because we lack to resounding influence of His culture in our souls.
Ultimately, the questions for us will always be: "Do I trust Him?" And, if we subject ourselves to Him we will "live," according to v.9 of today's text. This means we will experience the life the Lord Jesus died to give us. This is talking about "eternal life" in our lives right now. It is His life which includes joy, holiness, peace and righteousness. The word "holiness" can also be translated "completeness." At the root of all my anxieties is my lack. And, it is our lack that throws the door to our heart open to covetousness. God's joy, holiness, righteousness and peace are all gifts of the New Covenant. Our suffering takes us to a deeper place, where we encounter deeper aspects of the relationship we have with the Father. Growing closer to Him, He becomes more and more prominent in and through our lives.
In v.11 of today's text we read, "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."
We do not like discipline, but, give God enough time and He will show us the benefits of the discipline that He causes or allows. The greatest benefit is that we receive a deeper intimacy with Him. When we endure, first hand, the involvement of God in our lives through the tool of trials, we discover that we have been trained or prepared by God's righteousness and peace, as indicated in this verse. These gifts enable us to have vision which is what sets us apart in this world. And, the greater the trials, the greater our vision of God. This translates into a life of faith which takes on the big things of this world. You see, this kind of vision or faith will take us outside the realm of the predictable, the safe, and the expected to the realm of the absolute miraculous. The adventure awaits ... will we trust Him?
