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Pastor's Blog November 7, 2019
Discipline"
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We are all familiar with discipline, even if we don't like it. And many of us believe we are familiar with divine discipline, which we often think is merely punishment for sin. But have you ever wondered what it might mean if God's holiness and divine discipline were related? Hebrews 12:10 gives us such a connection: "For they 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" (NASB).
Contextually, Hebrews 12 speaks about divine discipline in light of Jesus. Just as Jesus endured the cross and hostility from sinners, and only sat down at the right hand of God's throne through his endurance of these things (vv. 2-3), so we are called to endure God's discipline as those who have been adopted into his family as his sons and daughters through Jesus Christ, God's Son (v. 7).
It is our filial identity in Christ that provides us with reasons for how we approach discipline: we endure God's discipline because God only disciplines sons and daughters - not illegitimate children (vv. 7-8); our earthly fathers disciplined us and we knew we should respect them, so we should respect our heavenly Father for his discipline even more (v. 9); and our earthly fathers disciplined us the best they knew how, but our heavenly Father always disciplines us with our good in mind (v. 10).
The word for discipline in these verses literally means "child-training"; nevertheless, even if this wasn't the literal translation of the term, Hebrews 12:7-10 demonstrates that God's discipline is about teaching us how to be his sons and daughters, rather than punishing us for not being his perfect children. God wants to share his holiness with us because we are his children; as sons and daughters of God, it is our destiny, inheritance, and birthright to participate in the holiness of God.
So what does it mean that God's holiness and divine discipline are related, according to Hebrews 12:10? It means that the goal of God disciplining us - literally, his activity of training us to be his sons and daughters - is solely about helping us be what we already are: sons and daughters of God!
Friends, as you worship God today, remember that divine discipline is God's loving action of making you his holy children.
God Bless.
Pastor Nathaniel Gamble
