This Week's Message Text: Heb. 12:12-29

This Week's Bible Book Text: E100 #5 (Gen. 11:1-9)

This Week's Small Group: At Kennedy's

Church of the Month: Roxborough Presbyterian

The Last Time We Met…

We looked at yet another reason for perseverance given by the author of Hebrews to his friends. In the opening verses of chapter 12 he has urged them to endure in light of the testimony of faith's heroes to God's faithfulness (v. 1). He has inspired them by the supreme example of Jesus, the author and perfecter of their faith, who was richly rewarded for His perseverance (vv. 2-3). He has reminded them that, unlike Jesus, their struggle against sin has not yet been to the point of death (v. 4).

In vv. 5-11 the author reminds his friends of an important truth that they had apparently forgotten: their suffering is the outgrowth of their privileged position as God's sons. He interprets their experience in the light of scripture (Prov. 3:11-12 to demonstrate this. The Lord disciplines (that is, educates by correction and rebuke) those he loves. Such teaching is necessary, we read elsewhere, because folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him (Prov. 22:15). We should therefore not make light (despise or reject) of His discipline, or lose heart (shrink back; cf. 10:39) when He rebukes us, because God is treating us as sons.

The proper response is to endure hardship as discipline (i.e., to persevere as the outgrowth of trust and respect; see vv. 9-10). The essential idea, says Lane, is that the hostility of evil men against God's people is used by Him as a "means for leading his people to spiritual maturity." For the Christian all suffering becomes redemptive as a means of sanctification (cf. Rom. 8:28-29). "Suffering," says Hagner, "is necessarily involved in being a child of God and is not a contradiction of God's love." In this we have the example of the exalted, incarnate Son (vv. 2-3; cf. 2:10-12; 10:36), who Himself learned obedience through the experience of suffering (5:8). A lack of discipline in both the earthly and heavenly realms reveals the absence of family relationship (v. 8). Such people are not true sons (that is, heirs; cf. Gal. 4:7) but illegitimate sons.

This comparison between earthly and heavenly sonship is developed by means of an argument from lesser to greater in vv. 9-10. We…had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. That is, "we accepted the discipline without questioning either the authority of our literal parent or our status as legitimate children" (Hagner). This being so, how much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits (i.e., our heavenly Father) and live!

This encouragement is reinforced by the qualitatively better discipline of our heavenly Father. Our earthly parents disciplined us imperfectly. Hughes says that they did so "subject to the fallibility of human judgment, sometimes immoderately, sometimes capriciously, sometimes swayed by favoritism, though presumably always with the best of intentions." In contrast God's discipline is perfectly oriented towards an eternal goal. God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. Without holiness no one will see the Lord (v. 14). His holiness is our good, not simply for this life only, but for all eternity. His holiness and our good consist of a harvest of righteousness and peace (v. 11) in our hearts.

Verse 11 reveals that the athletic metaphor with which the chapter began is still on the author's mind. In the physical realm, so in the spiritual: no pain, no gain. However painful such discipline is, "the final results more than warrant the discipline" (Ross). Just as training for a long race (v. 1) can be tedious and strenuous, but the effort is apparent on race day; so spiritual discipline has its inevitable result. The peaceful fruit of righteousness (ESV) describes "the rest and relaxation enjoyed by the victorious contestant once the conflict is over" (Hughes). This has as its parallel the joy that Jesus experienced as the reward of His own victorious endurance (v. 2). In the "now-and-not-yet" dynamic of the kingdom those who have been trained by such discipline enjoy the foretaste of victory's fruits while still in the race. Thus the Lord's discipline fits us for "a life of committed pilgrimage" (Lane) on earth, and for "the everlasting glory and enjoyment of his presence" (Hughes) in heaven.

The problem of the original readers is summarized in v. 5: you have forgotten. Forgetting is arguably the greatest of all spiritual perils. The cause of Israel's downfall and disgrace in exile was simply this: they forgot the Lord's deeds of power and mercy (Judges 3:3; Pss. 78:11, 106:13; Jer. 3:21, 18:15; Ezek. 22:12; Hosea 13:6). The original readers' forgetfulness caused them to drift (2:1f.), to grow lax (v. 12), and to be readily discouraged. This put them in great spiritual danger.

Have you been forgetful? From what kind of "spiritual amnesia" do you suffer? The forgetfulness of frailty ("Oops, I forgot!") hearkens to reminders. That of unbelief ("Forget this!") despises the Lord's loving discipline. Diagnose your spiritual condition. Prayerfully commit yourself to rejoicing in, rather than resenting, your suffering as a son. These steps are this week's Life Work Application.