"The Lord Disciplines Those Whom He Loves"
Stand In Awe...Of God • Sermon • Submitted
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Wisdom from someone known for bad advice...
Wisdom from someone known for bad advice...
“Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves;
therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty.
How do you handle suffering when it comes?
How do you handle suffering when it comes?
Do not despise the Lord’s instruction, my son,
and do not loathe His discipline;
for the Lord disciplines the one He loves,
just as a father, the son he delights in.
How do you explain it to yourself and to others?
How do you explain it to yourself and to others?
Consider the most common explanations:
Consider the most common explanations:
“I’m a victim.”
“I’m a victim.”
“I am pure, without transgression;
I am clean and have no guilt.
Or, the helpful suggestion of others, “You must be doing something right if Satan is attacking you.”
Or, the helpful suggestion of others, “You must be doing something right if Satan is attacking you.”
“Don’t ask for patience, God will give you tribulation.”
“Don’t ask for patience, God will give you tribulation.”
Or, the all-encompassing label; “Spiritual Warfare”
Or, the all-encompassing label; “Spiritual Warfare”
Consider two passages:
Consider two passages:
Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength.
Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil.
For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.
And...
And...
Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds because of your evil actions. But now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him —
- This age is spiritual warfare
- This age is spiritual warfare
- People are the stakes.
- People are the stakes.
- There are only two classifications of people...
- There are only two classifications of people...
- The hard truth of Job (among other scriptural evidence), God allows...
- The hard truth of Job (among other scriptural evidence), God allows...
For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, so that you won’t grow weary and lose heart.
In struggling against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons:
My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly
or faint when you are reproved by Him,
for the Lord disciplines the one He loves
and punishes every son He receives.
I suggest to you that it is because God loves us that he gives us the gift of suffering. Pain is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world. You see, we are like blocks of stone out of which the Sculptor carves the forms of men. The blows of his chisel, which hurt us so much are what make us perfect.
C. S. Lewis
Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline?
But if you are without discipline—which all receive —then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
Furthermore, we had natural fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live?
For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but He does it for our benefit, so that we can share His holiness.
No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the fruit of peace and righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Therefore strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed instead.
Asking the right sort of questions:
Asking the right sort of questions:
1. Am I a victim, or a victor?
1. Am I a victim, or a victor?
No, in all these things we are more than victorious
through Him who loved us.
For I am persuaded that not even death or life,
angels or rulers,
things present or things to come, hostile powers,
height or depth, or any other created thing
will have the power to separate us
from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!
2. Don’t ask if your suffering is spiritual warfare, rather, ask if it is a lesson or reproof from God.
2. Don’t ask if your suffering is spiritual warfare, rather, ask if it is a lesson or reproof from God.
And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons:
My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly
or faint when you are reproved by Him,
for the Lord disciplines the one He loves
and punishes every son He receives.
Paideia of God
Paideia of God
One of our most difficult lessons in life? Learning what is in your control.
One of our most difficult lessons in life? Learning what is in your control.
I have received no assurance that anything we can do will eradicate suffering. I think the best results are obtained by people who work quietly away at limited objectives, such as the abolition of the slave trade, or prison reform, or factory acts, or tuberculosis, not by those who think they can achieve universal justice, or health, or peace. I think the art of life consists in tackling each immediate evil as well as we can.
C. S. Lewis
3. Ask, What can I do?
3. Ask, What can I do?
Do what YOU can do. Do what only you can do.
Do what YOU can do. Do what only you can do.
4. Finally, ask yourself if you are handling suffering like an icon.
4. Finally, ask yourself if you are handling suffering like an icon.
Icon
Icon
For Christ also suffered for sins once for all,
the righteous for the unrighteous,
that He might bring you to God,
after being put to death in the fleshly realm
but made alive in the spiritual realm.