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Without Discipline We Are Not Children

What is your first thought when you hear the word "discipline"? When I was a child, if you mentioned the word "discipline", I would have instantly pictured my father with a belt in one hand and me in the other one. As a parent I think more of the outcome of discipline with my children than I do the means by which it is carried out. As a believer I think of the "spiritual disciplines" of Bible study, prayer, fasting, church attendance and other things along those lines. But when I read what the Bible has to say about discipline, I become a little uncomfortable, because the Bible refers to us as the ones being disciplined and as YHVH being the One doing the disciplining. “Behold, happy is the man whom YHVH correcteth: therefore, despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty.” (Job 5:17) “O Adonai, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chastens me in thy hot displeasure.” (Psalm 6:1) “For I am with thee, saith Adonai, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.” (Jeremiah 30:11) “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” (Revelation 3:19) The Bible clearly teaches us that just as we have to discipline our children, so, too, YHVH has to discipline us. In fact, discipline is one of Life's Indispensables. “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of Adonai, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom Adonai loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, YHVH dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” (Hebrews 12:4-11) There are three aspects to YHVH's Discipline that we need to understand:

1.) YHVH'S DISCIPLINE – DEFINITION:

Coach Lou Holtz, former coach of the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame has become legendary in his adherence to discipline. "When it comes to discipline here," Holtz says, "We ask three questions: Will it make him a better man, a better student or a better athlete? If the answer is yes, we make him do it. The next step is up to him. An individual has a choice when you discipline him: either to become better or bitter." Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest preachers of all time said, "I bear my willing witness that I owe more to the fire, the hammer and the file, than to anything else in Adonai's workshop. I sometimes question whether I have ever learned anything except through the rod. When my school-room is darkened, I see most." What both Coach Lou Holtz and Preacher Charles Spurgeon are telling us is this: Discipline is a process of teaching someone to become a better person. There are a variety of methods that are used to do this, as we shall see in a moment, but discipline at its core, mean to instruct, to educate, to nurture and to train. The one handing out the discipline, in this case YHVH Himself is the Teacher and the one receiving the discipline, in this case us, is the disciple. To give you a New Testament example consider the life of Yeshua. Yeshua chose 12 men and He instructed them, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” (Matthew 11:29) These men became learners under the Greatest ever Teacher. They enrolled in His school and committed themselves to His discipline, which was the education required for their high calling. In the context of what we are considering in this letter and how it applies to us, I believe we can say that YHVH's Discipline is YHVH Himself giving His children moral and spiritual training. There are two questions that we should be wondering about at this point; they are, how does YHVH discipline us and for what purposes does He discipline us?

2. YHVH'S DISCIPLINE – DIMENSIONS:

A man fell off a cliff and at the last minute as he fell, happened to grab hold of a shrubby bush. As he dangled in space, he was filled with terror and called out toward heaven, "Is there anyone up there?" A calm, powerful voice came out of the sky, "Yes, there is." The tourist pleaded, "Can you help me? Can you help me please?" The calm voice replied, "Yes, I can. Simply let loose of the bush and everything will turn out fine." There was a tense pause, then the tourist yelled, "Is there anyone else up there?" When it comes to YHVH's discipline of His spiritual children, we have to learn to trust that YHVH knows what is best for us and to leave it in His hands. Many times, we do not understand how He is working in our lives but we have to entrust it all to Him. As we consider the means that YHVH uses, let us remember that YHVH's Discipline is always for our instruction.

A. PUNISHMENT -- When we speak of punishment, we need to realize that as believers we often have to suffer painful consequences for our sins, but we will not experience YHVH's judgment for them. Yeshua took the punishment of judgment away from us through His crucifixion. The punishment that we receive for our sins is corrective, not judgmental. Consider some biblical examples: When David lusted after Bathsheba, committed adultery with her and murdered her husband, YHVH severely punished him. Even though he did nothing out of the ordinary for a King of his day, he was a man who had dedicated his life to YHVH and was held to a higher standard. David's sin cost him the loss of his son by Bathsheba. He was forced to deal with the heartache the disobedience his other sons caused. Through the prophet Nathan, YHVH told David: “Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.” (2 Samuel 12:10) David became a better man, a godlier man, because of the discipline of Adonai. YHVH had a purpose in His discipline; to draw David closer to Himself. The church at Corinth is another good example of what I am writing about. The believers were abusing Adonai's Supper; they were partying, getting drunk and who knows what else. Paul rebuked them for their behaviour and plainly told them that they were suffering weakness, sickness and even death because of their sinfulness, in fact, Paul told them: “But when we are judged, we are chastened of Adonai, that we should not be condemned with the world.” (1 Corinthians 11:32) When we discipline our children and punish them, we are not throwing them out of the family; we are trying to correct their behaviour. The same is true with YHVH, when He punishes us; He is not taking away our membership in His Kingdom, but is putting us back on track.

B. PREVENTION -- Sometimes YHVH disciplines with the sole purpose of preventing us from falling into sin. We put limits on our children, don't we? We do not allow our kids to play on a busy street or play with matches or go swimming without someone to watch them. YHVH also puts restrictions on us to protect us. Paul tells us in (2 Corinthians 12:7) that Adonai gave him a "thorn in the flesh" for the specific purpose of keeping him from exalting himself. YHVH did not discipline Paul because he had become proud; He disciplined him to keep him from becoming proud.

C. EDUCATION -- We said in our definition that YHVH's Discipline is designed to instruct, to teach and to educate us to YHVH's ways. “Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Adonai, and teachest him out of thy law.” (Psalms 94:12) “Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish.” (Proverbs 12:1) It would seem that there is a direct connection here. If we would begin to see Adonai's discipline as a teaching experience, perhaps we would not be so resistant to it but there is a third area to consider:

3. YHVH'S DISCIPLINE – DIVIDENDS:

A newspaper ad once read: "Lost Dog, brown hair with several bald spots, right leg broken due to auto accident, rear left hip hurt, right eye missing, left ear bitten off in dog fight and answers to the name 'Lucky'". As we consider this concept of YHVH's discipline, you might feel a little chewed up, broken and tousled yourself. But the fact of the matter is that we are very fortunate to be the recipients of YHVH's discipline. There are three clear cut reasons why:

A. YHVH'S DISCIPLINE PROVIDES PROOF THAT WE ARE HIS CHILDREN --- “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of Adonai, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom Adonai loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” (Hebrews 12:5b-6) “My son, despise not the chastening of Adonai; neither be weary of his correction: For whom Adonai loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” (Proverbs 3:11-12) When YHVH disciplines us it is proof that we are His children and that He is our loving Father. “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.” (Proverbs 13:24) The child who is not disciplined is the one who does not know love. We rejoice in the fact that YHVH loves us enough to set us straight, to place us on the right course, to show us the way of truth, love and security. The very fact that He takes the time and effort to discipline us proves that He is concerned about us personally.

B. YHVH'S DISCIPLINE PROMOTES HOLINESS IN OUR LIVES --- Hebrews 12:10b says that YHVH disciplines us for our own good that we may share in His holiness and in verse 11 we are told that YHVH's discipline will produce a "harvest of righteous" in our lives. When we begin to comprehend what YHVH is doing and instead of resisting it, we use it to build upon, we will begin to experience and understand what it means to be walking in His righteousness. It is a matter of placing our trust, not in our own abilities, but in YHVH's abilities to save us and keep us as His children. Peter sheds some light on what I am talking about here: “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Yeshua Moshiach.” (1 Peter 1:6-7) The holiness that results from YHVH's discipline benefits us in the fact that it teaches us to live as YHVH wants us to and to rejoice in the revelation of Yeshua Moshiach. You see, the more we become like Moshiach, the more we understand Moshiach. The more we walk in YHVH's holiness, the closer we become to understanding the sinless nature. It is a matter of living the way Paul described in Romans 14:17, “for the kingdom of YHVH is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in Ruach HaKodesh”.

C. YHVH'S DISCIPLINE PROVIDES PEACE IN OUR HEARTS --- Hebrews 12:11 also promises peace for those who have been disciplined by YHVH. Many years ago, a submarine was being tested and had to remain submerged for many hours. When it returned to the harbour, the captain was asked, "How did the terrible storm last night affect you?" The officer looked at him in surprise and exclaimed, "Storm? We did not even know there was one!" The sub had been so far beneath the surface that it had reached the area known to sailors as "the cushion of the sea." Although the ocean may be whipped into huge waves by high winds, the waters below are never stirred. As children who have been disciplined by YHVH, our minds are protected against the worries of this world because they are resting completely in the good providence of YHVH. There, sheltered by His grace and encouraged by His Ruach Kodesh, the believer can find the perfect tranquillity that only Moshiach can provide. In the elections held shortly after World War II, Winston Churchill's party was soundly defeated. Attempting to soften the blow, Churchill's wife ventured that "Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise." "If it is," said Churchill, "then it is most effectively disguised." Sometimes it seems that way with YHVH's discipline. We cannot understand it when we are in the midst of it. But if we are prepared, we will know that the day will come when we are glad and blessed that YHVH cares enough for us to show us the way home.

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