1 God trains us in the school of suffering 2 Pain proves God loves us as children 3 God’s Discipline produces Holiness 4 Jesus’ Sonship was Perfected in Suffering

Recap of the Race of Faith

Last week we capped off Hebrews 11 with one imperative which was to run the race of faith. And as we did that we said when you need to run you need to look to Jesus. Let us run the race with endurance. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. Oh, today we want to think about why that race requires endurance. Now, it requires endurance. The life of faith for the Christian requires endurance because it’s hard.

The Three Problems of the Christian Life

What makes it hard? Thomas Watson, a great Puritan writer, said that there were only three problems in the Christian life. The first sin, the second sadness, and the third suffering. Last week we talked about sin and how one needed to run the race to lay aside every weight and sin which so easily entangled. And we saw that Christ, our savior, although was without sin, was tempted in ways far deeper than we are. Sadness we see in the Christian life because we saw it in the life of Christ who wept at the tomb of Lazarus. Oh, how he loved him. And if we’re going to live in this world like Christ, we will end up weeping even as like Christ we look forward to the joy set before us. And today we are going to tackle the third problem of the Christian life which is suffering.

Facing Suffering in the Christian Life

How do we handle suffering in the Christian life? How are we going to face down the deepest disappointments in our lives? And today our text points to an interesting answer. And we often will say things and we look to Romans 8:28. God works all things for good for those who love him and are called according to his purposes. And it can seem at times maybe a little glib or easy. But even as we read this counsel from Hebrews to a suffering people, which might seem totally counterintuitive, we should recognize that the author of Hebrews was not unaccustomed to suffering and he wrote to a suffering people. Think of the things that they suffered. Recall the former days when after you were enlightened, that is received the Holy Spirit, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction.

Suffering as a Sign of Adoption

Now suffering is hard and very often in this life when you suffer you may be tempted to think that it’s a sign that God is opposed to you. You were going the wrong direction. Perhaps you might think that you were under God’s curse. But Hebrews wants to make the opposite argument here. Makes the opposite argument that suffering is the very sign of our adoption by God and not a sign of his turning away. In short, suffering proves sonship. Let’s see it in the text. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted in your struggle against sin. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. Now we want to consider him that is Christ that he suffered and died. Consider him as you fight sin. Jesus was faithful all the way to the end, all the way to death. And we should make it our same aim to fight against sin, even if it cost us our lives.

The Side Note on Suffering and Encouragement

Now, as we are considering him, Hebrews makes a side note. Now, as it goes from verses 5 to 11, which is our text for today, it makes a side note in running the race of faith, especially considering suffering because he knows his people might grow being hardened and discouraged and he wants needs them to see that suffering is not a sign of God’s turning away, but a sign maybe we could of God’s favor. Suffering proves sonship. Now, this is a side note because after in verse 12, it’s going to pick back up on the main point of looking to Jesus, running the race, lift up your hands and your elbows and just like run. But in the side note, we find comfort for when we might suffer. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? Now, this is from Proverbs 3:12, and it is addressed to a son. My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. Suffering proves that we are children of God.

God Trains Us in the School of Suffering

Now in this we see that God trains us up in the school of suffering. And the fact of being trained up in the school of suffering comes from this word here disciplines. Discipline and this is going to have context of things that are painful. The word itself simply means to train up a child in its whole training to a life of moral virtue. Now they recognize like we should recognize that training of a child in moral virtue does not involve spoiling them by just giving them what they want. It involves discipline that’s going to be hard and painful for them in various ways. The same way God disciplines us with difficulty and suffering so that we might be well. We’ll see what we might be. Now, we know that this training up in the school is hard because of the rest of the context. In verse 11, for the moment, all discipline seems rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. The life of faith is a life that involves hardship. And we’ve just read Hebrews 11 where we learned about Moses who was exiled from house and home because of faith in God. We’ve heard about those in 11:37 who were stoned, sawn in two, killed with a sword, who went about in the skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy.

The Painfulness of Discipline and Its Ultimate Good

It can be hard to see how the most painful things in your life might be working for some good. In our church, there are many things that are hard every day that I go about. There are many things that are hard that you carry with you. I always come back to December 29th, 2004, seeing my first daughter die. How hard things are hard and God does not overlook that fact. In fact, the text sees it. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but it is training us in the school of righteousness. Now, this truth that God is hard things in our life for good is all over the New Testament. We talked about before it up and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose, God is working the hard things in our lives for good. In fact, this very chapter of Romans now, it connects Proverbs here in Hebrews is talking about how our suffering proves that we are sons of God. And Romans makes the same connection. Romans 8:17, if children, then heirs, heirs of God, fellows with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. If we are children, we are sons and daughters of God, we are heirs of all things, then we might expect that just as Christ the son of God suffered, we might suffer too. And yet in this God is working for sonship proves suffering. We see that God trains us in the school of suffering. It is not a school that anyone is rushing out to sign up for, but it’s the school that does us good.

Suffering Proves God’s Love for Us as Children

Secondly, Hebrews wants us to see another surprising truth, and that is that suffering, our suffering, proves God’s love for us as his children. Let’s just keep going through the text here. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons for what son is there whom his father does not discipline. Now, as we talked about the school of suffering, it might give you the wrong picture because this isn’t like, you know, God sends you off to some school where they’re going to teach you some discipline with a drill sergeant. No, education, raising up children in the world of Hebrews, the ancient world, was something that families did and fathers were responsible for. All the homeschooling moms are like, “Yeah, fathers responsible the children raising.” Yeah. But fathers here were responsible for raising up the children. So this isn’t a school that God like sends you off to, but this is how you know you’re in the house. And not just as a house of some servant who’s going to get tasked to do, but in the house as a son who’s going to be trained up to rule, to inherit all things, heirs of all things, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Hebrews wants us to see the hardships in our lives are actually signs that God loves us, that he loves us.

Personal Reflections on Discipline and Love

Now, hard things don’t give us warm and fuzzy feelings very often. I can remember a child or two whom I had to discipline for basically, you know, some sort of defiant disobedience. And they said, “You did this because you hate me.” And one didn’t believe it at the time. I told them again and again, “No, no, I do this only because I love you and I desperately want you to be the woman of God that you’re called to be.” Many years later, my kids are generally much more thankful for the discipline they got early. And in this hardships that promote our ultimate good, God is treating us as sons, sons and daughters, children of God. Suffering proves our sonship of God.

The Opposite: Lack of Discipline as Illegitimacy

Now, if discipline proves that we are children of God, Hebrews is so bold to say that the opposite would also be true. But if you were left without discipline in which all have participated, he says, you know, all of you, he knows he’s writing to a suffering people. If theoretically you have been left without discipline, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. If a father does not care to raise up his children in things that might be hard but are ultimately good is essentially disowning that child. And so if we think about this fully, the suffering in our lives proves that God is our father. We are sons and daughters of the king, heirs of all things. The opposite is also true. A fat cat life of ease is a sign that you are not God’s child. And this is not like some foreign concept in the New Testament. We remember Jesus himself. Luke 6:24. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor and persecuted. Blessed, blessed are the poor, persecuted, and meek. Blessed are the suffering ones.”

Earthly Fathers and the Father of Spirits

And ultimately, we see one more reason why the Hebrews hear that suffering proves sonship. Verse 9, besides this we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the father of spirits and live? Father’s kind of weird phrase there. The earthly father is literally like fathers of the flesh. So fathers of the flesh are human fathers. Father of our spiritual renewal our father in Christ God the father. That’s why we have that phrase. Now if we can see that our earthly fathers disciplined us for good, how much more our father in heaven.

Addressing Difficult Father Experiences

Now, in the speaking of discipline and especially fatherly discipline, there are many of you who have a hard time hearing this because it’s hard to think of father and think of someone who loves you. Germanic people have trouble with the concept of God as a father because their father was not like that was not loving towards them very much at all. Now, this is hard. This is hard for us to grasp, but we should see that our hearts ache for a father. And even when we have a hole in our hearts aching for a father that has become callous and damaged because of the work of sinful men, the fact is that we have hearts that long for a father points to a father that is better than the best of the human fathers and of a completely different nature than the worst. Don’t let one man define who God the Father is. Don’t let one man in your life define who God the Father is. If you want one man to define who God is, look to the man, Jesus Christ, and no other. And I pray that in looking to him that you can have the same trust that he had running the race, knowing that suffering proves sonship, that even though God trains us in the school of suffering, this pain proves God loves us as children.

God’s Discipline Produces Holiness

And finally, in this text, we see something that should probably be obvious is that God’s discipline produces holiness in our life. The hard things we get are so we get to grow in the fullness of his holiness. Verse 10, for they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them. For better or worse, no. They didn’t know everything. But you know who does know everything? God. But he disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. God is not just working on your happiness, but that we would share his holiness. And this isn’t just that, you know, work hard to just be like, we’re going to be really holy people now. We’re going to do all this. No, it’s his discipline. But more than that is that we share his holiness. That something of his holy nature is imputed to us. And I think there’s something about sharing the suffering of Christ helps us to share in the holiness of Christ. And I think this plays out in our lives. And we know this that in the hardest and most difficult times are the times that we grow. We grow far more often through tears than laughter. And even though the times may be painful, that it yields peaceful fruit of righteousness. That we live a life of peace displaying and having just come out of us the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Discipline is not easy, but God is working so that your part shares his holiness. We know that the hard times produce the best men and spoiled children the worst. Suffering proves sonship. God trains us in the school suffering. Pain proves God’s love for us as children. God’s discipline produces holiness.

Jesus’ Sonship Perfected in Suffering

And finally we see looking to Jesus himself that Jesus own sonship was perfected in suffering. Even Jesus was perfected more in suffering than he could be without it. And we see this hinted at back in verse six. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son he receives. Now this word is interesting because translators don’t want to translate it how it is normally translated because it sounds harsh because the word is scourged or flogged. This word is only ever used in the New Testament to speak of one event and that is Jesus’ scourging. Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. Same word as here. Jesus the Christ is the son whom God loved. He had the son who was disciplined. And Hebrews points here that the most extreme hardship of Christ was the thing that proved his sonship out loud. Proverbs 3:12, he was the son, the God disciplined, fully schooled in suffering and shown to be perfect. In fact, this has come up before in Hebrews. Verse 5. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. Jesus was perfect and he learned obedience through what he suffered. He was made perfect, the perfect one, more perfect through suffering.

Christ’s Example and God’s Purpose in Suffering

And this shows something about God’s purpose in suffering that we need to have sink deeply in us because it can feel so often. I suffer, something goes wrong. What am I doing wrong? No, that’s not a bad question to ask. We very often will suffer for our own sin. But Christ’s example and God’s purpose is not just that we be punished for sin, but the difficult things in our life would cause us to grow in holiness and perfection just as Christ who was completely sinless. And so your suffering today very well may not be caused by sin. It wasn’t for Christ. Your suffering may be working deeper purposes, but more than anything showing that you are being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, our suffering savior. Remember, he disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness. That just as Christ suffered that we might walk the same path. There is a reason Christ says, “Take up your cross and follow me.” When the son carries the cross, those who are sons and daughters must do so as well.

Wrestling with God’s Ordination of Evil

Now, it can be hard to see God’s purposes in suffering. We’ve already noted that all discipline at the time seems painful rather than pleasant. And one might ask at this point, does this mean that God did this blank evil action in my life? Did God give me cancer? Did God cause my child to walk away from the faith? Did God give me into the hands of that trusted person when I was a child who abused me? How can I think of God causes such things? Now, we can’t affirm without compromise what the Bible says that God ordains all things by the counsel of his will. Ephesians 1:11, but Christ again is the model. Yes, it was God’s plan. And Peter says in Acts that by the predetermined plan of God, but then he turns to the chief priests and the leaders and you put him to death because it was God because God did not lie and court and murder Jesus Christ. The chief priests and Jewish leaders did. God did not nail the spikes through Jesus’ hands. The Roman soldiers did. God does not cause people to sin. God does not sin. Now, how all of it works out. How God can mean what is evil, how God can plan what people meant as evil for ultimate good. I do not know the secret things do belong to the Lord. But I can say with confidence that the pains in our life, the suffering in our life, God ordains in such a way that is working for your good. And for those who are his children, your suffering proves that you are children of God.

Take-Home for Suffering Saints

Our suffering proves sonship. When we suffer doing good and responding in faith, it shows we are children of God. And the take-home here for suffering saints or for the day when that terrible suffering comes. I want to inoculate you to give you ammunition for the day when Satan comes to tell you that this hard trial is because God has turned away and that God has abandoned you, that you can remember the text in Hebrews right here that your suffering proves that God is your father.

Looking to Christ on the Cross

And for each of us as we consider this text and maybe it seems like the hard thing to consider is that in running the race we have someone to follow and that is Jesus Christ. And today we look to Christ scourged Christ on the cross. Christ feeling forsaking of the father because even in that moment upon the cross in his greatest moment of triumph we see that he is the son we see him the son in his glory love God displayed in incomprehensible evil for the cross chose God’s son and the cross shows that God’s son is God’s son. When you must bear and take up your cross, God is calling you a son, too. And if the tears of suffering turn us to faith, we are shown. I cannot explain the ways of God, but I can show you Christ. And if Christ is the son on the tree, no matter how deep and dark the path of suffering you may walk, you walk it following him, our crucified savior. Amen.