Old Testament Lesson; Isaiah 66:18-23
Epistle Lesson; Hebrews 12:3-24
Gospel Lesson; Luke 13:23-30
Sermon Text; Hebrews 12:3-13

Imagine you are sitting at a table at McDonald's, with your family. And, imagine you are kind of just people watching, as people go up to the counter and order their food at McDonald's. You see a man and a young boy walk into McDonald's together. They walk up to the counter together and you think, "Oh. It is nice that a father and a son are out, getting a little McDonald's, together."

You see each place their orders. You then see the person behind the counter bring their orders to them. You see the boy look at what he has in his hand and you hear him say to the person who gave it to him, "That's not what I ordered!"

He rips it open and throws it on the ground. At which time the man beside him steps back and looks at him. You think to yourself, "Oh boy! Is he going to get it!"

The man looks at the boy. He looks at the food laying on the ground, shakes his head, turns back to the counter, picks up his food, and begins to walk out of McDonald's. The boy walks behind him, defiantly.

You are thinking, "What? He did not do anything! That dad didn't disciple his son! Why, he should have grabbed him by the neck! He should have scolded him! He should have made him pick it up! He should have told him to apologize to the person behind the counter! But, that dad did not do anything!"
What happened there? How can it possibly be that a father would not discipline his son?

You know, there is a very logical explanation to what happened there. And, what is the logical explanation? The logical explanation is that was not a father and son. It just happened that the two of them walked through the door together. They just happened to walk up to the counter at the same time. They did not know each other from ‘Adam.’ They just happened to place their order at the same time. And when the boy threw his food on the floor and the man stepped back and looked at him, the man probably looked at that boy and thought, "If you were my son, if you were my son, I would make you pick that up! I would make you apologize. You would be in big trouble, when we get out to the car."

But the man looked at the boy, shook his head, and thought, "You are not my son." And then, he walked out.

Keep that in mind, as we consider that when we hear the word ‘discipline.’ I think when we hear that word ‘discipline,’ the word ‘discipline’ often brings a lot of heavy baggage with it, for a lot of us. We hear the word ‘discipline’ and we think, "Wow, that means somebody did something really bad and they are in really big trouble, really big trouble."

Or, as an adult, if someone were to discipline you as an adult, you may say, "I would be offended. That would be an affront, if someone would discipline me as an adult." The word ‘discipline’ kind of makes our shackles go up and our hair stands up a little bit on the top of our heads.

If you are a child and you talk to your friends about being disciplined, it usually is not in a good context, is it? "Yah, my mom and dad are mad at me. They don't like me. They hate me. They don't understand me."

The word discipline carries a lot of icky baggage with it. And yet, our scripture reading today says,

"The Lord disciplines

those He loves."

Let's look at the word ‘discipline,’ first of all. If you look at the word ‘discipline’ you will notice it comes from a smaller word. What is the smaller word that the word ‘discipline’ comes from? The word ‘discipline’ comes from the word ‘disciple.’ What is ‘a disciple?’ ‘A disciple’ is a learner. The word ‘disciple’ means ‘a learner or a student.’ So, ‘a disciple’ is someone who learns, someone who is taught. Therefore, someone who ‘disciplines’ is someone who is a teacher or an instructor. And true discipline is this. As a father, (and every father and mother out here can say this) as a father, it is my job to instruct and teach my children. That is my job. And I am certainly to instruct and teach them with my word. But, sometimes words are not enough. Sometimes, children should be instructed by circumstances, or by actions, or by consequences, and sometimes by difficult circumstances. Let me give you an example. As a parent, it is my job to teach. Now, I have a little two year old, with a paper clip in their fingers. The little, two year old notices a little outlet in the wall and thinks, "Boy! That would fun to stick this little metal paper clip in that outlet slot."

Well, what would happen if that little child did that? They would be zapped.

It may be very difficult for me to instruct a little, one year old or a two year old, with my words. "You don't want to stick that in that little slot, because you may get electric currents running through your body and it won’t feel very good."

It would be much more effective if I just go up to the little child, slap his hand, and say, "NO!"

The purpose is not to bring pain, trouble, or discomfort into the little one’s life. The purpose is to instruct and train in a loving way, so as to make their behavior the kind of behavior that is going to be good for that child. That is the purpose of discipline. To discipline is really a loving thing.

Now, sometimes discipline, (well, I really should not say sometimes), discipline is always difficult. Our scripture reading acknowledges that. It says,

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time,

but painful."

The Bible recognizes that.

If you are a kid, and I asked you, "How many of you like to get spanked?" I don't think anybody is going to raise his or her hand and say, "Yah! I love that!" No, it is not pleasant. It is painful.

"How many of you like to get grounded?" Again, I don’t think anybody is going to raise his or her hand and say, "I love that." It is painful. And, it is uncomfortable.

"How many of you like it when your parents scold you?" We don't like that. It is painful. It can be hard, at times.

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time,

but painful."

In fact, our scripture reading even recognizes that we can lose heart in the face of discipline. It says,

"Do not lose heart,

when He rebukes you."

A child can look at discipline and begin to lose heart, and say, "Oh, my mom and dad don't love me."

So, let's stop for a second, and look at what scripture is telling us about God's discipline. It wants us to remember three things about God's discipline in your life. When God brings hardship into your life, our scripture passage tells us,

"Endure hardship as discipline."

God is disciplining you, when He brings hardship into your life. Does that mean He is punishing you, because you have done something wrong, or you have done something bad? "Oh boy, now you are in big trouble with God!" That is not at all what scripture is teaching about discipline.

Not at all!

Look at these three things from scripture. Number one, I saw something really interesting happen about a year ago, here at Holy Cross. It was at our first All-School Reunion here at Holy Cross. We had lots of people who had gone to school, here at Holy Cross, (some of them as many as thirty-five years ago), who came back for the reunion!

During the reunion, a lot of them were down in the gym, milling around, meeting people that they had not seen in years. It was an atmosphere that was alive with excitement, as people were talking. I was standing by some students and teachers that went ‘way back,’ as well as Mr. Born, who used to be the principal here at Holy Cross, years ago. All of a sudden, coming through the doors leading from the cafeteria to the gymnasium, comes some guy, who I had never seen before. I heard the people who were standing next to me say, "Oh! Can you believe it? Look who is here!"

Of course, that caught my attention. I looked over at him, as they said his name. (I am not going to say what his name is, because some of you may know him.). They said, "I can't believe he is here! He was so bad, when he was here at Holy Cross! He got into so much trouble with Mr. Born. I remember he would be in Mr. Born's office all of the time. Boy, would he get disciplined by Mr. Born. I can't believe he is here!"

Well, that really caught my attention. I kind of kept my eye on this guy, as he started walking right up to our group, and right towards Mr. Born. Mr. Born looked at the guy, as he walked up. He stopped and they looked at each other, eye to eye. It was quiet, as the young guy reached out his hand and said, "Mr. Born, I am (and he said his name). Thank you. Thank you."

He then put his arms around him and gave him a big hug, as he said, "What you did for me at Holy Cross was one of the most important things in my life."

Now, at the time that student was here, I am sure that the discipline that happened to him did not seem pleasant. It was painful. But, later on it produced ‘a harvest’ in his life. And, it served the purpose that it was intended. It was to correct him, to shape him, to mold him. And the same is true in our lives. Through discipline, God intends in our lives to correct us, to shape us, to mold us into the type of people He wants us to be.

Our scripture reading tells us that we respect our parents; we respect our fathers and mothers for the discipline that they gave us; just like that young man respected Mr. Born. And so, when God disciplines us, we should not say, "Why does He bring this hardship into my life? Why is He being so mean to me? Why is He being so hard on me?" Instead of that, we should look at God and say, "God, I respect you. I respect you. You love me and so, you are trying to shape me and mold me."

Which gets me to the next thing. Our scripture passage goes on and it reminds us of this when it tells us not to grow weary and "don't lose heart" in the face of hardship and trouble.

"Do not lose heart

when He rebukes you."

Think about the hardships that you personally have had to go through, (I don't know what they are, in a lot of your lives, but some of you, I do know, have gone through some very, very difficult hardships). Some of you are going through secret hardships, right now. You know the difficulties that you have.

You may go through hardships with the way you deal with the people at work. Maybe there is a lot of stress at your work place. And, it is hard. It is hard and maybe it has been going on for years. Now, you are starting to grow weary and lose heart.

There may be hardship in your family. There may be difficult relationships in your family and you may be growing weary and lose heart, saying, "Why God? Why is this life so long? Why is it so hard?"

You may be going through health concerns that are very difficult for you to bear up under. And you may begin to feel, "I am going to lose heart."

It is just like when a child gets disciplined. Did you ever hear a child, when they got disciplined, turn to their parent and say, "You don’t care about me. You hate me. You only want to hurt me. You don't love me." Then, they go to their room and slam their door. They have lost heart. They lost focus of what is really happening and what is really taking place.

Our scripture reading says that when you are disciplined, you should recognize this. God is treating you like a son or a daughter. He is treating you like His son or daughter.

You are His son and His daughter.

How did that happen? How did it happen that you became a son or daughter of God?

It happened right there

on the cross.

Consider the expense it took for you to become a son or a daughter of God. That was not some small, simple, tiny, little thing that happened and ‘boom,’ you became a son or daughter of God. No! Look at that cross. That is what you deserve for all of the wrong, bad, evil things you do, day, after day, after day, after day. That is it. Right there. You deserve it. You deserve to be nailed up there. You deserve it. You deserve to be tortured. You talk about hardship coming in to your life. There on the cross is what you deserve.

And yet, God didn't punish you. He punished His own Son.

He punished His Son

in your place.

He poured out all of the anger and wrath that you deserve, all the anger and wrath that you deserve day, after day, after day, there on the cross. And there on the cross, God's anger against you was appeased. It was satisfied.

God is at peace with you.

And now that you believe in Jesus as your Savior, God, through Jesus, sees you as His son or His daughter. That means He is going to treat you like a son or a daughter. He loves you so much, He loves you enough that He will treat you the way a parent would treat a child.

Go back to that guy at McDonald's. He did not discipline the boy, because the boy was not his. But a father, a loving father would have disciplined that boy at McDonald's. Why? What is the job of a father? Discipline is looking off into the future. Discipline is looking off into the future and saying, "You know what? When my boy grows up, I want him to respect those in authority. When my boy grows up, I want him to be honest in his dealings with other people. When my boy grows up, I want him to be responsible at work. When my boy grows up, I want him to be sensitive to the needs of those around him. And so, those are my high expectations. I love him. I have high expectations, and I want the best for him. And so, I will discipline him at times. If he is not respectful, I may put him in his room for a time, because I have his future in sight. If he is not sensitive to the needs of his brothers or sisters, I may take away something of his, because I have his future in sight."

Those God loves, He disciplines. Our scripture reading says,

"If you are not disciplined,

then you are illegitimate children

and not true sons."

You are not really His children, if there is not hardship or trouble in your life. We are to conclude from scripture that those God loves, He will discipline. And so, there will be hardships in our lives, not because God is mad at us, not because He is angry with us, but because He wants to shape and mold us. And, He has our best in mind.

Thirdly, is this. As we look at discipline, our scripture reading also says, "Do not make light of the Lord's discipline."

Do not make light of the Lord's discipline.

What does that mean? What does it mean to make light of discipline? It means you don't get it. You don't stop, pause, and ask yourself, "Why did mom and dad just send me to my room? What am I to learn from this?" "Why did I just get soap put in my mouth, and what am I to learn from that?"

Don't make light of discipline.

When discipline happens, if you get soap in your mouth as a kid, your parents are trying to teach you something. What is it? The proper use of the tongue.

Don't make light of the Lord's discipline.

When hardships come into our lives, all of us in this room should pause and ask ourselves, "What is the Lord using this for to teach? This is discipline. That means He is teaching me."

Certainly, God teaches us through His Word, but He also uses circumstances in our lives, to teach us those lessons about God's Word, more and more deeply. If there is anybody in this room who thinks, "I do not need God's discipline." In other words, you think, "I don't need to be corrected. I don't need to be molded. I don't need to be shaped. I don't need to be trained in a certain way." Then, you might as well get up and go home, right now.

But, if you recognize, "I do need to be molded. I do need to be shaped. I do need to be corrected, in some cases in my life. There are some things about me, that I recognize (and it is the case in my life); I am not perfect yet, in those Christian virtues. I do not have perfect patience. I do not have perfect kindness. I do not have perfect love. I do not have perfect gentleness. I am not perfect at forgiving other people. I am not perfect at helping bear one another's burdens. I am not perfect at any of those things. I do need to be molded, shaped, and trained. And, if God brings hardships into my life, He may very well be using those things, those hardships to train me in a hard way to be more patient, to be more long suffering, to be kinder to other people, to understand them a little better, to understand their pains, and their troubles so I can comfort them a little more. God is instructing me through this hardship. He is disciplining me. He has my best in mind."

He only wants what is best for me.

It is true.

It is true with me, just like it is for you. I have my heart set on some things, a little more strongly than it aught to be. (You know what they may be in your life.) And it very well may be that God may bring difficulties in my life, to get my heart to say, "You know what? That thing that my heart is so set on, maybe I should not be focusing on that, so much."

Maybe my health is gone, now. And now, I won't be able to go out and do those entertaining activities I used to do anymore. My heart now needs to shift directions to other things, to God and His Word. Through hardships, God in His loving hands, as our Father, molds us and shapes us, our scripture reading says, so that we can ultimately share in His holiness, so that we can share in God's holiness.

You know, a dad looked at his son off in the future and he said, "I want my son to be responsible. I want him to be loving. I want him to be kind."

What does God say about you? "I want him to be holy. I want him to be holy." That is His long-term goal for you. His long-term goal is that you will be holy. Which means His long-term goal is that you make it to Heaven, because in Heaven, we will be made holy. As long as we are here on this earth, that holiness is ours by faith in Jesus, as our Savior. The Father's goal is to get us to Heaven.

And so, we say, "Lord God, you know what is best for me. I want to be in Heaven, too. You are my Father. Bring into my life, whatever it takes, whatever hardship or difficulty you need to train me, to keep me in Your Word, to keep me in my faith, and keep me on that path to Heaven. God do it!"

For Christ's sake,

Amen.