Tabor Baptist Church

Introduction

• Three antidotes to discouragement
• Sometimes as Christians we get very discouraged when we go through discouragement
• Example from Hymn 'God moves in a mysterious way'
• Often we feel discouraged at our sin, when we fail, when things don't go as expected, when we are criticised, in ill health
• There are many characters in the Bible who were discouraged: Elijah, David, Peter, Paul
• It is normal for Christians to go through discouragement
• These Hebrew Christians were very discouraged: some had stopped meeting together, some had wanted to give up the Christian faith altogether
• The author encourages the Hebrews to look to Jesus, don't give up, cast off the weights that pull you down
• This morning: v3-13
• v3-4: Consider the Sufferings of Jesus for You
• v5-11: Understand the Loving Discipline of God
• v12-13: Taking Practical Steps

Consider the Sufferings of Jesus for You (v3-4)

• Have you meditated much on the sufferings of Jesus?
• Not just at Easter but throughout the year
• The hostility was against Jesus
• He came to His own but was rejected by them
• The darkness was opposed to the light of Christ
• Even His own brothers, family members and town were against Him
• Faced a lot of religious persecution
• Man showed their hostility to the very Son of God
• Jesus Christ loved to the end
• He took men's sin upon Himself
• He bore such hostility that we might believe in Him
• The author to the Hebrew Christians encourages the people to look to Jesus
• If we are opposed because we are a Christian, we are following in the Master's footsteps
• Consider Christ

Understand the Loving Discipline of God (v5-11)

• If we are not in the right frame of mind we might think 'this isn't fair', 'how can God do to this me?'
• Do we ever stop to think if this is the loving hand of God upon us?
• Chastening
• Not punitive judgement
• There is no condemnation for the Christian - we are not treated as we deserve
• We deserve the judgement of God
• But Christ has paid for this judgement and our sin on the cross
• We will be disciplined and chastened in love
• In the Greek, the word means 'training'
• Every good parent knows the need to train their child
• To give rules and limits
• There are consequences for disobedience
• The readers had forgotten Proverbs 3 (v5-6)
• Do not despise it but recognise that it is coming from the loving hand of God
• Sometimes the correction can be quite severe or painful
• Sometimes the correction is preventative
• Consider Paul and the thorn in his side - to stop him from becoming proud
• We must look beyond the means to our Heavenly Father
• We should ask the question 'why'?
• What are we to learn?
• What is the lesson?
• What are we to understand?
• Discipline is a sign of sonship (v7-8)
• These verses remind us forcefully that discipline is a sign of sonship
• You do not discipline your neighbour's children
• You have responsibility for your own children, to train them and love them
• God has responsibility for His own children
• If you know nothing of the correction of God then it is a proof that you are not a child of God
• God chastens those whom He loves
• There can be different forms of discipline
• Financial discipline - Haggai
• God can grant us all we want - but give leanness into our souls
• God disciplines His church - 1 Cor 11
• He sends physical weakness, sickness or even death
• Church discipline [i.e. discipline administered by the church and not God] is for public sin
• But God disciplines for private sin
• The Lord feels for us
• Just as we feel for our children when we discipline them, so God feels for us when He disciplines us
• The purpose of discipline (v9-11)
• To prevent a child from turning into a brat
• To become a respectful, peaceable child
• When the child grow up they are glad of the discipline (v10)
• Everything that God does us is for profit, for our benefit
• We should be glad of God's discipline
• Where would we be without the prayers of others?
• Where would we be without God's discipline?
• We are to be partakers of God's holiness
• God chastens us that our lives might produce fruit (v11)
• 1 Pet 5:10
• We may suffer for a little while, but afterwards we will be settled and established

Taking Practical Steps (v12-13)

• Consider marathon runners
• This is the same image we have - do not give up the race
• Discouragement can paralyse some Christians:
• Doesn't want to serve
• Doesn't want to pray privately or publicly
• We need to encourage and support one another
• The person themselves needs to take practical steps
• Reassess their life, path and priorities
• Example of someone with depression and debt
• We should not be wobbly Christians
• Some suffering can be terrible
• Example from Alistair Begg of the young woman

Closing Remarks

• Trials come our way
• All Christians have trials
• God tailors these trials
• He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear
• Look at the Old Testament saints
• Look at those in the New Testament