Hebrews 12: The Discipline of a Father Who Loves You

Introduction

The week before, St Thomas' North Sydney had heard Hebrews 12:1-2: throw off every weight and run with perseverance the race set before us. Ben Radloff, one of the assistant pastors, picks up the series with Hebrews 12:3-17. The race is long, the ground is rough, and eventually the legs grow heavy. Sometimes the next step feels impossible.

He doesn't speak from a distance. Two days earlier, he had learned that his grandfather had died. He thanks God that his grandfather became a Christian in his last years, and he holds on to great joy and great hope, but he still feels the bitterness of death. "For a believer, trusting God is hard. Keeping going every day, keeping on running: it's a long race."

He and his wife took up running a few months ago, after arriving in North Sydney. Over long distances he has discovered a secret: you are allowed to eat while you run, and nothing restores energy like pure sugar. Hence his image: this passage is a "sugar hit" in the middle of a long race. God doesn't just set the goal and say, "Now you're on your own." He keeps giving you every day what you need to reach the finish, and his Word is part of that.

Outline of the Message

1. Why Talk About "Sons"

The message has two points: as a son, look to the Son; as a son, hold on to the end.
Ben Radloff asks the women not to tune out. He uses the word "sons" on purpose, for its theological weight: to be called a son of God is to be the one who inherits what belongs to God.
Just as all of us, men and women, are sons of God, all of us, men and women, are the bride of Christ.

2. Look to Jesus Instead of Gritting Your Teeth

Verse 3: "For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls." Verse 4: "You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin."
The preacher admits that on first reading, this text felt less like a sugar hit and more like a punch. You know your sin, your repeated falls in the same areas. So when the text seems to tell you to try harder, you wonder: "How much harder can I try?"
Look at what the text actually says. The instruction is not "grit your teeth," nor "try harder so you don't grow weary." The instruction is: consider him.
The section headings in our Bibles are helpful, but they are not the Word of God. Here, the heading can make it seem as though the author changes subject at verse 3. In reality, he is continuing verses 1 and 2. The "him" he is talking about is Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, seated at the right hand of God. He has crossed the finish line.

3. The Son Who Suffered on the Way to Glory

How can thinking about Jesus lift a discouraged heart? Ben Radloff mentions the marathon world record holder, who runs twice as fast as he does and twice as far. If, just as you were slowing down, someone whispered that champion's time in your ear, you would not be encouraged.
The difference is that the letter to the Hebrews is a whole, and the entire book is about the identity of the Son: the one through whom God has spoken in these last days, the only one worthy to sit on the throne, the one who became like his brothers in every way, yet without sin, the one who is bringing many sons to glory.
How did he do it? Hebrews 2:10: it was fitting for God to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings. "In your suffering, consider him. Consider the Son who suffered, the Son whom the Father loved."
The preacher tells how John Woodhouse, who preached the week before, suggested he begin at verse 3. At the time, he wondered whether verse 3 didn't fit better with verses 1 and 2. He is grateful for that wisdom: without this connection to Jesus, the passage becomes something else entirely, a text we approach with all sorts of questions while forgetting that the whole Bible is about the Son.

4. Discipline, a Training Rooted in Love

Verses 5 to 7: "My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and chastises every son whom he receives." "God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline?"
The word "discipline" doesn't sound the same to everyone. Ben Radloff noticed that people over 21 often hear the punishment they received as children; he thinks of spankings. The younger ones, whom he met at the 5 p.m. service, see something positive, close to gym culture or the self-control that turns down a second slice of chocolate cake.
In this text, discipline is training: the training a father gives his son so that he becomes the person he is meant to be, the kind the whole book of Proverbs speaks of, so that the child doesn't stray from the right path.
The difficulties of your race, the opposition of others, the trials of each day are not a sign that everything has gone wrong or that God has abandoned you. You go through them because God loves you as his son.
God's discipline doesn't come only when you fail. Jesus never sinned, and yet he suffered in this world: he learned obedience through what he suffered (Hebrews 5:8), and he opened the path on which we walk behind him.
When you suffer, when you face the opposition of a world hostile to God, or when you see others suffer, don't automatically conclude it is punishment. "God has not abandoned you in your darkest hours. He has no more abandoned you as sons than he abandoned his Son Jesus, who died for you."

5. Why God Disciplines Us

Couldn't God have made the path easy? Verses 9 and 10: our earthly fathers punished us for a few days, as seemed good to them, "but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness."
As Creator and Father, he knows what is good for us. It is painful in the short term and beneficial in the long term. He lets us share in what we have no right to on our own.
Verse 11: all discipline seems at first to be a cause for sorrow, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Holiness, righteousness, peace: we don't have them in ourselves, but God works all things together for the good of those who love him.
These qualities are essential, because verse 14 says that without holiness no one will see the Lord. God did not merely set the goal, and Jesus did not merely mark out the course: the Father keeps training us to make sure we arrive at the last day.

6. Get Up and Watch Over Your Brothers and Sisters

Verses 12 and 13: "Therefore lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet." This is not the time to give up or to wave the white flag. Lift your eyes, and don't veer to the right or the left. Jesus has gone ahead of you as the Son.
Once you have been encouraged yourself, you are responsible for bringing your brothers and sisters along with you. Verse 15: make sure no one falls short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.
The preacher speaks frankly: if you hold a grievance against someone in the church, a member of the team, or the church itself, don't let it fester. Don't stay silent: bring it into the light and seek reconciliation. Don't let it spread like gangrene.
Don't live the Christian life alone, telling yourself, "I'm fine," while others fall along the way. Exhort one another every day. The devil will try to convince someone that God can't be trusted, that whatever is going wrong in their life proves it. Don't leave that lie unanswered: speak the truth in love.

7. Don't Sell Your Inheritance Like Esau

Verses 16 and 17: let no one be sexually immoral or profane like Esau, who sold his birthright for one meal, and who was afterward rejected when he wanted to inherit the blessing, though he sought it with tears.
Ben Radloff sees in "sexually immoral or profane" an Old Testament image, in which God's people treat their God as a betrayed husband. The text has implications for sexual morality, which the rest of the letter, especially chapter 13, will probably develop further. But what is emphasized here is the folly of apostasy: turning your back on God, betraying him.
Esau, Isaac's firstborn son, was to inherit the promise made to his grandfather Abraham. Coming home from hunting, he was so hungry that he traded all those promises for a bowl of lentil stew. "Folly. Don't make that trade."
Your choices, big and small, reveal where you place your hope: your time, your money, the relationships you pursue, your goals, your ambitions, your measures of success. Are you making small trades every day that show you don't really value this inheritance?
And when you see one of your brothers or sisters making that foolish trade, warn them before it is too late.

Key Takeaways

The instruction in Hebrews 12:3 is not "try harder" but "consider Jesus," the Son who has crossed the finish line.
God's discipline is a training rooted in love, a father's training of his son, and not proof that he has abandoned you.
Suffering is not automatically punishment: Jesus, without sin, suffered on the way to glory.
God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in his holiness and see him on the last day.
Perseverance is lived together: make sure no one falls short of the grace of God or sells off their inheritance.

Personal Application

When you struggle against sin, is your first instinct to grit your teeth, or to consider Jesus?
Which trial you are going through do you read as punishment, when it could be the training of a Father who loves you?
Is there a grievance against someone in your church that you are letting fester in silence? What first step toward reconciliation can you take?
Which brother or sister around you seems to be growing weary, and how can you encourage them this week?
Do your schedule, your money, and your ambitions show that you value your inheritance, or that you are trading it for a bowl of lentil stew?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does God's discipline mean in Hebrews 12?

For Ben Radloff, the discipline described in Hebrews 12 is first of all training: the training a father gives his son so that he becomes the person he is meant to be. Difficulties, opposition, and trials are not a sign that God has abandoned you. He treats you as a son he loves, for your good, so that you may share in his holiness.

Is my suffering a punishment from God?

Not necessarily. The preacher points out that Jesus never sinned and yet he suffered: he learned obedience through what he suffered. When you suffer, or when you see someone else suffer, don't automatically conclude that God is punishing. What you are going through is the loving training of a Father who is teaching you to depend on him.

What does Esau represent in Hebrews 12:16-17?

Esau, Isaac's firstborn son, was to inherit the promise made to Abraham. Coming home from hunting, famished, he traded his birthright for a bowl of lentil stew. Ben Radloff sees in this the folly of apostasy: giving up the inheritance promised to the sons of God for immediate satisfaction. Don't accept that trade, and warn those who are tempted to make it.