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Introduction: Importance of Doctrine

We’ve come to a section in the Book of Hebrews where the writer is primarily focusing on application. In the New Testament letters, the writer will typically start with significant doctrine. Up front, there’s doctrine and theology. Then, after they’ve given us a doctrine of theology, they will move into a moment of application, saying, Here’s what I want you to do with this doctrine in theology.

That’s what the writer of Hebrews is now doing. For the first 11 chapters, he provided us with a substantial amount of doctrine and theology. He told us a lot about who Jesus is, where Jesus came from, what he came to earth to do, and what he accomplished. He talks about Jesus being the image of the perfect God. That Jesus is better than angels, that Jesus establishes a New Covenant, and that Jesus mediates a better covenant with a better sacrifice than those of the Old Covenant. That Jesus is continually our great High Priest interceding for us.

He’s given us a lot of doctrine. He’s explained to us what faith is and why it matters. Now he moves into chapters 12 and 13, and he begins to tell us, What do you do with this doctrine of theology that I’ve now given you? The Book of Hebrews is a transcribed sermon, and I think it serves as a model for how we ought to preach in our present age. We live in a culture in the United States where it is very normal for sermons to be primarily practical or application-oriented.

You go to church and you hear, Here are three steps to do this. It’s often absent of theology and doctrine. When you look through the New Testament letters, they spend a lot of time teaching doctrine and theology. We see the book of Galatians has six chapters. The first five are doctrine and theology, and one chapter is application. We see here in Hebrews, 11 chapters chock-full of doctrine and theology, and two chapters of practical application. The most balanced letter is Ephesians. Three chapters of doctrine, three chapters of application.

But most of the New Testament authors spend more time teaching doctrine and theology than they do practical application, which I think is a model for how we ought to teach in our services. Tragically, across the Western world, in modern evangelicalism, we spend very little time teaching doctrine and theology. We wonder why our churches are kind of a mess. People ask, Why do you spend so much energy teaching doctrine, because that’s what the New Testament author said. We want to be like them.

So this is valuable in our conversations as believers; we should spend lots of time talking about doctrine and theology. As parents, we should be spending lots of time teaching our kids doctrine and theology. Now, certainly, we should not stop there. Those of us who are in the Reformed world sometimes we can stop with doctrine and theology, and then we forget to do the application part. So both are important.

The writer of Hebrews has now moved into chapters 12 and 13, where he is spending significant time giving us very practical exhortations. In the first few verses of chapter 12, he gives us some exhortations. The one that I spent the most time talking about last week was he tells us to get rid of sin and to get rid of any hindrances that may distract us from Jesus, even if those things are not sinful. Get rid of sin. Sin is bad. It distracts, it causes harm, it dishonors Jesus. Get rid of sin.

But in addition to that, there are lists of things in your life that are not necessarily sinful at all, but you should get rid of them because they potentially are a distraction between you and Jesus. The immature Christian asks this question, Is it sinful? It’s not that I can do it. The mature Christian or the maturing Christian asks a different question, a better question, not Is it sinful? But rather, will this thing help me run after Jesus better? If the answer is no, then you should consider eliminating it from your life.

We talked extensively about that last week. That was the first exhortation in the first few verses of Hebrews, chapter 12. Then he’s going to give us significant, more practical applications as he goes through chapters 12 and 13. But before he gets to more exhortations, he has this moment here where he pauses and talks about discipline.

He says, get rid of sin and get rid of things that may distract you, even if they’re not sinful. By the way, this is going to take some discipline to do well. If you refuse to engage in it, if you refuse to get rid of sin and to get rid of things that are distractions, God will discipline you because he loves you and he wants to make you better. That’s what he does; he begins to focus on it.

So the sentiment that we see from him here in the middle part of chapter 12 is, in essence, to embrace God’s discipline. He doesn’t explicitly say that. That is the implied application. In the middle part of chapter 12, he’s going to talk about the fact that God disciplines us. This is a good thing, and we should like it. We should say, God, bring it on, because he disciplines those whom he loves. If God is not disciplining you, you should question whether or not you are genuinely his. That’s what the writer of Hebrews implies here.

So this morning I want to talk a little bit about God’s discipline of us. I want to talk a little bit about how God disciplines us. Then I want to focus on one particular way he disciplines us. Primarily by the way in which we judge and correct one another. First, let’s pray one more time.

God, as we look at a few verses from Hebrews chapter 12, would you help us understand it? Would you cause this to change our hearts, to transform us? May we embrace your discipline. May you discipline us as needed and make us more like Jesus. I pray, would you do that? Would you do that in me? Would you do that in us? I pray. Amen.

Understanding God’s Discipline

Hebrews chapter 12, verse 5. The writer of Hebrews says:

“Have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?”

There’s an exhortation that was given to you. There were some words given to you, some challenges. The reason they were given to you is because you are sons. You are children of God. Then he says this:

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord.”

Don’t take it lightly that God wants to discipline you. It’s a serious thing. It’s sacred. We should make much of this. We should be excited about this. This is a good thing. I am a dad to a four-year-old. I have disciplined this child for quite some time now on a regular basis. I can assure you, she doesn’t like it when she’s being disciplined.

But the writer of Hebrews would have me say, When your good Father disciplines you, you should be excited about that. In First Corinthians 11:32 , the apostle Paul says this about God discipling us:

“God disciplines us so that we may not be condemned along with the world.”

That’s a remarkable statement. There are a bunch of people in the world who are going to be condemned. They’re going to face the wrath of God one day. It will be a tragic, heartbreaking moment, heart-wrenching. God says, some of you believe in me, and I’m going to continually discipline you so that you don’t end up in that category.

When God disciplines us and causes us not to be in the category of people that are going to face his condemnation, that’s a good thing. Praise God. It is a gift to be disciplined. Then he alludes to this here in this chapter. Good fathers discipline their children. A father who refuses to discipline his children is not a good father.

I want to say that to the kids in the room. When Mommy or Daddy disciplines you, they put you in a timeout, give you a lecture, or may spank you. That’s a good thing. That’s a good thing because they love you. We have various forms of discipline in our home. Verbal warnings, time-outs, and there may be moments where there needs to be a firm, physical spanking.

We call them pow-pows in our house. Lettie does not like pow-pows, I can assure you. But it’s good for her to get pow pows. It’s good for God to give us pow-pows when we sin. It’s good for God to introduce pain into our lives, to get our attention, for us to know that that behavior is unacceptable. When God gives you a pow-pow, you should say, Thank you, Daddy. Thank you.

Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 9. He says, We had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. We’re thankful for them. Shall we not be much more subject to the Father? We recognize what a good dad does. How much more should we respect it when God does it?

Side notes to the dads in the room. Discipline should be something that you are primarily involved in. It is very common, I’ve noticed, in American society for moms to carry the weight of disciplining the children. That is inappropriate. Dads, you should be thoroughly involved in that process. You should be leading the way.

A good dad should be involved. Do not just advocate that or delegate that to your wife. That’s unfair to her. It doesn’t mean that Mama never disciplines children. But if Mama does all the discipline, that’s unfair to her. That’s way too emotionally exhausting. Dads, you should be involved in that process.

Consequences of our Actions

Now, there are many ways in which God disciplines us. I’m going to mention a few of them. First, God will often allow us to experience the consequences of our own actions. He will say, You’ve made this bad, foolish choice. I’m going to orchestrate the events of your life to ensure you suffer the consequences of this thing.

I sometimes have to do this with my kids. It’s hard. I want to protect them sometimes. My kid is doing something dumb, and there’s going t