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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2016 19:33:51 GMT -6
3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; 5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him; 6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. 12 Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. 14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; 16 that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
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JB
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Post by JB on Oct 26, 2016 4:56:57 GMT -6
3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
These believers were once unstoppable in their faith (10:29-34). Now they were on the verge of turning their backs on Christ (10:35-36). What changed them was severe tribulation under which they felt like they were going to buckle. They expected that in such circumstances Jesus would return to rescue them, but He didn’t (10:37).
They needed to have the sort of faith that doesn’t need to see fulfillment in order to believe. Many examples of such faith were offered throughout chapter 11 to encourage them to keep on keeping on.
Now they are directed to turn their eyes upon Jesus in order to regain the stamina that they needed.
4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;
Jesus resisted sin throughout His life and all the way to the grave. While these believers had been persecuted, it had never yet gone as far as that! Could they continue to be faithful unto death?
5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him; 6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.
Their present trials were merely the discipline of a heavenly Father; discipline that demonstrates His love for them just as the discipline of an earthly father demonstrates love.
In modern English we often associate “discipline” with punishment, though our English word actually comes from “disciple.” It originally meant to shape a person’s character and teach a way of life through circumstances. That is also the sense of the Greek word used throughout this section. It may at times involve experiencing consequences for choices, but it is much more. Discipline is hyper-focused on molding. God’s discipline is intended to shape us to be like Christ. As Romans 8:29 says, “those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed [molded] to the image of his Son.” And 1 John 2:6 tells us "Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”
If God is not disciplining me, He has determined me to be illegitimate (v.8).
If God is not using my circumstances to make me less like “me” and more like Christ, He has determined that I am not His child and will not share in Christ’s holiness (v.10).
11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. 12 Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.
Verse 11 makes the nature of this discipline even clearer. In short, I ain’t gonna like it.
If everything in my life right now is comfortable and just the way I like it, I need to be concerned about my standing with God. How modern un-American is that?!
Am I reading that into this text, or does it really say that? Can you remember Jesus or any of his followers in the Bible having comfortable lives? I remember Judas trading Jesus’ lifestyle for half of a year’s salary, though. And I remember Jesus promising that His followers would be persecuted. And then I see most of us (including me) offering up our primary thinks to God for the material excesses and comfortable conditions that we call blessings.
14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;
These verses are connected to the severe persecution that the original readers were experiencing and which I think American Christians will see a return of in our lifetimes.
There’s a fascinating nuance to the word translated “peace” here. The Greek word is eirēnē (εἰρήνη), and it comes from the idea of a shattered piece of pottery being restored. That’s Jesus’s example. That’s what we are to pursue with our persecutors.
Pursue unbrokenness with them. Pursue restoration with them. That is the way to handle persecution in cooperation with the sanctifying discipline of God in your life.
If you do not pursue peace during persecution you will fall short of God’s grace. If you become bitter through persecution you will be defiled.
16 that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.
Esau had the birthright. He was sanctified (set apart) by his father. He had the promised blessings. But he gave that up in order to avoid “persecution” (actually the discomfort of hunger, but you can see the analogy). That cut him off from the blessings, even when he later wanted to reverse his poor decision because he found no place for repentance.
If one thing is clearer as a result of this study it should be that without uncomfortable discipline in our lives – which sometimes comes in the form of persecution – and without responding to that discipline in a restorative way, we cannot be children of God.
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