Do Not Despise the Lord’s Discipline

Let’s turn to the word of the Lord. Remember that we are talking about trials, tribulations, the struggles of life, and how the Lord often uses these things in a positive way. The Lord Jesus Christ said that in the world there would be affliction. The world is crooked by nature; the world we inhabit is a fallen, distorted world, and when we walk through this world there will be difficulties. That is not foreign to the lives of the children of God. We have to be prepared when trials and tribulations come, and we have to know what to do when that moment arrives. And that is why the Bible has many passages that speak to us about tribulations and trials.

Look, for example, at Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 10. What happens is that many times in evangelical churches, in Pentecostal churches, we talk a lot about the power of God, victory, Almighty God, trials, and spiritual warfare, but we do not prepare people for those times when tribulations, trials, and struggles in life come as well. And many times people are not prepared for that; when an illness comes, when a doctor gives them a bad diagnosis or something like that, then we feel that God has abandoned us.

When we pray for healing from an illness and the healing does not come, then we say, oh, God does not love me, God is not faithful; or someone for whom we had been praying for two years dies, and we say, oh, what happened? No. I believe trials need to be pointed out, acknowledged; we need to know that they are part of life, but that God can take those situations and use them for our good. Trials are part of the work God uses to polish us and prepare us to be stronger, to be better, and to reflect the character of Jesus Christ.

The Wednesday before last, I think it was, we talked about that parable of the vineyard keeper, where the owner of a vineyard comes several times and the vineyard is not producing fruit for him, and he says to the vineyard keeper, who is like his worker, “Cut it down. Why is it taking up the ground? We can plant something else.” And the vineyard keeper says to him, “No, leave it for just a little while longer. I am going to dig around it and work on it, and when you come back again, if it bears fruit, well and good; and if not, we will cut it down.”

I was saying that this was like a symbol of the Holy Spirit: the Father expects fruit from us, and when we do not bear fruit, the Lord is displeased, and the Holy Spirit is there saying to the Father—we can look at it that way—“Hold on a little while; let’s see… let me work in this person’s life, let me…”

And that digging around it conveys a sense of doing violence to the soil: you have to drive the hoe in and remove the soil around it; sometimes you have to prune the plants so that they will bear fruit. And that is what happens in our lives. Sometimes cuts have to come, sometimes trials have to come, and sometimes a kind of violence has to come into our lives in certain ways, so that we come to our senses, so that we change our way of thinking, because if God left us to do whatever we wanted, we would go down a path of destruction. And when God loves us, God tightens His grip on us a little in order to teach us.

Before turning to that passage, because it seems appropriate to me in connection with this, many times God knows that we are going down the wrong path, for many different reasons. Sometimes, for example, when we have a good job and are making money and everything is going well for us, we tend to forget God. Then we start hanging out with friends, and we think we are a big deal, and then people come looking for us, and we begin to stray from the path of the Lord. And what happens? If God loves us, He disciplines us. So many times, in His mercy, God brings us back to the path. Sometimes a person may be keeping bad company, or starts drinking alcohol, or taking drugs, or whatever it may be, and then He says, no, I have a purpose for this person; I am going to give them a little tap to get them back onto the right path.

Now, many times, if God does not have a purpose for a person, He lets that person run wild. When God does not have one—because there are people whom God has not called; that is the sovereignty of God. Honestly, I do not know why, but the Bible says that there are people for whom God has no purposes. God is not working directly in that individual. And so God often lets them prosper in evil, and they become major drug dealers or whatever, and one day they get shot, die, and go to hell.

But when God has a purpose for a life, He is continually dealing with that life, and many times He disciplines it in order to bring it into the ways of the Lord. I tell you, in my life I have seen the hand of the Lord… Years ago, when I was in graduate school at Harvard, I…

Well, I always loved the Lord—this is a personal testimony—I always loved the Lord from the time I was very young, but for a while, when I was at Princeton University and later when I came to Harvard, I lived my life… not like a Christian. I loved the Lord, but I was not giving a proper testimony; I was not living as God wanted. And I remember that on one occasion I clearly felt that the Lord spoke to me, and it was an inner voice. I was about 27 or 28 years old, about 8 or 10 years ago, more or less… What are you laughing at?

These people have no mercy. Try not to show it. The point is that I had spent many years living my life the way I wanted, amid the vanity of the world and many other things. But the Lord got hold of me—God speaks to me that way sometimes, every now and then, through an inner voice—and what I felt the Lord say to me was, look, up to this point I have spared you the consequences of the way you have been living because I love you, but if you continue, I am going to abandon you to the consequences of your actions. That was something I felt in the depths of my spirit. And then I said, well, I am going to reform. So I changed my ways and gave myself fully to the Lord. And that changed my life, and there began a radical change in my life that has continued to this day. It was as though the Lord said to me, I have kept you from things—from a perversion and from a… it was more like a degeneration of my person—and from the consequences of what I was involved in. It was as though He had a purpose, was dealing with me, and told me, from this point on, I am going to remove My covering from you.

And that is what often happens: when God does not have a purpose for a person, that person can continue doing all kinds of things, and God lets them; they run wild in evil. Before turning to the passage in Ephesians, look at what Hebrews says. In chapter 12, verse 5, it says:

“…And you have already forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as sons, saying, ‘My son, do not despise the discipline of the Lord, nor lose heart when you are rebuked by Him, because the Lord disciplines the one He loves and scourges everyone He receives as a son.’

There are times—not always—when trials are an expression of the Lord’s discipline. There is a difference between punishment and discipline. Punishment is when you are beaten or made to suffer in order to pay for something you have already done. But discipline is more like a method by which God takes you through a process to shape you in a certain way. And sometimes it is also meant to correct you in a way that may cause you some pain, but it is done with the benevolent purpose of rectifying something within you. It is very different. Discipline may hurt, but its purpose is corrective, looking toward the future, toward the formation of character.

I could compare it to the braces people have put on their teeth to straighten them. They hurt, don’t they? That is what they say. Is there anyone here who dares to say, yes, I had braces and they… It really does hurt when you have them, doesn’t it? You are eating and you surely feel… it hurts or it is uncomfortable. What is happening is that those wires are gradually exerting pressure on the teeth to move them into a more suitable position, the way they need to be. And it hurts, it causes discomfort, it is not the nicest thing in the world, but after your little teeth are all nicely straightened, wow, that smile of yours—then you are smiling so that everyone can see you. What a blessing! That is discipline. Your teeth are being subjected to corrective discipline.

So, many times there are occasions when trials are discipline; they are a soldier’s training. A soldier is subjected to all kinds of trials, difficulties, exertions, and exercises so that the character of a warrior may be formed in him. An officer must have a certain way of conducting himself, speaking, presenting himself, and treating his subordinates, and in order to produce that in an ordinary civilian, you have to put him through a process that will make a man of him and give him the mettle of a soldier and an officer.

Well, God wants to produce in us the mettle, character, and attitude of a child of God, a servant of God, a person who reflects the character of Jesus Christ—His attitudes, His way of seeing, speaking, and thinking. So God subjects us to a formative process in order to remove, straighten, smooth out, and raise up everything that is not as it should be. And that process is uncomfortable, and it may manifest itself through financial situations, health situations, situations involving human relationships, situations at work, inner dryness. There are many ways God uses to provoke us to seek something in the Word, pay more attention to spiritual things, spend more time at church, and be more attentive to the things of the Spirit.

Sometimes God has to make us fast from things we love so that we will then pay more attention to His voice. He removes all kinds of distractions around us that are very pleasant to us but distract us from keeping our eyes on spiritual things. So for a while the Lord takes this away, takes that away, and we say, but what is happening? It is God taking you through discipline, through formation. Or sometimes He is noticing that you are drifting away. That job that was taking away the time you needed to come to church because you were putting 60 or 80 hours into it—He says, you know what? I am going to take it away from you for your own good. You look at it and say, oh, I lost my job. No, look at it as though perhaps God is saying something to you.

So, brothers and sisters, there are many reasons why discomfort comes into our lives. It is not simply, oh, the devil is beating me up. No. Many times we give the devil credit for what actually comes from God.

Now, there are occasions when, of course, we must also wage war. But we must have a more complex way of looking at the painful experiences of human life. Then the writer of Hebrews says:

“Do not despise the discipline of the Lord.” Do not scorn it, do not speak against it, do not speak ill of it. Sometimes God is dealing with your life. When difficult situations come into your life, ask the Lord, “Lord, are You trying to tell me something through this? What can I learn from this season I am going through? Is there something in my life, Lord?

That is why the psalmist says, search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts, and see if there is any wicked way in me. That wicked way is anything within you that is not pleasing to the Lord—wicked ways, that is, a wrong direction. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.

You see, sometimes God has to discern it. Sometimes we do not understand. There are things in our lives, character traits, behaviors, attitudes, and patterns of thought that are not for our good, are not pleasing to God, and do not lead to a good marriage, good parenting, good stewardship of money, or a holy life. And God says, you know what? I have to dig around that vineyard; I have to remove a few little things from it; I have to prune it a little so that it can grow more luxuriantly. That is discipline.

So, the Lord disciplines the one He loves and scourges the one He receives as a son. The person God does not discipline is the person He is not interested in and does not receive as a son; but you should know that if God received you as a son, He will be dealing with your life. Not everything in God’s dealings is sweet and pleasant. Sometimes God’s treatment is that of a Father who disciplines His child so that the child may become everything He wants him to be.

Then look at what the following verse says:

“…if you endure discipline, then God deals with you as sons…”

When discipline comes into your life, my brother, my sister, endure it. To endure means to bear it, to submit to it instead of rebelling against it and railing against it.

“…For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are left without discipline, in which everyone has participated, then you are illegitimate children—a strong word—and not sons. Furthermore, we had our earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Why should we not much more readily obey the Father of spirits and live? They certainly disciplined us for a few days as they pleased, as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our benefit, so that we may share in His holiness…”

You see, so that we may share in His holiness. What does it mean for us to share in His holiness? Precisely that we may be like Him, that we may reflect the traits of His character. And how can we come to reflect the traits of His character? By His dealing with us, pruning us, putting us in a straitjacket, putting spiritual braces on us, taking hold of us, making us uncomfortable, shaping us, cutting things away from us, and guiding us along the path He wants, so that we may become like Christ.

Remember that I told you some time ago, when I began this series of meditations, that what interests God most is shaping us so that we may become like Christ. What interests God most is that you and I reflect the character of Christ. And that is something I do not see preached very much in churches. It seems that people are not made aware of the true purpose of the Christian life: that what interests God most is not for you to have a lot of money. Nowadays there is so much preaching: God is going to give you this, He is going to give you a Cadillac, ask Him for two cars, ask Him for a house and an extra one at the beach. Ask Him for healing, this, that, and the other; but it is as though nowadays there are preachers whose congregations come just to be told that God is going to give them money, that God is going to do this for them, and they do not talk to people about… No, what interests God most is fashioning for Himself men and women who express the character of Jesus in the way they conduct themselves.

He is not interested in your comfort; He is interested in your holiness. Write that down before you forget it. Not your comfort, but your holiness. Now, in the process, God can also give you blessings. I believe that God gives money, God gives health, God gives provision and blessing, but that is not the priority of a child of God. The priority is to reflect the character of Christ.

That is why, it says, God disciplines you: so that we may share in His holiness, so that we too may be like Him, so that we may partake of that holiness. It then says:

“…It is true that no discipline at present seems to be a cause for joy, but rather for sorrow…”

Look at how beautiful that passage is; mark it and treasure it in your Bible.

“…But afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it…”

If possible, memorize that verse, because that is the key to a blessed life. At first, when you are undergoing God’s dealings in your life, it often seems like the most uncomfortable, unpleasant, terrifying thing; but when it has accomplished its purpose, when it has finished its work, when you have absorbed it and endured that burning medicine inside, and the doctor tells you, “No, don’t let it go; hold on a little longer, until…” then, when it has fulfilled its purpose, it produces peaceful fruit.

What often happens—look—is that the family is where the Holy Spirit does not work. I know Christian families—I could point out families right now—that come to church and have been in the Gospel for years, serve the Lord, and are decent people who are not involved in shameful behavior; yet there are countless problems in that family: conflicts, arguments, bad feelings, mistreatment, injustice, oppression, constant arguments with one another, and a lack of harmony in that family. Why? Because the character of Christ has not been formed in them.

Wherever you see people who have not been dealt with by the Holy Spirit, there is strife—the works of the flesh… Look in Galatians chapter 5: what are the works of the flesh? It says strife, arguments, violence, foul language, resentment, jealousy—all the things that so often happen in families. Because God’s dealings have not entered in to polish and heal and break them. The only way those families will be healed is through God’s dealings.

I compare it to a rough stone, as opposed to a stone at the bottom of a lake where the water… Why are the little stones at the bottom of a river smooth? The water is continually flowing and gradually sanding away their rough edges. Look at that flat little stone; you pick it up and it feels smooth. Now pick up a stone from the road: hard, rough, pointed—unlike one that has been worked on by that water, which is always flowing and sanding it down.

We children of God must be like those smooth stones. Throughout our lives, we must allow the Holy Spirit to deal with us, gradually cutting away and sanding down our rough edges. Wherever you see a family, a marriage, or a community in which there is strife, trouble, fighting, jealousy, and contention, that is the flesh that has not been dealt with by the Holy Spirit.

By continually submitting to God’s discipline and His dealings, we will become like Christ. So, what an enormous difference there is in those families, those marriages, those homes, and those churches where the Holy Spirit has been allowed to work in them! I tell you, that is what I desire for my church—and for my own life as well—that I, and you, and we as a community may reflect the character of Jesus Christ. I am not interested in a famous church, or one with lots of money or lots of impressive equipment. No, what the Holy Spirit desires most is a church where people come and say, “Wow, what a fragrant aroma of God’s grace there is among these people! They love one another, treat one another well, forgive one another, tolerate one another, do not speak badly about one another, and are not constantly trying to criticize one another, but support one another.” And that comes through the Holy Spirit’s dealings within an environment.

The Holy Spirit’s dealings can sometimes be a little rough. As I tell you, He has to tame us, break us, make us bleed; so if you want God to make you an exceptional and blessed man or woman, allow the Lord to subject you to His dealings.

What does the Word say? It says, “Take up your cross daily and follow Me.” It also says, “Take My yoke,” because My burden… because My burden is light and My yoke is easy. Why does the Lord speak of a yoke and a burden and of taking up your cross? What do these expressions refer to? Do you think that is merely poetry, metaphor, lovely poetic language? No. It is referring to that element of the Christian life that consists of being dealt with. When you enter into a relationship with Christ, He places His yoke upon you.

What is the yoke? The yoke is what is put on an ox so that it can thresh and do its work. From the moment you enter the Lord’s ways, if you are a legitimate child, a yoke must be placed upon you. I am telling you, that yoke will take you where you do not want to go, but that yoke will shape you into a man or woman who is useful to the Gospel and also blessed in life.

Do you know who is truly happy in the Christian life? It is those who have been dealt with and have allowed the Lord to polish them, who have taken on the yoke and submit to God’s dealings. Those dealings will include times of incredible blessing, peace, prosperity, joy, tranquility, and happiness, and also times when the Lord will say to you, “Come, come aside for a little while, because I need to deal with you a little.” Then you will go through a time of struggle, sweat, suffering, affliction, or whatever it may be—something unpleasant—and when the Lord says that, you say, “Okay, Lord, I am going to enter into this with You.” And you spend that time in prayer, fasting, seeking the Lord, and crying out: “Father, what are You telling me? How can I be better? Speak to me. What is happening? Why? What do You want from me, Lord? What do I have to surrender to You?” Spend that time that way; receive it as a time of being dealt with. Shut yourself in with the Lord during that time of trial and sweat out whatever it may be. Sweat out whatever the sin is, or the attitude that does not please the Lord. Sweat out whatever God has put you in that sauna to sweat out; and when the sauna session is over and the temperature drops, then He says, “Now come out.” All those salts, all that filth, stayed in there. You take a good bath and feel fresh and light, and now comes the time of refreshing, the time of blessing, the time of renewal, the time of celebration. The time of discipline has passed.

And then perhaps a few more years or months will pass—blessing, prosperity, joy—and now, once again: “A little more. Come; I am going to put you through a little more training,” and back you go again. And that is how life passes, and the person who is dealt with by the Lord becomes more and more like an angel each day. Those are the people whom, when you see them at 40, 50, or 60 years of age, you want to draw close to; you want to listen to them, you love visiting them, and wherever they go, they bless a community. They are the counselors, the intercessors, the people who exemplify the greatness and beauty of the Gospel. They are the people who become more beautiful as the years pass because, as the Bible says, “This light, momentary affliction produces in us an ever more excellent and eternal weight of glory.”

The most beautiful people in their old age are those who have allowed the Lord to deal with them. That is why it says here that it produces that peaceful fruit, which is precisely the peace that comes into the home and the lives of those people.

It is true that no discipline seems to be a cause for joy, but rather for sorrow; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Brothers and sisters, that is one aspect of trials. Turn to Ephesians, and we will finish with that. Once again, look at what it says here in chapter 6, verse 10:

“…Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may stand firm against the schemes of the devil…”

This is another aspect of trials, sufferings, and difficulties. Here it also speaks of times… Sometimes difficult times come from God as He disciplines us and deals with us; sometimes, yes, it may be an attack. Sometimes we go through a period or a rough patch, and the enemy may also be attacking our lives. But what must we do? Verse 13 says:

“…Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm…”

Sometimes an evil day may come into your life. It is not a 24-hour day; it is a season, a rough patch of difficulty in the believer’s life. What do you do in that case? Do you run off, stop coming to church, stop serving, stop praying, stop crying out, stop worshiping? No! You say, “I am going to plant my feet firmly. I am going to hold on to everything I know from the Word. I am going to wage spiritual warfare, worship, seek support from my brothers and sisters, cry out to the Lord, and resist.”

It is the resistance of a soldier who is under attack and says, “I will not move from my post. I am going to remain here, standing firm and holding out.” But not holding out merely by gritting your teeth. No, it means protecting your position, standing firm, doing battle, and not moving from your position. Never turn your back on the devil, brother; never flee from Satan; never let your hands fall or stop bending your knees. When trials come, it is time to take up the whole armor of God—all the resources you know from the Word: fasting, prayer, praise, service, positive confession, fellowship with the saints. All of those are weapons: faith, the Word of God, everything mentioned here, the armor, many different things. Use all of it, resist, stand firm, wait upon the Lord, and trust in the Lord. Do not move from your position; do not turn your back on the devil.

Then it says, “…in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm…” It says: “Stand firm, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the readiness of the Gospel,” and so forth.

Then it says, “…praying at all times with every prayer and supplication in the Spirit…” praying in tongues, praying deeply in the Lord, keeping watch with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

You must be using all those resources, and afterward, when the trial has passed, they find you in exactly the same place where you were at the beginning of the trial. Because life will be like that, brothers and sisters; difficult situations will come as well. What you must do is hold your position. Sometimes suffering will come from God to bless you, deal with you, and shape you; sometimes it will come from the enemy. But no matter where it comes from, hold your position and know that, in the long run, all things work together for good for those who love God.

In the end, the devil will wind up doing God’s work. If he tries to trip you up, forget it—you will use it for the glory of God and to improve your walk. Let us not be afraid of trials. Amen.

Glory to the Lord. Let us stand. Let us pray and give thanks to God, and then we will go peacefully to our little homes. Sleep well tonight; give thanks to God. The Lord is on His throne; everything is all right. No matter what you are going through, believe that God has a beautiful purpose for your life, and continue living this Christian life, which is so wonderful.—

Father, thank You for Your goodness, Your love, and Your mercy. Thank You for these people; we bless them in the name of the Lord. Father, we expect great things from You in the coming days, weeks, and months. We believe that the best is yet to come, Lord; we believe that You have good things for Your children. We bless these people.

Father, we eagerly desire all the blessing You have for us. We believe that Satan has nothing to do with us. He has no influence in the lives of Your children. I declare healing over Your people tonight, Father; I declare miracles among Your children. Thank You because life in Christ goes from blessing to blessing, from provision to provision, from joy to joy, from victory to victory. We lay hold of every good thing, Lord, that You have for us. We believe that the best is yet to come, and we thank You for that, Father. Bless these people and take them home tonight with Your blessing, Father, and give us a restful week until we return here to Your house on Sunday to declare Your blessings in the name of Jesus. Amen and amen. I bless you, my brothers and sisters. I will see you here on Sunday. Come by sleigh, come however you can, but we will be waiting for you here. God bless you. Amen.