An Encouraging Perspective

Please stand for our scripture reading.

I'll be reading from Proverbs 3,

verses 5 through 12.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths.

Be not wise in your own eyes.

Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

It will be healing to your flesh and refreshments to your bones.

Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first roots of your produce.

Then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine.

My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof.

For the Lord reproves him who he loves as the father, the son in whom he delights.

The New Testament reading is in John chapter 15, starting in verse 18.

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own.

But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they shall also persecute you.

If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin.

But now they have no excuse for their sin.

Whoever hates me hates my father also.

If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin.

But now they have seen and hated both me and my father.

But the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled.

They hated me without a cause.

Take your Bibles and turn now to Hebrews chapter 12.

As you're turning, I would ask something of you.

I'd ask maybe just a little bit this afternoon, if you'd pray.

I have the opportunity of going to the Lima prison and preaching today for their service this afternoon.

Get to see my guys again, and I'm looking forward to that.

So you pray if you have time.

Service starts at two, okay?

Now we're in Hebrews chapter 12.

I want you to begin following as I read, beginning in verse four.

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved

by him.

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives.

It is for discipline that you have to endure.

God is treating you as sons.

For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

If you're left without discipline in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

Besides this, we've had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them.

Shall we not much more be subject to the father of spirits and live?

For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them.

But he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant.

But later, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained

by it.

Therefore, lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet so that

what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

Father, we come to this point in our worship of you where we listen to you speak.

Give us ears to hear.

Help us to listen carefully to what you have to say.

Help us to remember this is the very voice of God addressing us.

Not just some words in a text, but the living word of God.

You have spoken these things to us sitting here today and you intend for us to hear

your voice as you speak to us.

So help us to do that.

For your glory and our good, in Jesus' name, amen.

The pressure is on.

Deny Jesus and opportunities open and life becomes easier.

It started with the loss of your job.

You once managed the cement plant, but once they identified you as a follower of Jesus, now you're sweeping the

streets, but you don't deny Jesus.

This month, the police came to your house three times to question you

and your neighbors.

Well, because of that, the neighbors avoid you.

They don't even make eye contact with you anymore.

And besides that, rumors are starting to fly all around the neighborhood about you and your family.

Still, you will not abandon Jesus.

Recently, you found out that because of your stand, because you identify as a disciple of Jesus, all opportunities

for your children to go to university are now shut down.

There's even talk of a trial on some trumped up charges.

The pressure seems unending and relentless.

How can you persevere then without losing heart?

How can you endure and continue to confess Christ when to do so means the loss of your job, the loss of

opportunities, all these things.

Life could go easier if you just deny Him, but you're going to endure.

You're going to persevere.

How do you do that without losing heart?

Well, we've seen what our writers told us for the last several weeks, right?

You know you cannot abandon Jesus without dire consequences.

So because we read in chapter 10, you must not throw away your confidence, which has great reward.

You can remain true, we've seen, with a perseverance that's fueled by faith in the promises of

God.

We've seen that chapter 11 gives us a whole list of Old Testament champions who persevered, who

endured because they believed the promises of God.

And last week we saw that he says you will not lose heart if you look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,

who for the joy that was set before Him, despised the shame of the cross and sat down at the right hand of

God.

Look to Jesus, you won't lose heart because He withstood opposition and hostility by

looking forward to the joy and authority that God had promised Him that would be His after His suffering.

But now He's going to offer us another perspective, another perspective that should help

us to not lose heart, another perspective that should help us to endure when the pressure is on to deny Christ,

or for that matter, whenever any tragedy strikes, how are we gonna persevere?

He offers this other perspective, a perspective that gives hope and keeps you from losing heart.

We find it in verses four through six.

Let's look at it together.

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him,

for the Lord disciplines the one He loves and chastises every son whom He receives.

Here then, He gives you another perspective intended to help you to

endure.

And that perspective is this.

You will not lose heart if you are convinced that all this hardship is

disciplined from God to those whom He loves.

That's the other perspective now He gives you to help you to endure.

So let's look at it together.

If you would not lose heart, then listen to God's analysis in verse four.

In your struggle against sin, you've not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

When it comes to endurance, you're not just enduring hardship and persecution, you're

actually in a struggle against sin, the sin of falling

away.

You'll be tempted to yield to that sin.

You'll be tempted to say, if I just not identify as a Christian, if I just

leave Jesus out of the picture, life is gonna get easier.

Life will be better.

And He's saying the fight for endurance is actually a struggle against sin, a struggle against

abandoning Jesus.

It's a struggle against sin, the sin of falling away.

But in that struggle, He says, you have not yet spilled your blood.

You're under pressure, but you're not martyrs yet.

I think of Heath Lambert.

Guys, remember Heath from two years ago, one of our conference speakers?

He's the pastor of this church in Jacksonville, Florida, very large and influential church.

Well, in the last month, they adopted a statement on sexuality and gender.

That is a statement that confesses exactly what the Bible teaches about those subjects.

And they adopted it.

The membership, in order to keep your membership or to become a member, you need to sign it.

No big deal.

We actually have the same thing.

If you've read our constitution, we actually have a statement about that, which you sign off on if you join this church.

You sign off on that.

Well, they did the same thing.

However, for them, within a few weeks, it got into the local media and exploded.

It exploded.

There was all kinds of people in Jacksonville coming out against them.

There was a local television report.

I actually saw the report on their church that they had.

There was an uproar in the community.

People were angry.

Heath was interviewed by the Rolling Stone about this whole thing.

And horrible things were said on social media and at the church, because last Sunday

night, you know what they did?

This is so Heath.

They had an open mic.

They invited the whole community to come to the church for an open mic thing, where they could say whatever they wanted, ask any

questions they wanted, and he would respond.

And a lot of nasty things were said.

But no one was arrested or executed, right?

At most, it's social pressure.

In some instances, we're getting to legal pressure.

You know, he's saying to these people, yes, you've had your property confiscated.

You've served jail time.

You've been slandered, but you haven't shed your blood yet.

Right, right?

God says to you, get an accurate understanding of your situation.

You're under pressure, but you haven't arrived yet at the ultimate test.

And we can easily say that, right?

We've not arrived at the ultimate test.

None of us are giving up our lives for the gospel yet.

All right?

So at least get that analysis in our head.

God also says in this analysis that you can become nearsighted.

Now I'm nearsighted.

I'm horribly nearsighted.

I'm about blind.

I can only see things when they're about that close.

Okay?

That's just, I can barely see anything unless it's right in that thing.

I'm nearsighted.

And he's saying to these people as well, you tend to be nearsighted as well.

You cannot see that those who remain steadfast through centuries.

You had centuries of example that you could have seen, but you didn't see it.

They didn't see anything worse.

Something maybe worse is in store for them.

After all, Jesus died.

That may happen to you.

But see, the only thing you're seeing right now is the pressure of the present circumstances.

You're facing pressure.

You're facing legal issues, he says to them.

But the pressure you're feeling right now, that's all you see.

You don't see anything else.

Now, if you want to know people who are nearsighted in that fashion, just talk to American

Christians.

Right?

We gripe, we despair, we panic at the social pressure right now that's being applied to us.

We're bullied on Facebook, but we're not yet beaten in the streets, are we?

We are booed when we try to speak, but we're not yet incarcerated for what we say.

I mean, we're not even where they were in the book of Hebrews.

We're not even there yet.

We are terribly nearsighted, okay?

We've not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.

We've not even resisted yet to legal things being pressed upon us.

And so, dear friends, let me tell you, we gotta quit being such babies.

An African pastor one time said to an American, you Americans are always praying that the pressure

goes away.

We're praying that we can stand up under it.

And so we need to not be so nearsighted.

We haven't yet reached the point of shedding our blood.

Listen to God's analysis.

You will lose heart if you get nearsighted.

You will lose heart if you don't realize the struggle against sin, all right?

Now, here's the second thing.

If you would lose heart, listen to God's encouragement.

If you would not lose heart, listen to God's encouragement.

You find it in verse five.

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

God offers encouragement when you face hardship.

So I'm watching this documentary on the Korean War, and there's this one scene where a village is completely bombed

out, and there's a little boy standing there all alone crying.

Just tears your heart out, right?

Maybe his parents have been killed in that bombing.

Here's a little boy who's just standing there crying all alone.

Do you think that God's gonna do that to you?

Do you think that when hardship comes and everything's blown away, that you're gonna be just like a little child with

no one?

Is that what you think?

No, he doesn't say that.

He encourages us, he helps us.

How so?

Where do you find the encouragement you need when tragedy or persecution comes?

Does it come in a vision?

Does it come in an unbelievably warm feeling that maybe you're doing the right thing or some great

inexplicable work of the Spirit?

Is that where you get the encouragement?

No.

What does he do?

He says, you've forgotten that word of exhortation or encouragement.

Where does he find it?

In the Bible.

He quotes to them Proverbs chapter three, verses 11 and 12.

All right?

He's not looking for anything extraordinary.

He just turns to the scripture and says, here, you've forgotten this.

This is what you need to hear.

Why do we so easily lose heart?

God has not left us alone.

He's given us his word.

And by the way, this is the living word of God.

If you wanna know what God thinks about anything or what God has to say about anything, you know what you need to do?

Stop looking for a sign.

Stop looking for a warm feeling.

Open the covers of this book.

And there's where you find it.

In fact, in Romans chapter 15, verse four, we read, for whatever was written in former

days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of

the scriptures, we might have hope.

The problem with us is that we don't look to the scriptures for encouragement.

We become disheartened through our own neglect of God's means of grace that will strengthen

us in times of difficulty.

Open the book.

Read it.

Know what God says.

Now someone might say, hey, I'm doing what God commands and what does it get me?

I'm doing exactly what Jesus told me to do.

You know what it gets me?

It gets me nothing but persecution and slander at work.

What word of encouragement could you possibly give me?

Well, that brings us to the third item here.

If you would not lose heart, then listen to God's explanation.

Listen to God's explanation.

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he

receives.

Here's God's explanation of what's happening to you.

Here's his explanation so that we do not lose heart.

He's saying, let me tell you what I'm doing in all this.

All right?

First of all, these afflictions, persecutions, or normal hardships of life are discipline.

That word discipline is used for the training of children or the training of athletes.

The painful methods employed to bring children to maturity and athletes

to fitness.

Okay?

You see his description in verse 11, same words used in verse 11.

For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant.

It's a painful means of bringing about growth.

God says, these hardships you face are painful methods that I employ

to produce change.

One day, my dear wife, Becca, said to me, honey, couldn't God change us without hardships?

And I say, yeah, he could, but it's a moot point.

He hasn't said he's gonna do that.

An old pastor once said, God can do anything he wants to do, but we ought to expect

God to do what he says he'll do.

Right?

And he says what?

I'm bringing this into your life.

It's discipline.

It's what I use with children.

It's what athletes use to achieve fitness.

It includes, what does he say?

It includes reproof.

Now that's not merely words, but words so aimed that

you are thoroughly convicted, so persuasive that you stand there with no

excuse.

That's what the word reproof means.

It's words that are so persuasive that I stand there and say, guilty, I got no excuse.

It's those kind of words.

He says, these hardships you face serve as well as chastisements,

chastisements.

Many people are disheartened and discouraged because they've believed a lie.

You know what that lie is?

God never punishes his children.

That's the lie.

You know, the word chastised there means whipped or scourged.

That's tough, right?

But here's where you need to listen carefully because we have to make a necessary

distinction here when we talk about this punishment.

All right?

Listen carefully.

There are two kinds of punishment.

There's punishment as retribution, that is punishment as payment.

You've done wrong, you're gonna pay.

That's retribution.

Jesus made that payment.

There is retribution, by the way.

God will make people pay, but not for those who are in Christ.

Jesus received the full measure of the retribution that was due us.

This kind of punishment is like a father saying to his son, I'm gonna make you wish that you

never said that.

All right?

That's one kind of punishment.

It's retribution.

You said that, pal, I'm gonna make you pay.

That's not what he's talking about here.

He's talking about punishment as correction.

Punishment that comes for the purpose of correcting you.

So let me say this.

Listen carefully.

You may be going through hard times and you're saying, well, God's just making me pay.

No, he's not.

Your debt has been paid in full.

There is not that kind of punishment coming your way.

So get that out of your mind.

Stop the hang dog look and say, oh, God's punishing me.

He is not doing that.

If he is punishing you, it's for the purpose of correction.

Now, one of my girls, Lydia, I used to call Beamer, because

frankly, whenever I would come home, she would beam.

And that was kind of nice.

And she would always be glad to see her daddy.

And I come driving in the driveway.

I remember I came in the driveway one time and she just made a beeline for the van.

Well, I stopped, I got out of the van and I took Beamer and I spanked

her.

Now, why was I doing that?

Was that, what are you doing?

Man, I'm gonna make you pay.

No, that wasn't it at all.

I spanked her, why?

So she'd learn a lesson and learn it quickly.

Don't be running toward the vehicle when it pulls into the driveway.

I didn't want anything bad to happen to her.

So I gave her something painful that would correct her course.

That's what God's talking about here.

This is chastisement.

This is punishment intended to correct, all right?

The hardship, the pressure, the persecution you face, whatever tragedy in your life that you face are painful,

but it is a punishment of fatherly love intended to correct.

It's not a punishment of vindictive justice, or I should say

vindictive retribution.

It is not that.

It is God's fatherly care in correcting you.

So no matter what it is, tragedy or even persecution, God intends that persecution to

correct us, right?

To correct us.

Many today are discouraged because they do not believe that a loving heavenly father would ever bring any painful

circumstances into their lives.

There's so many Christians who believe that.

They are at a loss to explain what is happening in the difficulties and the hardships of life.

But God encourages you by explaining that those painful trials and persecutions

are intended to correct you.

That's what he's after, all right?

He explains it to us.

He gives us a different perspective.

He's saying, look at persecution, look at hardship from my point of view, all right?

It's intended to correct you.

Don't lose heart.

Here's another part of that explanation.

Such hardship is evidence that you have a relationship with God.

That hardship is evidence you have a relationship with God.

Notice what he says.

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he

receives.

Now notice, it shows his love.

You know, I hated to spank Lydia that day, but I loved her and she needed to learn quickly.

I spanked her because I loved her, right?

It shows love.

Love does not hesitate to correct.

Here's what he's saying to these people.

Remember chapter 10.

The fact that you had your property confiscated, the fact that people have

slandered you, the fact that they've publicly ridiculed you, the fact that you've spent

time in jail means that God loves you.

Now that's a paradigm shift that we all need to get in our minds.

When hardship comes, I ought to be saying, God loves me.

You know what the most common response I hear?

When someone comes to me and say, pastor, this has happened and this has happened, all these things are happening.

God must not love me.

The answer is no, it's just the opposite.

It's just the opposite.

Again, put yourself in their place.

I'm thinking about my place out in the country, nice little place, really

comfortable.

You know, I really like it out there.

Someone comes along and confiscates that property.

Do you think the first thought in my head is,.

Wow, God loves me?

It should be.

It should be.

That's what he's saying here.

It shows that God loves you, all right?

That's an incredible explanation, isn't it?

We gotta have a paradigm shift.

When hard things come, we've gotta say, this is a sign that God loves me.

And such hardship, yes, even persecution reveals that you are God's child,

that you are a son of God, that you are a child of God.

When hard things come, when persecution arrives, God is saying, I'm treating you as a son that

I love.

You're my son.

You're my child.

I'm gonna treat you like that.

Now, suppose a stranger came to my house, complete stranger.

Let's just say he was somebody selling me something and I invited him into the house and he sits down and my

kids are running around with the neighbor kids or something and I grab one of the neighbor's kids and I start spanking him.

What is that guy gonna conclude?

He's gonna say, oh, it must be one of his kids, right?

You don't go around spanking the neighbor kids.

Mostly, I know we had a pact here for a while, but we, you don't just spank the

neighbor kids.

You spank your children.

They're the ones that get that attention.

And so God is saying, hardship coming your way.

You know what that means?

I'm treating you like one of my children.

That's what it means.

Now, some have thought and taught that God's child will not suffer.

We hear it on the airwaves all the time.

If you're one of God's people, what's gonna happen?

You're gonna prosper.

God's gonna do all kinds of things for you.

He's gonna do this.

There'll be no sickness and no disease if you're part of God's people.

Not a chance.

God says just the opposite here.

The fact that you suffer hardship proves that you're a son or daughter of God.

So what is that word of encouragement then?

God is at work in the persecution.

God is at work in the hardships and the tragedies.

Many lose heart because they have forgotten that word of encouragement.

Listen to God's explanation.

The hardship you experience because you follow Jesus says that God is

exercising fatherly care and correction.

That's what it means.

Okay, paradigm shift.

You know what I'd suggest to you?

Let me give you some homework.

Look back over the last year.

Write down the hardships and the tragedies.

You've experienced.

Write them down and then say this, this, and this, and this, and this, and this

means God loves me.

If you're in Christ, that's what it's saying to you.

That's what you need to be interpreting that as.

All right, here's the fourth and the last thing he tells us.

If you would not lose heart, listen to God's warning.

Look at verse five.

He says, my son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary

when reproved by him.

Here's a warning.

God warns you about wrong responses to hardship and persecution.

When you don't recognize them as you should.

There are a couple of wrong responses here.

Here's the first.

Don't be stoic.

Don't be stoic.

What does that mean?

Do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord.

Regard lightly means treat as insignificant.

Treat it lightly.

So whenever tragedy or persecution comes, you know what some people say?

Well, life's unfair, or it is what it is.

That's treating the Lord's discipline lightly.

It is what it is.

You know, that's the way it is.

That's not treating it rightly.

You know what happens when you're thinking that way?

Why put up with it then?

I'll get out of it.

I will abandon it.

I will abandon Jesus.

If it is what it is, then I'm done.

You know, with that kind of attitude, you will not grow.

Instead, you'll jump ship.

Listen to me.

Those words should never cross a Christian's lips.

Life is unfair.

Don't you ever say that.

Here's the other thing he says.

Don't despair.

The term be weary means despairing.

When tragedy or persecution arrives, this one says, I give up.

I can't go on.

It's just too much for me.

That attitude produces depression, and there's no growth when you're depressed, and you will abandon

Jesus, but both of them have an improper view of God.

When you say life is unfair, it is what it is,

you're saying God is not sovereign over all the events of my life

by his loving, wise, and good providence.

When you say life is unfair, you might as well just say what you really mean.

God is unfair because God is in control of all the events of your life.

Life is not unfair.

Your life is what God thinks is best for you, right?

Your life and the hardships that come and the persecutions that may come our way are intended

by God to show his love.

So don't ever say life is unfair because now you're blaming

God, or at least you're saying God's absent.

God's absent, all right?

For the despondent, for those who despair and grow weary, you do not see God

as either loving or good, right?

This is too much.

Do you think that God, who's infinitely wise and who is good, is gonna

torment you?

You think that's what it's about?

He's wise, he's good, he's loving.

To say, I give up, is to say, God, you're not good,

you're not good.

With both these responses, with those kinds of attitudes, the sorrows we experience are wasted.

Think that thought.

Sorrows that come our way, the difficulties, the hardships, the persecutions that come our way are

intended by God to do good things.

We'll see that next week, okay?

We'll see that next week.

But if we don't have the attitude, we don't accept God's explanation, then the sorrow's wasted.

It's wasted.

It ought to be used for good as you start looking at those things through the eyes, through the explanation that God

has given.

So listen to God's warning.

Listen to God's warning.

So when hardship comes your way in the form of tragedy, hardship or persecution, will you

remember what God says?

Will you remember that?

When people say all kinds of awful things about you on your Facebook page because of your faith,

will you say, well, that's tough, but I haven't shed my blood yet.

When you're the object of slander at work because of your faith, will you say, I am

a child of God?

I am a child of God.

When your property is confiscated because you're a follower of Jesus, will you say, wow,

God really loves me?

When painful events arrive, what attitude are you going to display?

These are the things that God's told us.

In some way, your faith will cost you something.

Let's not be surprised at that.

In some way, little or great, our faith is gonna cost us something,

but that's no reason to lose heart, to give up or to give in.

There's no reason for that.

Why?

Because God gives you this encouraging perspective.

What is that perspective?

Hardship is discipline from God intended for those whom

he loves.

That's the perspective you need if you would not lose heart.

Father, your word is so pointed.

Your word is so vast.

It covers everything that we face, and we thank you for that.

We thank you for your word that gives us hope, hope

even in the midst of hardship, from hardship

all the way to persecution.

We're thankful for that perspective.

So Lord, whatever it is we face, help us not to lose heart, but help us to

embrace that perspective that says God

is at work in discipline to those whom he loves.

Again, help us to embrace that.

In Jesus' name, amen.