Title: It’s for your own good

Did you ever think this way, about your Christian faith? No one is asking you to die. And, God will never ask you to die for Him.

That’s what God’s Word is getting at in the opening of the lesson from Hebrews: "In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood." In other words, you don’t have to die for your own sins.

You don’t have to offer yourself as a sacrifice to God, to pay for your sins, and God isn’t going to tell you that you have to sacrifice yourself to Him, to pay for your sins. The One sacrifice for sin has been made by Jesus Christ. He died on the cross once for all: once for all time, once for all sins, once for all people. Sacrifice for sin is a done deal.

It feels like this is leaving an opening for this question: what will God ask of us? And, that’s the question that He answers with the rest of this lesson.

After telling us that we haven’t had to shed our own blood, God asks a question: "And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?" Have you? What exhortation addresses you as God’s children?

As good parents love their children, what’s the most important thing they do for their kids? Is it sheltering them, so that they never face any hardships? Is it providing for them, so they never lack anything? Is it answering their every request for toys and candy with the money to get these things? Is it giving them everything that you didn’t have, when you were a kid?

No, to all of that. The most important thing parents do for their kids is discipline them. Not punish them, mind you; discipline them. Punishment is handed out under the law; discipline is dealt from love.

Parents discipline their kids, so that their kids can handle life in the real world. So, parents give their kids chores, not only to get things done around the house, but so that the kids know how to run a vacuum, use a mower, clean a toilet.

In our house, when the kids were in high school, they had to do their own laundry. They were given opportunities to cook meals for the whole family. On trips, they used a map, read street signs, and took wrong exits so that they would learn to be watchful.

Loving parents force their kids to eat their vegetables, take their kids to the dentist, make their kids stick it out with piano lessons, see to their kids learning their memory work.

How much more loving a parent is God, our heavenly Father? He does everything for His children according to what each one needs. Thus, we heard in the epistle, "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord . . . For the Lord disciplines the one he loves . . ."

Why does God discipline you, who are His children by way of His grace, through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ? "He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness."

What would the perfect life be? You would never get sick, or get stricken with some disease. You would have all the money you want, and you wouldn’t have to work very hard for it. You would have plenty of time on your hands, to spend your money as you please. You would be surrounded by a wonderful family and marvelous friends. You would live exactly where you want, do what you want, eat all you want.

And, if you had all of this, what kind of person would you be? Experience teaches us that you would think that you somehow deserve all of this—it’s just as the world says, that good things happen to good people. Well, if your life is this good, then you must be a real dandy.

And, we know what happens with these kinds of people. They think they can do no wrong. They become smug, full of themselves, egomaniacs. They live for today, and they think they will live forever.

This person certainly would never have a need for God. Yet, this person will not live forever. Something will, indeed, finally reach up and grab the life from his lungs. Indeed, the one who feeds his every earthly desire becomes fat, lazy, and tired—no good to anyone.

That’s why God disciplines His children. Father knows best what you need. The first thing you need is to know that you are not self-made people, and none of you brought yourselves into this world. Your life is God’s gift to you, and the most important thing in your life is for you to know and love your Creator.

The devil, the world, and your own sinful nature don’t give a hoot about any Creator—they only want you to have a steady diet of eat, drink, and be merry. God knows that, and God loves you, and God doesn’t want you to live a life of debauchery which ends in a wasted life and eternal separation from Him. So, what does God do? He disciplines you.

He lets you get sick, suffer an illness, endure a disease, so that you realize that you are not in total control of your life and, yes, you are going to die. He removes something good from your life, or He doesn’t bless you with that thing that you think is the answer to your prayer.

If loving money is your great weakness, He might work things so that you will struggle to have enough. If being full of yourself is your great weakness, He might work your life so that you lack in certain things so that you don’t become a total jerk—you might long to be a good singer, or craft things with your hands, or write the great American novel, but these things will elude you.

Is God a meany? Does He want you to be weak? No and no. In God’s perfect love, He knows what discipline you need so that you get your strength from Him.

Saint Paul tells us that he was getting full of himself. Paul had seen Jesus, face to face, in a miracle appearance. Paul had experienced a vision of heaven. Paul had successfully planted churches all over the place. Paul had even brought a dead guy back to life.

Paul tells us that God gave him a thorn in his flesh for the express purpose of keeping Paul from getting too cocky. Paul pleaded with God to remove it. God’s reply to Paul? "I’m not removing it. You need to be weakened, Paul, for it’s only when you realize that you are not a self-made man that you turn to me for strength."

What was Paul’s thorn? Was it a physical ailment? Was it a temptation to a certain sin? Does it matter? God used the weakness to discipline Paul, so that Paul would be strong in his faith in Christ for his own eternal life, and so that Paul would be strong in Christ for the eternal lives of the many, whom God called him to serve.

What’s your thorn? Is it something physical? Is it something emotional? Is it something economical? Is it something relational? Is it something spiritual?

Whatever it is, or however many they are, they are God’s loving discipline. They are to lead you in fervent prayer to Him, in repentance of your sins, through faith in Jesus Christ.

Again, from the lesson, "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."

Right now, football players, all over the country, are being trained. They hate toiling in scorching August heat. They tire from calisthenics. They grow weary from blocking and tackling drills. They’re sick of meetings, learning the playbook.

But, the good coach keeps pouring it on, in just the right measure. He knows how hard to push, and he knows when to give them a break, and he knows when to give them a treat. His wisdom, and his desire for them to be what they aspire to be—football players—drives Him to discipline them.

Right now, you Christians are being trained. You hate toiling in the heat of life’s battles. You tire from spiritual calisthenics. You grow weary from blocking out the devil and tackling temptations. You can even get sick of meetings—that is, worship—and learning the playbook—studying the Word of God.

But, the good Lord keeps pouring it on, in just the right measure. He knows how hard to push, and He knows when to give you a break, and He knows when to give you a treat. His wisdom, and His desire for you to be what you aspire to be—children of the heavenly Father, forgiven of all your sins, saved from death, devil, and damnation, and bound for the resurrection to eternal life—drives Him to discipline you.

A good coach gives his players the tools they need to succeed. How much more the good Lord! His tools are His Means of Grace. By these tools, He has equipped you with saving faith in His Son through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit. He sealed these tools in you through the washing of Holy Baptism. He brings you to the team meal of His Son’s body and blood for the spiritual nourishment to keep on fighting the good fight. He keeps the playbook open before you—the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Dear children of God, your heavenly Father is not asking you to die. What He is seeking from you is understanding—realizing that He will only do for you what is for your good. Thus, when something in your life goes sour, ask yourself, "How is my loving Father desiring for me to become stronger from this?"

He gives you the strength that you need. With Him, all things are possible. And, the one thing that it was impossible for you to do—shed holy blood for your sins—He did that for you, in His Son, Jesus Christ, through whom you receive every blessing from your heavenly Father. Amen.