God Loves Through Discipline

“For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.” 

(Hebrews 12:6)

Love through discipline.

That's a foreign or archaic concept to a lot of people today. Certainly politically incorrect.

When I was a kid my parents were pretty strict, especially my dad. But I can tell you that I never received any punishment from him that I didn't fully deserve. In fact, because I experienced the severe consequences of my actions the way that I did then, that is probably the reason that I'm not in jail today, or worse. So, thanks dad and mom for loving me enough to discipline me.

Today in many states, if you spank your children, child services can actually take your children away from you. You could possibly even be prosecuted. This almost happened to some friends of ours.Very scary stuff.

When I was a kid you never heard of any school shootings. But today they are reported on the evening news almost weekly. What has changed?

As our nation and world move farther and farther away from God, pushing Him out of every aspect of our society, the moral fiber of the culture disintegrates. And the world grows darker. The people rebel against all that is good and right and godly.

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness…” (Isaiah 5:20)

Very few parents today discipline their children effectively. Liberally minded schools refuse to do so. Many employers won't hold their employees accountable and fail to correct bad behavior. Church leadership, afraid to offend anyone, fails to correct sin in the church body in a biblical way.

Some will argue that because we're "just supposed to love people" they want to "be nice so that everyone will win." Just give everyone a participation trophy no matter what.

But when you fail to discipline, all you accomplish is to enable people to continue in wrong behavior. And everyone loses.

And that's not love.

Certainly not the God kind of love.  His love is a corrective and redemptive love—not a pampering love.

“He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly.” (Proverbs 13:24)

The Discipline of God:

“For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:

“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
For whom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:3-11)

In light of the above passage from Hebrews chapter 12, examine the evidence of a lack of discipline in all aspects of our society. 

God loves through discipline.

—God is Love and Love Never Fails.

Do You Love Jesus?

"If you love Me keep My commandments."

—Jesus

(John 14:15)

I struggled a bit trying to decide how to title this blog post. The themes that have been on my heart lately are obedience, consequences and accountability. And then it became crystal clear.

"Do you love Jesus?"

It always comes back to love.

I've heard many people over the years say how much they love Jesus. One young woman trying to justify the sexually immoral relationship she was in, said of her prodigal boyfriend, "Oh, but he loves Jesus!"

What is the proof that demonstrates that we truly love Jesus?

He gives us the answer in John 14:15...

"If you love Me, keep My commandments."

Look friends, it can't be any clearer than that. 

Keep His commandments.

"Which ones?" you may ask.

All of them.

"But we're under grace now" you might argue.  Absolutely. But Jesus came to bring the New Covenant of Grace to us and He still commands us to obey Him, and keep His commandments.

Don't think of the Bible as a list of rules, but rather, a "Do you love Jesus?" litmus test.

A guy I used to know, who has now gone off the New Age deep end, once said to me, "But Mark, all I'm commanded to do is love my fellow man."

No, that is not true.

What is the first and greatest commandment?

“Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.” (Matthew 22:37-38)

Okay, so loving God with all we are is His first and greatest commandment. So how do you love God?

Keep His commandments. Jesus said so. 

Part of that is loving your fellow man. But that is the second commandment Jesus spoke of.

“And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:39-40)

So what are some important commandments that God gave us? 

Here's one:

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28)

And in case you are looking for a loophole, that commandment is not just for men. It applies equally to women.

Adultery and divorce are an epidemic in this country today, and that's just as much in marriages where the couple claim to be "Christians" as it is for non-believers. How can that be? How can so many people who claim to be "Christians" be throwing their spouses away like yesterday's garbage, and hooking up with losers who don't love God either?  And before you accuse me of casting stones, I once committed this horrible sin of adultery myself, back in the early 1990's when I was a selfish, young, and quite foolish "Christian." And I paid the heavy price for this willful sin against God and against my wife and family. My wife forgave me, eventually, ten years later. But my sinful act took its toll on many people. How I wish I could take back what I did and undo the damage I caused. But I can't. 

And it's because of my own destructive sin bomb that I dropped on my family, and the fallout and consequences of my sin, that I preach this so boldly in love to you today.

Love Jesus by keeping His commandments. 

Don't commit adultery. Don't lust after any other people who are not your spouse. You unmarried people, don't commit fornication. Don't lust after things or people which will destroy your soul. 

Your willful acts of sin have far-reaching consequences on others—including your children—that you have no way of knowing today. Ten, twenty years later, the sin bomb that you drop on your children today, will emotionally and spiritually scar them much more deeply than you can possibly imagine. 

On accountability... here is your ultimate accountability:

“Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.” (2 Corinthians 5:9-11)

If you think this all sounds harsh, hear Jesus' own startling words:

“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Matthew 7:22-23)

Many people—not just a few—will be forever banished from Jesus' presence, because they didn't love Him by being obedient, but rather, chose an unrepentant lifestyle of lawlessness. These are the hyper religious folks. The people who thought they were super spiritual by claiming the name of Jesus and even doing wondrous works. But their hearts were far from Him. They didn't demonstrate a true love for Jesus by walking in obedience and keeping His commandments. And to them He will declare, "I never knew you; depart from Me."

And their fate is eternally sealed. Hopelessly lost forever.

It all comes back to love.

If you really do love Jesus, you will want to keep His commandments. Sure, none of us are perfect. We all make mistakes. But those who truly love Jesus confess their sins and repent of those sins and turn back to Jesus and walk as He walked. It's all about the heart. 

I'm faithful to my wife, not because I'm 'commanded' to be. It's because I love her dearly and I want to be faithful to her. I see her as the wonderful gift from God that she is. As one of God's own daughters whom I have been given the amazing privilege of loving and serving as my wife.

Our relationship with Jesus should be like that. We should want to love Him and serve Him because He first loved us—by laying down His life on the Cross, so we could be His family forever. He is the Bridegroom, the Church is the Bride. What a wonderful picture of sacrificial love. Of God's love.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

—God is Love and Love Never Fails.