A young child accidentally took sleeping pills from the family\u2019s medicine cabinet. The doctor instructed the parents to keep the child awake by any means necessary for the next four hours\u2014including the pain of slapping if necessary. That pain was necessary for the child\u2019s survival. So, too, in the Christian\u2019s journey: \u201cNo discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it\u201d (Heb. 12:11, niv).347<\/p>\n
A boy\u2019s toy boat went out of reach on a pond one day and started floating away. A man on the side started throwing rocks at the boat and the boy became horrified at what might happen. But then he realized that the rocks were going over the boat and making ripples that finally pushed the boat back to shore and into the boy\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n
Many times, when we stray away from God, it appears that he is throwing rocks at us. But he is really using the ripples to bring us back home.348<\/p>\n
A woman visiting in Switzerland came to a sheepfold on one of her daily walks. Venturing in, she saw the shepherd seated on the ground with his flock around him. Nearby, on a pile of straw lay a single sheep, which seemed to be suffering. Looking closely, the woman saw that its leg was broken.<\/p>\n
Her sympathy went out to the suffering sheep, and she looked up inquiringly to the shepherd as she asked how it happened. \u201cI broke it myself,\u201d said the shepherd sadly and then explained. \u201cOf all the sheep in my flock, this was the most wayward. It would not obey my voice and would not follow when I was leading the flock. On more than one occasion, it wandered to the edge of a perilous cliff. And not only was it disobedient itself, but it was leading other sheep astray.<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on my experience with this kind of sheep, I knew I had no choice, so I broke its leg. The next day I took food and it tried to bite me. After letting it lie alone for a couple of days, I went back and it not only eagerly took the food, but licked my hand and showed every sign of submission and affection.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd now, let me say this. When this sheep is well, it will be the model sheep of my entire flock. No sheep will hear my voice so quickly nor follow so closely. Instead of leading the others away, it will be an example of devotion and obedience. In short, a complete change will come into the life of this wayward sheep. It will have learned obedience through its sufferings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many times it is the same in human experience. Through our suffering, God may be seeking to teach us obedience and reliance on his care.349<\/p>\n
The two-year-old, normally a quite obedient little boy, was having an attack of stubbornness\u2014a disease endemic to the species. Still, it was surprising to see such a severe case in one of such tender years. His mother had asked the lad to do something, but he was much too absorbed in his own activities to take time out for that. The father watched as the mother went over to impress on the little boy the importance of minding his parents promptly\u2014to which he responded with a right hook to the jaw of his surprised mother! The father, realizing that his son\u2019s behavior was completely unacceptable and would become dangerous not only to the mother but to the child as well if it were allowed to continue, intervened at this point by giving the wouldbe boxer the worst spanking of his young life, after which he was sent to his room.<\/p>\n
Ten minutes later, the child was back, tears still streaming down his cherub face, and crawled sobbing into the father\u2019s lap as he put his chubby little arms around his neck. What followed is one of the warmest and tenderest memories in this father\u2019s heart. What the child said was not \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Dad,\u201d or \u201cI won\u2019t do it again,\u201d but\u2014with a wisdom and perception far beyond his years\u2014\u201cI love you, Dad!\u201d350<\/p>\n
Discipline is not God\u2019s way of saying, \u201cI\u2019m through with you,\u201d or a mark of abandonment by him. Rather, it is the loving act of God to bring you back. C. S. Lewis said, \u201cGod whispers to us in our pleasures; he speaks to us in our work; he shouts at us in our pain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Every one of us knows that there have been times when we would not listen to God or pay any attention to what his Word was saying, until finally he used a severe discipline to get our attention so that we would<\/i> listen.351<\/p>\n
Loose wires give out no musical notes, but when their ends are fastened, the piano, the harp, or the violin is born. Free steam drives no machine, but harnessed and confined with piston and turbine, it makes possible the great world of machinery. An unhampered river drives no dynamos, but dam it up and you can generate sufficient power to light a great city. So our lives must be disciplined if we are to be of any real service in the world.352<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A young child accidentally took sleeping pills from the family\u2019s medicine cabinet. The doctor instructed the parents to keep the child awake by any means necessary for the next four hours\u2014including the pain of slapping if necessary. That pain was necessary for the child\u2019s survival. So, too, in the Christian\u2019s journey: \u201cNo discipline seems pleasant … Continue reading “DISCIPLINE, PURPOSE OF”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13456\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}