Recently, we have discussed the reasons for painful chastening from the Lord.  As a matter of review, allow me to reiterate…No matter who you are, whether you are saved or unsaved, life is difficult.  If you are unsaved, your life is difficult because you do not have the Lord Jesus Christ in your life.  If you are saved, your life is difficult because you do have the Lord Jesus Christ in your life.  If you got saved thinking your life would not be difficult any more, you were wrong.  Whether you are saved or unsaved, life is difficult and full of trouble.  Now, for the unsaved, there is no hope.  At the end of the road is Hell—a lake of fire forever and ever.  For the saved, we can look forward to a better land.  But, throughout life, we are going to be dealing with pain and struggle and difficulty; and for those of us who are saved, the chastening hand of God.  In Hebrews 12:10, we see three purposes that lie behind the chastening we receive.

First, chastening is for pleasure.  “For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure.” Now at first glance, this seems to be rather strange.  In fact, chastening someone for pleasure sounds sadistic and sick.  But, God is not evil and sadistic.  He does not take pleasure in the fact that we are being chastened; but rather, the pleasure is because He knows that chastening has divine blessing and benefit as its end result.

Secondly, we discussed that chastening is for profit.  “But he for our profit.” Personal profit or benefit is only realized following pain.

Today, let us look at the third reason for painful chastening.  Chastening is for partaking of God’s holiness. “That we might be partakers of his holiness.” God saved the best reason for last! We see the word “partakers” twice in this passage; here in verse ten and also in verse eight.  Though the same word is used in English, two different ideas are being expressed.

In talking about the chastisement every Christian experiences, the word means “one’s share as a participant.”  We are chastened because we have not yet attained perfection.  We are going to be in “Adversity University” until we have breathed our last breath and God takes us home.  The word “partakers” in verse ten is different; in fact, it is the same as in Acts 2:46 where it is translated “to eat.”

Here is the distinction between the two words.  Everyone who gets saved is invited into the training camp.  They have a share of chastisement as a participant in the family of God.  But only those who endure chastening get to sit down with the Lord and eat.  Every believer is a partaking in His chastening; only those who endure are partakers of His holiness.  When we are faced with adversity, we must run to God in faith.  If we do not, we will quit.  It is a tragedy to partake of the chastening without partaking of the holiness.  That means we have suffered without gaining the purpose and benefit that was the intended purpose of our chastening.

An improper response to God’s chastening will leave you thin and spiritually emaciated.  When Karen Carpenter died in 1983, most of us had never heard of anorexia.  It is a disorder that makes people quit eating.  Refusing to endure chastening affects you the same way—you are giving up spiritual food.  It will wreck and ruin your life.  I have observed many Christians who lost their spiritual vitality during a time of adversity.  They either ignored what God was doing, or they got angry at God and turned away from Him.  Both are improper responses.   They failed to see what God was trying to do in their lives.  Ultimately, the best and greatest profit of chastening is that it allows us to be partakers of Christ’s holiness.  This means that we take on the very nature of Christ.  When something is referred to as holy, it carries the idea of being perfectly cleansed.

Think about the way a washing machine works.  Open the lid while a load of clothes is being washed and look at it.  There are clothes and water and soap in the machine, but they are not just sitting there.  They do not get clean by simply being in the water.  A washing machine has something that moves them around—an agitator.  You will have to hold the little button down to watch it work with the lid open, but what you will see is the clothes are bouncing up and down, pulsating and spinning around.  Do you have any agitations in your life?  They are there to move things around so that you can be a partaker of His cleanness and holiness.  God knows that without something to stir us up, we will not become more like His Son.

For the process to work though, you have to stay in the machine.  The agitation may be painful, but it is necessary if you want to partake of Christ’s holiness.  If things are difficult and agitated in your marriage, stay in.  If you are having a tough time at work, stay in.  If there are troubles at your church, stay in.  That agitation has been put in your life by God for a reason.  If you get out, you will miss it.  If we endure chastening, then one day we will be all cleaned up and presented to the Savior as a bride, spotless and white.  Why?  Because we made the decision, “I’m going to endure chastening.  I’m going to stay in the washing machine and endure the agitation.  I’m not going to quit.  I’m not going to give up. I’m not going to stay out just because things are tough.  I’m going to stay in.”  Enduring chastening is easier if we keep in mind the purposes God has for having us go through it.

My friends, if you have endured chastisement, or if you are in the midst of it as you read this blog…don’t quit!  Remember, it is for His pleasure, for your profit, and it will result in a partaking of His holiness!

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And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. (Hebrews 12:5-10)

Life is Difficult

No matter who you are, whether you are saved or unsaved, life is difficult.  If you are unsaved, your life is difficult because you do not have the Lord Jesus Christ in your life.  If you are saved, your life is difficult because you do have the Lord Jesus Christ in your life.  If you got saved thinking your life would not be difficult any more, you were wrong.  Whether you are saved or unsaved, life is difficult and full of trouble.  Now, for the unsaved, there is no hope.  At the end of the road is Hell—a lake of fire forever and ever.  For the saved, we can look forward to a better land.  But, throughout life, we are going to be dealing with pain and struggle and difficulty; and for those of us who are saved, the chastening hand of God.  In Hebrews 12:10, we see three purposes that lie behind the chastening we receive. Recently, we discussed the first purpose – chastening is for pleasure.  “For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure.” God does not take pleasure in the fact that we are being chastened; but rather, the pleasure is because He knows that chastening has divine blessing and benefit as its end result.

Secondly, chastening is for profit.  “But he for our profit.” Personal profit or benefit is only realized following pain.  Now, I know we are living in a world that does not want to believe that.  People want a pill they can take to eat all they want and still lose weight.  We want great relationships without having to make any investments in them.  There is no free lunch.  As athletes say, “No pain, no gain.”  There is no way to get paid in advance in the spiritual realm.  You cannot get the profit unless you endure the pain.  God says if we endure chastening, then we will be rewarded.  God will not do for us what we must do for ourselves.

Hebrews 11:6 says “he that cometh to God.” God wants us to come to Him.  Jesus said, “Come unto me, all yet that labour and are heavy leaden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)  Some people do not benefit from the Lord because they are not willing to come to Him.  They are what I call “couch potato Christians.”  They just sit around, wanting everything to come to them.  That is not the way God designed for us to work.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said when people persecute and falsely attack, “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad.”  Now, most of us do not respond that way when we are having troubles.  We do not jump up and down and click our heels and celebrate.  But Jesus said that is how excited we should be.  Why?  Because we have a great reward in Heaven waiting for us! There is profit in chastening.  If we endure the pain now, we get the profit later.

God brings pain and suffering into our lives because He loves us too much to let us sit back and expect people to take care of us.  There is a mindset common in our country that says, “People owe me something.  I’m just here to get what I can get.  I deserve all I want.”  The only thing we deserve is to die and go to Hell. Anything else is only the result of God’s grace and mercy.  As a result of that spirit of entitlement, we have lost the work ethic that our parents and grandparents had; the idea that if you wanted to get ahead, you had to roll up your sleeves and get to work.  The old farmers said, “The best place to pray for corn is at the end of a hoe handle.”

You cross a boundary into a new level of maturity in your life when you can sincerely look to the Lord as He allows suffering and say, “Thank you, Father.”  If you are not being hypocritical about it, but mean it sincerely, then you have reached that level.  The principle that we profit through pain is hard to learn in the classroom; instead God brings us into crisis.  It is hard to gain this truth from academics; instead God brings us into adversity.  And if we learn this truth, then we gain the reward that comes to those who endure chastening.

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No matter who you are, whether you are saved or unsaved, life is difficult.  If you are unsaved, your life is difficult because you do not have the Lord Jesus Christ in your life.  If you are saved, your life is difficult because you do have the Lord Jesus Christ in your life.  If you got saved thinking your life would not be difficult any more, you were wrong.  Whether you are saved or unsaved, life is difficult and full of trouble.  Now, for the unsaved, there is no hope.  At the end of the road is Hell—a lake of fire forever and ever.  For the saved, we can look forward to a better land.  But, throughout life, we are going to be dealing with pain and struggle and difficulty; and for those of us who are saved, the chastening hand of God.  In Hebrews 12:10, we see three purposes that lie behind the chastening we receive. Today, we will discuss the first purpose:

First, chastening is for pleasure.  “For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure.” Now at first glance, this seems to be rather strange.  In fact, chastening someone for pleasure would seem to be sadistic and sick.  But, God is not evil nor sadistic.  He does not take pleasure in the fact that we are being chastened; the pleasure is because He knows that chastening has divine blessing and benefit as its end result. If we are going to become what our Father intends for us to be, then He must allow us to experience pain.  He takes pleasure, not in our pain, but in what it will produce.

To help you understand this, let’s look at the times God the Father said He was pleased with His Son Jesus.  The first was when Jesus was baptized.  After John baptized Jesus, a voice from Heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)  What was it about Christ’s baptism that pleased the Father?  Baptism is a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.  The Father was looking ahead to the suffering of His Son.  The second time was on the Mount of Transfiguration.  Jesus was talking to Moses and Elijah about His soon coming death.  Peter, James, and John heard a voice from Heaven that said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 17:5)

Was the Father pleased when Jesus worked miracles and preached the gospel?  Yes, He was.  In John 8:29 Jesus said, “I do always those things that please him.” The expression of God’s pleasure focused on Jesus’ obedient suffering.  God was not pleased in seeing His Son hurt, but He was pleased in seeing His Son’s obedience and His willingness to suffer unselfishly for the sake of others.

There are some lessons that we are not likely to learn in sermons; we learn them through suffering.  We are born naturally selfish.  If you have children, you know that our nature is “Me first.”  Kids do not have to go to school and take Selfishness 101—it comes naturally.  The only way to overcome that trait is to be broken through God’s divine chastening.  Selfish people make poor husbands, poor wives, poor workers, and poor Christians.  Chastening helps us to learn to please others rather than focusing on what pleases us.

A few years ago, my family and I had the privilege of seeing Rachel Barton, the world-renowned violinist from Chicago at a concert.  When she came on to the stage, it was obvious that she walked with a severe limp.  With great difficulty, she made her way to her seat and began to play.  I have never heard anyone else play with such emotion, beauty, and grace.  We sat spellbound as we listened to her.  Later, I found out her story.  When she was in her early twenties, Rachel was getting off a train to teach violin lessons carrying her 400 year old Amati violin worth more than half a million dollars.  The door of the train closed on her shoulder and caught the violin case.  She was dragged more than 350 feet by the train.  One leg was severed, and the other was badly injured.  Rachel Barton could have given up.  Instead, she continues to practice and play through the pain for the pleasure of others.  Every pain that God brings or allows into our lives has a purpose.  If we respond to it properly, that purpose will be accomplished.  Remember, when we enduring chastening for the pleasure of others, it pleases God.

Have a wonderful day IN the Lord!
Dr. Paul A. Kingsbury

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Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. (Hebrews 12:11)

Notice what our verse says—“no chastening…seemeth to be joyous.” The point is not that chastening can’t be joyous, but if we only look at what is right in front of us, we will miss the possibility for joy. Things are not always as they seem. In fact, I would venture to say things are not ever as they seem. What we can see is not all that is occurring. We have a very limited view in the flesh of what is taking place. That is why faith is so important. Faith lets us see that God is at work behind the scenes in every circumstance.“By faith he [Moses] forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.” (Hebrews 11:27) And faith not only lets us see that God is at work; faith makes it possible for us to endure. The only way to experience joy in the midst of the chastening (or adversity) is if we recognize that which cannot be seen with the naked eye. The problem, identified in Hebrews 12:11, is that we insist on supposing things are as they seem to be. Our logic tells us this is the way it is. Our eyesight tells us this is the way it is. The world in which we live tells us this is the way it is. And, if we listen to logic and sight and the world, we miss out on what God has for us.

We must see by faith. It is impossible to experience the joy of the Lord during adversity unless we are relying on faith to see past our circumstances. Joy is being filled with cheer (not happiness) and experiencing calm delight in the soul. We will never know joy if our focus is on the physical world we can see. Some people say that it is impossible to change our focus, but God never gives us an expectation that He does not enable us to fulfill. He says in I Thessalonians 5:16, “Rejoice evermore.” There is no way around that one! It does not mean rejoice when we are in Heaven someday; it means rejoice right now here on earth.

The most miserable Christians I know are those who despise the chastening of the Lord. They allow the circumstances of their suffering to make them miserable because they make the mistake of thinking and believing that things are as they seem to be. Even when things are going wrong and we are suffering, God is not dead. He has not abandoned us. He is very active and involved in our lives. That is the only way we can rejoice in chastening. If we insist on living by what we can see (which is logical and makes sense), we forfeit the potential of joy, and we guarantee the presence of grief in our lives—it seems grievous, which means to be filled with sorrow and sadness. You will be de-energized, diminished, de-motivated, and depressed.

Notice the word “nevertheless” in verse eleven. What does ‘nevertheless’ mean? It means “always the more.” How does that fit in with the context here? This passage is teaching us that it is only through enduring God’s chastening that we make spiritual progress in our lives. There is something about progress: it is much easier for it not to happen. The more you endure, the longer you endure, and the more difficult the trials and testings you endure, the greater will be the progress you make in your walk with the Lord and your work for the Lord. We must see the progressive benefits of enduring chastening. It is much slower to go forward for God than it is to go backward away from God. Picture the Christian life as climbing up a mountain. As long as we are ascending the mountain, our progress will be slow, but we are moving forward. If we fall, we start moving very rapidly—in the wrong direction.

I have known people who were faithful to God for many years. They followed Him, were active in church, were a blessing and encouragement to others, and were moving up the mountain. They were growing and maturing and drawing closer to God. Yet, in the space of just months or even days, they can undo all of the effort of those years. It is always faster to regress than it is to progress. Sometimes it is hard to realize that we are making any progress at all. Our growth seems so slow that we think we are standing still. But, we are never standing still—we are either moving forward or falling back. We are either moving up or moving down.

My friend, may I ask….which way are you moving today???

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