heb 12:4-12:13

4. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;

it is possible that this is metaphor, and that he's just saying that they should exert themselves in this way.
i think that this is a literal encouragement to stand up in persecution however.
reasons:

he's already mentioned direct persecution in their context

heb 10:32-36
32 But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, 33 partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. 34 For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. 35 Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

he's just reminded them of christ's suffering

heb 12:2,3
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

the warnings seem to build this way...

if you have time, go through and read the book and see if you think this is the possible background.
he starts out warning them against drifting, and ends up talking increasingly about the need to endure to the end to receive their reward.
now, in the last warning, he exhorts them to have discipline regardless of cost.

probably doesn't change a ton, as the requirement stands either way. but it does encrich the reading a bit for me.

4. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;
5. and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, "MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD,
NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM;
6. FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES,
AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES."
7. It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
8. But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
9. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
10. For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.
11. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
12. Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble,
13. and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

1. holiness is required of the christian

a few things, each on their own, make this so:

- god is pleased and honored with our holiness

micah 6:7,8
7. Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams,
In ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8. He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?

- god hates sin, and sin has consequences

26. For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27. but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES.
28. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?
30. For we know Him who said, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY." And again, "THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE."
31. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

2. our holiness is worth more than our blood

assuming their context of suffering...obedience is more important than escape. matthew 10:28
“Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
luke 12:8,9
And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God; but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God

3. what are the expectations for the believer?

you have to understand this first part for the bit about the discipline to be good news.

simon peter, fears for his life and denies christ.
this is sin; in direct trial, he directly denies Christ.
forgiven, and gets another chance later.

1. first, a reminder to not forget that god disciplines...

5. you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons...

- they are expected to know this, it's in the OT

we're expected to know this even more; it's in the OT and here.

- but...we are slack and forget.

like many things scriptural, this is easy to forget because of our lack of sensory data.
one more reason to make a practice of reading and meditating on scripture.

2. the central text: a quote of proverbs 3:11,12

prov 3:11,12

11 My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD
Or loathe His reproof,
12 For whom the LORD loves He reproves,
Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.

what does the word "discipline" mean here?

well...discipline is instruction that aims at increasing virtue.
- not necessarily a punishment

i realize that i was having trouble making sense of this passage because i was reading 'discipline' as punishment, which is often how i use the word.
that isn't true...
to give discipline is the imposition of discipline(s).

not fun and enjoyable...but not necessarily punishment either.
in other words, it includes punishment but is not limited to punishment.

the text is going to encourage us to see difficulty as a chance for us to work on our sin.

the proverbs verse speaks of punishment (reproof), and also has the broader idea of god helping to grow us (remove our sin) through difficulty.

3. v7-11 the author's explanation of prov 3:11,12

7. It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
8. But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
9. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
10. For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.

a. the link between endurance and discipline (v7)

"it is for discipline that you endure"...the NET makes that a bit easier to read by saying, "Endure your suffering as discipline".
relatively obvious statement, as endurance and discipline are super-related ideas.

this is an encouragement to view suffering as part of god's parenting and discipline of us.

b. discipline is part of god's care of us

parents are responsible to teach their children through discipline.

one of my goals with my kids is to discipline them in various areas.
it is unkind to not teach them.

god is our true father, and a better father than our earthly parents.

v9
if we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them, shall we not much rather be subject to the father of spirits, and live?

are kids happy about discipline?

no. not usually.
and when they are it is a sign they are growing ready to not need it anymore.

the same with us.

a few thoughts on why we should love discipline

- discipline keeps us from the basic consequences of sin

** delayed consequences means big trouble **
consider credit card debt...
imagine how much less sin there would be if people felt the cost of it right away...

think of the attitude, "you can't tell me what to do".
if people could see the cost of that on their lives, they would probably cut it out.

pick a sin, and carry it out.
it's a sad ending.

i've often thought that people and the world would be much better off if we got to see god judge sin all around us.

imagine if we saw ananias and saphira drop dead after telling lies; i'm confident we would be very active in speaking the truth.

- discipline keeps us from the spiritual consequence of sin

however terrified we might be that we'll rack up credit card debt, have health problems, or whatever else...
we should be much more terrified about the real consequence of sin.

the text expresses this in v11 with the phrase "he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness."

4. we should be thrilled that god takes an interest in our personal growth.

god hates sin, and judges it.
god buys us our innocence with his own blood, then helps us to fight sin in our daily lives.

yes, god is wrathful against sin.
god also intercedes for us, disciplines, and calls us his kids.
we are not illegitimate (legally) kids; we are full sons and daughters, who bear god's name and who share in his eternal wealth.

5. what does this "divine parenting" look like?

it looks like difficulty.
discipline will be difficulty designed to sanctify us.
is all difficulty discipline?

the bible doesn't bother to say.

some difficulty in our lives is a direct response to our sin.

james 5:14,15 seems to speak of sickness caused by sin.

some difficulty is a chance for us to show our endurance

heb 11:39, speaking of those who did works of faith (including/especially suffering), says that they "gained approval through their faith".

in all cases, difficulty is a chance for our growth.

consider a wealthy celebrity...
how would you grow in character...

if you had your every desire fulfilled?
if people laughed at every joke you told?
everyone wanted to spend time with you?

even skinner, in walden II, realized the need to introduce difficulty to grow character.

in contrast, the bible does view difficulty positively.

it is our chance to share with christ:

2 cor 1:5 "for jus as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant"
col 1:24 "now i rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh i do my share on behalf of his body (which is the church) in filling up that which is lacking in christ's afflictions.

it is a mark of honor:

2 thess 1:4,5 "we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. 5. This is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering.

these are likely tied to specific persecution for christ however, as is hebrews. what about normal, non-persecution suffering?
ever read job? job's sufferings were a chance for him to honor god with his obedience, which he did.

go on...review the first two points:

I. High expecations are laid on us (resist sin to the point of shedding our blood) (v4).
II. Good news...God disciplines us, his children, to help us resist sin (v5-10).

12. Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble,
13. and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

1. "strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet."

a. this is personal action

we have talked about the active role god takes with discipline in our fight against sin.
we have responsibility here;

b. this is presented as the prerequisite for our healing

two options in the metaphor:

if we strenthen, then the limb that is lame will be healed
if we do not, then the limb will be put out of joint

that means that we have to turn to face our difficulties head on, to see them as a chance for personal healing and growth.

2. view difficulty as a chance to fix your sin or to show your rightousness

resist sin, even to the point of the shedding of your blood.
"god is faithful, he will provide a way out, so that you will be able to endure it" (1 cor 10:13)

a note on aging:

older people should be our guides in life; they've lived, they've had more discipline from god, they have wisdom...
but at many points in my life there haven't been old people i look up to.

not sure why...but i think it may have to do with our cultures ability to dodge difficulty.
do *not* structure your life to avoid difficulty...at the cost of your ministry, at the cost of your service to others, at the cost of intimacy in your marriage, etc...

3. view difficulty as part of god's love

i believe this will be terrible in the moment.
also - i'd like to be clear - i am not against questions, sadness, or anger.

part of the biblical responses we see are questions (christ in the garden, job throughout), sadness (christ with lazarus, jeremiah, etc), and anger (at sin. see habakkuk and christ in the temple).
happiness is not the measure of rightouesness.

but this passage is clear, that god gives us difficult circumstances for our growth, because he loves us.
we must believe this.

other alternatives:
"god doesn't care"
"god can't change things"

both sinful beliefs.

final encouragement: neil says that delayed gratification is a sign of emotional intelligence.