01/04/24 DON'T REJECT GOD'S CORRECTION

01/04/24 DON'T REJECT GOD'S CORRECTION

I posted an article earlier today that encourages victorious Christian living. As I was writing I thought about the means God uses to bring us to victorious living. One of my thoughts included God's chastisement of His children. Chastisement is the teaching of children, the discipline of children, more especially the parental discipline of their own children.

In the New Testament, "chastisement" is used in reference to God's dealing with His children. Chastisement is correction, which may include reproof, training, suffering and punishment. Punishment for misdeeds in this life is not to be confused with eternal punishment. Punishment in this life (whether human or Divine in nature) does not justify the offender. The only true justification for evil doers is obtained by faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ. Eternal punishment does not justify the evil doer. Eternal punishment is judicial rather than redemptive.

Chastisement is not intended for the purpose of settling a score or an account or paying a debt. It is intended for the purpose of making a change in a person's life. Sin has consequences, even for those who have been converted. Salvation is not a license to sin and chastisement is not an appeasement of God's wrath.

If a Christian does not learn from his chastisement, if a Christian does not repent of his sin, then he will face eternal punishment because he has rejected God's only satisfaction for sin.

Some say that a "child of God," cannot lose his sonship, but remember, "sonship is the result of faith." Without faith we cannot be sons (children) of God. We are saved by grace through faith, we walk by faith, we live by faith and the Bible also says we are children of God by faith. Those who deny the faith, those who refuse to live by faith in Christ are not the children of God. He that commits sin is of the devil, that which is not of faith is sin, and the wages of sin is death.

God chastises His children in order to keep them in the faith. Never forget, God chooses to draw us to Himself through blessing but He will resort to driving us to Himself through trials.

After Hebrews 11 (which is called the "faith chapter" of the Bible), God tells us in chapter 12 that He chastises (corrects, trains, reproves) His children. It is worth your time to read the following passage with this thought in mind. I share some other thoughts after this passage. 

Hebrews 12:1-17
1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
5 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:
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
9 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?
10 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.
11 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.
12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

As the passage clearly says, God expects us to resist temptation, even to the point of death. Jesus is our example and our enabler. Not only does God require believers to resist temptation and endure persecution, God requires believers to remain faithful when they are being chastised, reproved, corrected, even when it includes physical suffering, such as scourging (whipping). God's chastening of believers is the discipline of a loving Father dealing with a wayward son. The chastening, scourging, suffering does not pay for the sin. Only faith in the shed blood of Jesus atones for sin. But personal suffering is meted out as a warning, as a taste of the suffering that comes with disobedience to God. If God does not chasten a person for their wavering it is because that person is not a legitimate child of God. Remember, faith is the determining factor concerning our relationship with God.

If a person who thinks of himself as a child of God is not being disciplined, chastened, corrected, reproved and even scourged, then it is because that person is not an actual child of God. The answer to God's dealing with you is not to ignore or to faint under the chastening of the Lord, but rather to submit under the authority and rule of God. It is better to experience the correction of God now than to experience the judgment of God later. The right response to God's dealings with us is to submit, yield, surrender to His rightful authority.

It is interesting that people will submit to the chastening meted out by an earthly father, but will resist and reject the chastening of God. The person who does not willfully submit to parental authority is actually ending the parent and child relationship. God does not leave His children, but those who refuse the faith relationship with God have abandoned God. To claim the rights of sonship, while denying the responsibilities of sonship is denial of sonship.

God's chastens His children in order for us to be partakers of His holiness, heart purity, perfect love, singleness of mind. Being corrected, reproved is not pleasurable. Since it is hard to accept and deal with, some people choose not to learn from God's chastening and therefore are disqualified from being a partaker of God's holiness and they sever the Parent and child relationship. Those who endure and learn by submitting to God's chastening will produce the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

God calls us to take the steps which will lead us to holiness. Remember, God told Cain if he would do the right thing, God would deliver him from his misery and depression and He would accept Cain. Basically, the same is being said in this passage. The chastised believer needs to respond joyfully to God's correction; step in the straight and narrow path, or be turned out of the way. We need to follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Otherwise the person will fall short of the grace of God because he did not accept correction, and this will lead to a root of bitterness spring up and defiling the rebellious one, separating him as Esau was separated because of his unwillingness to yield to God.

One last thought. For a right relationship with a parent; a child must have respect, confidence and love for the parent. In this passage we know the Father is just, worthy, loving, kind, wise. God blesses His children abundantly and always does what is best for us. This includes correction and training, and when God does this through His people in a local body of believers (it is known as discipling).

God has ordained that these principles should be practiced in the family; parents are to love their, train, provide for and protect their children, while children are to love, respect, honor their parents. This should continue into a right relationship with God as Father. Sadly, people children and young people rebel against parental authority and eventually rebel against God and spiritual authority. God requires children to honor and obey their parents. When the parent/child relationship breaks down the family is headed for disaster. Likewise, Christians begin to drift from God, and God then deals with them more stringently, with the intent of bringing them back into a trusting, loving, obedient relationship. When the relationship is finally severed it is because folks have refused the chastening of the Lord.