CTK Raleigh Sermons

CTK Raleigh Sermons is a ministry of Christ the King at Presbyterian Church located in Raleigh, North Carolina. CTK is a community rooted in the depth of the gospel, refined by hard conversations, fueled by meaningful relationships, and committed to redemptive work in Raleigh.

The Text

Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross despising the shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself so that you won't grow weary and give up. In struggling against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood and forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons. My son, do not the Lord's discipline lightly or lose heart when you are reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and punishes every son he receives. Endure suffering as discipline. God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, which all receive, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had human fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn't we submit even more to the father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but he does it for our benefit so that we can share his holiness. No discipline seems enjoyable at the time but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your tired hands and weak knees and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed instead. Pursue peace with everyone and holiness. Without it, no one will see the Lord. Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up causing trouble and defiling many. And make sure there isn't any immoral or reverent person like Esau who sold his birthright in exchange for a single meal. For you know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected even though he sought it with tears because he didn't find any opportunity for repentance. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but God's word lasts forever. Amen. — Hebrews 12:1-17

Understanding "Discipline"

Now this passage has a word that's repeated over and over and over again that requires explanation to modern people. That word is discipline. And in our culture, that is entirely a negative word. That's on par with what we might think of as time out, or spankings, or penalties, restrictions, and consequences.

But the word actually is the word paideia, which is the word where we get pedagogy in our language—which is more like how we use it in academic circles, a discipline of study. Someone could be in the pedagogy, the discipline of engineering, or nursing, or accounting. What they mean by that is that they are studying. They're putting themselves through the paces to learn that discipline in order to be able to be proficient in that for their lifetime.

There is one place in this passage where it's a negative term. That's in verse five, where what is in view there is something that's out of alignment that needs to be corrected and brought back into alignment. But the big point of this whole passage is not negative. This is super positive. This is a picture of what God's program looks like for change in a person's life.

And maybe a better word in our context is training. So that's what I'm going to use for the rest of the sermon. You could go through this whole passage and replace every word where it says discipline with training.

Here's my main idea: God uses pain to train for gain.

I have three points: training works, training hurts, and training confirms. And I want to cite one source for this sermon. I listened to a sermon by a pastor in South Carolina, Brian Habig, this summer, which really framed a lot of what I'm doing with this for today. So thank you, Brian.

Training Works

You ever wonder what is God doing in my life? Nobody's ever wondered that before? A lot of us do, right? What is God up to?

Now, I don't know the details for each of you. But I can tell you the big picture of what God is up to in your life. He is into transformation. He is into major transformation.

And it doesn't start with training. And here's why: because you can't train dead things. There's no coach in the world who can train dead athletes. It just doesn't work.

The Bible's take on our natural condition apart from Jesus is dead in our transgressions and our sins. There's no life in us that he can train. It actually starts differently. It starts with Jesus.

I think one of the reasons we are obsessed as a culture with zombie movies, why people like zombie movies so much, is there's something in the human subconsciousness that knows I'm walking dead apart from Jesus. That's why the Cranberries sing about it. Zombie. Zombie. There's something about that. All the monster movies have some tie-in subconsciously to Christianity, and particularly this one. Because this is what we are apart from Jesus. We are zombies.

We read the gospel though in verse two.

For the joy set before him, Jesus endured the shame, went to the cross, endured the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the Father in heaven. — Hebrews 12:2

Jesus, to review where we've been over the last few weeks, Jesus is the scapegoat who takes away the sin, and he's the sacrificial goat who's killed for the penalty of sin for us. On the third day, he's resurrected from the dead, he ascends into heaven, and sits down at the right hand of the Father. Now, you know a lot of these things, so let's talk about it in football terms. This is what's happening in what Jesus is doing in your life. Hike. Right? Jesus fades back with the ball, and this is what happens. He takes all of this—this is what he does at the cross. He lays down his life. He pays the penalty for our sin, the sacrificial goat. He takes away the sin. He's the scapegoat. And then, in his resurrection and ascension, he sits down at the right hand of the Father, from which he's ruling all things by the word of his power.

But before he does that, instead of passing the ball, he turns around and hands it off. And he hands it off—this is First Corinthians 15—to the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is doing running the play from that point. Jesus is up in heaven. Holy Spirit is running the play where he is doing two things in the life of a person. He comes and by uniting you with Jesus, applies all of what Jesus has done to a person in his life and death, and he applies the resurrection to you.

Here's another way of putting it. You guys know I like Russian nesting dolls. Here's our Russian nesting dolls for this morning. This is you. This is you, dead in your transgressions and sins. Here's what the Holy Spirit does to you. He puts you situated in Jesus. You are in Christ. You are credited with his righteousness. You are justified. You are a Christian. But he not only does that, he gives you the Holy Spirit's power inside of you. Holy Spirit in you, in Christ. And that Holy Spirit power is what makes a dead person alive, and allows them to grow, and allows them to change. And this is when the training program starts.

God's Training Program

So let's talk about the training program. Let's talk about the training program of God. At the end of this passage, it says this:

No training seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. — Hebrews 12:11

Or in verse 12:

He does it for our benefit, so that we can share in his holiness. — Hebrews 12:10

This is God's training program, and it works. This is how we know it works. We're gonna see in this passage how this has worked over and over again in the life of people. But let me just tell you this first: it doesn't come easy. And the reason why we need to be trained is even though we're justified in Christ, we're in Christ, even though we have the Holy Spirit, we are still self-dependent people. We live by sight and not by faith. We hold on to things that we know will kill us. There is a destructive, self-destructive tendency in each one of us. And so God is like, "Time to start the training. Time to start the training."

The chapter before this one, which we preached through all in January and February, Hebrews 11, highlights the history of God's training program in the lives of all these people. You can go through the Heroes of Faith chapter, and it goes through person by person throughout Old Testament history. And if you read it, you're like, these people's lives have several things in common. Not great. Not fun. Lived in tents my whole life. Barren until we were ancient, and then had a child of promise. What? Received promises, but not the fulfillment of the promises. Lived here as strangers, always had a tent, and never a house. And what we read is over and over, God's training program in those people's lives. And you know what the big summary is? It worked. It worked over and over in their lives, and it's gonna work in your life.

Training Hurts

But here's the problem: training hurts. Training hurts. Training of all kinds involves some pain. That's why at the beginning of this passage, verse four, it says this:

In struggling against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. — Hebrews 12:4

Ow.

Ow. And verse 11, no training seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. This training is gonna hurt. Now, if you've done any physical training for anything, it hurts. And training involves enduring the right incremental amounts of pain over the right time period for the right results. You don't just go into the gym tomorrow and try to max out how much you can weight lift. That's ridiculous. You're gonna hurt yourself. If you're training for a marathon, you don't go out the first day and try to run 26 miles. That's going to hurt you. That's impossible. But training involves the right increments of pain over the right time period for the right results. You can have those training guides for a marathon, like, here's how much you can run Monday, and then Wednesday, and then the long run on Friday. Am I by myself up here? Anybody know what I'm talking about? Okay. Y'all okay. I'm not sure this morning.

So when you weight train, what are you doing to your muscles? You're tearing them. You're tearing muscle fiber so that it heals back and grows. That's why you're sore. That's why weight training hurts.

Now, let's imagine, could you imagine a person whose job it is to hurt you? Yes. That's called a coach. That's what their job is entirely. Their job is to hurt you. And what's funny to me, I remember my father-in-law. He loved his high school football coach, but he did not sound like a lovable person to me. This guy put him through the ringer. He was tough on him. He was mean. And I'm like, you love this guy? There are a lot of people like, I love my coach because they did not let me—they didn't ease up. They were not nice. We never were buddies. To this day, I'm still afraid of them.

Let me put up a couple coaches. Let's see if you can recognize these people. I'm gonna give you a quote about or by each one.

First, "Winning is fun. Sure. But winning is not the point. Wanting to win is the point. Not giving up is the point." Famous coach Pat Summitt, University of Tennessee, Lady Vols.

Second one: "A coach is someone who can give you correction without causing resentment." John Wooden from UCLA.

"He treated us all the same like dogs." This is the great Vince Lombardi from the Green Bay Packers.

"He was a great man, a great manager. He know when to put an arm around you and when to give you a kick." Sir Alex Ferguson from Manchester United.

And the last one: "It's a way of life, not just football. It's about holding yourself to a higher standard." This is Nick Saban from Alabama and LSU.

So these people are famous for hurting people, and they're respected and loved for it.

The Christian Life as Training

Similarly, the Christian life is a long distance race. The word here for race in verse one is agon, which they used for the pentathlon in the Olympic games in Athens—five events which had discus, javelin, long jump, foot race, and wrestling. It's where we get our word "agony" from. The Christian life is an agon. If that was their agon, what about ours?

God uses pain to train for gain. One of the things that's really hard for people is distinguishing between hurt and harm. Because they may feel the same. Somebody who wishes you harm wants your destruction. Somebody who allows hurt in your life may actually be training you. That may be your coach. And in our minds, when we think about the Lord, and we're like, what is God doing? Why is this happening to me? Many of us in our hearts are like, I'm not sure this is a coach. I feel like God is trying to kill me. But God's word says over and over, he's up to good. He is training.

You know, it should be a clue for us. Verse five is a quote—that's why it's in bold print:

"My son, don't take the Lord's discipline lightly or lose heart when you're approved by him."

Those are the words of Job, the paradigmatic sufferer of the Old Testament, who lost finance, family, personal losses, home, everything, physical health. He was in God's training program.

Let me just clarify a couple of things. If you are a believer, God is never paying you back for your sin. I can't tell you how many times I've sat across the table from somebody who says, "I think God's paying me back." It's painful to hear as a pastor because I'm like, you can't distinguish hurt and harm right now. You can't distinguish hurt and harm.

Let me break this down really quickly. Punishment means paying back for the wrong you've done.

There's a code of justice that's been broken. There's a ticket that needs to be paid. There's a late fee. There's a charge against you that needs to be settled. Verse two tells us that Jesus paid the full penalty for you. He paid it in his own blood. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross. He is not punishing you.

Second, there's discipline or training. This is the coach. This is the loving work of God to change your character over time by allowing little units of pain at the right moments to help you grow, to become dependent, to remember who your father is and who's in charge of you.

And then consequences. Sometimes we think consequences are punishment. Consequences are just natural results from bad decisions. You have sex outside of marriage, and there's a baby. That is not God's punishment, that's biology. You cheat on your spouse, and a marriage is broken. You neglect your children and they're estranged from you. You cheat at work and get fired. You use AI to write your paper in college, and you get flunked for the class. Those aren't punishment. Those are natural consequences. God does not shield people from natural consequences.

Tim Keller, who was a pastor from New York in our denomination, endured a lot of pain and suffering from various forms of cancer. He eventually died of pancreatic cancer. And he once said this: "An ounce of sin can harm us more than a ton of suffering. Sin can harden our hearts so that we lose everything, but suffering, if handled rightly, can make us wiser and happier and deeper." That's a man who's saying, it hurts, but it works. God's training, it hurts, but it works.

So hence, training. The Christian life is lifelong training. It hurts at times. I remember years ago, Jesse Ventura became the governor of Minnesota. He's been a pro wrestler. He famously said this: "Christianity is a crutch for weak minded people." And I'm like, Jesse, you've got no idea what you're talking about, because God's training plan is hard. Jesus said it.

Enter by the narrow gate. The gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction. There are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it. — Matthew 7

Christian life is not an easy life. It's not for weak people who need a crutch. But it's the right road, and it's a good way, and God is working for your training.

Training Confirms Relationship

So as training works, as training hurts, as training confirms. Number three, confirms relationship. It confirms relationship. I can summarize the entire passage this way. No training, no dad. Training—dad.

Let me explain. In our day and age, it's very normal for somebody in the general public to talk about people as God's children. But that's a misuse of that term. Not everybody, biblically, is a child of God. We are all made. Every person you ever meet is made in the image and likeness of God, and that's a beautiful thing. But not everybody is a child of God. There is one and only one natural child of God. Who is that? Jesus is the only child of God. Everybody else is not born a child of God, but is reborn a child of God. Has to be born again, has to be adopted into Christ's family, has to be brought in. No one is naturally a child of God. And that's not being mean, that's just being clear.

This is one way you can determine if you are God's child. Training. Training's happening in your life. You're like, I can't understand why things are hard right now. Maybe God's up to something. Now, he's good, and it's not harm, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.

By contrast, let's imagine this. What is life like as a person who is under God's wrath? A person around you who's under God's wrath. Now, you might think their life must be horrible, must be filled with all kinds of pain and suffering. Not necessarily. Romans one says it this way: when a person has so hardened their heart to God, to idols to live apart from Him, in His wrath, He may hand that person over to their desires. What does that mean? They may be really happy. That may be your next door neighbor who's out shining his BMW this morning, like everything's good. And you're looking at him going, why? Why is my life so hard and his looks really good? And that may be—not guaranteeing this as a pastor, but it may be—that person is under God's wrath. They have so hardened themselves and run from God that God has, in effect, said, okay. And their life looks bulletproof, and they seem really happy as a pagan, and you're like, dang. I'm not sure I like being God's child. I'm not telling you to go use that on your neighbors.

Please do not go around and put notes under people's doors who seem like they're going great and be like, "under God's wrath." Don't use that on them. Use that on you, in your heart when you're comparing, which is really unfair. But when you're comparing, remember, God is actually confirming relationship when he's training us. You don't know what's going on with your neighbor, but you can discern what's going on with you. Maybe God is confirming his love for me.

God's Approach to Training

Now, this isn't a parenting sermon, it's a sanctification sermon. But there's some confusion in modern America about parenting versus the Bible's take on parenting. The Bible's take on parenting is that parenting doesn't mean removing obstacles and creating ease for a child. We think in our culture parenting means giving comfort. The Bible's take on this is parenting means preserving a relationship.

So this is why in our culture we have parents that come in and rescue their children from something really hard. We have a nickname for that called helicopter parenting. Or they come and clear out the obstacles in the path. That's called snowplow parenting. They don't want the kid to have to suffer in any way or have any hardship when the Bible says that actually could be really good for them. What God's up to in training is not a modern American view of gentle parenting. He's like, I am forming and shaping you. And sometimes that's hard, but I am preserving and developing a deep relationship. That's his big goal. You become Christ-like. You depend on Christ.

Application

How do we apply this? Well, the last part of this passage I'm going to look at—I'll put this up on the screen—verses twelve and thirteen. This is going to sound a little weird to us.

Therefore, strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees. Make straight paths for your feet, so that what's lame may not be dislocated, but healed instead. — Hebrews 12:12-13

Has anybody ever said to you, "stand up straight"? You know, there's something that's been in the water in our culture in the last couple of years about standing up straight, squaring your shoulders. There's something that happens inside of you when you do this. You feel stronger. Now, I don't know about how that really works, if that's really true, but that's the Bible's version of this today—the power pose.

Here's what I want you to do to apply this sermon. I want you to do this every day this week. I want you to find a place where you're alone and you can look in a mirror. Look in the rearview mirror of your car, maybe do this in the parking lot. Or do this in the mirror upstairs in your bathroom, and say to yourself, "Self, get it together. Believe the gospel. You're a child of God. This is real. He is with you and he is for you. Now believe the good news."

Something about doing that, where we're calling ourselves to remember—this is real.

A Testimony of Faith

Last week I listened to an interview with Ben Sasse and Ross Douthat that was really profound. If you don't know the name Ben Sasse, he served eight years in the Senate. He was later president of the University of Florida. And this past fall, he was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer.

Now, if that doesn't mean anything to you, that's a death sentence. Nobody survives pancreatic cancer. There's no cure. He actually shouldn't be here right now. Usually the timeline on this is super fast, and he is preparing to leave behind a wife and three kids. I'm going to put up an image of him, but I'm just going to warn you it's disturbing. He's got lesions on his face, and they open up a lot at night. So he's bleeding a lot. He's been in a ton of pain.

And this is what he says in this interview: "I got my diagnosis mid-December. I have pancreatic cancer, stage four, already metastasized. They told me right away on day one, this is not operable. You are way post-surgical."

He says, "Death is terrible. We should never sugarcoat it. It's not how things are meant to be, but it is great that death can be called the final enemy. It's an enemy, but it's a final enemy, and then there will be no more tears. I believe in the resurrection. I believe in a restoration of this world, so I do not feel great fear about my death. I hate pancreatic cancer. I would never wish it on anyone, but I would never want to go back into a time in my life when I didn't know the prayer of pancreatic cancer. After my diagnosis, I kept hearing the Pauline phrase in my head: to live is Christ and to die is gain."

Now, what was so striking about this interview—and I really committed to you—was not the words. The words were powerful. But what was even more striking was the joy coming off this man. You can feel it in the interview.

And he's not flippant, and he's not pretending or denying. He's like, real talk. But there is a joy coming off this man in Christ, even in the midst of what we would say, that's the worst training I've ever heard of. I'm not sure if that's harm or hurt. How could God treat his child like that? And you know what he'd say? I would never want to go back to a time in my life when I didn't know the prayer of pancreatic cancer.

Brothers and sisters, if you're a believer, you are in Christ. His Holy Spirit is in you. Stand up straight, believe the gospel. You're not a Christian, we want to invite you to know him. There's no substitute to knowing Jesus. In just a minute, I'm going to invite you how to do that, but let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for we need your word. There's nothing like your word. It has a way of changing the way we interpret our world around us and even ourselves. We need a corrective this morning on the way we're looking at our neighbors and we're looking at our circumstances because it sure doesn't feel fair sometimes. And Lord, yet we thank you that Christ is real, his spirit is here and in us, and that the gospel is true. Strengthen our weak knees. Give us endurance for the race. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.

Let's respond to God's word together in song.