Focal Point

Mike Fabarez: You may have financial problems, relational problems, emotional problems. Things may be going wrong in your life right now because he's getting you ready for something great. It’s like a coach training his player to be able to face the challenge.

He cleanses us. He prunes us. He strips back stuff on the branch. It’s not discipline; it’s that he’s trying to get you ready for bearing more fruit.

Dave Drewy: Have you ever hired a tutor to help boost your English or math skills? Or possibly a personal trainer to get us into shape? Well, these individuals are committed to our success, and they're not afraid to assign difficult tasks to get us to where we need to be.

Today on Focal Point, Pastor Mike Fabarez explains that God desires for us to succeed, and in that process, inevitably, we're going to face discomfort along the way. So let's get started with today's message called "Reexamining the Nature of the Church."

Mike Fabarez: Hebrews chapter 12. If you haven't turned there, take a look at this very counterintuitive and surprising passage to a lot of people that have yet to understand this thing I like to call spiritual spanking.

The picture here, the analogy, is one of a father who loves his child enough to bring pain into his life for a strategic corrective purpose. It all starts with our sin, and that's the context here. The sin that so easily entangles. We're supposed to get rid of it.

According to verse 4, we're in a struggle with sin and we're really not trying as hard as we should. We really not heavyweights in this. We're not martyrs. We're not shedding blood. We're lightweights. But we need to grow up. We need to fight this with a little more vehemence and a little more discipline and resolve. It's all about fighting sin, and that's the context.

Then we need to recognize it's not like God is just sitting there warming up his paddle, just waiting for corporal punishment opportunities. This context is about a loving father. Loving fathers, put this down, the reaction is grief. Fathers are grieving over the fact that their kids aren't obeying. It's not like my kids disobey and I go, "Great, opportunity to spank. I can't wait for this."

That's not how it works. If I love my kids, I want them to do right and I'm grieved that they don't do the right thing. So what's the purpose? It's for our good that we may share in his holiness. That's the whole point. He wants to get you to stop. It says in verse 11 that we can have this harvest of righteousness.

That's the goal. Discipline is to get you to stop sinning. Now, if we stop, here it is, jot this one down, God's response: he forgives. And even though you are forgiven forensically and legally the moment you become a Christian, that's total forgiveness. That's legal justification.

In the process of sanctification, there is also forgiveness that is granted to you. There may be no penalty, no condemnation. That's why the word punishment unfortunately in verse number 6 is a bad one because we often think punishment is a payback, a retribution, a quid pro quo. You did this, I'm doing that. That's not what he's doing.

He's applying pain to get us to stop. He's not paying us back. That's vindication or vindictiveness. That's not what God's doing. What God is doing is applying enough pain until you stop. That's the goal because your sins have already been paid for. This is not Catholicism. You get that, right?

This is not Roman Catholicism where we believe that if you die with venial or mortal sins and you haven't confessed those and made those right, then you're going to hell or you're going to purgatory for a number of years. That's not it. That's not what the Bible teaches.

Justification is the complete forgiveness of sins. On the cross, it was all paid for, tetelestai, paid in full. But because I'm a Christian dealing with a father who is a person when I sin, though my sins may be paid for and they can't be forgiven again on any other level as it relates to that, there is a forgiveness relationally that needs to take place.

It's as though my kid breaks the neighbor's window. I'm not going to try to punish him to pay him back or make him mow the lawn so he can make up enough money to pay back the window because his older brother has already paid it back. Are you tracking this analogy? Jesus paid for our sins. It's all paid for.

But I can guarantee you if my younger son breaks the window, even though the older son has paid for it and he's not willing to confess it, there's a problem here. We still got to solve the relational problem, even though the window's been paid for.

Your sins have been paid for. But just as Scripture said, and I think this is the context of 1 John chapter 1 verse 9, that if we confess our sins, speaking now to Christians, he is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What kind of forgiveness is that? It's the restoration of our fellowship.

Now I know forensically and legally we have fellowship with God no matter what because we are his children. But the issue of relationship patching up the relationship, that needs to happen. That's why you need to come to God and get it right. And when you do and you stop and you forsake your sin, you know this: God forgives. We sin, God grieves. You don't stop, he gets off the couch. You stop, then he forgives. He's ready to restore.

What's the end result? The whole point of this series, and that is you become more sanctified. The point is verse 10 to share in his holiness. The point is to be trained by this process so that my life yields a harvest of righteousness. He wants you to be more godly. And the process of going through discipline gets you to increased godliness. And that's the goal.

It's an important part of the Christian life. So much so that if you don't experience it or you don't know you're even this is a reality, you have reason to question your Christianity. It has to be a part of your life. And we'll see about identifying it here in a second because here's the problem.

If you listen to what I've said so far and that's all you've listened to, you'll say, "Wow, every time I have something go wrong in my life, it must be discipline. I got a sore throat, wonder if God must be spanking me for something." That's not it. "I had a money problem. I lost my job. It must be God's discipline."

Don't get into that. You need to consider other possibilities because there are others. You have to be able to discern when it's discipline and when it's not. That's critical. Because if I tell my kid, think about this, "Hey kid, go take out the trash." "Oh, I'm being punished." No, you're not. You're just taking out the trash.

"Go do your homework. Come on, son, do your homework." "Oh, I must be being punished." No, you're not. You got to do your homework. There are other reasons for unpleasant experiences in the Christian life, and it's not necessarily discipline. So don't get to that place because that will really mess up your relationship with God if every time you have an ache or pain, you're thinking, "Oh God, you're disciplining me."

He may be, but we need to sort it out. So there are other biblical reasons you may be incurring suffering, and let's just use the categories: health problems, money problems, emotional problems. You may have all kinds of issues that aren't related to discipline, but we need to sort them out. And if you get the buckets clear in your mind, we can figure this out and have some discernment.

Let's start with the first one. It could be, according to verse number 3 in our passage, the context, it could be the world's opposition. We need to consider him, this is Hebrews 12:3, who endured such opposition from sinful men. Now, did that cause pain in Christ's life? Absolutely. That caused a lot of pain in Christ's life.

Was it because he was being disciplined by his father for doing something wrong and he didn't stop sinning so God had to bring this into his life? No. That was just because he was the light in a dark world, and because of that, he incurred the hatred of sinful men. God promised that in your life too.

If you are going to be salt and light, you're going to incur some difficulty. You may lose your job and have monetary problems because you're standing up for what's right. That could be a reality. Is that suffering? Yes, it's suffering. But it's not discipline. It's just the opposition of the world because of your commitment to follow Christ. That's one big category that we need to recognize. And so if we can clearly make the connection there and rule out the other, we can say, "Okay, it's not discipline, but I'm still hurting."

Secondly, it could be sin's consequences. Now, that's not directly in this passage, but it's all over the Scripture. For instance, you might want to put it down this way because you'll remember the passage. It's in Galatians chapter 6 verse 7, says, "Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. A man will reap whatever he sows." Remember that?

Or to put it in maybe more colorful language, Hosea chapter 10 verses 12 and 13. He says, "You guys, if you sow righteousness, you will reap the fruit of unfailing love. It'll be great." He says, "But the problem with you, Israel," Hosea said, "is that you've planted wickedness and you're reaping evil. You are now having to eat the fruit of your deception."

You did something wrong and you're having to pay that back. There are consequences, residual consequences that have nothing to do with God's discipline because you can do something wrong that carries consequences with it, and you can confess it and get right with God and those consequences will continue.

I was watching the news this week, the national news, and they had a video of the guy ripping off the 7-Eleven down here in South County. Did you watch that? Ski mask, gun. Let's say that's you for just a minute. Could be you, right? Somebody here, that's you. Let's say that's you. You're ripping off the 7-Eleven.

And you come here to church and you feel convicted. And so you come up to me afterwards and say, "You know, Pastor Mike, you're right. I'm the guy. I've been ripping off 7-Elevens. You saw my gun and that was my ski mask and it's bad and I'm wrong and I want to get right with God." And so I say, "Okay, that'll only take a minute. Come on, let's talk to God."

And we talk to God. You confess your sin, you repent, you're right with God. And I say, "Fantastic. Now, Dale's going to drive you down to the Sheriff's department." "Well, wait a minute. I thought I was forgiven." "Yeah, you're forgiven, but you got to deal with the consequences." Dale's going to do it because I'm going to go to lunch because I'm hungry.

So Dale's going to take him down there. And Dale's going to turn him in, and then we're going to say, "Hey, we'll see you on Tuesday in your jumpsuit, and we'll come visit and do a Bible study." You're going to pay for the penalty and the consequences of your sin.

Now, as you sit in jail tonight, think about this: can you sing hymns to God and be in fellowship with him? Absolutely. Can you be in harmony with God? Sure you can, because you're forgiven. There's restoration. Look at our equation. You stop sinning. You're not holding up 7-Elevens anymore.

But you probably aren't going to get Ruth's Chris for dinner. You're not going to get a baked potato just the way you like it. You're going to be eating the slop in the county jail waiting for trial. That's what's going to happen to you. It's a problem, but it's just the consequence of sin.

Now, this has another category, by the way, because some of you philosophical, theological thinkers, I know there's a broader aspect to this. It could be not just the personal consequences of your sin; it could be the broader global consequences of sin. And I get that too.

In other words, you are going to incur suffering in the world because we're all a part of the human race that has all under the condemnation of Genesis chapter 3. It's called the curse. And because of the curse, for instance, one of the parts of the curse is your body's going to die.

Now, let's think that through for a second. Everybody in nursing homes and in car accidents and in hospital rooms that die today, think about this. It's not because they did some sin today and they're suffering the consequences of their sin. No, there are people in nursing homes that are dying this afternoon because of Genesis 3, the broader consequences of sin, the general consequences of sin.

You may have a sore throat because God has cursed the elements of the world and you are subject to the rebellion of germs in your body. So that's part of it. It could just be that. I'm sick just because I'm sick. And that's part of the sinful consequences of the world. It may have nothing to do with God's discipline. Are you tracking me with that?

So we got big categories here. Thirdly, let's talk about when God is doing it specifically and personally. God could specifically and personally be bringing pain into your life because he is testing you. That doesn't sound good. We've moved now from the analogy of a father to a teacher, and the teacher is applying a test to see if you'll pass the test.

Give you an example. Let's turn to this one: 1 Peter chapter 1. Let's turn to 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1, very explicit, a clear statement about the fact that God may bring suffering in your life personally. He doesn't allow it; he's bringing it into your life for a very specific reason. And it's to test you, to test the reality or the genuineness of your faith.

Let's start in verse 6. And as you glance down to verse 6 in 1 Peter 1, be sure and pick up a few of the verbs there and the adjectives in verses 3, 4, and 5 because it's a great description of our salvation, and that's where the demonstrative pronoun points back to. It says, "In this," in what? In this incredible salvation that we have that is protected by God.

It's reserved in heaven for us. It's all because of the work of Christ. "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials." Now, those are three big words: grief, suffer, and trials. And the key word here is the last one: trials. Grief and suffering come because it is a test. That's what the word means. It is a test.

And the Bible says here you may have had to suffer that. Here's the reason, verse 7: "These have come so that," purpose clause, here it comes, "that your faith," now skip the dashes for just a second, skip the parenthetical phrases and go to the bottom of the sentence, "these have come so that your faith may be proved genuine."

Let's just take that thought in. And the point is this: sometimes suffering comes to your life so that your faith, your apparent trust in God, can be revealed to be real and true. Now, let's read it all. "These have come so that your faith, of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire," because real faith is like real gold, it's always going to come through the fire.

"It may be proved genuine and may result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." Now, is God scratching his head wondering if your faith is real? No, he's got that figured out. He wants to prove that to you and to everybody around you. It's much like, and you put in the margin maybe, the parable of the seed and the sower. Remember that?

There are four soils there, and the soils, all though it's not explicitly stated, but they're tested. The first one doesn't need to be tested because he rejects the word. But the ones in the middle that embrace the word, they go through testing and those two are proved in the middle, soils 2 and 3, to be false because they fail the test.

They don't bear fruit and they bail out. The riches or persecution because of the word comes into their life and Jesus says they fail. It's not real. There's a lot of phony Christians. And when their faith is tested, they're proved to be phony because they bail out. They went out from us because they were not really of us; if they would have been of us, they would have remained with us.

Translation: they would have passed the test. They would have gone through the fire that God brings into their lives, still trusting in Jesus and showing that their faith in God is genuine. That's a reality. And if you're a brand-new Christian, sorry, here's the news: you're going to have to go through that.

And God usually puts you through that really soon in your Christian life. If you've been a Christian for a year or two, it's coming, right? If it hadn't happened already, he's going to put you through some suffering, some trials, to show to you and the rest of the world that your faith in Christ is not a fad, it's not the 4-H club, it's not the Girl Scouts, that you're really a genuine adopted child of God, and suffering proves that.

That could be the reason you're sick. That could be the reason the doctor said you have cancer. That could be the reason that you lost your job. That could be the reason that your checks are bouncing because you are going through a trial to see: is this real to you, or is this just some Sunday school club that you're in? That's the testing of your faith.

Could be the world's opposition, could be sin's consequences, could be that your faith is being tested personally and specifically by God. Or it could be, fourthly, that God is training you. He's training you. Now, that's a little different. The analogy is not that God is a parent and it's not that God is a teacher. Here the picture is that God is a coach. He's the trainer.

The coach, if you remember if you were in athletics in high school or junior high or in college, you know the coach causes lots of pain in your life, does he not? Why does he cause all that pain in your life? Because the big game's coming on Friday. Got to get ready. He has to train you.

And the pain of the training, and we get a lot of these words from Scripture like gymnasium, comes from a Greek word that is used in this context. He's going to put us through the gymnazo, the gymnasium experience so that we're ready to bear fruit in the test in the trials, the fire of the world. He may have great things planned for us.

Give you an example. How about Paul's thorn in the flesh? Think about that one. Did that hurt? Is that suffering? Oh yeah, that's right. I don't want that. And Paul didn't want it either and he prayed, "God, remove this thorn of the flesh." This is 2 Corinthians, right? "Remove the thorn." And God said, "No, no, no, no, no." Why?

"Because this is going to be helpful for you as you go out and I mean you've been entrusted so much, you're on the world stage, you're writing half of the New Testament, and this is going to be a humbling thing for you and it's going to keep your feet on the ground. We're putting these ankle weights on your life so that your feet will stay on the ground so that you're not going to be inflated with pride."

So the suffering's there. What for? It's like a coach training his player to be able to face the challenge. And it's like this: here's another passage you might want to jot down, John 15 verses 1 and 2. It's like the vine and the branches. When the branch bears fruit, the father, this is the word we get from cathartic, he cleanses us, he prunes us, he strips back stuff on the branch so that it will bear even more fruit.

And the point is, it's not to prove that you're real, it's not discipline; it's that he's trying to get you ready for bearing more fruit. So suffering, cancer could be in your life because God is getting you ready for an even greater ministry. You may have financial problems, relational problems, emotional problems.

Things may be going wrong in your life right now because he's getting you ready for something great. And he doesn't, as Spurgeon said, he doesn't use anybody greatly until he hurts them deeply. And then there's a reality to that. I mean, no one really's going to go out there and be the great quarterback on the weekend team unless he's gone through a lot of struggle in the gym and in practice.

And that's the reality of the Christian life. So the suffering you're going through could be that. Could be the world's opposition, could be sin's consequences, could be God's testing, could be God's training. There's four choices. Here's the fifth: it could be discipline. And that's Hebrews 13.

Same thing: financial problems, health problems, relational problems, general dissatisfaction, whatever, that could be God's discipline. That might be what's happening to you. God is disciplining you. And that's the whole point of Hebrews 13. It feels the same, but it needs to be defined differently. You have to discern it differently. And that's the challenge. How do I do that, Pastor Mike? I'm so glad you asked me that question. That's the perfect question to ask.

How do you know the difference? Here's the answer: ASK. Just jot those down: ask. You just got to ask. Ask. Because when I'm spanking my kid and he says, "Dad, why you doing this to me?" I don't ever say, "I don't want to tell you." Never say that. I want to sit him down and say, "Here is exactly why I'm doing this to you. You need to see that what you're doing over here is wrong, and if you keep on going, you're going to be dealing with even worse consequences than Dad. I need you to know why you're being disciplined right now."

I need my kids to know that. And that is the most concerning thing that a father has on his mind when there's discipline in the family. He wants the kid to know the problem. There has to be clarity about it. And if you ask, here's the deal: God is going to make that clear. Unless of course you're not a Christian.

Because if you're not a Christian, who knows what you might think? But if you're a Christian and you ask that question, there is a resource in your life called the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit, here's how he's defined, as someone who is sent to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

As it relates to his children, that's a big part of what he's doing: he's convicting us of sin. And when he's grieved, he wants to let us know. And the Holy Spirit is going to be sure in our lives to point that out. But we got to ask the question. And here's a great way to ask it: Psalm 139, Psalm 139 verses 23 and 24.

You and I need to get into the practice of praying this prayer. And here it is: "Search me, O God, know my heart. Test me and know my thoughts. See, God, if there's any offensive way in me." That's a great prayer to pray, especially when your health is in jeopardy, your money's having problems, your relationships are on the rocks. "God, what's going wrong here?" That's the question you need to ask.

And by the way, when you're asking it, here's the key: make sure you're willing to receive the answer. Because that's a big problem people have. They ask, but they don't listen for the answer. Here's the problem with a lot of us. We lose a client at work, our income goes down, we have problems selling our house, we got an issue with our health, we got issues in our relationships, something happens, and we go, "God, why did you let this happen?"

Right question, just don't let it be some kind of expletive or some kind of just rhetorical question. It's a real question, ask it. "God, why did you let me get sick? God, why isn't our house selling? God, why is it that I lost my job? God, why am I having problems here in my life? Why is it that these checks are bouncing? Why is it at the end of the month I don't have enough money? Why?"

See, ask those questions. And if you ask on your face before God with an open Bible and the Holy Spirit in your life, he is going to answer the question. And you will have it. And God will start to draw lines between the points of your pain and your sin, and he will draw the line. But this is the God that we have. Our God believes in spanking. Our God does spank his children.

And when you experience it, I hope you can have the maturity at some point in your Christian life to be thankful for that very fact. So thank God you're his child. That would be a good thing. You're a true son if you experience this.

Dave Drewy: You're listening to Pastor Mike Fabarez on Focal Point in a message titled "Reexamining the Nature of the Church." It's one piece of our current series, "Our Fight with Sin," which you can revisit or share any time at focalpointradio.org. Or download the free Focal Point app and get access to these teachings and more content anywhere, anytime.

You know, here at Focal Point, we've built this ministry around one thing: clear, verse-by-verse Bible teaching sent out to as many people as possible. Now, none of that happens without listeners like you standing behind it. Because of your giving, Pastor Mike's teaching lands on the internet, inside the app, and across radio stations coast to coast.

If these daily programs have shaped how you think and live, we'd love for you to lock arms with us as a Focal Point partner. Signing up couldn't be simpler, just call 888-320-5885, or head to focalpointradio.org.

As a thank you for your gift today, we want to hand you this month's featured resource. It's a bold book by David Klotfelter called *Sinners in the Hands of a Good God*. Klotfelter tackles a question every thoughtful Christian eventually runs into: how does a perfectly holy God remain genuinely, actively good toward sinners?

His answer is honest and firmly rooted in Scripture, and it may well shift how you view God's character or how you help others to grapple through the same question. So when you make a generous gift to Focal Point today, ask for your copy of *Sinners in the Hands of a Good God*.

To give and claim your copy, call 888-320-5885. That's 888-320-5885. Or give online at focalpointradio.org. You can also send your donation by mail, just write to us at Focal Point, PO Box 2850, Laguna Hills, California 92654.

And one more thing: reach out to us for the first time and we'll send along a free copy of Pastor Mike's booklet, *Storing Up Treasures*. Call today: 888-320-5885 or connect with us online at focalpointradio.org. Well, I’m Dave Drewy, and we’ll see you tomorrow when Pastor Mike Fabarez concludes his lesson titled "Reexamining the Nature of the Church." That's Thursday, here on Focal Point.

Mike Fabarez: Hi, Pastor Mike here. God’s Word promises it’ll never return void. So I wonder, how is God’s Word moving in your heart right now? Drop us a line, let us know, we’d love to hear from you. We’d love to be praying for you here. Just go to focalpointradio.org. And then be sure to join us again tomorrow right here as we continue to explore the depths of Scripture. We’ll see you then.

Dave Drewy: Today's program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.