Flogging God's Sons

O.K. I am running into a problem here. I just got done going over Romans 12:2 that says I should not be squeezed into the world's mold and now I read in Hebrews 12:6 that God whips His legitimate sons as part of their training. That sure sounds like the use of force to me when I have come to firmly believe that God does not use force to get His way. What is going on here? This is another good case of asking God to explain Himself.

I do notice that the word for whipping or flogging only occurs once in this passage and all the other references to discipline have much more to do with training than with imposition of punishment. That is some consolation but it still leaves a big question in my mind.

Whatever all this means it is obvious in later verses that its full intention is so that we may share in His holiness and it produces the peaceful fruit of righteousness. This is the context in which this issue must be resolved.

But is flogging ever an effective means of bringing a person into a state of sharing God's holiness? I can't accept that this condones all the legalistic, sadistic religious abuse and distorted notions about God perpetrated for centuries by advocates of force and false systems of authority. But it certainly makes it too easy to do just that. What is going on here?

There is another option that seems to make more sense. It is the same issue as our struggle to understand the God of the Old Testament and all the apparent contradictions we think are there in our picture of God. Much is attributed to God that is in fact a natural result of consequences that we bring onto ourselves by throwing off the protection of God. If these floggings come under the same category as the apparent punishments of the Old Testament then this would make a lot more sense.

Roots of Bitterness - 3

They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised. (Hebrews 11:37-39)

If I put myself right now into the place of some of these people described here I am afraid that I would be very tempted to feel bitter. Not that that would be even possible after I was dead, but nevertheless I would be tempted to think that God had not kept His promises of protection and had left me in the cruel hands of my enemies to torture me and try to cause me the most pain possible. What kind of a God would allow me to suffer all that in the name of bearing a witness for Him. Obviously I have a lot of things for my heart to learn about a deeper connection with God before I am ready to gladly allow those kinds of things to happen to me for the name of my Savior.

Yet something in their lives and their inner picture of God resulted in gaining approval through their faith. Even though they did not receive what was promised, which is grounds for a great deal of bitterness by most of us, they gained the approval of God which, it seems, was more important to them than receiving the promises of God immediately. In their choices they showed themselves to be somehow more worthy (whatever that means) than I seem to be right now.

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 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. (Hebrews 12:1-2)

A cloud of witnesses, huh? While I know that is not disembodied spirits of those just described, I am also aware that there are plenty of other ways my life is being watched much more than I ever think about. And it also involves the fact that these people just described are not witnesses of my life but their stories are witnesses to me about their life and more importantly about how God relates to people like us.

The idea of witnesses means more than just people looking at me. Witnesses are also people who witness to me. It works both ways. We are surrounded in this Great War and the runup to the Great Trial of the universe with everyone who are all called as witnesses to everyone else as to what they will testify about the truthfulness and integrity of God. No one can escape being a witness. The only decision anyone has is whether they will be a faithful and true witness about the character of God or whether they will bear false witness against what He has revealed about Himself.

If I allow a root of bitterness to poison my witness it becomes – it has become – an encumbrance to me. It also becomes a source that causes sin to bear fruit in my life that easily entangles me and prevents me from being able to run freely. It also wears me out emotionally and physically and spiritually so that I do not have any endurance and causes me to be distracted by all sorts of things to keep my mind off what is supposed to consume my attention to attract me out of myself. Whatever is causing me to feel bitter – and it may be a number of roots – is creating all of these problems described in this verse.

I am encouraged by the solution put forward in this text for my problem of bitterness. First of all, I realize that to be saved I have to have faith. The problem has always been that I can't get faith by trying to get it. But this verse tells me that I need to keep fixing my eyes on Jesus who is the source and the completer of my faith. I just studied in Romans 12:3 that God has given everyone a measure of faith. So here I learn that if I want that faith to become active and effective and to thrive, I have to fix my attention relentlessly on the source of that faith if I want it to be very useful. It also shows me how Jesus Himself handled similar circumstances to what the people described in the last chapter endured. He too set His attention relentlessly on what He considered the most important inspiration to keep Him on track when everything and everyone around Him were working to discourage and derail His faith. He set His heart on joy that was before Him.

I know that joy means intense desire to be with someone closely, emotionally, in every respect. It means sharing hearts without barriers no matter what one is experiencing. It means being valued and cherishing each other. This desire that Jesus focused on to draw us, to draw me, into intimate closeness to His heart and even physically to His body was the driving force that overrode every other emotion or fear that threatened to distract Him. So what does this mean for my life?

Well, first of all I see a connection in this meaning of joy back to a previous verse. Because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:40) That reinforces the true meaning of joy as needing to be together. Their joy was impossible to perfect without being joined together with both Jesus and with us, until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:13)

Bitterness is a poison that will always prevent that unity from becoming reality. It distorts my view of the truth about God and keeps me distracted from focusing enough on Jesus to be transformed. I definitely want to get free of all my roots of bitterness and live in the freedom and joy that are found in the true body of Christ. But how do I get there from here?

This text says that Jesus despised the shame. I have wondered nearly all my life what that really means and I still don't understand it very well. It almost sounds like the notion of shaming the shame – fighting fire with fire. Is that what it means? I suspect there is a great deal more here but I need some insight on this one. But whatever it means it enabled Him to sit down at the right hand of the throne of God. That sounds like a pretty good (and safe) place to take up residence.

I know He did not get there and could have never gotten there if He had allowed any amount of bitterness to take root in His heart. He certainly had a great deal of bitterness poured down His throat in more ways than one. But however He accomplished it, He did not allow all the bitterness of the whole world heaped on Him both externally and internally to ever form any roots into His soul. His heart was sealed against it with the love that was willing to endure instead of indulge in self-pity.

For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:3)

This seems to be another angle to the first imperative to fixing our eyes on Jesus. In this case I am supposed to analyze the responses of Jesus to situations that tend to cause me bitterness and see an alternative way to respond. In this way I can make myself available to be mentored. Hostility will always cause my heart to become weary and lock up and lose touch with others if I do not know how to endure the way Jesus somehow endured. Everyone around me are sinners just like He experienced when here on earth so there obviously is a great deal for me to learn about how to live from His example without becoming infected with a root of bitterness from hostilities directed at me.

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Roots of Bitterness - 2

See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled. (Hebrews 12:15)

I feel compelled to spend some time in Hebrews unpacking this issue of bitterness before I continue in Romans. It is coming more into focus in my heart and I feel that I need to deal with it instead of stubbornly trying to keep on course in the passages where I have been studying for the past few months. I do want to return and finish the book of Romans without leaving it dangling, but right now I need to address this personal problem while I am under conviction.

I'm not sure the best way to go about this but I trust the Holy Spirit to guide me as He is the one who is bringing it to my attention anyway, Right now I think I will start at Hebrews 11:39 and work my way forward for it looks to me like nearly every verse contains important ingredients for understanding and clues to awaken the deeper issues buried out of sight in my heart and memories that need to be exposed and dealt with. I don't want this to be just an intellectual exercise, but that approach may be useful as a starter to allow my heart exposure to convictions as I expose my mind and heart to the Word.

This is coming right off the famous chapter ticking off a number of examples of faith from throughout history. Immediately on the heels of this expose´ of what faith can look like I read this:

And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:39-40)

I feel like following a format something like this as I work through the following verses – I want to look for two things: what might be a potential for making a person bitter and what does this passage present as a healing solution for bitterness. I am dealing with something that is primarily at the heart level which may make it very difficult to translate with my head at times, but I feel the need to do it anyway. In the process I want to remain very respectful of listening to my feelings and emotions and not allowing my expositions to get in the way whenever I need time for uninterrupted heart processing. This is new to me somewhat and I trust God to guide me through this exploration and healing journey.

As I read these two verses what is described here would seem to me like a potential source of bitterness if I were one of these “heroes” of faith just described in verses 36-38 who did not receive what was promised. I know the typical intellectual response to this as the “right” answer theologically, but the heart has little use for those sorts of pat answers. To put it in a succinct way, I would feel very cheated if these words described my life. The following ideas come to mind from my heart: cheated, lied to, confused, disappointed.... Why would God set things up this way? What does this mean, God had provided something better for us...? Something seems terribly unfair about that – they don't receive what was promised because people down the road are provided something better? My own heart says that if I was one of these mistreated, faithful people and found out about this arrangement that it might be a very big potential for feeling bitter.

How much does that resonate in my own heart? Well, right now it is feeling like about a 4 or 5 on a scale of 1-10. Let me go on.

...so that apart from us they would not be made perfect. That really riles my sense of independence and fairness too. I know that I have been learning a lot about the importance of community, accountability etc. but I have not been learning very much of it experientially. I am still quite independent in my own spirit and rather private in my spiritual and emotional life. I am quite selective as to who I will allow very far into my heart (nearly no one that I can think of actually) because I have felt deeply hurt or betrayed from the times I have attempted it in the past.

Again, I am not following religiously correct answers here but simply recognizing the first emotions that surface from the heart for the sake of honesty. In fact, to protect the vulnerability that my heart is feeling right now I am seriously considering not making this public until my heart gives me permission. And that would likely be after it has received some healing and resolution and relief from this problem. Of course, knowing myself I am just as likely to have a sudden urge to put it all out there prematurely in some sort of emotional attempt to make a breakthrough of some sort. Maybe my heart doesn't understand the way things work in the real world because that is the sort of thing that often gets me into the most pain.

I feel like I am lurching very clumsily in my attempts to discover the true reality of life instead of the counterfeit reality that I have always lived under in society. My fear of pain is often the element that grabs the steering wheel and lurches me off the road into the ditch every time I see an oncoming truck threatening to crash into me. Right now I feel like I am once again timidly trying to pick up speed once again and make some forward progress in things of the heart. How do I move forward from here? How do I get further down the road without having another big smash-up? The parable from which this illustration comes was written by Morris Vendon many years ago but seems extremely relevant right now. Maybe I should go back and review it.

Do I sense the presence of bitterness here yet? I believe so. But I am reminded that exposing the bitterness itself, as helpful as that is, is not the solution in itself but is simply a means of getting on the path in the right direction. Bitterness is the symptom that is produced by roots somewhere much deeper and almost always out of sight. If I want the bitterness to leave my life and my spirit I cannot stay focused exclusively on the bitterness but must have Jesus take me deeper to the source and root which continues to produce it. I'm not sure how or when that will take place, but I hope that this process of examination and attempted openness will help initiate it. If God is not intimately involved in this process of exploration and examination I will possibly be even more inoculated against an effective cure and it will take even more painful cutting and prying to get to the root and source of my problems.

This may all seem like I am getting side-tracked, but I don't think so. The heart does not know how to express itself in tidy, succinct phrases condensed into few words and I am trying to allow my heart to be expressed here. That may likely look messy in the writing but hopefully it will lead to more thorough healing when it comes.

The last phrase from this text is telling me that for anyone to reach the place described as being perfect, which really also means being mature, they will only get there in bonded relationships with others, never alone. Somehow, God has arranged things in such a way that even those who are not now alive are to be part of this bonded relationship, whatever that means. Right now I suppose, we can feel connected to those we read about in the Bible through identification with their feelings, mistakes, hopes, dreams and failures. We can certainly learn a great deal from their lives and greatly improve our own abilities to make better choices so as to avoid the painful consequences that they experienced many times. By their example we can become mature quicker because we have more to build on and benefit from than they had.

The exciting thing about this arrangement is that when we all get together in the future when everyone is alive at the same time, we will be able to personally meet these very same people that we have already partially bonded to with our hearts and the bonds will become mutual and intensely strong and deep. That interlacing of hearts in mutual compassion, love, shared pain and healing will become the impregnable fabric that will at last be the security blanket preventing sin from ever arising again throughout eternity. That is why God has set things up the way I see described in these two verses. He is building in the insurance needed, the permanent inoculation to prevent another outbreak of this terrible disease of sin from ever recurring again.

Next time I will move into the next verse to see more sources of bitterness and more medicine for healing. I can already see there is plenty to think about there. ...the sin which doth so easily beset us.

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Roots of Bitterness - 1

See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled. (Hebrews 12:15)

I have been coming to realize more clearly over the past few years that one of the deepest entrenched strongholds in my heart is bitterness. I got to thinking recently about this text and it suddenly occurred to me that the bitterness itself is not so much the real issue as is the root that causes the bitterness. This is seen quite clearly when participating in the Theophostic ministry experience. In that model the symptoms in our life that attract so much attention from many religious people zealous to clean up their lives and the lives of those around them are pretty much ignored except as a means to lead one back to the root that is causing that symptom. And when one finally arrives at the root after giving Jesus permission to take them there, it is always found to be a lie deeply embedded in a memory that has distorted their perception of themselves or God and creates a trigger point that can be tripped by others thereby causing the predictable symptoms to display.

These lie-based beliefs are always heart-rooted lies found in the right brain, not intellectual lies that are much more easily uprooted. It is lies in the heart that are untouchable by the intellect that cause most of our problems to be so elusive to resolution. The spirit of bitterness is a particularly pernicious element that is very poisonous not only to the person holding onto it but to everyone that is touched by their spirit. That is the experience that I vaguely realize is a description of my life.

But like all other symptoms, bitterness cannot just be commanded away or successfully suppressed by an act of the intellectual will. Bitterness is so subtle but pervasive it can act like a quiet fog that seeps into every corner of the mind and life imperceptibly. It is often not evident as being that spirit because it can be mixed into other motives and feelings like small amounts of a deadly poison mixed with healthy juice or Kool-aid. But the insidious effects are all the more dangerous because of its unnoticability. I have seen this sometimes in my own life. I am often baffled as to why new friends seem to soon turn rather cool toward me. I suspect that part of the reason is the effects of the bitterness in my spirit that creates other issues that tend to repel people who at first may be attracted to some of the more positive characteristics that God is cultivating in me.

But for me to focus on attempts to eliminate bitterness from my heart or from my external expressions will be frustrating and produce very little lasting results. I believe that bitterness may simply be an outworking of something legitimate trying to be expressed from my heart that has been perverted and tragically distorted through the lens of a lie on its pathway outward. It is like a beam of clear light shining from the heart Jesus gave me that passes through a broken or warped piece of glass and the image projected on the outside or through my spirit becomes one that is more reflective of Satan's spirit than of God's Spirit. But trying to manipulate the image back into something that looks better is to attempt what God never intended for us to do. It might have worked for the Hubble telescope, but it does not work effectively in the lives of our spirits. This verse does not tell us to eliminate bitterness by focusing on that symptom itself but to deal with the root so that the bitterness will not have its inevitable poisonous effects.

So how do I find the root of bitterness in my life? As I perused quickly through this whole chapter I saw quite a number of clues as to different things that would create a spirit of bitterness. There is a wealth of information in this chapter that I need to explore and allow God to heal inside of me so that this poisonous fruit will no longer grow in my life.

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Measure of Faith

For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. (Romans 12:3)

This verse is an instruction to shift the focus or the standard of measurement away from what we are accustomed to using for our lives and base it on a whole new paradigm. Instead of measuring “success” by how much we can achieve or by external results, Paul is saying that in the life where the minds are renewed and the lives are being transformed that the true standard of quality is found internally. Furthermore, the measurement is to be done by the person themselves, not judging others around them.

The world's system uses comparisons between people to establish credibility and honor. It is the system of artificial value and external emphasis. It is based on the false trinity of gradation through the lenses of Economics, Kingship and arbitrary Law (what we term civilization). In the body of Christ that Paul is unveiling here there is to be no contamination by the principles used in the world. No one is to think of himself as better or more valuable than anyone else but neither are they to think of themselves as less either. Under the system of God's “kingdom” they are learning to live based on a healthy family model, not the artificial differentiations of the world.

In the world the motivation for life is a desire for control and domination over others. Power is the object of pursuit in the desperate struggle to feel valued and satisfied. But in God's family this is not to be found in the heart or in relationships. Every single person has been given by God a measure of faith to start with and their life and the exercise of their gifts is to be measured by their faithfulness in keeping within that context. Just a little farther on in Romans Paul states a very important principle: whatever is not from faith is sin. (Romans 14:23)

Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: ...according to the proportion of his faith. (Romans 12:6)

In the following verses that outline various gifts that God empowers the members of the body to carry out in loving service for the rest of the body, each one is to be seen in this context as the measurement of authenticity. In the body of Christ, the family of God, we are not to use the world's system of external measurements to determine our usefulness or value but we are to live within our means of faith.

I find it very relevant that if I try to exercise whatever gifts I have independent of or beyond the faith I have received then I have moved beyond authenticity and am now into the area of sin. I am all too aware of many times when I have done just that. Whenever I am writing things that I am learning from the Spirit or sharing things in conversation with others, there are times when I suddenly sense that I am moving beyond the reach of my “proportion of faith” that is in my heart and then my head is confidently lurching to take the lead without listening to the reservations of my heart or paying attention to the quiet voice of the Spirit warning me to cease and desist. Whenever I allow that to progress I always end up regretting that decision and realize that I have once again caused damage to part of the Body.

It seems to me as I meditate on these verses that they are reinforcing the principle that I have been learning that is so important and vital in living the Christian life, the principle of living from the heart that Jesus gave me instead of by my own smarts and abilities.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

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He Did Not Open His Mouth

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.

(Isaiah 53:7)

As I opened my Bible to listen to whatever God wanted to share with me this morning I decided to read the chapter in Isaiah where I had some papers stuck into the Bible that needed arrangement. I decided to meditate and allow my heart to absorb whatever the Spirit had for me and to allow time for my own spirit to harmonize with the Spirit of heaven.

When I came to the above verse I noticed that it mentioned twice about Jesus not opening His mouth. This was clearly in reference to the intense time when He was undergoing the most shameful attacks on His body and spirit that could be invented by humans and demons. I used to think that Jesus simply kept His mouth shut and assumed that He did so to keep any potential anger or resentment stuffed inside so He could finish His perfect sacrifice for our redemption.

But with my new views of God that are taking shape in my mind I see that this kind of thinking is clearly faulty. There were possibly many good reasons why Jesus did not open His mouth under abuse but I don't think that it was because He was gritting His teeth and suppressing desires of anger and resentment in reaction to the treatment that He was receiving. That could easily describe the reaction that we might have in our distorted ideas of righteousness, but Jesus had very different motives and was dealing with a view of reality dramatically different than most of us ever perceive.

But another text came to my mind that I find interesting in this context. I do not know all the implications that it has in this setting, but I do see how the two texts can easily compliment each other when we find ourselves suffering under accusation, provocations or abuse.

But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. (Matthew 15:18)

I am wondering if there is not a principle that is not real clear to me yet that is being described in these two passages. Could it be that there are times when it is crucially important to keep the mouth shut in spite of an intense desire to speak truth or establish justice when there clearly is none? I know this sounds like a rhetorical question but that is not my intention here. I am searching my mind and heart and trying to hear what may be something new that I need to be more aware of that I need in my own experience. (I know – there are plenty of people eager to tell me I need to keep my mouth shut more often) And I wonder how this relates to the advice in Proverbs? A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger. (Proverbs 15:1)

What I am wondering is, was it possible that if Jesus had spoken anything under those circumstances that it would have proven to be a defilement to His spirit? In those particular kinds of circumstances where all matter of defilement was being heaped on Him, or us, is there a law of the mind that we must stay in harmony with that requires total silence – for the right reasons – to maintain a right spirit? And one of the descriptions of a right spirit is called “a meek and quiet spirit”.

Clearly Jesus was not defiled by all the abuse heaped upon Him as was the intention of all the evil forces arrayed against Him. His body was certainly defiled and He did allow all the consequences of the defilement of the whole world to rest on His soul until it crushed out His life, but His spirit did not become defiled in such a way as to cause Him to relinquish the slightest amount of confiding (more like clinging) trust in His Father in heaven.

As I think back over times when I have chosen to keep silent, usually in response to urgent promptings by the Spirit of God, I have noticed that I have avoided a lot more trouble than what I was already receiving and I was often able to eventually see that what was really going on was very different than my first very strong assumptions. In fact, I am coming to believe more and more strongly that one of the most important things I need to learn in my Christian growth is to listen more carefully and consistently to the very quiet voice inside of me from the Spirit of God, particularly when I feel the strongest urges to react to what I perceive as an attack or threat on my value. And usually that prompting from the Spirit includes the request for me to remain silent and allow God to change my perspective of reality in that moment.

I find another very interesting clue in this passage that I believe adds an important ingredient to this mix. In verse 9 it says, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. That reminds me of a verse in Revelation of the people of God in the last days who have a similar description.

These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless. (Revelation 14:4-5)

I sense that whatever shape this principle has, it involves the liability for me to become defiled with deception in my spirit and heart whenever I indulge in the temptation to blurt when I hurt. I am all too aware of my penchant for blame and counterattack and resistance when I feel threatened. And in those moments if I can just obey the quiet voice inside of me pleading with me to keep still and focus on what God has to reveal to me instead of opening my mouth, I find that the direction of my inner life in particular always takes a turn for something very important and valuable to emerge from the situation.

I am sure there is much more that could be explored here, but this is what I see so far.