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Scriptural
Basis
Hebrews 12:5-11, (NKJ) “My son, do not
despise the chastening (training or discipline) of the
Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him.
For whom the Lord loves, He chastens, and scourges
every son whom He receives.
“If you endure chastening, God deals with you
as sons; for what son is there whom a father does not
chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which
all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate
and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers
who corrected us, and we paid them respect.
Shall we not much more readily be in subjection
to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for
a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He
for our profit, that we may be partakers of His
holiness.
“Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the
present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it
yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to
those who have been trained by it.”
Prov. 3:11-12, “My son, do not despise the
chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction. For
whom the Lord loves, He corrects, just as a father the
son in whom he delights.”
II Tim. 3:16-17,
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable for doctrine (teaching), for reproof
(scolding), for correction, for instruction in
righteousness that the man of God may be complete
(mature) and thoroughly equipped for every good
work.”
Please notice that in the Hebrews verse and in
the Timothy verse, the result of God’s discipline
was to perfect, mature, complete us, and to make us
like Him in holiness, and to have some fruit of
righteousness, or results of our right standing with
God!
THE
WORD OF GOD IS HIS PREFERRED TOOL
Also, in the Timothy verses, the Word of God is
the means to accomplish this. Here are some
more verses that say the same thing so you’ll know
that it is a strong teaching in the Scripture
Col.1:28, Heb.5: 12-14, I Tim. 5: 7, 6:2, II Tim. 2:2,
3:15-17, 4:2, I Thes. 2: 11-12, II Thes. 3:11-15, and
Acts 20: 31-32.
One of the ways we hear the Word is from our
Pastor or whoever is preaching at our church meetings.
The leaders that God has set over us, the
sheep, are supposed to lead and help us in our process
of growing up and becoming all God wants us to be. In Titus 1:9, a
leader is supposed to be able “by sound doctrine
(teaching) both to exhort and convict those who
contradict…”
And Titus 1:13, about some unruly church
members, “… rebuke them sharply that they may be
sound in the faith.” Titus 2:15, “Speak these
things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority.”
(Exhort means to urge strongly.)
In Matt. 28:19-20, in the great commission,
Jesus says to teach believers to do what He
commanded! There
is much
in the letters (Romans through Jude) that is written
as correction and guidance, telling the believers to do
the right things.
This is necessary teaching, and the church
today should be teaching those things also! Additional
brochures: What about Judging, and You do
not need anyone to teach you.
SEVERE MEASURES
There are two Scriptures that speak of rather
severe measures taken by church leaders. I Cor. 5
tells of a case where a Christian man was guilty of
sleeping with his father’s (probably second) wife,
and no one was feeling ashamed about it! Paul (the
writer of the letter) tells this church what to do.
Verse 5, “Deliver such a one to Satan for the
destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved
in the day of the Lord Jesus.”
Here’s an illustration: I heard this true
story from another speaker.
There was a man who had a wife and five
children, and
they were all saved, and the husband had a good job.
But he would get upset with the preacher and
wouldn’t come. He’d talk about him and stir up
strife and keep the kids home.
The wife was praying for him and she had the
entire church praying for him. For two years they
tried to help but he got worse. Finally one day, the
Pastor drove up to where this man worked, and hollered
at him that he wanted to talk. The man hollered back
that he didn’t want to talk.
The Pastor said, “Well, I just thought
you’d like to know that tonight at church we are
going to turn you over to the devil.”
“Oh
my! What does that mean? I don’t want that! Oh, please, don’t do that!” Well, he
never missed a meeting after that.
He tithed, and never criticized anymore. This
is church authority. A similar scripture is I Tim. 1:
18-20.
ARE
THERE OTHER WAYS?
I don’t have any scriptural proofs for these,
but here are some testimonies of God’s dealing with
me and my family, and I’m sure after reading them,
you will agree that these are from God.
In the two brochures, Hardships, do they
improve us? I have told two testimonies which I
will only summarize here.
One is about my husband T.A. getting all wet at
a car wash because he was resisting God about having
prayer-times on the weekends, not just weekdays.
The
other is about a blurry spot that hindered my vision
for only one afternoon because I wasn’t trusting God
to lead T.A. in the handling of our money.
One morning at home, I was eager to get started
with a craft project, but right away I realized I’d
misplaced one of my tools.
I searched and searched for it.
I prayed like I always do, “Lord, You know
where this tool is, and because You love me, You will
tell me where it is. Because I’m Your sheep, I know I can hear Your voice, so
thank You for telling me where it is.” As I listened
for His answer, He said (in my thoughts), “You
haven’t had your time with Me yet this morning.”
So I did that, and then I found my tool. He told me
that anytime I put a project before I have time with
Him in His Word, I have made an idol of the project.
But
I work!
If you are going to a job without spending time
with God first, you are failing to recognize that God
is your Source; not that job, (Deut. 8:17-19) and you
are idolizing your job. Put them in their right
priority and God will give you success on that job!
(Matt. 6:33
& Psa.
1:2-3)
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