God is love. God is a loving God. That is what we are always saying, isn’t it? Yes, and it is true.
Then the world says, ‘Well, if your God is a God of love, why is there all this suffering? Why are there wars? Why are there natural disasters? Why do you call things "sins" that science or educated people say are OK? Why aren’t you more loving like the God you say you believe in?'
And some Christians begin to say, ‘Well, God doesn’t cause wars and natural disasters. That’s sinful humanity, or the laws of nature, or the devil. Because God is a God of love.' Or some so-called Christians start saying, ‘Well, we don’t think those things are "sin" anymore. We don’t believe that bit of the bible any more. We agree with you. A God of love wouldn’t call such things "sins".'
And it is a short step to move from God is a God of love, which is true, to God is only love, which is not true, according to the Bible. Some people say, ‘God is nothing but love. God is not angry with us and our sins. God is not a God of wrath. God doesn’t send sickness and death. God doesn’t send people to hell, even though Jesus speaks of it and warns us not to go there. God’s not a consuming fire. He is more like a soft fluffy marshmallow.'
And they say, ‘The only people God will judge are the judgmental.’ Judgmentalism becomes the only sin. But God is a judge, and he promises he will judge us. So right judgment is no sin.
Friends, today, I want to say this. God is love. But his love is a disciplining kind of love. And God is not just love. He is also a consuming fire. In fact, the wonder of God is that he loves sinful people who submit to his Son. Yet at the same time God is and remains a holy God and a consuming fire.
It’s always good not to be alone. Sometimes you have to be alone, and stand against the tide. But the Author to the Hebrews has just spent chapter 11 saying that we as Christians are not alone. We have fathers and mothers in the faith. They are our ‘great cloud of witnesses’. They too walked by faith, not by sight. Some were saved from suffering by faith. Some submitted to suffering by faith. But all of them continued to trust God. And none of them has yet have received everything God promised them. They too have to live with the now and not yet, even now. Now they are at rest as the spirits of the righteous made perfect. But they do not yet enjoy the new creation. Only with us who have persevering faith will they enjoy everything God promised them at the renewal of all things.
And the cherry on top of the Great cloud of witnesses is Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. And he too suffered, and yet has now finished his work of sacrificing as Priest. Chapter 12 verses 1 to 3:
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (NIV)
Just as Noah looked forward to the coming flood that would vindicate him building the ark, Just as Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Jacob looked forward to a future country and a future city, Just as Moses died outside the promised land, because he hoped for a heavenly country, So also Jesus looked beyond death to the joy of resurrection and the results of his redemption. He looked forward to the joy of buying back a people for himself.
The first thing Hebrews says about Jesus is that he is God’s Son (Hebrews 1:2). Yet he suffered. Jesus suffered when he was tempted. He wept great tears as he submitted to the suffering God the Father sent him to endure. So being a son doesn’t save you from suffering. Jesus proved that.
And the Author to the Hebrews points out that believers in Christ are also sons of God. And this fact gives us a new way to think about suffering and hardship. Suffering for the Christian is part and parcel of their sonship. God sends suffering to shape us into his sons. Hebrews 12 verses 4 to 6:
4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” [Prov. 3:11,12]7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? (NIV)
Here is a new way of looking at hardship and suffering. Rather than say, ‘Oh well, God mustn’t love me, I’m suffering because God doesn’t love me’, instead think, ‘God cares for me… this hardship shows God’s fatherly care for me.’
A son who is loved will always be disciplined, rebuked and even punished by his father. Fatherly chastisement is part and parcel of God making us his sons and daughters.
Here is the fatherly distinctive: discipline and punishment. We must remember this when we say, ‘Our Father in Heaven’. He is our Father, so he will discipline us for our good, so we can share in his holiness.
The Author to the Hebrews expands on this thought in verses 8 to 11: Verse 8, the misery of illegitimate children is that they are not disciplined. Verse 9, we are thankful for our human father’s discipline of us, even though it was imperfect. Verse 10, our human fathers did their best in disciplining us. Unless your dad was criminally negligent or positively evil, he did his best. Remember this, particularly if you still carry bitterness towards your father.
And suppose your father was criminally negligent or evil? Whatever you endured, God allowed, for your growth and chastisement. Whatever happened to you when you were growing up, none of it was outside the sovereignty of your heavenly father, the father of your spirit, who only ever loves you. Whatever you endured, God allowed it to happen for your good. And only the longer term perspective shows that. Verse 11:
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (NIV)
You might say, ‘What a harsh teaching! Who can accept it?’
Job had to accept it. God allowed Satan to impoverish Job, kill his children, and afflict his body. And in the end, James says,
‘You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy’ (James 5:11 NIV).
Job is an example of God’s compassion and mercy, because God was a father dealing with his son Job.
Joseph came to accept it. Think of Joseph. God gives him dreams that puff him up, and the favouritism of a father that spoilt him. His brothers hate him so much they want to kill him. They wouldn’t even listen to his cries for mercy. So Joseph is in a sense lucky that they just sell him as a slave. His master’s wife fakes a rape and has him thrown in prison. He is forgotten by those he helped, left to rot in jail. And at the end of it all, this is his reflection, when he assures his brothers he has forgiven them:
‘You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives’ (Genesis 50:20 NIV)
So friends, think again when you suffer, when you are tested. Look to Jesus and remember. God is testing your faith muscles. Jesus suffered too, more than you, and he is the sinless eternal son. The heroes of faith suffered, and endured through faith. God is doing it so that we can share in God’s holiness. Time will tell. There will be a harvest of righteousness in the end.
The pruned tree is the most fruitful. The cut and polished diamond sparkles most. The man most dedicated to working out is most buff. And the Christian who suffers and still trusts and receives hardship as discipline, shares in God’s holiness (Hebrews 12:10).
The reason God is making us holy is found in verse 14:
Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. (NIV)
God sends us suffering so we can be holy, or sanctified. And holiness is necessary for us to see the Lord. Without holiness we will not see the Lord. With holiness, we will enter God’s kingdom and see Jesus face to face.
So God sends suffering so we will be holy, so we will see him.
The Author wants us to avoid certain sins that imperil our seeing the Lord. Verse 15:
See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. (NIV)
The one who misses the grace of God is the one who spurns Jesus and his death and resurrection. He is the one who tramples the Son of God underfoot, and who rejects Jesus, God’s son. Don’t do that.
Bitterness is a problem. Lack of forgiveness, or rivalry, can spread. Nip bitterness in the bud. We need to try and work out the problems we have with each other, rather than having the wounds fester. Sometimes we have to bear with each other. At other times we have to have it out with each other, and then heal. Verses 16 to 17:
16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears. (NIV)
Sexual sin can keep someone from seeing God. Sexual immorality is all sex outside monogamous heterosexual marriage. Esau engaged in polygamy and intermarrying with the Canaanites. And when he realized his parents were upset with his behavior, he simply married another woman. Esau is pictured as a foolish man who sells his inheritance for a bowl of soup. And so many are selling their salvation for sex that doesn’t ultimately satisfy. Let’s not get sucked in. Let us flee sexual immorality, run away from it.
Instead, let’s realize where we have come to. In Christ, we haven’t come to Mount Sinai, where even Moses trembled. But when we trust in Jesus Christ, we have arrived at a better mountain. Verses 22 to 23:
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (NIV)
When we become Christians, we become part of something bigger, that we can only see by faith, and not with our physical eyes. This is the Communion of Saints, the Holy Catholic Church, in which we believe. Every true believer is a member. And according to Hebrews, it is meeting now, around Jesus Christ. And we are part of it. We are there.
In Ephesians 2, we are described as now risen with Christ and seated with him in the heavenly realms at the right hand of God. In Colossians 3, we are described as now having died and risen with Christ, and that our lives are hidden with Christ in God. In some wonderful, mysterious way, the Scripture says we have already come into the things that we do not yet enjoy. We have the now and the not yet.
But as usual, we have the carrot and the stick. The carrot is that we’ve come to the better mountain. The stick is that we won’t escape if we reject Jesus Christ. Verses 25:
See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? (NIV)
Again, the warning is that we have received a better revelation. So if we reject it, we will receive a more serious punishment. Again, verses 28 and 29:
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.” (NIV)
Inside Christ, God is a loving Father who disciplines us for our good. Outside Christ, God is a consuming fire, who destroys his enemies with the flame that never goes out.
So how can God be both a loving Father and a consuming Fire? The answer is Jesus’ and his death and resurrection.
Imagine we were camping in the bush, and we heard there is a firestorm coming through our area. We can’t outrun it, we cannot burrow under it, we can’t go over it, we can’t go through it. We are facing certain death.
But then a bright spark runs to his car and gets a jerry can full of petrol. He orders everyone in the camp to come with him, and he finds a clearing, and puts everyone to work, felling small trees, clearing undergrowth, piling dead leaves and branches in the centre.
After a while, a mountain of combustible tinder is piled up. He orders everyone clear, pours the petrol all over it, takes a match and lights it. You think he’s gone crazy.
What’s he doing? Isn’t the firestorm moving fast enough for him, that he has to BBQ us all now?
The fire flares up and blazes to consume the whole circular patch of ground that you have cleared. But just as quickly, it dies down, having consumed the tinder. Now there remains a vast charred black circle, a burnt out patch of dirt and charcoal. And as you see the firestorm approaching he orders everyone into the circle. And as you huddle together, the firestorm sweeps up and goes around the blackened patch of ground, consuming everything in its path. And there you stand, safe, alive, as you watch the fire rage around you and then pass on.
Jesus is our burnt out patch. He has already suffered the fire of God’s anger for us. He experienced God’s anger once for all when he offered himself as a propitiation and sacrifice, to turn God’s anger from us. And where Jesus took the fire and anger of God, that fire cannot burn twice. In that burnt out patch, we do not experience God’s wrath, though we see it. And if we do experience hardship, it is only the discipline of a loving father. It’s only a slap on our bottoms to make sure we stay in the safe place. Such things will not do us any harm, only good.
But outside, the fire of God’s anger, wrath, condemnation consumes everything. And friends, it is coming. So stick to Jesus, our burnt out patch.
Let’s pray.