Friday, December 5, 2014

Sons Disciplined to Be Like Jesus

"And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:" (Hebrews 12: 5)

Before we can understand and receive correction, we have to know our identity in Christ, that we are his Beloved son or daughter:

"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." (Romans 8: 15)

Before Jesus did anything, God His Father acknowledged Him before all as His Beloved Son:

"And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 3: 17)

Before Jesus died on the Cross, His Father declared again:

"While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." (Matthew 17: 5)

The context here, Jesus transfigured about Moses and Elijah, affirms that Jesus receives the greatest glory and honor, the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.

Now, as a beloved Son, Jesus learned obedience through suffering:

"Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 8Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; 10Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec." (Hebrews 5: 7-10)

Obedience in Hebrews, and throughout the New Testament, speaks of faith, believing in God the Father:

"1Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12: 1-2)

Just as Jesus could trust that His Father would exalt Him and seat Him at His right hand, so too we trust that God our Father has seated us in Christ, seated us at His right hand, and is making us more like His Son:

"1Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." (1 John 3: 1-3)

Why would we not want to be disciplined? We have Jesus' glory and honor living in us. Why would settle for anything less?

"17Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3: 18)

We can take the discipline of losing our flesh, and resting in His Spirit, because we are already in Christ, as God's sons, and through the training of growing in grace, we reveal more of Himself in our lives. Who would not want that?

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