ROOTED: in the Father's loving discipline

What you'll learn: God wants to get to the bottom of the sin that so easily entangles us and fix our eyes on Jesus once again. Even through hardship, God can get us unstuck and heal us to run the race he’s marked out for us in a holy, peaceful, and righteous way.

Listen to or read Hebrews 12:1-13 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hebrews+12%3A1-13&version=NIV

"I'm stuck!" 

You've probably seen a truck get itself into muddy rut before. The driver knows it and tries the old "rock back and forth" method. The rut seems be getting deeper. The gas pedal goes further and further to the ground until that truck is buried, mud all up and down the windows. And they're calling their farmer friend for a tow with the good ole rusty chain.

Our loving heavenly Father sees the ruts we're stuck in or the ruts we're about to crash into. He wants to get us unstuck. He wants to pull us out and heal us, so we can run again.

Call for help!

The first step of getting unstuck is to call for help! You've tried everything you know how to. You've tried rocking back and forth. You got out of the truck and pushed. Now, you put a log or a spare 2x4 under your tire. None of your ideas have worked. This is where we normally stop. Swallow your pride and call for help. God's tractor is big enough. His chain is strong enough.

But when he gets there, which doesn't take long because he's been on stand-by, waiting for this to happen, it's not going to be a "quick fix". He wants to help you find out why you got stuck. Your loving Father wants to get to the bottom of the sin that is dragging you down. What would you ever learn if he showed up and pulled you out of your ruts in a jiffy every time? 

He wants you to see why you keep ending up there.

When you get stuck, let these witnesses and their stories of faith in Jesus speak to you. The author to the Hebrews says that we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses as we run the race of life. He's talking about the Abraham and Sarah "types" who lived heroically by faith in God's Word. Even when they couldn't see it all with their human eyes, God gave them the eyes of faith, so they could go "all in" on what he wanted them to go all in on. They are witnesses because their life stories tell us how to fix our eyes on Jesus at all times, including when we are hitting a wall and entangled by sin.

When you get stuck, let other witnesses who live by faith today help you get to the bottom of why you are getting stuck again and again in the same old ruts. One of my big picture goals in ministry is to take away the stigma that so many people still have about Christian counseling. There's a Satanic belief still entrenched in some of us that, if you seek out counseling, you are weak. That you should take care of it on your own. Would you treat your own cancer? Then why would you treat your own mind, which is incredibly complex, according to science, according to psychology, and more importantly, according to God's Word!

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" Jeremiah 17:9

"But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults." Psalm 19:12

In this life, we will never completely get to the bottom of our sinfulness. Why can't each of us at least acknowledge to God and to ourselves and confess to each other that we are messed up? Why can't each of us get into more detail with God and with a few close Christian friends about the specifics of what's holding us down?

Why would any of us have to be afraid of letting Jesus further in to the depths of our minds and hearts? The author to the Hebrews calls him THE author and perfecter of our faith! Each one of us has lived undisciplined lives. Ok, so you have a few areas of your life together better than others. But if I sit down long enough with you and you sit down long enough with me, we will find areas in one another's lives that are undisciplined.

Do you feel an intense jealousy towards someone who is prettier than you? Thinner than you? More muscular than you? Are you threatened by people who are smarter than you? More successful than you? That's an undisciplined area of your heart.
Do you have an intense feeling when you see someone of a different color? Someone who has a lot of tattoos or a different hairstyle than what you're used to? That's an undisciplined area of your heart.
Do you feel the need to control the spending of your spouse, but think it's ok to spend on yourself every once in a great while, even if it's not according to the plan? Or do you rebel at the thought of having a budget all together? That's an undisciplined area of your heart.
Do you find it hard to follow through on what you committed to? That's an undisciplined area of your heart.

Only God knows how undisciplined we really are. And that's why he sent Jesus. 

Jesus was so disciplined as he ran the race of life with God his Father. The question of his heart throughout his daily routine was, "how can I worship my Father right now? How can I worship my Father in this tense conversation? In this monotonous work? Even in my relaxing free time?"

He was disciplined when it benefited him AND when it didn't! He endured the cross! And all its shame. I mean, his enemies put him up there as a billboard to strike fear into the rest of the people. "Don't cause trouble like this guy did." But he went through the pain and the shame because there was joy in front of him. There was joy on the other side of darkness, death, hopelessness, and separation from God his Father. He trusted that God would erase the sinful record of the undisciplined human race because of his disciplined life and his willingness to stick it through on the cross and be brutally punished for our sins. He trusted that his Father would raise him back to life. His Father was disciplined. He had a rhyme and reason for everything he did, like making the world in 6 days. Raising his Son back to life in 3 days...

And God has a rhyme and reason for each moment of loving discipline that he brings into your life.

Let Jesus hook the chain up to you and pull you carefully out of the mud. Fix your eyes and fix your faith on him.

Let him debrief with you about why you got stuck there. About what was holding you down. Whether that's through a Christian friend, pastor, or counselor.

Would you rather limp and gimp the rest of your life? Why not let your heavenly Father discipline and heal you so you can run again, no matter how old, no matter how broken?

Your God wants to discipline and heal you to run the race of life in a holy, peaceful, and righteous way. This is different from teaching you life hacks. It's not "quick fixes". 

This is loving discipline.

It's loving because even if you can't see to the bottom of your sin-filled heart, God can. And he loves you anyways because Jesus endured the cross for your lack of discipline. There's nothing to be afraid of. Let God and a few others in there to help you get to the bottom of things.

It's discipline because it's a process. It's surgery. It's rehab. It's going to be painful and scary and hard. And that's when you remember again that God is loving. He's not doing this to harm you, but to get you unstuck and heal you so you can live a holy, peaceful and righteous life together.

This is the beginning of what it can look like to be ROOTED in the Father's loving discipline.

Prayer: 

Dear Father, help every sermon, every Growth group, and every lesson taught formally and informally in our School root each of us in your loving discipline. Use your loving discipline to heal each of us as spouses, singles, parents, grandparents, coworkers, bosses, and friends. Help us get to the bottom of the sin that each of us is stuck in. Help each of us confess how messed up we are. Fix each of our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Heal us. Get us unstuck so we can run together again. Amen.