Tim Keller (19:15)

We all long for a home, for a place where we can truly flourish and belong in One with My Lord. A new book by Sam Albury. He shows how the Bible promises that there is a place like that for all of us, but it doesn't have a zip code. Instead, the key to home and the very heartbeat of the Christian faith itself is that we find ourselves in Christ. For the New Testament writers, this phrase was so important that instead of using the term Christian, they referred to followers of Jesus as those who are in Christ. Jesus is not only our savior, Lord, teacher, and friend, he is also our home and our location. Each chapter of One with My Lord is short enough to be read as a devotional. And in it, Aubrey examines what being in Christ means, giving us a fresh lens to view the Gospel and all that it means for our hope, purpose, and identity. We believe this new book will help you grow in your relationship with Christ. To request your copy of One with my Lord, visit gospelandlife.com give. That's gospelandlife.com give. Now here's Tim Keller with the remainder of today's teaching.

Tim Keller (20:26)

And this is a father who is sending us or who envelops us with what? The word here is discipline, but it's actually the Greek word paideia, from which we get our word pediatrics. And that's very important. What's a pediatrician? See, a pediatrician is just concerned for the overall health and flourishing of the child. And that is really important because this word discipline does not get that across now does it? When you and I think of discipline, I mean, the English word discipline has the connotation of punishment. And that's all right. If I'm doing paideia, if I'm trying to. If my concern is the flourishing and the good verse 10 of a child, then sometimes there's going to be consequences. Sometimes there's going to be consequences. So, for example, if my child lies, the worst thing that I could possibly do is not bring any consequences into that child's life. Because if the child goes on to be a liar, that child is going to have the most miserable life. No one will trust that child and that child will trust no one. Liars don't trust other people. No one trusts liars. So what I have to do, I have to say, you can't go to Jimmy's birthday party. Ah, close the door. What is that? Well, you say it's punishment. Well, okay, yes, but let's, let's. Fine, you can use words are words. Let's look at the details. Paideia means not retribution, not payback, not tit for tat. This is not retributive suffering. This is disciplinary suffering. And that means God as a perfect parent will bring non destructive designed pain into a child's life, but not 1 ounce more, not 1 second more, not 1 millimeter more than the child absolutely needs to escape the lying only for the good. And that comes out smack in the middle here of verse 10 where it says our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best. Which is a really interesting little hint, a respectful hint. It's a way of saying, look, when you look at human parenting, it's a mixed bag. You know, they tried their best, but let's face it, the motivations, and I'll speak as a parent here, my motivations were always mixed. When my child disobeyed me, yes, of course I wanted to bring consequences in to help the child grow. But there was always, you know, I was mad so often and I felt like, how do you show disrespect to me and you bring in, you know, a certain amount of payback. Human parenting is imperfect, but not God's. See, our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best, but God disciplines us only for our good that we may share in his holiness. And this is saying, can you see, can you see the sufferings and difficulties that God allows to come into your life as his way of getting his greatness and glory deep into your soul? If you can't see it like that, verse seven says, it says endure hardship as paideia. If you can't see the hardships that come into your life as that, you're not going to make it, you're not going to grow, you're not going to grow. Or let's put it this way, let's talk about what I mean by fatherly discipline. There's brokenness outside of you and there's brokenness inside of you. The brokenness outside of you. There's disease and there's conflicts and there's racism and there's war and there's injustice and there's, you know, need and poverty. So there's brokenness outside of you. There's brokenness inside of you. There's foolishness in me, pride in me, selfishness, cowardice, a lack of self knowledge, all sorts of things in me that just. I'm not going to be able to make it If I don't, if we don't somehow deal with it. God the Father who didn't design a world filled with this evil and suffering, but God the Father brings external brokenness into connection with your internal brokenness at exactly the right time and exactly the right place place in exactly the right proportion to move you from blindness to self knowledge, from cowardice to courage, from selfishness to generosity. That's what he's there doing. And the Bible frankly is just one example of this after another. You know, almost my favorite one is one that we dealt with here, here a couple years ago. Joseph, Joseph, he's one of a bunch of brothers. But Jacob, because he'd made an idol out of Joseph's mother, Rachel, after Rachel died in his grief, he made an idol out of Joseph. He was the ultimate favorite. Jacob poisoned that family system and because he was absolutely doting on Joseph, was spoiling him, you know, incredible levels. Joseph was on his way to being an evil, proud, incredibly self absorbed and therefore miserable person. What did God do? He used the jealousy of his brothers to get Joseph sold into slavery. He used the lust of Potiphar's wife to get Joseph into prison. He used the external brokenness on the internal brokenness. Because in the end, Joseph becomes a great man, a man who knows himself, a man who's wise, a man who's humbled, a man who's strong, a man who knows, knows his own heart, knows the hearts of other people. He becomes a great man, saves his family, and in the very end he looks back on everything else in his life and he says in Genesis 50, verse 20, to his brothers, you meant it for evil, God meant it for good. Paideia. Unless you can see the hardships of your life as that, you're not going to make it. You're not going to make it. And by the way, there's two alternative ways of handling suffering. See, this is a unique way. This Christian way of handling suffering is unique. It's neither the stoicism of traditional and ancient cultures nor is it in a sense the self centeredness, the humanism of modern culture. And you know where you see this? Take a look here in verse 5. Have you forgotten the 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. Now there they are. These are the two ways that in the world in general, depending on your culture, depending on your age, depending on your country, your nationality, depending on your temperament, your psychology, you're going to tend to go one way or the other. Neither of them are the way the book of Hebrews is putting things out. First of all, it says, do not make light of the Lord's discipline. That's stoicism. Make light means despise. In other words, don't say, when troubles come into your life. I'm not going to let it get to me. This too will pass. Give a sieve of her lip. That's not what the Bible's talking about. That's not endurance. Stoicism is not endurance. You know, you can see I'm going to give you an example in child rearing. You know, I can just imagine your child. You said to your child, did you lie to me? And the child says, yes, go to your room. You can't go to Jimmy's birthday party today. Now, most children go, oh, no. And you close the door, you know, behind the door. I won't lie. I won't lie anymore. No, you will not be lying anymore. I won't lie. That's good. That's good. Not making light of the discipline. Hurting, screaming, yelling, biting the rug. Good, good. That will, you know, probably won't lie next time. There's a kind of kid, did you lie? Yes. Go to your room. You can't go to Jimmy's birthday party. And there's a kind of kid that says, I didn't want to go to Jimmy's birthday party anyway. There's a kind of kid that says to the father, you're the enemy. I'm not going to let you get to me. Instead of saying, the lying is the enemy. I'm not going to let you get to me. I'm not going to scream. I'm not going to be unhappy. Stoicism is not the way you deal with hardships. You scream, you grieve. Yeah. But on the other hand, it says, and do not lose heart. That's flipping out. That's freaking out. That's the modern way. That's the American way. That's saying, no good could possibly come out of this. There can't be any good. There can't be a God or I don't believe in a God who allow evil and suffering in the world. I mean, it's just ridiculous because I can't see any reason for it. There can't be any. That makes sense, doesn't it? But that's American, because I can't see any reason for it, because I can't. There can't be any. So I'm out of here. Or I'M melting down neither. What should you do? Final. How do we run the race? What should we do when these things come? What should we do? Three practicals and one dynamic. Three specific practicals and one dynamic. First of all, practical humility. I believe when it says receive hardship as paideia, you know, pediatrics, that means you are a child. And the first, most important thing you can possibly do when suffering hits you is to say, all right, even if I'm a child. Children never, ever, ever, ever can understand the discipline of a parent, even when it's good. Maybe you had lousy parents, you know, but you happen. You do know this, do you not, that even when you do good parenting, when you're doing good parenting and you're laying down consequences, it's always for the child. Too much, too long, unfair. The child never can understand the reasons behind it. It'll be 20 years before the child understands the reasons behind it. Then the child will say, thank you. Thank you, thank you. 20 years. You're children. You're children. Despair is always an act of arrogance. Do you know that? The only way you can be in despair is if you are absolutely sure that since you can't see any reason, any way anything good can come out of this, there can't be any. Despair is for people who absolutely are. Despair is for omniscient people. Are you? No. But you're acting that way. So, first of all, practical humility. Receive this as children, when things come in, say, I don't understand it, but I don't understand it. It would take omniscience for me to lose all hope. Secondly, practical humility, then, secondly, practical obedience, the word endure that comes up over and over through this passage is a Greek word, hupo meno, which means hyper. To hyper stand, it means. To hyper stand still, it means to not budge. And there is. This may be. I hope you don't think this is too simple. This isn't the whole. This isn't the whole answer to what you do with suffering. But you. It's more than this, but not less. One of the things that almost everybody does instinctively is when you're in the midst of suffering is that you retreat. You retreat from normal things that you do that are right. You retreat from prayer, you retreat from helping other people, you retreat from Bible reading or retreat. You even retreat from your own conscience. See, so often when you suffer, at the very least, you don't eat right. You don't. You don't follow. You don't follow your own conscience. This is saying that would Be the worst possible thing. John Owen has an illustration somewhere. He says, in his understanding of sailing, and he did a lot of sailing. And this is a man who lived in the 17th century. He says, if, when the storm comes up and the wind comes up, if you get to the wheel and you hold the wheel steady and you hold the rudder steady, when. When the storm is over, you will have actually gotten to your destination faster. If, on the other hand, you go beneath deck and just let the thing, the wheel, go wherever it will, you'll never get to your destination. When storms come up, it'll either make you far better than you would have been or far worse than you would have been. The key is to hold the rudder. The key is to do the right thing and do the next thing in spite of the suffering. That's part of the way in which it works. I mean, the bicep curls means when it's hard to curl your biceps, do it. When it's hard to run, do it. Practical obedience. Just do the right thing, do the next thing. If you're in the midst of something right now that's really terrible, do the right thing, do the next thing. It's not all you have to do, but it's critical. Thirdly, I said practical humility. Second, secondly, practical obedience. Thirdly, practical evaluation. Verse 2. Remove, throw off everything that hinders. And the sin that so easily entangles. Now, what's that talking about? I almost referred to it already. One of the great things about gym clothes, you know, if you're going to the gym to work out, you don't wear suits and you don't wear dresses. You know why you don't wear suits and dresses and high heels. You know why you wear suits and dresses and high heels? Because it hides what you really look like. You look, okay, now, you get into gym clothes, you walk in there and you look in the mirror. Now you realize why you're in the gym. It shows up what's wrong, right? The gym always shows up what's wrong in a way that, you know, you dress up to go out because you don't want people to see the things that you need to be working on. You don't want to see them yourself. Now, when suffering comes, instead of looking right away to God, why are you letting this happen? Instead of looking at your circumstances. And a lot of people say, well, Romans 8:28, all things work together for good to those love of God. Well, I remember somebody who broke his leg and he didn't get into med school, but he Met a nurse in the hospital and now they're happily married. So maybe some good is going to come out of this. No, no, no, no. Remember that little kid who said I don't need to go to Jimmy's birthday party? I didn't even want to go. You've got to look at yourself. He wouldn't look at the lying. He wouldn't look at himself. He was looking at the parent. He was looking at Jimmy. He was looking everywhere. When troubles come, say I realize that basically this suffering is bringing out the worst in me. There's my fear, there's my cowardice, there's my pride. There's something that I never knew was that important to me. It's too important to me. It's almost an idol in my life. Suffering will always bring out the worst in you. Just like gymnasiums always show up, what's wrong? And so the most important thing you can possibly do in the midst of suffering is to say, lord, what do you want to work on? What should I be working on? Instead of looking at your circumstances, looking around, trying to guess maybe what God's doing or what's supposed to be happening, or just look at yourself and say, is it my cowardice? Is it my pride? Is it my selfishness? The these are things that unless I deal with them, I'm not going to make it in life. And here's my opportunity. But lastly, and the most importantly, as you mostly know, is the dynamic. All of this is technique, all of this is technique. And none of this is going to work. I just gave you an engine, now here's the gas. Engine goes nowhere without the gas. What's the gas? Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorned its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne on high. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men that you will not grow weary and lose heart. You know, I always, like when I read this, I not only say, fix your eyes on Jesus, but also fix your eyes with Jesus. Fix your eyes, fix everything. Look at what did Jesus do. Well, here's what Jesus did. Jesus suffered. This is the leg up that Christianity and those who embrace it have, I think, on almost any other philosophy of life. Because if you're a secularist, there's a lot of advantages of being secular, but suffering isn't one of them. Because secularists would have to say suffering is meaningless, it's just part of life. It just happens. You know, let's Avoid it? I don't know. What if I can't avoid it? I don't know how to deal with it. And of course, other religions believe in God, but this is the only religion that says our God suffered. Our God came to earth, became human, and began to suffer. And here's what's most interesting about that. You and I. Why are we running the race for the joy that's set before us? What is that joy? Well, we need to have a big enough theory of life. The joy set before us just can't be a general kind of happiness and comfort. Now, the joy set before us, as we've been looking at is. Is getting the glory and greatness of God into our souls, becoming what we were designed to be. There's a great joy that's something that'll get us there. But what was Jesus joy? Why did Jesus run the race? The glory of God. He had the glory of God. Okay, you know, holiness. He had holiness. Why would Jesus come to earth and get in the race? And as far as I know, there's only one answer. In the book of Isaiah where it talks about the suffering servant, it says, the results of his suffering he shall see and be satisfied. Well, what are the results of his suffering? What is the only thing that in heaven, Father, Son and Holy Spirit? What is the only thing that they did not have? What is the only thing that Jesus didn't have before he came to earth? Us. Us. It's the only thing. And what that must mean is in Jesus suffering, he was seeking us. And now he says, in your suffering, seek me. Be like me. Be with me. Seek to be like me. Here's what Jesus is saying. I was subject to the Father of my spirit and was crushed. So that you can be absolutely sure in suffering, that you can be subject to the Father of your spirits and you will live. I lost my glory in my suffering. And I just want you to give up your idols. I lost God in my suffering. But in your suffering you're going to get God. You're going to get love. I sought you now in your suffering, seek me. I suffered for your sake. Now you suffer for my sake. And see, that is the gas. That's the gas. We sing about it and we will sing about it. When through the deep waters I call thee to go the rivers of woe shall not thee overflow, says Jesus. For I will be with you your troubles to bless and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress. Let's pray. Our Father on the cross. People looked and said, what good could God possibly bring out of this? And yet it was the greatest act of redemption in history. Of course we don't want to look at our crosses like that. We don't want to make the same mistake your followers have made before. We want to look to Jesus. We want to fix our eyes on Jesus. We want to fix our eyes with Jesus. We want to fix our whole being with Jesus. And we pray that you will enable us to do a better job of that than we did before we heard this text, and we pray that you would let this text exhort us. It's a word of exhortation. It addresses us as your children. It comes at us and argues with us and says, you, you're loved. And Lord, if we feel loved in the midst of the suffering, it will make us great. It will not diminish us. And we know we're loved because of the way in which your son suffered for us. We were his joy that set before us. Now he's ours. And we thank you for that. And we ask that you would grant all these things for his sake. In his name we pray. Amen.

Tim Keller (40:52)

Thank you for joining us today. If you were encouraged by today's teaching, please rate and review it so more people can discover this podcast. And to find more great gospel centered content by Tim Keller, visit gospelandlife.com Today's sermon was recorded in 2005. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel in Life podcast record preached from 1989 to 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.