Good morning!  And happy Fathers’ Day!

In honor of our Fathers this morning, we are going to begin this morning with some encouragement from one of the most well-respected fathers in the comic world:

(Calvin & Hobbes Cartoon)
Why does the sky turn red as the sun sets?
That’s all the oxygen in the atmosphere catching fire.
Where does the sun go when it sets?
The sun sets in the west.  In Arizona actually, near Flagstaff.
Oh.
That’s why the rocks there are so red.
Don’t the people get burned up?
No, the sun goes out as it sets.  That’s why it’s dark at night.
Doesn’t the sun crush the whole state when it lands?
Ha ha.  Of course not.  Hold a quarter up.  See, the sun’s just about the same size.
I thought I read that the sun was really big.
You can’t believe everything you read, I’m afraid.
So how does the sun rise in the East if it lands in Arizona each night?
Well, time for bed.
I hope someday I’m as smart as Dad is.
Why, what did he tell you now?

Calvin’s Father is not exactly the best model of Fatherhood, is he?  Please turn with me in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 12.  As we continue in Hebrews this morning, we are going see the best model of Fatherhood – our Heavenly Father.

But this passage is not about how our Heavenly Father gives us everything we want and makes are life all easy and nice and comfortable.  This passage is actually about suffering and how our Heavenly Father uses suffering to show us his love.

In keeping with our custom, this morning we have a great inspirational poster from www.despair.com:  Agony: Not all pain is gain.

It is true, though, isn’t it?  Not all pain is gain!

Because we live in a sinful world, we will experience suffering.  But the good news is that suffering doesn’t have to be meaningless.

Not all pain is necessarily gain.  But it can be!

The good news is that God uses suffering to strengthen us and make us more like Him.  God uses suffering to guide and direct us.  A life of faith approaches suffering with an attitude of faith, trusting God to use suffering to make us more like him.  A life of faith experiences God’s love in the midst of suffering.

So how can we do this?  How can we experience God’s love in the midst of suffering? 

In Hebrews 12:3-11, we see three things that we can do to experience God’s love through suffering.  The first thing that we can do is this:  Switch Your Focus to Jesus

Unfortunately, when we suffer, the first thing we do is focus on our suffering.  We tell ourselves we don’t deserve it.  We tell others we don’t deserve it.  We tell God we don’t deserve it.

But notice what the author of Hebrews tells us to do: to consider the one who of all people really did NOT deserve to suffer:

We read in verses 3-4:  Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

Switch your focus to Jesus.  When you are suffering, remember that your Lord and Savior suffered first.  And he suffered more than we will ever have to.  And he did not deserve it.

Jesus endured the suffering.  He made it through.  And because he did, we know we can, too.  No doubt we are also supposed to still be thinking of a few verses back where we read that Jesus “endured the cross… for the joy set before him.”  Just like Jesus, we have a "joy set before us.”

There is purpose to our suffering.  Look to Jesus.  Consider how he endured.

And notice the reason that we are to consider Jesus:  so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

The two words here translated “grow weary or fainthearted” are the same words that were used to speak of a runner relaxing and collapsing after running through the finishing line.  What is his point?  Don’t relax and collapse before you finish the race!

Check out this video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfrUkOCn2YA

Wouldn’t you hate for this finish to be representative of how you approach the finish line of your life of faith?

Don’t give up before you are done.  Persevere.  Endure.

The author of Hebrews is writing to people who are suffering for their faith.  It is apparent from verse 4 that though they were suffering at the hands of the sinful world around them, they had not yet been killed for their faith.  We read:  In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

Now that is encouraging, isn’t it!  You are suffering, yes.  But you haven’t died … yet!

But we get the point, right?  Jesus suffered to the full – he shed his blood.  He showed the full extent of his love by suffering to the point of death – death on a cross.  So consider Jesus! 

So how do we endure through suffering?  Switch your focus to Jesus.  Remember what he endured.  Was life fair to him?  He didn’t deserve anything bad to happen to him.  Remember, he only loved people!  He was the one who made the blind see and the lame walk!  And what was he given in return for his love?  Death on a cross. 

We live in a sinful world.  Sometimes when we live lives of faith, obeying God and living for him… what we get in return is suffering.

How can we experience God’s love in the midst of the suffering?  Remember him and how much he suffered.  We haven’t suffered nearly as much as he did.  We are not alone.  He knows what we are going through.  He will bring us through.

Switch your focus to Jesus.

And the next thing we can do to experience God’s love through suffering is this:  Observe God’s Love in Suffering

Listen to verses 5-8:  And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.  For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives."  It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?  If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

We can sum up these verses by saying this:  When you suffer, remember that it is simply evidence that God loves you and considers you his son or daughter!

When it says here that the Lord disciplines us, it will help us to know what the word ‘discipline’ means.  It means:  “to assist in the development of a person’s ability to make appropriate choices.” (BDAG)

Most of the time, when I think of discipline, I think of being punished for doing something wrong.  It would be a mistake, though, to think that this is all that this passage is talking about. 

Sometimes we endure suffering not because we have done something wrong but because we are doing everything right.  It is apparent from the context of this passage that the author of Hebrews is writing to those who are suffering persecution because of their commitment to living lives of faith.  These are Christians who are suffering because they are following Jesus.

Sometimes we suffer because of our own stupidity.  Sometimes we suffer because of our own sin.  But sometimes we suffer simply because God wants to work in our lives and suffering is the best way for him to accomplish his goals in us.

You may have heard this story before:  It is called: The Man and the Butterfly:

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it had and it could go no further.

Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

We see the point, right? 

Without the struggle, the butterfly will never fly.  It will never be what it was created to be.

We are just like the butterfly.

We want an easy life, but God wants us to have the best life.  He wants to work on our character and make us more like Jesus.  In his love, he provides us with opportunities to grow.  Struggle affords us an excellent opportunity to grow.  Suffering is actually an essential part of our growth!  Without the struggle, we’d never fly.

Wouldn’t that change the way we deal with hard things in life - if we saw suffering as an opportunity to grow in our faith?

And this brings us nicely to the third thing that we can do to experience God’s love through suffering:  Savor Holiness

Consider verses 9-11:  Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?  For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.  For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Fitting verse for Fathers’ day, isn’t it?  We have earthly fathers who love us.  And because of their love for us, they discipline us.  They correct us when we are wrong.  They train us to live lives the right way.  And we respect them for it.  The point here is that if our earthly Fathers (who are sinful and sometimes make mistakes) – if they discipline us out of love for us, than how much more can we be sure that our perfect Heavenly Father loves us and disciplines us for our good.

And listen again to verses 10 and 11:  but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.  For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

When I was growing up, my dad caused me a lot of suffering.

I had to mow the lawn every Saturday!

My dad had lots of money (at least a lot more than I had as a teenager).  But he told me that he wouldn’t just hand money to me, but I had to earn it!  I had to get a paper route when I was 12 to have my own spending money.  And then when I was 16 I had to get a job at a pizza restaurant so that I could pay for my own car.

Why did my Dad cause me so much suffering?  To make me miserable?  No!  He wanted to build my character… he wanted me to learn to work hard and to earn my own money.  And I am so thankful that he did.  I am so thankful for the discipline that my dad taught me.  I am thankful for the fruit.

And why does God discipline us?  For the same reason – that the discipline would produce good fruit.

That we may share his holiness.  That we may experience the fruit of discipline – the peaceful fruit of righteousness…

Question: do you want to share his holiness?

How much do you want to be holy?  Do you really want to be like Jesus?

God wants you and me to be holy.  That is true love.  We sometimes think that a loving God would just make life all wonderful and perfect and easy for us…

But God has a different plan for us.

God has a plan to mold you and me into the image of Christ.  Let’s face the truth: when we suffer, we experience unique opportunities to grow into the likeness of Christ. 

When do people turn to God?  When life is wonderful and going just how they want it to?  Or when life gets hard?

It is when life gets hard that we turn to God, isn’t it?

We read in James 1:2-4:  Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Suffering is never fun.  Let us not lie to ourselves; it is difficult, very difficult.  But let us remember, God has a plan to use it to make us holy.  No suffering needs to be meaningless.

And isn’t this the point of Hebrews 12:3-11?

Suffering is not meaningless.  God can use it to bring about the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

So next time you are tempted to think that God doesn’t love you…
Next time you are experiencing the struggles and sufferings of life…

Remember S.O.S.

Switch your focus to Jesus.
Observe God’s love in suffering.
Savor Holiness.

As we do this, we will truly experience the love of our Heavenly Father.

Remember the butterfly?

There is no question about it; we will suffer in this life.

But if we persevere in faith, we will eventually fly.

Let us pray.

Lord Jesus, sometimes life is just really, really hard.  Some of us right now are right in the middle of lots of suffering.  And the rest of us know that at some point it is coming.  We pray that you would work in our hearts so that we would trust you in the midst of our suffering.  May we continue to live lives of faith, trusting that you use suffering in our lives to make us more like you.  We pray this in the name of Jesus, Amen.