Pondering Proverbs - Discipline (6)

 

“A wise son accepts his father’s discipline, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.” Proverbs 13:1.

 

There are four verses in Proverbs Chapter 13 that direct our attention to discipline. The first verse focuses on how a child receives discipline, the fourth verse focuses on whether or not a father loves his child enough to provide discipline: “He who withholds his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently” (Proverbs 13:24).

 

When pondering Proverbs it is important to keep in mind that we are reading the words of a father to a son; after the introduction of Proverbs 1:1 – 7 we read, “Hear, my son, your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.” Then in Proverbs 10:1, which begins a new section of the book of Proverbs, “The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish son is a grief to his mother.”

 

We can ponder Proverbs from the outside looking in or we can receive and ponder Proverbs from the inside; we can sit in the audience and watch Proverbs being performed or we can participate in the drama of Proverbs as actors on the stage (this is true of the entire Bible). That is, we can watch the family, or we can be part of the family and participate in the family. How do you think we typically read and teach the Bible, from the outside or the inside?

 

When we ponder the words of a father to his son in Proverbs, do we see and hear our Father speaking to us, His sons and daughters? When we read that we are to not forsake our mother’s teaching and not be a grief to her, do we see the Church of Jesus Christ, “the Jerusalem above…which is our mother” (Gal. 4:26)? Are we on the stage of life, or are we in the audience? Are we on the playing field, or are we in the stands?

 

Note that we have the “scoffer” once again in Proverbs 13:1, in this case it is a son (or daughter) who scoffs at the father’s discipline. Have you known children who reject and rebel against parental correction and authority? Do you know professing Christians who functionally reject the authority of the Bible? I write “functionally” because we may give lip-service to the Bible’s authority, but in our actions reject that authority. Do we know churches, congregations and denominations, who either overtly or covertly reject the Scriptures?

 

Many seminaries dismantle the authority of the Bible and seek to undermine its integrity, attempting to recreate the Bible in the image of man, and now even attempting to recreate and redefine the image of God and mankind. Is this not scoffing at the authority of our heavenly Father? Are we not tearing the house down around ourselves and living in ruins?

 

O friends, if we will live within the discipline and instruction of our heavenly Father we will live in a place of safety and sanity, and it will enable us to invite others to know our Father as their Father, our Refuge as their Refuge, our Savior as their Savior. Otherwise, all we can invite others into is a house of ruin, a place of rubble, a life of chaos.

 

Today, in Major League Baseball, there are a few players from Japan; those players carry themselves differently than American – born players (we also see this in international competitions, such as the Little League World Series) – especially with respect to authority. Because of the Japanese respect for authority, the decisions of umpires are respected, whether the player agrees with it or not, and outbursts of anger – all too common with players born in the Americas – are pretty much nonexistent. Perhaps a day will come when Japanese players will respectfully publicly disagree with umpires, but still without ranting and raving as some of their teammates.

 

Our heavenly Father and His Word are never wrong, never in error, never amiss. When our Father disciplines us it is always for our benefit and it is always right and just and loving. Do we accept and submit to and obey His discipline and instruction? Do we exhibit the respect for the authority of God our Father that is akin to the respect Japanese baseball players give to umpires? Certainly baseball is not as important as eternal life and destiny, certainly umpires are not on a par with God – and yet, do not Japanese baseball players put American – born Christians to shame when it comes to honoring authority?

 

In Matthew 21;28 – 32 Jesus tells the story of two sons and their father.  The father asked the first son to work in the family vineyard and the son said he wouldn’t do it, but afterward regretted what he’d said and went and worked in the vineyard. Then the father asked the second son to work in the vineyard and that son said he would, but then he didn’t go and work in the vineyard. Jesus then asked, “Which of the two did the will of his father?”

 

Which son am I?

 

Which son are you?