I began our time in the Word with those two stories, two teaching parables of my youth to make some key points that arise from our text this morning: The first story is about being an individual son or daughter in God’s family by individual faith in Christ. That act brings us into immediate and permanent relation to the Father, our Father. And our Father loves us and wants to train and build us up, to discipline each of us for His glory and enjoyment, and for our glory and employment. This is for our eternal joy and reigning deployment.

God not only disciplines us as individuals, but through His Son as Head, and with the Spirit’s instruction and illumination, He disciplines whole churches. To bring about a unity of belief and body-coordinated action. He does this to display on this divided and warring, conflicted earth that which uniquely reflects here the total  unity of thought, love and holy action of our eternal triune Godhead in heaven – Father, Son and Spirit.

My hope today is that we can see this life-shaping truth: God is supremely interested in, and invested in both spheres of discipline, because He is keenly desiring profit and productivity and glory in both spheres. Today we’ll focus mostly on individual discipline by the Lord, we must never forget in our individual walk, that God did not merely purchase individuals, but in love He bought the church, Christ’s very body, with the blood of His own Son! Acts 20:28