KEY TEXT
Proverbs 20:30 (NIV) – Blows and wounds scrub away evil and beatings purge the inmost being.
Living Bible – Punishment that hurts chases evil from the heart.
INTRODUCTION
- Our aversion to pain
- Pain is a burden …..and a benefit
Pain is a burden but it can bring a benefit if we allow the unpleasant fire of pain to refine and cleanse away evil, then sorrow and pain are not wasted and something is gained.
3. Commentary about our Key text
Our key text is about CORPORAL PUNISHMENT.
Pain is an efficient deterrent and effective instructor.
4. Title
‘BLOWS, WOUNDS AND BEATINGS.”
Outline:
- What is blows, wounds and beatings?
- Who gives the blows, wounds and beatings?
- What are the effects of the blows, wounds and beatings?
- How to be healed from the blows, wounds and beatings?
- Why the blows, wounds and beatings?
- The One with the Ultimate blows, wounds and beatings
MAIN POINTS
(1.) WHAT IS BLOWS, WOUNDS AND BEATINGS?
A “blow” is defined as:
- A sudden, hard stroke with a hand, fist or weapon (e.g. a blow to the head.)
- A sudden shock, calamity, reversal (e.g. His wife’s death is a terrible blow to him.)
- A sudden attack or drastic action (e.g. The invaders struck a blow to the south.)
A “wound” is defined as:
- An injury, usually involving division of tissue or rupture of the integument or mucous membrane, due to external violence or some mechanical agency rather than disease.
- An injury or hurt to feelings, sensibilities, reputation.
A “beating” or “stripes” (KJV) is defined as:
- A whipping or thrashing, as in punishment
- A defeat or a setback (e.g. Several stocks took a beating in the market today.)
(2.) WHO GIVES THE BLOWS, WOUNDS AND BEATINGS?
Now are all these punishments right?
What is the biblical stand on this?
Ecclesiastes 8:11- When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong.
Proverbs 21:11- When a scoffer is punished, the simple becomes wise.
Pain is an efficient deterrent and effective instructor.
The wise use of corporal punishment will correct fools and sinners and reform the heart.
Foolishness and wickedness are terrible human traits, causing much pain and suffering, including ruined lives and estates and death.
Sin is more than a bad habit; it is the inborn reaction of deceived rebels.
Therefore, men must be beaten, bruised and wounded before they will change or improve.
Who are those ordained by God to give us the blows, the wounds or the beatings?
- Parents
Parents drive foolishness from children with the rod (Proverbs 22:15; 23:13-14).
Today, it is very hard to get millennials parents to discipline their kids with a rod because many ‘buy in’ the wrong teachings from the world.
Social dreamers and arrogant educators teach that flattery and freedom work better than corporal punishment.
E.g. Benjamin Spock’s Baby and Child Care – they do all they can to outlaw parental spanking and children, just as they have outlawed flogging for maintaining order and discipline in schools, the military and society.
- God
God Himself scourges foolishness from His children (Proverbs 3:11-12; Heb 12:5-11).
- The Church
The church is a body of Christ with the structure of a family where there are spiritual parents namely the pastors and brothers and sisters in Christ.
The Church functions as taking directives from Christ our Elder brother and the rank and order follows according to the divine calling and appointment Christ places upon every member in the church.
The rank and file (ordinary members)are to follow the “marching order” of those in authority.
And if there is anyone who is recalcitrant, “the rod and the staff”(Psalm 23:4) have to be utilized by the under-shepherd.
“Correction, rebuke, and exhortation” are part of the church discipline that the Church has to use (1 Timothy 5:20).
Submission and respect to any leaders is still the core-value of this church.
And we will not hold back the rod on the back of any foolish talking.
“A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey and a rod for the back of fools!” (Proverbs 26:3)
- Friends
Friends correct one another by verbal blows. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy” (Proverbs 27:6).
- Civil authorities
They are the school principals and teachers, employers, magistrates and judges and government.
The civil authorities are placed in our society to uphold law and order, discipline and peace.
“The authorities that exist that have been established by God…..For rulers are not terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of him who is in authority? Then do good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; he is the servant of God to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer (Romans 13:1-4).”
- Satan
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10).
- Gossipers
“The words of a talebearer (gossiper) are as WOUNDS, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly” (Prov 18:8).
- Insulters and Critics
“Their insults have broken my heart and I am in despair” (Psalm 69:20).
You may be insulted and criticized for….
- Your work for Christ
- Your mistakes and flaws
- Your good intention
Many times, people do not know the facts and the truth and thus they UNINTENTIONALLY criticize you.
Then again, there are also people who are there to INTENTIONALLY hurt you, to get even with you and thus they criticize you with vehemence and malice.
All such words wound and hurt.
They are verbal blows and many of us get beaten down by such kind of people.
- Yourself
Our sin or neglect causes problems. “Satan will sift you” (Luke 22:31).
- Life
Application: Who has God used lately to give you the physical blow or the spiritual blow?
If you are a person holding an authority here in this church or even in your work place, do you wisely wound those who need it?
Do you receive wounding well when you need it?
Do not resist the wisdom taught here today.
SEVERE AND WISE PUNISHMENT IS FAR LESS PAINFUL THAN UNRESTRAINED SELF-WILL OR OBSTINATE REBELLION.
A FOOL NOT CORRECTED WILL COST HIMSELF AND THOSE AROUND HIM FAR MORE THAN THE LIGHT STING OF A WHIPPING.
(3.) WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF THE BLOWS, WOUNDS AND BEATING?
The effects are:
- HURTS
- SHUT DOWN
- VIOLATED – “BEING SINNED AGAINST”
“Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” (Matt 18:21)
- OFFENSE TO OUR CONSCIENCE AND INTEGRITY
“What have I done to you that deserves such treatment like this?” (Gen 20:8) – Abimelech to Abraham.
- DRAGGED DOWN
“A wounded spirit, who can bear?” (Prov 18:14)
- FATALITY
“A death wound” also known as deadly wound is a mortal wound or a fatal wound. This can lead to death, whether intentional or accidental. Death need not be instantaneous but can be gradual leading to cessation of life or cessation of vital organ.
Application: Spiritually speaking, when God allows the blows of life to hit you, and if you are not careful by treating it and receiving it well, it can lead to a death wound where you will cease all your functions in the body of Christ and die slowly spiritually.
(4.) HOW TO BE HEALED FROM BLOWS, WOUNDS AND BEATINGS?
Heal your wounds.
How?
- Stand on the rock
Satan can huff and puff. “A wise man builds his house upon a rock” (Matt 7:24). Stand on Jesus and what He has done for you.
- Clean your wound with water
And the water is the Word of God ….“Washing of water by the Word” (Eph 5:27).
- Let your wound breathe.
Don’t cover up your wound.
Leave it uncovered to breathe.
Expose your wound to the AIR, which is the wind and it points to the Holy Spirit who carries the emblem of the wind.
Lesson: Never cover up your wound. Expose it to the healing ministry of the Holy Spirit.
- Use honey
“Eat honey for it is good” (Prov 24:13).
Honey here in Proverbs 24:13 implies that we are to learn wisdom from all the blows, wounds and beatings.
There is something God is teaching you.
Ask God for that nugget of wisdom to be gleaned from your pain.
Ask God:
- “What are you teaching me from this blow?”
- “What do you want me to become?”
Do not ask “Why?”
“My son, eat honey, for it is good….know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off” (versed 13b).
Don’t be like fool who says, “They struck me….but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it” (Prov 23:35).
Don’t waste your blows, wounds and beatings.
(5.) WHY ARE THERE BLOWS, WOUNDS AND BEATINGS?
3 main purposes:
# 1 – Verse 30a- “BLOWS AND WOUNDS SCRUB AWAY EVIL AND BEATINGS PURGE…..”
No discipline feels fun or easy, but all of it has the POTENTIAL TO DRIVE OUT EVIL FROM US.
Corporal punishment is a God-ordained means for purging away sin.
Not to be taken wrongly, the right consequences for our errors and sins can cause us to avoid the same errors and sins in the future.
When one faces pain, there is a purifying of spirit that can occur so long as one accepts the pain as discipline coming from the loving hand of the Father God.
Reason # 1 – PURIFICATION OF OUR SPIRIT (one big page)
Our spirit is so flawed and sinful.
Top of the list which God is trying to scrub away from us is the spirit of pride and the spirit of obstinacy (self-will).
# 2 -Verse 30b – “…. THE INMOST BEING”
The true seat of the soul, the inner being, the inner man or woman – this is who we truly are under the surface that we have so carefully put on for the world to see.
Maturity is becoming on the outside what we are on the inside, the inside having been purged by the gospel of Jesus Christ and the wounds of our own discipline.
God is a God of depth and not superficiality.
“The king can touch the criminal’s soul by harsh retribution” but Yahweh peers directly into a person’s innermost being.
Proverbs 20:27 – The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all his innermost parts.
“Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you. This is your doom, and it is bitter; it has reached your very heart” (Jeremiah 4:18 ESV).
“I will punish you very much because that is what you deserve. You have lived in a wicked way and you have done evil things. My punishment will GIVE YOU PAIN THAT GOES ALL THROUGH YOU” (EASY VERSION).
The punishment in the form of blows, wounds and beatings that God inflicts upon us has one destination – OUR HEART; OUR INNERMOST BEING.
Once the blows, wounds and beatings reach our very heart or go all through us – we will give heed and change.
God wants to change our heart, our innermost being which is the seat of all our emotions and the seat where our heart trusts and loves.
Through the hard blows and wounds, our heart will awaken and begin to reorder our desires in accordance to Lordship of Christ.
Without this hard blow of life, our heart is bowing down to so many good things in this life which we have elevated above God.
Reason # 2 -REORDERING OF OUR INNERMOST BEING- OUR HEARt ……OUR HEART’S MOTIVATIONS AND MOTIVES (ONE BIG PAGE)
# 3- Psalm 4:1 (KJV) – “THOU HAST ENLARGED ME WHEN I WAS IN DISTRESS.”
If we can see the pain that come upon our life now through blows, wounds and beating as a purifying of spirit and a reordering of your heart’s motives, then you will endure this hardship.
Enduring hardship, for the person who lives their life in a meaningful way, can forge ENDURANCE and GRIT (FIRMNESS OF CHARACTER), which can later be used to face larger obstacles.
In a fallen world, hard things happen.
It is those who find meaning in the hard and painful things and use them to strengthen their “inmost being” who can not only survive the hardship but THRIVE under it.
Case in point – Joseph.
Someone once said of Joseph that when he was in the dungeon, IRON ENTERED HIS SOUL (innermost being).
The strength of iron is exactly what Joseph needed, for earlier he had only experienced the glitter of gold.
He had been rejoicing in youthful dreams and dreaming actually hardens the heart.
We all need the iron in life to enlarge our character.
The gold is simply a passing vision, whereas the iron is the true experience of life.
The chain that is the common bond uniting us to others must be one of iron.
The common touch of humanity that gives the world true kinship is not joy but sorrow – gold is partial to a few but IRON IS UNIVERSAL.
Be willing to have your life narrowed to certain degrees of suffering and pain (the descent of love in the J-Curve).
Joseph’s dungeon was the very road to his throne, and he would have been unable to lift the iron load of his brothers had he not experienced the iron in his own life.
Your life will be enlarged in proportion to the amount of iron you have endured, for it is in the shadows of your life that you will find the actual fulfilment of your dreams of glory.
So do not complain about the shadows of darkness – in reality, they are better than your dreams could ever be.
Do not say that the darkness of the prison has shackled you, for your shackles are wings – wings of flight into the heart and soul of humanity.
And the gate of your prison is the gate into the heart of the universe.
God has enlarged you through the suffering of sorrow’s chain.
If Joseph had never been Egypt’s prisoner, he would have never been Egypt’s governor.
The iron chain that bound his feet brought about the golden chain around his neck.
Reason # 3- TOENLARGE OUR CHARACTER – TO LET IRON ENTER OUR SOUL- TO FORGE GRIT IN OUR CHARACTER SO OUR SPHERE OF SERVICE TO GOD CAN BE ENLARGED (one big page)
Matthew Henry says, “Severe rebukes sometimes do a great deal of good. But such is the corruption of nature, that men are loth to be rebuked for their sins. If God uses severe afflictions, to purify our hearts and fit us for his service, we have cause to be very thankful.”
Regardless of the source or cause, painful “blows, wounds and beatings” in general can be a valuable for all of us to learn some of life’s most important lessons:
ACCEPTING PAIN AS PATHWAY TO PEACE (one big page)
Rather than reacting to the source of the cause of our pain, if we be able to see a divine meaning, purpose and value behind it – all this pain will really “scrub or cleanse away evil …..purge the inmost being…enlarge our soul and service and become a PATHWAY OF PEACE for us.
(6.) THE ONE WITH THE ULTIMATE BLOWS, WOUNDS AND BEATINGS
Proverbs 20:30 (KJV) – The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil; so do stripes the inward parts of the belly.
God hates sin but loves His elect, so He severely bruised and wounded His own Son, Jesus, by the Jews and the Romans.
During the hours leading to His death, He turned blue from the many wounds and many stripes covered His back.
His wounds were death wounds that was fatal.
Why?
Because “He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, chastised for our peace, and by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5, 10).
Yes, Jesus took the blows but our inmost being was purged.
CONCLUSION
So today, if you are in pain now because of a blow, a wound a beating literally or figuratively, be comforted that they are not death wound because Jesus has taken that death blow, so that whatever blow you are receiving now is not fatal.
It will not kill.
Instead, it will……
- purify your spirit,
- reorder your innermost heart’s motivation
- put iron into our soul so that we have grit in our character.
A.W says, “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply.”
God actually rises up storms of conflict in relationship at times in order to accomplish that deeper work in our character.
We cannot love our enemies in our own strength.
This is graduate level grace.
Are you willing to enter this school of hard blows, wound and beating?
Are you willing to take the test?
If you pass, you can expect to be elevated to a new level in the Kingdom.
For He brings us through these blows, wounds and beatings as PREPARATION OR GREATER USE IN THE KINGDOM.
You must pass the test first.
