God’s Tough Love

3rd Sunday after Pentecost, 6/25/17
Hosea 5:15-6:6


God’s Tough Love
I. It tears sinners to pieces
II. It seeks true repentance


I’m fairly certain that you would agree with me when I state that parenting styles have changed over the past 50 years or so. Most parents do not use corporal discipline any longer. And, to some extent, that’s a good thing. In days gone by, corporal discipline often slipped into the sin of physical abuse. A parent who was rightly irate with their child’s behavior allowed that anger to get the best of them and child abuse resulted.

On the other hand, we’ve all witnessed situations in which the parenting style is so lax that needed discipline doesn’t occur. I recently witnessed a young child in a department store pitch a level 10 meltdown right on the floor in front of his mother because he didn’t get what he wanted. She ignored him and continued texting on her phone. The little guy is in a world of trouble as an adult if he doesn’t get the firm discipline he needs now. Pretty sad, isn’t it?

But when do parents have no other option but to show tough love to their child? Under what circumstances should parents allow their children to suffer terribly? I can think of a few. Here’s one. They have slowly become enablers to their adult child’s drug addiction. They have made excuses for their child and have launched countless empty threats. They have pleaded with their child. They have even paid for rehab several times, all to no avail. Now what? They may have to let their child fall to the depths of addiction on his own with the hope that he’ll want to change. Tough love.

Or here’s another. Their teen-age daughter will not observe any rules they impose. She runs around with whomever she wants, doing whatever she wants, and comes home when she pleases, often in the wee hours of the morning. Sometimes she doesn’t return until late morning the next day. She won’t attend high school and she won’t get a job. What are her parents to do? They might have to send her away to a home operated by behavioral specialists. They will miss her dearly but that’s tough love.

When God’s people refuse to listen to him, when they demand the right to do as they please, when they act as though they belong to someone else, when they live only to satisfy their sinful cravings, what is God to do? Tough love.

We have an example of it this morning in this portion of God’s word from his prophet Hosea. These words reveal God’s tough love. Let’s examine that love. What drives God to it? What outcome is he looking for? And as we answer those questions, let’s pray he never has to resort to showing us his tough love!

Part I.

We have before us God’s word through his prophet Hosea. What do you recall about Hosea? Arguably, he had one of the most difficult ministries of any of God’s prophets. The very first thing God commanded Hosea to do what to marry a prostitute named Gomer and to remain faithful to her even when she was repeatedly and openly unfaithful to him. Can you imagine that? Why would God ask him to do that? Because his marriage would be symbolic of the relationship between the unfaithful people of Israel and the faithful Lord. The people of Israel had been engaging in idol worship of the most vile kind—the worship of the immoral idol Baal.

But Hosea wasn’t the first to be called by God to confront his people with their unfaithfulness. Do you recall prophets such as Elijah and Elisha? As great as their two ministries were, with all the miracles they performed, the people of Israel refused to repent of their idolatry and return to the Lord. They refused to obey the 1st Commandment, and, as a result, they willfully violated the other nine as well. In short, God’s people, the nation whom he had formed for himself to carry out his saving purposes, now looked and acted no different from the heathen nations around them. For centuries God used his prophets to call his people to repent, but they refused. So what was God to do? Tough love.

Listen to him describe his tough love, “Then I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt. And they will seek my face; in their misery they will earnestly seek me.” The Jews were currently experiencing a time of economic prosperity. They had flexed their political muscle in the absence of a dominant world power and had increased their borders and their trade. But that would soon end. In the verse just before our text begins, God states, “I will be like a lion to [Israel.]” His picture is crystal clear. He’s going to tear the Jews to pieces. How so? Through the Assyrians. The Lord declared through Hosea that he was sending the Assyrians who would literally rip them to pieces. About 50 years after the Lord spoke these words, the Assyrians attacked and Israel was gone, never to be heard from again. Tough love.

But we want to know, “Would they get it? Would his tough love work? Would they realize the vile sinfulness of their ways and return to him?” Some did. Sadly, most did not. But you can’t say God didn’t do everything he could to make them turn from their wicked ways.

God’s tough love. It tears sinners to pieces.

We just asked, “Would they get it?” A better question is, “Would we?” Please don’t misunderstand me. I don’t think immoral worship of a vile idol is any kind of threat to your faith. But is complacency? Could things be humming along so well in your life, could your life be filled with so many blessings for you to spend your time enjoying, could you become so busy living your life that you have no time for your God? And if that happened, would God resort to showing you his tough love? Would he allow calamity to slam into your complacent life? Would he allow tragedy to strike? Would he suddenly remove all those blessings in your life that are standing in the way of your relationship with him? And if he did, would you get it? Would you recognize his tough love for you? It’s happened to some Christians. I’ve talked with them; perhaps you have too. Let’s pray God never has to resort to showing us his tough love. He won’t when we daily recall his sacrificial love. Do you see that cross? It’s a symbol of the one on which God sacrificed his Son for us, to bear the punishment that our sins deserve, to redeem us and bring us into a right relationship with our God who is love. He couldn’t stand the thought of losing us to Satan so he unleashed his tough love on his Son for us. When we keep that love before our eyes and in our hearts, then God won’t need to show us the tough love he showed the people of Israel.

Part II.

Tyler’s mother emphatically told him not to touch anything as they entered the gift shop. But once inside, his desire to hold one of the little figures in his hands was greater than his desire to obey his mother. When she wasn’t looking he grabbed one off the shelf. As he turned it over and over in his six-year-old hands, it slipped out of his grip, dropped to the floor and broke into countless pieces. His mother shouted, “Tyler!!” and immediately Tyler instinctively replied, “Sorry! Sorry!” He was hoping his quick admission of guilt would soften his mother’s righteous wrath. But she had heard this before and she wasn’t fooled.

If a mother with limited knowledge isn’t fooled by a heartless confession, why would anyone think the all-knowing Lord could be?

But that’s what Israel offered to the Lord. Listen again to their response to the Lord’s tough love. “Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” Rather than dismiss their words completely, let’s see what they did say. They seem to acknowledge that they had no one to blame but themselves. We don’t hear them rejecting responsibility or shifting it to someone or something else. Their words also seem to indicate that they know a spiritual change is required. They talk about acknowledging the Lord and returning to him.

But their words reveal an abysmal lack of depth. They speak about offering sacrifices, but it’s clear that they consider these sacrifices to be nothing but onerous rituals. It’s as if they state, “OK, let’s give him what he wants. We’ll go through the motions.”

And the Lord was filled with crushing disappointment that they thought their sacrifices could actually appease the Lord God, as if his happiness depended on their outward actions. Can you hear the disappointment in his voice? “What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.”

And so he rejects their efforts with the closing words of our text, “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” He wants them to acknowledge the depths of their depravity and to plead for his mercy. He wants them to trust him as the God of faithful love who forgives wickedness, rebellion and sin. He wants them to love him for his love for them and to pledge their faithfulness to him. Is he asking too much? Of course not! Tough love seeks true repentance.

Don’t miss this opportunity to give your God what he desires! Don’t succumb to merely going through the motions! Be honest in confessing to him your sins—your less than charitable thoughts about others, your discontentment, your self-centeredness and your sinful pride. Plead for his mercy and hear him reply, “My love for you has removed your sins from you. By the sacrifice of my Son I have made you my own. You are mine eternally! Let me show my eternal love for you.”

There’s no tough love there—just a divine heart full of love for you. Enjoy that divine love! Amen.