Here's a question I see often in the inbox, but we're just getting to it now. Why does God threaten to end the lives of some Christians? Today's email comes from a baffled listener named Mike. "Hello Pastor John. Every time our church celebrates the Lord's Supper, the appropriate warnings are sounded.

It's not for non-Christians. It's not for Christians harboring resentment. But I remain rather confused about 1 Corinthians 11 verses 27 to 32, a text that appears to be delivered to true Christians. So their abrupt discipline will prevent their eventual condemnation. Why would God physically kill one of his children and end their earthly lives early?

Couldn't he sustain them to the end just as easily? Can you explain the merciful judgment on believers Paul is talking about here?" My guess is that this question will seem strange to some of our listeners. Why would God physically kill one of his children? That's what he's asking. Or even if we soften it and avoid the word "kill," why would God take one of his children home as a means of discipline to prevent condemnation when he might have prevented it another way?

That's the gist of the question. But it is a very good question, and it's demanded by 1 Corinthians 11, 27 to 32. So let me read that so everybody is with us in this question. We're not making this up. It says, "Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup," meaning the Lord's Supper, "of the Lord in an unworthy manner," which I take to mean a cavalier, minimizing, unbelieving, careless way, "will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord." In other words, if you treat lightly and disrespectfully and irreverently the precious emblems of the Lord's crucifixion, you're showing that you don't cherish and tremble at the horror and preciousness of the real crucifixion.

I think that's the logic. Verse 28, "Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body," that is, without seriously distinguishing this bread from a breakfast biscuit, "eats and drinks judgment on himself." That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.

So three levels of severity, it sounds like—weakness, sickness, death. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord—that is, with weakness or sickness or death—when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

So weakness and sickness and even death are the Lord's discipline to prevent His people from being condemned to hell. So there's the reality that raises the question. The question is not whether God has the right to take life. Mike is granting that. The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, "Blessed be the name of the Lord," Job said, and Mike is believing that.

The question is, if God is taking the life of one of His children so that they will not be condemned to everlasting destruction, couldn't He have spared them another way, namely by causing them to eat the Lord's Supper more respectfully? And so why wouldn't He do that? That's the question.

And the answer to the question is, God could indeed prevent the desecration of the Lord's Supper by restraining the desecration. Yes, He could. For example, in Genesis 26, when Abimelech the king was about to defile Abraham's wife Sarah, God kept him from doing it. It says, "It was I who kept you from sinning against Me." So He can do it for a pagan king.

He can do it for His children. He can keep them from sinning at the Lord's table. And in the New Testament, God works in His people to keep them pursuing holiness, at least to the measure that they have. Hebrews 13.21, 2 Thessalonians 1.11, 1 Corinthians 15.10, Philippians 2.12, 1 Peter 1.5, God works in His people to restrain them from sin and lead them in holiness.

So God could have prevented the desecration of the Lord's Supper and thus prevent the discipline that He brings on those who desecrate it. So why doesn't He? Now, before I try to answer that, let's be sure that we see how sweeping this question is. This question really is a specific instance of asking the larger question, "Why is there any divine discipline in the Christian life?" Not just why does God use the final discipline of taking a life, but why would there be any physical or mental or relational difficulties brought into the Christian life as a way of preventing their sin and advancing their holiness?

Why not just prevent the sin and create the holiness by faith and by a clear sight of Jesus and by the ordinary means of word and prayer? Why should there be any form of painful discipline in the life of God's children? That's the larger question implied in the specific one.

So let's be sure that we know God does discipline His children with more or less painful things in their life, and we know that because of Hebrews 12, Hebrews 12, 4 to 10. It says, "In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

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—that's important—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? He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness." First Corinthians 11:30 is one description of that, what we just read from Hebrews 12. It happens at different levels. For some, it's weakness. For some, it's illness.

For some, it's death. And don't forget the words, "The Lord disciplines the one He loves." He loves. He loves. If He makes us weak, He's loving us. If He makes us ill, He's loving us. If He takes our life, He's loving us. Now why does God do it this way?

Why not just perfect us all overnight? That really is what the question boils down to. Or why doesn't He bring us to greatest holiness with no painful discipline? Just read your Bible and pray and be holy and no painful discipline at all. And my answer goes something like this.

God knows the best way to bring about in His children, one, a love for His absolute holiness. Two, a hatred of our bent to sinning. Three, the gratitude for His amazing grace and patience in our lives. Four, a passion to trust Him in every circumstance of life. He knows the best way to do this.

So let's be careful that we don't decide what's best and tell Him how to do it. We watch Him and learn what's best. He knows best how to produce these great wonders in His church, and we shouldn't second-guess Him. Indeed, we should not. Thank you, Pastor John. Well, for everything you need to know about this podcast, you can find it at DesiringGod.org/AskJohn.

Well, the book of Job is profound. It's worth a lifetime of study and reflection. But was Job himself a real historical character like John Bunyan? Or is Job a mythical legend like Paul Bunyan? And would it really matter in the end which he was, a biographical fact or a morality tale?

That question is up next time on Friday. It's a good one. I'm your host Tony Reinke. We'll see you then.