Hebrews 12:1-13
Introduction:
The Book of Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were struggling with the hardships of life as followers of Jesus Christ. They were tempted to abandon their Christian faith and return to their old Jewish religion. The author has continually pointed out that Jesus is superior to anything else including Moses, Melchizedek the Priest and their old sacrificial system. Jesus’ once for all sacrifice for our sins is far superior. Why would you ever consider going back?
Let’s Read today’s passage: Chapter 12: 1-13
Let’s pray …
Would you consider yourself a self-disciplined person?
We usually discipline ourselves to achieve a goal. Say you want to lose some weight or be able to fit into a certain pair of pants. Or just want to feel better and have more energy. Self-discipline may include things like watching what and how much you eat. It may include an exercise regimen … like going for a walk three or four times a week. (in the mall three times a week). More and more seniors are coming to the senior’s exercise program at church on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Self-discipline is a good thing.
Some self-discipline is taken to the extreme level.
Every four years the Olympics roll around. We are amazed by the performances of so many elite athletes from around the world.
The performances are the result of four years of disciplined training. Some athletes train 6 to 8 hours a day six or seven days a week.
Olympic athletes are amazing … they spend a young lifetime preparing for a single event. The training … the sacrifice of time … the self-discipline … for a single goal … a gold medal … to be the best in the world at a particular event.
ILLUST: American Scott Hamilton won gold in men’s figure skating in the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. This is was he said shortly after winning his Gold medal: "Someone asked me why I was looking at the medal so intently. What I was doing was looking at 16 years of my life." He was now 26 years old. The dream started when he was 10 years old.
If the prize we as Christians are striving for is infinitely more important than a medal … And if the recognition is more important than just fame in this world … How seriously are we taking our walk with God? Our running the race set before us.
The key concept I want you to take away from this message is this ….
If we are going to be disciples, followers of Jesus Christ, then discipline will be an integral part of our life-long spiritual journey.
In this passage the author speaks of two types of discipline … let’s look at the first one.
Self –discipline.
In the Christian life there is a goal – The goal is Jesus. Living a life that glorifies Him. Getting to know Him more. Having a deeper relationship with Him. Working out the gift of salvation that we have been so freely and graciously given. Fixing our eyes on Jesus … the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. He’s the beginning, he’s the ending … he’s our strength and support along the journey
There is also inspiration
Illust: This afternoon the Edmonton Eskimos will be playing the Calgary Stampeders in the CFL Western Final at Commonwealth Stadium. The winner goes to the Grey Cup next Sunday. On the walls on each side of the Commonwealth stadium are the names of 35 distinguished Eskimo players of the past who have gone before … names like Tom Wilkinson, Johnny Bright, Normie Kwong, Jackie Parker, Danny Kepley, Dave Cutler, Warren Moon, and Henry “Gizmo” Williams to mention a few. I wonder if the current Eskimo players occasionally look up at those names, guys who have won three, four or five Grey Cups, and get some inspiration and motivation from thinking about these predecessors who have battled so successfully in the past.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. What about these witnesses? They aren’t just spectators. They have gone on before … they are the examples we follow. They are the people, in Paul’s words, who have fought the good fight, they’ve finished the race (course), they’ve kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7
These people cheering us on are to be an encouragement to us. Who are they? In Hebrews 11 we have examples of faith from the OT … Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses … and so on … but we also have examples from the NT … Paul, Barnabas, Timothy, Peter … and we also have contemporary examples of faith. People like Art Browatzke … (and I could name over 50 people that have passed on in the last almost 10 years that were part of Northgate). Some of those are your heroes of faith … family members … peers. Personally I think of Dr. Walter Kerber – the pastor of Pineland Baptist Church in Burlington, ON who encouraged me to go into the ministry. He is on my wall of faith …
You can think of other contemporary witnesses. These are our cloud of witnesses … cheering us on.
Verse one says, “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.”
There are things that deter us from running the Christian race well.
- There are things that hinder
- And there are sin that entangles
There are lots of things in life that are good, there’s nothing wrong with them … but they are distractions and prevent us from running a good race, from living the self-disciplined Christian life … interests, pursuits, hobbies that are neutral but they can get in the way of living as devoted followers of Christ … of seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness.
What is the "sin that so easily entangles"
We all have some sin or sins that we struggle with. The sin that entangles me may not be an issue for you. And similarly, your sin may not be an issue for me. But we each need to ask ourselves, What is the sin that entangles me? That keeps me from pursuing Christ with my whole heart? That keeps tripping me up in the race set before me?
One preacher suggested that the sin that so easily entangles is the sin of NO SELF - DISCIPLINE! Without self-discipline you can’t run a successful race. There has yet to be a world champion that never practiced!
Years ago I was pastoring a church in Surrey, B.C. There was a Hospital Fund Raiser involving teams running and raising money for the Surrey Memorial Hospital. Our Surrey Ministerial Association entered team. The four or five members of the team would take turns running 2 kilometer laps. I did absolutely no training, no practice runs, no preparation at all. I just showed up and run when it was my turn. 1 ½ km into my first lap my right leg cramped up. I limped and hobbled the rest of that lap. I tried one more lap when it was again my turn … but my running style looked similar to someone who had been shot in the leg. Lesson learned.
What does self-discipline produce? It produces perseverance which results in endurance.
James 1:2-4 says, 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Romans 5:3-4
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
perseverance, character; and character, hope.
2 Thessalonians 3:5 May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.
Speaking of perseverance we have …The example of Jesus …
"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus..." Here is where our focus should be! Verse 2 …
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Jesus is the perfect example for us to follow....He finished the course with joy even though it included pain and suffering because of the goal...our salvation.
We are to be looking at Christ...He is the pioneer or "author" (starting point) and "finisher" (goal line) of our faith.
Good runners never look around them while they are running, this
distracts them and causes them to lose their own pacing!
People can be examples for us, but not our focus! People can also be distractions to us … I’m so saddened when I hear a person say they have stopped pursuing the Christian life because of something a brother or sister did … they accuse the person of being a hypocrite. If that person calls himself or herself a Christian a does that … then I don’t want to be one. They’ve completely lost FOCUS.
They’ve taken their eyes off Christ. They have completely veered off the course. We are to fix our eyes on Jesus … not other Christians.
The Christian race is not a competitive event to see who comes in first, but an endurance run to see who finishes faithfully.
It’s about doing your personal best.
We are to consider the rewards that so far outweigh the sacrifices so that we do not become weary and lose heart!
Let’s face it, there will be times you will feel like quitting … you didn’t know it was going to require so much sacrifice …
But if you want the reward you must continue!
When it gets tough just think of those who have endured even greater pain than yours and still kept going.
Keep focused and faithful!
Verse 3 says,
3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Verse 4 …
4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice …His blood was shed. In fact some of the heroes of the Hall of Faith were faithful even to the point of shedding their blood … those that were stoned, sawn in two, or died by the sword. The writer says, “It’s not come to that point for you yet. So don’t give up. Don’t quit.”
In verse five there is a shift in thought. The writer moves from self-discipline to God’s discipline.
5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? This is a direct quotation from Proverbs 3:11-12.
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”[a]
Then he goes on the say … verse 7
7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? It’s a rhetorical question. All loving father’s discipline their children … It’s precisely because they love their children that they do it. The motive of discipline is love, a love that cares too much to let a child learn self destructive patterns.
This is why parents discipline their children … to keep them from developing characteristics and qualities that ultimately will be destructive to a healthy and happy life.
It is so hard to see the positive fruit of discipline when you are experiencing it, the fruit of proper discipline shows itself later.
So God disciplines us as a loving father. How do we view God’s discipline? There are a number of different responses to it …
- Resigned acceptance – God can do anything He wants – He is all powerful … I’m not … the attitude is one of a defeated acceptance.
- Another attitude is similar … we accept it … but let’s get it over with as soon as possible. We struggle through it but certainly not with gratitude.
- A third attitude is to accept it with self-pity. I’m the only one in the world who has ever had to go through this … poor, poor me.
- A fourth attitude is to regard discipline as punishment and be resentful. There are people who view God as being vindictive. He is up in heaven looking for people to make the slightest little mistake and is ready to severely punish them for it. The response? “What did I do to deserve this?” They regard discipline as unjust, unmerited punishment from God. It never dawn’s on them to ask, “What is God trying to teach me in this difficult situation I’m going through?
- The final attitude --- the most helpful perspective … is seeing in the difficulties of life the discipline of a loving heavenly father.
The passage goes on the compare a human father’s discipline with God’s discipline.
We father’s do not discipline perfectly. I hope that doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Our discipline can be inconsistant, it can depend on our mood at the time. If we’re in a good mood the kids can get away with more. If we’re in a bad mood or are under stress we are prone to discipline out of anger or frustration. We don’t often see the whole picture. We may catch the retaliation of one child but may have totally missed the action of the other child that provoked the reaction. It’s like the imperfect hockey referee who only sees the retaliation and missed the infraction of the one who provoked the retaliation. And so our discipline can be unfair because only one received it when both were deserving of discipline.
On the other hand, God’s discipline is PERFECT. His motives are pure. His discipline is always out of LOVE.
A father’s discipline is for a little while … until the children are adults (say 18). However God’s discipline can be for our lifetime on this earth.
Some of you may have difficulty with this concept of a loving heavenly Father’s discipline.
Perhaps you had a father who did not discipline fairly … a father who was harsh and overly critical … who punished rather than corrected … a father who was an alcoholic or had serious anger issues and took it out on you. Perhaps that’s why the writer to the Hebrews does the comparison. God’s discipline is perfect … it is motivated by love … and is always for our good. The purpose of God’s discipline is to produce a harvest in us of righteousness and peace.
God’s discipline is part of our training as His children. I believe we could avoid some of His discipline in many situations if we practiced correct self-discipline.
In verse 12 the writer returns again to the athlete in training image and encourages his listeners to "strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees".
We are encouraged to strengthen the weak areas in our lives!
If we fail to do this it will cause us to stumble in the race.
But it may also cause others to stumble that are running near us!
Part of the plea here is to encourage their example in the face The world is watching to see how Christians conduct themselves. They are hoping that we will stumble and fall so the claims of Christ will be put to shame. We cannot afford for the world to see "feeble" Christians, we need to be strong...the reality of the Gospel is at stake!
Finally verse 13 clinches the thought in verse 12 about our example in society and in the Church. We are to make "level paths for our feet so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed."
The word for "LAME" here literally means, "THOSE WHO WAVER BACK AND FORTH"...a reference to those who are uncertain and uncommitted.
Our path should be level so that our run is without obstacles that we
could trip over....this would only cause those who are uncertain or uncommitted to ignore the path we are taking!
We bear a responsibility to keep a level path for our feet and for society!
The Gospel is quite simple and pure. We have be careful not to clutter it up either by majoring on minors or by trying to make it so complicated that no one could understand it!
Discipline, self-discipline and/or God’s discipline, is designed to help make our path level so we can lead society toward the cross of Christ.
CONCLUSION: The pursuit of spiritual maturity requires effort and focus in our lives. It is possible to become a believer in Christ, to begin in our faith, and not grow. We are encouraged to keep running the race, with our eyes fixed on Jesus, and discarding anything that will hinder us from running the race set before us. It involves self-discipline and submitting to the perfect discipline of God, our loving heavenly Father. Keep running well as you live the disciplined Christian life for God’s glory.