Hebrews 12:1-17 (NASB)
1Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are punished by Him; 6 For whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He punishes every son whom He accepts.”
7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11 For the moment, all discipline seems not to be pleasant, but painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
12 Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble,13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is impaired may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
14 Pursue peace with all people, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that there be no sexually immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that even afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.
In last week’s sermon, I quoted from Hebrews 11 where Paul listed people from the Bible who exhibited their faith by their actions. Here Paul is continuing that same train of thought. Because of everything he wrote in chapter 11, “Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
Does that mean that everyone is watching us from heaven? Especially since Paul uses the words, “cloud of witnesses” it sets us up to picture people up in heaven, floating on clouds, looking down on us, doesn’t it? Maybe subconsciously we create that picture in our minds? I don’t think that’s what Paul is saying. The Greek word for witnesses is martyrōn. I looked up the etymology of martyr and it is linked to the word for witness. An online etymology dictionary states that a martyr is “one who bears testimony to faith,” especially “one who willingly suffers death rather than surrender his or her religious faith.” (https://www.etymonline.com/word/martyr).
Many of these heroes of the faith who Paul mentions in chapter 11 were martyred. They willingly suffered and died for their faith. So here in chapter 12, when he says that we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, we could read it as: we are surrounded by a cloud of martyrs. But they are not watching us. Although angels are watching us, but angels are not martyrs. So maybe another way to explain what Paul is saying is: we are joined by a whole host of people whom we know have born witness and suffered for their faith. We are in good company, so to speak. We are not alone in striving to run this race of following Jesus.
He says, “let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking only at Jesus…” We are to get rid of anything that would trip us up, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus. This is yet another directive from scripture to get rid of any sin in our lives. We must be on the lookout, clearing our path, intentionally removing any stumbling block that might make us fall or slow us down as we follow Jesus. We are to keep focused on Jesus, and only on Him, so we don’t forget why we run, or get lost and lose the narrow path. It is Jesus alone, only Him, who we should look at for direction in this race.
We are to keep our eyes on Jesus who is, “the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Recently, I watched an excerpt of a sermon from a popular pastor who said that in heaven, “joy is a commodity.” And that the reason Jesus endured the cross was to obtain joy. He quoted this verse as proof of his idea. I have a hard time believing in that idea. I don’t know anything about joy being a “commodity” but I am certain that Jesus did not endure the cross so He could get more joy. This verse is saying that Jesus endured the cross because He was thinking about what His sacrifice would accomplish. He was thinking about all of mankind. We are the joy set before Him. That pastor’s idea is as ridiculous as saying that a mother endures pregnancy and childbirth so she can obtain joy. No, she endures pregnancy and childbirth so she can hold her baby. It’s the baby who gives her joy. In that same way, Jesus endured the cross because He knew what the outcome would be: our salvation. He purchased our salvation and that brings Him joy.
Paul continues, “For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin.” Not only do we have all these witnesses or martyrs to look to as examples in the faith, but we have Jesus Himself to look at, and to be our example and our encouragement to not grow weary as we run our race. I think it’s only human nature to feel sometimes like we are the only one who is suffering or sacrificing in our walk with God. It’s easy to become so focused on the self that we lose perspective. I think that’s why Paul listed, in Hebrews 11, all the terrible things that other Christians have endured for the gospel. Our suffering most likely pales compared to being actually tortured for our faith. Have we shed blood in our efforts to avoid sin? It’s easy to give in to feelings of self-pity. If we stop but a moment and think about what Jesus endured for us, do we really have a right to pity ourselves in our effort to keep away from sin?
Then Paul, quoting from multiple Bible verses found in Job, Proverbs, and Psalms, shows us how this all fits together with the whole of Scripture saying, “and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
Nor faint when you are punished by Him;
For whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
And He punishes every son whom He accepts.’
7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11 For the moment, all discipline seems not to be pleasant, but painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
Paul was talking about putting off sin, and now he switches to discipline. How do those two things fit together? Like Paul says, God “punishes every son whom He accepts.” Discipline has to do with punishment for our wrongs. Just like good parents who discipline their children when they do something wrong, so does God discipline us. The reason is so we might learn and grow and stop doing the thing that was wrong. Discipline is not retribution for our wrong. Discipline is an effort at correcting. Discipline, when done correctly and from a place of love, is how we are trained to behave properly.
I think it’s pretty easy to tell when young children are not properly disciplined. I am sure that all of us can bring to mind different children we’ve been around who are undisciplined. If you’ve ever been in a grocery store and parents have young children in tow, it’s pretty apparent who disciplines their children and who doesn’t. We know this through the behavior of the children. Children who behave have been taught to obey their parents.
It’s not just young children who need discipline, by the way. It is each of us, no matter our age. The Lord disciplines all of us. He wants to teach us to obey Him. He wants us to be self-disciplined, too. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. So they do it to obtain a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way as not to run aimlessly; I box in such a way, as to avoid hitting air; but I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”
The older I get, the more important I think discipline is. If a person wants to follow God’s ways and submit to the discipline of the Lord, but is undisciplined in how they live, I think that is going to cause problems and put up stumbling blocks and slow them down in their race. Discipline should be an all-encompassing goal, meaning we should strive for discipline in all areas of our lives. When we are self-disciplined, we won’t be lazy and complacent about problems that arise. Self-discipline means that we are proactive in our work, health, relationships and, most importantly, in how we spend our time each day. If we are disciplined, we will make sure that we are using our time each day wisely.
Paul started Hebrews 12 by comparing our lives to a race. This is obviously a metaphor he uses a lot. A runner has to be disciplined in order to finish a race. He’s continuing that idea, and pointing out that if our knees are feeble or limbs are out of joint, it’s going to affect our race in a negative way. He says, “Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is impaired may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.”
A runner can’t run very well if he or she has an injury. Even a stubbed toe makes running difficult, and if we run on it anyway, it won’t heal properly. If we don’t deal with sin issues in our lives, it will affect us negatively. The sin will only get worse. Sin usually starts off small. It’s a like minor ailment in our body. Maybe our knee starts aching, but it’s easy to ignore. Then it gets worse. Left untreated, what starts as an easily fixed injury can become something that is debilitating. Paul says we are to fix that “which is impaired” so it “may not be dislocated.” If you dislocate your knee, there is no walking on it. We must fix small sin issues, so they don’t grow into something that disqualifies us.
Then Paul seems to transition his topic. He says, “14 Pursue peace with all people, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that there be no sexually immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that even afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.”
If we are not at peace with people, that is going to impact our race. If we have conflicts and problems with others, that is going to slow us down from what God wants us to do. It also opens us up to bitterness and harboring anger or hate for others.
N.T. Wright says in Hebrews for Everyone (p. 158), “You must pursue [peace], chase after it, do all in your power to accomplish it. And holiness- well, as Hebrews says, this is what’s required if you’re to stand in the presence of the holy God. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. And don’t lose it all to a moment of madness.” Wright had used that word “madness” to describe Esau’s decision to sell his birthright. He said that people can make decisions that are impossible to undo. He said, “Like Esau, they can have a moment of madness which creates a new situation, and they can’t go back” (p.157).
I think Esau is the perfect example of why discipline is so vital to following God. Esau was not self-disciplined. Rather than waiting and making his own food, he acted rash and foolish. Genesis 25 records this event: 29 When Jacob had cooked a stew one day, Esau came in from the field and he was exhausted; 30 and Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me have a mouthful of that red stuff there, for I am exhausted.” Therefore he was called Edom by name. 31 But Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” 32 Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?” 33 And Jacob said, “First swear to me”; so he swore an oath to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and got up and went on his way. So Esau despised his birthright.
Esau came to regret his hasty decision. But as much as he regretted it and wept and wanted to change it, there was nothing to be done. He couldn’t repent from it. Meaning, he couldn’t change it. Repentance means to turn away or change. This is a profound example of the difference between regret and repentance. It’s not a matter of forgiveness. This is not an example of God not being able to forgive. It’s an example of how some decisions are so permanent that there is no changing the consequence. It can’t be repented or taken back. As much as Esau wanted to undo his choice, there was no undoing it. He couldn’t receive the inheritance blessing.
There is a lesson for all of us in Esau’s story. We must root out things that could develop into something that we can’t recover from.
We do no one any favors if we present the gospel message as a license to do whatever we want because Jesus’s grace covers all sin. Don’t worry about sin, some people say. We are all sinners, so no need to fret over sin because Jesus will forgive. Like I said about Esau, it wasn’t a matter of forgiveness. Maybe he could have reached a place in his life where he could “forgive” himself for his foolishness, but that wouldn’t change his situation. He could have possibly achieved peace within himself and learned to live without his father’s blessing, but it still wouldn’t have given him his father’s blessing. We too could repent of our sin, be forgiven by Jesus, but still have to suffer the consequences of our actions. Our sin could derail what God originally wanted to bless us with and now, because of sin, we won’t experience the thing God had planned for us. For example, if someone leaves their spouse to marry someone else, that ruins what God had intended. It fractures the whole family. The damage is irreparable in that it can’t be undone. Our actions have consequences. But it seems like no one likes to think about this. We don’t like to talk about consequences. We like to talk about forgiveness and second chances. The more I study the Bible, the more I notice that people's actions have consequences. Look at Moses. He struck the rock when he should have spoken to the rock as God commanded him to, and the consequence was that he didn’t enter the promised land. David’s sin prevented him from being allowed to build the temple for God, and his son Solomon was the one to build it. The Israelites disobeyed God, and they wandered around in circles in the desert for 40 years, and eventually were conquered by other people and their kingdom was divided up. In the New Testament, we see the account of Ananias and Sapphira. Together, they lied to the disciples about how much money they received for selling a plot of land. Because they lied and tried to deceive them, they both fell down and died.
Those are all examples of people whose actions led them to miss out on God’s blessing. They stand as a warning to us all; that we must get rid of the sin that would entangle us and derail us.
Here in Hebrews 12, Paul is making it clear: our life is like a race. We must keep our eyes on Jesus and follow Him. Anything that would trip us up, delay or disqualify us from finishing must be rooted out and cleared away. We can rejoice when the Lord disciplines us and helps us to better follow Him. That is proof of us His love and concern for us.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for loving us so much that You even discipline us- helping us to better follow Your ways. Help us not to despise Your correction, but to welcome it and learn from it. Help us by Your Holy Spirit to run well on the path You have set out for us. Help us keep our eyes on Jesus, and as He taught us to pray: please lead us away from temptation and sin, please deliver us from evil, so that we can finish the race and hear You say, well done, good and faithful servant. We love You and praise Your holy name. Amen.
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