Enduring Faith
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INTRODUCTION
The letter to the Hebrews is focused on the supremacy of Jesus Christ as Lord, Savior, High Priest, and Mediator. The aim of the letter is to urge all Christians to trust in Jesus alone for salvation, especially those Christians with a religious background that would emphasize their own works or righteousness.
We spent a number of weeks in Hebrews 11 looking at men and women of biblical history who trusted in Yahweh before Jesus was ever born. The author was not content to leave the history in the pages of Scripture, though. Now he moves to the readers lives, to OUR lives. What about us? How will we live in light of the greatness of our God? How we will live after being reminded of those who went before us?
Some of them experienced fantastic victories; all of them experienced some amount of suffering and distress. It’s one thing to be moved by their examples. It’s another thing entirely to live in faith ourselves when we are afflicted and weary.
So the writer, whom I think is the apostle Paul, returns again to the issue of faith, especially faith in the midst of the pressures and miseries and temptations of life.
In Hebrews 12:1-13 he writes this,
1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of 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 reproved by Him; 6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.” 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 rather 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 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards 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 lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. (Hebrews 12:1–13)
The theme of this passage is found in Hebrews 12:1, “let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” How do we endure in faith? The Lord has given us four encouragements to strengthen us.
God’s Command to Endure
God’s Command to Endure
ENCOURAGEMENT ONE - GOD'S COMMAND TO ENDURE (HEBREWS 12:1-2)
The first encouragement is that the command to endure comes from the Lord Hebrews 12:1-2).
It is Christ’s command. This is not Paul’s suggestion, or Peter’s hope. This is a command from the Lord Himself. All authority in heaven and earth belongs to Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18). That means that He is the Lord of you and me as well.
Why is this encouraging? Because God’s Word carries the fullness of His power and authority. He doesn’t speak to hear Himself talk, but to carry out His will.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
This means that when the Lord gives you a command, the full weight of His power and authority are behind it. As you trust Him and act in obedience, He promises that you cannot fail.
Now, here’s a little test. If your confidence is really in yourself, you’ll think that this adds pressure to your life. But if your confidence is in the Lord, His command to endure will encourage you. What He commands His people to do, He also enables His people to do, and promises that they will do.
Since the Lord has commanded us to endure in faith, there are three steps we must take.
First, we must lay aside every weight. That means everything that hinders us, even though it might seem to be neutral. What gets in the way of you remaining strong in faith?
Here’s what makes it hard for me. The news, especially news of the chaos of our world. My own slowly diminishing vitality. I’m 58; the days of increasing strength are over. The terrible, wicked influences moving into our schools. Things are not the same as they were; children today are being actively urged toward sinful lives and attitudes. For several years I played guitar in a dance band in Norfolk. I was increasingly disturbed by the amount of drinking that people do, and I increasingly felt that I was helping to create an atmosphere of temptation and sin.
When I let those things dominate me, they weigh me down and hinder my faith. So I must lay them aside, and not try to carry the weight of the world on my back.
Second, we must lay aside “the sin which so easily entangles us.” This is not a particular sin, but something specific to each Christian. Some may be easily ensnared by alcohol, others by fear, some by selfishness, and others by pride. These aren’t sins that trip us up for a moment; they are sins that characterize our behavior. We need to lay them aside, repenting of them, and confessing them.
Finally, we must keep our focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Lord, our Savior, our Friend, our Example. Jesus remained faithful even when faced with hostility from sinners. He has endured for us, so that He is able to guide us through the maze of the world, refresh us when are weary, and keep us from losing heart.
The Divine Origin of Truth Faith
The Divine Origin of Truth Faith
ENCOURAGEMENT TWO - THE DIVINE ORIGIN OF SAVING FAITH (HEBREWS 12:3)
The second encouragement is the divine origin of saving faith (Hebrews 12:3).
Biblical faith, saving faith, is not what we drum up within ourselves to the best of our ability. It is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). What’s more, the author and perfecter of biblical faith is Jesus. He is the architect and builder of our faith. He designed it, and He constructed it.
When we are faced with confusing, impossible circumstances, it is not a cheat, or resignation, or giving up to say, “What does the Lord have to say about this?” That question is the way of wisdom. The faith He designed and built has the Word of God as its foundation, and the glory of God as its aim.
The call to endurance is not a call to keep doing what WE can do, what WE have determined, but to remain in what the Lord Jesus has designed and built for us.
What’s more, this is the way that Jesus Himself lived. He endured what was set before Him – the cross – trusting in and submitting to the purpose of God. The world said that the cross was shameful, but God said that it was glorious, and so Jesus despised the world’s attitude, and remained faithful.
Do you trust in Jesus Christ alone to save you and keep you? That faith is His gift to you. You don’t have to maintain the Faith, you only have to endure in it, and that you do with His help.
The Loving Disciple of God the Father
The Loving Disciple of God the Father
ENCOURAGEMENT THREE - THE LOVING DISCIPLINE OF GOD THE FATHER (HEBREWS 12:4-11)
The third encouragement is the loving discipline of God the Father (Hebrews 12:4-11).
God the Father is the best Father there is. He is the model for what every human father should be, and isn’t. He provides. He encourages. He loves. He disciplines.
The word translated “discipline” is derived from the word for “child,” as in our word “childrearing.” The Father is raising us as His children, and He raises us well. He instructs us. He corrects us through the Word, and through conviction of sin. He rebukes and corrects us. He trains us to remain faithful and obedient. He uses various circumstances of suffering and hardship to grow us up.
The Father has some specific goals for His discipline.
The Father disciplines us so that we resist sin (Hebrews 12:4). That should be obvious. We know that Jesus never sinned, and that when He was faced with temptation, He remained faithful. But do you remember what is said in Luke 2:52,
And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
It is absolutely true that Jesus never sinned. It is also true that, without ever having sinned, He needed to increase in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. He had to grow up. Hebrews 5:8 says that Jesus “learned obedience from the things which He suffered.”
Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.
The Father disciplines us to confirm that we are His children (Hebrews 12:5-8). God is Creator of everything and everyone in the universe, but He is only the spiritual Father of those whom He has adopted through Jesus Christ. He doesn’t discipline those who aren’t His children. If He disciplines you – which means that He brings issues into your life which remind you of Him and His Word and your relationship with Him – then you belong to Him. He disciplines you because He loves you and has made you His own.
The Father disciplines us so that while we remember that He is our Father, we also remember that He is our God (Hebrews 12:9-10). Earthly parents are always imperfect, but most of us grew up with some sort of respect for them. There’s an interesting thing that happens sometimes, when a child calls her father or mother by their given name: not “mom,” but “Linda,” not “dad,” but “Greg.” In those moments the child is reminded, “No, you don’t call me Greg, you call me dad.” We remind them of our authority in their lives. We also remind them, by the way, that they have a special relationship with them. There are billions of people on the planet that can call me Greg. There are only three who can call me Dad. That title carries with it both respect and intimacy.
And the Father disciplines us for the sake of righteousness (Hebrews 12:11). He is raising us to be His children, and that means being like Him, and that means being holy and righteous. This is important: the Father’s discipline is not what purifies us, but what trains us. We are purified by the blood of the Lord Jesus. He teaches us to live in holiness and righteousness through a variety of means, so that we can have peace.
The Mutual Support of the Church
The Mutual Support of the Church
ENCOURAGEMENT FOUR - THE MUTUAL SUPPORT OF THE CHURCH (HEBREWS 12:12-13)
The fourth encouragement is the church, which Jesus designed to be mutually supportive (Hebrews 12:12-13).
We are to strengthen one another’s weak hands and feeble knees, and make straight paths for our feet, so that those who struggle to endure do not collapse, but are healed. The New Testament contains dozens of “one another” statements, like build up one another, serve one another, bear with one another, forgive one another.
The religious world loves to focus on a religious hierarchy, where there are layers of authority and responsibility. The Bible makes all of us responsible for one another. We can and ought to strengthen one another in the midst of trials and difficulties.
There are people who believe that being involved in a local church is an option, but it’s not. Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us that we should give significant time in thinking about how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, encouraging each other, rather than forsaking the regular assembly of Christians. The emphasis in our time is often on the pastor: the church is a place where people go to receive something from the pastor or other leaders. The biblical emphasis is on every member of the church.
Hebrews 12:12-13 specifically reminds us that we can and ought to strengthen one another in the midst of trials and difficulties. We can strengthen one another’s service, bolster one another’s courage, and help to ease the way for one another.
Bringing it Home
Bringing it Home
BRINGING IT HOME
So let’s bring this home.
The times really haven’t changed very much. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are still saving sinners, converting them, justifying them, placing them in the family of God by adoption. We still have the encouragements given to the readers of this letter.
We are still under the command of the Lord to endure in faith, to “run the race with endurance.” His authority is behind that command. The fullness of His power is within that command. As we lay aside those things that weigh us down and trip us up, and keep our eyes on Jesus, the architect and builder of our faith, we will endure. God has promised it, and as you continue to trust Him, you will endure.
Faith is still given as a gift, designed and built by Jesus for His people. Don’t ever think that your faith wasn’t prepared for this modern age, or for the circumstances you face. Jesus is the architect of your confidence in God. He knew exactly what you and I would need as we grow as children of God. He knew exactly what sort of faith would take us through every single aspect of life.
God the Father still disciplines His children for their holiness and maturity. He remains the best Father there is. He continues to use every sort of situation to build us up into the image of Christ. He continues to help us resist sin. He continues to prove His love for us. He continues to remind us that He is God, and to give Him His proper honor. He continues to build us up in righteousness.
And the church remains a place of mutual support. Don’t think that it was easier to be in the church way back then; even quick reading of Paul’s letters shows that the church has always been filled with sinners. But the church is also still the place where the Holy Spirit resides on earth, and where the gifts of God are given for the benefit of His children. Only through other Christians – the church – will you be strengthened, encouraged, and helped in life in Christ.
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of 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. (Hebrews 12:1–2)