ENDURE HARDSHIP AS DISCIPLINE

Hebrews 12:1-13

Key Verse 12:7a

“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons.”

Last week we finished our study on the heroes of faith from chapter 11. One common factor from all of them was that they endured many hardships by faith to reach the heavenly goal. And they became champions.

This week the NBA Finals began, Lakers vs. Celtics. In one interview Kobe Bryant was asked, “How can the Lakers win the finals?” Kobe answered, “Everybody wants to win, but just because you want to win, doesn’t mean you’re going to win, no matter how badly you want it. Our team needs to be disciplined to work together and be at our best game.” It’s a basic principle that to be successful in any area we need endurance and discipline. This applies to our life of faith as well. God disciplines us so that we can be champions in our life of faith. However, we need to learn to endure the pains of discipline so that it can bear fruit in us. Today’s passage teaches us about endurance in the life of faith and growing up as children of God.

Fix your eyes on Jesus (1-3)

This passage begins by giving us the right perspective on the Christian life. Look at verse 1. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”  The Christian life is a race. The crowd of men and women of faith in chapter 11 are witnesses of this for they ran the race before us and now they’re cheering us on. 

Before we were running this race, we were running the “rat race.” We ran around like a mouse in a wheel to try and build up some kind of life for ourselves. But there’s no final destination. However, once we began a life of faith in Jesus we began a different race, which the author has previously been calling our “Heavenly Calling.” It is the journey to the kingdom of God by the new and living way, which is, Jesus Christ. We have a clear destination.  Yet living by faith is more so like a race in that it is hard. It takes full concentration of body, heart, and mind. It takes our full effort and commitment. It takes endurance and discipline. 

Therefore we need to ready ourselves so that we can run this race successfully. It begins with runner’s preparation. Verse 1 says, “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin so that easily entangles…” (1). In running a race, we have to make sure that we can run without any hindrances. A runner can’t run carrying baggage nor can he run with his feet tangled up in junk which is like barbed wire. As runners we need to make our bodies light and our feet free because the race is long and hard. This “throwing off” refers to the necessary preparations we have to make as spiritual athletes, namely, daily and sincere repentance. It also refers to the necessary sacrifices and self-denial we have to make to be good and light runners.  There are a lot of things that easily catch our attention, some are sinful and some are not. For example, when driving north on the 5 freeway you pass the Citadel outlet mall which has huge, flashly electronic billboards. These billboards easily catch drivers’ attention and it creates a traffic jam. But there are times when traffic jams on the 5 freeway are created by people reading the newspaper or putting on makeup. In fact, there is going to be a new law going into effect in July that requires cell phone use to be hands free while driving. Some things cause traffic jams that are illegal. And there are some things that cause traffic jams which are not illegal. But still there are traffic jams which slow down the commute and even take people off the freeway and into the mall. The point is that as runners it is absolutely necessary to throw off whatever hinders our race because we’re trying to take hold of something better. We don’t want to get off track.

So then the passage calls us to run with “perseverance.” It says “with perseverance” because along this race will be many hardships, obstacles and difficulties. We are not running sprints. Our race is much more like a marathon. A real race consists of uphill climbs, running against the wind, more uphill climbs, feeling tired and weak, and especially feeling pain in our muscles and bones. Yet, we are called to endure. Enduring is what a race is all about. Anybody can line up at the starting line and have a good start. But only those who endure, who run with perseverance, will make it to the finish line. What makes running a race really so hard? It’s the pain. Anyone who has run in a race understands this. (I confess that I have never run in a race. And that is because I knew at least this much, that it would take much endurance because it is painful.) In a marathon the hardest part of the race is the final stretch, the last 6 miles, and that if you are trained.

<video clip: “what to expect in a marathon”> "what to expect in a marathon" *hit the wall after 20 miles: Start at 2:50. The expert says, “You will hit ‘the wall’. Your body will scream to stop, your head will scream at you to stop. But you have to keep going.” Remember, that this was from a professional marathon runner. Even the professionals reach a point where the pain is so great that they absolutely want to stop. But they know the need to endure to the finish line. 

This gets to the heart of the author’s message today: we need to endure to the finish line, which is the kingdom of God. How then can we endure?

Look at verse 2. “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Jesus also endured and made it to the finish line. How did he do it? Again, verse 2 says, “who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame…" Jesus didn’t like the cross. But he saw the joy before him. He had the goal in mind, that joy set before him. When you run a race, you fix your eyes on the goal. Once your body aches and is ready to give out, the only thing that is going to keep you going is the goal that your eyes are fixed on. To endure the cross was most painful, shameful, humiliating, unjust, and just plain wrong in every way to Jesus. Jesus was crucified publically as a criminal. He carried his cross throughout the streets of Jerusalem until he reached the execution site. And as he hung on the cross, sinful men continued to shout insults at him and mock him. At the same time he felt the pain of his lungs collapsing and suffocating and the sting of the nails on his arms and feet. But he endured and he even scorned the shame of the cross. It means that he looked upon that shame in contempt. He rose above the shame and endured the cross because he focused on that joy set before him, and he sat at the right hand of the throne of God. 

Our goal is where Jesus is, that is, salvation in the eternal presence of God. Jesus is at the finish, and he wants to share that joy with us. God has set great joy before us at the finish line. We have to fix our eyes on Jesus and follow him. However, the trouble is that we don’t like the path of the cross. We try to avoid its sufferings as much as possible and take it easy. But this is where faith comes in and enables us to follow Jesus because of the example and joy set before us. This endurance is the practical product of faith. We learned this in the conclusion to chapter 11. We have to set Jesus as the finish line and not turn our eyes after anything else or give up and try to take another path. We want to experience Jesus’ joy after enduring, which will be like the runner’s joy of finally crossing the finish line and raising his arms in exultation! 

Yet Jesus is more than just a good example of enduring. We fix our eyes on him because he has the power to help us endure and reach the finish line. He is called the “author and perfecter of our faith.” He perfects our faith, which means, as we fix our eyes on him and live by faith, trusting in him, he helps us to endure to the end. The book of Hebrews taught us that Jesus is our great high priest who is helping us in our heavenly calling, saying, “He is able to save completely” (2:18; 7:25). He shed his blood for us. We are not alone in this race. Jesus is helping us. When we need encouragement, he gives it. When we need strength to keep running, he supplies it. We can only reach the finish line by living by faith in Jesus. 

Look at verses 3-4. "Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood." 

Here’s a short video clip of one woman’s experience in running her first marathon. By the time she got half way through she turns a corner and sees a hill ahead. Let’s see her reaction. 

<video clip> *Hill: ~2:57-  it seemed that mentally, I was about to go downhill...I can't let a single negative thought creep into my mind. So I said out loud, "I love hills!" ...I finished the hill and didn't even know it. And I realized I do love hills. They're a positive thing. 

Soon after the first hill, the runners reached another hill. Let’s see the example of another woman who grew weary and lost heart. 

<video clip> *Hill (woman doesn't make it): ~4:26-5:08. This second woman groaned when she saw the hill and stopped running, although she was close to the final stretch of the race. What a shame! She stopped running at the very last mile. But the first woman said, “I love hills!” and she endured to get to the finish line. 

When we put our hope in the finish line, then we have all the reason for enduring and finishing the race. If we just see the hardships, we’re not going to finish the race. The race looks stupid and we question why we’re even running in the first place. May God help us to fix our eyes on Jesus and live by faith in him, committing ourselves to him and to our goal, and struggle against sin even to the point of shedding our blood.

Accept God’s love and grow by it (5-13).

The author of Hebrews is acting like a good coach. Question: What’s better than a coach? A father is. A coach just gives discipline. But a father disciplines in love. When parents don’t discipline their children they become spoiled.

Let’s look at verses 5-6. “And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: ‘My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.’ ” 

God disciplines because he loves us as his children, and he wants us to grow up and make it to the finish line successfully. But it is interesting that God’s discipline and correction, which is meant to help his children, becomes the cause for them really wanting to quit. 

Why does this happen? It is because they did not hold to God’s word. When we don’t hold to God’s word, we lose perspective about his love and discipline. As a result, we come to make light of it and don’t grow in his correction. Also, we lose heart and feet crushed under his punishment. I made this same mistake. One time I sinned greatly against God. And he gave me just discipline. However, rather than accept his love, I felt crushed as if being punished and said a lot of bad things about God’s servants who were there to help me and correct me. It was very childish. 

Look at verses 7 and 8. “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.”

We should not lose heart when God disciplines. It is the sign of his love; we know that we are his children when he trains us with various kinds of hardships. Therefore, to endure God’s discipline, we have to accept his love and struggle to hold to his word. It is such a great honor to be disciplined by God our Father. His correction is what we desperately need. This applies directly to the heavenly race we are running. God is not just trying to make us run races for sport. God’s discipline trains us to be able to run the race successfully. There is a direct correlation between enduring God’s discipline and enduring the heavenly race and being successful. When we face hardships, we know that it is not at random, but it is God’s deep love. Therefore it is our divine opportunity to grow up and be trained. It is the time to hold to God’s word, to accept his love, and endure the hardship by faith. What happens? We pray and struggle to obey his word. What begins as a hardship becomes our joy because we know God loves us and is giving us these hardships for the best purpose. We have to remember that God gives only the best, we know this because he gave Jesus Christ, and so he is seeking out only the best in us through his discipline. So we are encouraged to grow to God’s maximum through his discipline, which means, we let God train us. 

Let’s look at verses 9-10. These verses tell us the fruit of God’s discipline. “Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.” God is especially disciplining us so that we may share in his holiness. God is growing us to his level. Holiness is God’s unique characteristic. Sinful man is unholy. Even though a man may strive to be morally sound, he cannot make himself holy. As we endure God’s discipline, he shares his holiness with us. It means that we are being transformed into his image. Our character, thoughts, actions, are in line with who God is. God is training us to run our race successfully. And he is preparing us for life in the kingdom of God. So when we share in his holiness, we come to know how to overcome the obstacles in our heavenly race, and we encourage others in the heavenly race as well. When we share in God’s holiness, our nation can truly become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. When we share in God’s holiness, he doesn’t need to train us so much anymore. 

Look at verse 11. “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” The initial pain is there. But the benefits from God’s discipline are too good to miss out on. If anyone desires righteousness and peace, then they won’t mind going through the pain. After we are trained we’re joyful because we know the right way to go and should a similar hardship come our way, we know exactly how to overcome, thanks to God’s discipline. Think about the woman who ran her first marathon. When she first encountered a hill, she wanted to give up because it was too painful. But after she endured, she came to love hills. Those who are trained in poverty, come to love poverty. Once we endure hardships, we grow and become fit spiritual runners and holy children of God. 

We need to see everything from the right point of view. The hardships we go through are not just random hardships, even those from our weaknesses, but they are from God. If we only see hardships, we won't endure; we'll grow weary and lose heart. These are the necessary trainings we have to go through to reach the finish line and get the fruits of holiness, righteousness and peace. 

Personally, I hate running. I tire quickly and it's not fun. As I struggled to prepare this message, I recognized that this is my problem on a spiritual level. I have good starts, but have difficultly to endure and persist. And, lately, when I didn't persist, I fell into a pit of despair. I have personal hardships that hurt a lot, especially my pride and self-respect. In desperation, I even visited an army recruiter this past week. But thankfully God gave me the strength to turn down their offer and return to the Bible center to work on this message. Even though I said outwardly that I accepted my hardships as God's sovereign leading, I was not encouraged in my heart and didn't have any positive thanks or hope. The problem was not fixing my eyes on Jesus and forgetting God's word. But this passage gave me the perfect word of encouragement to repent and to persist in the heavenly race of faith. This word took my eyes off of my problem and weaknesses and focused them on Jesus Christ, strengthening my weak knees to be able to stand in faith. I pray that God may help me to hold to and struggle with his word and grow up through his discipline.

In conclusion, let’s read verses 12-13. “Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13’Make level paths for your feet,’ so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.” 

We thank God for sending Jesus Christ who endured the cross for our sake. We thank God for his discipline that grows us into champions of faith. May God help each us to endure and persist in faith by fixing our eyes on Jesus and accepting God’s love. And may God bring healing to each us and to the young people of our generation through our faith.

One Word: Endure in Jesus

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