Lesson 21: Run with Perseverance
Hebrews 12:1-17
Lesson 21: Run the Race with Perseverance
Hebrews 12:1-17
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children—
“My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
or lose heart when you are punished by him;
for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves,
and chastises every child whom he accepts.”
Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children. Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness. Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.
Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled. See to it that no one becomes like Esau, an immoral and godless person, who sold his birthright for a single meal. You know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, even though he sought the blessing with tears.
In chapter twelve, the preacher brings home the driving agenda of his sermon: a call to perseverance. While the witnesses to the power of faith are encouraging, the preacher reminds the readers that Jesus is the primary and foundational example of faith. Just as the witnesses suffering through the hostility of the cultures in which they lived, so Jesus suffered through faith. Yet, Jesus is the true pioneer and perfector of our faith as he endured the cross and its shame but was then exalted to the right hand of God.
Faith is disturbed by suffering. It seems incompatible with God’s compassionate fatherhood (even though Jesus was also a son who suffered). The preacher, therefore, comments on the reality of suffering and its meaning in the journey of faith. Perhaps surprising, God is active, involved, and present in their suffering. Indeed, God uses suffering; it can have positive meaning. Faith is trained by suffering as God refines us, matures us, and prepares us for holiness and the fuller experience of God’s own reality—our perfection.
The heroic faithful of Hebrews 11 are “witnesses.” I think this has a kind of double meaning: they bear witness to the reality of faith and they are witnesses to the race that continues in the present. They are victors in that they endured and finished their race. They testify to faith. They are also sitting in the arena cheering on those who are still running. Faith is a marathon race. Some have finished; others are still running. Those who have persevered and completed their journey are now witnesses to the power of faith and the congregation gathered at Mt. Zion in the heavenly Jerusalem applauding us for our perseverance.
These witnesses invite us to follow them. Consequently, the preacher appeals to his hearers to cast off “the sin” (notice how definite that is; it is not “sins,” but “the sin”) that hinders them from running. The “sin” is probably the sin of apostasy, which is the danger for the preacher’s audience. Rather than quitting and hanging back or shrinking back, the preacher encourages them to continue the race and finish it.
However, the primary witness to faith is Jesus himself. He joined us in the race. He himself suffered and participated in our suffering. He ran the race, and he persevered through faith. He is our champion, our pioneer. Consequently, fix your eyes on him. Keep his example ever before you. He endured the shame for the sake of the promise, that is, to sit at the right hand of God as high priest for the people of God. This was the “joy” set before him.
Jesus is also the perfector of faith itself. We are seeking perfection and moving towards perfection (Hebrews 6:1), but it is Jesus who perfects faith. Our faith is weak, and it often struggles. But the perfector is Jesus who finished the journey without sin, that is, he did not give up, and he did not succumb to the dangers of apostacy. Moreover, as our perfected high priest exalted to the right hand of God, he pioneered a path for us to follow and join him in the heavenly sanctuary.
The situation of the preacher’s audience is clarified a bit in Hebrews 12:3-4 when Jesus’ suffering is placed in the context of opposition from sinful men and the preacher notes that they had not yet resisted evil unto blood. In other words, they can expect martyrdom. They will experience hostility and death from evil people, just as Jesus did. The open question is whether they will run the race to the end just as Jesus did.
But how are we to understand the coming persecution? Why does God permit this persecution? Why did he permit the crucifixion and death of his own Son? What purpose does God have in this permission of suffering? What purpose moght God see in suffering at all?
The classic text for God’s pedagogical purposes in discipline (think: discipling) is Hebrews 12 (the Greek verbs and nouns for discipline are used eight times in verses 5-11). The preacher draws upon the Hebrew Bible’s understanding of discipline as he applies those principles to the situation in which his readers find themselves. Those ancient principles of discipline are applicable to present saints. The writer anticipates that his readers will face another period of persecution as in the earlier days of their faith. He calls them to remember those early days when they “stood [their] ground in a great contest in the face of suffering” (Hebrews 10:32). They were publicly insulted and persecuted. Some were thrown in prison and others had their property confiscated (Hebrews 10:33-34). The believers persevered then, and now they must expect another contest of suffering. The writer anticipates that there will be a renewal of this persecution or some kind of struggle that may involve the death of some in their community. They have not yet had any martyrs, but there may be some in the future (Hebrews 12:4). Some may have to endure the cross and its shame, just as Jesus did.
Whatever the nature of this coming struggle, the writer offers an interpretation. It does not come as punishment for sin, nor does it come because God is angry with the people. Rather, this discipline arises out God’s love. It is the kind of discipline that a father offers his child (Hebrews 12: 7-10). The preacher quotes Proverbs 3:11-12 as a “word of encouragement that address [them] as sons” (Hebrews 12:5b-6).
The term translated “chastise” is a verb that means to “flog,” just as Jesus was flogged and his disciples were told that they would be flogged (Matthew 10:17; 20:19; 23:34; Mark 10:34; Luke 18:33; John 19:1). Indeed, some of the previous witnesses mentioned in chapter eleven had suffered flogging (Hebrews 11:36). The original readers of Hebrews could, perhaps, expect some of that themselves. The context here does not mean “punishment” or vengeance as when God expresses his righteous judgment against evil but refers to the infliction of pain which discipline involves. God chastises people; God afflicts them with pain for the sake of a higher goal. The notion of “rebuke” (translated punished above) is a similar idea. This rebuke does not arise out of anger but out of a desire for God’s people to reach a higher level of maturity. God has a goal in mind and disciplines children in view of that goal. God disciplines them according to the dictates of love in the light of the goal—the future they cannot yet see.
The readers, therefore, should not misinterpret this new wave of persecution as a sign of God’s anger. They must understand it as a sign of love. It is God’s fatherly attention just as earthly fathers give attention to their children. They should be encouraged rather than discouraged by this new struggle. God seeks to train his people through this pain. God seeks to educate his people so that they are equipped to share God’s holiness and communion. To persevere through the struggle, believers need to keep their eye on the goal to which God has called them. This is the example of Jesus. He is the model of endurance, just as the heroes of faith are models in Hebrews 11. Jesus endured the cross with all its shame to experience the joy that was set before him, and even now he sits at the right hand of God (Hebrews 11:2). Likewise, all the faithful who have gone before witness to the power of faith. Though their faith did not receive what it hoped for in this life, nevertheless it persevered because they sought a city whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:13-16; 39-40; 12:1). God used struggle in their life to strengthen their faith so that it might persevere.
It is important to see God’s intent here. God disciplines and chastises (causes pain, even flogs) for a reason. It is a reason that is more significant than the pain of discipline. The pain has a purpose. The author writes (Hebrews 12:10b-11): What does God intend in discipline? God intends something that is for our own good. The good God intends is that we might share in his holiness. The discipline trains us in such a way that it produces righteousness and peace, and the effect of this discipline is that we share God’s holiness. God uses suffering and pain to produce a fruit whose purpose is that we might share his holiness.
What does it mean to share God’s holiness? It certainly includes the cultivation of fruit in our lives so that when the harvest of righteousness and peace is produced, we reflect God’s holiness. But there is more since “without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). There is an eschatological meaning here as well as the promise of God’s current presence as we approach his throne (Hebrews 12:22ff). To enter into the eschatological presence of God, we must be holy. To be holy we must be sanctified by the work of Christ (Hebrews 10:14). To be sanctified by the blood of Christ we must persevere in faith. If perseverance means to endure suffering for the sake of the joy set before us, that is, the joy of God’s presence, then suffering is worth the goal. God uses suffering and pain—God disciplines us–in order to bring us closer to that goal. If Jesus suffered for the sake of the joy set before him, and the faithful of chapter eleven struggled for the sake of the promise, then the present people of God must expect to suffer as well. It is the goal of faith that makes suffering worthwhile. If discipline is a means to the joy, then discipline should be endured for the sake of the joy. The joy is communion with God in the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem where we sit as royal priests with Jesus our elder brother.
In this context, James makes sense. Just as the writer of Hebrews encouraged his readers to endure trials for the sake of discipline, so James encouraged his readers to “consider it pure joy…whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (James 1:2). And the one who “perseveres under the trial, because he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12). We do not rejoice because of the discipline, but we rejoice in the intent of the discipline. We rejoice in the light of its goal. The crown of life is worth the trials, and God disciplines us with that goal in mind. God acts, sometimes by inflicting pain, even floggings, so that we might be trained and prepared to share his holiness. God intends good even when it seems painful and senseless to us.
Though the community will experience persecution, the preacher encourages them to live in peace with everyone as much as they can. This is not simply peace within the community of believers, but also to seek peace with the hostile environment in which they live. Peace is the way of holiness, and the church must seek holiness, as it is the way it shares God’s life that is holy.
But more specifically, the preacher is concerned that some will turn away and apostatize. They will trade their inheritance for the comfort of “peace” with their neighbors. We are always in danger of trading our future with God for the comfort of the present (whether it is the comfort of materialism, or the comfort of “getting along” with those who oppose our values). The people of God often tend to compromise their values for the sake of comfort. We don’t want to seek peace with those around us in the wrong way—in a way the compromises our values or that creates bitterness within the community of God. Seek peace, but don’t compromise holiness. Seek peace, but don’t give up your eternal inheritance for temporary comforts here.
Esau is the preacher’s example of this thing. He compromised his birthright for the comfort of some food. He traded something of great value for something that was essentially nothing. He traded the eternal for the temporary. In the aftermath—with the recognition that there was no changing what he had done—he sought the blessing with tears. I don’t think this is a reference to someone who wants to repent but cannot. Rather, it is an eternal perspective, an eschatological perspective. That is, the preacher appeals to his hearers not to reject their inheritance because when the blessing is bestowed and the inheritance is received, we will repent of our rejection and seek it with tears. But it will be too late, just as it was too late for Esau.