Keep Going - Hebrews 12:12-29

Good morning. It's a joy to have you here today and to get the opportunity to proclaim the Word of God to you today. I look forward to breaking bread with you after service. I want to begin by sharing a story as related by Paul Smith online.

MEXICO CITY IS A world away from the East African country of Tanzania, where John Stephen Akhwari lived. But that’s exactly where he found himself in October 1968, representing his country in the Summer Olympic Games as a marathon runner.

Unfortunately, Akhwari suffered a fall during the race. And it wasn’t a gentle tumble on a grassy knoll. He fell hard on rough concrete, badly cutting his right leg and dislocating his knee. Medical personnel arrived quickly and bandaged his wounds. But the dislocated knee required more treatment than they were prepared for in the street. He needed to go to the hospital. But against their advice, Akhwari instead stood up and started off down the road behind the rest of the runners.

Given the severity of his injuries, he couldn’t run his normal pace. With a combination of jogging, hobbling, and walking, he pushed ahead. At 2: 20: 26 into the race, Mamo Walde of Ethiopia crossed the finish line in first place. Most of the remaining competitors finished within a few minutes. Akhwari was nowhere close.

An hour later, the Olympic stadium had only a few thousand people left in it. The marathon was the last event of the day, and the sun had already set. Mexico City was brutal on the marathon runners. At over 7,400 feet in altitude, the air has 23 percent less oxygen than at sea level. As a result, 17 of the 74 runners failed to finish the race that day. Akhwari, bloodied and injured, was determined to not be one of them.

Followed by a police escort, and clearly in great pain, Akhwari finally arrived and limped his way onto the track, his loosening bandages dangling from his leg. As the diminished crowd cheered in awe and disbelief, John Stephen Akhwari made his way around the track and crossed the finish line at 3: 25: 27, in last place. The few remaining reporters rushed onto the field to ask him why he continued running in his condition. He responded simply,

My country didn’t send me 5,000 miles to start this race. They sent me 5,000 miles to finish it.

He came in dead last. But he crossed the finish line. Friends, we aren't in a competition with each other. We're all trying to complete the race set before us.

In the beginning of chapter 12 of Hebrews, the author uses the imagery of a race to encourage the Hebrew Christians he was writing to that they should persevere and push through. He told them about the discipline of the Lord and there's an implication that they should be thankful for it since only those who are children of the Lord are disciplined by him.

Read Hebrews 12:12-29

Hebrews 12:12–29 ESV

12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. 18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

This is the Word of the Lord. Let’s pray and ask God to use it to change us.

The author had just covered the topic of God discipling His children. One of the reactions that many people have to discipline is to just give up. It’s as if our author wants to say that he knows you’re tired. He knew these Jewish Christians were exhausted from living the Christian life amid the persecution they were facing and the temptation pulling them back toward the old covenant. But even though you’re tired, don’t stop. Get up and run.

I. Get up and run.

He encourages them by telling them to:

- Lift your drooping hands

- Strengthen your weaken knees

- Make straight the paths for your feet

- So that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.

How to run - with our eyes fixed on Jesus.

This was a lot of what we talked about last week. We run with our eyes fixed on Jesus, who lived a perfect life, died a criminal’s death that He did not deserve for you. He died in your place as a substitutionary sacrifice for you. He got the wrath of God that was for you and in exchange He gives you the righteousness of God. And He died. Three days later He proved that He was God and that God accepted that sacrifice on your behalf by Jesus rising from the dead. So when life is hard and we feel wore out and our legs are tired… RUN WITH YOUR EYES ON HIM. Consider His goodness and His grace that you don’t deserve but that you freely can receive.

Look to him for life and strength.

Expect Him to discipline you to help you stay on track and grow you into the person that He is making you.

II. Looking out for other runners.

We are to be at peace with others and look out for them. I want to look how the author of Hebrews commands these two points in the lives of the believers. First is to be at peace with everyone.

A. Peace with everyone.

Strive for it. Pursue it. It doesn’t say achieve it. But we are to work for it. We should be known for working toward peace. This echoes a familiar verse around our house, Romans 12:18

Romans 12:18 ESV

18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

What this doesn't mean: Capitulating. Letting people live in their sin. Not speaking out. As we will see in the very next point, we do hold each other accountable. We don’t give into the world to keep peace but we work toward peace even with those who are outside our circles and groups. Again, we may not be able to achieve it but our call is to pursue peace.

B. Holding each other accountable.

You can not get through scripture without understanding that holiness is expected of all Christians. It’s not just for the “super Christians” or pastors and missionaries. There are not two classes of Christ followers. This is not salvation by works or working your way to somehow be good enough to earn forgiveness. No, salvation is once and for all by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, in our place, for our sins. But the author of Hebrews throughout the book encourages these believers and us as well to holy living. It is part of persevering in the faith. It is running the race of the Christian life. Holiness is a mark of the regenerate. It’s a mark of a Christian.

Some mistakenly think that expecting Christians to live a certain way is legalism. Let me explain: Expecting Christians to follow what is commanded in the Word of God is not legalism.

Legalism is when you set up some extra biblical rules around the biblical rules so that you don’t even get close to breaking those and then you take what you’ve taken on yourself and you project that onto everyone else and expect them to live by your law or your rules that you set up. That’s legalism.

We should have a higher expectation of Christians (while allowing for confession and repentance) and a lower expectations of non-Christians. Many times we expect those outside of the church to act like they are part of the church of Jesus Christ. They are lost in their sin just like we were before we believed the Gospel.

The ONLY way that people truly change down to the core is by the power of the Gospel. And Jesus commission you and me to be the ones to tell them about it. Church - if Hope Bible Fellowship is to survive and if other churches all over this city and this country are to survive in our current culture, we must be about the business of making disciples. That means evangelizing and then teaching. Jesus didn’t just command us to make people feel good. He commanded us to make disciples and teach them.

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

As they pursue peace and holiness Christians should watch out for each other in order that no one falls short of the gift of eternal salvation. In other words, we hold each other accountable and we call each other out in love when our lives start to go off the rails. People don’t like this. I had a friend in college who wanted help with accountability. He asked me to hold him accountable to the way he acted with girls. He was prone to leading them on and just doing things without really thinking. So he held this girl’s hand one night and I asked him about it. He told me he didn’t want to but he just did it. I said, so don’t. Pull your hand back man. He didn’t like me calling him out on things. That’s a small little illustration about how we treat one another sometimes. Your faith is personal but it’s not private. We should be looking out for one another as the church. And yet, many times, when someone calls us out on our sin, we get very defensive and our reaction is to quit or to bolt.

This is tough for us in America because ingrained in our culture, especially in the midwest, is this rugged individualism. We have our lives and we are independent and no one gets to tell me what to do. The only problem with that is that it sets us up to live lives that actually make it more difficult to live out the relationships in the church the way the Bible would intend for us to.

The writer mentions the “root of bitterness”. He’s alluding to Deuteronomy 29:18

Deuteronomy 29:18 ESV

18 Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit,

So he’s warning against this root of bitterness by alluding to this verse in the Old Testament that describes someone who turns away from God to chase after other Gods. A bitter person is truly idolizing their feelings and their resentment rather than worshipping God. They are like a contagious poison or a cancer that spreads their resentment to others.

I have seen churches basically destroyed because people were bitter with one another and never dealt with it. Forgiveness is a must. IF we are forgiven by God and know what it’s like to be forgiven for so much, how can we possibly hold bitterness in our hearts? We have no right to bitterness!

If you have dealt with bitterness and resentment in your heart, you should repent and believe the good news of forgiveness in Jesus Christ.

In verses 16 and 17 the author brings up Esau as an example of someone who is unholy.

Hebrews 12:16–17 ESV

16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

So, we as Christians, are to look out for one another that we not be sexually immoral or unholy. Esau sold his birthright for a single meal and failed to win back the inheritance that he rejected. This verse is a caution to us in the Christian community to not reject the inheritance that believers have in Christ.

Esau found no chance to repent. It says he sought it with tears. This verse might be troubling to you. Let me propose that I understand this to signify a couple of things. One was that Esau did not belong to God. He was not of the redeeming faith. He also was merely interested in getting the blessing back. You see, he wanted the good consequences of repentance but he was not truly sorry or repentant for his sins.

Think about that. Ruminate on that for a minute.

Are you sorry for your sin when you repent or are you only interested in the good consequences of repentance?

C. Runners of a kingdom that cannot be shaken. (v. 18-29)

We are representatives of the kingdom of God. Just as the runner in my initial illustration was not sent to start but to finish the race, we are sent to finish the race.

God keeps his promises. The author has been hammering that home. You run for a superior Savior who gives superior strength. He is better than anything else and we should endure whatever we go through, by His strength as we run. Persevere because the greater Savior gives a greater reward.

God’s kingdom and the things of the kingdom are the only things that can not be shaken. The new covenant is superior in every way to the old covenant at Sinai. It is therefore more important to accept and hold to the new covenant. Remember, the first recipients of these words would have been pressured to fall back into the old covenant ways due to persecution.

If you look at verse 25, given the superiority of the new covenant and the fact that Christ warns from heaven, our only appropriate response is faith.

Hebrews 12:28–29 ESV

28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

In light of the great salvation that we have through Christ, He is due our gratitude and worship. Worship should take into account God’s holiness and the position He holds as the judge of all who is the only one who actually deserves worship. We worship God because of who He is and what He’s done. It is appropriate for us to worship Him. To not worship Him would be inappropriate.

The Call for Response - Musicians come forward

You live in the world. You drag in here some Sundays feeling like you might just want to give up. It seems like it would be easier to just go along with whatever the world presents as the way to live. But there’s something inside you today that says cling to the truth. Hold onto what you have seen in the Word. If you’re a believer in Christ the message of the Word is to hold on, get up, fix your eyes on Christ, and run. You can’t do it alone. You are not enough by yourself. That’s why we are given the Holy Spirit to empower us and sanctify us. It’s why we have each other in the body of Christ. Reach out for help.

I hear a lot of preachers on the internet talking about power and the power of God. But they don’t get to what the power is about. The power of the Gospel is that of salvation, of changing lives, of the giving of a new heart and new nature to sinful humans. It’s the power of salvation and eternal, abundant life. It’s not for you to make up whatever crazy thing you want to make up. It’s power for you to live the Christian life in the way prescribed in scripture. That’s what we are called to do. Follow Christ. The Word lays it out for us. If you are tired, look to what Christ has provided for you to run the race that He has set before you. Bloom where you are planted.

If you’ve someone hearing all of this for the first time, I want to tell you that you can get in on this. You’re a sinner. Jesus died for sinners. He took the wrath of God that was justly due your sin. And He offers you forgiveness for your sin and eternal life with Him in heaven . He rose from the grave to prove that the offer is valid and permanent. Would you repent of your sin and run to Jesus for forgiveness? Repent and believe this good news.

Work for peace. You may not achieve it here and now but work for peace with everyone. Don’t let bitterness take hold. Seek forgiveness and offer forgiveness freely.

Look out for one another, all while keeping your eyes fully focused on Jesus Christ. It is only through Him that any of this is possible.