When the Going Gets Tough

Greater Than  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  33:49
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NOTE:
This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.
Engagement
At 7 p.m. on October 20, 1968, a few thousand spectators remained in the Mexico City Olympic Stadium. The last of the exhausted marathon runners were being carried off to the first-aid stations. More than an hour earlier, Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia had crossed the finish line, the winner of the 26.2-mile run.
As the remaining spectators prepared to leave, those sitting near the marathon gates heard the sound of sirens and police whistles. All eyes turned toward the gate. A lone figure wearing the colors of Tanzania entered the stadium. His name was John Stephen Akhwari. He was the last man to finish. His leg bloodied and bandaged, severely injured in a fall, he grimaced with each step as he hobbled around the 400-meter track.
The spectators rose and applauded him as if he were the winner. After crossing the finish line, Akhwari slowly walked off the field. In view of his injury and having no chance of winning a medal, someone asked him why he had not quit. He replied, “My country did not send me 7,000 miles to start the race. They sent me 7,000 miles to finish it”
Tension
I think that’s a pretty good picture of the life of a disciple of Jesus. We’ve already seen in our study of Hebrews that the author compares our walk with Jesus to a marathon race. And during that race, we often get injured or run into obstacles that make it difficult for us to finish the race. But God doesn’t just send us on that journey to start the race. He wants us to finish the race. And that is often not easy. Fortunately, as we’re going to see this morning, God doesn’t leave us without the resources we need to not only finish, but to finish well.
Truth
Today we’ll continue our study of the book of Hebrews in chapter 12, beginning with verse 12. So go ahead and open up your Bibles to that verse. Before I read our passage, I want to make sure that we put it in its proper context.
If you have your Bibles open to our passage, can you tell me what the first word is in verse 12?
That’s right - Therefore.
Whenever we run across that word in the Bible it’s always pointing back to something that preceded it and its always important to make sure we understand that that is.
In the larger context this “therefore” takes us back to the beginning of chapter 12, where the author compared the Christian life to a race and he encouraged us not to get weary as we run that race. He then takes a slight detour to write about God’s discipline before returning to that idea in today’s passage.
In the more immediate context, he is pointing back to the passage that Ryan covered three weeks ago on God’s discipline in our lives. Hopefully you’ll remember that we learned that because He loves us so much God disciplines His children. And that discipline is often difficult and painful, but that pain is for our good.
That section ended with these words:
Hebrews 12:11 ESV
11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
So the “therefore” that begins today’s passage indicates that we’re going to learn how to respond to the discipline of God that can seem painful, but which God is using to produce righteousness in our lives. With that context in mind, go ahead and follow along as I read today’s passage:
Hebrews 12:12–17 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.
We really hear the heart of the author in these verses, don’t we. He has deep concern for those who are tired and weary and who might be tempted to give up. And I know that there are some of you here today that probably feel like that right now. I pray that what we learn together this morning will not only encourage you to persevere, but also help you find the resources you need to do that.
Here is the main idea we’re going to develop this morning:

When the race gets tough, we must help each other persevere

In many of our English translations, this section can appear to be much more individualistic that it actually is. But a deeper dive into the passage reveals that the primary focus here is on the importance of community if we are going to persevere when the race gets tough.
Let’s go back and look at verses 12 and 13 in more detail. I’ll begin with verse 12:
Hebrews 12:12 ESV
12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,
I ran track back in high school and I know firsthand that two things tend to happen whenever a runner begins to get tired. The first thing is that the hands begin to droop. Instead of pumping your arms and hands, they just fall to your side. The second thing that happens is that the legs begin to ache and the knees get wobbly.
In Jewish literature, the reference to drooping hands and weak knees is often used to picture those who are experiencing discouragement and despair.
The author of Hebrews quotes here from one of those passages. Isaiah chapter 35 was written to the people of Israel at a time of great discouragement and suffering. They had suffered through evil kings and exile and they had little or no hope. But in that chapter, Isaiah encourages them by letting them know better times are coming. And he exhorts them to prepare for that future with these words:
Isaiah 35:3 ESV
3 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.
The idea, both there in Isaiah and here in Hebrews, is that the weak, the weary and the wounded are not to let their discouragement rule their lives. They need to take action to overcome those feelings.
But that is not something we can do on our own, out of our own strength and resources. Obviously, we need God’s help to do that, but we also need each other.
For some reason, the ESV, and many other modern translations, add the word “your” - “your drooping hands” and “your weak knees” here in Hebrews 12:12, although you’ll notice it doesn’t appear in Isaiah. But it actually doesn’t appear in the underlying Greek.
Also, there is actually only one verb in the Greek. It is a word that was used to describe putting back into place dislocated parts of the body. So it conveys the sense of setting something right or restoring it. A literal translation of verse 12 would be something like this:
Therefore, set right the drooping hands and the weak knees.
The implication is that we’re not only to restore our own lives, but we are to go around and help strengthen the others in our body who are weary and weak, too. We’re to look for others in our church family who have drooping hands and weak knees and do what we can to help strengthen them. That’s essentially the same idea we saw in this familiar passage in chapter 10:
Hebrews 10:24–25 ESV
24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
One of the important purposes of gathering as a body is so that we can encourage each other, especially those who are weary, week and wounded.
Verse 13 certainly reinforces that idea:
Hebrews 12:13 ESV
13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.
In this verse the pronoun “your” is actually present in the underlying Greek. But notably it is a plural “your”. The command to make straight paths also uses a plural verb. So the author is encouraging the entire congregation to work together to persevere as they run the race.
In a track meet, each runner must remain in his or her own lane. If they stray into another runner’s lane they will be disqualified because there is the potential for them to hinder or obstruct another runner. The same thing is true in the Christian life. We’re all running the race together and if even one or two of us begin to get distracted by the things of this world and we stray from the straight path rather than focusing on the things of God and staying in our own narrow lane, we will hinder our fellow disciples. We are not merely to stay in our lane for our own benefit, but also for the benefit of others. While track and field is largely an individual endeavor, running the Christian life is actually a team pursuit.
Application
We’ve seen so far that...

When the race gets tough, we must help each other persevere

So how do we run the race in a way that is not only good for us individually, but also supports our weary, weak and wounded brothers and sisters? Fortunately the rest of our passage provides us with some very practical help.

HOW TO SUPPORT THE WEARY, WEAK AND WOUNDED

It is important to note that the command sin this section are all rooted in what God is already doing in us and for us in Jesus. We can’t do any of this apart from God. So we certainly need to pray and ask God to help us as we do our part to carry out these commands.
Pursue peace
In verse 14, we are commanded to “strive for peace”. The verb translated “strive” is a present tense command, so it means that this is something we need to do continually.
I get the sense here that the persecution that these Jewish believers were facing had led to some sharp differences and disagreements within the congregation. Unfortunately, we still see that today, especially when either individual members or the church as a whole are experiencing problems. But that kind of conflict not only fails to provide the kind of support that those who are struggling need, it usually makes their struggles even more difficult.
This doesn’t seem to be a problem that was just limited to this congregation. Paul wrote a very similar command in his letter to the churches in Rome:
Romans 12:18 ESV
18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
Obviously, this doesn’t mean that we just go along with anything and everything. There are times when we do need to hold to the truth even if it causes division. But I’m convinced that those occasions are few and far between.
So how can we all pursue peace right here at TFC? Let me suggest a few ways to do that:
Support the church leadership. We’re going to cover this in more depth when we get to Hebrews 13. But there is nothing more damaging to a church than those who go around sowing seeds of discord because they don’t agree with some decision the leaders have made. If you have an issue with a decision that our elders make, then come talk to us about it. I promise that we’ll listen.
Defer to others when it comes to my preferences. Preferences are those areas where there are no clear Biblical mandates. That might include things like the kind of music we want to sing in church or where I want to sit in church or even what time we hold our services.
Be willing to overlook an offense. Any time we’re part of any group, it is inevitable that we are going to be offended at some point. Much of the time we get offended over something that doesn’t really matter and we just need to let it go. But sometimes the offense does require further attention and when that happens we need to...
Handle conflict Biblically. Jesus provided the framework for dealing with conflict in the church in Matthew 18:15-17. We don’t have time to cover that in detail this morning, but it begins with taking your grievance to the other person directly and then involving others if you can’t resolve the issue.
Pursue holiness
In addition to pursuing peace, we are also to strive for holiness. And the author adds a very serious warning here. Without holiness it is impossible to see God. I am reminded here of Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount:
Matthew 5:8 ESV
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Since none of us are capable of being holy on our own, there is certainly the sense here that without being clothed with the righteousness of Jesus, none of us could see God. But there is another important aspect of holiness that is conveyed both here in Hebrews and in Jesus’ words.
The verb “to see” means more than just seeing with our physical eyes. It conveys the idea of comprehending. And because God is pure and holy, there is a sense in which we can’t really comprehend God unless we are pursuing holiness in our own lives.
In the context of this passage, there is both an individual and corporate aspect of pursuing holiness. We must personally shun evil and cling to what is good. As we talked about earlier, we need to stay in the narrow lane because when we stray from that, not only is our own view of God obstructed, but we also hinder others.
But we all also have a responsibility to pursue holiness as a body. And sometimes that means that we need to apply loving correction when there is open unrepentant sin within the body. We need to heed the warnings given to us by both Jesus and Paul:
Matthew 16:6 ESV
6 Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Galatians 5:9 ESV
9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
In both cases, leaven is used as a picture of sin. And just like a small amount of yeast spreads through an entire loaf of bread and causes it to rise, a little bit of sin can impact an entire church family. So we need to deal with sin in the body in a way that prevents that. Once again, Paul gives us some wise advice about how to do that:
Galatians 6:1 ESV
1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
Before we address the sins in the lives of our brothers and sisters, we need to first check our own lives. And once we’ve done that we need to correct others gently, always with the goal of restoring that other person to spiritual health, not trying to make ourselves look better in comparison.
Weed out bitterness
The verb “see to it” in verse 15 is related to the same Greek word that is used elsewhere in the New Testament to describe church leaders who are to “oversee” the spiritual health of the congregation. Here, the entire church body is called to take responsibility for the spiritual health of others.
And one of the ways we are all to do that is to make sure that no root of bitterness is allowed to spring up within the body. The author is referring here to an event recorded in Deuteronomy 29:
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,
In that passage, Moses is referring to the people of Israel who had turned away from God in order to return to the way of life they had in Egypt. The result of going back to that way of life is that they became bitter against Moses, against their fellow Israelites, and, most importantly, against God.
When life is tough, it is very easy to become bitter towards God and towards other people - even our brothers and sisters in Christ. For the last couple weeks, we’ve been reading about the rebellion of the Israelites after God had freed them from slavery in Egypt. We saw how their complaining and grumbling led to their bitterness toward God. And as I’ve tried to encourage you throughout those readings, the best way we can avoid becoming bitter is to quit looking around at our circumstances and focusing on all that we don’t have and instead express our gratitude to God for how He has blessed us. I’m going to come back to that idea later.
Seek God Himself as the blessing
This is where the example of Esau comes in. Most of you are probably at least somewhat familiar with the account of how Esau was tricked by his twin brother, Jacob, into giving up both his birthright and his blessing.
The author of Hebrews indicates that Esau found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. But a careful look at the account of those events reveals that the reason Esau didn’t have a chance to repent is that he sought the wrong kind repentance.
While Esau was sorry that he had lost out on what his father should have given to him, when he was thwarted in his efforts to get back the blessing, he vowed to kill his brother. That’s not genuine repentance.
But before we’re quick to criticize Esau, we need to understand that we’re prone to do essentially the same thing. Far too often we focus only on what we can get from our heavenly Father, rather than focusing on the real blessing - God Himself. Genuine repentance always values our relationship with God far more than anything else.
Action
We’ve learned today that...

When the race gets tough, we must help each other persevere

I know that there are many of you here this morning who are weary, weak or wounded. You may be tempted to give up. But God loves you too much to let you do that and He has placed you right here in this church family so that your drooping hands and weak knees can be restored.
We have learned a lot today, but I want to end this message by calling us all to action based on what we’ve talked about. I am convinced that every single one of us can do something to help another person persevere when they are ready to give up.
God might put something else on your heart, but here are a few suggestions that you might consider:
If someone in this body has offended you, then either choose to overlook that offense or go to that other person and pursue reconciliation in a Biblical manner.
Pray for someone else in our church family who is struggling right now - physically, emotionally, or spiritually. Then let the other person know that you are praying for them.
If you find yourself complaining or grumbling, confess that to God and choose to focus on Him and not what He can give you.
Spend some time in prayer each day this week expressing your gratitude to God.
Do something to serve someone else in our church family in a practical way.
Come along side of someone else who is struggling with sin and gently do what you can to help restore him or her.
Inspiration
I began this morning by sharing the story of John Stephen Akhwari. What he did to finish the race was certainly admirable, especially considering he largely did that on his own. God has called us to finish the race, and to finish it well. But we have a huge advantage that Akhwari didn’t have. We have each other. Let’s make sure we all take advantage of that.
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