Finish the Race with Endurance

Hebrews 12:12-17

If you’ll remember last time we were in Hebrews, the first 11 verses of chapter 12 we were discussing God’s loving kindness in disciplining his children. That’s not always any easy thing to understand or even an easy thing to talk about, but it is necessary for us. We go through difficult things in the Christian life and we need to be able to think about them rightly. Now this came after a large discussion about suffering. We need the right category to put these things in. So the author of Hebrews has instructed us that suffering takes place, that for the believer it is God’s loving kindness to us to grow us to bring endurance to us.

This morning we begin to transition to the last part of the book where many of the implications of the first 11 chapters are fleshed out for us. What does it mean for us to collectively draw near to God? How does this work in a fallen world? Or for our passage today, how do we as God’s people finish this race well in a world of chaos, sin, weariness? Does the grace of Christ carry us through these things as well? Well the answer is that it does, but how exactly?

12-13 Keep Going

You don’t even really have to explain the word pictures here in these verses do you? Drooping hands and weak knees. This is describing a person who is weary and worn out. There’s an element in this that is taken even farther though. These words come from Isaiah 35:3–4 “3 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. 4 Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.””

He’s speaking to those believers who are in the midst of a chaotic world. Foreign invaders have come in to destroy God’s people and God is using the invaders to wipe out his unfaithful people. There’s more than just weariness in these words, there’s fear as well! Now the author of Hebrews could be saying to you individually to strengthen your weak knees… speaking in plural because you have two knees. But I think it makes more sense to understand him talking to the church community. There is a work to be done amongst us where we encourage and strengthen on another as we strengthen ourselves in Christ.

Verse 13 he takes another passage from the Old Testament, Proverbs 4:26 “26 Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.” I think a road i dislike more than any other is highway 17. I realize it would have cost a whole lot more money and would have been probably a decade more work just to plow a straight path right through the mountains, but the twisting a turning you have to do on that road. I don’t know if the stomach of a single on of our kids has survived it.

Life’s not always straight and easy, but there is a recognition in this passage that the cause of this is our own sin. God disciplines us because he loves us yes, but it is because we need it! There is a great result to the work of God in our lives, and that is to set us on straight paths. And believer, we are to help one another to finish this race strong by setting our paths straight.

14 Peace and Holiness

Verse 14 is one of the most humbling verses to me. He tells us to Strive for two things… Now strive is more of this athletic language, fight for peace, struggle hard for peace. Now we’re all wired differently, some run away from conflict, some just love conflict. Some like to make peace by leveling your opposition. What is the purpose of this peace that we are to make with everyone. And by the way I take “everyone” to mean believers and unbelievers here. There is blessing in peace isn’t there? In fact, there is gospel witness in peace. The Father came after us with the peace of Christ, and wooed our souls to himself by the offering of his Son. I think it’s this striving for peace with everyone that in some way fulfills God’s promise to us that through us he will bless those who bless us. We are to be a blessing to the nations.

Now this peace doesn’t come through compromise, and it doesn’t come through twisting what is true, because we are also to strive for holiness. You know i’ve never known a believer to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord who laid out on the couch all day and waited for sanctification to come. No its work, we’re to strive for it. God has designed things in such a way that he saves us, enables us to grow in grace and holiness, and that grace and holiness which he grows us in is what allows us then to see him more fully in the person and work of his son.

The example of the saints in Hebrews 11 over and over again said they set their eyes on the one who was to come, and now they are seeing him in glory. Believer set your eyes on Christ now. It is by striving after the peace and holiness of Christ in all of life that God grows us into the vision of himself. In fact isn’t that our blessed hope? That at the end we will see him with perfect sinless eyes. Simeon sang the song our hearts sang at salvation. The song our hearts sing every time we open his word, the song we’ll sing when we see him face to face. He said Luke 2:29–32 “29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation 31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”” It is by beholding him now that we will see him then.

15-17 Watch Out for Each Other

As a pastor I have the responsibility of watching over the church. Peter outlines this in 1 Peter 5, he says, “Shepherd the flock that is among you, exercising oversight...” That exercising oversight doesn’t mean that we issue executive orders or something like that, it means that we keep a caring eye out for your souls, both to guard against things that would come to harm your soul, and to encourage you as you grow. Now all of that is true of the office of elder, but it’s not exclusive to the office. In fact the author of Hebrews uses the same word here to talk about how we all must live in the local church.

“See to it” is the same word as “exercising oversight” in 1 Peter 5:2. And there are three primary things we as God’s people are to be looking out for in the church that he mentions in this text. Now this could be a whole sermon in itself of course, three points are always nice… We are to be on the lookout both for the individual and their soul if we see these things, and for its effect on the whole body, because first, the danger is that someone would “fail to obtain the grace of God.”

Now what that means is that these are things that cause us to turn our backs on the gospel and walk away from the faith. So it is of utmost important that we pay attention here. Do you see someone who has been exposed to the truth of the gospel but is falling away from it. Run after them.

The second is that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble and by it many become defiled. He takes this from Deuteronomy 29:18 “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.” He’s not talking just about someone struggling with bitterness, although certainly that would apply, but he is talking about someone who is a bitter root. This is someone who is angry with God, they are angry at the world, they have no saving faith. You see this in that they don’t strive for peace, they don’t strive for holiness. And a root like this in the water supply makes the whole thing bitter. This person may claim to be a believer, but their lives say otherwise. Believer, watch out for this in yourself, but especially watch out for it in the church. The soul’s of the other people here are affected by it.

Third, he uses Esau as an example… that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau who sold his birthright for a single meal.

This may seem like a strange example to use at first, but I think you’ll see why he does. We don’t necessarily have a record of Esau being sexually immoral, but the prophets often speak of Israel abandoning God as whoring after the nations, or something along those lines.

Infidelity is really the betrayal of a covenant. You broke a relationship. Esau by his birthright was to inherit the blessing, but gave it up for a bowl of stew. The unholiness or sexual immorality here is personified in giving up the promises of God for lesser things. Of course we often see this most vividly in adultery. Watch out in yourself and in those around you for an attitude that would so quickly give up what God has offered in Christ for lesser things.

This last verse is difficult, but the best way to understand it I think is that Esau sought the blessing when he realized what he had done, but sought it without repentance.

There is no blessing without repentance. But friend, there is infinite joy in our Christ when his sheep turn from their sin and follow him. That’s how we finish this race well.