Lifted Heads and Strengthen Knees

Hebrews 12:12-17

Please stand…

English Standard Version Chapter 12

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.

Pray

Last week we talked about God’s discipline. Discipline is good when it is coming from a loving Father. It is designed to help us stay on the course. Like guard rails to keep us from going off the road.

God delivers this discipline in two ways: to correct us when we sin and to help us grow in our endurance. I used the example last week that I would discipline my boys when they go near the road. I don’t do that because I am mean, I do that because I know that the choice to play in the road could lead them to death. I want them to live, therefore, I tell them to stay away from the road.

That is what God does for us in giving us perimeters to live by in the bible. Don’t drink too much wine. Don’t have relations outside of marriage between a husband and wife. Be generous with your money and give a portion back to the Lord. All these things you could look at and say, “God is trying to take fun away from me.” On the contrary. God is protecting you. Becoming a drunkard could lead to a world of problems and even death. Having relations with anyone usually ends up in broken families or even diseases or death. Not being generous with your money leads to greed and thinking that money is your security. The Lord is trying to help us understand that to live in His way is the best way for our life.

God disciplines us for our endurance. When trials are happening, it is an opportunity to press in closer to the Lord. Hard times build our relationship with Him. Romans 5:3-4

English Standard Version Chapter 5

we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope

I think part of the point of this is to show us that we need Him always. In the bad times, where else can we turn? When everything is out of our control, we are supposed to reach out to the one that controls everything.

Have you ever had a situation like that? Things were so bad that it drove you to your knees to cry out to God. Those times are not fun, but God brings you through them and you get to see the other side. Knowing He carried you through should drive you to worship in every season.

Have you ever heard of the poem “Footprints in the Sand”? The gist of the poem is a person has a dream that they are walking on the beach with the Lord and they could see two sets of prints, but during the low times in their life, there was only one set of prints. The person asks the Lord, why weren’t you there, the Lord replies, “That is when I carried you.” In light of what we talked about last week with God’s discipline, I think a reboot of that poem is in order. I think if I had that dream I would be looking down and seeing two lines next to His footprints and I would ask Him, “Lord what are those two lines?” To which the Lord would reply, “That is where I dragged you.”

Last week, the main message was that God disciplines those who are His children. That is the great promise. We understand as parents, out of love, dragging our kids to the places they need to be. We, in Christ, are adopted as sons and daughters of God and just like when we discipline our kids out of love, God does that with us.

Knowing this, the text today says,

English Standard Version Chapter 12

12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,

For those of you that are new, the context behind this entire letter is that there are new believers that have come over from Judaism. They are being persecuted for their faith. It seems as if they are thinking about turning from Christ and going back to their old ways. This entire letter is this unknown paster, because we do not have certainty on who wrote Hebrews, encouraging this young church to stay the course and to lean into the promises of God when things get tough. It is a wonderful letter because it applies to us.

When you are going through these difficult seasons, know that you are sons and daughters of God and don’t give up. This is important for us to remember. Who fights our battles? Who has unlimited resources when finances don’t look like they are going to work? Who heals when the prognoses looks dim? Who gives and takes life? All of these are the Father’s business. We are to trust Him with these burdens. There isn’t one Scripture that says that we are on our own if we are in Christ.

If we will praise Him in all things, we are acknowledging that He is working and intricately intertwined in our life. In verse 13 it says

English Standard Version Chapter 12

make straight paths for your feet,

This is a reference to Proverbs 3:6….

Proverbs 3:6 ESV

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

This idea of running a race on a path is what the Christian life is all about. We aren’t just running anyway we please, there is a path that is laid out before us. Anytime you run a race you have to train for it if you want to run it well. That is what the discipline of the Lord helps us to do.

Dr. Michael Kruger, a New Testament professor, says this..

The paradox is that the thing that makes you want to quit is the very same thing that can keep you from quitting. An athlete running painful drills can give up and disobey her trainer, but in the end that means quitting her sport all together. Or she can persevere and run those drills, and that is what will keep her in the race. In a sense, we are always on a knife edge when it comes to God’s discipline. When trials come, will we quit or will we persevere and be strengthened? It is one or the other.

We have to stay in the race…

English Standard Version Chapter 12

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

These Hebrews have been attacked by outside forces trying to shake their faith. They have been injured by those trying to persuade them to stop the race. That slight injury will only get worse if they give in to the enemy and quit the race as we will see shortly in the text. The best thing that any of us can do in these circumstances is to keep running the race.

I stay pretty active, playing with my kids, working out, doing construction projects or working on my property, but recently I have developed some hip pain. I’m not sure what caused it other than I am almost 40 and my body is starting to give me some minor fits.

The pain can be very uncomfortable at times and there is a thought in the back of my mind that says, “Just go ahead and sit down, stop being so active.” but I know better. The best thing I can do for my hip is to keep going and strengthen the muscles in that painful area.

There is something about leaning into the discomfort and knowing that it is present and being present through it. I don’t need to numb the pain or do things that don’t engage the pain. It is just a season and God is showing me something. Whether it is to be more active, do different workouts, He gave me a body with pain receptors so I can know something is going on. I can trust God with my pain within my body and without.

The pain of the Hebrews was coming form outside forces. This has happened to all of us. Someone lies about you, harms you in some way, threatens you, all of which are out of your control. In Christ, we are not alone in this struggle. He tells us what we need to do.

English Standard Version Chapter 12

14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

That means even those who are bringing hardships to your door. We are to strive for peace with everyone. That is one of the marks of a Christian life. It is also a key mark of holiness.

This idea of not being able to see the Lord if we are not striving for holiness is a sobering thought.

This does not mean that we earn our salvation through our works of holiness, what it means is if you love Jesus, holiness will be the result of your commitment to Him.

We can know that we are His if we are receiving the discipline and applying that to our life. The question you can ask yourself is, “Am I getting better?” “Am I forgiving others because I realize how much I have been forgiven?” “Am I winning some aspects of my battle with sin?” If you are struggling just as much as you were when you started your walk, maybe we should have a talk.

You should desire and strive for holiness in your life because it is what is best for you. Do you know that? It isn’t like cleaning up your house before company comes over and throwing stuff in the closet, it is a real cleaning out of your heart. All the cracks and crevices, the secret rooms that have been hidden from everyone for years. The Lord calls us to go in there and lay all of that at the feet of Jesus.

When He changed your heart and you became His, He gave you a new life. You can’t have a new life built on a rotting foundation. All the sin in your life comes from the places in your heart that you have not fully submitted to the Lord. If you are still having a battle with sin that has been beating you for years, ask Jesus to show you the places in your heart that need to be confessed and brought to the light because Jesus didn’t just come to give you life after this one, He came to give you abundant life now and you can’t have that if you are trying to hide sin or guilt or shame in your heart.

Confession is where holiness starts. Think about this. When you get to this place of full transparency with your brothers AND with God, you can share the Gospel with a full heart. You won’t be double minded. You will know where you stand with the Lord, and others will see the joy that you have. The fullness of joy cannot be experienced until you are fully transparent with your sin.

“You mean I need to confess my sins to my brothers in Christ?” James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” This is an important step. We need this. We need each other. We help each other, we don’t ridicule, judge or hold contempt our brothers, but we hear each others confession, knowing our sinful state, and help them through their sin. By doing this we…

English Standard Version Chapter 12

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

We want to keep others on the path. We don’t want anyone of our brothers or sisters to stray. We check on each other, we encourage each other, we forgive each other. We are there when times are good to congratulate and praise God for the blessings and we are there to lift our brother’s head up when the bad days come.

Part of this is confronting our brothers when they are not making great decisions. Not in a spirit of pride, but because we love them. Also watching out to make sure that no one sneaks into the fold that has wrong motives.

This “root of bitterness” is a person. It is a reference to Deuteronomy 29:18, where it says…

Deuteronomy 29:18 ESV

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,

This is why we take the bible seriously. That is the way that we judge if a person is following it’s guidance or not. We help our brothers and sisters to understand Scripture and not fall for the traps of someone preaching what Galatians calls being bewitched by “another gospel”.

This is what the Hebrews were facing. There were people that wanted to convince these men that Jesus was not the Messiah, or, at the very least, that you were saved not just by the work of Christ alone, but also by your works, which is another gospel and not the true Gospel.

We want to keep our brothers from straying….

English Standard Version Chapter 12

16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.

At the base of these two examples of sin is comfort and pleasure. Both are self-seeking desires. From the beginning, selfishness as a form of self-worship has always been at the root of sin. Eve breaks the law of God because she was convinced that she would be like God if she ate of the fruit. It was lust for power which is a raising of self above God. In Romans 1:21–23

“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”

This is not something that is foreign to us. When people worshipped idols in the Old Testament, they were turning away from Yahweh to worship false gods that gave them what their hearts desired or the gods of certain kingdoms that were winning wars. With the rise of social media and everything being “me” focused, maybe more than ever before, self-centeredness has driven most people to worship themselves. When you ask most people about God, they tell you about a God they have concocted in their mind, one that serves them and affirms all the actions that they live by. That is not the God of the bible and that is what we are to correct in brothers and sisters heading in that direction.

When we look at Esau, his grandfather was Abraham. Do you not think that he wasn’t raised on the stories of his grandfather telling him how God spoke to him and promised him a great nation? Do you not think that he was privy to God’s provision for his life? Esau did not fear the Lord, he loved his comfort and his life more, so he sells his birthright, something that was not his to sell because God had made him first born. He thought so little of his blessing that he threw it away for a meal. His heart was never inclined toward God, even in this last verse,

English Standard Version Chapter 12

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.

Esau wasn’t seeking the repentance of God, he was seeking the blessing from Isaac. Esau had no repentant heart toward the God that he sinned against only that he would not have the power and status and wealth that was given over to his brother.

Hebrews warns us earlier in 6:4-6

Hebrews 6:4–6 “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.”

Esau tasted the goodness of God and walked away. The pastor writing this letter to the Hebrews is telling this church, “do not abandon the only faith that saves you.” Do not give in to the culture, do not give in to the persecution, do not give in to the threats against your life. What Jesus offers is a better life.

I was listening to a podcast this week of a man that has Christians on but is far from Christianity. He was telling a guest about his dealings with Christians. He said, “People who really follow the teachings of Jesus live much happier and joyful lives.” If we really believe the teachings of Christ we should live this way in spite of everything going on around us.

Why? Jesus is no longer in the grave. He has gone to prepare a place for us. We look around and there is this one problem that we can’t seem to shake, people die. They die all the time. If this is a truth in our world and we only live about 80 years if we are lucky and we believe that we will live for eternity, where do we go after the first 80 years? I don’t know if you have any idea how long eternity is, but it doesn’t have a beginning and it doesn’t have an end. Our God says that if we trust in Christ, that he died for our sins, was resurrected on the third day and that He is Lord, then we get to spend eternity with Him in a perfect place at one with the Father. I want that for my eternity and, to make things better, I can have perfect peace here that passes all understanding, I want that to. All I have to do is give Him my used up, pitiful, sin-filled life and He exchanges that one for His perfect life?

Knowing all that, I have no choice but to lift my drooping head and strengthen my knees. He is my strength, He fights my battles and He saves my soul. I pray that if you are weary, hearing this would give renew your spirit. If you are confident in your walk with the Lord, put this in your belt and continue the fight. The King has won the war, lets all stand beside Him in victory.