Better Discipline

How To Run A Better Race

English Standard Version Chapter 19

Discipline your son, for there is hope;

do not set your heart on putting him to death.

Remember that last week we were talking about faith (the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen). We talked about those who went before us and lived their lives full of faith and even though they may not have received in their lifetime what was promised, they could see beyond their own lives, they could see beyond their own circumstances to something better. Something in the future that they put their hope in. Something that pointed to a life with Christ.

And I hope you were challenged by that this week. We must always keep in mind that God always answers our prayers, He is always faithful. And when I say that HE is always faithful that means that He is always faithful to Himself, He is always faithful to His nature. He answers prayers according to His will. He answers prayer for His glory and sometimes our desires line up with His will, sometimes they don’t line up but please understand that God is faithful.

This week we are looking at and the chapter starts with a therefore, so remember that the therefore connects the thoughts of the chapter before into the chapter ahead. And the writer says:

English Standard Version Chapter 12

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

I love the imagery that is being used here. The writer is talking about how we can look at this life as a race. Did you know that you are in the middle of a race? I know that there are some of you have are into running. Good for you. I know a couple of you have actually ran marathons. Again, good for you.

It is interesting though, because the word that is used in the Greek here for race is agona which is where we get the word agony for. That’s great! The lives that we live are agony! But there is truth to that in that life is a constant struggle, it is a strain. And it is like a race, it is like a difficult, long, messy painful race.

That is what life is like. It is a race but it is a specific type of race. It is a marathon, it lasts a lifetime and it is all about endurance. Not a sprint. This race is day to day and year to year. It doesn’t end until you do. Sounds harsh but that is the reality of it.

So if you have ever done anything long term or have had to run a long distance you know that there is a significant amount of training that goes along with it in order to be successful at it.

For the marathon, the 26.2 mile race, your goal is what, 4 -5 hours if you are awesome, but you probably put in 20 or so weeks, weeks! of training to get you to that point. The race is serious!

And you can’t really run a race like that unless you have some sort of goal in mind can you? For some, they want to qualify for a particularly famous marathon like the Boston or the New York marathon. For others, they want to beat a particular time. For some, they just want to say that they survived running 26.2 miles. I have said that I have a hard time driving 26.2 miles. But unless you have a goal you will have a hard time finding what you need to motivate you to finish that race. You need a goal for race like that.

As Christians, again, we are running a race, and we need a goal too. 1. We Need A Goal

And I don’t think that the goal is supposed to just be Heaven, which is going to be incredible beyond words, but a goal for us is sanctification. Sanctified, meaning that we are continually being made holy, purified, and it is a process we go through throughout our lives. But we have a goal, as Christ followers.

A commentator named William Barclay puts it so beautifully about these verses when he writes:

In the Christian life, we have a goal. Christians are not people who stroll along the byways of life in a completely unconcerned manner; they travel on the high road. They are not tourists, who return each night to the place from which they started; they are pilgrims who are always travelling on the way. The goal is nothing less than the likeness of Christ. The Christian life is going somewhere, and at each day’s ending we would do well to ask ourselves: ‘Am I any further on?’

Barclay, W. (2002). The Letter to the Hebrews (p. 202). Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press.

Barclay, W. (2002). The Letter to the Hebrews (p. 202). Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press.

Do you ever ask yourself that question? Am I any further along? Is my life moving in a direction that is getting closer to God, or am I not moving and ultimately moving away from Him? And what would motivate me if I were to be moving along in this race?

You know if we were able to look at this race, this marathon

Because, 2. What will Motivate Me?

Everyone needs motivation. They do. If you aren’t motivated you won’t get anywhere. There has to be a prize! Motivation can be good or it can be not so good.

Everyone needs motivation. They do. If you aren’t motivated you won’t get anywhere. There has to be a prize! Motivation can be good or it can be not so good.

But there has to be a prize, there has to be a motivation, which can be the goal. What is your motivation? What gets you going?

My boys decided to pool their money and purchase a video game that they were really excited about. They even pre ordered it and they were so distraught when it took about 4 hours to actually load the game on their xbox.

It was clear that they wouldn’t be able to play it that Friday night. So they asked me, get this, they asked me to wake them up on Saturday morning at 6:30 am so that they could play their game.

Understand that these are guys who enjoy the only day during the week that they get to sleep in. They are church kids so Saturday is the only day they get to take their time waking up and they wanted me to wake them at 6:30. Now THAT my friends was motivation.

When we are motivated we can accomplish great things. Our goal is sanctification, to be made holy and our motivation comes from two things here in .

The first motivation is a great cloud of witnesses and the second is Jesus himself.

The great cloud of witnesses would be those who have gone before. The writer just spent all this time talking about the heroes of the faith in chapter 11. He talks about Abraham and Moses and David and all the all stars of the Jewish faith. The patriarchs the legends of God’s people. They are watching says the writer, and, “since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.. and he goes on. This was a motivation for them AND for us. We want to please those who have gone on before us. We are motivated when those we love are in our corner.

You see this everywhere, and it isn’t just about being accountable, which is important. It is about us being motivated to be our best because others motivate us. Nothing wrong with that. When you are surrounded by others you put on your best face don’t you? There are things that you don’t necessarily want to do if there were other people in the room.

Not only that but sometimes you actually perform better when you have an audience. I remember guys in the gym saying that they lifted more weight and added reps when there was someone watching who they wanted to impress. You just seem to try harder when you are trying to accomplish a task when others are watching.

There is a guy in our church who just ran the NYC Marathon and he was telling me that there was a particular billboard that you will pass, and the race organizers set it up that when you are going by this particular billboard, you can see a message that a family member may have placed for you to motivate you.

He said that when we saw the billboard and saw a picture of his family with a caption that read something along the lines of we love you, we are so proud of you, etc that kind of encouragement mean so much to him. It gave him the desire to push on, it motivated him to push through the exhaustion and the pain.

Motivation is a powerful thing. And this is why the writer tells us, he says those guys who were faithful before you are in heaven now, cheering you on, they are watching you and they are behind you! And that has to be incredible when you read this.

Secondly, we are motivated by Jesus himself!

v2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

There is no better motivator than Jesus Christ. Jesus came to this earth as a baby. He had nothing going for him in the realm of his human-ness. He was weak and needy.

But he was the Son of God! And he was the one who went to the executioner for you and for me so that we wouldn’t have sin hanging onto us. So that we could be forgiven.

And that phrase looking to Jesus. It means that we look at nothing else, meaning we cannot look at two things at once. You cannot continue to put your efforts in things that are not of Christ when you are trying to run for him. You cannot live a double life like that. When we run this race we keep our eyes on the prize. Our eyes, our gaze is fixed on our Savior.

If you have ever taught a teenager to drive you tell them not to stare at that car coming right at you. Don’t look at THAT car, look where you are going or you will notice that you start to veer in that direction. Keep your eyes on the direction you desire to go. You have to have that target and unless you are looking at a target you are not going to hit it.

And so we run! We run, which means we live our lives for him.

And we run better when we aren’t hindered by anything. Verse 1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

When you run a race, or if you travel, you want to do it as lightly as possible. Rachel and I enjoy mountain bike riding. And you can spend a lot of money on mountain bikes. But the reason the higher end bikes are more expensive is because they are lighter. Every part on the higher end bike is made out of a different metal that is just as strong but lighter. Because when you are racing mountain bikes you want that edge and the lighter you are the better off you are.

Mountain climbers are the same way. They try to shave off every ounce they can on their equipment.

The athletes in the day we are looking at would have stripped down as much as possible so that nothing would hinder them, nothing would weigh them down from the race that they were in.

We read this and have to evaluate our lives. What sin is hindering me? What is keeping me from running a good race? What weight is attached to me that is keeping me from running the best that I can?

It’s a fair question. What hinders you from running as efficiently and effectively as you can? Because sin will do that. Sin has a way of holding you down. It has a way of weighing you down.

For some of us, I would imagine that when you hear these words you automatically know that there is something in your life that isn’t right. There is something in your life that is hindering your race.

Could I please suggest out of love that the thing that entangles you, the thing that weighs you down is not worth it. All it is doing is causing you to stumble, and to fall and to weigh you down. That thing that came to your mind, understand that you don’t need it anymore. You can let go of those things that hinder you so that you will be able to run that race with your eyes fixed clearly on Christ.

Now as people who have surrendered our lives to Jesus we have some motivation in Him, in Christ. Hopefully we are faithful, and since We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. What in the world does that mean?

What do you need to let go of this morning? ____________________________

Hebrews 12:3–4 ESV

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

Jesus provided a way for us to live free from sin. Jesus paved the way for you and for me to live lives that are victorious against sin and against the things that cling to us, that weigh us down. Jesus is our ultimate example. He endured the cross.

We are in a race.

So when you run you run with perseverance in Christ, or you fall out of the race in exhaustion because of the weight of sin, or, you get so distracted by your sin that you stop running altogether.

So hopefully we are faithful, and since we are surrounded, We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. What in the world does that mean?

So to live this Christian life, this life marked by Jesus understanding that we need motivation, we need a goal and finally we need training, or discipline. We need to train to finish this race.

English Standard Version Chapter 12

5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

nor be weary when reproved by him.

6  For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

and chastises every son whom he receives.”

7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 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.

Very often we look at discipline in a negative way. The OT looks at it that way. The new testament looks a little more positively. And we even hear the word discipline and can be confused by what it means.

In the Old Testament we look at discipline in context of how a parent disciplines their child.

Very often we look at discipline in a negative way. The OT looks at it that way. The new testament looks a little more positively.

Discipline was taken very seriously by parents.

English Standard Version Chapter 21

If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, 19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, 20 and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

Proverbs 13:24 ESV

Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.

English Standard Version Chapter 13

Whoever spares the rod hates his son,

but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.

18

English Standard Version Chapter 19

Discipline your son, for there is hope;

do not set your heart on putting him to death.

Discipline Defined:

Learning that molds character and enforces correct behavior; from a Latin word meaning “instruction” or “training.” To discipline a person or a group means to put them in a state of good order so that they function in the way intended.

Discipline, in spite of a popular misconception, is not inherently stern or harsh.

Bible translators chose “disciple” as an appropriate term for one who learns by following. A disciple is a learner. And we know that to be disciplined means that you have control, it means that you know how to achieve goals.

The goal of spiritual discipline is righteousness.

Our goal, our discipline is for us to be sanctified, to be righteous. And that doesn’t just happen overnight. There is a discipline that is to be understood.

So here we are again looking at affliction as discipline from the Lord. Sometimes we go through difficult things just because God is helping us get stronger for the bigger purpose he has for us.

And remember that there is nothing that we go through that Christ didn't have to experience and Him even worse. Parents discipline their children and we don’t argue with that, we don’t disagree with that because we understand that the most loving thing that we can do is to discipline our children.

The argument the writer uses here is that we don’t love our children if we don’t discipline them. Just as we need to remember that God disciplines the one he LOVES.

And how do we react to discipline? William Barclay says that there are 5 different ways to react to discipline.

You can simply accept it like the Stoics did. Nothing in the world happens outside of the will of God so they argued that there is nothing you can do but accept it. But it is just a defeated acceptance. Not discipline of love but discipline of power.

You can accept discipline with a sense of getting over it as soon as possible: Which means that you don’t really agree with the discipline nor do you see it as loving at all

You can accept it with self pity which leads to collapse. These people seem to think that they are the only ones who have ever been disciplined and they get lost in their self pity.

You can accept it as punishment, which you resent. The question this person asks is, “What did I do to deserve this?” Which makes it sound like the discipline is unjust.

Or, you can come with the attitude of discipline as being from a loving father. A loving father. Even though some are disciplined in an unhealthy way by their earthly fathers, there is a loving discipline that comes from our heavenly father. A discipline that sees the interest of the person. A discipline that will put them on the right path, hopefully to learn that lesson and to never do that again.

Discipline is actually loving.

Proverbs 3:11–12 ESV

My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.

Think about that for a minute. Discipline is loving. Imagine if God did not discipline you or discipline me. What would that ultimately mean?

To quote a fourth-century biblical scholar Jerome said a paradoxical but true thing: “The greatest anger of all is when God is no longer angry with us when we sin.’ He meant that the supreme punishment is when God leaves us alone as unteachable”

Discipline is

Where is God disciplining me right now? ___________________

The fourth-century biblical scholar Jerome said a paradoxical but true thing: ‘The greatest anger of all is when God is no longer angry with us when we sin.’ He meant that the supreme punishment is when God leaves us alone as unteachable

When you look at those areas of your life that are not going well, or that there are struggles. Are you able to look at them in a way that you think, maybe this is coming from the Lord. Can you do that? Can you do that this morning? What events have happened in your life where you can look at it and even though it is painful, can you look at that thing and say God, I accept that discipline from you, as a loving father.

Can you do that this morning? Because if you can, I believe that you will experience a freedom that maybe you have never had before. You will look at those areas of your life that seem like they are failures but actually turn out to be God leading you and orchestrating your life so that you will be exactly who he created you to be.

If that seems like it is too far of a stretch, can you say, “God, please help me to accept that discipline as from you, so that I can trust the process you are putting me through”.

I pray that helps you this morning.

You need to know that the writer of this book of Hebrews loves those to whom they are writing to. That they want success for those people.

We here feel exactly the same way. I want to see every person walk closer, and deeper with the Lord. To make this gathering that we have special and so that real changes will happen in your life so that you can enjoy and trust God as He guides you in this life.

We need a goal

We need motivation

We need training and discipline.

Barclay, W. (2002). The Letter to the Hebrews (p. 210). Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press.