“Surrounded.
Run for Joy”
[Hebrews 12:1-2]
January 19, 2014 Second Reformed Church
We are surrounded. And since we are, the author of the letter to
the Hebrews says we ought to run for joy.
Verses one and two of Hebrews 12 are
arguably the second conclusion of the argument that the author has been making
throughout the eleventh chapter of his book, so let us keep the whole of the
eleventh chapter before us in our minds as we consider this second conclusion.
We considered last week that the
eleventh chapter is a response and encouragement to the first century
Christians who were suffering at the hands of Rome and the non-believing
Jews. The author goes to great lengths
to call them away from turning back to the Old Testament Sacrificial System and
argues that since we have faith, since we have examples of faith from the
believers enumerated in the Scripture, since we understand that a true faith
can lead to earthly victory or misery, depending on the Will of God, since we
have received the historical fulfillment of the Gospel in Jesus, and since God
is bringing the whole Church to glory in the Kingdom – “therefore” –
We can conclude this section with
the following doctrines:
First, we are surrounded by the
faithful who have died.
Second, we are in a spiritual race
of endurance.
Third, we are to patiently strive
towards the Kingdom and God’s Righteousness.
Fourth, we are to find our assurance
for this race in Jesus.
Fifth, we are to run for joy.
Sixth, we are to submit to and
recognize Jesus as our Sovereign King.
First,
we are surrounded by the faithful who have died.
“Therefore,
since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,”
As
we read through the eleventh chapter of Hebrews and consider all these men and
women of the faith and their examples of living a life of faith – looking to
them as examples and encouragement to us and our faith, believing in the Savior
Who was to come and now has – Jesus, we do well to remember that these
witnesses – these martyrs – are not dead – they are alive. Of course they have not been reunited with
their physical bodies, but they are alive, in the presence of Jesus, our God
and Savior. As Jesus promised the thief
on the cross, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke
23:43b, ESV). All those who have lived
and died in the faith are with Jesus now – alive.
And,
as our text tells us, they are surrounding us like a cloud. We had a couple of foggy days recently, and
if you drove through it, you were surrounded by a cloud. That is the image we are to get – we are
thickly surrounded by the faithful who have died.
What
does that mean? Is this room filled with
those faithful who have died? Certainly
not in the Hollywood sense of a place being haunted. But, in some way, we are truly surrounded by
all of the saints who have come before us, and they see all of we who believe,
throughout the world. I won’t speculate
here on how that is possible, but we ought to recognize that those believers
who have gone on before us are here – surrounding us – and they see us.
Why? What are they doing? Again, get Hollywood out of your mind – we
are not being haunted – they are not “after us” in any sense. What they are doing is watching us live by
faith, and they are rejoicing in our faith and belief and obedience, and they
are applauding us in joy and thanksgiving to God, as we make our way through this
life as followers of Jesus.
Second, we are in a spiritual race
of endurance.
“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,”
The
author of Hebrews compares the life of faith with a race of endurance.
He
begins by telling us that if you are going to run a race, you want to have as
little extra weight on you as possible – we want to remove everything that
would impede our being able to run – we don’t want to be slowed down by
anything.
The
implication of the language is that we want to be able to run the race as best
as we can and we want to lay aside everything that could possibly hinder
us. As men and women of faith, we want
to disengage ourselves from anything that will delay our spiritual
progress. In love for Christ, we are
willing to set aside anything that will keep us from Him and from being
obedient to Him.
The
“weights” that we are to lay aside are anything in our life – even if it is not
sinful in-and-of itself – that slows down our spiritual progress. And these things may be different from person
to person.
As
we consider what God has said about being faithful and obedient – in pursuing
holiness – we may find that we have to give up a boyfriend or girlfriend, we
may have to remain single, or we may have to find a spouse. We may have to give up a job, or pass up a
promotion, or give away a large percentage of our money. We may have to leave our parents’ home, or go
to another country. Even if something is
not a sin in itself – like being married or single, or having any particular
job or any particular salary – if, for you, it is a weight that keeps you from
following God and running the race as well as possible – you must give it up.
We
may remember Jesus’ encounter with the rich young ruler:
“And
behold, a man came up to [Jesus] saying, ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to
have eternal life?’ And he said to him, ‘Why do you ask me about what is good?
There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.’
He said to him, ‘Which ones?’ And Jesus said, ‘You shall not murder, You shall
not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness,
Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
The young man said to him, ‘All these I have kept. What do I still lack?’ Jesus
said to him, ‘If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to
the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’ When the
young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions”
(Matthew 19:16-22, ESV).
What
weight did the young man need to lay aside?
His possessions. Why? We are not explicitly told. He may have loved money and things – it may
have been an issue of sin for him, but the fact of the matter is, his
possessions were a weight which he needed to give away if he was to run the
race of faith well. Would we be willing
to give up all of our stuff if we knew it would allow us to run the race of
faith better? Would we be willing to
give up any thing if we knew it would allow us to run the race of faith better?
Besides
whatever weight you or I might be carrying, the author of Hebrews tells us to
lay aside our sin. Even as Christians,
our sin nature is not completely gone – we sin – and we have indwelling sins –
sins that we particularly enjoy and frequent.
And our sin is the heaviest weight we can carry.
Paul
writes, “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from
every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the
fear of God” (II Corinthians 7:1, ESV).
We
are to remove sin from us – we are to engage in mortification – in putting our
sins to death, by knowing our weakness and watching for when and where we tend
to sin – doing everything we can to avoid those things which lead us into sin
and holding fast to the Holy Spirit, looking for that way of escape that God
has always made for us so we don’t have to ever sin and take that way of escape
– by the Power of God, the Holy Spirit, resist temptation – flee from the
devil. We need to look at ourselves and
identify our sins and do everything we can to subvert them – to keep ourselves from
entering into them again.
And,
no, it’s not easy – it will be a fight until the day we die. But Jesus died for our sins – and if we
believe that, we ought to understand that we are spitting in His face – just as
the soldiers did – if we choose to sin.
If we love Jesus, we must do everything we can to lay aside sin and not
do it – find a friend you can partner with, to pray with, and to receive
encouragement from.
And
take encouragement from all those men and women of faith that we have record of
who are now around us, watching us, cheering us on as we run our race, looking
forward to the day when the whole Church of God will be together in the
presence of Jesus in the Kingdom.
And
let us take time to prepare for the race – even as we run. It would be foolish and disastrous for me to
try to run a marathon this week – I not in shape for it – I have not
prepared. Similarly, we have to prepare
if we are to endure the race.
Part
of our preparation is identifying those weights and sins which we must deny
ourselves that we might run well. But we
also need to train positively; we need to be reading the Word of God, being in
worship with our brothers and sisters, being encouraged and being an encouragement
in the faith. We ought to be learning
what God has said and how to be stronger and more prepared to race. We ought to memorize God’s Word, or at least
know it well enough to find it in time of need.
We ought to develop relationships with fellow Christians that we can
rely on each other and run together and encourage one another and to lift each
other up as we fall or experience pain.
I
have never run a race – except in gym a long time ago – but, if you race or do
any kind of exercise, you know it hurts.
There is pain as we train our bodies and work with them to become
stronger and able to sustain more. And
if any one of us endures long enough, we will feel pain.
Pain
tells us that something is going on – it could mean something is wrong, or it
could be part of the process of becoming better. When we exercise properly and our muscles
hurt, it is because they are going through a process of becoming stronger.
Paul
explains that the whole Creation is experiencing pain as we race to the finish-line: “For we know that the whole creation has
been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the
creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan
inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies”
(Romans 8:22-23, ESV).
I
have never given birth to a child, but I understand it is very painful. Yet, mothers for thousands of years have
endured the pain to get to the finish line of birth. I would be surprised if, after Rebekah
endures delivery, she says that little Zerubbabel was not worth it. We endure, because the prize is worth the
pain. Especially in the realm of faith,
no matter what we suffer for the sake of Christ, it is worthwhile because of
the prize of Christ and His salvation.
That’s
what the author of Hebrews is trying to impress upon the readers of his
letter: get rid of those things that
weight you down, stop sinning, and understand that you will suffer as a
Christian, but enduring through it is worth what we receive in the end. Remember what Jesus said, “If the world hates
you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world,
the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but
I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word
that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they
persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will
also keep yours” (John 15:18-20, ESV).
And
yet, Paul writes, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting
away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary
affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all
comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that
are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are
unseen are eternal” (II Corinthians 4:16-18, ESV).
The
worst that we endure for the sake of Christ and His Kingdom will be nothing
compared to the glory that we receive when we finish the race – when we are
received into the fullness of the Kingdom.
The race, laying aside weights and sin, and enduring, are worth it all.
Third, we are to patiently strive
towards the Kingdom and God’s Righteousness.
This leads us to conclude – if
whatever we have to endure for the sake of Christ in living and maturing and
racing this life of faith – we ought to do so patiently. That is, we are to run the race – not
passively, not lazily – but with the greatest striving after the Kingdom and
God’s Righteousness.
After
Jesus addresses the fact that we ought not to be anxious about the things that
we need, He says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and
all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33, ESV). Seek the reality of God’s Sovereign Rule over
all of Creation and seek holiness in Him – this is to be our first and chief
striving – not for food and clothes and homes.
And
Paul explains, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only
one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises
self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we
an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.
But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to
others I myself should be disqualified” (I Corinthians 9:24-27, ESV).
We
are engaged in a competition to receive a prize. Just as someone involved in a race or in a
boxing match will fight and run to the best of his ability, pacing himself,
getting back up, monitoring himself and using all that he has to the best and
most efficient way that he might win, so we are to continue on – never giving
up, looking at the saints, remembering they are around us, keeping the goal
before us that God has set.
Fourth, we are to find our assurance
for this race in Jesus.
“looking
to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith,”
In
reality, despite the greatness of the prize and the encouragement of the saints
around us, we cannot find our assurance of enduring to the end in ourselves or
in those around us, because we are all sinners.
We will all fall. We will all
stumble in the race.
However,
we can be assured that all we who believe in Jesus Alone for salvation will
endure to the end of the race, because Jesus is both the Founder and the
Perfecter of our faith. What does that
mean?
It
means two things:
First,
our faith is not ours; it is a gift from God.
As Paul explains: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And
this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so
that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV).
Anyone who has faith – the ability to receive the Word of God and
believe it – has it because God gave it to him.
If you have faith, God gave you faith.
We do not naturally have faith – due to Original Sin.
But
not only that, it means, second, that God will bring us all the way to the end
of the race. As Paul explains: “For no
one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones,
wood, hay, straw—each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will
disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what
sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the
foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up,
he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire”
(I Corinthians 3:11-15, ESV). All those
who have been given the gift of faith will endure until the end because our
Foundation and Perfecter is Jesus.
So,
we are to continually look at Jesus as we run the race of faith – we are to be
in an ongoing act of faith and trust directed at Jesus, knowing that in looking
at Him – in relying on Him, we will receive the aid and the assistance we need
to make it to the end through the Holy Spirit Who God has sent to indwell all
we who believe.
Since
that is true:
Fifth, we are to run for joy.
“who
for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,”
Although
we ought to expect to endure through suffering for the sake of Christ in this
life, He suffered more greatly than we can comprehend as He endured the
cross. Jesus could have refused to go to
the cross – God did not have to promise and make the Way for sinners to become
right with God. But God chose to love us
and save us – to endure – literally – Hell for our sins on the cross – on top
of it being the most horrific way to die that man has created.
And
we might wonder why He did it? Why did
Jesus endure the cross?
The
author of Hebrews gives us what seems to be a curious and mysterious
answer: “for the joy that was set before
Him.” Jesus endure the worst suffering
imaginable, multiplied by the fact that He is the Holy God Who was despised by
His Creation and His taking on the penalty for the sins of all we who would believe
– for joy –
The
joy that was set before Him was the glorious end of bringing the Gospel to its
completion. The joy that was set before
Him was the glory of God in the salvation of the Church – the purpose and plan
of the Godhead from before the Creation.
If
God knows everything, why did He create us, knowing that we would sin and
require that God come to earth as a human being as our Substitute that we would
be right with Him? Why would God plan
for all this horror and pain – especially to His Holy Self?
Because
the joy He would receive in the end result of bringing a people to glory was
greater than not doing it. God created
everything that is and endured suffering for we who believe because the end of
it all would be greater joy for God than if He did not.
Then
what does it mean to say that He “despised the shame”?
It
is strangely worded in English – what we are being told is that Jesus did not
collapse under the shame – He was not overwhelmed or undone by the shame of
enduring the cross.
Instead,
He has become an example for us, as our Elder Brother – that we are to endure
whatever God sees fit to bring to us for the sake of Christ – for the joy that
we will receive in His Presence in the Kingdom.
Paul
writes, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children
of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,
provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him”
(Romans 8:16-17, ESV).
We
are promised that we will suffer – in one way or another – for Christ. Yet, we are promised that such suffering
confirms that we are sons and daughters with Christ – heirs of the Kingdom of
God.
However,
as we have said before, that does not mean that we are to seek out suffering,
but to understand it and endure it for the sake of Christ when it comes. As James writes, “Behold, we consider those
blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and
you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and
merciful” (James 5:11, ESV).
Sixth, we are to submit to and
recognize Jesus as our Sovereign King.
“and
is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
We
are given this image of Christ as seated – that He has completed the work of
the Gospel – and that He is seated at the Right Hand of God – that He is the
Sovereign Authority over all of Creation.
Jesus is reigning – now.
Jesus
is not inactive or asleep – He is reigning over the Creation. He is with that great cloud of witnesses, and
He – with them – is watching us run the race of faith. But Jesus, as our God and Savior, is not
merely watching and rejoicing in our trust and obedience as we receive the Word
of God, but He is there at the finish line to give us aid and assistance on the
way – and to hold before us Himself as the great and glorious reward toward
which we are running. Jesus is the judge
of the race, and all we who believe in Him will endure to the end – we will
complete the race, because Jesus is Sovereign and will not let one of His fall away.
As Jesus
prayed, “While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given
me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of
destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12, ESV).
The
author of Hebrews sought to encourage suffering Christians to hold fast to
their faith and not turn back to the Old Testament Sacrificial System. In the eleventh chapter, and into the twelfth,
we have seen him argue what faith is and what it means for we who believe in
Jesus.
He
explains that we are surrounded by the faithful who have died.
We
are in a spiritual race of endurance.
We
are to patiently strive towards the Kingdom and God’s Righteousness.
We
are to find our assurance for this race in Jesus.
We
are to run for joy.
And
we are to submit to and recognize Jesus as our Sovereign King.
If
we understand faith as he has explained it, and we believe that the saints are
alive, cheering us on, with Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, we can
run and endure and continue in faith and trust of Jesus Who is the Joy of the
faithful’s life.
Let
us pray:
Almighty
God, Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever. We look to You for salvation and ask that we
would remember these things about faith that You have taught us in the book of
Hebrews. Help us to keep before us the
Joy of being part of the plan that You chose to bring about from before the
foundation of the world. In our life and
in our death, in our praise and in our cries, may You be glorified, and may our
faith strengthen. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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