Hebrews 12 -NIV
1Therefore, since we
are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off
everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run
with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and
perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross,
scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners,
so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
God Disciplines His
Children
4In your struggle
against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And have you completely forgotten this word of
encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”a
7Endure hardship as
discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not
disciplined by their father? 8If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes
discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined
us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father
of spirits and live! 10They disciplined us
for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good,
in order that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.
Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those
who have been trained by it.
12Therefore, strengthen
your feeble arms and weak knees. 13“Make level paths for your feet,”b so that
the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
Warning and
Encouragement
14Make every effort to
live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see
the Lord. 15See to it that no one
falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause
trouble and defile many. 16See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like
Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.17Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this
blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he
could not change what he had done.
The Mountain of Fear
and the Mountain of Joy
18You have not come to a
mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness,
gloom and storm;19to a trumpet blast or
to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further
word be spoken to them, 20because they could not
bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be
stoned to death.”c 21The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am
trembling with fear.”d
22But you have come to
Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have
come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written
in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the
righteous made perfect, 24to Jesus the mediator
of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than
the blood of Abel.
25See to it that you do
not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who
warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who
warns us from heaven? 26At that time his voice
shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only
the earth but also the heavens.”e 27The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can
be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
28Therefore,
since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful,
and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29for our “God is a consuming fire.”
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 Jesus…My Fixed Point of Reference
“Turn Your Eyes Upon JESUS,
Look full in His Wonderful Face,
and the things of earth will go strangely dim,
In the Light of His Glory and Grace”
(v2) After reminding us that we are very much in a ‘race’ in our walk with God, the
Hebrews writer cheers us on, and gives us some tips as to how we can be
successful. “…Fix your eyes on Jesus!”, he
says. When they don’t run the church
the way you think they should, or when people in your life push you out of
the way in pursuit of their own agenda, or when life just doesn’t make sense,
the writer of the Hebrews says “…Fix your eyes on Jesus!” He reminds us that Jesus is the one who is
Significant, He is the ONE we take our cues from. He alone is the ONE we follow and
adore. He is our “Reset-Button”, if
you will.
Thirty years ago in the 80’s, my mentor and pastor, Allon Hornby
frequently used an important phrase while preaching, “JESUS …my fixed point of reference”. I loved that reference…and as an aviator this
was terminology I instantly and intuitively understood. I knew just exactly what he was
communicating. It was an awesome reference
and totally in my vernacular, my ‘lingua
franca’. When all around you things
are out of proportion, when all else is unsure, untested, shaky, mixed up ...LOOK
TO JESUS!
One of the highlights of this past summer has been to utilize
Phillip Keller’s book “A Shepherd Looks
at Psalm 23” for our family devotions.
It’s a book all about “Jehovah Rohi”, ~ Jesus our Shepherd. That book
and Psalm 23 reminds of God’s protection, provision and my destiny. But it’s all because of ...Jesus our “Constant-One-To-Count-On-In-So-Many-Ways”.
He’s Unchanging, Immutable, My “Constant-Friend”, “The-Lifter-of-my-Head”, “The
Lily of the Valley”, “The Bright-and-Morning Star”, “The Fairest of
ten-thousand”, “my Soon-Coming-King”; my Propitiation, my sin-covering! He would never fail me; He will never
let me down! I can trust His Word!
When I learned to fly airplanes in 1977, my instructors took
lots of time to explain the use of the instruments which were gyro-powered
and the associated principles of “rigidity in space”.
The marvel of a gyro instrument is that it can
instantly explain to you at just a glance, exactly what’s going on with the all-important attitude of your airplane. The teaching sequence is SCAN, INTERPRETATION and
CONTROL. You carefully look, interpret
what you see and thus make correct accurate controlling inputs to your
aircraft. Otherwise, when looking
outside a cockpit window in poor weather conditions, or finding yourself inside
a cloud as I frequently do during most flights, you are not able to tell up
from down or whether or not you are turning or rolling or flying straight and
level. Sort of like imagining you are
in the proverbial milk bottle with the resulting confusion. Our human senses
simply are not adaptable to be able to guide us out of situations when we
have lost the visual clues we require for reference.
Trusting in your own feelings and
interpretations will quickly get you into BIG trouble! You ABSOLUTELY MUST TRUST your gyro-powered
instruments or you will soon spin or spiral out of control within mere seconds.
In 100% of the cases …gravity wins.
However,
the gyro is readily available. It is
just sitting there and is spinning at 15,000 rpm; its mass and speed create
life-giving stability data to any navigation question. No matter what is happening around it, the
gyro is designed to happily just go on spinning rigidly, re-creating just for
me the horizon that is missing outside the foggy cockpit window. Literally, everything else revolves around
it! I just have to resist my own thoughts and
perceptions and TRUST and OBEY it’s guidance to navigate safely through the
sky. The second I decide that my human
instincts are superior to this gyro, is the second that I quickly learn my
fate. In the more sophisticated Boeing
767 and 757’s that I fly, three reliable, self-monitoring, laser-stabilized
gyros solve every movement or navigation question associated with this
aircraft - in every dimension. There
are no moving parts to wear out, and it is an engineering marvel that I can
count on at all times.
Christian …that’s what Jesus is to your life situation – RIDGIDLY
STABLE; Solid Like a ROCK! – NO MATTER WHAT IS GOING ON AROUND YOU! JESUS IS YOUR FIXED POINT OF REFERENCE!!!
Thus the Hebrews writer says “FIX, STARE or KEEP YOUR EYES ON
JESUS”. The original Greek word (ἀφορῶντες or aphorōntes) that is used here, actually says “gaze intently” or “stare”
or “to look away from
all else at” or ”directing close attention on one
thing without distraction”. It’s only used this once in the whole
bible. Indeed He only becomes our
fixed point of reference when we gaze intently at Him….forget what “other
people” are doing – YOU are going to look at Jesus
and trust Him for all your life!
Jesus said “…Take my yoke upon you and learn
from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for
your souls. For my yoke is easy and my
burden is light.” ~ Matthew 11
WITH OUR
EYES FIXED ON JESUS, WE WILL WIN THIS FAITH RACE!
(v6) God
disciplines his sons; Here scripture
tells us that if we willfully sin, that God has a plan in mind for us. He will discipline us. Other non-Christians may get away with
this, but as a child of God, this indicates here that God will step into the
situation and correct us.
Let’s say
your colleagues at work, punch each other’s time clock. Oh Oh! This is obviously stealing from your
employer, in that you get paid for this while not giving the required work
during this time period you are absent.
…but everybody does it! One day
you get the idea that you need some extra time at the mall to run a few
errands that you can’t otherwise seem to fit in. ~ While a work colleague has
punched your time clock for you, you run into the boss at the mall. BUSTED!
You will receive an unpleasant consequence for your action.
God wants to let us receive the consequence
in order for Him to begin to build the character of Jesus into us ~ in spite
of our sin The loving father wants us
to stop this behavior and instead begin to portray the life of Christ in us, as we grow in God’s grace and character!
He loves us too much not to teach us the lessons we deserve!
WITH OUR EYES FIXED ON JESUS, WE WILL WIN THIS FAITH RACE!
Discovering Questions
·
Of what value is it to keep
your eyes on Jesus (vv. 2-3)?
·
What discipline of the
Hebrews do you think the writer alludes to (vv. 3-4, 7; 11:35-38)?
·
How do the values of God's
discipline cited here help us to respond positively to discipline (vv.
10-12)?
·
Identify the writer's
specific instructions in verses 14-17. On what principles are they based?
·
How could you identify a
"bitter root" or a "godless Esau" in your life (vv.
15-16)?
·
We've all been tempted to
drop out of the race. Why would the warning of verses 25-29 cause us to
reconsider?
·
What hindrances and
entanglements get in the way of your Christian faith-race (v. 1)? Why?
·
What encouragement do you
find in verses 18-24 to run the faith-race with perseverance?
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