Oct 19, 2015

The Gyro and the Faith-Race ~ Hebrews 12











In Hebrews
… Jesus is my High Priest

>Hebrews 12    ~ And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” ~ (v.1 & 2)

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.”

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 (φορντες or aphorōntes) that is used here, actually says “gaze intently” or “stare” or to look away from all else ator ”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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