Hebrews - Chapter 12
CHRIST – OUR FAULTLESS EXAMPLE
While Jesus is always our best example of the Christian life, we were blessed last week in the great lesson on the faith chapter to be given a roll call of those who truly lived in faith that was steadfast.
This chapter is a call to be constant in the Christian life which we all profess and is an exhortation to us to remain steadfast in our journey toward personal holiness.
It is a bell ringing reminder to each of us to return & dwell in our first works that began when we first felt the spiritual heat of His love & grace enter our hearts.
12:1-4
THROW OFF HINDERANCES
We are challenged in these first four verses to keep in mind the necessary applications of our faith and, as servants for Christ, consider & discard those things which hinder us from following in proper service.
We should avoid those things and not be satisfied with mediocre service, but should persist toward our most excellent service.
This is perserverance and is following the example set for us by Jesus and those who are described in Hebrews 11.
We should always recall that many of those in the roll call of the last chapter remained in faith to the end of life here WITHOUT seeing the promise filled.
2 Cor 5:15 “And that he died for all, and they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.”
We are given the metaphor of a race that is set before us as our lives for him. The figure of a race as the Godly path occurs numerous times in scripture:
Psalm 119:32 : “I will run the way of thy commandments...”
Song of Solomon 1:4: “Draw me, we will run after thee...”
1 Cor 9:24 “... so run the race that you may obtain the prize”
Philippians 3:14 “I press toward the mark for the prize...'
2 Tim 4:7 : “...I have finished my course...”
Gal 5:7 (“… ye did run well…”)
The race is far more than easy, it requires rigorous self-denial, discipline, hard exertion of will, & strong endurance.
The Christian race begins at new birth and continues every moment until we are called to leave this world.
It is not based upon idle talk nor on academic speculation but rather is fundamentally directing all energy into holy action while the flesh, the world, and the devil all provide headwinds to slow us, discourage us, or perhaps stop us.
The focus of this attention should be exclusively Christ and nothing else as we journey here, belonging to Him and Him alone.
Note the order of this scripture teaching, as it is a familiar one seen elsewhere, known as “from the lesser to the greater”:
We must lay aside the “hindering weights” before we can run the race.
We must turn from the world before we can turn to Him. (Isa 55:7)
Self must be denied before Christ can be followed. (Matt 16:24)
The old man must be put off, the new man put on. (Eph 4:22-24)
We must deny worldly lusts before we can live Godly. (Titus 3:12)
We must cleanse ourselves before holiness comes. (2 Cor 7:1)
We cannot be conformed to this world, before we can be transformed by the renewing of our minds. (Rom 12:2)
If we are ministering correctly, we will face opposition. This fact is a sure part of our service to Christ.
Verse 4 teaches there had been no shedding of blood which likely indicates that there had not yet been persecution unto torture nor death among these readers for whom the message was written.
As we move forward it seems proper to think about what are the attributes that make up our walk with the Lord:
A life lived in complete dependence on the Lord.
Prov 3:5-6 – “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding…”
A life lived in communion with the Lord.
Psalm 16:8 – “I have set the Lord always before me…”
John 8:29 – “He that sent me is with me”
A life lived in obedience to the Lord.
Gal 5:6 – “Faith worketh by love…” (and love delights to please).
Assured confidence in the unseen future (Heb 11:1)
Finally, we should be sure we remember the “great cloud of witnesses” in verse one. These were men like us, men with passions, difficulties, & discouragements, met by the same hinderances to cast aside and obstacles to overcome.
They ran with patience and overcame by “looking away from difficulties” (Rom 4:19) and looking unto Jesus (Heb 11:26).
12:5-11 ENDURING DISCIPLINE
We should not take it too lightly when we find ourselves disciplined (chastened) by God. His discipline may be either direct or indirectly through circumstances or other people brought into our lives. Fatherly discipline, properly given, is usually followed by greater respect.
Proverbs 29:17 “Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest…”
We also, however, should not take the Lord’s chastisement to ever mean our sonship or salvation is voided. Once adopted, we are an heir, once saved we are always saved.
12:12-28 LIVE A HOLY LIFE
12-13
We should try to make our Christian lifestyle easier to live both for ourselves and for others. We should remove things that are distractions and that lead us into sin. We should try to live in a way that builds up our happy obedience and should be wary of inappropriate relationships.
14-15
Although Christians will face opposition, we should not try to generate conflicts. Most times it is not necessary to break the law of man nor to be rude to our fellow man in order to serve the Lord by our witness.
Jesus provided our example in this important area.
Bitterness is often a reaction to God’s discipline and often He will bring us into humility by His method of chastening. We should give thanks to the Lord for these instances as in each case, if we become more humble, we therefore become more Christlike.
Remember Paul’s affliction (“Lest I should be exalted… there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me…”)
16-17
Those who know right from wrong, and do the wrong anyway, will become corrupted in their hearts and will do shameful things without feeling shame.
18-24
God does not approach believers as He revealed himself to the people of Israel on Mount Sinai when he gave the law. This event represented a stage in the process of conversion of His chosen people.
Gal 3:24 “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith”.
It has done this by revealing to us God’s holiness and standard of justice, thus giving us conviction of sin and ultimately revealing our need for a Savior.
After the wilderness, and after Jesus lived, died, & arose, we are justified by His blood. Able’s blood cried out for justice, but the blood of Jesus provides justice.
25-28
We should make sure we have responded properly to the gospel and VERY IMPORTANT, we should remember it is not proper nor sufficient to accept Christ as Savior while refusing to accept Him as Lord.
Many nominal Christians (those who are in name only, not in life) make this mistake and it is a most serious one.
Sin, and its domain will be removed from the believers and be replaced by the new creation (those things which cannot be shaken).
29
OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE
It sounds like we are reverting back to Mount Sinai and the OT but we are not. This verse is a positive one for us as believers, as it is the sin that will be burned up, not the believer who is burned.
Our lives are like a book, and the Lord burns up all the pages of sin that we have lived and what remains establishes our rewards so the losses of those pages have only gauged our place in glory.
1 Cor 3:11-15 “… If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire”.