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IS GOD WHEN IT HURTS? Hebrews 12: 1-13 INTRODUCTION There are
two wrong ways to deal with this verse. We are not to go out and look for persecution
in order to prove that we are godly.
There are many who get others mad at them not because they are
godly, but because they are simply being obnoxious.
We can’t be like Jehovah Witnesses who keep track of how many
times they are treated rudely and use that to prove they are the only
true Christians. The verse says
that it is in the course of being godly that we are persecuted, not
because we are trying to provoke people for the sake of proving our
godliness. But also, we cannot simply say that we are godly
when our godliness never provokes opposition from the world, personally
and as a church. We are
not being persecuted just because we know the prevailing culture is
hostile to Christianity. We
are not being persecuted when Christians in I cannot avoid, when I read the NT, that the expected state of affairs is that as we follow Jesus in a life of love for him and for others, this will regularly lead us into open conflict with the powers of this world. The NT regularly describes the lives of those who are following Christ to heaven as having lives full of suffering for the sake of Jesus. What keeps us from living the sort of radical, godly lives that will provoke the hostility of others? Fear that we will lose our comforts on earth and fear of the disapproval of others. We like peaceful, comfortable lives and are afraid of doing anything that will put the peace and comfort of our lives at risk. This unwillingness to risk losing our present comfort in order to love Christ and others prevents us from living the radical godliness that is to be the normal Christian life. Hebrews 12: 1-14 was written for people just like us. In this passage the author is seeking to give us reasons as to why we should embrace the sufferings that will certainly come to us when we seek to live a godly life. He is seeking to give us weapons to fight off the fear that seizes us when we contemplate risking our personal comfort and security in order to follow Christ. Turn with me to Hebrews 10:32-39 in order to see the situation that the author is dealing with among this group of Christians. In vv. 32-34 the author reminds them of the kinds of suffering they have already endured because they have been followers of Christ. Some of them were thrown into prison. Others risked their reputations to go take care of those who were in prison. Others had their property confiscated. Others were publicly insulted and persecuted. These people had experienced 2 Timothy 3:12. In pursuing a godly life, they were persecuted. However, they have grown tired of the trouble and are considering dropping out of the race. They don’t want to continue risking their comfort and security because of their commitment to Jesus. Look at vv. 35-36, “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” In other words, the author believes, based upon the testimony of Jesus, that only those who persevere in faith, through the trouble, will make it to heaven. In 12: 1-14 he is seeking to give us reasons to persevere. He wants to give us courage to take risks. He wants us to know that…. MAIN POINT Suffering is necessary for
you to make it to heaven because I. It was
necessary for Jesus, therefore you should run with endurance (vv. 1-4) In these
opening four verses the author is using the metaphor of the Greek Olympics
to show the necessity of endurance in order to gain the prize.
The witnesses that are surrounding us are all those faithful
believers he talked about in chapter 11.
However, the idea here is not that they are watching us.
They are not sitting in the stands watching us compete and so
we don’t want to disappoint them. Rather,
they are witnesses in this sense; they are competitors who have gone
before us in the life of persevering faith and who bear witness to the
truth that a life of suffering now is amply repaid by the joy of living
with God forever. When you look
at Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Rahab, Ruth,
David, John the Baptist, Paul, etc. we are to see in them examples of
men and women who risked personal comfort and safety for the sake of
Christ and received, as a result of their faith, what was promised. Abraham would not have been called the friend
of God, nor would he have been given the promise that God would bless
all the nations of the earth through him if he would have remained in
the settled comfort and security of So in v. 1 the author tells us that we should do as these men and women did. We should be like men and women who are competing in an Olympic race. When runners prepare for a race they remove every ounce of clothing they can remove. They wear the lightest, aerodynamic clothing they can obtain in order to run the race. In the same way, we are commanded to throw off everything that hinders us running the race, every sin that entangles us and then run with endurance the race that God has set before us. This is the same language that the apostle Paul uses in 1 Cor. 9: 24-27 when he says, “Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way so as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training, they do it to get a prize that will not last, we do it to get a prize that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly. I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” Paul is not saying that he is earning heaven by his beating his body. We do not go to heaven because we throw off encumbrances and sin. Rather, just like Olympic runners, we show that we believe the prize is worth it and that we aim to obtain it by our running the race in order to win. Imagine talking to someone who is sitting on the sidelines, dressed in street clothes. He says to you that he is absolutely confident that he is going to win the Olympic gold medal in the 200 meter dash. You ask him how much training he has done to prepare and he replies, “Are you kidding I hate running and sweating. You will never catch me doing that.” You ask him how he intends to run the race in his street clothes and he says, “You’re nuts if you think I’m going to wear one of those tight fitting running suits. They are ugly.” It doesn’t matter how much the man tells you he believes that obtaining the gold medal is the best thing he can imagine. If he doesn’t train and doesn’t throw off his street clothes and run the race, he doesn’t really believe. But notice in v. 2 how the author moves from the examples of believers in the past to the ultimate example, Jesus. He continues the racing metaphor. He tells us not only that we are to throw off every hindrance to running and every sin that entangles but we are to fix our eyes upon Jesus. Why should we fix our eyes upon Jesus? There are three reasons. I want to consider each of them in turn. First, he is the supreme example of a life of faith and the reward that is gained from living by faith. This is the main emphasis of what the author is doing. See how he repeats himself in v. three. Not only are we to fix our eyes on Jesus but also we are to carefully consider his endurance of the hostility of sinful men so that we will not lose heart and drop out of the race. In v. 4 we are to carefully consider that our suffering does not even come close to the suffering that he endured. We are to give careful attention to three things, the suffering he endured, the reward he obtained and the way he was able to endure in order to obtain the reward. Consider that he is the eternal Son of God who deserves all praise and all obedience. He is the one who created the universe and every human being. He is the one who holds the universe together by the word of his command. Yet he became a man and lived as a nobody in a remote corner of the planet he made. When he began publicly loving people and teaching them the truth of God for the purpose of freeing men and women from their slavery to sin, he was treated with contempt and disdain. The people in his hometown tried to kill him. The religious leaders hated him and plotted his death. He was betrayed by one of his closest friends and abandoned by those who had pledged him their undying loyalty. He was falsely accused and put on trial for crimes he never committed. He was spitefully mocked and tortured. Then he was put on a cross, suffering the shame of death as a common criminal, alone. In the end he was abandoned even by his Father, though he had never sinned. He endured all this as the only innocent human to ever live on planet earth. He endured all this, though he is Lord of the universe and could have, at any time, put a stop to it all with simply one word of command to his angels. He did this all for the glory of his Father and for our joy. You will never risk the loss of any comfort or endure any pain in faith unless you regularly pay careful attention to the sufferings of Christ. I cannot tell you how important thinking about the sufferings of Jesus has been to me in enduring the pain of Jared’s accident and ongoing suffering. My suffering does not begin to compare with what my son is enduring. However, his suffering does not begin to compare with the sufferings that Jesus endured. When you are feeling all alone, as if you have no friends, think about Jesus on the cross. When your spouse treats you like dirt, think about Jesus before Pilate. When your body is wracked with pain and you are in despair, carefully consider Jesus with the crown of thorns and being lashed with whips. When you have no money, think about Jesus with no home and no support except that from the kindness of others. Not only are we to consider his sufferings but we are to consider the reward of his endurance. Notice at the end of v. 2 that he, as a result of his sufferings has now sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Earlier in Hebrews 10, we are told that he is in this position of authority waiting for the day when he will come to save his people and destroy all his enemies. He is God’s agent of his just anger against the wickedness of men and angels. He is right now enjoying all the honor and privileges of being the Prince of God’s kingdom. Could Jesus have obtained this reward without the shame of the cross? Absolutely not. Can you obtain the joys of heaven without joining Christ in a life of suffering love? Absolutely not. Notice in v. 2 how it is that Jesus endured the suffering. It was for the joy that was set before him. Jesus endured the hostility of sinful men, the shame of being treated like a criminal, the pain of the cross because he had firmly fixed in his mind the joy of being seated at God’s right hand. His mind and heart were full of the anticipation of the salvation of all God’s people that he was working to obtain and of the destruction of all God’s enemies. He lived in the hope of joy, which produced joy in him in the present. Everyone in this room knows how this works. Everyone here has endured a hard week of work or school with joy because he was looking forward to a party on the weekend or a trip or golf outing or shopping. We all know how to find joy in the present based upon a joy that is coming. This is what faith is. This is how Jesus lived and it is how we are to live. He is the one who perfected the life of faith. Second, not only is Jesus the chief example of a life of faith, he is the goal or reward of faith. Just like an Olympic runner fixes his attention upon the finish line and the joy of the gold medal, so we are to fix our attention on Jesus who is the goal of our faith. The ultimate goal of God’s saving work is expressed in Hebrews 8: 8-12 where we are told that the aim of God’s saving work in Christ is that “he will be our God and we will be his people”. The ultimate goal of salvation is not forgiveness or heaven or perfect health or no more sin. The ultimate goal is to belong to and know God. He is eternal life. He is the reward of faith for which we run the race with endurance. He is the satisfaction of all our dreams and hopes. If your attention is not fixed upon Christ as the goal of your faith, then you are not running the race that God set before you and you will not endure. Third, he is not only the example of faith and the goal of faith, he is also the one who creates and sustains faith by his work. When we are told that Jesus is the author of our faith, we are being reminded that Jesus is the creator and sustainer of faith. It is by Jesus’ death and resurrection that God the Spirit gives us faith and sustains our faith. This is why the book of Hebrews ends with my favorite benediction, which says in part, “May the God of peace… work in us what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ, to who be the glory forever, Amen.” We know from Hebrews 11:6 that what is pleasing to God is faith and here we see that faith is something we are given through Jesus. Suffering
is necessary for you to make it to heaven because…
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It was necessary for Jesus, therefore you should run with endurance
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And because… II. It is
necessary to prove you are God’s child, therefore you should endure
it as loving discipline (vv. 5-9) I need to say something about this word discipline. When we think of this word we usually only think about discipline as corrective pain. In other words, discipline in our minds is only administered when there has been an infraction of some rule. While this is in part how the word is used in the Proverbs, it is not the only way it is used. It is also used for the regular, disciplined instruction of children in the ways of wisdom. It is used 26 times in Proverbs. Here is an example of its use for corrective discipline in response to disobedience: “Folly is bound up in a child but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.” Here is one example of its use in reference to discipline as simply instruction for wisdom: “Listen my son to your father’s discipline (NIV=instruction) and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.” (Prov. 1:8). In other words, good fathers cause their children to embrace the pain of study and restraint of their passions all the time, not just when they are disobedient. Good parents are after a disciplined life and one of their teaching methods is punishment for misdeeds, but they also have a whole arsenal of other methods, all of which are called “discipline”. It is used of the general way that fathers instruct their children when they are good and when they are bad. In other words, it would be wrong of you to presume that the reason God sent the persecution upon these Christians is because they did something wrong. The suffering is given out of God’s love for them for the purpose of instructing them in the ways of wisdom. We will talk in a minute about what is the good for which God sends the “discipline” or “instruction” but it is very important for you to know that this passage is not just talking about God’s discipline upon disobedient Christians. When I suffer pain and loss it is motivated by love and is either God’s corrective discipline upon me because of my disobedience or it is simply God’s ongoing course of training to make me into a wise son or it is both. The shocking
thing about this discipline is that the discipline that God sent to
these people was the persecution listed in In addition, these verses don’t just apply to persecution. As v. 7 makes clear and as the use of these words throughout the NT makes clear, all the hardships that come to me as I am faithfully following Christ are sent by God. I have often used these verses in counseling married people who have been deeply offended and sinned against by their spouse. I have used these to help those who have been mistreated by their employers or neighbors. I have used these in my own life in relation to our suffering. Notice the logic in v. 9. Your parents instructed and disciplined you. You submitted to them and listened to their instructions and they are mere humans. How foolish would it be for you to not submit to the God who rules over the entire universe, including the unseen world of spirits? Do not fight against or complain against God’s ways with you. He is treating you as a beloved son. He is the king of the universe and deserves your trust infinitely more than your parents ever did. You endured the discipline of your parents, how can you reject Gods? My mom often told me, when I complained about the freedom that my friends had compared to her strict rules that these other parents were not loving their children by giving them all this freedom. She would tell me she loved me and that she wanted me to grow up to be a man who lived a useful and happy life and that is why she “disciplined” me with her strict rules. I listened to mom, who is wise, but who is stupid compared to the infinite wisdom of God. I did as she said, most of the time even though I didn’t always understand the reasons she had for her rules. If I trusted her judgment and did as she required, how can I not submit to an infinitely wise and loving father when he sends me trouble? Suffering is necessary for you to make it to heaven because…
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And because… III. It
is necessary for making you fit for heaven; therefore, you should be
trained by it (vv. 10-14) Verses 10-14 are so critical for us to understand. If you and I will believe what these verses say we will live such free and fruitful lives. However, if we refuse to believe this then we will live in slavery, sorrow, futility, and we will not make it to heaven. He again makes a comparison with our human fathers. Human fathers only discipline us for a little while and then only according to their limited, fallen understanding. I do not know any honest parent that does not often second-guess himself or herself as to whether they are doing the right things to train their children. I do not know any honest parent who is not fully convinced that they have often failed miserably as a parent due to their own sin and stupidity. On the other hand, God is the perfect parent. He is infinitely wise and loving. He has our ultimate good in view at all times and he knows exactly what kind of training it will take for us to experience the ultimate good he has in view. What is the ultimate good that God has in view? Four clauses describe the ultimate good for which God is aiming. In v. 10 it is that we might share in his holiness. In v. 11 it is a harvest of righteousness and peace; at a “later time”. In v. 13 it is that we might be healed. In v. 14 it is that we might obtain the holiness that is necessary for us to see the Lord. I want to consider how each of these point to the goodness of God’s goal for our lives so that you and I will want the good that God is seeking to work in us. First, to share in God’s holiness is to share in that which makes God, God. It is to be a partaker of the divine nature. It’s like admiring Brett Favre’s football skills and then saying, “If I could be half the football player that Brett Favre is, I would be happy. If I could share in his skill, how awesome that would be.” If you are a Christian it is God’s goal for you to share in that which makes God so admirable, his very own holiness. We will never be God, we will always and only share in what he is in his being. But won’t that be cool! Second, his goal for you is that you will actually attain righteousness and peace in heaven. God is working out a salvation that results in you actually being righteous and living at peace with God, man and the entire universe. Right now, you are daily confronted with how unrighteous you are and if you are a Christian it is the source of your greatest sorrow. Right now, daily you are confronted with disharmony, chaos, and alienation in your relationships with men and God. Right now, the created world often is a source of pain and frustration for you. However, there is a day coming when you will always be motivated by love and you will always act in love and righteousness. There is a day coming when you will live in a community of kindness and cooperation and in a world that always serves you and your happiness. God sends suffering to you now so that you can have a part in that world and experience that righteousness and peace later. Right now, we are all like lame people walking along the path. We are continually stumbling and in danger of falling off the way. Right now, life feels broken and I feel broken. However, there is a day coming when we will be healed, when our brokenness will be repaired and we will be able to enjoy life as a whole person. Finally, there is a day coming when I will see God. Now that day will only come when I am holy. God sends the suffering to me so that I will become holy, that is, that I will seek all my joy in him and his ways and not in this world. I will only see him if I have grown in holiness here. Notice in v. 10 that the way that God is giving me all this good is through pain right now. God is sending short-term pain for the purpose of giving us long-term gain. The way that we are to respond to this pain is to allow it to train us. How do we do that? We do it the same way that Jesus did it. We fix our attention on the joy that is coming and submit to the temporary pain in hope. We discover that we can live with the pain and without the comforts that have been taken away because we are so eager for what is coming. We help one another to endure by reminding one another of the joy that is coming. We help carry those who are suffering among us. We risk the loss of comfort and security in order to love others. We keep on trusting in the goodness of God and loving others even when all earthly hope is gone. This is the way we are trained by the discipline and so gain the future joy. Make no mistake, you will not share in his holiness, obtain righteousness and peace, be healed or see the Lord if you will not be trained by the discipline that God gives to you. Suffering is necessary for you to make it to heaven because…
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It is necessary to prove you are God’s child, therefore you should
endure it as loving discipline
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It is necessary for making you fit for heaven, therefore you should
be trained by it
©
Copyright 2002 John Swanson.
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