Hebrews 12:1-5
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, 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, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.”
The beginning of Chapter 12 of Hebrews gives meaning to the historical account of faith in Chapter 11. The follower of Christ is now portrayed as a contestant in an athletic competition where they are running a race in front of a great crowd. The crowd is formerly mentioned, but not limited to, in chapter 11 of those who had acted in faith because of the hope set before them. The crowd comprises the entire scope of human history in the Old Testament. The Christian is exhorted to lay aside anything that could weigh them down or bind them up in their run. This race will require endurance. This is not a race of ease and comfort, or a contest void of struggle. In fact, the exact opposite is true. The race will be marked by perseverance, and the ones that endure will finish. The writer illuminates the singular point of focus for the runner, Jesus. Christ’s example of enduring because of what was before him should be the pattern of his followers. The Christian is then encouraged not to become weary in persecution because of the example of Christ.
1. The Crowd
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses”
The subtle shift of the modern church over the last 40 years has been to please people and not God. We love adulation and appreciation. We have ceased correcting and put all of our energy into encouragement. We have designed everything to be so pleasant for the person inquiring about faith that when they join the family, they are shocked when there is correction. The writer of Hebrews in this chapter covers the discipline of the child of God in verses 7-11.
Hebrews 12:7–11 “It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
The heart of the church has rejected discipline and embraced affirmation. When we do this, we misinterpret who is in the crowd. The crowd is not there to clap for us as we half-heartedly attempt to run a race we are not sure we want to win, but to be an example for us to look up to and compare ourselves to when we are discovering what it requires to run this race successfully. The great cloud is a group of faith-hardened people who endured and suffered rejection and yet were satisfied to run toward the hope in front of them. The question remains, do we need more examples of encouragement or more examples of endurance?
Another important note about the crowd is that the narrative in chapter 11 covers the breadth of the Old Testament history. The list covers the family of Adam and Eve all the way past King David. We are carrying a legacy of faith. This did not start with us. As Gentile followers of Christ, we have been adopted into the family, and our names have been changed. When that happens, we are not introducing our traditions into the family but carrying on the beliefs and values of the ones that came before us. The crowd is a reminder of what we are carrying.
2. The Weight
Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, 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 race is one that requires endurance. The writer clearly understands our propensity to make the race exponentially harder by our affections toward the material and our proclivity to sin. The more we need, the harder it is to run. What do we spend our time praying about? In the Lord’s Prayer, daily bread was one aspect of the prayer, not the overarching theme. Why is fasting so hard? Why is giving of time so difficult? Why is generosity with money so sensitive? Is the reason because we simply have a hard time giving up what we desire and we have been convinced that the pace we are running is normal?
Matthew 6:24 ““No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
The more we sin, the harder it is to run. Now we have a clear reason to see why discipline is necessary.
Ephesians 4:22 “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,”
We are called to consistently put off sin because it inhibits us from communion with God and accomplishing his will in our lives. A professional runner wears clothes suited for running. They are designed to give freedom of movement and the least amount of drag.
3. The Focus
Hebrews 12:2 “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
The idea of looking to Jesus is one of focus. Christ is never to be in our peripheral vision. If we only see him out of the corner of our eye, our race will be inconsistent with little motivation and an unsure finish.
Exodus 20:4 ““You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”
Our culture has made Jesus an inspiring figure with no real necessity of following him as Lord. This reduction places the author of life in a supporting role in that he should be available to meet all our our needs as we run the race we best see fit.
Jesus is not simply an inspiration; he is the author. Christ is the founder of the race and the one who perfected the run. Everyone who has successfully run it before has put him as their focus. He ran for us, he ran to redeem us, he ran for the joy set before him. We now run to him, our joy before us. It is in this preaching of the Gospel to ourselves that we keep focused and able to shed the weight.
It is not in what I have that enables me to run, it is not in how good I am that enables me to run, but it is Christ and Christ alone that enables me to run and run with endurance. When it becomes difficult, He remains our joy.