Hebrews 3-12:1 NIVUK
[1] Therefore, 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 that was 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. https://bible.com/bible/113/heb.12.1.NIVUK
I live in Scotland. Scotland is sport crazy. Football (or soccer, if you are American) is practically our national religion. More people attend football matches every Saturday than go to church on a Sunday. The city of Glasgow has a population of barely a million people, yet it had three stadiums with a capacity greater than fifty thousand people and two of them are completely full at least every two weeks.
The effects of a crowd of that size on player confidence is something on which psychologists could write a thesis. Scottish crowds are a lot of things – quiet isn’t one of them. The noise from football crowds during a match has been likened to standing next to an airplane taking off.
Whether they are for you or against you, it’s pretty clear that not everyone can cope with performing sport in that atmosphere. More than once, big name players have come to Glasgow, been intimidated by the crowd and underperformed.
But when they are for you... professionals have played in that kind of atmosphere talk of the crowd being like a ‘twelfth man’, as if their noise sucks the ball into the goal.
It really is quite something.
The writer to the Hebrews, like Paul (some believe it actually was Paul), is writing to people in a very difficult situation. They are being actively persecuted and ostracised by their own people – in some cases by former friends, colleagues, neighbours or even family members – simply because they decided to follow Jesus.
And that’s not all:
Hebrews 34-10:32 NIVUK
[32] Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. [33] Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. [34] You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. https://bible.com/bible/113/heb.10.34.NIVUK
Their life was difficult, and following Christ made it even more difficult. They risked excommunication from their fellow Jews and execution from the Romans.
Something the like of which some of us will ever experience.
Yet there are four sources of great encouragement in this passage and in Philippians.
The first of these is the witnesses:
Hebrews 12:1 NIVUK
[1] Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses... https://bible.com/bible/113/heb.12.1.NIVUK
As well as a cloud, the word used here can also refer to a huge crowd.
And what is this crowd?
Hebrews 11. The Hall of Faith. The great multitude of those who have gone before us in the faith. Paul sees them as supporters of the Jewish believers, cheering them on in their faith.
In Philippians, we see a similar crowd of people who are seeking to support and encourage the Philippians in their faith.
We see Paul himself (Philippians 1:3-11). We see Timothy (Philippians 2:20). We see Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:25-28). And, as we have just seen, we have believers experiencing huge risks and persecution in Rome (Philippians 4:23).
The message is so clear for the Jewish believers and the Philippians: you are not alone.
There are others who are supporting you, are concerned for you and are holding you up in prayer.
And that is beyond precious.
But as well as the witnesses, we also see the weight. In other words, if we are to set our focus on following Jesus as our first priority, there are things that we must leave behind:
Hebrews 12:1 NIVUK
[1] Therefore, 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... https://bible.com/bible/113/heb.12.1.NIVUK
There are two kinds of weight here: that which hinders and that which entangles.
That which hinders symbolises things that are not morally wrong, but which are an encumbrance and slow us down. This could be anything from a negative attitude or habit to people who continually discourage us in our walk with God.
They must go.
Have you ever seen the London Marathon? There are those who are ‘fun-runners’, who are sponsored to finish the race to raise money for charity. Many of these people do it in costumes: some as babies, others as animals or dinosaurs, one man even completed it in an old fashioned deep sea diving costume (it took him several days).
But the professional athletes do not to this. They race in thin clothes, designed to minimise weight and drag and remove sweat from their skin.
Why?
Because they are racing to win.
We should run the Christian life to win. We should shed anything that will make it harder for us to follow Jesus. We should set them aside.
Paul himself did this when he set aside his former Jewish life, with all its dependency on outward signs of religiosity, and pursued Christ (Philippians 3:1-9).
The writer to the Hebrews wants them to do the same.
The weights that entangle are a picture taken from the ancient world. Men and women in those days wore long robes like togas. They looked very formal, but were useless for running. If you tried, you would fall over after a few paces.
That is why the ancient olympians, who did not have the benefit of modern fabrics and clothing design, used to run buck naked. They has nothing that would hold them back.
We were told to put off our sin:
Ephesians 24-4:22 NIVUK
[22] You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; [23] to be made new in the attitude of your minds; [24] and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. https://bible.com/bible/113/eph.4.22.NIVUK
This implies something very, very important. We often see sin as slavery – and the Bible is open about this (John 8:34; Romans 7:14, 25). In other words, there us a certain point in our life when sin takes us captive and we seem to lose our right to choose.
Anyone who has been involved in a dependency-forming sin, whatever that may be, will know what I mean.
Yet through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection from the dead, the power of sin is broken:
Romans 14-6:11 NIVUK
[11] In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. [12] Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. [13] Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. [14] For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. https://bible.com/bible/113/rom.6.11.NIVUK
In other words, because of Christ’s victory over sin and death and hell, our power to choose has been restored: we can now choose to take off the sin that so easily entangles and follow Jesus.
Hallelujah!
That is why in Philippians 2 we see Paul teaching the Philippians to lay aside the sinful thoughts and attitudes of their earlier life and to seek to become Christ-like, an appeal which he continues in Philippians 3:17.
Apart from the witnesses and the weight, we also see the way:
Hebrews 12:1 NIVUK
[1] Therefore, 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.
The teaching here echoes Paul’s in Ephesians, where he neatly and precisely debunks both the ideas that we are saved by works not grace, and that if we are saved by grace then there us no need to work:
Ephesians 10-2:8 NIVUK
[8] For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – [9] not by works, so that no-one can boast. [10] For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. https://bible.com/bible/113/eph.2.8.NIVUK
In other words, it is not enough to say that we have been saved by Christ. There us more to life than that. We are saved with a purpose, nd that purpose is to glorify God through how we live. If we sit back and say, ‘Well, I’m saved so it doesn’t matter how I live’ then it’s clear that we have utterly misunderstood the purpose of grace and have not been saved at all.
How can I say this?
Jesus stated the essence of what it takes to obey God and follow Him:
Matthew 40-22:34 NIVUK
[34] Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. [35] One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: [36] ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ [37] Jesus replied: ‘ “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” [38] This is the first and greatest commandment. [39] And the second is like it: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” [40] All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’ https://bible.com/bible/113/mat.22.37.NIVUK
So if our hearts are hardened and filled with the egotism of sin, if we think we can get away with breaking this command, or at least look to stretch its limits as far as we can, then we have no intention of following Jesus. We are not Christians. We might think we are culturally or philosophically or because of our family, but to be a Christian, we must seek to be like Christ. If we have no intention of doing so, then we are not a Christian.
It is imperative that we run the course set out for us, that we do the good deeds planned for us.
So we must run. The Greek word for ‘to run’ doesn’t just mean ‘to move with haste’. It also is used to indicate passing through situations of extreme peril that require endurance. This is paired with a separate word meaning ‘patience’ or ‘endurance’ or ‘steadfastness’.
In other words, the writer is being open and honest. This Christian life will not be easy. It will stretch us. To use a well-worn phrase, it is a marathon, not a sprint. We should be prepared for hardship, but we must endure. We must finish the race, a race Paul also talks about in Philippians 3:12-14.
That is the way of the Christian life.
But after seeing the witnesses, the weight and the way, lastly we see the waymaker:
Hebrews 3-12:2 NIVUK
[2] fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy that was 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.
Whenever we see a wonderful painting or a beautiful sculpture or a stunning piece of architecture, we often marvel at the one who created it. And why not? They deserve it.
Well, the Christian life was designed by Jesus Christ, He perfected it and He finished it.
There are four stages that He undertook.
We first see why He did it – for the joy set before Him.
But what joy?
We know from Philippians 2 that this happened after Jesus Christ endured:
Philippians 11-2:9 NIVUK
[9] Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, [10] that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Put these two together and we see that the joy that was before Jesus was the joy of His exaltation by God to the highest place, and His own exaltation of repentant sinners from their highway to hell.
So there is something worth thinking about: your repentance is part of Jesus’ joy.
He lived to complete the Father’s mission, to live a life in total obedience, and part of this mission was to save you and I.
We then see the second stage, which is a product of the first – because of the joy set before Him, Jesus endured the cross. He endured the unimaginable pain of suffering and separation from the Father because He saw through it to the exaltation and salvation on the other side.
There is a very poignant point here. Your salvation isn’t just the reason why Christ suffered, it also was part of the joy that sustained Him in His suffering and helped Him through His suffering.
That really is quite something.
The writer to the Hebrews is stating here what it meant for Jesus to save us – each and every one of us – so that we value this suffering for us and don’t turn back on the faith that has saved us.
The third stage is that He scorned its shame.
And the cross was full of shame. Think about it. A punishment reserved for the worst of the worst, the lowest of the low, that involved being hung naked on a wooden frame for everyone to pass by and mock and spit and jeer. Don’t be taken in by the sanitised way in which the crucifixion is often depicted in art or in movies. This was a singularly brutal, heinous act. Shame was a key part of it.
Yet the text is clear: Jesus Christ scorned its brutal shame. He thought nothing of it. He passed through it as if it was unimportant.
And because of this, as Paul also taught in Philippians, He sat down at the right hand of God (Philippians 2:9-11). He received ample reward for what He had done.
This is the man we follow. He is the author and perfecter of our faith. He started it. He followed it through right to the end.
That is why we should remain faithful.
No matter what.
That is why we should never give up.
No matter what.
Jesus obeyed God right to the end. He received His reward. So will we. As Paul wrote in Philippians:
Philippians 14-3:10 NIVUK
[10] I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, [11] and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. [12] Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. [13] Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, [14] I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus. https://bible.com/bible/113/php.3.12.NIVUK
In any race, there are no prizes for quitters. You don’t get a medal that says on it, ‘Well, you tried, but at least you made it halfway’. Taking part is not the thing.
You have to finish the race.
Look at the important words Paul wrote to his young protégé Timothy as he neared the end of his tine on earth:
2 Timothy 8-4:7 NIVUK
[7] I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. [8] Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
The purpose of these words, and the letter to the Philippians, was to encourage God’s people to keep going, to not give in, to not give up, to not give out.
Their race was not easy. They faced persecution and pressure the likes of which most of us will never experience. Yet many of then persevered. They made it to the finish line. They finished their race.
What about you?
I remember doing athletics in PE. I have to be honest: I was terrible at it. I was just not even close to fast enough. But these races are not always won by the fastest. They are often won by the person who is focused: who focuses on staying within the rules, on controlling their power, their strength and their ability; who stays within their lane or hands over the baton within the box or jumps the fence at the right time. There is a technique involved. There is skill.
And when you're in an arena with thousands of people watching, and millions more on TV, and there is a valuable prize waiting for you, it must be hard to keep that focus: to get into the zone and stay there.
That is why the writer to the Hebrews tells his audience about those four elements of the witnesses, the weight, the way and the waymaker. That is why Paul lifts the eyes of the Philippians above the pretty divisions and arguments and follies, and points them to Jesus.
And that is why, dear brother or sister, we must heed this message. There are a million and one side issues we can be dragged into. There are a lot of potholes we must steer around. There are many ditches we must avoid. And even more so in an election year.
But we do not follow politicians. We do not follow parties. We do not put our nation, our community, or family or even ourselves first.
We follow Christ.
And Him alone.
And as we follow Him, we encourage others to follow us.
And as we do so, we bring glory to God.
So this year, my friend, I have one message for you and one alone.
Focus on Jesus.
And finish the race with Him that you have started.
Because when you set out to do that, you can be sure that He will help you.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I know that the worst thing I could ever do is quit the race to become like You. Help me to make finishing this race my top priority. Show me what it will mean to focus on this more than anything else. Amen.
Questions
1. What similarities do we see between Hebrews 12:1-3 and the letter to the Philippians? What is the key message behind them both?
2. Why is it so important that we realise we are not alone? Who is it that helps us (see Philippians 2:12-13 and Hebrews 10:19-25)?
3. From all of our studies in the church at Philippi, what for you is the most important thing you want to focus on? What will you do to strengthen your focus in this area?
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