“On Your Mark…” - Hebrews 12:1-13
All Saints Church - Bill Berger - Message Notes
Looking out how to flourish in life through all the pain and difficulties. Need the endurance. But it is easy to quit, especially in our culture. We haven’t been taught to deal with or fight through pain and suffering.
Life is a Race: vs 1-4 - Gk agon (agony) struggle. Life isn’t just easy. Life IS an agonizing struggle, from one pain to another. v11 - discipline seems painful rather than pleasant. Just because it isn’t your plan doesn’t mean there isn’t a plan. Life is like training. Bitter pill: suffering is (in some way) necessary. The intent of creation was not to put us through pain. Christ gets upset with death and that we have to suffer (cf. Lazarus). Our most profound moments with God are when we are enduring suffering, during those dark moments. Our faith will never grow unless it’s tested. We have to push through, courage will grow as it is tested. Sometimes the weaker we feel, the stronger we are becoming. We need a reality of life that includes suffering because it is going to happen.
Why Run the Race?: Has to do with our attitude. Don’t grow weary. Metaphor moves to that of parent. Disciplining with consistency, we train with love and respect, even if that is fatiguing. Having a father that loves you so much he doesn’t want to leave us this way. Discipline comes from Gk pedia, the science of bringing children to maturity. vs 10 - God disciplines us for our good so we can share in his holiness. We need to blindness to knowledge. vs 5 don’t regard lightly the discipline of God. Endurance means we deal with it and think about what the discipline is teaching us and helping us become, don’t ignore it. But also don’t be weary.
How to Run the Race: 1) Practical humility. It is for our good. 2,3) Practical obedience, endurance. Hang in there! We want to retreat, pull in. But we need to keep praying, keep letting it out, don’t hide. vs 1 - put things aside that weigh us down. The suffering brings out the worst in me, I can ask God how to deal with that. That is hard, but we need to deal with it. God tells us there is more to us that what we see. 4) Look to Jesus. Jesus had it all in heaven with the Father… except us. He came here for us. He lost the father in his suffering so we could have Him. “It is well with my soul…”
Come to the communion table as the training table. Remember. Look at Christ’s suffering.
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