Hebrews 12:1-3 New International Version

12 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 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.

 

First Impression? – It took us four weeks to get through these three verses. We learned a ton, and not just about ourselves, or each other. I think God was really working with us to learn more about Him and how to love others. My first impression was to figure out what race was marked out for me and be disciplined enough to keep it up. I never really understand why I have such a hard time sticking with stuff, but every day is a new chance to get started or do better.

1a – Everything that hinders – What hinders you? How do you throw if off? Have you asked for help?

This list started with the familiar and just kept going. People, work, attention span, pride, fear, self-esteem, self-focus, prayer, scripture, meditation, Godly men. Somewhere in there I bounced between answers. Anything can hinder us if it takes our eyes off Jesus. We throw it off by all the traditional Bible study answers, but we only succeed when we ask for help from God or the Godly.

1b – Easily entangles – How has sin entangled you in the past? How do you use the experience to avoid it? How have you used it to help others?

This was as far as we got to on the first week. It helps when you ask for help within a group where you can be open enough to ask for the help you really need. By sharing what trips us up, we can open up to hear how God is leading us from temptation. One of the benefits of the day was having opened up, we then had to face the reality of doing so with those we do not trust so much in order to help them. This is when our true humility before others would show up: when we are strong enough to humble ourselves and admit sin, so that we might share the love God has for each one of us sinners.

1c – Perseverance – What challenges do you struggle with over and over? What have you done to persevere?

Week 2: Anxiety, Control, Lust, Health, Pleasure, What if, I want. Each and every one of these are things we experience alone, but so does every other man (and probably woman). Nothing is new. These same things have plagued man since he left the garden. Part of the victory is recognizing yesterday’s failure does not cause today’s nor does it condemn us to repeat it tomorrow. We fail, but we get another chance not to. Groundhog Day was a classic movie that showed the main character failing over and over and over again, but finally heading in the right direction, and finally getting it right.

1d – Marked out for us – Who marked it out? How do we know what it is? Do you have a list? How can you run it if you do not know what it is?

This wrapped up week 2. “God” was the answer; “He shows us” was the next; “No, we do not have one” was the third; and finally, “Can you ask that again?”. (I might not have really heard that on that last question, but I do hear it a lot.) I am sure that some people have a vision of the long term race that they are running that God laid out just for them. It seems the rest of us are running a generic race to be closer to Christ, and the route is only seen one step at a time when you are actually trying to find it. We tossed around how we had tried to find our own big picture path, and our next step path, and everything in between. The hardest part to accept is that we have no control and must give our lives to God, totally.

2a – Fixing our eyes on Jesus – What does this mean to you and how do you actually do it?

On week three, we almost got all of verse 2 done and completed five questions. It ended with me crying and all of wishing we could have stopped one question earlier. It may have been the best one of these ever.

For this intro question, I’ll stick to the simple: it means to give over our wants to Jesus, and it means really giving up everything we want. Simple, but simple and easy to do are not the same thing.

2b – The pioneer of faith – What does this mean to you and how do you use this knowledge?

The three main ideas were: 1) Jesus showed us how to live a sinful life and was our example. 2) Jesus was there with God when the plan for our salvation was hatched and He knew exactly what needed to be done for us to receive the gift. 3) Jesus was the one who took the initial steps to pay the penalty for our sin. Our goals are to use Him as our example, act as if we have been saved, and somehow build off the fact that His power transcends the natural limits our lives would otherwise fail to overcome.

2c – The perfector of faith – What does this mean to you and how do you use this knowledge?

I had a hard time with the concept that His suffering made Jesus perfect. He was God, therefore he already was perfect. But Christ had to suffer to become the perfect ‘sacrifice’ for us to have faith in. Sin separated us from God, and eliminating this separation took more than just God being perfect. He had to pay the price in blood to remove the sin. This is all a lot more complicated than we can really understand, but at least now I can see how Christ became worthy.

2d – The ______ set before Him – What was this and how do you understand it to have motivated Him and how do you intend to use it to motivate yourself?

Joy. I just saw my kids together on the couch interacting, and I was filled with the worldly aspect of joy that is happiness. In my mind, Jesus had visions of us living with Him and the Father in heaven, and these visions were what motivated Him to suffer for us. When my kids were little, my vision was for each of them to know Jesus as Lord and savior and I tried to keep them safe enough, learned enough, and pushed enough to get there. I just need to love everyone else like I loved my kids, and I can use that potential joy to help them too.

2e – He endured – The example – What has been the worst thing you have endured and how often have you shared it?

This was the hard one. Each of us really dug deep and shared the worst thing in our lives. The “goal” of using this to witness to others was awfully hard to even start to think about. I pushed the idea that the only reason God would have us endure such a thing was to use it to glorify Him. It works nice on paper, but this will be one hard to implement.

2f – Scorning its shame – Another example – What is the most shameful thing you have done on behalf of Jesus and have you ever shared it?

Week 4: It seemed to wiz by. So much so that I forgot to prepare for the verses that follow (4-11). My original intent was for this to directly follow the question above, but it was not taken up until a week later and we floundered over shame and embarrassment. The goal is that we should never be ashamed of anything that we do to follow Christ. Being embarrassed is something different, even if I did not understand.

2g – Sat down at the right hand of the throne of God – How powerful is the image of this in your brain?

We got lost in the paradigm of the people that led to this phrase being important. My understanding of the rest of the world and history was built on the Bible, so how this idea of the right hand got to be so important to be used in the first place was well beyond me. I just think of the right hand of God being treated by others as if it were God to be the mental image.

3a – Consider Him – Is this too ambitious for our next study?

Out of context. I was/am trying to see how my personal wants interplay with the groups.

3b – Opposition – Do we fight the opposition or just endure it?

Turn the other cheek or actively try to get the other person not to slap you? I do not want to suffer, but I know Christians must. What I do not understand is whether I need to take action to actively protect other Christians from suffering. I got no good answer, but I think the idea was that we each do what God asks individually, and He will protect those as His will has decided.

3c – Grow weary – When do you grow weary and what do you do about it?

Always. Pray, rest, and start again. If ever we try to do ourselves, we run out of what ever is needed to keep going. Only when we stop doing it on our own, do we ever glimpse the possibility of never growing weary.

3d – Lose heart – Is this a foreign concept or something you have dealt with and can help others through?

Nothing different than the question before.

 

These three verses were a huge jumping off point to the author wrapping up the letter. Taking all we have learned over the past few months, he is pushing us to use what we are learning. The lesson from verse 4-11 were sprinting compared to the slow deliberate pace spent on these three. God teaches each of us at the pace we are prepared for, and sometimes we stall, and sometimes we sprint. I know my race is the generic battle to become more Christ like. I do not know those things He is calling for me this afternoon, but I know He will open my eyes to them as long as I am watching for His lead. My prayer more often needs to be “Please show me this one next step.”