1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;
5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;
6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
And He scourges every son whom He receives.”
7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.
11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
12 Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble,
13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.
14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.
15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;
16 that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.
17 For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.
“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us,” that is those who are named in chapter 11, “let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us”. The preacher seems to have two different things in mind here: encumbrances and sin. How do these differ? There are many things in this world which are enjoyable and yet not sin. Pastor John Piper says that TV is the great American time waster. Thousands of Americans waist their entire evening staring at a screen for nothing. Another thing that so many waist their lives on is sports. Children are taught that competing well in sports is the ultimate good in their lives. Families choose to skip church on Wednesday nights for baseball practice. Players take weekend trips to play basketball instead of being in fellowship with God’s people on Sunday. None of these things are bad, but when we look at what is before us we have to ask ourselves if these things are worth the cost. When people are going to hell every day, should TV and sports be what consumes most of our time? And there are many things that hinder us like these things. The other thing we must lay aside is sin. No believer can live for God as he should with sin in his life. The preacher has been clear that the means to beating sin is by paying close attention to Christ in His Word and by coming before His throne. We must defeat sin in our lives if we are going to accomplish anything.
“And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” The Christian life is not a life of ease, but of pain and struggle. It is like running a marathon and there is nothing but painful grueling agony to the end through much of it. But what keeps us going is an eyes on Christ – setting Him as the end of our race and the joy of our heart. We run to Him like a great treasure. We desire nothing more than Him in this life and we will struggle and suffer through everything in this world to get to Him. And to endure it we think about what He endured and suffered and consider how much He suffered and how little our suffering is in comparison. That way we continue in strength and not grow weary and lose heart in this long race.
“You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;” you have not suffered death like Christ because of living righteously “and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.’” It is because the Lord loves you that you endure such hardship and afflictions. He is doing this to make you more discipline. Do not lose heart because the Father reproves you, because He does it out of love and care. “It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.” Here the preacher makes a strong argument for why these Christians should rejoice in their afflictions, because they are being disciplined by the Father because He loves them. If their life was easy and painless, we would need to question if they are loved as children. How many in the church today are mocked and scorned because of the suffering they endure. Might it be that those who are faithful suffer, while the ones who seem to have everything going well are the ones who are disobedient, but God does not reprove them because He has no love for them? The ones who are loved will be discipline and transformed into the image of the Son.
“Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.” Our earthly fathers disciplined us because they loved us and wanted to do what was best for us, but they only did what they thought was right. However, our heavenly father disciplines us according to wisdom and we are for certain that His discipline is for good in making us holy. “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
“Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.” We are one body and if one is weak the whole body is weak. Therefore we should “pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.” Here again the preacher commands that we look for one another; that we constantly encourage one another that there not be any who fall into sin, especially so that none be like Esau who could find no repentance though he sought it with tears.
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