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How
To Suffer.
The first readers of Hebrews did not know why they were suffering.
Had they forgotten that Jesus said,
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If
they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you . . . (NASB)
John 15:20 |
It appears that they did not believe the suffering should continue
so long. The readers of Hebrews misunderstood why they were suffering,
and they did not know how to suffer. So God gives us the answer. First,
how to suffer.
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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, 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. You have not yet resisted to
the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin . .
. (NASB) Hebrews 12:1-4 |
The Holy Spirit starts with an illustration of a runner who must focus
on winning. A serious Olympic runner wears the correct clothes, trains
aggressively, and then focuses on winning. He/she looses excess weight
and wears very lightweight clothes and state-of-the-art running shoes
to improve his/her speed. That is the picture we see here, “lay
aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us.”
In the spiritual realm, our desire for comfort and acceptance - our
sins - “slow us down.”
The
Christian life is illustrated as a race already in progress. The one
who runs the Christian race must be willing to suffer pain in order
to win. The Greek word for “endure” is HUPOMONA. It is a
compound word of two Greek words: HUPO and MONOVA. The first Greek
word means “under” and the second one means “stay in
place” or “remain.” Together the word means to “stay
under.” That is endurance. The runner who wants to win must be
willing to “stay under the pain.”
People
who leave the race are not Christians. This is a spiritual test. This
happened in the early church. Philip Schaff in talking about men and
women who left Jesus says,
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. . . the moment the storm of persecution broke forth, [they]
flew like chaff from the wheat, and either offered incense to
the gods, procured false witness of their return to paganism,
or gave up the sacred books (traditores). |
Men and women who gave up their Bibles were called traitors. What
a name the early church used for people who once claimed to be Christians!
Have you ever wondered if you would stay in the spiritual race during
suffering?
Olympic
runners have been encouraged to look ahead into the distance in order
to run straight and not lose time. Runners have lost the race by looking
back over their shoulder to see how near their competition was. One
who runs the Christian race must fix his or her eyes of faith into
the distance – on Jesus – and run hard. Our eyes must be
fixed on Jesus - the prize. Every saint must be willing to suffer
as the Old Testament saints and Jesus did. They need eyes of faith
fixed on Jesus.
Why
Do We Suffer?
But the Hebrews were missing a piece. They did know why they were
suffering.
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. . . 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 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. 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 . . . (NASB) Heb.
12:5-10 |
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