And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:

“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,

Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him.

(6) For whom the Lord loves He chastens

And scourges every son whom He receives.”

(7) If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?

(11) Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.  (12) Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, (13)  and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

The main theme for the letter to the Hebrews – author unknown – is that Jesus Christ is superior to all and that knowledge of Him is antidote to the backsliding of Christian Jews who feared persecution for their faith.  The whole book was written to keep the Jews from giving up their belief in Christ.  In the ancient world the father had authority – in the Roman world he had absolute authority – and disclipline of the sons was to be expected.  God gives us disclipline as His children not to weaken us but to build us up –  the cure for hopelessness is hope in God.

Chapter 12 is not a feel good chapter but a massive statement about the sovereignity of God.  What seems hostile and adversarial for sinners is meant for training – God means for their good, their perfection and salvation.  We must remember that in pain we are not the enemy.  We are treated as a loved child – will we surrender and be subject to God’s love or rebel and die?  Instruction, disclipline, correction are warnings and all are designed to drive out evil.  They are a sign that God regards us as genuine children.

There is a natural suffering because we are human – a gradual breakdown of the aging body – sickness, injury, loss of loved ones.  We must remember that pain is not the whole story and that there is always a later on; the present will be swallowed up in the afterward.  We have a limited, timebound perspective and must focus on the goal.  All discipline is designed to chasten us for our profit as partakers of His holiness.  This letter was a call to the Hebrews to rise up out of their despair and to get ready for the race as without it the prize will never be won.  We are told to keep our eyes on Jesus and accept the trials as the very means of His grace;  to take courage and yield and surrender to Him, as this is the first step onto the course.

Pain and fear focus the mind powerfully.  If we cease to believe in God because of suffering that does not mean that God ceases to exist.  Again, a quote from C.S. Lewis:  God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience but shouts in our pains:  it is His megaphone to arouse a deaf world.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (2) looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was 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 endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.  (4) You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.

The author of the letter to the Hebrews is unknown.  This letter was written to first century Jewish Christians to encourage them in striving against the temptation of renouncing their professed faith in Christ Jesus as the Messiah in order to be relieved of their present persecution from religious Jews and any escalating persecution from the Romans.  The author uses the very popular Olympic games as a metaphor for the race of endurance that the Christian must run.

In the first verse of Chapter 12, the author links himself to his audience by using the word we.  He is probably a second generation Jewish Christian and calls attention to the cloud of witnesses or great number of people (saints) who have run their race with endurance and finished, reaching their goal.  The reader is encouraged to keep his/her eye always on Christ, much the same was a runner keeps his/her eye on the goal – to embrace and maintain their faith in Christ.  Just as runners – long distance runners – lay all weights and encumbrances aside, the reader is urged to treat as hindrance anything that deadens the soul.   The circumstances here would be any tendancy of the Jewish Christian to hang on to or compromise with Jewish ritual or the ceremonialism of the law – anything that would hinder the readers from winning their race.  The baggage may not be sin but any distraction that would keep one from running with endurance and winning the race.  We are all judged by how we finish, not how we start.  I had a wonderful dog who loved to chase the ball.  No matter how I would try to distract the dog – loud noises,  fake throws, false starts, anything – that dog always kept his eye on the ball.

The author encourages the reader to keep his/her eye on Jesus as the prize in the race that is set before us.  Adversity builds stamina  through correction.  I read somewhere that if we are not as close to God as we used to be, guess who moved?  Keep your eyes on the prize.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  (2) For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.

(8)By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance.  And he went out, not knowing where he was going.  (9) By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;  (10) for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.  (11) By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.  (12)  Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude – innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

The author of the letter to the Hebrews is unknown.  The letter appears to have been written  to Christian Jews during a time of persecution – both social and physical – encouraging them not to abandon their belief in Jesus Christ as Redeemer and Saviour. The Jewish religion was protected by Roman law but this was not true for the Christians and the author is urging those facing persecution not to revert to Judaism.  The Jewish Christians were also in danger from their unbelieving countrymen – excommunication from the institutions of Moses, from the synagogues and from the rest of their race.  The writer of Hebrews insists on trust in God who revealed Himself in the word and person of Jesus Christ.

The verses we study today make much of the Old Testament covenant with the Jews and men such as Abraham, Moses, Joshua and others, using the argument that Jesus is superior to all of these.  The author sees scripture as pointing us to Jesus – only in the person and work of Jesus can we discern the true meaning of the Old Testament.

Chapter 11 treats faith with reference to the future – that trust in God enables the believer to remain steadfast in faith in the face of persecution.  Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see in spite of circumstances and consequences.  God has done mighty things in the past and He can be trusted for the future.  But faith in God’s promises does not mean He will conform to our ideas.  Faith is as good as it’s object and the object of our faith is God.

Knowledge is an essential element in faith; it is an assent, an act of will and understanding; an intellectual certainity.  Faith is a present and continuing reality, not simply a virtue.  It is a living thing.  There are realities for which we have no evidence;  faith enables us to know these realities exist.  Faith excludes all things that are visible phenomena.  Faith goes beyond knowledge gained through our senses.  We must rely on Christ and his saving works as the sole basis for our standing before God – for our justification and future sanctification.  Hope is not yet faith – faith is saying “I have it”.

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If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.  (2) Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.  (3) For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  (4) When Christ, who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

(5) Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth:  fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

(9)Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, (10) and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, (11) where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

The Apostle Paul wrote the letter to the Colossians primarily to discourage the faithful in Colosse from returning to the observation of man made regulations and rituals and to focus them on the cosmic – read universal – centricity of Jesus Christ as son of God and redeemer of man from his sinful nature.  The redemptive works of Christ, arising out ot the will of God, made believing man right with God and opened the way to salvation.

Paul has dealt with doctrine regarding the suffiency, mystery and supremacy of Christ in chapters 1 and 2 of this letter.  Now in chapter 2 Paul attends to the practical application of these truths.  Paul exhorts the believer to seek the things that are above as by our union with Christ.  All who believe are risen with Christ.  Christ’s was a physical resurrection from the dead – the believer’s is a spiritual resurrection from a spiritual death.  This new life becomes actual when we believe.  We must now become in expression and experience what we already are by God’s grace.  Our true citizenship is in heaven and our true identity should show us as that citizen.

How we live is determined by how we believe and think.  Paul deals with holiness in relation to ourselves and then moves to our relationships with others.  When we receive Christ by faith we are beginning an ongoing daily process of sanctification.  Paul challenges the believer to be what he or she is:  to be in practice what we are in position in Christ.  In faith we have died to sin with Christ; died to the guilt, the claim of sin, but not to evil deeds.

What I am when I am alone in the presence of God is what i really am.  This should be our goal when we are with other people.  Right belief needs right behaviour and depends on God’s grace and the indwelling Holy Spirit.