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 audience for this letter – author unknown – was Christian Jews who had suffered some serious persecution because of their faith in Christ. The author reminds them that God chastens His children and they must endure just as Jesus endured the cross because He could see what would be accomplished.   If they abandon their Christian faith under trials what would happen if there were bloodshed. Others endured under trials and they can also.  Trials are a fact of life – how we respond to them is our choice.

To understand discipline we must understand how it differs from punishment. Under punishment God is judge but under discipline God acts as father.  There is now no remaining punishment for those who are in Christ because He has borne the punishment for everything. In our verses today, the author addresses the discipline of God using the metaphor of father and son (daughter).  It is about discipline to being about outcome.

We need to operate within parameters in our earthly life to be successful. The same thing applies for our spiritual life. We are subject to spiritual discipline forming stamina and building character which leads to real joy and peace with God.  God’s Grace is sufficient and discipline keeps us plugged into the source of spiritual strength.

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 with 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 but the audience is Christian Jews who were being warned not to relapse in their Christian faith in fear of impending persecution. They/we are told to emulate the great cloud of witnesses who lived and died in faith.

The author uses the metaphor of a race – a marathon, not a sprint – requiring a goal, endurance and motivation. To run a Christian marathon we must get in shape and stay in shape. To run and live successfully we must lay aside every encumbrance; to lay aside our besetting sins – I prefer our darling sins – and remember that sin always begins in the mind.  As in a race we should travel lightly; various burdens impede us like love of this world, pleasures, lusts, riches and honors – keep them as blessings, not impediments.  Gold is as heavy as lead.

God has set our course and running with endurance means all in.  Christ Jesus was free to exempt Himself from all trouble and suffering but refused because of the purpose of the glorious end of His death.  The Christian Jews have not yet been subjected to blood persecution but the fear was very real so they are urged to keep their eyes on Christ.  From start to finish He submitted, trusted and relied on God.  Jesus is the author of faith and our example.  He finished the course perfectly and when Jesus begins faith in us He will bring it to a conclusion.  Fixing our eyes on Jesus takes them off ourselves.  We are to cast off our encumbrances and untangle our sins and run with endurance.

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 is by the seashore.

Hebrews is the name for the Israelites and the descendants of Abraham. They believed in God and the addressees of this letter also professed faith in Jesus Christ. Because of the pressure of Christian persecution they were faltering in their faith and were in danger of reverting to Judaism to escape persecution . The author of this letter is unknown but it was written to warn Christian Jews to endure and persevere in Christ

Our verses today speak to the Israelite fathers/patriarchs who obtained salvation and were accepted by God by faith alone. The author writes of Abraham who was/is revered by the Jews,  and emphasized that Abraham acted and persevered by faith.  Abraham answered God’s call and believed, living as a stranger in a strange land. He was certainly all in and the prime example of trusting to things invisible.  Sarah and Abraham, being well past child bearing age, became parents to Isaac and a nation proceeded from them.  The point being that if the patriarchs only saw God’s plan of salvation distantly and yet persevered, how much more should the Christian Jews endure having learned of God’s salvation in Christ .

Faith testifies to what we hope for; faith is evidence for things we cannot see and causes the reality of God’s promises and unseen world to be present in this visible world.  The greater the difficulties, the easier for faith when all natural prospects fail. We often live in a world with conditions that seem to contradict God’s promises and need to adopt the mindset of pilgrims. We are passing through this present world but our home is in heaven where our treasure should also be. God’s time is not our time and we need to focus on eternity.

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. (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 or Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian , slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. 

The letter to the Colossians was written by the apostle Paul. Paul has just completed his doctrinal writing and now is advising the Colossians on life style application of the gospel. He is writing to the faithful in Colossae – and down through the years all those whose lives have already been transformed in faith; the men and women who have gone from spiritually dead to spiritually alive in Christ. In faith in Christ salvation has already happened.

Paul urges his readers to seek the things that are above; the faithful have transcended the system and Paul argues for a preoccupation of the mind with the divine.  The faithful have already died to their former lives and former natures  and now we are becoming what positionally we already are  – our preoccupation with heaven will guide our earthly responses.  The lives of the faithful are entirely new – new consciousness, new desires – and the world doesn’t know it; natural man does not know the things of God.

We live in a society which is “uniformed” – our dress is a cue to our roles in this life. In the same way we need to “dress” as a spiritually new person.  Paul urges the faithful to embrace a new life style and behavior –  if we are new people in Christ we must act like it.  The old nature is not renewed, it is replaced.  And because Jesus Christ is all in all, we are all equal in the eyes of God