God disciplines us that we might be shaped into the image of Jesus. There is always something that we are dealing with. There always seems to be something that gets in the way, that discourages us, that drags us down. How do we keep going when we are tired, discouraged, ready to throw in the towel? We are called to remember Jesus who endured it all: painful beatings, betrayal, abandonment, the crown of thorns, the nails that pierced his hands and feet, and the agony of the Cross. He endured it all in order that we might be saved. Encouraged by Him we are told that we too can endure. We can keep going. The promise of the Christian life is not Easy Street but that we are not alone. God is with us. And in the end, despite what things might look like currently, God wins. Part of the Christian life is this thing called discipline. Discipline may be painful, but it is necessary and helpful in shaping us into the people that God would have us to be. So instead of seeing every bad thing as the end of the world, we are to endure knowing that God can use even pain to help shape us into the people that He would have us to be.
As we run the race, we keep our eyes fixed on the One who made it possible for us to run in the first place, Jesus. Sports metaphors are great, for some. The author of Hebrews chose to use one to describe the life of faith. The metaphor he uses is that of running the race. When running the race there is a need for endurance so you don’t start and then run out of gas. You need to get rid of all the obstacles in your path. You need to take off everything that is slowing you down because you want to win. You need to know where you are running so the race doesn’t start, and you take off running the wrong way. The crowd around you helps to cheer you on and tell you that you can do it. But maybe the most important part of this illustration is the instructions to turn our eyes upon Jesus. Look to Jesus. He is the author and perfecter of our faith. He is the One who makes the whole race possible. He will be the One to get us through. He has already run the race. He wouldn’t let anything get in the way of accomplishing His mission of saving us. Now it’s our turn to run the race and we are invited to turn our eyes upon Jesus who is with us, guiding us, directing us, and empowering us every step of the way.
Faith has Jesus as its object and is active in a life of following Him. What is faith? Is it knowing all the right things about God? James says no. “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe-- and shudder! (Jas. 2:19)” Faith is much more than pure intellectual assent to a group of beliefs. Is it blindly following whatever we are told with no questions? No. Faith must have substance, a foundation upon which to build. So what is faith then? Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” This is an assurance, a conviction that knows who God is, what God has done, what God means for us and our lives, and then live according to that conviction. The chapter that follows these great words give example after example of people from the Old Testament who show us in the flesh what faith looked like. Abraham’s faith led him to leave home and follow God to a distant land. Moses’ faith led him to lead Israel out of slavery in Egypt. The Judges and David and the prophets were led to live and walk in faith. In the same way, we are called to follow God in faith. Jesus paints an incredible picture of that life of faith using the metaphor of a vine and branch. In faith, we receive all that we need for life from Jesus and all that we do comes from Him. For apart from Him we can do nothing.
Jesus gives us full access to God through His once and for all sacrifice. The sacrifice had been made. Atonement is complete. We have been forgiven by the blood of Jesus. And so we draw into the presence of God with complete and total confidence in Jesus. Our hope is Jesus. Our life now and into the future is in Jesus. For the work of Jesus gives us full and complete access to God. And now our life individually and collectively flows out of this work of Jesus as we believe, as we do life together encouraging one another, and as we meet together. This doesn’t mean that life is always going to be easy. This doesn’t mean there will be no suffering. But it does mean that we, as people who have been bought and redeemed by Christ the crucified, can come before God with boldness and confidence all because of Jesus.
The sacrifice of Jesus was once and for all that we might be freed to serve God. The Levitical Law is quite clear. It is explicit and even gory at times. When sin happens, blood must be shed. Based upon the circumstance or the particularities involved this might look different, but one thing remained, the sin: the wages of sin was death whether it be a bird or lamb or calf or even a person. It seemed to be a never-ending cycle. One would go and make atonement for one’s sins with a sacrifice. Life would get restored, then you would mess up again. You would go back and make a sacrifice again. It was a never-ending cycle of sin and sacrifices to cover those sins. Then Jesus steps in as the sacrificial lamb. He is the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the whole world. So, He made the sacrifice. He opened the curtain. He made access for us to come before God. So, if we sin again does Jesus have to die again? Do we need to keep sacrificing animals? No and No! The sacrifice of Jesus was once and for all that we might be freed to serve God. Jesus gave himself as the ultimate sacrifice doing what only Jesus could do.
There are many things in life that vie for our attention, our minds, and our hearts. There are many things in life that can so easily distract us. There are situations that rock us to the very core leading us to question absolutely everything. So what is it that gets us through? What is it that keeps us on the straight and narrow? What is it that keeps us grounded in who we are and whose we are? According to the author of Hebrews it is ONLY Jesus. He is the Anchor for our soul. He shows us the absolute faithfulness of God. He shows us grace and forgiveness when we fall short of the glory of God. He is there with us each and every step of the way. Christ is our Anchor through all the twists and turns of life.
The author of Hebrews defines the task of the High Priest as the One “chosen from among men… appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.” The high priest was to present God to the people and people to God. He was to teach the people about who God was, what he had done for them, and what God desires of His people. The high priest intercedes on behalf of the people to God. Aaron was the first high priest tasked with this important task after the Exodus. There was then a long line of high priests, some good, some bad. Now Hebrews tell us that Jesus is the new high priest and He goes on behalf of the people before the Father. Jesus is the One who through His personal sacrifice made it possible to come before God. Jesus continues His work interceding before the Father on our behalf. He knows us and knows what it is like to be us and so He can sympathize with us. Jesus is our great high priest. There is no need for any other.
They have power to kill and to make alive. With a word, God spoke creation into place. With a word, Lazarus was brought forth from the tomb alive. Words are powerful. God’s Word is even more powerful. As the author of Hebrews is describing the word of God, he says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Heb. 4:12)” The word of God works. It accomplishes its purpose. It can see between the lines. It can pierce through even the hardest hearts and minds. God’s word is a force to be reckoned with. It is God’s Word that works to bring us from unbelief to belief, death to life. God’s Word is our life and salvation.
There was an old Saturday Night Live skit about Mike Ditka, the iconic coach of the Chicago Bears. For Chicago sports fans, Ditka was larger than life and adored by many. In this skit, there is a rolling discussion about how great Ditka was. They would debate who was greater. Ditka or a train. Ditka or a hurricane. And so on. And the obvious answer regardless of the opponents was Ditka every time. In many ways, this was how the Jewish people felt about Moses. Moses versus anyone or anything and Moses was going to win every time hands down. He was the hero above all other heroes. He was the greatest and best the Old Testament had to offer. He was the one everyone looked up to. But now the author of Hebrews dares to compare Jesus to Moses and the conclusion is that Jesus is like Moses but even greater than Moses. Jesus is worthy of more glory than Moses. Jesus is over all of God’s house. Jesus led ALL people out of slavery to sin as opposed to just leading Israel out of slavery in Egypt. Jesus was the One promised by Moses, who was Moses 2.0, even greater than Moses himself.
I remember as a kid getting excited when a new Super Mario Bros. was going to come out or the new baseball game. It was exciting. The anticipation was palpable. You couldn’t wait for the new game that was going to be bigger and better than the last one. Sure there was going to be the same cast of characters and the basic tenets of the game were not going to change that much, but you knew when the next one came out it was going to be bigger and better than the last one. The graphics would be better. The game would be more fun. In the same way, Jesus, we are told, is just like us. He was born of Mary just like we were born from our mothers. He knew what it was to be hungry and thirsty, to grieve and to be happy, to be sought after and to grieve. He was tried and tempted in every way just like we are. Yet there is one key difference: Jesus is God. So, when He was tempted, He never gave in. And yet the author of Hebrews wants to make very clear to us that for Jesus to be the author of salvation, He had to be just like us but better. He had to be one of us to save us. He had to taste death that we might have life. Jesus experienced all the things we experience so that we might be saved by Him.