You Can Finish Well!

Don't Stop Now!

A study of the book of Hebrews

by Pastor Frank Rice

Hebrews 12:12-17

Most people who begin any type of project or endeavor encounter setbacks, difficulties, and discouragement along the way. They come to a point when they must determine whether they’ll allow those things to defeat them and knock them off course or whether they will “suck it up” and keep moving. It happens both in the physical realm and the spiritual realm.

Our author continues to provide the encouragement that his readers need if they’re going to experience and enjoy their inheritance.

 

I.     Don’t Let Discouragement & Fatigue Knock You Out (Vv. 12-13).

• The author paints two vivid and familiar pictures to encourage them and drive them on in their time of desperation (vv. 12-13).

1. This sentence implies a group effort. Those flagging must strengthen their drooping hands and enfeebled knees. Those who see it must come alongside and help them!

2. The fight can be grueling as the adversary attempts to knock out believers. The footrace can become exhausting as the road is littered with debris over which we can stumble.

3. “The pastor calls on his hearers to straighten up, put up their proverbial dukes, and continue the fight. They must not surrender through discouragement to the tough resistance of a hostile, unbelieving world.” (Cockerill)

 

• The author presents these pictures by drawing on his favorite, most effective resource, the Word of God (Isaiah & Proverbs)!

1. Isaiah calls out to God’s worried and weary people! Don’t lose heart! Your God will deliver you (Isa 35:3-4)!

2. “The assurance of divine intervention provides the ground for abandoning fear and despair, and persevering in the race.”

3. The writer of Proverbs calls for active involvement so that runners can avoid getting tripped up and so they can finish the race well (Prov 4:24-27). “The straight or level path is a common image in wisdom literature for God’s way of right living.” (Guthrie)

 

• The author emphasizes the need for mutual support to avoid any strugglers/ stragglers being injured beyond recovery. They must be helped and healed so they can finish their fight/ footrace.

 

II.    Determine to Guard the Unity and Health of the Body (Vv. 14-16).

• Make sure that you pursue corporately what you already possess individually (v. 14).

1. You have peace with God through a relationship with Christ (Rom 5:1); now pursue peace with everyone around you! (A regular diet of Proverbs will foster healthy relationships!) “People are often selfish and abrasive.” (Morris)

2. You have holiness because of what Christ has done for you (1 Cor 6:9-11); now pursue holiness. (We may rightfully assume he means both personal and corporate holiness.)

3. “Holiness has a profound impact on our relationships with other people.” and “holiness is indispensable for an authentic Christian life.” (Guthrie)

4. You must be honest with yourself and with others. (This stern warning is troubling and scary, intentionally!)

5. “Although he lives in the world, the man who is hagios must always in one sense be different from the world. His standards are not the world’s standards.” (Barclay)

 

• Make sure you pay careful attention to protect the well-being of the church body (vv. 15-16). (This admonition is for everyone.)

1. Do everything you can to energize those who are struggling. God provides the resources (grace) for the fight and for the footrace. His people are responsible for appropriating them! (In another sense, the absence of grace or graciousness, in a community allows bitterness to take root and spread!)

 

2. Do everything you can to avoid a “root of bitterness!” Hurt, anger, disappointment, disillusionment, unresolved conflict can defile and create turmoil individually and corporately.

3. Do everything you can to identify and help those who struggle to appropriate grace and extend forgiveness (v. 16)! (You are your brother’s keeper. But not everyone is recoverable.)

4. Do everything you can to liberate people from this downhill spiral. Those ignoring grace allow hurt, anger, and bitterness to manifest itself in immorality and a trivialization of God!

5. These three clauses “progressively reveal the nature and dire significance of that which threatens the peace and holiness of the community.” (Cockerill)

 

III.   Don’t Forget the Familiar and Disturbing Examples (V. 17).

• Reflect on those who, by the grace and faithfulness of God, have finished their races well (Heb 11). They had fought good fights.

 

• Reflect on one guy (there are many) who messed up big-time!

1. Every reader knew the story well (Gen 25:27-34; 27:34-38).

2. Esau willingly forfeited his future for immediate physical gratification. He trivialized God and His promises.

3. Esau “treated God’s power as insufficient to meet his need and God’s promise of future blessing as worthless.” (Cockerill)

4. Esau wrongfully and thoughtlessly assumed there were no consequences for his actions. All of his bitter pleading and weeping could not turn back the hands of time. (You know the story…Don’t get snagged in the same trap!)

 

(You all can finish well, if you heed the preceding admonition!)