Sermon Study Guide
Compiled by Amy Walker, Director, Worship & Education
Date:
November 3, 2013
Sermon Text:
Hebrews 12:1-3
Sermon Title:
“Let Us Not Grow Weary, Nor Lose Heart”
Preacher:
Dr. Gil Watson, Senior Minister
Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Communion Sunday
All Saints Sunday
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SCRIPTURE
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight,
and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to
Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured
from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”
COMMENTARY
“Today’s epistolary text addresses this fundamental human tendency ‘to lose heart and grow faint’….
For the author of Hebrews, this is most appropriately envisioned as a race, a rather common metaphor
for the life of faith in the New Testament, especially for Paul (1 Corinthians 9:24-26; Galatians 5:7;
Philippians 2:16; 2:12-14; 2 Timothy 4:7-8)” (Craddock 185).
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight,
and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to
Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (vv. 1-2).
“This is one of the great, moving passages of the New Testament; and in it the writer has given us a
well-nigh perfect summary of the Christian life.
i. In the Christian life we have a goal. The Christian is not an unconcerned stroller along the
byways of life; he is a wayfarer on the high road. He is not a tourist, who returns each night
to the place from which he starts; he is a pilgrim who is forever on the way. The goal is
nothing less than the likeness of Christ.
ii.
In the Christian life we have an inspiration. We have the thought of the unseen cloud of
witnesses; and they are witnesses in a double sense, for they have witnessed their confession
to Christ and they are now witnesses of our performance. The Christian is like a runner in
some crowded stadium. As he presses on, the crowd looks down; and the crowd looking
down are those who have already won the crown…. An athlete would strive with double
effort if he knew that a stadium of famous Olympic athletes was watching him. It is of the
very essence of the Christian life that it is lived in the gaze of the heroes of the faith who
lived, suffered and died in their day and generation.
iii.
In the Christian life we have a handicap. If we are encircled by the greatness of the past, we
are also encircled by the handicap of our own sin. No man would seek to climb Mount
Everest with a pantechnicon of lumber weighing him down. If we would travel far, we must
travel light. There is in life an essential duty of discarding things. There may be habits,
pleasures, self-indulgences, associations which hold us back. We must shed them as the
athlete sheds his track suit when he goes to the starting-mark; and often we will need the
help of Christ to enable us to do so.
iv.
In the Christian life we have a means. That means is steadfast endurance. It is not some
romantic thing which lends us wings to fly over the difficulties and the hard places. It is a
determination, unhurrying and yet undelaying, which goes steadily on and refuses to be
deflected. Obstacles do not daunt it and discouragements do not take its hope away.
v.
In the Christian life we have an example. That example is Jesus himself.
vi.
In the Christian life we have a presence, the presence of Jesus. He is at once the goal of our
journey and the companion of our way; at once the one whom we go to meet and the one
with whom we travel” (Barclay 171-3).
“Far too many Christians try to run the race of Christian pilgrimage while carrying all kinds of heavy
baggage – anxieties about trivial concerns, ambitions to use the gospel as a means of self-advancement,
resentments at other people, secret greed for the bodily appetites, and so on. In particular, it’s possible
for sin of one sort or another to get in the way and constrict our movement; though some translations
speak here of sin ‘clinging closely’ to us, the word properly means ‘obstructing’ or ‘constricting.’ The
writer seems to have in mind the danger an athlete might face if the track isn’t completely clear – if
someone puts a hurdle in the way, or leaves a bench or other object across the path of the runners…. It
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[sin] gets in the way, it can trip you up, it can seriously damage your chance of completing the course”
(Wright 148-9).
“Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow
weary or fainthearted” (v. 3)
“The writer to the Hebrews uses two very vivid words when he speaks of fainting and growing weary.
They are the words which Aristotle uses of an athlete who flings himself on the ground in collapse
after he has surged past the winning post of the race. So Hebrews is in effect saying: ‘Don’t give up too
soon’ don’t collapse until the winning post is passed’” (Barclay 174).
“Hebrews is keenly aware that the readers are in danger of being weary with all that they are facing,
day after day, in terms of threats, persecution, intimidation and mockery from their contemporaries,
their neighbors and perhaps their former friends. This is like the long, hard haul up a steep and muddy
hill in the middle of a long-distance race. They must keep going; they must remind themselves
continually of the one who blazed this trail in the first place; they must think how much worse it was
for him. That way they will be kept from becoming worn out completely” (Wright 150).
“Every one of us, athlete or not, knows how difficult and painful it is to hold out to the very end. It may
be making a dress, wallpapering a room, plowing a field, writing a book, or finishing a report; the
temptation is always the same. We grow weary at the end and find it difficult to maintain the same
level of quality, commitment, and enthusiasm we began with. Almost inevitably, the job is more than
we bargained for. Had we known how hard it would be, how long it would take, how many fresh starts
would be required, we would never have begun” (Craddock 185).
REFERENCES
Barclay, William. The Daily Study Bible Series: The Letter to the Hebrews.
Craddock, Fred, et al. Preaching Through the Christian Year, Year C.
Wright, N.T. Hebrews for Everyone.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1 – What are your thoughts on the six points Barclay lays out in regards to what we have to work with
in this Christian life?
2 – How helpful is the race metaphor for you in understanding what the Christian life demands?
3 – Think back on an event or project that was incredibly difficult for you. One in which you did not
think you would be able to finish (and probably regretted starting in the first place). How did you make
it through? What did you have to keep repeating yourself to finish? How did you feel when it was over
or completed?
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