Hebrews - Peace and Holiness

In any team sport, it takes more than individual skill to win the game. There must also be this thing that we call teamwork. In Hebrews 12, we are in God's gymnasium. God is training us for life. He's disciplining us that we might run the race with endurance. God does not want His children to be quitters. In Hebrews 12:1-13, the emphasis is on the individual runner. He tells the individual runner to look to the Lord Jesus, to consider all that Jesus has done for him.

Then in Hebrews 12:14-17, the emphasis is on the team: what we do with and for one another. Then Hebrews 12:18-29, he focuses on the city. In the Greek games, every runner ran for the glory of his city as well as the glory of the team and, of course, his own achievement. Hebrews 12:14-17 simply tells us that we as believers must live and work and run as a team.

Let's read these verses together. Hebrews 12:14: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and by it many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears."

The idea of Christian teamwork is not found simply in Hebrews 12. In the book of Philippians twice, the apostle Paul talks about Christian teamwork. In Philippians 1:27: "Only let your conversation, your behavior, be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel."

Now, the Greek word translated "striving together" is composed of two words. The first means "with" (SUN), it's a prefix. And it's at the beginning of the Greek word ATHLEO, which gives us our word athletic. So what he's really saying is striving together as an athletic team. It could also mean striving together as soldiers in the battle. But fundamentally, it is an athletic image.

You have the same thing in Philippians 4:3: "And I entreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel." Now, there it is—the same Greek word, SUN-ATHLEO, which means to strive together, to be athletes together. One translation says they were team members with me in the work of the gospel.

Now, there's too much emphasis these days on individual Christianity. So many books that come out and so many sermons that are preached have to do with the individual Christian. Now, it is important that I develop my Christian discipline. It is important that each team member run by the rules and follow the instructions, but it's also important that we learn how to work together.

He tells us in Hebrews 12:14-17 that there are two essentials for effective Christian teamwork: being able to strive together, to run together, to win the race together as teammates. They're very simple. Hebrews 12:14, he says we must have dedicated determination. Hebrews 12:15-17, we must have diligent discernment. Determination, discernment. That's what it takes if we're going to be good members of the Christian team.

Hebrews 12:14: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Now, that word "follow" means to pursue, to exert effort. It's the picture of the runner going down the racetrack. There must be dedicated determination if we are going to win the race. This same word is translated "I press" in Philippians 3:14 where Paul is talking about pressing toward the mark to win the prize.

Now, what are we to pursue? To what are we to be dedicated with determination? Well, he tells us we have two goals in mind. Number one: peace with all men. And number two: holiness, without which no one can see the Lord.

Let's talk about peace. "Follow peace with all men." Live at peace with your team members. Now, by all men, of course, he doesn't mean everybody who is alive. We certainly ought to strive for that. We ought to strive to live at peace with all men as much as is possible, says Paul in the book of Romans.

Sometimes it's not possible to live at peace with some people. But we ought to pursue peace with all men. We ought to be peacemakers and not troublemakers on the team. We should not try to run the race creating problems for people.

You see, in the Christian race, there is no competition among the members. Sometimes you're watching a team sport and you notice that one teammate or perhaps two teammates want to be filled with glory. They want to get all the honor. They want to be recognized. They want their picture on the front page of the newspaper the next morning. The writer of Hebrews says no, pursue peace. There is no competition. All of you run the race, all of you can win the prize.

In fact, he says that in 1 Corinthians 9:24: "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain." In other words, all of you can win the prize. As Christians, we do not compete with each other. We compete with ourselves. We're striving to be better Christians today than we were yesterday. It's sad when Christians compete with each other. It's sad when ministries compete. It's sad when churches compete. Follow peace.

Secondly, follow holiness. This simply means obey the rules. You know, it isn't enough to be a good runner. You have to obey the rules. More than one Olympic star has lost the reward, lost the prize, because he or she did not obey the rules. In 2 Timothy 2:5, Paul had this word for Timothy: "And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully." No one who runs in the race and wants to win the prize will win that prize if he's broken the rules.

Now, in the Greek games, you had to have followed the rules carefully. This applied not only to the actual running of the race, it applied to the training for the race. The Greek people had a regular system worked out whereby every candidate went through training. He had to meet certain qualifications. He could not be a slave, he had to be a free person, had to be a citizen. He had to go through the training. If you don't obey the rules, you don't win the prize.

Holiness. Now, in the book of Hebrews, holiness has a twofold aspect. There is positional holiness. Hebrews 10:10: "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." This is positional, complete sanctification. When you trusted Christ as your Savior, you were set apart and you belong to God once and for all.

Now, this should lead to practical sanctification. Hebrews 10:14: "For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." The Greek text reads: "them that are being sanctified." We have been sanctified once and for all through the death of Jesus Christ, but day by day we are growing in holiness. We are growing in our devotion to the Lord. We are obeying the rules.

Now, these two go together, don't they? Peace and holiness. That's one of the major themes of the book of Hebrews. He talks about Melchizedek. If you'll look at Hebrews 7:2: Melchizedek, "First being by interpretation King of righteousness"—that's what Melchizedek means: King of righteousness—"And after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace." He was the king of Salem. Salem means peace. Righteousness, peace.

Now go back to Hebrews 12:14: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." God puts peace and holiness together. When we're walking in a sanctified way, then we are peacemakers and not troublemakers. The Lord Jesus puts peace and holiness together.

If we are walking in holiness, we will be walking in peace. The peace which comes from above is first of all pure, then peaceable. James 3:17: "The wisdom that is from above is first pure, and then it is peaceable." That which is pure should lead to peace. That which is the peace of God involves the holiness of God.

Dedicated determination. So as you and I are running with the other teammates, number one, let's follow peace. Let's pursue peace. Let's do everything we can to keep peace on the team. Not peace at any price, though. Number two, holiness. Holiness. Being more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now Hebrews 12:15-17 give us a second essential for effective teamwork: diligent discernment. He says looking diligently. The word "looking" gives us our word Episcopal. It means looking over, watching over. It's the picture of a physician watching a patient or a shepherd watching a flock.

You and I as members of the team have a responsibility to our teammates. Not to tell them where to run or how to run, but to watch over our team lest. Notice three times he uses the word lest. Twice in Hebrews 12:15 and once in Hebrews 12:16.

He's talking here about three dangers. There are three dangers that every Christian must watch out for as he runs the race. First, there's the danger of failing of God's grace. Hebrews 12:15: "looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God." Secondly: "lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and by it many be defiled." Thirdly: "lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright."

Now, here are three warnings. Here are three teammates who must not be kept on the team. We must deal with these people and do it diligently.

Number one: beware of those who fail of the grace of God. "Looking diligently lest any man"—that can happen to anybody—"fail of the grace of God." This doesn't mean the grace of God fails. We're saved by grace and that grace will not fail. We're kept by grace and that grace will not fail. It is not that God's grace fails us, it is that we fail of God's grace. Oh, how we need to lay hold of the grace of God.

Now as you're running the race, when you see some other teammate who's depending on himself, he's depending on his own strength, he's depending on tradition or religion, he's not depending on the grace of God, watch out. He's going to start lagging behind and then he's going to drop out.

That was the danger in the lives of these people to whom the book of Hebrews was written. They were in danger of lagging behind and then going back. The theme of Hebrews is "Let us go on to maturity. Let's go on and win the prize." And they wanted to turn around and go back. Beware lest any teammate fail of the grace of God.

Secondly, beware lest any teammate allow a root of bitterness. Notice Hebrews 12:15: "lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and by it many be defiled." What is a root of bitterness? Well, we're told in Deuteronomy 29:18. Moses is warning the Jews.

Deuteronomy 29:18: "Lest"—there's that word—"Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood."

What's he talking about? He's talking about idolatry. He's saying watch out lest any of your teammates get their hearts off of the Lord and start living for the idols of this world. He's talking about apostasy, turning away from the true and the living God. Now that's a dangerous thing. You cannot run in the race of faith unless your heart is fixed upon the Lord. The root of bitterness.

The word "trouble" means to disturb, to annoy. It's a sad thing when a team is hindered from winning because somebody on that team's a troublemaker, annoying. Why? Because in that person's heart is idolatry. They've turned away from God.

The word "defile" means to stain, to give a bad reputation. Well, beware. Beware lest any teammate fail of the grace of God. Beware lest any teammate turn away from the love of God and his heart be fixed upon idolatrous things.

Thirdly, beware lest you have someone like Esau. This takes us back to the book of Genesis. A fornicator. Hebrews 13:4 warns about fornication: "Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." And we have so much of that today. Fornication.

Now he warns, don't let anybody on the team break the rules and get involved in immorality. Root of bitterness, that's idolatry. Fornication, that's immorality. Or profane person. The word profane means outside the temple. An irreligious person, a worldly person, a person who lives for this world. Esau is the example of that.

Esau sold his birthright, why? Because he was hungry and wanted immediate pleasure. He lost the blessing, why? Because his heart was not right with God. God gave the blessing to Jacob. And it got to the point where Esau could not repent, he could not change his mind.

You see, Esau failed of the grace of God. He was a fornicator. If my count is correct, he had three wives and he brought trouble into the family because of these wives. He was a profane person, an irreligious person, a worldly person. Successful in this world but not successful in the things of the Lord. And he brought bitterness into the family. He brought a root of bitterness in that brought defilement and division and disappointment.

Now, are you and I good teammates? It's not enough that we do our exercises, that we follow our diet. It's not enough that we run the race by ourselves. We are a part of a Christian team and therefore we need to be good teammates.

This means dedicated determination. Pursue peace, don't be a troublemaker. Pursue holiness, obey the rules. And then there must be diligent discernment. Beware, beware lest any teammate fail of the grace of God or turn away from the love of God or, like Esau, become a worldly and profane person. We make it easier for others to run the race if we'll follow these instructions.

[Interview]

Up next, Warren Wiersbe joins Back to the Bible CEO Arnie Cole in the studio to talk about the blessings and warnings found in Hebrews.

Arnie: Warren, in Hebrews 12, it seems like the writer goes back and forth between encouraging us and warning us. He's really trying to wake us up, isn't he?

Warren: That's a good way to put it, because we so easily go to sleep. Now, we do this with our own children. We warn them, but then we thank them and bless them. If all of our teaching was warning, they'd get negative. If all of it was blessing, we'd pamper them and spoil them. So God balances it.

And just about the time I think I'm really God's great friend, what would He do without me? Whoops! Something happens and God says, "You know what? You're made of clay, and without Me you can do nothing." So we need this balance. We really do. I don't think we have to tell everybody what's going on down inside.

I get phone calls like that, maybe you do too, where people call and tell me all their burdens. That's all right, I can pray for them. But God knows how to balance things. That is just so wonderful, because our world today is out of balance.

Arnie: So Warren, you talked about how Abraham obeyed God, but if I recall correctly, he also disobeyed God, didn't he?

Warren: And that makes him a buddy of ours, doesn't it? Yes, he did disobey God. But God is so marvelous, so loving. "Like as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those that fear him." And so God spanked him.

My father had the fastest belt in Indiana. He beat the Lone Ranger to the draw, I tell you. And whenever I did something I shouldn't do, he went for that belt. And I used to wonder about that, you know, "Does he enjoy this?" No, he didn't. No, he didn't, not at all. But I needed it. And so Abraham had the same experience. God is love, and because God is love, even His spankings represent His love.