I suppose it is universally recognized that when your needs are desperate, you get the best help available. If you have cancer, you want the best oncologist you can find and afford. If you have heart disease, you want the best cardiologist. A general practitioner is fine for everyday things but when the stakes are high, you want the best... Jesus' example of faithfulness is the best there is.

In an article in Moody Monthly Magazine, Don Baker challenged his readers to consider the difficulty, and sometimes pain , when the time comes for a son to leave his father’s home and go forth on his own. I’m going to read you a few excerpts to introduce my topic this morning.

"Forty years ago, my father sent three sons to war. He didn’t know if we would return, and if we did, whether we’d be corpses or cripples.

"I was the last to go. We sat together on a cold, hard bench in Portland Union Pacific depot, and we talked – small talk, clumsy talk.

"Over and over again, Dad said, ‘Do you have everything you need?’

" ‘Yes,’ I said. And I thought, What really does a fellow need, going off to war, but a toothbrush and a razor?’"

"Finally, he said, ‘We’ll miss you.’

" ‘I’ll miss you, too,’ I said.

" ‘We’ll pray for you,’ he added.

" ‘ I’ll pray for you.’

" ‘We love you,’ he said.

" ‘ I love you.’

"I kept hoping to hear the train. Finally it came.

"I can’t remember ever seeing my father cry. Yet my mother later told me that after the train pulled away from the depot, Dad placed his head on the steering wheel of his car and sobbed."

This father sent his son off to face a deadly enemy in war, knowing full well ahead of time the stakes involved. This enemy would stop at nothing short of world conquest. The battle had all-or-nothing consequences.

In perhaps a very similar way, God the Father sent His Son off to engage a deadly enemy in battle – an enemy that would stop at nothing short of world conquest. As soon as that enemy detected the appearance of God the Son on earth, he was totally engrossed with destroying Him and all He lived for.

"When the fullness of the time came," we read in Galatians 4:4, "God sent forth His Son…." From that day until the battle was over, the enemy of our souls pulled out all the stops to destroy the Son of God. It began with Herod’s slaughter of the infants of Bethlehem and didn’t stop until the illegal Judeo/Roman act of crucifying Him stopped the beating of His human heart. It was the battle of the ages – a battle from which He would have little respite during His entire time on earth. But the stakes were High. At risk were not only His own life and mission, but the lives of every God-loving person who had ever lived or would live.

God the Son courageously completed His mission and we sit here today in hope because of His faithfulness. Of course by now we all recognize that we have a mission to complete as well – a mission that involves not only our own lives, but the lives of all those we can influence. We must be faithful unto death before we can receive the crown of life Jesus died to purchase for us.

Contrary to what some would say today, completing our mission faithfully is not automatic. We must apply ourselves diligently if we expect to accomplish our goals. We need to enlist all the help we can find. We must remain faithful to our calling. With that need in mind, let’s take a look at the example of Jesus’ faithfulness and see what we can learn that will help us remain faithful ourselves.

Please turn with me in your Bibles to Hebrews 12:1-13.

(Read Text)

Fix your eyes on Jesus, the Faithful Son, the Hebrew writer commands. How will fixing our eyes of Jesus help us complete our mission? I see six answers to this question in these verses. First:

1. His Example of Faithfulness Is The Direct Source Of Our Faith.

Verse 2 of our passage says, "…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith… ."

I suppose it is universally recognized that when your needs are desperate, you get the best help available. If you have cancer, you want the best oncologist you can find and afford. If you have heart disease, you want the best cardiologist. A general practitioner is fine for everyday things but when the stakes are high, you want the best.

In the previous chapter (chapter 11) the Hebrew writer has just completed a list of examples of people who lived by and were justified by faith. Able, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, David – it’s a very long list – a "great cloud of witnesses" as he says in verse 1 of our text. Studying the records of these people in the Bible can strengthen our resolve to be faithful. Yet we know that each of these witnesses had flaws in his or her character. They erred at times along the path of their walk.

The writer of Hebrews is telling us to focus our gaze beyond these people who did their best to live by faith onto the Author of Faith Himself.

For nearly 40 years I’ve pursued flyfishing as a hobby and as a means of rest and recreation. Over the years I have collected and read a large number of books on the subject. There are a few books that are my favorites though, because I’ve actually met their authors. It’s one thing to read the writing of some expert. It’s a much greater treat to meet (and even fish with) the author of the writing. You can ask him all the questions that resulted from reading his book. You can watch him do what he knows and does best. Gary Borger, Dave Whitlock, Dave Hughes, Denny Rickard, Rick Haifle – while these names mean little or nothing to most of you - these are the pros of fly fishing. They’re not unlike the pros of golf - Nicholas and Palmer, or the pros of football - Montana and Rice and Marino.To read their books is great. To know the authors is a step beyond great.

The Hebrew writer is telling us to fix our eyes on the author of the faith. We can’t get any better instruction in faithfulness than by knowing the Faithful Son of God – the author and perfecter of faith. A lifelong focus on Him and His life as revealed in the Scripture pays rich dividends when the trials and troubles of faith come.

2. His Example of Faithfulness Gives Us A Stable Reference Point.

"Fixing your eyes upon Jesus…" says the Hebrew writer.

I am quite often the victim of motion sickness. Turn me around three times in the middle of the room and I’m ready to loose my lunch. I’ve tried the drugs like Dramamine and the patch behind the ear with only mixed results. Usually they just come up with the rest of the lunch. As a pre-teen, I had to stay off the monkey bars. As a teenager, I had to sit out all the carnival rides. Whenever we went someplace I had to ride in the front seat and not the back (that is if you didn’t want to have to pull off to the side of the road in the first five or ten miles and let me out.) Vertigo ruled big portions of my life and the only thing I ever found that helped me was being in a position to fix my eyes of some non-moving reference point. That, if I did it soon enough in a moving situation, usually prevented the nausea.

The walk of faith involves vertigo at times. We get hit by this temptation and that trial and this disappointment and that intellectual challenge to our faith - sometimes in rapid succession and we get spiritually disoriented. The result is that we can end up tossing more than our cookies. We can end up tossing our faith!

There is no better place to be than in the Bible regularly, considering the life and faithfulness of the Son of God. Reading and infusing the truths of His life into our lives gives us a steady reference point so that we don’t loose our bearings.

"…Fixing our eyes on Jesus," the writer of Hebrews says, "the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.

This "considering" of Jesus as a means of strengthening our own faith and resolve goes beyond a cursory glance. Sometimes we open our Bibles, read a paragraph or two, shut them, and have little recollection of what we have read. That won’t cut it. The word translated "consider" in the New American Standard Version is the Greek word from which we get our English word "analyze."(1) It means "to estimate or contemplate." Of necessity, it takes time and concerted effort. The word used here for consider has to do with thinking and weighing and comparing so that we know what Jesus did in each of the situations He faced.

Are you struggling with a great temptation of your life? Jesus too, with all the weakness inherent in humanity, has struggled with it. He as "tempted at all point as we are, yet without sin.." Are suffering from a bit of spiritual vertigo? You need a reference point to stop the out of control spinning. Take some time to carefully consider the way Jesus bore up under the stresses you face. He never once gave in. That is why His example provides such a helpful reference point.

God, in sending His Son to this earth, not only sent a Savior. He also launched a beacon that provides us a reference point if we will locate it and keep fixed on it.

3. His Example of Faithfulness Reminds Us Of Our Goal.

Verse 2 of our text says, "…who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus’ ultimate focus as He fulfilled His mission was not the cross. He was looking beyond to "the joy set before Him." The cross was not the joy.

I don’t play golf but I’ve heard what others have said about the game (sometimes even when I didn’t particularly want to!) A very common lesson for beginners is the one that teaches them the importance of follow through. Said another way, they are taught not to check their swing. They are to swing "through" the ball. If they don’t swing "through" the ball, they end up slowing their swing too early so that the ball is hit with less than optimal energy and may fall short of the green they are aiming for.

The idea here is similar. Jesus didn’t focus on the cross. He focused beyond the cross, to the joy that awaited Him when he returned to heaven and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God the Father.

Peter had this idea in mind when he wrote in 1 Peter 1:6, "In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

The key words are "may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." We don’t focus on the moment. We focus on the results.

My friends, whatever you may be struggling with at the moment will be over sooner than you think. If you stay faithful you’ll have eternity to be grateful you didn’t give in.

4. His Example of Faithfulness Shows Us That Things Are Usually Not As Bad As They Seem.

Which of us hasn’t, at some point, come to what we thought was "the end of our rope," only to discover that we had more rope left than we thought? Speaking generically, I’d be willing to bet that most of us are ready to quit long before a situation merits it. It seems to be an ingrained part of the fallen nature to struggle with the desire to quit.

Several years ago, I drove down to Eugene to preach. I needed to be there in time for the evening service at Garden Way Church. About ten miles from home the fuel light on the dash of my truck came on, telling me I was about to run out of gas. I didn’t know how much fuel I had left, so I was faced with a choice: turn around and go back to get more gas and be late for the service or go for it, hoping I had some reserve. After a few miles of deliberation, I decided I’d go for it. Guess what happened? I made it! In fact, later I learned that could have driven over 50 miles after the light came on.

Actually, I’m glad that little crisis happened, now that I can look back on it. I discovered something important about the fuel capacity of my truck.

In most of our lives, our "fuel light" comes on before we would actually run out of gas. We may need to turn back to get more fuel or we might need to press on. The one option we should never succumb to is to pull over to the side of the road and quit.

How far does God expect us to go in resisting sin? How far did Jesus go?

Verse 4 of our text says, "You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin."

"I just can’t endure one more day of this miserable marriage!"

"If my boss says one more cross word to me, I don’t care about the stress it will cause my family. I’m gonna be out of here!"

"I can’t go any longer without giving in to this temptation. I give up."

You’re at the end of your rope, you say? Can’t hang on any longer? Feel like you’re forced to quit the good fight? You haven’t resisted as much as you could resist if you chose to do so.

How far does God expect us to go? Are we ever justified in giving up, considering that He has promised us elsewhere that he "will not allow us to be tempted above what we are able"? (2) I don’t think so.

5. His Example of Faithfulness Reminds Us That Hard Times Are A Validation Of Our Sonship.

"I’m one of God’s children. I shouldn’t have to suffer what has been going on in my life. People who don’t know God seem to get along better than I do. This is unthinkable! It’s not fair! "

Oh? What ever gave you that idea? Jesus is the Only Begotten Son of God and what did He do according to this passage? He suffered! Do you think you outrank Jesus?

Actually, while you might think things aren’t right if you have to suffer sometimes for you faith, it may well be an indicator that things are exactly as they should be.

The text says in verse 5 and 6: "…And you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him; For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,

And He scourges every son whom He receives. "

He scourges every son whom He receives. What part of every don’t we understand?

But it goes even further than that. Verse 8 says, "But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons."

It seems here that a lack of trouble could be more spiritually threatening than a presence of it.

Typically, when we begin to suffer on account of our faith, we are tempted to either (1) say "It’s not fair – I quit!" or (2) think that God must have deserted us. Neither of these explanations is in these verses. Rather, the Hebrew writer says that it is a validation of our sonship.

Does this idea that God would use suffering to discipline us sound strange? It shouldn’t. It is taught elsewhere, too.

Peter says in 1 Peter 4:12-14, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you."

Far from being some kind of anomaly in our lives, hard times are a validation of our sonship. Unless you die young, you probably won’t get through life as a Christian without some kind of suffering.

6. His Example of Faithfulness Calms Us With The Anticipation Of Peace and Righteousness.

Verse 11 says, "All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness."

There is a good in affliction that quitters never get to see. I refer to the deepened peace and righteousness that results from struggling with trouble and keeping God first while you do it. Don’t expect to see it instantly. This verse says "afterwards" and when you have been "trained" by it. Training suggests the process of repetition.

While I don’t fully understand the theological consequences of it, the Bible says that even Jesus was so trained. Earlier in the book of Hebrews, namely 5:8, we read, "Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered."

King David of Israel noticed the same relationship between suffering and training. Early in the Psalms he cries out for deliverance from affliction many times. Later, in Psalm 119:71, he observes, "It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Thy statutes."

Some aspects of faithfulness simply cannot be learned at the church building.

Conclusion

Several years ago while making a routine flight from Portland, Maine, to Boston, Henry Dempsey heard an unusual noise near the rear of his commuter aircraft.

Turning the controls over to his copilot, he walked to the back of the plane. As he reached the tail section, the plane hit an air pocket, and he was thrust against the rear door. Henry inadvertently discovered the source of the mysterious noise; the rear door had not been adequately latched. As the weight of Henry's body fell against the door, it flew open, and the unsuspecting pilot was sucked out of the jet.

The copilot, detecting the open door on the instrument panel, radioed the nearest control tower, requesting permission to land, reporting that his colleague had fallen out of the plane.

Henry, however, had managed to grab the outdoor ladder at the rear of the plane. He clung to a rung with his bare hands while the plane maintained a speed of 200 miles per hour and descended from 4,000 feet.

Ten minutes later the jet landed. Henry's head was a mere twelve inches off the tarmac. According to the newspaper report that described the incident, prying his fingers from the ladder took airport personnel several minutes. (3)

That’s an amazing story, but it is nothing compared to the way that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hung onto and completed the mission His father sent Him to accomplish. His example still attracts those today who wish, more than anything else, to complete their mission – faithful to God.

Footnotes: Use your "back" button to return to your place.

1. analgidzomai
2. 1 Corinthians 10:13
3. John Maxwell in THE TIME CRUNCH

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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