The Compass. Leading Families Toward Spiritual Maturity. Looking to Jesus, Part 1. Hebrews 12:1-2

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1 The Compass First Family Church VOLUME 2 ISSUE 27 MARCH 22, 2015 FOR THE WEEK LEADING INTO MARCH 29 Looking to Jesus, Part 1 Hebrews 12:1-2 Leading Families Toward Spiritual Maturity This week s R2R distinctive Hope (Hebrews 6:19-20): I can cope with the hardships of life and with death because of the hope I have in Jesus Christ. As we enter into the Easter season, we begin a four-part mini-series from Hebrews 12 called Looking to Jesus. After observing the great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 11, the writer now moves on to challenge us to live our Christian life looking to Jesus as the author and perfecter of our faith (v. 3). Once again, in a very Paul-like fashion, life is compared to a race, and we are encouraged to run the race with our eye on the prize, and to run with endurance. I ve never been a runner, but I have watched friends who are runners. One of my friends was not only a runner, but trained for triathlons. I think it is safe to say that in many ways, this became a lifestyle for him. He didn t just wake up one Saturday morning and decide to complete a triathlon. It took a lot of training and preparation. He worked to build his endurance so he could complete the various segments of the triathlon. Slowly, he improved not only his endurance, but his speed. There were setbacks. He injured his knee and had to have surgery. Following the surgery, there was a lot of physical therapy and rebuilding of muscles. Eventually, he reached his pace before his injury and continued to strive and work. What motivated him? It was the goal before him to complete the triathlon. This is the picture the writer give us of the Christian life, one of gritty determination, working hard to endure the trials with our eye on the Lord Jesus, who is our forerunner. He is in front of us encouraging us to run hard and finish the race. Just like my friend who experienced a knee injury, life will throw us a curve ball from timeto-time. It s not all rainbows and unicorns, as my daughter, Julianne, likes to say. Yet, like a determined runner, when we hit a bump in the road, an injury, we don t stop. We adjust, repair, heal, and continue running. It is my prayer that as you work through this week s Compass, you will pause to evaluate your life. Where do you need to make adjustments? Are there areas that are slowing you down? Do you need to change up your training or add some new challenges to your routine? Most importantly, would those who know you and live life with you identify you as a Christian. There was no doubt my friend trained for triathlons. It was a lifestyle for him. Would your friends say the same about you? There s no doubt he/she is a Christian...it defines who they are in life. May God richly bless you this week as you run the race that is before you, looking to Jesus, who is cheering us on to finish the race for the glory of God. Chris Eller

2 Page 2 The Compass Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus Words and Music by Helen H. Lemmel, Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2) I ve seen the face of Jesus It was a wondrous sight! Oh, glorious face of beauty, Oh gentle touch of care; If here it is so blessed, what will it be up there? W. Spencer Walton In our fast-paced daily life, how easy it is to get caught up in the things of earth so that eternal values become blurred and almost forgotten. We need today s hymn to remind us that we must continue to make Christ the central core of our lives to pursue the Kingdom of God and His righteousness if we are to be victorious believers. In 1918, Helen Howarth Lemmel, the author and composer of this hymn, was given a tract by a missionary friend. As she read it, Helen s attention was focused on this line: So then, turn your eyes upon Him, look full into His face, and you will find that the things of earth will acquire a strange new dimness. She related: Suddenly, as if commanded to stop and listen, I stood still, and singing in my soul and spirit was the chorus of the hymn with not one conscious moment of putting word to word to make rhyme, or note to note to make melody. The verses were written the same week, after the usual manner of composition, but none the less dictated by the Holy Spirit. Since that day, Helen Lemmel s hymn has been translated into many languages and used by God to challenge believers around the world with the necessity of living devoted lives for His glory. O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see? There s light for a look at the Savior, and life more abundant and free! Thru death into life everlasting He passed, and we follow Him there; over us sin no more hath dominion For more than conq rors we are! His word shall not fail you He promised; believe Him, and all will be well: Then go to a world that is dying, His perfect salvation to tell! Chorus: Turn your eyes upon Jesus; look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Kenneth W. Osbeck, Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1996). Day 1 ENCOUNTER God s Word to put yourself in touch with him. Hebrews 12:1-2 (ESV) 1 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, 2 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.

3 The Compass Page 3 Day 2 ENQUIRE the answer to these questions to better understand what the passage means. Use the questions below to guide your reading and to ensure you are grasping the key lessons and themes of the text. This is called Inductive Bible Study, in which you ask the questions, Who?, What?, Where?, Why?, When?, How? as you read the text. (Also known as the 5Ws and an H. ) 1. What should motivate followers of Christ to live for Him? (12:1) 2. What kind of athletic imagery did the writer of Hebrews use in this passage? (12:1) 3. What warning is given to those who would run the race of the Christian life? (12:1) 4. What should be the focus of those who would live for Christ? (12:2) 5. How is Jesus described in this passage? (12:2) Summary Notes Write a one paragraph summary of this week s text including key areas of interest and significant instruction. Consult the commentary on the text and the notes following this page for additional help.

4 Page 4 The Compass Day 4 EXPLORE the commentaries to answer the questions. The Race and the Goal (Hebrews 12:1-2) Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses enveloping us, let us strip off every weight and let us rid ourselves of the sin which so persistently surrounds us, and let us run with steadfast endurance the course that is marked out for us and, as we do so, let us keep our gaze fixed on Jesus who, in order to win the joy that was set before him, steadfastly endured the Cross, thinking nothing of its shame, and has now taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. 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 for ever on the way. The goal is nothing less than the likeness of Christ. The Christian life is going somewhere, and it would be well if, at each day s ending, we were to ask ourselves: Am I any farther on? (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. Longinus, in his great work On The Sublime, has a recipe for greatness in literary endeavour. It is a good thing, he writes, to form the question in our souls, How would Homer perhaps have said this? How would Plato or Demosthenes have lifted it up to sublimity? How would Thucydides have put it in his history? For when the faces of these people come before us in our emulation, they will, as it were, illumine our road and will lift us up to those standards of perfection which we have imagined in our minds. It would be still better if we were to suggest this to our minds, What would this that I have said sound like to Homer, if he were standing by, or to Demosthenes, or how would they have reacted to it? In truth it is a supreme test to imagine such a judgment court and theatre for our own private productions, and, in imagination, to submit an account of our writings to such heroes as judges. An actor would act with double intensity if he knew that some famous dramatic master was sitting in the stalls watching him. 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. How can a man avoid the struggle for greatness with an audience like that looking down upon him? (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 startingmark; 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. The word is hupomonē which does not mean the patience which sits down

5 The Compass Page 5 and accepts things but the patience which masters them. 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. It is the steadfast endurance which carries on until in the end it gets there. (v) In the Christian life we have an example. That example is Jesus himself. For the goal that was set before him, he endured all things; to win it meant the way of the Gross. The writer to the Hebrews has a flash of insight despising the shame, he says. Jesus was sensitive; never had any person so sensitive a heart. A cross was a humiliating thing. It was for criminals, for those whom society regarded as the dregs of humanity and yet he accepted it. St. Philip of Neri bids us to despise the world, to despise ourselves, and to despise the fact that we are despised (spernere mundum, spernere te ipsum, spernere te sperni). If Jesus could endure like that, so must we. (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. The wonder of the Christian life is that we press on surrounded by the saints, oblivious to everything but the glory of the goal and for ever in the company of him who has already made the journey and reached the goal, and who waits to welcome us when we reach the end. [William Barclay, ed., The Letter to the Hebrews, The Daily Study Bible Series (Philadelphia: The Westminster John Knox Press, 1975).]

6 Page 6 The Compass Daily Bible Reading Plan SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 3/22 3/23 3/24 3/25 3/26 3/27 3/28 Num. 33:40-35:34 Num. 36:1-Deut. 1:46 Deut. 2:1-3:29 Deut. 4:1-49 Deut. 5:1-6:25 Deut. 7:1-8:20 Deut. 9:1-10:22 Luke 5:12-39 Luke 6:1-11 Luke 6:12-38 Luke 6:39-7:10 Luke 7:11-35 Luke 7:36-8:3 Luke 8:4-21 Psalm 65:1-13 Psalm 66:1-20 Psalm 67:1-7 Psalm 68:1-18 Psalm 68:19-35 Psalm 69:1-18 Psalm 69:19-36 Proverbs 11:23 Proverbs 11:24-26 Proverbs 11:27 Proverbs 11:28 Proverbs 11:29-31 Proverbs 12:1 Proverbs 12:2-3 For complete details on First Family s Daily Bible Reading Plan, visit our website at What Big Business Can Teach Us About Repentance My first post-college and pre-seminary job was with IBM. In 1960 I moved to Dallas, Texas, to work with Big Blue for a summer. At that time it was still producing electric typewriters and dominating that market. Its computers were the rage of the world. Ross Perot was an employee of the Dallas office of IBM, but he was making plans to begin Electronic Data Systems, which became an IBM competitor. IBM was outracing its entire pack of competitors. Times have changed. In the early nineties the value of IBM stock plummeted. IBM lost its position as the leading maker of personal computers. When IBM management realized that they were not heading in the right direction, they made a commitment to restructuring. Restructuring involves reviewing your strategy. It involves a redeployment of resources. It often produces a smaller work force, new priorities for spending, and a sharing of power in the company organizational chart. It requires a clarification of goals and a relentless devotion to attaining the right goals. It expresses a willingness to change any needed activities to reach those goals. Restructuring a company resembles personal repentance. Repentance demands restructuring your life around the new demands of Jesus Christ. This, however, is not the popular understanding of repentance. For some people, repentance means to feel sad about sin. They think that it means to weep, to express sorrow, and to feel glum about the past. I have been an observer and participant in numerous experiences of public repentance in which waves of people have come forward to acknowledge their failures. Often they have detailed embarrassing personal failures and announced their intention to change. Copious tears accompanied their confessions. The real test did not come from measuring their tears but from observing their life change over the coming weeks. People who repent do not merely cry over their sins. They change their lives by God s grace. They do not continue to go over the same failures time and time again. They put these failures behind them and get on with the task of living in obedience to God. Three features about repentance are important for us to consider. First, repentance involves a commitment to live as a follower of Jesus Christ. The biblical word for repent demands a change of mind about God, self, and sin which produces a changed life. People who truly repent will live out the life of Jesus in their bodies. They will tap into God s power to do what their own will power could never accomplish. Second, repentance involves our relationship to other people and to society as a whole. If we repent, we will not merely withdraw into self-centered personal agendas, but we will work for bringing divine mercy and justice into society as a whole. We will also be concerned to see that no believer misses the grace of God. Third, our repentance will involve some changes which don t at first seem to be spiritual. Yes, we will read the Bible and pray more. We will also change the way we spend our money and the time we spend with television. We will find ourselves some new friends and some new activities. We may give up some foods and change our hobbies. Repentance will affect the totality of our lives. Hebrews 12 calls upon believers to restructure their lives around the ongoing purposes of the living God. Thomas D. Lea, Hebrews, James, vol. 10, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999).

7 The Compass Page 7 the children s ministry of first family church Practice Spiritual Concentration Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV) Retire from the world each day to some private spot, even if it is only the bedroom (for a while I retreated to the furnace room for want of a better place). Stay in the secret place till the surrounding noises begin to fade out of your heart and a sense of God s presence envelops you. Deliberately tune out the unpleasant sounds and come out of your closet determined not to hear them. Listen for the inward Voice till you learn to recognize it. Stop trying to compete with others. Give yourself to God, and then be what and who you are without regard to what others think. Reduce your interests to a few. Don t try to know what will be of no service to you. Avoid the digest type of mind short bits of unrelated facts, cute stories and bright sayings. Learn to pray inwardly every moment. After a while you can do this even while you work. Practice candor, childlike honesty, humility. Pray for a single eye. Read less, but read more of what is important to your inner life. Call home your roving thoughts. Gaze on Christ with the eyes of your soul. Practice spiritual concentration. Lord, lift my gaze from the clutter and distractions around me and give me a single eye for that which is eternal. Amen. CONNECTING THE FAMILY kids A.W. Tozer FFC Youth the youth ministry of first family church Memory Time Memory Verse 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. Hebrews 12:1-2 R2R Life Distinctive Hope (Hebrews 6:19-20): I can cope with the hardships of life and with death because of the hope I have in Jesus Christ. Family Devotions Set aside two times this week for family devotions centered around this week s text. Session 1: Read through this week s text (Hebrews 12:1-2). If you have children old enough to read, let one of them read the text. Who is the great cloud of witnesses (12:1)? What is the race we are running (12:1)? Session 2: Re-read this week s text (Hebrews 12:1-2). How is Jesus described (12:2)? Why did Jesus endure the cross (12:2)?

8 Page 8 The Compass R2R Life! Becoming Ready to Reproduce Disciples of Jesus 10 R2R Core Beliefs The Bible (2 Timothy 3:16 17): We believe the Bible is the inspired, infallible Word of God, and the final authority in all matters of faith and conduct. God the Father (Psalm 121:1 2): We believe God is personally involved in and cares about the daily lives of His children. Jesus Christ (John 1:12): We believe in Jesus Christ, His deity, virgin birth, sinless life, vicarious death, burial and bodily resurrection, His ascension to the right hand of the Father and His personal future return in power and glory. We are significant only because of our position as children of God. The Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:14): We believe the God of the Bible is the only true God and is eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Humanity (John 3:16): We believe all people are born separated from God by sin, but God in his love sent his Son Jesus Christ as their savior. Eternity (John 14:1 4): We believe there is a heaven and a hell and that Jesus Christ is returning to judge the earth and to establish his kingdom. We believe in the resurrection of the dead: the believer to life everlasting and the unbeliever to the resurrection of judgment. The Church (1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Ephesians 4:15-16): We believe in the church as the body of Christ, which is composed of all believers who have accepted Christ as Savior. We believe the church is God s primary way to accomplish His purposes on earth today. Stewardship (1 Timothy 6:17-19): We believe that everything we have, including our very life, belongs to God. Salvation by Grace (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 3:23-25; 8:38-39): We believe a person has a right relationship with God only by His grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. This makes believers eternally secure in Jesus Christ. Compassion (Psalm 82:3-4): We believe God calls all Christians to show compassion to those in need. 10 R2R Core Practices Worship (Psalm 95:1-7): I worship God for who He is and what He has done for me. Bible Study (Hebrews 4:12): I study the Bible diligently to know God, to become like Christ, and to discern His will for my life. Service (Colossians 3:17): I give away my time to fulfill God s purposes. Witness (Matthew 28:18-20): I live to tell the story of Jesus and to make disciples of Him even to the ends of the earth, knowing he is with me always. Biblical Community (Acts 2:44-47): I fellowship with other believers in a small group to accomplish God s purposes in my life, others lives, and in the world. Prayer (Psalm 66:16-20): I pray to God to know Him, to lay my request before Him and to find direction for my daily life. Spiritual Gifts (Romans 12:4-6): I know and use my spiritual gifts to accomplish God s purposes. Authenticity (John 13:33-34): I know and understand biblical truths and transfer these truths into everyday life. Who I am on the inside and outside is a pure reflection of Christ and His Word. Simplicity (Matthew 6:33): I seek to live a simple life focused on God and his priorities for my life. Possessions (Luke 16:11 12): I seek to maintain an eternal perspective on money and possessions, realizing God has give me all that I have, and that he expects me to manage it wisely for His glory. 10 R2R Core Virtues Gentleness (Philippians 4:5): I am thoughtful, considerate and calm in dealing with others. Faithfulness (Proverbs 3:3-4): I have established a good name with God and with others based on my long-term loyalty to those relationships. Hope (Hebrews 6:19-20): I can cope with the hardships of life and with death because of the hope I have in Jesus Christ. Joy (John 15:11): I have inner contentment and purpose in spite of my circumstances. Love (1 John 4:10-12): I sacrificially and unconditionally love and forgive others. Peace (Philippians 4:6-7): I am free from anxiety because things are right between God, myself and others. Self-Control (Titus 2:11-13): I have the power, through Christ, to control myself. Humility (Philippians 2:3-4): I choose to esteem others above myself. Patience (Proverbs 14:29): I take a long time to overheat and endure patiently under the unavoidable pressures of life. Kindness/Goodness (1 Thessalonians 5:15): I choose to do the right things in my relationships with others. About The Compass The Compass is produced throughout the school year to help you connect with the Word of God on a daily basis and to study and meditate on the specific biblical text that will be the focus of the upcoming weekend services. The Compass also helps tie-in the principles of discipleship found in 10 Core Beliefs (doctrine) 10 Core Practices (disciplines), and 10 Core Virtues (spiritual fruit). Together, we call these R2R Distinctives, or becoming a Ready to Reproduce Disciple of Jesus Christ. If you would like The Compass delivered each week to your box, you can to to compass and register.