For Our Good
Hebrews 12:4–11 – Jesus Is Better
3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – June 14th, 2026 (am)
Last Sunday we were talking about enduring in faith requiring us to lay aside baggage—old burdens we tend to carry with us through life, or ensnaring sin that we’ve just learned to live with or maybe have forgotten that we do best to fight off and leave behind—and look to Jesus, to consider him as the One Who blazed the trail we’re following and ran it to perfection (1-3).
That’s just what we need to pick up this week’s passage. It begins in v.4. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. You’ve not yet paid the ultimate price. You haven’t lost your life. So, you’ve not even matched the sacrifice of everyone in the great cloud of witnesses (1; cf.c.11), not to mention Jesus (2-3). Remember that as you evaluate your struggle against sin, as you assess the cost of laying aside your baggage. You really haven’t yet suffered all that badly.
Now, where we’re headed in today’s text is toward something they may’ve forgotten that truly helps make sense of any struggle they’ve faced. The discouragement of the recipients of this letter is attributable, at least in part, to a false reading of the situation in which they [found] themselves. 528 Such hardship and affliction as they… had to endure in… their Christian [lives didn’t] mean, as some of them seem to have assumed, that God [was] unconcerned for their welfare and [had] left them without his aid and support. [To] the contrary, as they [had] already been assured more than once, he [was] constantly [present] and his gracious help [was always] available to them (2:18; 4:15f.; 7:25; 10:19ff.) (Hughes 527-528). And the very same is still true for us today.
What we’ll find here today is a reminder of how God works with His children, how the unexpected hardships in their lives—things that can feel like completely stopped traffic on an interstate highway or, maybe worse, a forced detour through unknown territory—are actually working for His good in our lives, reliably, if we’re patient and willing to see it.
I pick that illustration on purpose. When Jean & I made our recent trip to Escondido, CA, just north of San Diego, it was a long drive in a U-Haul truck—2,200 miles, four days. I love driving, especially trucks. But these were long days at our age—well, at Jean’s age. On day three, Albuquerque to Phoenix, just over half-way through our trip, GPS sent us off Rte.40 onto a what looked like Main Street, Suburbia—a three-lane-each-direction road, much like Butterfield, with a traffic light every mile or so. And this continued for the first nearly twenty miles. We were wondering, and not very happily, what size accident must have happened on Rte.40 for this to become the GPS detour while we were still so far from Phoenix. But we drove along with a hefty collection of other vehicles that had also been routed this way. And we began fantasizing about how comfortable our bed might be that evening, and how long it might be until we were actually tucked away in it!
I’m going to leave this story for now, but we’ll get back to it later with some finishing details. For now, I just want you to get the feel of the inconvenience, the undesirability of a sudden detour through unknown territory on a long-driving day. We could also illustrate it with an unanticipated layoff at work or a sudden, potentially serious health diagnosis for you or your spouse or—as we’ve surely seen in this body—one of your children. It could be a knee-buckling conflict or crisis in a close relationship that just dropped in out of the blue.
None of these difficulties takes your life, but they can certainly change it. And if we think God is supposed to be protecting us from them, we can get pretty out-of-sorts with Him pretty quickly, or at least pretty confused by Him. And the inclination to take matters into our own hands can arise in our hearts without any identifiable rival, or option. With these things in mind, let’s jump into this text seeking to remember a thing or two we may’ve forgotten. We’ll state them as two principles.
We must view our struggle against sin from God’s perspective. – 5-8
The author introduces this idea gently, suggesting that his readers should already know this point, but may just not remember it. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? Then he quotes Proverbs 3:11-12: “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” The word behind discipline here means training or instruction, [mainly] as it is attained by discipline or correction (bagd)—the training that comes through expressions of discipline or correction. Then there are two words used in parallel to discipline (5) that help us appreciate more of what it means: reproved (5) speaks of verbal (esl) rebuke (l-n), correction that exposes some fault (bagd) or error (cgednt), and chastises (6) adds in physical punishment (l-n) or affliction (bagd), corporal punishment we might say.
Now, here’s the idea: this wisdom from Proverbs should remind them that all the hardship they’ve endured—everything that made them want to shrink back (10:38-39) and return to their old ways; all the opposition or pushback or suffering or struggle they faced as they sought to lay aside every weight and sin to press on in their race of faith—they should accept [all that] as God’s method of training and disciplining them. They should accept it as a token that they [really are] his [dearly loved] sons and daughters (Bruce 342). The author himself explains his meaning in vv.7-8. But it’s his opening words there that underscore the heart of his instruction. 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure…. It is for this training, this instruction that we have to endure the hardship, to hold on in faith all the way through it and so receive it as what God’s Word tells us it is right here in Hebrews 12, and back in Proverbs 3, and in so many other places. It’s His affirmation of love for us, His assurance that we truly are His children. Chrysostom exclaimed: See, it is those very things in which [we] suppose [we] have been deserted by God that should make [us] confident that [we] have not been deserted (in Hughes 528).
There’s [our] struggle against sin from God’s perspective.
We must trust in the reliability of God’s training in discipline. – 9-11
And the author uses an argument from the lesser to the greater to help us develop that trust. The fact is, 9 … we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them, even if we don’t think they did it particularly well or consistently. … We tend to give them the benefit of the doubt and appreciate the effort, 10 [f]or they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them…. They did their best. But if that is true with, literally, the fathers of our flesh (ylt), fallen and imperfect as they are, 9 … [s]hall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? Don’t get hung up on this unusual name for God. This appears to be a simple contrast between our mortal earthly fathers and our spiritual…, heavenly Father—the source of all life and perhaps… particularly… of new life in Christ (Hughes 531).
But here’s the point: this perfectly holy God deserves our full and undivided allegiance given that, in contrast to our earthly fathers, 10 … he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. He shares with us that to which He called us in the Law. Leviticus 11:44 … I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. … Now He enables it through His discipline. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, even God’s, but later it pays off; it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Doesn’t this sound nice, desirable? But what does it mean? The person who accepts discipline at the hand of God as something designed by his heavenly Father for his good will cease to feel resentful and rebellious; he has “calmed and quieted” his soul (see Psa.131), which [in turn] provides fertile soil for the cultivation of a righteous life, [a life that is] responsive to the will of God (Bruce 346) in all its pursuits.
This is what happens when we trust in God’s training, when we embrace the varied hardships of life and begin to see that we can receive them as a school of faith.
Conclusion
We can receive them as God working in us to share his holiness and produce the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
When we’re frustrated by a sequence of seemingly random impedances to the fulfillment of our responsibilities, we can choose by faith to believe that our loving Father is cultivating our patience, and we can enter into that opportunity with our whole heart.
If our work implements some morally objectionable policy, we might discern that our Father is seeking to develop our discernment and our courage to present and defend His truth in the public sphere with gentleness and respect.
If a disturbing conflict suddenly arises in our marriage or family, we could embrace it by faith knowing already that Eph.6:12 … we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, but against… the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. This might keep us from feeling forced to conclude that our loved ones are guilty of doing the devil’s work. It might also help us grow in compassion and mercy in our relationships across the board.
Remember our detour on the way from Albuquerque to Phoenix? I was wrestling with why, on a drive that long—an errand of mercy!—the Lord would purpose a detour through unknown territory. But after that nearly twenty-mile stretch of traffic lights, we emptied onto a four-lane divided highway through some of the most beautiful country we’ve ever seen. We discovered a mountain range we’d never heard of, the Mazatzal Mountains—they were stunning, and that from someone who’s lived in north Georgia and east Tennessee! We traversed a couple or three National Forests, but none more breathtaking than Tonto, with its elk, which we didn’t see, to its wild horses, which we did! And that brought us into the equally beautiful desert area with its sagebrush and giant cactus plants.
Jean & I enjoy this trip because of the changing landscape we encounter from one end of it to the other in this amazingly diverse country of ours. And that day our Father took us, unexpectedly, through a lengthy exposure to some yet new beauty we’d never before encountered. And, you know what? That route is also a short-cut to Phoenix. It saved us time! We checked into our hotel earlier than anticipated.
I believe this helps grasp what we’re being taught in Hebrews 12. Our Father has beautiful things planned for us that are developed through the hardships and struggles that serve as His discipline in this world. When we trust Him to use all of that for His purpose, His blessing will be the outcome. Who among us would shrink back from a life characterized by holiness and the peaceful fruit of righteousness?
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Resources
Anders, Max, gen. ed. 1999. Holman New Testament Commentary. Hebrews & James, by Thomas D. Lea. Nashville: Broadman & Holman.
Arndt, William F., & F. Wilbur Gingrich [bagd]. 1958. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, second edition revised and augmented by Wilbur Gingrich and Frederick W. Danker from Walter Bauer’s fifth edition, 1958. Chicago: University of Chicago.
Arnold, Clinton E., gen. ed. 2002. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary. Vol. 4, Hebrews to Revelation. Hebrews, by George H. Guthrie, 2-82. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Barclay, William. 1976. The Daily Study Bible Series. The Letter to the Hebrews, Revised Edition. Louisville: Westminster John Knox.
Beale, G. K., & D. A. Carson, eds. 2007. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Hebrews, by George H. Guthrie, 919-995. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.
Bruce, F. F. 1990. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Calvin, John. 1553. Commentary on the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews, trans. by, John Owen. Logos.
Carson, D. A., R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham, eds. 1994. New Bible Commentary 21st Century Edition. Hebrews, by David Peterson, 1321-1353. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.
Clendenen, Ray E., gen. ed., David S. Dockery, NT ed. 2010. The New American Commentary. Vol. 35, Hebrews, by David L. Allen. Nashville: Broadman & Holman.
Dever, Mark. 2005. The Message of the New Testament. Ch. 19, The Message of Hebrews: Sticking with the Best, 413-425. Wheaton: Crossway.
Fee, Gordon D., gen. ed. 1990. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. The Epistle to the Hebrews, Revised Edition, by F. F. Bruce. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Grudem, Wayne, ed. 2008. ESV Study Bible. Study notes on Hebrews, by David W. Chapman. Wheaton: Crossway.
Guthrie, George. 1998. The NIV Application Commentary. Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Hubbard, David A., & Glenn W. Barker, gen. eds. Ralph P. Martin, NT ed. 1991. Word Biblical Commentary. Vols. 47a, Hebrews 1-8; Vol.47b, Hebrews 9-13, by William L. Lane. Dallas: Word.
Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe. 1979. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Longman III, Tremper, & David E. Garland, eds. 2006. Revised Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Vol. 13, Hebrews-Revelation. Hebrews, by R. T. France, 17-195. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Louw, Johannes P., & Eugene A. Nida [l-n]. 1989. Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, second edition. New York: United Bible Societies.
Morris, Leon, gen. ed. 1983. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Vol. 15, Hebrews, by Donald Guthrie. Downers Grove: InterVarsity.
Newman, Barclay M. [cgednt]. 1993. A Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the NT. Stuttgart, Germany: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, United Bible Society.
Owen, John. 1855. Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, 7 Vols. Edinburgh: Johnstone and Hunter.
Strong, James. 1995. Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon (esl). Logos Bible Software.
NEXT SUNDAY: Strive for Peace... and Holiness, Hebrews 12:12–17