Life is full of trials and challenges. You might be surprised to know how many people in this local church are currently facing a very difficult season. Some are dealing with broken families or relationships. Others are experiencing financial stress or job loss. Still others are facing medical procedures or confronting a serious, life-altering diagnosis.

How we respond when faced with such difficulty and opposition is shaped by how we view it. Is it random chance, a cosmic chess match, or is it guided by divine purpose?

The author of Hebrews is writing to believers who are facing immense challenges with a long and difficult road ahead of them. The original recipients of this letter were primarily faithful Jewish believers who have been enlightened by the Holy Spirit and have had their eyes opened to see that Jesus is God’s promised Messiah, the one to whom all of the law and the prophets point.

However, the response by their fellow countrymen was not accepting. They faced ridicule and persecution. They were accused of abandoning the Old Testament scriptures and rejecting their Jewish heritage. This came with a great personal cost. Family and friends pleaded with them to return to the temple rites and not to turn their backs on the traditions of their fathers. Eventually, the pleading subsided, the relationships cooled, and they became ostracized and isolated.

Notice the description in Hebrews chapter 10:

But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. (Hebrews 10:32–34)

The Book of Hebrews was written to encourage these believers in their faith. The author wants them to know that what they have gained is infinitely better than what they are leaving behind (the focus of chapters 1–10). He also wants them to understand that far from being signs of God’s disfavor, opposition and difficulty in this life are consistent with the experience of all those who live by faith. In chapter 11 we have that famous list of faithful believers. Yes, they conquered kingdoms, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, and put armies to flight. Yet they also faced famine, torture, imprisonment, and death—“of whom the world was not worthy.”

Then at the beginning of chapter 12 he says to them, “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, (Hebrews 12:1)”

Each of us has a race to run, a course that has been laid out before us. This race is not a sprint, but an ultramarathon. It’s not about speed, but endurance. The prize in this race goes to the one who finishes the course. These Hebrew believers have a long, hard road ahead of them. Having assured them that they made the right choice in following Christ, the author now seeks to encourage them for the long road ahead.

That is primarily who I am speaking to as well. Believers who can say with their whole heart, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back.” In our time together this morning, I want to look at the words of the author of Hebrews apply them to your race an mine. Read 12:3–6]

Don’t grow weary in running the race. Rather, recognize opposition as your Father’s loving discipline.

My encouragement to you this morning is this: Don’t grow weary in running the race. Rather, recognize opposition as your Father’s loving discipline. As we’ve already stated, at times the Christian race gets long and difficult, and there is a genuine danger of growing weary or faint-hearted. However, it is not enough to just say, “Don’t be weary.” How do we do that? In these verses, the writer, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gives two practical remedies for the weariness that will come.

1. Draw strength from Christ’s example.

The first is to draw strength from Christ’s example. Verse 3 tells us to, “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted.”

An important principle from Hebrews chapter eleven is echoed here again. It is that faithfulness does not exclude one from suffering. This is the consistent testimony throughout Scripture, but nowhere is it more clearly illustrated than in the life of the Lord Jesus. The one who exhibited perfect faithful obedience to his Father’s will was rejected, mocked, and crucified.

As believers facing trial and hardships, you can identify with the hostility and opposition suffered by Jesus—more than that, you can draw strength from it. Notice the author’s use of the word “consider.” The underlying Greek word is not just a casual glance. It carries the idea of a careful, attentive consideration of something in order to deliberately reckon with its implications.

Consider then the opposition faced by Jesus, rejected by those he came to save, scorned by the religious leaders and rulers. Some of his own family did not believe in him. In his darkest hour, his own disciples abandoned him and yet even as he suffered an agonizing death on the cross, he did not abandon his course. He faithfully endured.

Consider also that if the sinless Son of God is not exempt from such hostility and suffering, why would we expect to be? If his perfect faithfulness did not purchase immunity from opposition, why do we feel mistreated when our faithfulness is met with resistance? Indeed, such opposition is consistent with the path walked by our Lord Himself.

This should serve as a great comfort, for we are not called to go where our Captain has not already been. Our Captain has gone much farther than we have had to go. He was faithful to the point of death. As verse four says, “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” Christ not only walked the road before you, going all the way to the end of the path of suffering, but he has also promised that, in him, you will never walk the road alone. He has promised to be with you always.

2. Recognize opposition as your Father’s loving discipline.

The second remedy is to recognize opposition as your Father’s loving discipline. Here the author shifts his focus from the example of Christ to the character of God as Father, and he points his readers to an encouraging passage from the book of Proverbs.

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

There are two surprising things about this quotation. The first is that the writer views the opposition they are facing as discipline from the Lord. Remember the context. This is written as encouragement to believers who are facing opposition as they run the race that has been set before them. It is clear then that he views the struggles they are facing as divine discipline. Now, we must make a careful distinction here. He does not say that God is the one opposing them, but rather that God is working in and through the opposition that they face in order to discipline them. Just as it was with Joseph’s brothers, what they intend for evil, God intends for good.

This shifts the perspective entirely. The opposition you face is not evidence that God’s plan has failed, but that God is actively at work in you.

The second surprising thing about this quotation is the author’s suggestion that viewing the opposition we face as divine discipline is a remedy against growing weary and fainthearted. How is this encouraging? Hearing this, you might think, “Great, not only am I feeling worn down by opposition and overwhelmed by the struggle, but now I’m being disciplined as well. Is God also against me?”

The reason we may not find the idea of being disciplined by God encouraging is because we misunderstand the meaning of the word and the intention behind it. We tend to automatically think of discipline as punitive; however, the meaning is broader than that. When we say that someone needs self-discipline, we do not mean simply that they should punish themselves, but that they need to grow in maturity.

The underlying Greek word, much like the English word it is translated as, has a range of meanings. While it can refer to correction, it also refers to nurture, training, and instruction. The word paideia is derived from the root word pais, meaning child; it brings to mind the training and rearing of children. One example of its use is in Ephesians 6:4:

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

I think we understand intuitively that “discipline” here refers to something other than mere punishment. It is a reference to providing children with a foundational framework of principles and intentional decisions that honor the Lord. Another place it is used is 2 Timothy 3:16:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

You might think the word we’re talking about here is translated in this verse as reproof or correction, but it is actually the word “training”. Like a solider who endures the discipline of training to ready him for the battle field, God’s Word equips us with the training we need.

God’s discipline brings comfort because it is proof that you belong to Him. (7–10a)

Now in quoting this passage from Proverbs, the author of Hebrews seems to be anticipating a question in his reader’s minds. And perhaps it’s a question in your mind as well. The question is this: “If God loves me, and I am striving to live a life that is pleasing to Him, then why is the course that I am running so hard?”

The answer may seem counterintuitive, but it is deeply comforting. The opposition that you face is not a sign that God has abandoned you. Instead, it is evidence that He has claimed you as His own. God’s discipline brings comfort because it is proof that you belong to Him.

Notice the logic of verses five through seven. In this quotation it is sons who are being addressed. Therefore verse seven makes clear that if you are experiencing God’s discipline through opposition, “God is treating you as sons”. This discipline, then, is not the punishment of a rebel. It is the mark of a loving father, deeply invested in the training of a child, guiding and shaping them into an mature man or woman.

Think about how a truly loving father raises his son. He does not leave him to his own devices and hope for the best, nor does he simply allow him to do whatever he pleases. Instead, he will intentionally allow his son to experience difficulty and challenges, all the while guiding and shepherding him to overcome these obstacles. Sometimes he even allows hard consequences in order to teach lasting lessons. The goal in this is not to punish the son, but to see him grow up into mature manhood. The father does it out of love, because he has a much greater vision for who that child can become. Now, from the child’s perspective, it might seem loving for parents to remove every difficulty and hardship from their path. However, doing this is actually neglectful rather than loving.

This is exactly the kind of relationship that we see described in verses 7 through 10.[Read 12:7–10]

In the ancient Roman culture familiar to the original readers, it was common for Roman noblemen to have many illegitimate sons. For most, the presence of such sons was an inconvenient reality. Although they were obligated to support them financially, these children were mostly left to their own ends, without discipline or instruction.

The story was very different, however, for the legitimate sons of a nobleman’s legal wife. As the ones who would carry on their father’s name and inherit his estates, they we’re not left to do as they pleased. Instead they were typically placed under the authority of a tutor who imposed a strict training regiment with rules and limitations comparable to those imposed on a slave. The Apostle Paul alludes to this arrangement and these tutors in Galatians when he describes the Old Testament’s function in bringing us to Christ.

I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. (Galatians 4:1–2)

The word translated as guardian or schoolmaster in that verse is paidagogos which is derived from the same word (paideia) rendered in Hebrews 12 as discipline.

While this strict training regimen was difficult and might even have felt like a punishment at times, it marked them out as the legitimate heirs of a loving father who was deeply invested in their future well-being.

The author then uses a common rhetorical practice of moving from the lesser to the greater, drawing the connection from our relationship to our earthly fathers, however flawed that may be, to the relationship with our perfect Heavenly Father.

I do not know what your relationship was like with your earthly father. It may have been a poor one indeed. Our earthly fathers are not perfect; they are sinners limited by time and flawed human wisdom. No one is more acutely aware of these limitations than those of us who are ourselves fathers. As the writer acknowledges, they disciplined us “as seemed best to them.” But our Heavenly Father is not so limited. His discipline is never selfish. It is never unjust. Every challenge he brings our way, every trial he allows us to face, is only ever for our good.

If we can truly grasp this, it will completely change our perception of the opposition we face, from weariness and frustration to one that is full of hope. The opposition you face when you identify with the name of Christ or take a stand based upon the truth of God’s word—that is not God’s absence. The financial strain that comes because you choose integrity over compromise, or because you make a conscious decision to invest your time and resources in heavenly treasure—that is not God’s punishment. Young people, the loneliness and isolation that often comes from taking a stand for truth in a culture that mocks it—that is not God’s indifference. Each of these things is the loving discipline of your Heavenly Father. They mark you out as beloved sons and daughters in training, who are being prepared for an eternal life far beyond the comforts of this present moment.

God’s discipline gives hope because it yields the fruit of sanctification. (10b-11)

Understanding this means that God’s discipline not only gives us comfort in the present, it also gives us hope for the future. At the end of verse 10 he identifies the goal of this discipline—“that we might share in his holiness.” The difficulty and opposition that you face in this world is meant to prepare you for the world to come. The purpose is not to put you at ease in the wilderness of this world, but to produce in you holiness, without which verse 14 says, “no one will see the Lord.”

This hope for the future does not minimize the cost now. Verse 11 is honest about this. [Read 12:11] We are not to pretend that this will be easy. There is no shallow offer of comfort here that says, “Just put on a happy facade, smile through it, and all will be roses and sunshine.” The writer fully acknowledges that, in the present, this discipline is often painful, but then he adds the hope: “later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

The opposition that you are facing, this painful season that you are in is not meaningless. Your loving heavenly Father is not flippant with His discipline. You may not see the evidence of it now, but I promise you that not one trial is wasted, not a single tear is without purpose. The goal is to produce in you holiness and righteousness—to make you like Christ. It’s through this painful process that God is accomplishing His work of sanctification in you. The hardships you’re facing now are preparing you to share in the glory that will be revealed.

That glory will be revealed, later. The fruit comes later. The reward is at the end. The runner does not feel the benefit of the training while his lungs are burning and his legs are failing. He feels it when he crosses the finish line. The farmer does not see the benefit of his labour while his back is aching and his hands are bleeding. He sees it when he harvests the crop. So it is with us. We look forward with expectant hope knowing that the painful discipline of this season is producing something in us that ease and comfort never could— the fruit of sanctification.

Closing Application:

So we know experientially that we are in a race. It is long. It is hard. And there will be moments—perhaps you are in one right now—when you are tempted to grow weary, to faint, to wonder if it’s all worth it. But we also understand from God’s Word that the opposition and trials we face are not without a redeeming purpose. They are discipline in the hand of our good Father, who is using them to produce holiness in us so that we will bear the fruit of righteousness. As you leave here today meditating on this truth, I want to suggest three practical ways that we can apply this in our attitudes and actions.

Be Submissive. Humble yourself under the Father’s loving hand.

The first is this: Be Submissive, humble yourself under the Father’s loving hand. It is one thing to acknowledge the truth that God is working in all things to bring about his purpose of disciplining us, it is quite another to submit to that from the heart. This is particularly true for those of us who hold a high view of God’s sovereignty in all things. It’s quite possible to outwardly declare that that the “trials we face are for our good” while inwardly holding resentment in our heart thinking, “I should not have to go through this.” I’m sure we can all recall times as children when we responded to the discipline of our parents with an outward smile and inward irritation. Such an attitude is not only arrogant and dishonoring to God, but it also undermines the purpose of his discipline. Instead of righteousness, it produces the fruit of bitterness.

We must heed the warning in Proverbs not to “despise” or “regard lightly the discipline of the Lord”. The underlying Hebrew word there means to belittle or treat as insignificant. This is exactly what we are doing when deep down we chafe against God’s discipline, thinking that it is neither needed nor helpful.

If this is the attitude of your heart, don’t dismiss it—repent and ask God to change your attitude to one of humble submission. When difficulties come, and they will come, don’t view them merely as an irritation or inconvenience. Instead, view each one as an opportunity to grow in wisdom, patience, and in practical dependence upon your heavenly Father.

Be Patient. Discipline is a lifelong process.

The second practical application is this: Be patient, discipline is a lifelong process. There are two possible responses to God’s discipline that we are warned about in the quote from Proverbs. The first was dismissing or regarding it lightly, and the second is growing “weary” under it. The opposition that we face will be more intense during certain seasons, but it never goes away entirely in this life. Because of this it is a real temptation at times for us to grow weary with the continual nature of it. After all, we are finite creatures with a limited perspective on time. We grow easily frustrated with long term opposition. We may find ourselves saying something like, “ I’m in my thirties - or fifties or seventies. I thought I would be past this by now. My expectations at this stage of life looked very different from the reality that I’m experiencing.”

If you feel that way, let me remind you, God does not work on our timetable. He is not simply disciplining you to get you through high school or college or to reach retirement. His goal is your sanctification, and that is a lifelong process. One that will not be finally complete until you step into eternity. So take heart, God’s discipline is not a season to survive, it is a lifelong process to embrace. Day by day, year by year, every single refining moment of it is preparing you for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

Be Confident. God will complete his work in you.

And that brings us to the third and final point of application. Be confident, God will complete his work in you. There are three sources of opposition that we face as believers: the world, the flesh, and the devil. Of those three, I find that my own sinful flesh is by far the most challenging enemy. As believers, there are times that our struggle with sin threatens to overwhelm us. It is then that we need to be reminded that this struggle is not a cause for despair but a reason for hope.

If you are in Christ, the painful chastisement from the Holy Spirit that you experience when you sin is evidence that God loves you and has made you his own. He has not left you to your own devices as an illegitimate son. He is accomplishing his work of sanctification in you, and that work will not fail. As we read in verses 10 and 11, His goal is for you to bear righteous fruit so that you ultimately may come to share in His holiness. Although we are weak, although we will fail time and time again, God’s work will not fail. If he has begun a good work in you, he will surely bring it to completion.

So when the race is long and difficult, when you face hardship and opposition threatens to overwhelm you, do not despair. Recognize it as the discipline of the Lord. Find comfort in the fact that he is treating you as sons, and rest secure in the hope of knowing that his loving purpose will never fail.