Faith That Inspires: Cloud of Witnesses

“1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, 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. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”—Hebrews 12:1–3, NASB95

We know humility is a virtue, but often forget that the path to humility is through humiliation. Pastor Russell spoke of the “walk of shame” that on some level, each of us knows well. It’s those moments or even seasons of ridicule we endure when we know, somehow, it’s worth it to swim against the tide. Faith That Inspires keeps us advancing toward Jesus when our values are tested.

1. When did you experience a “walk of shame” – a time in your life when you faced ridicule or mockery? Why did you do it? Was it worth it?
2. Read Hebrews 10:32-35. The early Christians had to bear great suffering for their faith, but verse 34 says it was “accepted joyfully.” How is that possible? Look for clues at the end of that verse.
3. Hebrews 10:35 says you can “throw away your confidence.” What does that mean to a Christian? Why does that verse say we should not do that?
4. Our text describes a long-distance race that requires remarkable discipline and perseverance to finish. Likewise, the Christian life requires that we lay aside worldly weights that threaten our prospect of finishing the race. What worldly excesses or sins are encumbering your relationship with God?
5. Justifying faith that leads to salvation is free to anyone who believes in Jesus, but sanctifying faith is costly and calls us to (as our text today says) “lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” If we are entangled by sin, why is it difficult to lay aside? What does that teach us about ourselves? What does that teach us about the world?
6. Hebrews 12:2 says there is only one way to “lay aside” those things that entangle us. What is it?
7. The “cloud of witnesses” are believers who came before us, many of whom we studied in Hebrews 11. We learned that:
- We were ordinary people.
- In a diverse set of circumstances,
- Whose lives had a variety of outcomes, but
- Each of them gained approval through faithful participation in God’s will.

Tell the group about your personal heroes of faith. Name someone from the past and someone who has recently inspired you. Have you thanked that person?

8. Who is looking to you as an example? What are you doing about it?

The Greek word kataphroneō, translated as “despising” by the NASB, means to treat someone or something as though he or it had little value. Jesus uses the word when he speaks to the impossibility of serving two masters (Matt. 6:24): One master will be loved and the other “scorned.” When the author of Hebrews says that Jesus “endured the cross, despising the shame,” he uses powerful imagery to which hearers of the first century would have been attuned.

Crucifixion was the lowest form of capital punishment in the ancient world, reserved for slaves and criminals and consisting of a perverse mix of humiliation and torture. As such, it was a most intense form of scorning. In the crucifixion, the Roman and Jewish officials treated Jesus as valueless.

What Jesus did was to “despise the shame” by looking beyond it to the joy at the Father’s right hand. He, therefore, serves as our ultimate example when we suffer under persecution.