Running Your Race

I used to love. Well, I still do. I loved sport as a kid and I loved it so much that anytime there was a school team that was being formed, I was the first to try out. I was there, I was ready to go. I think part of it was I loved sport.

The other part was that our school team meant a day off school. And so that was enough incentive for me. But I still remember the year that I made the mistake of getting selected for the school cross country team. If you've been selected for your school cross country team maybe many years ago, you'll know my, my story personally. But it involved a ridiculously early start.

A two hour trip across Sydney to a farm in the west of Sydney, south of Sydney. I lined up at the start surrounded by a couple of hundred other eleven year olds I think I was at the time. And then the starter pistol went and we took off and I ran for what felt like forever. Like I only had little legs, right? But it still was a very long way.

I got to the end and I was past the point of exhaustion. I was at that point where you are running and you feel like you're going to be sick. And so I was there hunched over at the finish line when I finally made it there and then some lovely official gave me a token and that token told me my place. And so I wanted to know. And I was somewhere in the 70s.

That was the position. I'd finished somewhere in the 70s. I don't remember exactly, but I'd run until I felt like I was going to be sick. And I'd finished more than 70 spots out of the places. And so from that point forward I decided that I didn't want to be in any more cross country teams.

And I made sure from that point forward that I adjusted my running strategy. And so my running strategy from that point forward that I carried through the rest of my schooling was as soon as the starters pistol went, I took off as fast as I could and I sprinted out of the blocks. And so I could tell everyone later on that at one point I'd been winning and then I would tire and end up finishing somewhere near the back and no more cross country teams for me. So which was great. Now why am I telling you this story other than the fact that I am a terrible long distance runner?

That's obviously part of it. The other part is that scripture often uses this picture of a race, of running a race to describe the Christian life. And we're going to read one of those examples this morning there in Hebrews 12. And so if you've got it in front of you, Hebrews 12:1 3 says this. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up, and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith because of the joy awaiting him. He endured the cross disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people. Then you won't become weary and give up.

So the writer to the Hebrews starts with this picture of a running race, this the Christian life as a race. And I think the danger is, especially for those of us who have run the race for a little while, is that we run our race a little bit like I started running cross country races. We start strong, there's excitement, there's energy. In the early days of following Jesus, or perhaps in a new season of our life, we're full of energy. But over time, as the years go by, our energy starts to fade, our focus shifts and our run becomes more of a shuffle.

I think one of the gifts that we have in a setting like this as we draw away for a couple of days, is that we can ask ourselves some of these questions and spend some time mulling over it, that maybe in our day to day life, we, we don't necessarily stop and ask ourselves. And so my question this morning for you is, what does my race look like at the moment? What does my race look like at the moment? You know? Paul asks a similar question to the church in Galatia, a church that has started really well, and along the way they had lost their way.

And he says to them in chapter five of Galatians, you were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth. It's pretty confronting, isn't it? Paul has a way with words. He says, you were running a good race.

What happened? And so I'd encourage you this morning as we come to Hebrews 12, I want you to look at it with fresh eyes. I suspect if you've been a Christian for a while, you've read this verse, you've heard it preached on. But my encouragement to you this morning is to do something with it, to look at it with fresh eyes and do something with it. Now, as we come to Hebrews, we don't really know the author.

Lots of people take guesses on who it could be. We don't know the exact location of the audience. Some people suggest it was the Jewish believers in Rome. Other people suggest elsewhere. But we do know that they had started their race beautifully.

In chapter 10, it tells us that they joyfully accepted the confiscation of their property. When persecution first came, they'd held on to their faith with incredible courage. But now, facing more challenge, more persecution, they begin to fade. And across the letter the writer has implored them not to. To drift, not to become dull of hearing, not to be tempted to stop meeting together and not to walk away from Jesus altogether.

And then Hebrews 12 is like the culmination of those things. And so the challenge presented to us is not intellectual. It isn't, how good is your theology? Instead, it's practical. The challenge is fix your eyes on Jesus and keep running.

And to do that, the author keeps redirecting where they're looking. And there are seven things I want to highlight this morning. Now, if you shudder at the idea of seven points in a sermon, I only had two points last week from Esther, so I feel like I banked a couple last week. And now you're going to get some more this week. But actually we're going to move through them pretty fast.

They're on your notes there. Seven prompts, seven corrections, seven ways to look. Look around, look inward, look ahead, look up, look through, look home, look back. So let's just quickly read those verses together again, and then we'll race through those seven points. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.

And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith because of the joy awaiting him. He endured the cross disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people.

Then you won't become weary and give up. So, number one, look around, look around at the great crowd of witnesses. Hebrews 12 starts with the word therefore. At the time. The word here in the Greek is not the ordinary word that they used for therefore.

Instead, it's a unique phrase. This time it's a strong phrase. It might literally be translated as for this very reason, the author is saying, because of what I've told you now this. The letter up to this point has been building one sustained argument. Jesus is better.

He's better than the prophets, the angels, Moses, the Levitical system. He is better than the sacrificial system. We had Hebrews 12, the hall of Faith. These incredible examples of people who. Who have run the race and they've finished.

And then we have chapter 12. Since we're surrounded by a huge crowd of witnesses, the image that they're painting here is of a stadium. That's what they want you to picture, maybe the ancient Olympics. A vast arena packed with people pressing in from every side. So the author says, you're surrounded by this great crowd of witnesses.

Now, I think when I heard that as a teen, I thought, isn't it great all these people are watching me. But that's not the point of this at all. The point is not that you're the star of the show and these great heroes of faith are standing there cheering you on. Instead, the point of this is that you should look to them, that you should look to their testimony, that you should see what it looks like to run the race and to finish. You know, there are seasons in life, I'm sure it's not just me, where your tank feels empty, where you're looking at what God is asking of you, and you're thinking, I'm not sure that I have what it takes to keep on going.

And in those moments, the writer of Hebrews says to you, look around, look around at the people who ran before you and finished. They weren't perfect. They stuffed it up like you do, but they kept holding on to the promises of God and they finished their race. Look to their stories. Number two.

Look inward. Look at the next part of verse one. It says, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. As we run our race, we're encouraged to. To examine ourselves and lay aside two things.

One is sin. Now, I think most of us know how we're supposed to respond to sin. We know the damage it can do in our life and faith. But we should still ask regularly, God, are there things in my life that are not of you? The other one that we're told to lay aside there is wait.

And it comes from the Greek word okos. It means bulk or excess. In the Greek literature at the time, it meant the excess body mass that runners would shed ahead of a long race. It's the same today. Endurance athletes, they shed every ounce of unnecessary weight before they start their race.

Because they know that a kilo here or there doesn't matter. But one kilo across 40km is a. Is a weight, an extra weight to carry. You know, as a teacher, I would stand at the start of cross country races and I'd say to the kids who turned up wearing beanies and scarves and jackets, get rid of them. Take them off, put them down.

It's just gonna slow you down. You know, there's nothing wrong with a jacket on a cold day. It's smart, it's sensible. Don't wear a jacket in a running race. Don't wear a jacket in a running race.

And there are things in our lives which are not sinful in and of themselves, but that become a liability to us as we run the race that God has called us to. And so we should do a stock take. We should say, what are the things, the habits, the hobbies, the distractions, whatever it is. What are the things that are stopping me from running? Well, you know, John Piper says it like this.

He says, Hebrews 12, one is a command to look at your life, think hard about what you are doing, and get ruthless about what stays and what goes. You know, we've got the Holy Spirit who helps us illuminate those things. Convict us of the extra weight that we're carrying that will slow us down. Number three, look ahead, look ahead at the rate. Smart out for you.

The last part of verse one says this. And let us run with endurance, the race God has set before us. You know, I'm not a natural long distance runner. I wasn't made for that. God did not gift me that.

But I have a rule that when I go out for a jog, I've got a rule that I'm not allowed to stop running until I get home. It's just, it's a personal rule. Like there's no one's gonna get me in trouble if I stop running, but I will know. And so I have this thing that once I set out, I have to keep going. And the reason that I have to keep going is because if I stopped when I wanted to stop, I would stop before I left my street.

Cause I wanna stop as soon as I start running. And so I have to force myself to keep on going, to have endurance. Now the text says here, right? Run with endurance. And that word endurance means remaining under pressure without breaking.

Now that's how you run a marathon. I mean, I've never run a marathon, but I'm sure that's how you run a marathon. It's just One foot in front of the other, over and over again, kilometer after kilometer in the same direction for as long as it takes. You know, we live in a world where endurance is countercultural. Our world loves fresh starts.

We love new things. And there's nothing wrong with a new season. But the call here is not to the excitement of the starting line. The call here is to show up with persistent faithfulness day after day after day in the same direction. If you look at the second part of that phrase, it says that the race we're running has been set before us.

In the original, it means laid out in advance or set before you by another. You see, God has gone before you and marked out the race. Ephesians 2:10 tells us, for we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. And so we're told here at the end of verse one, keep your eyes looking ahead at the race God has laid out for you and keep on running, one foot in front of the other.

Number four, look up. Look up. Verse two says, we do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Now, the verb in this sentence has two parts to it. If anyone's got an amplified Bible there, the amplified Bible picks up on says, looking away from all that will distract us and focusing our eyes on Jesus.

You see, the original readers and hearers of this would have understood immediately the point that was being made. The challenge is to look away from one thing in order to look intently at another. It's not simply look to Jesus. It's look away from other things and look to Jesus. Both Cindy and I are incredibly competitive people.

Long before we were dating, we would pair up in youth group activities as teens because we both knew that we would crush the opposition. We would do whatever it took to win that competition. I mean, there was nothing on the line. There was no prizes, but we were gonna win. And so I just expected that our children would be born with that same competitive drive.

I discovered very quickly I was actually in Grace's first cross country race, that I was wrong. You know, she has a natural advantage. She was taller than all the other girls. Her legs were longer. So as they ran around the oval, she was in the lead.

And as a competitive parent, I was like, you little ripper. You know, we've got a future cross country star on our hands. The problem was to get to the finish line, she had to come past the crowds of parents who were Calling out and yelling. And Gracie started to see parents in the crowd that she knew. And so instead of looking at the finish line, she started looking at the parents.

And she was waving and she was smiling and I was there. As you know, I was trying to be appropriate and well behaved as a parent, but I was yelling, run, run. And for her, she was way more interested in waving and smiling. And so she didn't win the race. The other girls came right past her and she was having a great time.

Now that's an adorable quality in a five year old, but it's less of a great quality in a marathon runner. Like you don't want a professional marathon runner who is doing that. The point here is fix your eyes on Jesus. That is not just a decision to look towards him. It's a simultaneous decision to look away from everything else.

You know, I think by the mere fact that you're here means that you are not struggling to look to Jesus. You've taken time out of your busy lives and your schedule to be here together. That's significant. That says I'm looking to Jesus, but harder than that is looking away from other things. Yeah, that might be a worry about the future, might be regret from the past.

It could be whatever it is in your life that comes up and distracts you. It's like the weight we heard of in verse one. So the question that we should ask ourselves is, what is it in my life that is competing for my focus? Number five, look beyond to the cross. Look beyond the cross to the joy ahead.

Verse 2, midway through, says, because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross disregarding its shame. There's a parallel here in these opening verses that I think is easy to miss. In verse one, we're told to run with endurance the race God has set before us. In verse two, we read that Jesus endured the cross because of the joy awaiting him or the joy set before him. The writer is intentionally drawing a line.

He's saying, Jesus ran the race in the same way you should run yours. Look beyond your present circumstances to the joy set before you. You know, Jesus endured the cross because he looked to the joy of finished redemption, the joy of having completed, of being seated next to the Father, the joy of seeing his people saved. You see, his future joy was his present strength. And so that's what we're told to do, to look ahead.

Look beyond. Number six. Look home. Look home to Christ seated at the right hand of God. The last part of verse 2 says, now he is seated in the place of Honour beside God's throne.

I think we can read that and think it's a nice throwaway line. We see that type of phrase in Scripture, but it has a heap of depth to it. In the original language, the verb sat down is the perfect tense. It means he sat down and he remains seated. Now that that verb is doing important theological work, that's easy for us to miss because it's connecting us to what has been said.

We read last night in chapter 10. We read in verse 11 of chapter 10, under the old Covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day on offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. Remember, we heard last night that in the Old Testament the priests stood daily offering sacrifice after sacrifice, day after day, year after year, because their work was never done. But here we're told Jesus sat down and he remains seated because his work is finished. Now, what does that mean for the tired runner?

Two things. Firstly, our high priest is enthroned. The one interceding for us before the Father is not a weakened, suffering servant. He is the reigning king. He sits at the right hand of God.

And secondly, our salvation is secured and our future is guaranteed. He sat down because the work that secures our standing before God is. Is done. There's nothing left to earn and we have the promise of glory waiting for us. So this is important and I need you to hear this.

We are not told to run with endurance so that we can secure our standing before God. Instead, we're told, look home to Christ where your place is already prepared. Look home for that hope of future glory and keep on running. Point seven, last one. Look back.

Look back at what Jesus endured. When you want to quit, verse three says, think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people. Then you won't become weary and give up. So the author draws us again to Christ and this time says, think of the testimony of Christ. And the word think of in the original means to weigh up carefully, to go over something point by point.

The author is saying, when you're tired, when you want to quit, return again to what Jesus endured. Consider it carefully. Go over it deliberately, point by point.

Now, I think it's interesting that the author doesn't say, think of the hostility that Jesus endured on the cross. Because throughout Jesus's ministry, he faced relentless opposition. He was slandered, he was misrepresented. The religious leaders worked to humiliate him, to trap him, to discredit him in front of others. His own family thought he'd lost his mind.

And everywhere he went, there was unrelenting social pressure to stop doing what he was doing. And so what are we told? We're told, go back and look at the example of Christ so you don't grow weary. The picture there is of a runner's legs becoming tired and heavy, slowing down and finally giving out. And the author says, so you don't give up, so you don't grow weary.

Or, and you don't give up. Or in some versions, so you don't lose heart. That speaks to something not now your legs, but your something on the inside your heart, perhaps the joy that was once there, now being gone. Remember a couple of weeks ago, we're in Romans, and Paul reminded us that the Spirit helps us in our weakness. He intercedes for us when we don't even have the words.

And so if you're weary and tired, look to Jesus. Look, go piece by piece. Examine it carefully. Look at what he endured and keep on running.

So this morning, I want to draw your attention under each of those points on the sheets or online. I've given some questions for you, questions tied to each one of those points. So look around. Whose story can you go back to and draw strength from this week? Look inward.

What is the weight or the sin in your life that is slowing you down? Look ahead. Do you actually believe God has a race marked out for you? And are you running that race with endurance? Look to Jesus.

Are your eyes fixed on Jesus? What do you need to look away from this week? Look beyond. Are you looking beyond the challenge of your present circumstances to the joy that is waiting for you? Look home.

Are you running like someone who knows their future is secured in Christ? And lastly, look back. Look back when you're weary and losing heart. Look back at what Jesus endured. And so my hope is that over the next 24 hours, 48 hours into this week, that you might take a question that stands out to you and that you might meditate on, that you might pray prayerfully.

Consider that. Consider how you might need to redirect where you're looking at so you can continue to run this race with endurance. Let's pray. God, we thank you for your word. Lord, we thank you that it speaks life to us.

Father, I just pray that for each one of us there would be one of those things, one of those questions that reverberates in our minds and in our hearts, Lord, that we might examine our lives and that we might redirect what we're looking at, what our focus is, where our attention is that we might redirect it to you that we would run this race with endurance. And so, Lord, we ask you that you would help us do that. Through your Holy spirit, in Jesus name, Amen. Amen.

Sa.