Running the Race Together

Running the Race Together

“Running the Race Together”
(Hebrews 12:1-2)
Series: Disciples Who Make Disciples (6 of 7)

Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD

Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson

Take your Bibles and join me in Hebrews, chapter 12 (page 810; YV).

For the past several weeks not we have been in a preaching series on discipleship. Today is the sixth of seven messages and so we’re running toward third base and next week we’ll complete our series entitled, “Disciples Who Make Disciples.”

If we are followers of Jesus Christ then we are disciples. A disciple is nothing more than a learner and follower of Jesus. And Jesus said this to all of His disciples, He said in Matthew 28:19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples…teaching…all things I have commanded you…” Disciple-making is the job of every single Christian. No one pastor can adequately disciple every church member. Nor is any one church leader expected to do so. But if each disciple, if every disciple obeys Jesus by making-disciples of others, say 2 or 3 other folks, then discipleship will happen and the church will be built up.

I was drawn to today’s passage because I like the imagery of it and have used it frequently to describe the role of our church family.

The 12th chapter begins with a word that points back. It is the word “Therefore.” We say often when we see a “therefore” we should ask what the “therefore” is there-for. A reminder that we don’t begin a conversation with this word.

A husband and wife don’t sit down at the breakfast table first thing in the morning and the first thing the husband says is, “Therefore.” We don’t begin a conversation that way! The word assumes a previous discussion of some kind. And so when we come to a passage, especially at the beginning of a chapter and we read this word, we are helped tremendously by looking back at what precedes it.

Remember that these helpful chapter divisions in our English Bibles were added to the original Greek manuscripts. The writer of Hebrews didn’t break up his letter into 13 chapters with verses. That happened much later—a guy did this some 460 years ago during the Protestant Reformation. And we’re glad he did! It’s helpful to be able to say, “Open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 12” rather than, “Unroll your scroll of the letter to the Hebrews about as far as it will go and look for the “therefore!”

Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 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.

Pray: “God, give us the ability to listen this morning with rapt attention, knowing that we are hearing from You today; Your Word given to us for our edification, Holy Spirit be our teacher and help us understand that we may do what it says, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

Introduction

Earlier I said I was drawn to this passage because I really like the imagery of it—it’s a race. The writer says, “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” This is similar to our recent study of 2 Timothy where the Apostle Paul uses the same imagery. Remember? He writes at the end of his life in 2 Timothy 4:6-7, “…the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, Have kept the faith.” Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness…” So we have noted that the Christian life is a marathon.

Do you know how many folks have run a marathon? Four years ago a study by Runners World determined that approximately just half of one percent of the US population have run a marathon; roughly just one out of every 200 people.

Many runners find a sense of motivation in that statistic, pressing on to become one of the few to complete a marathon. I remember seeing a sign not too long ago someone was holding in an attempt to cheer on and encourage runners. It read, “Remember: Chuck Norris never ran a marathon.” That was a way of saying, “Even he hasn’t done what you’re doing! Be encouraged! Keep running!”

Most people will never run a marathon. Like most major sporting events, there will be far more spectators than participants. Few of us—if any of us!—will ever participate in the Olympics. We’ll watch it—either there or on TV or streaming on the internet. But we’ll not be running in the Olympics. We’ll be watching.

Okay, here’s the thing. Ready? In the Christian life, every single disciple is running. Every single learner and follower of Jesus is running this race called the Christian life. Every single one of us without exception. We’re all called to run. We started running the moment we repented from our sin and said “Yes” to Jesus. Once we said “Yes” to Jesus and became a disciple—a learner and follower of Jesus—we got out onto the track and we started running. And we will not stop running until we die or Jesus returns.

Some of us have been running a long time. We’ve been saved 20 years then we’ve been running 20 years. You were saved 18 months ago, you’ve been running 18 months. But no Christian, no disciple, is merely watching the race. We are all of us running. I’m running. You’re running. We’re running.

And as we have talked about our vision to make disciples, I have frequently thought of this imagery of our running a race together and used it to describe what it looks like when a church is deliberately making disciples. Let’s recall our vision statement right now. On the wall. Why don’t you read this with me:

“We exist to develop generations of God-glorifying Disciples Who Make Disciples from the community to the continents.”

We are disciples who make disciples of others. We are running. And we are inviting others to come run with us. And as we run, we are helping one another along the journey. That’s the picture. Picture our church family running. Some of us have been in the race a long time. Some a short time. But every member of Henderson’s First Baptist Church is running. Living the Christian life for the glory of God. Following Jesus as we run—inviting others to come run with us, and helping them as we run together.

This is the image the writer of Hebrews has in view. Running a race.

The Book of Hebrews is especially helpful to us in our disciple-making because the truth is: it is easy to slacken our pace and even slow to the point that we may stop running.

That was the concern of the writer to these Jewish Christians, the Hebrews, they had begun the Christian race the way a runner begins a marathon, but then, when the going got tough and they began to experience some persecution, they began to get weak, and began to allow sin to encroach upon their lives, and stopped enduring. So the writer writes this letter largely to warn them and to encourage them to keep running.

Listen to some of this in the context:

Hebrews 5:12, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.”

These Christians had slowed their pace. They had become slack. They said yes to Jesus but then started getting spiritually weak and—to continue the imagery—we might say they had walked over the sidelines and sat down and watched others run.

Today we might say they had become spectators instead of players. They were needing to be taught again instead of maturing to become teachers themselves. Becoming spiritually weak, they were becoming consumers rather than contributors, and more concerned with getting than giving. And the writer is like, “Hey, get back in the race!” Listen to:

Hebrews 12:12-13, “Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.”

It’s yet another picture of their spiritual weakness: weak hands that hang down, feeble knees, bones nearly dislocated and out of joint.

So that’s the spiritual condition of the Christians to whom the author is writing. He’s like, “Hey! Don’t slow down, don’t coast and fall off to the side! Get in the race!”

We’re to help each other out as we run.

Hebrews 3:13, “…exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”

So as I am a disciple and you are a disciple and inasmuch as we are to “exhort one another daily,” as we run the race together, disciples making disciples, receive some encouragement and edification, okay? Here we go:

**As We Run the Christian Race Together:

Be Encouraged by Other Runners (1a)

Let me share something personal. When I am hurting, like something has happened to me and I can’t really do anything about it, it just happens and it hurts. One of the first things I do is see whether the same thing has happened to someone else—especially if it is someone else I really admire or look up to as a sort of Christian Giant.

And when I find out that the same kind of thing has happened to another “runner” who is running the race, where I was once was getting weak, I am now becoming strong. Where I once was enervated I am now energized. I am encouraged by other runners.

This is what the writer is talking about in the first part of verse 1. He writes of the encouragement we may receive by looking to the lives of other runners running the race of faith.

1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

He’s talking about looking back at some of the great “runners” of yesteryear. He’s just listed several of them in the previous chapter. Chapter 11 is often referred to as the great “roll call of faith” as it describes the faith of all these great followers of the One True God beginning with Abel in verse 4 and moving forward throughout the chapter.

We don’t have time to read the chapter this morning, but you may wish to read it later and read about the faith of Abel and Abraham, and Sarah, and Joseph, and Moses, and so on. And so many of them struggled in some way or other, faced hardships and difficulties, suffered persecution and even martyrdom.

The point the writer is making is, “Be encouraged by other runners,” other folks who have been through difficult times, folks who in all likelihood have suffered more than any one of us ever will. Be encouraged by these “runners” who lived a life worthy of our emulation.

The writer describes them in verse 1 as “so great a cloud of witnesses.” He says in verse 1, “We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.” Not witnesses in the sense that they are “witnessing us” in the sense of watching us, but rather that their lives continue to “bear witness to us.” Their stories continue to preach to us.

We’re helped to see this especially in the beginning of this roll call of faith back in verse 4 of chapter 11 where we read of the faith of Abel. And in verse 4 the writer says that Abel, “though he is dead still speaks.” His life still bears witness to us.

Through the testimony of Abel’s life and the lives of others in chapter 11, through the testimony of their lives, they are speaking to us as we run. And they are saying, “Keep moving, I finished by faith and you can, too. Keep moving forward!”

Be encouraged by other runners. You are not alone. There are those in the Word who have gone before you. They struggled, too. They suffered, too. They faced hardships and difficulties, too. And their lives are a testimony to you, like a “high five” to you as you run along!

Alan has given me a Scripture calendar every year for the past few years. Each day has a Scripture verse. This was Friday’s reading:

Romans 15:4, “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”
That is so true! And that’s what the writer of Hebrews is talking about here. You read from the Scriptures about all these folks. Think of the encouragement and strength that comes from reading some of these great narratives, like the story of Joseph in Genesis. God was with him. God was with him. God was at work.
One of our members in the hospital yesterday—pulled out a Gideon Bible and said how the story of Job was speaking to him. You think you’ve got it bad, read Job!

And there are others you have known, a spiritual family member or friend whose life inspired you—and inspires you still. And then, there are those around you right now, other brothers and sisters who are running the race with you. Be encouraged by other runners.

Be Disciplined to Run in Holiness (1b)

The writer goes on to say there in verse 1:

1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

Two actions there that require our discipline if we’re to run with endurance. Two actions. The writer says, “Let us lay aside every weight,” that’s one action, “and the sin which so easily ensnares us,” that’s the other action. Then we can “run with endurance.”

So we must be disciplined to run in holiness—laying aside things that hinder our running. If we read this verse too quickly, we may only see the sin that we are to lay aside, but the writer tells us to also, “lay aside every weight.”

“Every weight” likely refers to things that are not bad in and of themselves. But they weigh us down. They slow us down. It’s like a baseball player. Ever watch a batter before he climbs into the on-deck circle? Frequently he’ll get one of those heavy metal rings he slips onto the baseball bat and he swings that bat around to get his body used to the feel so that when he lays aside the weight he has a greater sense of strength. But imagine if he left that weight on as he tried to step into the batter’s box! He would be hindered to say the least!
So there are some things, “weights,” that may not be sinful in and of themselves. Like an extra layer of clothing when we’re running. You know how runners wear an extra layer or two, maybe a light jacket when they start the race. But after the sun comes out and heats up a bit, that jacket is in the way. Needs to be cast off.

Some of us are trying to run the Christian race with extra layers that are slowing us down. Extra layers of activities, things, habits, stuff. The question is not so much, “Are they sinful?” The question is really, “Is it helping me run?” Or “Does it just get in the way?”

That’s the really question to ask when we’re wondering about the so-called “Gray areas” of life. Like is it okay to do this or that. Young people especially, consider this question: “Is this “weight” really helping me run the race? Really helping me fight the good fight of faith? How much time would I give to this if I knew my race would be over by Saturday afternoon? Jesus returns or calls me home this Saturday afternoon, would I be running with this “weight?” Lay aside every weight.

He also writes in verse 1 that we’re to, “lay aside…the sin which so easily ensnares us.”

I’m not so sure that refers to just one particular sin, “the” sin, as though there were just one in view. I think, rather, the sin which so easily ensnares may be different kinds of sin for different people. We’re all battling and we each may have different sins that trip us up. The point is, “Lay it aside.” Which means, first of all, admit it’s a problem and that you are going to take responsibility for it.

It’s like that construction worker I’ve told you about. He opens up his lunch box and says, “Oh, no! Baloney sandwich again! 4 out 5 days this week, baloney sandwiches. If I see another baloney sandwich, I’m gonna be sick.” His construction worker buddy says, “Well, why don’t you ask your wife to pack you something else?” And he said, “Oh, I’m not married. I pack it myself.”

At least he took responsibility for his actions! We’ve got to get honest with ourselves and honest with our sin—the sin which so easily ensnares us, keeps us from running well. What sin keeps you from running the Christian race effectively? What hinders you and gets in the way?

Perhaps the most dangerous sin as we run is the sin that says a little compromise along the way won’t hurt anyone. It’s just a little compromise. And Satan suggests to you that it’s not that big of a deal, or that you have earned it. You’ve been doing pretty well lately, so what’s the big deal? It’s okay. Just a little toying with sin is okay. We reason, “Well, I am running after all. What’s one little immoral activity? One tawdry act? One sinful look? One lustful thought? Just one little compromise?

It’s been my experience that this is where many of us stumble on the journey—in the area of lust, taken in its broadest sense: desiring things we shouldn’t be desiring.

I want to share with you a resource that is helpful to me in my time of DQ, my time of Daily Quiet. I try to review this nearly every day, not always, but I try to review it every day, reading it in its entirety and putting it into practice throughout the week. It’s written by John Piper of Desiring God Ministries.

It’s an acronym: ANTHEM, A-N-T-H-E-M, each letter standing for a strategy for fighting lust. About lust, Piper writes this, he says:

I have in mind men and women. For men it’s obvious. The need for warfare against the bombardment of visual temptation to fixate on…images is urgent. For women it is less obvious, but just as great if we broaden the scope of temptation to food or figure or relational fantasies. When I say “lust” I mean the realm of thought, imagination, and desire that leads to…misconduct. So here is one set of strategies in the war against wrong desires. I put it in the form of an acronym, A N T H E M.

I want to show this on the wall, but it will be available to you later this week on the website when we upload the sermon manuscript. Let me just cover the six letters so you can see how it works:

A – Avoid as much as is possible and reasonable the sights and situations that arouse unfitting desire.

I say “possible and reasonable” because some exposure to temptation is inevitable. And I say “unfitting desire” because not all desires for [intimacy], food, and family are bad. We know when they are unfitting and unhelpful and on their way to becoming enslaving. We know our weaknesses and what triggers them. “Avoiding” is a biblical strategy. “Flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness” (2 Timothy 2:22). “Make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:14).

N – Say “No” to every lustful thought within five seconds.

And say it with the authority of Jesus Christ. “In the name of Jesus, NO!” You don’t have much more than five seconds. Give it more unopposed time than that, and it will lodge itself with such force as to be almost immovable. Say it out loud if you dare. Be tough and warlike. As John Owen said, “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” Strike fast and strike hard. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

T – Turn the mind forcefully toward Christ as a superior satisfaction.

Saying “no” will not suffice. You must move from defense to offense. Fight fire with fire. Attack the promises of sin with the promises of Christ. The Bible calls lusts “deceitful desires” (Ephesians 4:22). They lie. They promise more than they can deliver…Ignorance is defeated by knowledge…We must stock our minds with the superior promises and pleasures of Jesus. Then we must turn to them immediately after saying, “NO!”

H – Hold the promise and the pleasure of Christ firmly in your mind until it pushes the other images out.

Fix your eyes on Jesus (see Hebrews 12:2). Here is where many fail. They give in too soon. They say, “I tried to push it out, and it didn’t work.” I ask, “How long did you try? How hard did you exert your mind?” The mind is a muscle. You can flex it with vehemence. Take the kingdom violently (Matthew 11:12). Be brutal. Hold the promise of Christ before your eyes. Hold it. Hold it! Don’t let it go! Keep holding it! How long? As long as it takes. Fight! For Christ’s sake, fight till you win! If an electric garage door were about to crush your child, you would hold it up with all your might and holler for help, and hold it and hold it and hold it and hold it.

E – Enjoy a superior satisfaction.

Cultivate the capacities for pleasure in Christ. One reason lust reigns in so many is that Christ has so little appeal. We default to deceit because we have little delight in Christ…You were created to treasure Christ with all your heart — more than you treasure [intimacy] or sugar. If you have little taste for Jesus, competing pleasures will triumph. Plead with God for the satisfaction you don’t have…Then…look at the most magnificent Person in the universe until you see him the way he is.

M – Move into a useful activity away from idleness and other vulnerable behaviors.

Lust grows fast in the garden of leisure. Find a good work to do, and do it with all your might…“Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Abound in work. Get up and do something. Sweep a room. Hammer a nail. Write a letter. Fix a faucet. And do it for Jesus’s sake. You were made to manage and create. Christ died to make you “zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14). Displace deceitful lusts with a passion for good deeds.

So I have found this acronym helpful in running the race and I commend it to you that it may help you too may run with endurance the race set before us.

Be encouraged by other runners. Be disciplined to run in holiness. Thirdly:

Be Strengthened by Looking to Jesus (2)

The writer continues in verse 2:

2 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.

As we run the Christian race we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, as some of the translations have it, “fixing our eyes on Jesus,” looking to Him, focusing upon Him!

He is the “author and finisher” of our faith or the, “founder and perfecter.” That’s probably better. His “perfection” (or completion) leads to the perfection of His people. His work on our behalf was perfected when He cried from the cross, “It is finished.” He is both the founder of our salvation and the perfect completer of it.

We only finish the race not because we are so super strong in ourselves, but because Christ has done it all.

And while we will be encouraged by the runners mentioned in verse 1, they are not the source of our strength. We’re not to worship the folks in chapter 11. Their example is helpful to us, but not the source of our strength. This comes from Jesus Christ alone and this is why we fix our eyes upon Him. Because He has done everything for us.

This is how we are accepted by God—by looking to Jesus—initially through the eyes of faith— and believing in Him, and living in Him. We are accepted by God not on the basis of our performance, our works of righteousness, or kind deeds, or charitable giving, and so on. We are accepted by God on the basis of what Christ has done for us. He has lived a perfect life for us and died a death to pay our debt, bear our punishment.

Verse 2 says that he, “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame (it was a shameful thing to die by Roman crucifixion), and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

In other words, Jesus lived a perfect life for us and died a death to pay our debt and bear our punishment, and then—He arose! He rose from the dead that we may rise, too, if we believe in Him. And He “Has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” He ascended to the glorious, honored position of the right hand of the Father.

He ran for us. He finished the race.

If you won a race in the ancient Roman world, after they crowned you with a laurel wreath, you got to go up and sit with the exalted royalty and sort of “be around” them for a few minutes as they congratulated you and you enjoyed this brief moment of greatness.

Jesus finished the race. He endured. And He endured more suffering and hardship than any other person in all of history. His running the race culminated in His suffering for our sins. And when He finished, He went up to sit in the exalted position of the right hand of the Father—and He is still there right now in this exalted position of privilege—and we are there too if we are “in Christ.”

And if we are “in Christ,” then we are running. And if we’re running, we’d better go on running.

I came across this sometime back. I found it inspiring. Listen to this:

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or gazelle. When the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”

Are you running? Or are you beginning to slack off, slow down, wander to the sidelines? We are disciples who make disciples—and much of disciple-making is the work of encouragement. We say to one another, “Don’t stop! We rattle a cowbell and say, keep running. We high five each other and we continue to run with our eyes fixed on Jesus.

Everyone in this room is either running or not-running—spiritually.

Some of you are running, but you’re getting your eyes off Jesus. You get sad and discouraged and instead of finding pleasure in Christ, you seek pleasure in other things to medicate yourself. When you are sad, you drink, use drugs, overeat, look at pornography, sleep, escape through activities, idle your time away.

Today, you need to repent. Turn away from those false “deceitful desires” and turn to Christ. Do that today.

Others of you are not yet in the race. The only path that leads to eternal life is the way of Jesus Christ. Turn from sin and look to Him. Look to Jesus and receive Him as Lord this morning.

After we pray, I’ll invite you to come forward if you want more information about Jesus or you’d like to join the church or be baptized. First let’s pray.

“Father, I pray for every runner in this place. Help us fix our eyes on Jesus as we run the Christian race. I pray also for those whose pace has slackened. Holy Spirit, please give each person a fresh empowerment and desire to live fully for Jesus. And I pray, Lord, for every person who is not running—that today they would say, “Yes” to Jesus and get into the race. In Christ’s name, amen.”

Now stand and as we sing, you respond however the Lord is leading you.

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