Hebrews 12: 1-2
Wherefore seeing we are also compassed about with such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience 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 is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Main Point: As human beings, each person must individually make a choice to win or lose in this race we call life.
Illustration: In 2002 I began racing at Hickory Motor Speedway. I began in a car that wasn’t even fit for the junkyard. We struggled that year, and fought week after week. Most of the time I don’t even think you could technically say that we raced. We were there though, every week. We never gave up no matter how bad it seemed. Three years later, I was able to purchase a new car, which was capable of running with the pack. The first time out I set on the pole, and finished third. By the end of that season, I had earned a name for myself on the track. I had finished second in the points battle, rookie of the year, and most popular driver. If I had not continued to push forward, I may have never have accomplished what I did. Throughout my racing, I have faced many distractions, struggles, hurdles, and road blocks. People said I was stupid for racing, and that I needed to quit while I was ahead, but I persevered and proved all of them wrong. I may not have made it to the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, but I did accomplish a lot. Well, as we look at our scripture today, we see that just like I have been involved with stock car racing, there is a more important race that I must win in! This is a race that every living person has automatically been entered into. And more importantly, this is a race that has eternal effects. You see several years ago I decided to sign an eternal contract with team Jesus. I remember that morning very clearly. I will never forget the excitement that I felt that day. It took several years for me to realize the importance of that decision. It is amazing as to how God works things out. Throughout my racing, I have always tried to be a light in a dark world. But to be honest, many times I have been distracted or had a spiritual breakdown, and been temporarily put out of the race. But, we must always strive to get back in this race. Because unlike NASCAR, where if you get taken out, you lose everything you had for that race, in this race we call life, we have the opportunity to get back in without losing all if we so choose. But it is a choice that we must make. Lets take a look at the players or participants in this race. Remember, as a human being we have no choice but to participate, and our choice is what type of role will we decide to take?
I. Fans (world) – witnesses.
A. The first participant we see here in Heb. 12 is that of the witnesses. Here it says that the witnesses were surrounding them. Think of it like this if you have ever been to a race track. The fans are surrounding the area where the event will take place. When I think of the layout of a racetrack, and I think of the position that the fans are in, it makes me think about this passage. In looking at this word witness we realize that a witness is someone that either is not a participant or is an observer of an event or situation. This type of witness or fan does not have an active role in the situation, they are just merely present. Now as we look at this passage, lets swap the word witness for the word fan. Now this word has the same meaning but it will help for us to be able to understand this passage a little better. Now in the race world you have several different types of fans. The first type of fan we see are those that have been out there on the track, and for what ever reason have fallen out. This may be due to money, fear, age, or interest. In retrospect as Christians, some of us have been there in the action before, we have experienced the excitement of God’s presence, and for whatever reason have fallen out of this fellowship. And surprisingly enough more times than not, our reasons are the same as the drivers who use to race. Now these reasons can vary from being bored, laziness, sins in our life, or we just simply get our feelings hurt, and decide that we are better off just sitting back and watching. Some get the idea that we have done our part, and now it is time to allow someone else to take over. They don’t realize that a call to be a Christian is a life long commitment.
B. Another group of fans that we see there are the ones who have never had the taste of 100 mph on the track. They see what we do, and think its pretty neat, but they cant imagine themselves in the pack. They smell the rubber and the racing fuel, they hear the sounds, they feel the power, and love what they are experiencing, but yet don’t want to make a commitment to join the race. These types of people remind me of those in the world that see Christianity, and even benefit from what we do, but yet would rather sit back out of the way and do nothing. They like what they experience, but when it comes to making a commitment, they run at the idea. They would just as soon sit there and watch. This might be ok in stock car racing, because not everyone is made to be a driver. But what these fans don’t realize is that there are more opportunities to become a part of the action than just sitting and doing nothing. But in our spiritual race, we come to a different conclusion, and this has eternal consequences that are determined directly by our choices that we make. You see, when the night at the track ends in destruction, you have the opportunity to repair the car. In our spiritual race, when the race is over there are NO second chances. I sit in church every Sunday, and look across the congregation. I see those that are there every chance they get, and are involved in many ways throughout the church. But then I get looking at those that are not involved, are not there consistently, and are often referred to as pew warmers. I’m not saying that we have to go to church to serve all the time, but in order for us to grow closer to God; we must be more involved than just keeping that third pew from the back warm. I often wonder about the sincerity of these individuals. I wonder if they truly have experienced the love and grace of almighty God? I wonder why they even show up? As we continue to look at this passage of scripture, we have the opportunity to take a closer look at the different types of Christians we can be. When we choose to accept Christ then we are given the opportunity to be a driver on God’s race team. The best part about being a driver on this team is that equipment is not an issue. In my racing a lot of my failures could be attributed to poor equipment. I was always trying to fix something that had broken. But, as a driver on God’s team I don’t ever have to worry about this, because his equipment is perfect. He will always supply me everything I need to drive to the best of my ability. As I was thinking of this, I thought of how I could never complain about poor equipment ever again. The equipment that I have been given for this race is perfect without error, and without any failure. Not only has God given me the Bible, but he has given me the perfect and ultimate sacrifice of his son so that I may be able to drive with the best equipment ever.
II. Drivers (Christians) – participants
a. As we look back at vs. 1, we see the word us. This refers to the
group of believers that followed Christ. These were the ones that chose to accept the challenge to drive. They saw the importance of accepting this position, and how they must be totally committed to doing their best. When we accept the call to become a Christian, we agree to pursue the task set before us. As a NASCAR driver you accept a lot of responsibility. Not only are you in the drivers seat, and responsible for what happens in the car, you are also responsible for what happens outside of the car. You are constantly under scrutiny at all times. When you hit someone on the track, or do something that causes a problem on the track with a fellow competitor you have to answer to someone for the decisions you make. Not only do you have to answer to the driver you took out, but you have to listen to their team, the officials, and possibly even the cops. Outside of the car, you are being watched also. There is always someone that is watching to see what you are doing. I remember one time we were working under the car, trying to remove some extra lead weight at the track, and when I came out from under the car I saw about ten different people from different teams looking in my direction. I don’t know if they thought I was cheating or what but they were paying very close attention to what we were doing. This is the same in our Christian walk, when we profess to be a Christian; we are setting ourselves up to be watched by others. Just as I mentioned that we were removing lead from the car to make us lighter, we as Christians must remove the extra weight of lead or sins from our lives as well. These sins weigh us down, and keep us from being able to run the race effectively. It is a proven fact a car that weighs less than his opponents car will overall be faster. God tells us in his word to remove those things that hinder us, or impairs our ability to serve him. While we are here lets look at the drivers’ responsibility. The main thing in racing is that no race is won in the first five laps, (unless it is a five lap race). As vs. 1 also says we must run with patience the race set before us. As a driver you have to learn to be patient on the track. You have to avoid all the accidents, learn to conserve your tires and equipment, and patiently maneuver through traffic to make it to the finish line. As Christians we must realize that God isn’t going to give us everything we want when we want it. We must be patient and be willing to wait on God to show us what to do. Through those times God will mold and shape us into the person that he wants us to be. Now as we have looked at the participants so far we have seen that our involvement really falls into two categories. The fan or the driver. There is no race team that can survive a season without a well orchestrated crew. This crew is responsible for the maintenance and changes made to the car. The crew must be well selected, combining talents and resources to create a highly efficient organization. This crew must be united and have their focus on the proper items. In NASCAR a hundredth of a second is crucial on pit road to gain position. Without a unified team that knows what they are doing, failure is imminent. Our Christian crew is our church. You see when we are focused on God, and are unified with our church body, not only will things be smoother, but God will show up, and bless us in ways that we could never dream of. As we prepare to look at our last point, we need to realize that in order for the crew to work effectively they must have a leader. This is the person that makes the calls on the team.
III. Crew Chief (Jesus) – Author, Owner
This person is called a crew chief. The crew chief is responsible for all areas of the team operations. It is the crew chief who makes the calls on what to change and what not to change. He is always in close communications with the driver who gives him feedback on the car. The crew is obedient and responsive to what he asks of them. The crew chief is also someone who is very experienced in this field. He has been there and done that. In vs. 2 we see that Jesus who was the author and the finisher of our faith has done just that. He not only created us and started the race, but he also saw it through all the way to the end. He knows exactly what it is like to accept the challenge of this great race because he has been there. Unlike most of us, he experienced a greater sacrifice than we ever will. He knew the struggles he would face, and he knew the struggles that we would face. He also knew that it wasn’t going to be easy to allow every sin we commit to be placed upon his body, but he still went forward and stood his ground to finish this race that he started. Not only that, but he did it with joy. This verse goes on to say that “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross” He knew that he was going to die a horrible death, but yet he still patiently continued the race. He worked his way through the traffic, through the spectators, and through his crew to go to the cross to save mankind. He not only did this, but when everyone thought that it was over, that the ultimate of all crashes had happened and that there was no way that he could have survived such a horrific crash, three days later he broke those chains of death and came out of the tomb triumphantly. I remember how that several months after Dale Earndhardt passed away, there was always a lot of tense emotions at the racetrack, because it was then that we realized that even with all of the protection we had we are still vulnerable to the call of death. A few weeks later, Michael Waltrip was in a terrifying accident where his car rolled multiple times. It was a devastating accident and everyone thought for sure that he was also going to be found dead. The car was destroyed; and there was no way that he could have survived that type of crash, especially when the world watched Earndhardts’ crash and saw that it was much worse than his. And as everybody around the world held their breath to see if he was ok, the announcers were preparing us for the worst. But to our amazement he came up out of the car and waved to the fans. He literally walked away from what could’ve been his last moments on this earth. Even more surprisingly, he was back in the car a week later and had a decent run. In a sense this is like what Christ did for us. Just when everybody knew for sure that we had lost someone very important to us, that this man who claimed to be the son of God had been killed, that all our hopes were dwindling away, and that we were surely doomed as a Christian community, one morning three days later he came out of the tomb victoriously, to give ME the opportunity to accept him as my personal savior. Without him I have no hope, but with him I have everlasting life. Without him I am dead in my sins, but with him I am alive through Christ. Because you see here in the last part of this second verse it says that Christ is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
You see he is right there helping me to keep my reputation with my God clean and clear of tarnish. He followed through and finished the race. He did this for you and me so that we could further his kingdom, and spread his word to the rest of the world.
In closing I want us to think about what type of participant do we want to be in this race of life? Are you the fan who has tried religion before only to get in a rut and decide that it was too hard, or are you the fan that just decided that you were ok the way you are, and has no need for a personal crew chief? Or are you already a driver? One who is out there causing problems, running over things, tearing things up, and making your team look bad? Or maybe, you are the type of driver that’s courteous, patient, well- mannered, and confident in the task set before you? I promise you that this type of driver will win the race. I have seen it time and time again on the track. You see the difference in these two types of drivers is one is following his crew chiefs advice and directions; he has a close continuous line of communication with his team’s leader, while the other is doing it his way. This is the type of driver that the bible warns us about. The one that says he knows God, but is actually leading people away from God. It is here that we must realize that if we choose to do things our own way, we not only drag our name through the mud, but we take our team and drag them down to. The worst part is that we hurt our crew chief. Christ gave all so that we may compete, don’t let him down. It is right now, right here that we need to make our decision to either sit in the stands, or take the drivers seat. What is your choice? If you feel that you are the type of driver that has been reckless with what God has given you, and you want to change that, then I pray that you will obey the Holy Spirit, and come forward and make this right. By doing this you are signifying to God that you are ready to move forward in the ranks as a team member. Right now is the time for you to turn those things over to God, and allow him to take control. Or maybe you are the fan that has been sitting out for the past few years. It doesn’t matter what brought you to the side lines, what does matter is that you realize that this is not where God wants you to be. It is time to bring those things to God, no matter the issue, and allow him to relieve you of those problems. Please, allow God to remove the weight of sin on your life. Or maybe, you are the fan that has never entered the race. We mentioned this fan earlier. Things seem to hard, and you say I cant live up to God’s standards. Well, you are right, none of us can, but that is why God sent his son. Jesus tells us himself that he is the only way to heaven. Being a fan is miserable at times, because you miss out on all the opportunities that the driver is offered. If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior, then please take a moment to seriously consider the eternal affects of this decision. I know the pain, confusion, and hurt in a person that doesn’t know Christ’s love. But you have the opportunity right now to accept Christ. Please don’t wait another day, all you have to do is take that first step, satan is telling you its ok, you don’t have to do it now. However, none of us are promised another breath. That is why it is so important that you decide today. All it takes is a simple prayer asking Christ to come into your heart and life. If you will come forward I or your Pastor will be more than glad to lead you through that prayer of salvation. I promise it will be the best decision you will ever make! Don’t take a chance of missing this glorious ride to heaven.
Lets pray………
“The Ultimate Race of Life”
I. Fans
a. Seen
b. Seeking
II. Driver
a. Faithful
b. Unfaithful
III. Crew chief
a. Leader
b. Owner
