Consider Him
I owe a debt of gratitude to my good friend singer/songwriter Steve Rogers for inspiring me with his song “Consider Him.” Where indicated * the line comes from this song.
Heb 12:1-3
(1) 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,
(2) looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
(3) Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
Php 2:8-11
(8) And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
(9) Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
(10) so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
(11) and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Consider: to reckon up, to compare, to weigh, only here in the N.T. See katanoēsate in Heb_3:1. (AT Robertson)
Understanding Jesus is the key to the whole problem, the cure for doubt and hesitation.
(Robertson)
EOLS: Jesus’ example of suffering and exaltation gives us courage and endurance against trials and tribulations of life.
Oswald Chambers wrote about spiritual perseverance, defining it as...
“not to hang on and do nothing, but to work deliberately, knowing with certainty that God will never be defeated.”
(Source: Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
“When life gets rough and problems seem to have no solution and everything goes bad and disappointment and depression become ‘normal’ and temptation seems impossible to resist – put your gaze upon Jesus and keep it there intently until He begins to unfold before your very eyes in all of his glorious power.” John McArthur
I hate to run. I’ve always hated it. Running is nothing more than torture for me. I’ve decided my body is not built for it. I’d rather lift weights for two hours or unload a trailer by hand than to run for ten minutes.
I used to think that pro athletes and others who excel at endurance sports surely must love to work out, until I began listening to some interviews. The great majority of the athletes that I have heard speak say they absolutely hate to work out!
What they love, treasure and dream about constantly is-the prize at the end of the race. That may be a simple t-shirt, a trophy, or a cash prize. It may be applause or simply the personal satisfaction of accomplishment. It may be the health benefits of feeling well or it may be the goal of looking good in favorite clothes.
But something is motivating a runner. No one just runs or exercises blindly. There’s got to be a goal, because it’s not natural to push your body to extremes of pain. It’s perfectly natural to sit in front of a television with a bowl of potato chips and a liter of soda, but it’s not normal to run and lift weights to the point of exhaustion on an on-going basis.
I remember seeing Rocky for the first time and the temporary motivation it brought to me! (story) There are lots of more fun things to do than work out, day after day, month after month.
I’m told that there are two dangerous points in a long distance race. The first danger point is at the start and for the first couple of miles.
The runner has to find the right pace. The temptation is to start out too fast among the excitement and to compete with all the faster people, staying with the pack. If you don’t establish your own pace, the danger is peaking and burning out much too early.
There are those who run to beat everyone else. Usually some long lean genetic freak will win the Peachtree Road Race and they run it at a pace that would be an all out sprint for many!
Typically it’s someone who weighs less than my right leg.
But most people, and they come in many shapes and sizes, are in it to finish-and finish well.
It doesn’t matter that some natural athletes with perfect genetics will finish well before me-I want to run it well, use the ability that I have trained for, and get my t-shirt!
The second danger point is at the halfway mark. Mile seven or so in a half marathon or mile thirteen to fourteen in a full marathon is the time when runners say they tend to “hit the wall.” The legs are burning, the heart is pounding, the breathing is heavy. You feel sure you’re not going to make it.
In my own case, I hit the wall at the half-mile mark!
“I feel like I’m dying and I’m only half-way…how in the world will I make it?”
Runners say that if they can endure and break through this wall, there is a point where the “second wind” comes and this feeling of newness and exhilaration takes over. But the temptation to give up is never so strong as when one “hits the wall.”
Your experience and what you know in your heart tells you-keep running.
When you hit the wall, there’s one thing that will get you through and that’s focus on the prize. Steadily holding that goal that you have trained for months, for years toward; keeping it squarely in your mind’s eye will bring you through.
You have to meditate on it, taste it, feel it, long for it. Know that it can be yours and you’re almost there.
Consider- (reckon up, weigh, meditate on it-Roberston)
• Your training, what you’ve been through over the past years as you’ve approached your goal.
• Those who have gone before you and made it possible for you to be here today.
• The long days and nights when you never thought you could make it but through perseverance you did.
• The days of one hundred degree temperatures along with the freezing cold and you trained straight through.
• The pulled muscles, the soreness, the aches and pains that you never allowed to stop you.
And never forget-The Prize. It doesn’t go to half-finishers, or even those who quit in sight of the finish line. It goes to the finishers, the closers.
What will be your focus when you hit the wall? Who, what will get you through that wall at the halfway mark? What will take you through mile seven or mile thirteen?
We’re not starting a fitness program this morning, though that might not be a bad idea! I think you know where I’m going:
The Christian life is not a sprint, it’s an ultra-marathon. Most of us here have been in it for awhile and we’ve hit some walls. Sprints are a wonderful training tool, but you never, ever sprint during a long race unless the finish line is in sight. It’s all about the pace.
Think back on those times when it was hard to keep going. Remember those times when doubt and fear almost took you over?
My friend Eddie Robbins is training for a marathon, here’s a quote from his blog a recent day when he ran thirteen miles:
The devil is really a talker and talked to me for two miles. I almost gave in and quit. I thought about all of those things he was saying to me. He had some good points, but, he got tired about mile marker 2 and I ran off and left him. It was a GREAT run after that. I thought about why I was training for a marathon. I thought about my friends. All of the motivating things that have been said to me over the last several months. I ran 13.06 miles today!! When I got back to mile marker 2 on my way back, the devil had packed up and gone home. He was defeated and I won today. Maybe next week, he'll just stay home because he can't even run 2 miles. Somewhere, I hear the song..."the devil went down to Georgia." (Eddie Robbins)
You faced great pain in your life and it seemed as though God was a million miles away.
Bad things happened when you were expecting good.
The unexpected hit you like a ton of bricks and you did not believe you were going to make it. The devil is talking-“you’ll never make it, you are a fool!”
How did you ever get through? How will you make it through what is coming? Trial and tribulation are one of life’s certainties.
I know most of us have been there. And I would never dismiss the reality that some of us may be hitting the wall even now, as I speak this morning.
I’ve got something for you, and for me: Consider Him. Consider Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.
I. Listen to the cheers from the grandstand (the great cloud of witnesses)
The metaphor refers to the great amphitheatre with the arena for the runners and the tiers upon tiers of seats rising up like a cloud. (Robertson) -The ancient Olympic games is in view-
The scripture speaks of the saints of old. Abel, Moses, Abraham and others.
Our own experience gives us many others who have gone on before us as well as many who are still here, who are “cheering us on.”
There seems to be a sense in which they may well be “cheering” us on real time, a sense in which God allows them to see us as we run this race.
I think of the saints of God who built this church. I think of my own family who raised me in the love of God and in the Scriptures. I think of the people who have lived and died serving God right here in this church and community.
I think of my dear friends, my wife and my children-the people who believe in me and are looking to me. I think of people who have sown into my life-even in recent years, both living and passed on. If I quit now, if I give up then what they sowed into me was in vain. They should have invested somewhere else.
The one thing that I can do to bring their investment to fruition-is to finish. I don’t have to beat anyone else, I just want to finish well. This race is about how I run before God, not anyone else.
II. Lay aside the baggage that weights you down
Present sin, past condemnation-whatever it is that causes you to lose heart. Get rid of it.
Embrace grace…God says the past is gone!
If the race is important enough, you’ll put down junk food. If the victory captures your mind’s eye and becomes your focus, it will be easy to lay down an unhealthy lifestyle. This works in the spiritual just as it does the physical realm!
Blessings in your life can become a weight or a deterrent to the race if you lose your sense of perspective and priorities. Lay that weight aside, allow God to set your priotities.
Even the weights that you train with must go for the big race: You don’t wear your ankle weights during the big race. The home run king doesn’t leave the donuts on his bat when he steps up to the plate just to prove he can do it. You don’t do pushups with your partner sitting on your back just before a big a big competition and you don’t go out and run a few miles a couple of hours before the marathon.
Training is temporarily on hold, this is the real deal!
Get rid of what’s holding you back. Ask God to show you if you’re confused about it. Then give it to Him. I’ve seen the time more than once when things were not going well and I just couldn’t figure out why…every time I’ve gotten serious and asked God He has been faithful to reveal it to me in some way.
The race is too important to be bogged down. It may be sin, or it may be discouragement, it may be the defeat mentality, it may be a blessing from God that you have allowed to take over your life and divert the glory from Him…stop and consider-
Consider Him.
God is very good at showing us where we need to change if only we will listen.
III. Look to the Captain of our Salvation, the author and finisher of our faith.
Consider Him
He was ostracized *
Matthew 8:19-20
(19) And a scribe came up and said to him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
(20) And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."
Criticized *
Mar 2:16-17
(16) And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
(17) And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."
Unjustly tried *
Mat 27:28-31
(28) And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,
(29) and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"
(30) And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head.
(31) And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.
Brutalized and Crucified *
Yet he endured, despising the shame:
Why did he do what he did? Why did he endure ?
For me, for you.
“ So when you think you can’t go on my friend…Consider Him.” *
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