Introduction:
Dr. Johnny Pressley is coming on October 23- 26. He loves to run. He runs every day. He will run a marathon on the weekend if he has a light week after it. Runs several marathons a year.
Since many of us have the day off tomorrow let’s run. There’s a race at the Lunken Airport Playfield tomorrow morning in Cincinnati. It’s only 10 kilometers. “I’m not running.”
I must confess. I am not a runner. I have tried it and after much pain and agony, I give up. I love to play basketball and I gladly endure suffering for it, but just to run is not worth it.
In this passage the Christian life is compared to a race. “let us run ... the race marked out for us.”
We don’t need to just walk it. We need to run this race well.
Thesis: Let’s run the race with resolve, determination, perseverance and endurance. To do this, we need to throw off two things, and we need to be encouraged by two things.
For instances:
Throw off two things:
1. everything that hinders- Hebrews 12:1
Need to get rid of those extra pounds. A good runner is thin. A runner in good condition weighs not more than two pounds per inch of height. I’m 76 inches tall- 152 pounds. A person who is 5’5” should weigh 130 pounds to be a good runner.
An extra pound in running is an extra 4 pounds of pressure on the knees.
David Posman was arrested in Providence, Rhode Island, after allegedly knocking out an armored car driver and stealing the closest 4 bags of money. It turned out they contained $800 in pennies, weighing 30 pounds each, and slowed him to a stagger during his getaway so that police officers easily jumped him from behind.
David Posman is not the first person to make the mistake of trying to run while being weighed down. In fact, it happens spiritually all the time.
Some times it is difficult to lay these things down. “It’s not wrong and I enjoy it.”
J. Wilbur Chapman- "Anything that dims my vision of Christ, or takes away my taste for Bible study, or cramps my prayer life, or makes Christian work difficult, is wrong for me, and I must, as a Christian, turn away from it."
Every year, about 1,500 hikers set out to walk the entire Appalachian Trail in a single season. Only 10% complete the 2,160 miles of terrain stretching from Georgia to Maine. One reason some people drop out early is that they haven’t learned to travel light. One man launched his hike carrying a seriously overloaded backpack. At his first stop, an experienced hiker helped him go through his pack and decide what to keep and what to send home. After examining each item, he sent home 26 pounds of unnecessary weight. How many of us are trying to walk the trail of faith weighed down? When Jesus was on this earth he traveled light, shouldn’t we do the same. What do we need to unload today?
2. (Throw off) the sin that so easily entangles- Hebrews 12:1
It all began on Sunday, December 11, 2005, when a fisherman spotted a 50-ton humpback whale tangled up in crab trap lines off the coast in northern California. His call for help was answered by a group of Coast Guard divers and whale experts. The rescue operation was both difficult and dangerous. Crew members found the whale entwined in some 20 ropes, each 240 feet long and wrapped so tight they were slicing into its flesh. The lines had to be cut by hand, which required diving perilously close to the whale and its powerful tail. It took about an hour, and no one was injured. In interviews with reporters, some of the divers remarked on the whale's "affectionate" behavior. One said the creature watched and seemed to wink at him as he was cutting a line that went through its mouth. Once freed, the whale began circling and approached the divers one by one to "nuzzle" them. Mick Menigoz told the San Francisco Chronicle, "The whale was doing little dives and the guys were rubbing shoulders with it. It's something that I will always remember. It was just too cool."
Something cool has happened to us as Christians. Galatians 5 tells us that Christ has set us free. Set us free from what? Romans 6 tells us it is sin. If we get entangled in sin again, how effectively can we run the Christian life? Not very well
On November 4, 1978, Dennis Rainear entered the Grand Valley Marathon. Hoping to finish the run in 3 hours, Rainear had just reached the 10 mile checkpoint when an object struck his head. At first, he assumed he’d been hit by a brick: “It landed just to the right of the top center of my head. I remember there being a thud when it struck me, and it took me off my feet. I looked around to see who’d thrown it, but there was nobody there.” Although seriously affected by the blow- “I was wobbling, and my eyes were going in different directions”- Rainer continued to run. He crossed the finish line at 3 hours and 9 minutes. It wasn’t until a few hours later that a doctor discovered Rainear had been shot in the head with a bullet from a 22 rifle. Imagine what this runner could have done if he hadn’t been struck by a bullet?
Some of us are slowing down because of addictions to sin.
How can we be free from these injuries, chains, crab trap lines? Recall the time when all we knew was the shame and enslavement of sin. Jesus came to us and set us free. The wisest ones never lose sight of where, when, and who set them free. Jesus will continue to set us free if we walk in the light as He is in the light (1 John 1:7). Have Jesus come and cut the lines!
Be encouraged by two things
1. Surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses- Hebrews 12:1
Chapter 11 talks about the Hall of Fame of Faith, and these are the cloud of witness.
It is much like a marathon. The great cloud of witnesses are up in the stands cheering.
Now, we should not think about this in some New Age way. We should not try to contact the dead, but I think that they are watching us and are encouraging us in some way along the race.
If nothing else, this should give us encouragement that we are not alone and that others have had to run the long marathon race of the faith and have won the prize. God the Father and His Son Jesus will help and give strength and encouragement
Several years ago when the Olympics were held in Barcelona, Spain, the world saw one of the greatest moments in Olympic history. Derek Redmond, a young man from Britain, had dreamed all his life of winning a gold medal in the 400 meter race. He had worked hard to get to the Olympics and his dream was within his reach. He was in the semi-finals and was running the race of his life. He could see the finish line just ahead as he rounded the final turn. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his leg and he fell to the track with a torn muscle in his right leg. As the medical attendants ran toward him, Derek struggled to his feet. He started to hop toward the finish line on one foot in an attempt to finish the race. Suddenly, a large man came out of the stands, pushed aside a security guard and ran to Derek's side. It was Jim Redmond, Derek's father. "You don't have to do this," he told his son. "Yes, I do," said Derek. "Well, then," said his father, "we're going to finish this together." And they did. They stayed in Derek's lane all the way to the end. At first, the crowd watched in silence. Then they rose to their feet and cheered -- and wept. Derek Redmond didn't win the gold medal, but he walked away with the incredible memory of a loving father who, when he saw his son in pain, left his seat in the stands to help him finish the race.
Isaiah 46:4: I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
The poem Footprints
2. Look unto Jesus (Let us fix our eyes on Jesus- Hebrews 12:2)
When a runner runs, he has his mind set on the finish line. He is focused on the goal.
What is our goal? To go to heaven. Not really the main goal. Our goal is to focus on Jesus so that we will win the prize. Philippians 3:12-14: I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
John Monsell- Run the straight race through God’s good grace, Lift up thine eyes, and seek His face; Life with its way before us lies; Christ is the path, and Christ is the prize.
Jesus Christ made possible the race- the author. He will also perfect it here and in heaven.
For the joy? Jesus went to the cross for the joy it would bring. He looked through the cross to salvation. When he was on the cross I was on his mind.
Scorning it’s shame- Galatians 3:13: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
He ascended and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 1:3: After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Vs. 3- Consider him.
This book was written to Hebrew Christians who were undergoing opposition and persecution. We are undergoing much less, but all of us have not suffered to the point of Christ. Look at vs. 4- we have not shed our blood
Hitting the wall- Painful moment when the fuel tank is empty and the legs are weak. Usually happens around 20 to 25 miles. Only way to get through is to remember the finish line.
When we hit the wall in the Christian life, we need to look to Jesus and realized that he endured much more for our sakes. We need to keep going on no matter how painful.
During the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, the last runner to finish the marathon was an athlete from Tanzania. He’d had a difficult race, to say the least: he’s stumbled at one point and ended up bruised, bloodied- and with a broken leg! But he didn’t quit. Even though everyone else had already finished the race and gone home, he kept at it. Finally, at 7 pm, he hobbled into the near-empty stadium. There were still about 7,000 people on hand to witness his finish, and all 7,000 stood, giving this battered athlete a standing ovation as he finished his last lap. When this dedicated marathoner was asked, “Why didn’t you quit?” he simply said, “My country did not send me to Mexico City to start the race. They sent me here to finish.”
