Would you believe me if I told you that Canadians today are working fewer hours than they were over thirty years ago? Statistics Canada reports that in 2011 the average Canadian worked 36.4 hours per week compared to 38 hours per week in 1976. However, as you can see from the chart (displayed on the screen), the time spent at work has been steadily increasing the last few years. That may explain why you feel like you never have a moment to yourself. You wake up just in time to get lunches made and homework finished before rushing out the door. You then hustle home at the end of the day to make supper, drive to dance, and finish the dishes before collapsing into bed. Weekends don’t seem to offer any respite either. Whatever errands didn’t get tackled during the week have to be finished in between dropping kids off at birthday parties or hockey and soccer games. It doesn’t have to be this way. In fact the Holy Spirit has this word of advice for us this morning. Ditch the rat race. Run the right race. Run after a better prize. Run as others have done. And run empowered by Jesus.
“Ditch the rat race? Oh I’d love to Pastor, but we live in a real world. If I want to pay the mortgage, I have to work as hard as I do. If I want my kids to be decent athletes or musicians, then my evenings and weekends will be spent driving them to lessons and tournaments. If I want to stay current with my friends, I better hit all the get-togethers I can!”
Perhaps that’s what went through your mind when you heard the sermon theme. But there is a much better prize to run after than the prize of owning a nice house populated by 2.2 children with straight teeth. The Apostle Paul put it well when he said: “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:13b, 14). The eternal joy of heaven is the much better prize to race after.
Think of it like this. If you were walking along the Sturgeon and came across a carp that had jumped onto the riverbank, you would find its gills gasping for breath as its scales dry out. How could you make that fish happy again? Cover it with a mountain of cash? Give it season tickets to the Oilers? Bring it a martini and turn on its favorite reality show? Send it to the beaches of Mexico perhaps? None of those things will make the carp happy because fish aren’t made for life on land! (adapted from Joel Schulz)
Neither are we made for life in a sin-filled world. Stay away from those who promise happiness here if only you made six figures, if only you could head south for spring break, if only you could lose fifteen pounds, if only you would remodel your house, if only you had the right pair of basketball shoes. Let’s be realistic. This is not heaven, so don’t expect it to be. There will never be a newscast without bad news. There will never be a church without gossip or misplaced priorities. There will never be a new car, a new girl, or a new baby who can give you the everlasting joy your heart craves. Only God can. And God will. It says in Isaiah 64:4, “No eye has seen no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” What a breathtaking verse! Heaven is beyond our wildest imagination. No one has come close to describing it. Not all the songs about heaven or the artists’ portrayals. Nor any of the sermons preached, poems written, or chapters drafted. When it comes to describing heaven we are happy failures (adapted from Joel Schulz). We can say this about heaven: it’s a place of no pain or sadness and nothing will ever shatter that happiness. But you’ll only get to heaven if you ditch the rat race and run the right race. How do you do that? Listen again to our text: “…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1b).
I have yet to see an Olympian race the 100m dash in boots or even in sweatpants and sweatshirt. To tell you the truth it seems like these athletes are wearing less and less these days. And why not? If you want to win such a race, you better not let anything slow you down. It’s the same with the race to heaven. That’s why the author of our text urges us to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. That may mean cancelling your cable subscription if you keep tuning into programs that inflame your desire for people you are not married to. It may mean severing friendships with those whose sole aim on the weekend is to get drunk. It may even mean changing jobs, and downsizing your house so that you’re not so busy trying to earn money to pay for things that will burn up on Judgment Day.
But is it realistic to ditch the rat race? Others have done it. That’s the point of the first verse of our text. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1).
Our text comes right after Hebrews 11, that great chapter about the heroes of faith. In that chapter the author lists people who actually ditched the rat race so they could run the right race – people like Noah, Abraham, and Moses. They’re all cheering us on. Noah would tell you that you’re not crazy for believing that this world will come to an end. It will with more finality than it did in his day with the flood. So keep building for yourself and your family an ark made out of faith in Jesus. Abraham would tell you that since God will provide for you, don’t worry about getting the biggest piece of the pie. Abraham didn’t worry about that when his nephew Lot chose the well-watered lands for himself, leaving Abraham with nothing but scrubland for his sheep. God still saw that Abraham’s flocks were well taken care of. And Moses would remind you that the life of the Christian is indeed the life of the cross and not the couch. When most 80-year-olds were enjoying retirement, Moses was traipsing around a wilderness making sure that two million crybabies made it safely to the Promised Land. Like these heroes of faith, you too can ditch the rat race and run the right race.
But the power to run the right race to heaven doesn’t come from the great cloud of witnesses that’s cheering us on – and that includes Mary, the mother of Jesus - though the new pope, like the last, thinks she can help us to heaven. No. Power for this race comes from Jesus. Listen again to our text: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:2, 3).
These verses make clear that this race we run to heaven already has a champion: Jesus. He ran the race perfectly, never stumbling, never straying from the path to chase women or fame. He always followed the rules, God’s rules for all of mankind: to love God and to serve others. Jesus secured the prize of heaven when he stepped onto the podium of the cross. Only it wasn’t a laurel wreath that was placed on his head but a crown of thorns. Nor was a gold medal pressed into his hands but tiger-teeth nails. But Jesus was happy to endure all of this because he was securing the prize of heaven for us by winning forgiveness.
So we keep our eyes on Jesus because he is the author of our faith. He is the one who has gotten us into the race to heaven. But more than that, he is also the perfecter of our faith. He will ensure that we finish the race. Keeping your eyes on Jesus then is like keeping your sail turned to the wind so that your boat will keep skipping across the waves. Likewise the race to heaven is one that we’ll finish only if we remain empowered by constantly turning our trust towards Jesus’ empowering love and forgiveness.
And that brings us back to the beginning. We can’t run the right race to heaven and keep our eyes on Jesus if we’re too busy running the rat race. There are only so many hours in a day. We won’t be able to do everything that we might like so we have to make choices. What’s more important? That my kid learns how to sink a jump shot or learns well what Jesus has done and continues to do for him? Is it more important to stay up late the night before church to learn a new guitar riff, or to get to bed at a decent hour so I can actually focus on Jesus while I’m here at worship?
You may think that you already know everything there is to know about Jesus, but our text urges us to fix our eyes on our savior. Isn’t that what you do when you want a new gadget like a tablet? You fix your eyes on it, seeking the best deal. After you’ve made your purchase you read the user manual from cover to cover. No? You don’t? Well you’re probably not enjoying the full potential of your new toy then. Likewise if we only ever throw glances at Jesus and his Word, we will never fully enjoy all the blessings he has in store for us.
I hope you understand that I’m not saying with this sermon that it’s wrong to have your kids in hockey or to throw yourself into your work or studies. These blessings only become pitfalls when they turn life into a rat race and hinder us from running well the right race. On Saturday, April 20, I’ll be conducting a Marriage Enrichment Seminar to outline practical steps you can take so that you and your spouse together with your family run well the right race. I hope you’ll join me for that. But don’t wait until then to ditch the rat race and run the right race. Start running now after a better prize. Run as others have done. And run empowered by Jesus, who, as we have been reminded this Palm Sunday, resolutely plodded his way into Jerusalem to finish the race to win our salvation. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
What do we have in common with a carp on the bank of a river?
Our text urges us to run after a better prize than a nice home or the latest gadget. What is that better prize and why is it better?
To run after the better prize, our text urges us to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. How will you do that THIS week?
How does our text respond to those who say it’s not realistic to ditch the rat race to run the right race?
Many think that the power to run the right race to heaven comes from saints like the Virgin Mary. How does our text contest that point?
Keeping your eyes on Jesus is like keeping your sail turned to the wind. It keeps your boat skipping over the waves. How can you better keep your eyes focused on Jesus THIS week as you look forward to Easter?
